MORNING MANNA              8-22-23

NO SOLUTION IN SIGHT

“He went out, not knowing whither he went” (Heb. 11:9).

The author of an old devotional book, called “Days of Heaven upon Earth”‘ likened his trip across the ocean and our journey in life to the story of Abraham. In this light he wrote:

“It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith, but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea, nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a great chalk line upon the sea. And when we came within twenty miles of land, we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles ahead. 

How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments and, looking up to the sky, had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights.

So faith looks up and sails on, by God’s great Sun, not seeing one shore line or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster; but He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing, but trusting.”

May we never forget,”without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”–Hebrews 11:6  -HDS

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

MORNING MANNA            8-21-23

HOW IS YOUR DIET?
“I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”–Job 23:12 

I read about a fellow who bought a book on healthy living and set out to live a more healthy lifestyle. Immediately he threw out any food that wasn’t on the designated list. He stopped eating anything green, because he read that they were associated with certain diseases. He rejected anything grown in the ground because he feared that pesticides and other chemicals would affect his health. Although he didn’t have much of a selection he stuck to the rules stipulated in the diet. 

In a few weeks the man noticed a drastic drop in his energy level and other health related issues. In a state of confusion he went to the doctor. When the doc asked,”What do you eat each day?”, he explained his new diet. The doctor replied,”You cannot function on little or no food every day. You need food to feed your body.” 

The same thing is true spiritually. When you deprive yourself of the nourishment derived from God’s Word your spiritual health will suffer, and that can affect you adversely in every other way. You simply cannot neglect God’s Word and remain spiritually healthy.

So, how is your diet? Do you regularly feed on God’s Word? Do you spend quality time alone with God, drawing upon His strength? If not, why don’t you stop what you’re doing and plan a course of action. Set a time when you be alone and prayerfully consider what portion of God’s Word you will study. Then stick with it. You will be glad you did!- HDS

David Stone 

Lakeway Baptist Church    

Humble, Tx 

MORNING MANNA           8-19-23

ACCEPTED

“To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”- Eph.1:6

One of the worst feelings in life is the feeling of being rejected. It is awful beyond description. Yet most of us have experienced it in some way. You can probably think of something that still lingers in your mind—a part in a school play, a place on the team, the cold shoulder from the “in crowd”, over looked for a promotion, etc.Things like that can hurt us deeply and can linger for years. But there’s something much worse than these things.

 Many people will be rejected by God (Matt. 7:21-23) and there is nothing worse than that. If you are unsaved you need to understand what a terrible state you are in. It doesn’t get any worse than being separated from God for eternity! 

The good news is that Jesus Christ made it possible for us to be “accepted”. The word “accepted” means “to peruse with grace, compass with favor, honor with blessings”, literally “be-graced”. We talk a lot about accepting God, but strictly speaking, salvation is God accepting us, not us accepting Him.

So what causes God to accept us? The answer is “Christ”. He accepts us because of Christ. We can’t do anything to make ourselves acceptable to God, but by His grace we are “accepted in the beloved”. He does so “To the praise of the glory of his grace”—that is God’s explanation for why He saves us. Although we benefit immensely, the primary reason for salvation is the glory of God.

 Instead of thinking about the ways in which you have been rejected by man, focus on the glorious fact that God has accepted you. He accepts all who accept His Son!     —–David Stone 9/3/08

David Stone 

Lakeway Baptist Church

Humble, Tx.

MORNING MANNA           8-18-23

FAULTY FAITH

“ For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”– Gal.3:26

Here is a sad story that illustrates a common problem. Several years ago, a university professor was teaching a class on rappelling. This sport involves securing a stout rope on top of a cliff and lowering yourself to the bottom of the cliff. The instructor took her class to the roof of a campus building, secured the rope to a steel grid, grasped the rope, stood on the edge of roof, and leaned out over the edge. To the horror of the class, the grid popped out of the roof and the professor plunged to her death. She had faith in her rope; she had faith in her ability to rappel, and she had faith in the steel grid to which she had tied the rope. The problem was not her lack of faith, but one of the objects of her faith. She fell because the anchor to which she had entrusted her life was faulty.

This serves to remind us that simply feeling good about our beliefs isn’t good enough to save us. You can brag all day about your faith getting you to heaven, but if it isn’t in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ it will fail you. Hebrews 6:19 assures us that in Christ we have an “anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.” Trust Him and He will never let you down!- HDS

David Stone       

Lakeway Baptist Church  

   Humble, Tx 

MORNING MANNA           8-17-23

REAL REVIVAL
“ Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”- James 4:17

When I left the church where I was saved to pastor my first church my pastor gave me a book by the famous preacher Sam Jones, an old-time circuit riding preacher who travelled over the country preaching revival meetings. He often referred to them as “Quittin meetings.” His preaching was primarily to Christians, and he urged them to give up–quit, the sinful practices in their lives. His preaching met with great success, with many folks vowing to quit their particular sins. 

On one occasion he asked a woman, “Just what is it that you’re quittin?” She replied, “I’m guilty of not doing something, and I’m going to quit that too!” Great point—although she had no bad habits to give up, she wasn’t serving God and had decided to do something about it. 

We need to think about that. Most often we put all the emphasis on the things we are doing, without ever giving a thought to what we’re not doing. It’s fine and dandy to repent of the sins of commission, but we need to give serious thought to the sins of ommission as well. You can quit every bad habit known to man and still waste your life. Disobedience is sin whether it is doing something you shouldn’t or not doing something you should. Sit down and make a list of all the things you know you should be doing and it won’t take long to reach the point of embarrassment. This would be a good day to quit putting off those things you should have been doing. Think about it!- HDS 

David Stone    

 Lakeway Baptist Church      

Humble, Tx