MORNING MANNA         7-7-22

WORK WHILE IT IS DAY

“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”John 9:4

During the period of rainy weather, a London city missionary became discouraged through inclemency of the weather and the hard-heartedness of the people. One evening he wandered through his district in a very despondent mood, and stepped into a hallway to rest and gain shelter from the rain. Through an open doorway he saw a seamstress at her work by candlelight. So busily was she working that he had trouble following the fast flying needle with his eye. She stopped a moment to rest, but then, casting a look at her candle, she murmured, “I must hasten, for my candle is burning low, and I have no other,” and busily applied herself to her work. The missionary says: “These words entered my heart as a warning from above. In a moment my despondence was gone, and I said, “I too, must hasten and work while it is day; the night comes apace when no man can work.”

Do you feel discouraged, brother or sister? Work on, your labor is not in vain in the Lord! You cannot know how long your light will shine, so do not hide it even for a moment, but let every ray count in an effort to dispel the darkness of sin! God will take notice and bless you for it.”

What we should be doing we could be doing were we not doing things we shouldn’t be doing. – HDS

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

MORNING MANNA            7-6-22

ARE WE REALLY CHRISTLIKE?

“  But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?”— Luke 10:29 

Love to our neighbor seems at first an easy lesson to learn. But when we begin to study it, it grows harder. There is more of the lesson than we thought. We like to pick our neighbors, and we are sure to choose people who are congenial.

How to love our neighbor is taught in the parable. It is easy to have a sort of universal love – a love for everybody, a love we can exercise in our quiet home, looking at people in the distance, but not coming near to anyone. It is not just the same, however, when we go down among the people, and find our neighbor in some disagreeable person we cannot like, but waiting for our help, or in some enemy in need. The Good Samaritan found his neighbor in a hated Jew bleeding by the wayside. He had to get down in the dust and stanch his wounds, and then carry the man to an inn and pay the bills. It often costs a great deal to love a neighbor. The lesson is written out in full at the close: “Go, and do thou likewise.”–J. R. Miller

Far too often love is lacking.

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

MORNING MANNA          7-5-22

THE GREAT I AM

The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning– James 1:17

The only think constant in this world is change. Fashions change; people change; governments change; even the earth’s topography changes over time.

But God does not change; He is immutable. Although He is a person, He reminds us that He is not a human and therefore does not change His mind as humans do (Numbers 23:19).

It is this unique attribute of God that inspired David to compare God to a rock (mountain); He is stable, solid, reliable, firm, immovable. David asks the rhetorical question, “Who is God, save the Lord? and who is a rock, save our God?” (2 Samuel 22:32).

It is also this remarkable, eternally-the-same nature of God which God Himself showcases in the proper name by which He describes Himself to Moses: “I am that I am” (Exodus 3:14). God has always been, is now, and will always be the same. Therefore He is the great “I AM” — not “I was” or “I will be”, but from eternity past to eternity future, God says, “I AM”.

James points us to this invariableness of God in order to comfort and encourage us. The God Who never changes will always make good on His promises. Nothing will get in His way, He will never need to reconsider.

This includes the wonderful work of salvation that He has begun in you, believer! He that has begun a good work in you will continue it to the end (Philippians 1:6).- Baptist Bible Hour

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

MORNING MANNA       7/4/22

REVIVE US AGAIN

“Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?”–Psa. 85:6 

America needs an awakening, but the church needs a revival. We often use the words revival and awakening interchangeably, but there is a distinction. An awakening is when a nation comes alive spiritually, sees its need for God, and turns to Him. A revival is when God’s people come back to life again.

Revival simply means to bring back to life, to restore. To be revived is to wake up from a state of sleep. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, “A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. . . . You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping.” In other words, if you think you are a great person with no problems, then you are really more asleep than you realize.

Revival is coming back. It is waking up. Revival is getting back to the Christian life as it was meant to be lived. Revival is being in the bloom of first love for a lifetime, walking closely with the Lord. You can’t always have those initial emotions you had as a new believer any more than you can have the same butterflies in your stomach you had when you first met your husband or wife to be. That is unrealistic. But your love can grow deeper. Your love can grow stronger.

That is how we ought to be as followers of Jesus. We need the faith of the Christians of the first century, the faith that turned the world upside down. Revival is nothing more or less than a new obedience to God. Then it is, to quote Nietzsche, a “long obedience in the same direction.”

Only God can send an awakening to America. But revival can happen right here, right now. (Greg Laurie)

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

MORNING MANNA             7-3-22

A NATION BLESSED BY GOD

“The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.”–Proverbs 3:33

In 1938, as the Nazis continued to build their military might and the clouds of war loomed darker over Europe, Irving Berlin brought out a song he had first written in 1918 but then set aside. Sung by Kate Smith on an Armistice Day radio broadcast, “God Bless America” quickly became a national favorite. The introduction to the lyrics refers to the song as “a solemn prayer.” But it is important for us to remember that it is a prayer that can only be answered in context of our national behavior.

We cannot expect God to bless our nation unless we are willing to be a righteous nation. When the government is working in obedience to God’s design for them to reward good and punish evil (see Romans 13:3), there is a positive impact on the entire society and a basis for seeking God’s blessing. The Psalmist wrote: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance”(Proverbs 33:12).

Those of us who love God and believe His Word have a special responsibility as citizens. Though this world is not our home and our ultimate loyalty must always be to the eternal, we have also been commanded to “shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). Paul wrote these words to a church born from persecution by an unrighteous government. One of the first members of that church was the jailer who was converted when Paul and Silas were freed from his prison by an earthquake. These people realized that the evil of their government and their society did not excuse them from doing right, but made it more important that they do so, and it is the same for us today.—-

As we see our nation turning its back on God, it is more important than ever that we take a stand for right and truth.– Copied

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church

Humble, Tx.