MORNING MANNA            3- 31-24

MORNING MANNA          3-30-24
RESCUED AND REJOICING
 
“I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up – -“ –Psalms 30:1
 
The late Bill Bright told this touching story of a boy delivered from certain destruction by a brave man. Their home on fire, a young boy was trapped upstairs.  The grandmother attempted to rescue him, but she died in the horrible flames.  
 
A man who saw the fire climbed up an iron drainpipe to the lad’s window.  With the boy clinging to his neck and with a firm grip on the drainpipe, he lowered himself and the boy to safety.
 
Weeks later, a public hearing was held to determine who should be given custody of the boy.  A teacher, a farmer, and the town’s wealthiest citizen all gave reasons why they should be chosen to give the boy a home.  But the sad boy only stared at the floor.
 
Then a man walked to the front of the room and announced his desire to adopt the boy.  He slipped his hands out of his pockets and held them up for the crowd to see.  His palms bore hideous scars.
 
The boy cried out in recognition and leapt into the man’s arms.  This was the man who had saved the child’s life.  His hands had been scorched when he climbed up the hot iron pipe.  As the boy nestled in the arms of the man who saved his life, the other men walked away.  Those scarred hands settled the issue.
 
In the same way, our Savior’s nail-scarred hands have settled the issue for us.  Our Lord’s sacrifice saved us and made us children of God.  Like the young boy, we have been “adopted” as God’s sons (Ephesians 1:5).
 
As believers, we are not orphans who are homeless without parents or family.  We have an incredible parent, our loving Heavenly Father, who cares for us deeply and cares for us each moment of the day.  We also have a wonderful family, consisting of brothers and sisters all over the world.  And we have a marvelous home waiting for us in eternity.
 
Even now, we experience comfort, peace, and a sense of belonging through our Father’s Spirit — the Holy Spirit — who has made our heart His home.  We are very important to God because we are His dearly beloved children.
 
For all these wonderful blessings, let us thank God for our Savior’s precious, nail-scarred hands. HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

MORNING MANNA            3-29-24

The fact that most of us tend to complain or get discouraged when troubles come it would do us good to read this again. Although we can’t always understand God’s purpose in our suffering we can rest assured that it is for a good reason. We can also be certain that God’s grace is sufficient to strengthen us and get us through it. – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

MORNING MANNA            3-26-24  

ENDURE HARDNESS    

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” 2 Timothy 2:2–4

The Christian life is not referred to as warfare in the Scriptures symbolically. We are engaged day after day in a real life-and-death struggle with an enemy who is intent on our destruction. Jesus said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). The devil will do everything that he can to attack us at any weak point he can find. It is absolutely certain that difficulty, trials, and hardship will be with us until we reach Heaven. That does not mean, however, that we must be defeated by them. God calls us to be overcomers, and that requires that we properly respond when things go wrong.

An unknown poet wrote:

All the water in the world
However hard it tried,
Could never, never sink a ship
Unless it got inside.

All the hardships of this world,
Might wear you pretty thin,
But they won’t hurt you, one least bit
Unless you let them in.

There has never been a case in all of history in which anyone improved a situation by complaining and griping about it. Sitting around moping and asking “Why me?” inevitably leads to discouragement. Instead, God calls us to treat difficulties like a reality that must be dealt with rather than as an indication that we should quit. The good soldier does not quit fighting just because it rains or snows or because there are a lot of enemies. Our love for God and our commitment to serve Him should endure any difficulty that comes our way.

Reminding ourselves that we are in a battle makes it easier to properly respond when hardships come.- copied

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church. 

Humble, Tx.