Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

Ever have a bad day?  Who hasn’t?  What do you do on those kinds of days? Throw in the towel? Quit? Give up? Compound it by self-indulgent fleshly pleasure that only makes things worse?

If I ever have a day I wish I could reboot or do over, that’s my cue to begin a new day right then. I do so by reminding myself that the circumstances I’m in are temporary, and that God He has a plan and purpose for my life that He wants me to walk out. To understand this as a Christian, is one life’s greatest blessings. The Bible calls it one of life’s mysteries that He has revealed to those who love Him and have received Jesus as their Savior! God has had a plan and purpose for our lives before He even created us! 2 Timothy 1:9-10 (NLT) reveals this truth saying, “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time—to show us His grace through Christ Jesus. And now He has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News.” 

The devil tries to orchestrate trouble so you’ll be discouraged, give up, and throw your life away! God persuades you to seek Him, reboot through prayer, and remind yourself of His plan for you! Remembering that God has a plan and a purpose for you each and every day, stirs the desire in you to walk worthy of it. Colossians 1:10 NKJV reminds us, “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

Instead of letting the hard days discourage me, I let them remind me that despite all my flaws, Jesus has always had a plan for me and kindly made me righteous as a gift of His grace. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) says, “God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus paid the price so that we could be made righteous in God’s eyes. He put a robe of righteousness on upon each of us who believe so that we’d be clean in His eyes. Isaiah 61:10 (NIV) says “I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For He has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.” 

These verses remind us that through Jesus, God has done the spiritual work that allows us to be His child, adopted into His family by grace—His gift, not our efforts. We are made perfect in His eyes. He sees our white robe of righteousness that is a statement that we belong to Him forever! God chooses to see us washed through Jesus despite our inadequacies and failures.

The Holy Spirit helps us in our day-to-day makeover—the transformation and developing of godly thinking, attitude, motivation, words and conduct.  Knowing these things, I make a renewed decision today and every day to have a life of strong faith fueled by the revelation of God’s love that I am His child. I must forgive myself after I’ve asked Him to forgive me. I must forgive others as He has forgiven me. I must love others and do what’s right no matter what anyone else does to me because I am a person who has a purpose! I am to be the light and influence of Jesus to them—today! And so are you!

And so I think about something from God’s word that lifts me up. I go to the Bible and put my eyes on it. I lift my heart and thank God for it. And then I am geared up and ready to encourage someone else with that precious truth from God’s Word that just encouraged me.

Did you know that is exactly God’s day-today plan?  Isaiah 50:4 (NLT2) reveals this! “The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to His will.” Do you see it? It says God speaks to you and gives you His wisdom to encourage you. He gives it to also encourage the weary. I promise you there is always someone around you that is weary! There is your daily plan and purpose and it’s powerful! It just happened to me yesterday. One of my readers wrote me saying, I’m depressed. I am a broken person. I wrote her back saying, Jean, have you ever brought a dented can of soup or vegetables, etc? Though the can might look dented, what’s inside is great! You ARE NOT damaged goods! You are the adopted daughter of God through Jesus Christ! That should make you shout with joy!  She immediately felt better! It’s great when God encourages your heart, but when you then share it to encourage someone else’s heart, it lights your fire and makes your day!

We may have bad days or bumps in the road, but we can cast out discouragement and set our eyes upon Him and the magnificent gift of having a purpose-filled life. We can move forward with excitement and joy getting our eyes off ourselves and instead reaching out to those around us. This is where joy and strength comes from and how we will arise again and again. This is what we do on or after a bad day! We remember! We remember who we are in Jesus and our life’s purpose! Now get up and go shine!

Isaiah 50:4 (NLT2)  “The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to His will.”

In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt 

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Published by Pastor Tim Burt
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