In a World of Billions... An After Christmas Letter

Fresh Manna Devotions
December 26, 2023
5
min read

Fresh Mannaby Pastor Tim BurtGreetings from the Burts! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Renee and I have been thinking about you all. We know many of you, but there are so many of you that we don’t know personally. But, the moment you engaged in reading Fresh Manna, we adopted you into our family of friends and daily prayer. We know that some of you are doing great. Some of you are hurting. Some of you have great needs, and some of you need a miracle right now. Some of you are excited about growing in the knowledge and call of Jesus on your life. We've been thinking and praying for all of you over Christmas.As we celebrate God’s gift of Jesus, gift-giving seems to be on most people's minds. If that's true, thinking about what we could give to Jesus seems appropriate! First, we can give our lives to Him by praying and asking Him to be our Lord and Savior. Second, we can propose to surrender our lives to Him so we can be transformed by His Holy Spirit and become a light to the world. And thirdly, we can work toward being more intentional to care about the lost as Jesus did and gave His life for them and us.Look around you! The world is lost and getting darker by the moment. I sincerely believe that the time of Jesus’ return for us is not far away. But, with the population of the earth approaching 8 billion people, there are only about 2.5 billion people saved.1 Timothy 1:15 (NIV) says this to us: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...” It is for this very reason I began to put Fresh Manna online—to help people come to know of and learn of Him. And to help Christians navigate this sinful world by growing strong in Him.Next week, on January 1, 2024, I will begin my 24th year of writing Fresh Manna, which started with just 60 people and has now reached millions around the world and has been read in 227 countries out of 237. (There are 193 recognized countries by the US and others and 44 unrecognized areas and territories.) The fruit of our reach has been astounding and something we could have never imagined!If you know me, you know I never ask for money (and you can relax because I am not going to now.) The one thing I've done is put a donate button on our website, which, frankly, few ever use. But that's not a problem and never a deterrent from us doing what we do.

Over the years, without us asking, people have been moved to help us reach the world prayerfully and financially. When we started we started small and did what we could on the mission field. 24 years later, the whole world has become our mission field, and the requests for the needs on the mission field never stop growing. And so, having said that, I am not asking you for anything. Like most of you, I have personally been bombarded with requests for financial support and end-of-the-year giving consideration this Christmas, just as you have. I refuse to be one more of those numbers to you. But what I will say is this. Renee and I are sold out to reaching as many as the Lord will allow us to, reaching and helping people, supporting missionaries on the ground, and helping the destitute in impoverished countries. And doing so by stewarding every dollar toward that goal. We think we do that well! I spend over 30 hours per week working (in my retirement years) doing what I am doing. We take no salary and keep our administrative costs extremely small, and we truly believe we bear good fruit as directed in Colossians 1:10: "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God." And so... if you find God leading you to help finance the gospel with greater effort and sacrifice as a gift for Him, please keep us in your prayers and thoughts. We are here, and we will keep doing what we are doing regardless—reaching the world for Christ. You are welcome to help if God so moves you to! Never feel pressure. There is no obligation or expectation. We mean that sincerely! We do ask that you please pray for us. Nothing is more important to us than our family and the work of God we do!Have a wonderfully blessed New Year filled with the presence of God’s love and blessing showered upon your life daily!Proverbs 11:25 (NLT2) "The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed."In His love,Pastor Tim and Renee BurtIf Fresh Manna is a blessing to you, I'd love to know. Click here: FreshMannaFeedback

If your heart has been touched by God's love through Fresh Manna, would you like to help Pastor Tim reach others also? Please prayerfully consider donating. No gift is too small.

Donate now!

How are your donations used? click here Published by Pastor Tim BurtCopyright© 2023 All rights reservedhttps://TimBurt.org