Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

When I was a kid, I remember often thinking, I can’t wait till I’m an adult and I can do what I want. Wasn’t that a thought you sometimes had as you were looking forward to getting older and growing up?

Welcome to adulthood. You learned the brutal reality that you still don’t get to do everything you want. You are mature enough now to know that if you just fleshed out and did everything you felt like, your life would quickly become a disaster! There seems to be an endless list of things people are addicted to these days, and that is the result of someone letting your mind and flesh do what it wanted. So God never intended for people do to just anything! And for those what would wonder, Why did God create this evil around us?, the answer is, He didn’t. Men took what was good and perverted its use and that is why we have so many evils that are in this world. And because of that, the Christian life has to be a life of appreciated restraint.  

A Christian is one because of their revelation of who Jesus Christ is and because they have personally received Him as their Lord and Savior. At that point, this truth of restraint slowly becomes revealed and unfolded in a Christian’s heart. We see it in 1 Corinthians. 6:19-20 (NLT) “…Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”

When we can’t seem to break free from doing the wrong behaviors that we want to stop, we are in slavery. Slavery is bondage and the devil tries to enslave you in bondage to things. But the good news, though Satan has enslaved you, Jesus has made you free! 1 Corinthians 7:22 (NLT) says, “And remember, if you were a slave (to sin) when the Lord called you, the Lord has now set you free from the awful power of sin. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ.”

We are free from Satan’s grip and power. We’ve now become “a slave of Christ.” That is an awesome thing because it really represent freedom! As we learn God’s Word, we come to understand that God is good and wants good for us. We learn of His immeasurable love for us. We come to learn His desire for our lives to be filled with His blessing as He directs our path in life. Because we understand that we willingly yield ourselves to the leading of His spirit. We, as a willing slave to Christ, abandon our selfish and lustful ways. We abandon the thinking and attitude I am an adult and I can do whatever I want. Instead, in wanting to be transformed by His Holy Spirit, we yield to learn how to live a life of selflessness—a life of loving and serving others, making you a light to them. As you yield to what God speaks to your heart through His Word, you make sacrifices and push yourself in a direction His Spirit would lead you in, but that your flesh and mind would oppose and never do. It’s often like the adult supervision and parenting to a child, only instead it’s the inward leading of God’s Holy Spirit prompting and leading us—IF we will yield to Him.

God’s Word and His Spirit will reveal to us that there is thinking and behaviors that He wants us to change. For example. His word says that we are not allowed to go to bed at night when we are still angry at our spouse. He doesn’t want a second and third day of this anger taking root and leading to bitterness. He wants our temperament under control. And so He says in Ephesians 4:26 “Don’t sin by letting anger gain control over you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.”  And then He tells us in Mark 11:26, “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” In other words, forgiveness and working through issues expediently is NOT AN OPTION! And if you are yielded to Him, you will do this! And yes, His word leads us to manage our bodies in an appropriate and healthy way!

The good news is, whatever God asks you to do, He equips you to do with His grace and power. You have that power—His help within you. You are not a slave to sin.  As John 8:36 (NIV) tells us, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” The beginning of that freedom is knowing that it’s God’s truth and that Satan’s lie that you have no power over certain areas IS A LIE! That is the truth that will set you free.

Embrace it! It will produce a freedom that the world does not know! As you read God’s word and it speaks to your heart, the Holy Spirit will help and empower you to learn to do what He asks you to do until it becomes a normal part of your life. It will transform you from within and you will walk in the glorious revelation that sin has no power over you! Because of the Holy Spirit in you, you can master your flesh, your thoughts, your attitudes—every part of your life. You are not a slave. You are free and whom the Son sets free is free indeed!

On that note, go live your life the way you know God wants you to. You are empowered to do so!

John 8:36 (NIV) “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt

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Published by Pastor Tim Burt
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