OUR THOUGHTS VS. GOD’S THOUGHTS

MORNING MANNA          5-27-22

NEEDS SUPPLIED

“He said, Bring them hither to me.”-Matt. 14:18

One of the first devotional books I read after becoming a Christian was “Streams in the Desert”. Devotions such as the one below were a great encouragement to me then and continue to remind me of God’s greatness to this very day. I hope it has the same effect on you.

Are you encompassed with needs at this very moment, and almost overwhelmed with difficulties, trials, and emergencies? These are all divinely provided vessels for the Holy Spirit to fill, and if you but rightly understood their meaning, they would become opportunities for receiving new blessings and deliverances which you can get in no other way.

Bring these vessels to God. Hold them steadily before Him in faith and prayer. Keep still, and stop your own restless working until He begins to work. Do nothing that He does not Himself command you to do. Give Him a chance to work, and He will surely do so; and the very trials that threatened to overcome you with discouragement and disaster, will become God’s opportunity for the revelation of His grace and glory in your life, as you have never known Him before. “Bring them (all needs) to me.”—A. B. Simpson

“My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19).

What a source—“God!” What a supply—“His riches in glory!” What a channel—“Christ Jesus!” It is your sweet privilege to place all your need over against His riches, and lose sight of the former in the presence of the latter. His exhaustless treasury is thrown open to you, in all the love of His heart; go and draw upon it, in the artless simplicity of faith, and you will never have occasion to look to a creature-stream, or lean on a creature-prop.— C. H. M.

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

MORNING MANNA            5-26-22

LAST GOD TO GO

“Lovers of their own selves.”– 2 Timothy 3:2

We often wonder, what in the world is wrong with this wicked world, and we tend to point our finger at everything but the main thing, which is self. The old country preacher Vance Havner said it well:

“Self-love takes many forms. Not only pride and vanity and worldly ambition, but a sickly preoccupation with one’s own troubles, physical or otherwise. Such self-centered, ingrown souls make themselves the center of their universe. Self thrives on attention. It grows as it is petted and coddled, until it becomes a colossus dominating one’s lives and all others it can by making friends and loved ones the slaves of such self-worshipers.

The best treatment is neglect by becoming preoccupied with something or someone else. Such ailments disappear when ignored. The supreme preoccupation is not a mere person or cause but Christ Himself. That is why He asked us to deny self, take up the cross, and follow Him. That is why He bade us lose our lives to find them. When he fills our minds and hearts and lives other gods vanish. And no god is harder to topple from its shrine than self. It will gladly give up all lesser idols if only it be allowed to retain the throne.”

Like it or not, the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart – yours and mine! So rather than shift the blame we need to confess our sins and commit ourselves wholly unto the Lord.- HDS

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

MORNING MANNA          5-25-22

HOW TO WIN OVER WORRY

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God.”–Philippians 4:6

I’ve got an idea that the most commonly confessed sin is worry. Few people have the audacity to say that they never worry. But although we readily confess it, we seldom repent of it. Why ? Maybe it’s because we fail to realize what great harm it does. We seem to believe it is a harmless sin. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
 
Someone defined worry as “a small trickle of fear that meanders through the mind until it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” James describes the danger like this–“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”(James 1:8). The worrier is like the mule that starved to death while standing between two stacks of hay, because he couldn’t make up his mind which one to eat out of.
 
The fact of the matter is that worry affects us in every way: emotionally, physically, socially, and spiritually. Worry can be deadly. When the Bible says,”Be careful for nothing” we ought to take it as a serious warning. God is looking out for our welfare! Heed His warnings, obey His commands,and claim His promises. A child of God in the will of God has nothing to worry about. When trouble comes, go to God in prayer. When your burden is heavy, cast “all your care upon him” and leave it there.