MORNING MANNA            10-21-22

GUIDANCE

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”- James 1:22Charles Swindoll illustrates our problem today like this: “God offers instruction, but then it’s our move. We must accept His instruction and apply it to our lives. Then, and only then, can we expect to cash in on the benefits of His instruction. So you see, application is the essential link between instruction and change.

Imagine, if you will, that you work for a company whose president found it necessary to travel out of the country and spend an extended period of time abroad. So he says to you and the other trusted employees, “Look, I’m going to leave. And while I’m gone, I want you to pay close attention to the business. You manage things while I’m away. I will write you regularly. When I do, I will instruct you in what you should do from now until I return from this trip.” Everyone agrees. He leaves and stays gone for a couple of years. During that time he writes often, communicating his desires and concerns. Finally he returns. He walks up to the front door of the company and immediately discovers everything is in a mess—weeds flourishing in the flower beds, windows broken across the front of the building, the gal at the front desk dozing, loud music roaring from several offices, two or three people engaged in horseplay in the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered a great loss. Without hesitation he calls everyone together and with a frown asks, “What happened? Didn’t you get my letters?” You say, “Oh, yeah, sure. We got all your letters. We’ve even bound them in a book. And some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have ‘letter study’ every Sunday. You know, those were really great letters.” I think the president would then ask, “But what did you do about my instructions?” And, no doubt, the employees would respond, “Do? Well, nothing. But we read every one!”

In the very same way, God has sent us His instruction. He has preserved every word of it in a Book, the Bible. It’s all there, just as He communicated it to us. When He returns for His own, He is not going to ask us how much we memorized or how often we met for study. No, He will want to know, “What did you do about my instructions?”

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church

MORNING MANNA            10-20-22

ONLY ONE WAY

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”- Acts 4:12

I won’t bore you with all the sad statistics, but it is a fact that an ever increasing number of professing Christians, preachers included, who believe there are different ways to Heaven. Sadly they couldn’t be more wrong. Jesus made that clear in John 14:6 “ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Could salvation be secured any other way there would have been no need for Jesus to be beaten beyond recognition and crucified, nor to be raised from the dead. God gave His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins because there was no other way that sinful man could be reconciled to God who is holy.

Now, you can argue about this for the rest of your life, but it won’t change the facts. And the fact is if you believe there are different ways to Heaven you aren’t going there. Salvation comes by faith in Christ alone, not Christ plus something.

Remember this, if you get it wrong about Christ, it doesn’t matter what else you get right! – HDS

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church

Humble, Tx. 

MORNING MANNA          10-19-22

PATIENCE

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus”– Revelation 14:12

We generally tend to think of “patience” as being a passive virtue, the ability to not fret or fume when things are not going our way. However, here we see patience described in terms of action and faithfulness.

The mark of sanctified patience, we are told, is keeping the commands of God and holding to the faith of Jesus, even in the midst of great personal struggle, pain, or discouragement. It is continued and committed action in the face of overwhelming challenges.

This is not the patience that we are used to contemplating or aspiring to. This patience is not merely waiting; it is also working. But doesn’t this truth coincide with your experience as a Christian?

One of the greatest weapons the devil uses against us is discouragement. If he, then, can render us dormant and inactive by sending trials our way, then he has effectively silenced our Christian witness. The only solution for the Christian who is facing opposition or tragedy or uncertainty is therefore to continue the Christian walk, obeying their Lord’s commands and persevering in the faith of Jesus.

All of us have a tendency to just shut down—or at least slow down—when difficulties come our way. But the way of patience is to endure the trial with faithful, continual service to Jesus Christ. (Baptist Bible Hour)

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

MORNING MANNA          10-18-22

WALK IN THE SPIRIT

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”- Gal. 5:16

In 1933, bowler Bill Knox had a large screen placed just above the bowling lane so that he couldn’t see the pins. All he could see was a few feet in front of him. Yet, much to the amazement of the crowd, he bowled a perfect game!

So how did he do it? Very simply, he put a mark on the floor in line with the pins. Instead of looking down the long lane at the pins, he only tried to hit that mark that was near him. This technique of “spot bowling” resulted in a huge success for Knox!

Many Christians can feel overwhelmed when they look down the “lane” of life and try to honor God with their entire lives. They see God’s character and theirs, and become discouraged because they don’t see a way they can fulfill all the “duties” that God requires of them.

But what if instead of trying to live perfect lives, we simply walked by the Spirit day by day? This would completely take away the daunting task of trying to be the “super-Christian” we think we should be, and would allow us to experience the freedom of walking in the Spirit!

Don’t think of the Christian life as climbing a mountain. Think of it as taking a single step right now in front of you. Let God’s Spirit guide you step by step and you’ll begin living in true freedom!

Pray that God would help you to live each day in freedom as you walk in step with His Spirit.  (Revised from article in Senior Living. HDS)

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