Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give unto you power…”

I’m sure that you, like me, have read many inspirational and motivational stories over the years. Children today are told stories all the time followed by the words You can do anything if you put your mind to it! I like that people are inspired. It’s better than being told You are good for nothing and you won’t amount to anything. Positive and encouraging words spoken over others is something God’s word encourages us to do. But, those words are meant to be rooted in God’s word with the promise of the Holy Spirit working in us and helping lead us in reaching our dreams. That is where the power to overcome obstacles and discouragement comes from! To think we can do anything that is significant in His eyes without His guidance and power is futile thinking. The only power available in this world it the power of God. 

Before you give your life to Jesus Christ, God’s Word makes it clear that you are stuck in Satan’s grip and power. No one wants to hear that. You might think, How could that be possible? I’m not under Satan’s power. I remember thinking that when someone was sharing Jesus with me before I gave my life to Him. God’s Word makes it clear that when we receive Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Savior—we change kingdoms and are rescued from Satan’s power and brought under and given God’s power. Colossians 1:13 says, “God who has delivered us from Satan’s power, the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son Jesus…” And then Acts 1:8 reveals our new source of power saying,“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…”

I was recently talking to a man whose life had diminished drastically from disease. He had lost almost half his body weight over the past six months and could barely walk. He had lost most of his strength. The little walking he did, was to go outside of his house and have a cigarette. Despite all his health issues, he could not quit. I see this continuously when I to a hospital to visit someone. I always see hospital workers standing outside having a cigarette break. They know first-hand the damage cigarettes do to people because they care for them daily. If you were to research stats on the amount of money gambled and lost each year, the amount of money spent on alcohol and recreational drugs and the addictions and the problems and deaths they’ve caused, if you will look into the amount of money spent on cigarettes and the health issues and deaths they have caused, if you will look into the amount of money it takes police to catch, prosecute, and jail or imprison criminals, or the amount of money spent on our military to defend our country from enemies, you will find that we squander, waste, and spend the majority of the world’s wealth—literally trillions of dollars on evil or the protection from it. Surely this world is under Satan’s grip and his power. People don’t have the power do to do anything they want. They don’t even have the power to stop evil thinking and actions in their lives without the power of Jesus.

To most people the thought of power is comic-book—more of a fantasy, a super-hero movie or game, but not something adults generally give all that much thought to. God wanted us not only to know of His power, but to experience it at the most base level of our lives. He wanted us to experience the power to make sound godly moment-by-moment decisions with the courage and strength to carry them out. Remember that the next time you begin something as simple as a diet! How many people quit a diet in a day? God’s power, the only real power, is needed!

Think of power in this way. Think of it as the supernatural and inward strength of God working within you to actually live godly and upright in thought and actions in a world of corruption and evil. Think of it as the power bringing you courage and boldness to stand up for your faith in God and what you believe. Think of it as the supernatural power of God working behind the scenes to work through your prayers and to guide your steps and life. Think of it as the strength of restraint from God to say yes to right choices and no to temptations!

“Behold, I give unto you power…” If you are a believer, God has made His power available to you and within you! If you walk in faith believing in it because you know God promises it to you, then it becomes tangible to you. To be inspired is good, but motivation can be a flash in the pan—quick in coming and quick in departing. Faith in God’s power working within you should become the core of your belief system and a blessing and strength that you draw from and experience day by day!

2 Peter 1:3-4 (NKJV) “…His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”  

In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt  

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