MORNING MANNA                 1-19-25
HERE IS MY GOD!

“–My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness–” 2 Cor. 12:9

 He was a wise man who said, “Rather than saying ‘God here is my problem’,we should put the problem into perspective by saying,’Problem, here is my God!” Indeed, we should introduce our problems to God. He is able to conquer everything that threatens us.
 
When we focus on our problem we get discouraged. But, when we shift our focus to God our view of the problems begin to shrink and we see them as manageable. However, it is not just our view that enables us to conquer our trials, as though we have the strength to overcome them. It is the greatness of God’s grace that provides the victory. Regardless of what you are facing today you can be assured that His grace is sufficient.
 
One man put it like this: “He comes to us in the brokenness of our health, in the shipwreck of our family lives, in the loss of all possible peace of mind, even in the very thick of our sins. He saves us in our disasters, not from them.”(Robert Capon).
 
That’s true. No one is exempt from problems, but everyone who puts their faith in Christ can have the assurance that God’s grace will be sufficent. After all, He who cannot lie has promised. I rest my weary soul on that. So can you! -HDS

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

MORNING MANNA             1-18-25  
THE END      
“But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬ ‭( Read 1 Peter 4:7-19)

The late Vernon Grounds said, “During the dark days of World War II, Adolf Hitler was tyrannizing Europe and herding millions of people into concentration camps. No wonder there was a widespread belief that the end of history had arrived.

Sophie Scholl, a heroic resister of the Nazi regime, made this comment in a letter to a friend just before she was executed in 1943: “People believe that we live in the endtimes, and many terrible signs make such a belief all too credible. But isn’t it irrelevant? Don’t we all realize that, no matter when we live, God can call us at a moment’s notice? How do I know if I’ll even be alive tomorrow morning?”

We need to take those words to heart. All of us live on the edge of eternity. That’s why Peter’s words to first-century followers of Christ are so important for us today ( 1 Pet.4:7-19). We too must live as if “the end of all things is at hand” (v.7), realizing that we are accountable to God (vv.17-19) and that at any second, death may terminate our earthly existence.

Are you prepared for that event? Do you view that possibility with confident assurance, knowing that the end here will mean a new and glorious beginning there? It will if your faith is in Christ, the death-conquering Savior.”

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church   

Humble, TX

MORNING MANNA              1-17-25

SERVING THE LORD WITH JOY

“Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing”. Psalm 100:2

Are you involved in service at your church? When we visit those who are in need of encouragement, it should be with joy. When we watch children in the nursery or minister to preschoolers, it should be with joy. When we sing in the choir, we should have a joyful expression on our face. When we wash the dishes at home or vacuum the living room, we should do it with joy, for even the simplest acts of life are done as unto the Lord. 

Joy is to our daily Christian duties what blossoms are to a rose bush or what a flag is to a flagpole. We aren’t to serve the Lord with weariness, drudgery, worry, or anger—we’re to serve Him with joy. 

This same truth—which is worded positively in Psalm 100—is stated in the negative in Deuteronomy 28:47-48: “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you.”

How terrible to serve the Lord with any other attitude than a continual source and supply of joy! Commit to serving with joy today. 

Joy improves our personalities, increases our energy, transforms our worship, and bears us through difficulties. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory.- Robert J. Morgan

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church  

Humble, TX

For My thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways, My ways saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth–so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts! Isaiah 55:8-9

God’s dealings are very mysterious. His way is in the sea, and His path in the mighty waters, and His footsteps are not known.
We looked for light–but behold darkness.
We expected success–but we meet with failure.
We anticipated prosperity–but we are plunged in adversity.
Our purposes are broken off.
Our plans are frustrated.
Our skies are clothed with clouds.
Beloved, such is the case with us sometimes! Our circumstances are so painful, so different from what we anticipated, that in bewilderment we exclaim, “Truly, You are a God who hides Yourself!”

God will do just as He pleases with His own children. He has the right–and He will exercise it. He will often . . .
  cross our wills,
  hedge up our paths,
  cut off our expectations, and
  give us wormwood and gall to drink!

And why? Because He loves to cause us pain–or takes pleasure in our sighs and sorrows? No! Oh, no! But because He consults our welfare. Because He is wiser than we are!

Why am I poor–and my brother rich?
Why am I sick–and my sister healthy?
Why are my efforts crossed–and my neighbor’s crowned with success?
This is often deeply trying. But our Father refuses to answer such questions! He asks, “May I not do as I will–with My own?” He kindly quiets us by the assurance, “You don’t understand now what I am doing–but someday you will.” Well did the patriarch exclaim, “He gives no account of any of His matters.”

How difficult to say sometimes, “Though He slays me–yet will I trust in Him!” How difficult to believe that this rough road is the right road—-

Our Father wisely appoints the circumstances and lot of every one of His children. He has mapped out the path in which they are to travel. He has appointed their bounds, which they cannot pass. Then with Job we say, “He is in one mind–and who can oppose him? He does whatever He pleases. He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me.”

We must not murmur, we must not complain–but patiently follow wherever the Lord leads, and quietly bear whatever He lays on us. Patience must calm the spirit, quiet the heart, and close the mouth. Then shall we say with the Psalmist, “I was silent, I opened not my mouth, because You are the One who has done this!”
Had it been man–it might have been wrong.
Had it been chance–it might have been injurious.
But it was You–and, therefore, it must be wise, holy, and kind.

We are required quietly to persevere–though the way is rugged, though the thorns pierce our feet, though we cannot see one step before us! We must walk by faith, not by sight, believing . . .
  that we are safe–in the midst of danger;
  that we are right–though everything is perplexing;
  and that all will end well–for “–we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose!” Romans 8:28  (By James Smith, 1865)

MORNING MANNA               1-6-25 The ‘Shall Not’s’ of John’s Gospel   “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John…