MORNING MANNA            12-18-21

INVESTING IN OTHERS

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”=-1 John 4:11

A small church congregation in rural Ohio met one Sunday evening to share prayer requests and praises with one another. Toward the end of their time together, a woman in her early 30s stood up and nervously sauntered forward.

She shared…

“I want to praise God for my grandmother, who died recently. She’s the one who took me to church when I was young and introduced me to Jesus. She was a source of stability in my life when my parents divorced – a port in my storm.

“Had it not been for my godly grandmother, I shudder to think how my life would have turned out. Even though I have often failed, her example to me has been my beacon and I thank God for her. To me, she was the epitome of Jesus in the earth.”

It’s often easy to underestimate the impact our lives may have on others – but they really do, even when we don’t hear about it or receive credit immediately.

So make it a point to invest in others’ lives – especially younger people. Though they may not tell you at the time, you are making a difference!

Ask God to open your eyes to how you can make a difference in others’ lives.

Think about someone who made a real impact in your life. Did you ever tell them the full extent of the difference they made?

Who is someone in your life today in whom you can invest? – Copied

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

MORNING MANNA         12-17-21

The Priceless Gift Jesus Brought Us

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. –John 1:14

One of the great monarchs of Persia was known well as a champion of the common people. To relate to their needs and problems, he would mingle with them in various disguises.

On one particular occasion, he went as a poor citizen to the public baths. In a tiny cellar, he sat down beside the man who tended the furnace. He talked to the lonely man, and at dinnertime he ate some of his plain food. In the weeks that followed, the monarch visited the poor citizen and grew to love him dearly.

One day, the shah revealed his true identity to the man. He expected to hear a request for some expensive gift or money, but instead the poor man simply sat in silence, gazing at the monarch in awe and astonishment.

After a long period of silence, the poor man finally said respectfully, “You left your palace to sit with me in this dark place, to eat of my coarse bread, and to care whether my heart is glad or sad. You may give rich presents to others, but you have given yourself to me. Please, Your Majesty, never withdraw the priceless gift of your friendship.”

You can rejoice that God came to earth as man, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, was buried in a tomb, and was resurrected three days later so that you could have salvation and forgiveness through Him and a personal relationship with Him. Are you walking with Him daily? Are you completely sold out in your relationship with Him? Jesus broke down the wall of sin that divided you and God, so that you may have the priceless gift of His friendship and love.

Thank God for His sacrifice upon the cross. Pray that your relationship with Him would flourish into an intimate friendship and love relationship.- Senior Living

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

MORNING MANNA             12- 16-21

A HIGH AND HOLY CALLING

“I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”– Isa. 43:7

One of the great tragedies of our existence is to see men and women living wasted lives. Man, after all, was made in the image and likeness of God. He was destined for a throne, not for a bar stool. He was created to be a representative of God, not a slave of sin. In answer to the question, “What is the chief end of man?,” the Shorter Catechism reminds us that “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” If we miss that, we miss everything.

J. H. Jowett weeps as he realizes that the course of many people through the years is “not so much the transit of a man as the passage of an amoeba.” He grieves to see men who have drivelled down to be nothing more than “minor officials in transient enterprises.” He notes with pathos the epitaph of one who was “born a man and died a grocer.”

F. W. H. Myers gazes out over humanity and writes:

Only like souls I see the folk there under,

Bound who should conquer, slaves who should be kings,

Hearing their one hope with an empty wonder,

Sadly contented in a show of things.

When Watchman Nee was a young man, he was moved to see “human creative gifts squandered for an avaricious employer… In one of the shops of the old city’s lacquer street an anonymous craftsman had already spent six years on three hardwood leaves of a four-leaf screen, carving reliefs of flowers in the natural wood, white against the black lacquered surface. For this he was paid eighty cents a day, ‘rain, shine, holidays, or revolution,’ as the shop owner put it, plus his rice and vegetables and a plank to sleep on. Having once acquired skill for this work, he might make only two such screens before eyes and nerves failed and he was flung out with the beggars.”

The tragedy of life today is that men fail to appreciate their high calling. They go through life hugging the subordinate. They creep instead of fly. As someone has said, they rake around in a muck heap, not noticing the angel above them who is offering them a crown. Their time is spent making a living instead of making a life.

Many today are concerned over the spoiling of natural resources but they never think of the greater loss of human resources. Many campaign to save endangered species of birds, animals and fishes, but they can look on people wasting their lives and not be moved. One human life is worth more than the whole world. To fritter away that life is the unutterable tragedy. One woman said, “I am seventy, and I have done nothing with my life.” What could be more tragic?- William MacDonald

So may I ask you, dear friend, how are you spending your life? There are many doing nothing, but there are none with nothing to do. We exist to glorify the Lord. God forbid that we fail. – HDS

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

MORNING MANNA         12-15-21

LED BY THE LORD

“Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies”– Psalm 27:11

This is the first and vital priority in making any decision: is it God’s will, is it God’s way?

The decisions God prompts us to make will always be in complete agreement with His perfect Word, the Bible. God never leads anyone to live or act contrary to His Word, because His Word is His way for us.

The psalmist prays to be led in a plain path. This is the only kind of guidance that would do any of us any good, isn’t it? If we were required to make decisions according to wisdom we don’t have, futures we cannot see, or knowledge that is not ours then we would be doomed to failure.

But a plain path means a path that we can understand, that we can see, that we are able to follow.

Finally, the psalmist asks for plain direction because of his enemies. If you do not recognize that you are facing enemies in every decision you make—small and great—then you are deeply ignorant of the reality of this world.

You have enemy desires in your own heart that are spawned from selfish lust and pride and envy. You have enemies in the spiritual world that seek to draw you away from the path of godliness by any means necessary. Your worst enemies in a particular decision may even be well-meaning friends or family members whose priorities for you are not eternal or God-centered.- Baptist Bible Hour

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

MORNING MANNA            12-14-21

DON’T FORGET THE WORD

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:”– 1 Pet. 2:2″

 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.”– Psa. 119: 16