Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

To some, God’s word and promises are like a warm blanket in a cool room.
To others, like ridiculous babble.

To some, God’s word and promises pop despair and discouragement like a pin popping a balloon.
To others, fantasies and fairytales with no reality to them.

To some, God’s word is the instruction book on how to thrive in life.
To others, it’s do’s and don’ts and the party spoiler to sinful desires.

To some, worshipping God is the pathway to the entrance of His presence.
To others, it’s a straight-jacket or an irritant making their skin crawl and wanting to escape.

To some, prayer is like sitting down with the most wonderful dad in the world knowing of His love and desire and ability to help you and having confidence that He will.
To others, prayer is like a luck charm or fairy-tail or fantasy or a charade—an utter waste of time.

To some, church is like a hospital of people that came in sick but found the cure and have new purpose-filled lives of sharing that fellowship, knowledge, joy, and cure with the rest of the world while they love and encourage each other.
To others, church is a cult—a waste of time filled with crazy people who are utterly out of touch with reality.

To some, God’s word and promises are like a wonderful meal to an empty stomach revitalizing them with strength and energy.
To others, archaic words written thousands of years ago that have nothing to do with this life at all.

To some, God’s word and promises are like a tall drink of refreshing ice-cold water. 
To others, blah, blah, blah that leave them in contaminated pool of misery.

To some, God’s word and promises are the hope and peace that God will walk with them through life confidently knowing His desire is for peace and blessing.
To others, it’s the thorn in their side, the pebble in their shoe, the nagging thought they have to fight against to justify the misery of their lives and this world.

1 Corinthians 2:12-14 (NLT2) “And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual (haven’t received Jesus as their Lord and Savior) can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.”