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Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt
There have been a few different studies published that have reported of different things that improve with age. One said, Personalities improve with age. Another said, Love improves with age. Another said, Sex improves with age. Another said, Wine improves with age. I can just hear a few of you thinking, They didn’t improve with age in my life.
God’s will for us as Christians is that we improve with age. When God created man He spoke and said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…” Genesis 1:26 That would be a maturing process as we learned of Jesus, received Him as our Savior, and then let transformation happen within us guided and helped by the power of the Holy Spirit who would live within us. He gave Pastors and other spiritual gifts to aid…
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Philippians 1:27-27
27 Only conduct your lives in a way worthy of the Good News of the Messiah; so that whether I come and see you or I hear about you from a distance, you stand firm, united in spirit, fighting with one accord for the faith of the Good News, 28 not frightened by anything the opposition does. This will be for them an indication that they are headed for destruction and you for deliverance. And this is from God;
It is when we set aside our fear of the circumstances around us and trust fully in God’s salvation that is Yeshua, that we become an example to the world around us. Lord keep me in Your will so that I can stand firmly with other believers and help encourage them. Amen.
“I have decided to follow Jesus’ example of showing mercy and covering the disenfranchised with grace.” – Pastor Lionel
**If you are in need of prayer (Ephesians 6:18), please click “Prayer Request.” I would love to pray for you.
Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion. And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting. Psalm 133:3
Normally, when we think of a desert we think of a harsh wilderness with little or no plant-life. A climate that has little value or beauty. Nothing could be further from the truth! The desert can actually be a very beautiful place. It may not have lakes with sky-blue water, or luscious grass and shade producing trees, but even without these things, Deserts can be far from a harsh wasteland of nothing-ness.
What allows the desert to be able to produce such beauty? The answer may be dew!
Professor Pinhas Alpert of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences states that, even though dew is considered a nuisance in some areas, it is actually very beneficial for plant growth. This is especially true in arid areas of the world.
In temperate zones of the world, plants grow best in the middle of the day, when the most sunlight is available. But in arid areas, plants tend to shut down during the hottest part of the day to preserve moisture. They grow best in the early morning hours and it could very well be due to dew!
Dew surrounds the plant with much needed moisture from the air. Moisture the plant needs to grow healthy and strong so that it can withstand the harsh climate of arid areas. Alpert states, “In the early morning, dew surrounds the leaves of a plant with moisture, and the plant does not close its stomata. Therefore, it can grow.”
Just as dew protects the plant and spurs its growth, the psalmist says that harmony protects the human soul and allows it to be healthy. Our world is full of crisis. Families are in disarray, our political system is broken, new diseases seem to be developing every day and natural disasters seem to be just around the corner.
The best way to keep our spiritual and emotional health is to be surrounded by the ‘dew’ of harmony that can only be found in close relationship to Jesus Christ and our Christian family. To neglect those two essentials is to abandon the one thing that will help us grow strong when life becomes a wilderness.
Hebrews 10:25 tells us to never avoid the opportunity to fellowship. Fellowship creates the ‘dew’ of harmony we need to endure the wilderness.
PRAYER: Father God, surround us with the dew of sweet harmony we can only get through the indwelling of your Holy Spirit. Surround us with your love and protect us from the harsh world in which we live. Amen.
He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done. 2 Chronicles 29:2
I shouldn’t have done it. I knew better. But…I did.
Maybe you know what it’s like. If there are 100 people listening to you speak and 99 tell you have well you did, but one was critical, you feel defeated. Never mind the fact that 99% of the people liked what you had to say. The fact that one…just 1% of the people were negative sticks to your ego like glue.
I keep telling myself it’s not about me, it’s about God working through me. The truth is, when I can’t please people I feel defeated. One time I was at a speaking engagement and a gentleman came up to me after one of my presentations and proceeded to tell me all the reasons I was wrong. Even though I had many accolades, his words stuck with me.
A few months, after another engagement in a nearby town, I saw this man moving through the crowd towards me. I braced myself for another negative onslaught. This time, however, he was full of praise for me and all I had to say.
I walked away from our conversation with two thoughts running through my mind. One was, “I feel so good about me.” The second one was, “Wait a minute! Why am I letting him dictate my self-esteem?”
Maybe you are like me. It’s easy to let the opinions of others affect how you feel about yourself, about your God and about others. On the one hand we profess the belief that how God feels about us, and how we feel about ourselves is all that really matters. On the other hand, during those quiet, honest times of our lives, we admit that the view others have of us holds great power.
Hezekiah was a 20-something when he became King of Judah. His dad, Ahaz, was one of the most godless kings of Judah. Hezekiah saw the harm his father caused. He looked back further to see how God had blessed Judah during David’s reign. With his dependence on God, he brought the nation back to dependence on God. While Scripture doesn’t say it, there must have been some who questioned this young man’s decisions. He didn’t relent. He didn’t allow the opinions of others distract him. Instead, he focused on God and his word.
Hezekiah wasn’t perfect. He made some mistakes later in life. Still, my prayer for myself is that my legacy would be the same legacy that 2 Chronicles spells out. “He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done.”
PRAYER: Father God. There are so many times I measure my success by how others react to me. There are so many times my self-worth and confidence is based on how others feel about me, rather than how I follow you. Forgive me for seeing others above you. May I do right in your eyes more so than in the eyes of those around me. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 