MORNING MANNA             3-25-24 

  FAITH AND PATIENCE

   “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Heb. 6:12).

Someone said,”They (heroes of faith) are calling to us from the heights that they have won, and telling us that what man once did man can do again. Not only do they remind us of the necessity of faith, but also of that patience by which faith has its perfect work. Let us fear to take ourselves out of the hands of our heavenly Guide or to miss a single lesson of His loving discipline by discouragement or doubt.”

“There is only one thing,” said a village blacksmith, “that I fear, and that is to be thrown on the scrap heap. “When I am tempering a piece of steel, I first beat it, hammer it, and then suddenly plunge it into this bucket of cold water. I very soon find whether it will take temper or go to pieces in the process. When I discover after one or two tests that it is not going to allow itself to be tempered, I throw it on the scrap heap and sell it for a cent a pound when the junk man comes around.

“So I find the Lord tests me, too, by fire and water and heavy blows of His heavy hammer, and if I am not willing to stand the test, or am not going to prove a fit subject for His tempering process, I am afraid He may throw me on the scrap heap.”

When the fire is hottest, hold still, for there will be a blessed “afterward”; and with Job we may be able to say, “When he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold.”

Sanctification springs out of suffering. It takes eleven tons of pressure on a piano to tune it. God will tune you to harmonize with Heaven’s key-note if you can stand the strain.- Revised HDS

Things that hurt and things that mar
Shape the man for perfect praise;
Shock and strain and ruin are
Friendlier than the smiling days.

–Streams in the Desert

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

MORNING MANNA            3- 24 -24  
 GOD’S TOOLS

   “ I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5

Although the illustration below is different then the text above the point is the same – we are helpless without God. 
Samuel Brengle who was an early Salvation Army official was once introduced as the, “Great Dr. Brengle.” He later wrote in his diary, “If I appear great in their eyes, the Lord is most graciously helping me to see how absolutely nothing I am without Him, and helping me to keep little in my own eyes. He does use me. But I am so concerned that He uses me and that it is not of me the work is done. The axe cannot boast of the trees it has cut down. It could do nothing but for the woodsman. He made it, he sharpened it, and he used it. The moment he throws it aside, it becomes only old iron. O, that I may never lose sight of this.”

Amen to that! Far too often people take credit and even boast about the things they’ve done when it was God who enabled them to do it. Their pride not only robs them of a reward it also ruins relationships, and results in the failure to live a life well lived. It is a great privilege to be used of the Lord, but we must remember that we are able only because we are enabled. Thank God we are or else we would all be doomed to a life of miserable existence rather than doing something of eternal value. Thankfully God can give you something worth living for and pays eternal dividends.

If you feel like a miserable failure or an empty vessel of no use, commit yourself entirely to God and He will transform you. As Paul said,” If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”2 Tim.2:21- HDS 

 
David Stone   

Lakeway Baptist Church   

Humble,Tx

MORNING MANNA           3-23-24   
SHAKE IT OFF

  “ But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”- Acts 20:24

I started Morning Manna in 2006. I did so for the purpose of maintaining contact with church members and to encourage them. The first article that I still have a copy of is the story below. It would be helpful if you turn to Acts 20 and read the context of what Paul said in the verse above. Here’s the illustration- 

The parable is told of an old dog that fell into a farmer’s well. After assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the dog but decided that neither the dog nor the well were worth the trouble of saving. Instead he planned to bury the old dog in the well and put him out of his misery.
   When the farmer began shoveling, initially the old dog was hysterical. But as the farmer continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It dawned on the dog that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back he should shake it off and step up. This he did blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up!” he repeated to encourage himself.
   No matter how painful the blows or how distressing the situation seemed, the old dog fought panic and just kept shaking it off and stepping up! It was not long before the dog, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well. What seemed as though it would bury him actually benefited him–all because of the way he handled his adversity.
   If we face our problems and respond to them positively, refusing to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity, the adversities that come along to bury us usually have within them the potential to bless us! Forgiveness, faith, prayer, praise, and hope are some of the biblical ways to shake it off and step up out of the wells in which we find ourselves. 

 
David Stone 

 Lakeway Baptist Church   

Humble,Tx

ANNOUNCEMENT 

MORNING MANNA            3-19-24

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church   

Humble,Tx