MORNING MANNA           1-25-22

My Prayer List

“ Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” – James 5:16

Having just received a prayer request I added it to my “prayer list”. Then I began reading through the list and was overwhelmed! I was struck by the ever-growing number first of all. Even with three columns front and back I have run out of room and scribbled as many names as possible in the margins. I need to start a new list, but who do I leave off? Or do I start printing a “prayer booklet”, rather than a “prayer list”? Will that lead to a “prayer book”? See what I mean? Eventually we would have a “prayer library”! And all this from just one small congregation. Think about this on a world-wide scale. Obviously, we live in a needy world.
 
Secondly, I was deeply moved by the variety and seriousness of the needs on my prayer list—needs of salvation, restoration, healing, comfort, jobs, finances, encouragement, and that mysterious category called “unspoken request”. I think of all these things and realize that there is no human help in sight. Regardless of how much I might want to help, these needs are beyond my ability.
 
Every name on my prayer list has a story behind it. In some cases, I know a lot of details. In other cases, I only know the name and the need. In no case do I fully understand what the person is actually going through. I simply cannot sense the fear and feel the pain as they do. I can only pray! I can pray. I must pray. I will pray! But I cannot solve the problems.
 
Now, here’s the thing that impressed me most. As I read my prayer list, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the thought of God’s greatness! God knows every person on my list, and on your list also. He not only knows each person. He knows every minute detail of their life—every hidden fear, every tear that falls, every pain they feel, every enemy they face, every need they have. Not only does God know. He cares! No person is unimportant to God. He knows. He cares. And He can help! He has all power in heaven and earth. With Him all things are possible. There is not a question He cannot answer. There is not an enemy He cannot defeat. There is not a need He cannot meet. There is not a problem He cannot solve. He is God and there is no other!
 
If you keep a prayer list, and I hope you do, get it out and read it. Think about all the many people in need of prayer. Think about the severity of the problems they face. But, most of all think about God--He knows, He cares, and He can help. Think about it!  – HDS

DAVID STONE
NORTHWAY BAPTIST CHURCH
5939 Bender Rd.
Humble, Tx. 77396

MORNING MANNA            1-24-22

ONCE FOR ALL

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.– Hebrews 9:24-26

After his conversion in a revival meeting at age twelve, Philip Bliss wanted to use his talents for God. For a time he worked as a music teacher, and began writing hymns during that time. A meeting with D. L. Moody inspired Bliss to become part of a full time revival ministry, and he spent the rest of his life leading singing at meetings around the country. Before his death in a train crash at just thirty-eight years of age, Bliss wrote these words:

“Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus hath bled, and there is remission;
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Grace hath redeemed us once for all.

Once for all, O sinner, receive it,
Once for all, O friend, now believe it;
Cling to the cross, the burden will fall,
Christ hath redeemed us once for all.”

The matter of our salvation is already settled, just as surely as if we were in Heaven now. No power can take us out of God’s hand. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, unlike the yearly offering of the high priests in the Old Testament on the Day of Atonement, only needed to be made once. The power of the blood of Christ is so great that it only had to be offered once to save us forever. We must deal with sin in our lives on a daily basis as part of maintaining the right relationship with God, but our standing as part of His family can never be changed. There is no reason for a Christian to live with doubt and uncertainty–the future is settled.- Paul Chappell

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

MORNING MANNA         1-22-22

BLESSING BRINGS BLESSINGS

So, if you are truly concerned about pleasing God, being a good example, and being blessed you will “sanctify (set apart) the Lord God in your heart” (vs.1-5). That will enable you to do what you couldn’t do otherwise. Then you will discover that being a blessing brings a blessing. Loving, forgiving, helping, and praying for your enemies will cause others to wonder how you do what you do. That opens the door for you to help them become what they’re not.

If the thought of loving those who don’t love causes you to cring, remember Christ’s love for you. Rom. 5:8 tells us that He loved us “while we were yet sinners“. Thank God for that or we would have no hope of ever being reconciled to God. There is a chance that the person who offended you is unsaved – that explains their bad behavior. That being the case they are described as “having no hope, and without God” in Eph. 2:12.

Now it’s your time to shine so as to show them how a Christian should behave. Your example might be the very thing that will lead them to Christ. Can you think of someone who despises, disrespects, disregards, and dishonors you? If so, you need to think of them as part of your mission field. Never let their failure lead to your fall. Rom. 12:21 says, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good“. Perhaps you’re thinking “That’s hard” and you are right, but with God it is possible.

Think about this. Every child of God was once an enemy of God, but God’s goodness led them to repentance” (Rom. 2:4). Even so, God expects you to “overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). Do unto others what Christ did for you! They might seem like a hopeless case, but that doesn’t give you the right to ignore your duty and give up on them. It’s true that they might never change, but having done your best you can have a clear conscience before God and the assurance of a blessing. I’m glad God never gave up on me and I suspect you feel the same way. Let us then do all we can to “live peaceably with all men” (Rom. 12:18). – HDS

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

THINK ABOUT IT             1-21-22

By Trevin wax

On the last day of July 2021, I tested positive for COVID. The Delta variant broke through the double dose of the Moderna vaccine, and I contracted a mild case (mainly just a head cold, with waves of fatigue) and endured the 10-day quarantine.

On day five, my sense of taste and smell disappeared. At breakfast, nothing out of the ordinary. At lunch, I couldn’t taste a thing. For several days, I lived on a few snacks and some leftover meatloaf, to which, oddly, I added ketchup and mustard if only for the texture, not the flavor.

My family developed the “Skittles test,” where I’d close my eyes and they’d put two or three of the same flavor Skittles in my hand and I’d try to guess the color. I couldn’t. Lemon was the same as grape. Green apple tasted just like orange. No distinction.

The loss of taste was the weirdest part of COVID. Mealtimes lost their joy. I ate and felt sustained but didn’t enjoy good food anymore. Every morning, I made myself a cup of tea, but only out of routine since the effort was about as enjoyable as sipping hot water.

Taste and Conversion

“Taste and see that the LORD is good,” the psalmist commands us (Ps. 34:8). Before our eyes are opened to the beauty of Christ, we cannot obey this instruction. It takes a supernatural work of the Spirit to help us taste the Lord’s goodness.

It’s not enough to merely recite the truths of the Christian faith, to check off a list of doctrines, or to say we believe in Jesus. Conversion requires the igniting of our tastebuds—a new perception and sensation of the goodness of God. It’s one thing to read about the spiciness of the habanero, another thing to experience it. It’s one thing to write about Blue Bell’s “Cookie Two Step” ice cream, another to savor that delicious sweetness.

Throughout church history, pastors and theologians have reaffirmed the importance of experiencing the truth and goodness of God, not merely elucidating correct doctrine. Here’s Basil the Great:

“As the nature of honey can be described to the inexperienced not so much by speech as by the perception of it through taste, so the goodness of the heavenly Word cannot be clearly taught by doctrines, unless, examining to a greater extent the dogmas of truth, we are able to comprehend by our own experience the goodness of the Lord.”

Developing New Tastes 

In life, we develop taste for various foods and drink. Very few toddlers love green, leafy vegetables. It’s hard to find a third grader who rushes to the coffee maker in the morning.

As a kid, I couldn’t stand salad (all those vegetables, tomatoes, and olives!), but I remember the moment as an adolescent I discovered by surprise my salad’s explosive combination of various vegetables (granted, it was drenched in honey mustard!). Likewise, for years I was disgusted by avocado. Today, there’s nothing I like more than chips and guacamole.

As Christians grow, we discover new tastes, including a hunger and thirst for God’s Word. “How sweet your word is to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth!” sings the psalmist (Ps. 119:103).

We never get over the longing for pure spiritual milk (1 Pet. 2:2–3)—the gospel basics that nourish us daily. But as we develop, our palate changes. We enjoy more and more of God through his Word.

Losing Our Taste 

And yet, whether through sin or suffering, it’s possible to lose the taste you once had for the Lord and his Word.

The Christian life that begins with spiritual astonishment at the glory of the gospel and the goodness and beauty of Christian truth—the wide-eyed surprise of the infant brought into a new world of grace—can descend into a spiritual malaise. Our eyes grow heavy and our tastebuds dim.

Through the pain of suffering or the false promises of sin, we can come down with a case of Spiritual COVID. We’re fatigued and grumpy, and even worse, we can’t taste anything anymore. We eat to survive, not because the food has any taste. We become sluggish in our service, bored with the Bible, less committed to the church.

Those whose livelihoods are supported by the church or Christian ministry can be even more susceptible to this disease. The danger of serving in a Christian organization is that, over time, Jesus becomes a means to an end rather than the end itself. Before long you realize something: you’re no longer in ministry because you’re a follower of Jesus. You’re a follower of Jesus because you don’t want to lose your ministry.

Return of Taste

Thankfully, God is the great Physician who leads us to the refreshing waters of renewal and repentance. God can awaken those tastebuds again!

Three days after my sense of taste and smell were gone, I warmed up a plate of leftover spaghetti, preparing to sit down again for another meal marked by blandness. But when I opened that microwave, I caught a whiff of the tomato sauce. A glorious sensation! (Prego never smelled so good!) And that’s when I knew, it’s coming back. My sense of taste and smell were returning.

A. W. Tozer wrote:

“The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into him, that they may delight in his Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God himself in the core and center of their hearts.”

If you’re in a place today where you find it hard to taste and see that the Lord is good, don’t stop eating. Keep going to God and his Word. Eat every day, no matter how flavorless the meal.

Beg God to awaken those tastebuds again. And wait for the day when, unexpectedly, you’re jolted by the sudden smell of his grace, and the savor of his sweetness returns.- Trevin Wax

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

MORNING MANNA          1-21-22

SUFFICIENT STRENGTH

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness– 2 Corinthians 12:9

Someone has said, “God always answers our prayers, either by giving us what we ask for or by giving us something even better.” In Paul’s case, God gave him something even better.

Paul was afflicted with what he described as “a thorn in the flesh” — it was something that caused him constant pain. It was such a deep-felt difficulty that he took it fervently to God in prayer, three times pleading to have his suffering taken away.

The verse above is God’s answer to Paul.

But how was this an answer to prayer? God didn’t remove Paul’s painful burden. In fact, God told Paul that he wouldn’t remove it at all. But God’s answer to Paul’s prayer was even better: my grace is sufficient for thee.

Notice God didn’t say, “My grace is sufficient for this difficulty;” God said “My grace is sufficient for you, Paul.” Paul asked for deliverance from one ordeal, but God guaranteed him grace for every trial, throughout his life.

And, although Paul would still experience much suffering, God reminded him that this simply gave him an even greater opportunity to exalt the name of Christ. My strength, God declared, is even more evident when you are helpless. Therefore, this struggle is an opportunity for you to fulfill your purpose as a Christian, more than you ever could in a pain-free life.

Beloved, rest assured that God’s grace is still sufficient, and that his power is still being manifested through the difficulties you face in your life. What a marvelous answer to prayer this is!- Baptist Bible Hour

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