MORNING MANNA            10-21-21

 LET GO AND LET GOD

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” – Psalm 55:22

I loved listening to, or reading, messages from the late Vance Havner. That old country preacher from the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains in North Carolina was one of a kind. He had a unique way of saying things that got your attention. Here’s his comment on our text:

“Some dear souls get the impression that faith is an attitude, a spiritual pose, which must be strenuously maintained for dear life. So they grit their teeth and screw themselves up to believe in tense earnestness, afraid to let go for a moment. We might as well try to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.

Trusting God is exactly the very opposite of all that. Hudson Taylor worked hard trying to develop faith, until he stopped looking at his faith and learned to rest in the Faithful one. You will blow up trying to work yourself up to just the right pitch. Faith begins by letting go, stretching out on the promises, not by taking a deep breath, clenching your fists, and resolving to trust or bust.

If we are to roll our burden upon the Lord, the only move on our part is to roll it, then leave it. Of course, if we never leave it, it rolls back and we spend all our time rolling instead of resting. He will keep what we commit-and leave committed.”

“Let go and let God” is too often a proverb instead of a practice.”

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

MORNING MANNA            10-20-21

THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT

“ Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”- Eph. 6:11

“ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”- Eph. 6:17
Christians should be ever mindful that they are engaged in a spiritual warfare. Whether we win or lose depends on what we depend on and nothing short of the armor of God will do. And a key component is the word of God – our offensive weapon. Speaking of that, J. C. Philpot wrote:

“There is only one weapon whereby we can fight Satan to any purpose, and that is the word of God. But observe, that it must not be merely the letter of the word. It must be the “sword of the Spirit,” and therefore a spiritual sword, which can only be taken in hand when the word of God is applied with a divine power to your heart, and you have a living faith in it as made “life and spirit” to your soul. It is of no use my bringing forward a text to resist a temptation of Satan, unless I can make that text my own; in other words, unless I can handle that sword as one who knows how to wield it. To take up a text and not know the sweetness and power of it, would be like a child taking up a warrior’s sword without having the warrior’s hand. He might play with the sword, but what is the sword of a giant in the hand of a child?

The sword of Scanderbeg, a famous Albanian warrior against the Turks, used to be shown at Vienna. A man who once looked at and handled it said, “Is this the sword which won so many victories? I see nothing in it; it is but a common sword.” The answer was, “You should have seen the arm that wielded it.” So it is not merely taking a text, adopting scripture language, and quoting passages, which will beat back the fiery assaults of Satan. This is having Scanderbeg’s sword without having Scanderbeg’s arm. But it is having the word of truth brought into our heart by the power of God, faith raised up to believe that God himself speaks it to our heart, being thus enabled to wield it in the strength of the Spirit and by the power of faith in living exercise, to resist every hellish thrust.

In this battle we must not give way. To flee is to be conquered, for, as Bunyan well says, there is no armor for the back. Thus even if in this conflict you should slip and fall, lie not still as a conquered captive, but get up again and fight. “Resist Satan, and he will flee from you.” He is a conquered enemy; he cannot destroy you if you are the Lord’s. The word of truth, therefore, is full of most gracious promises, and sweet encouragements “to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ,” and never in heart or hand submit to be conquered by sin or Satan.”

Your only hope of surviving the trials is to depend upon the only Book that has survived the test of time. – HDS

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

MORNING MANNA             10-19-21

This Thing Is from Me

–who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? –Deut. 4:11

“How can a God of love, who has everything in His control, let such a thing happen to me?” So asked a young woman who had received severe injuries through a fall from a horse. “Crippled for life,” she overheard the doctor say.

The pastor was silent for a moment. “Did you suffer much pain when they put you in the cast?”

“The pain was terrible,” she replied.

“Where was your father then?”

“He stood right by me,” she replied.

“Did your father allow the doctor to hurt you that way?”

“Yes, but that was necessary.”

“Did your father allow the doctor to hurt you even though he loved you, or because he loved you?”

“You mean to suggest that because God loves me, He also allowed

me to be hurt?”

The pastor answered with a nod. “ ‘This thing is from Me.’ Let these five words comfort you. They will furnish a silver lining to the cloud. Yours is not a case of ‘hard luck.’ This trial was planned by God.”

If you are His child, He is preparing you for better service. Shakespeare said: “In sickness, let me not so much say, ‘Am I getting better of my pain; but am I getting better for it.’ ”

Let us not say, “When will I be getting out of this?” but, “What will I be getting out of this?” He will draw you closer to Him through this trial. –copied

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church

Humble, Tx.

MORNING MANNA           10-18-21

PRAYER WITHOUT CEASING

“Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him”– Acts 12:5

A precious scene is placed before us, even in the midst of an otherwise tragic and painful time for the early church. James had just been martyred by Herod, and the apostle Peter is in prison. But neither the threat of persecution nor the darkness of discouragement separated the church from each other.

While Peter sits on a cold, hard floor, the saints of God kneel before God in unceasing intercession on his behalf. It seems the more suffering is inflicted on the church, the more pressure is exerted upon the church, the closer they grow to God and to each other.

It is sad and wrong that so often, in today’s prosperous and peaceful Western culture, Christians so easily stumble and divide over petty and unimportant issues. We are oversensitive to criticism or correction; we feel as though others should forebear us, but we are not willing to forebear others. Offenses or differences which would go unnoticed in a time of persecution are made insurmountable obstacles to fellowship in the time of prosperity.

Doubtless James (one of the “sons of thunder”) and Peter (who was always putting his foot in his mouth) had at times said and done some things that were disagreeable to others in the church. But those offenses are forgotten now, as the church hears of James’ death and Peter’s imprisonment.

Brothers and sisters, don’t wait until persecution, or loss, or pain comes in order to love each other fervently. Look over faults; forgive wrongs; let go of past grievances. Love, and pray for, each other now! (Baptist Bible Hour)

Dear friend, even as you read this there are many who are in a prison of a different sort. It might be health problems, emotional trauma, spiritual issues, domestic difficulties, vocational, financial, etc. And they are in desperate need of God’s help. God forbid that we fail to pray for them. Your prayers can literally make the difference between someone’s destruction and deliverance! – HDS 

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

MORNING MANNA            10-16-21