Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

One evening, I was hosting a special church service. We had a guest minister from Australia who ministered a powerful message. When he had finished speaking, he turned the service back over to me to pray and close.  I asked people who wanted to give their life to Jesus to come forward to the altar and receive Him into their hearts as I led them in prayer.

I also asked anyone who had wandered away from God to come up and rededicate their life to Him. The altar was suddenly flooded with people wanting prayer.

As I was finishing leading them in a prayer of salvation and re-dedication, I could see a young woman who was quite excited. I thought she was just excited about giving her life to Jesus, but she came up to me and said, I have received a miracle! She was holding her glasses in her hand and said, My eyes have been healed! I can see everything perfectly clear. I wasn’t able to see without my glasses, and now I see everything perfectly clear.  She was crying tears of joy and rejoicing over this miracle, and as the congregation was informed of what was happening, they rejoiced also!

Thomas was one of the 12 disciples who lived and traveled with Jesus for three years. He learned that when it comes to believing the scriptures and Jesus, faith takes precedence over what we can physically see. Jesus had died but had risen again. Many were talking about it. Thomas, to his own embarrassment, confessed that unless he saw the risen Jesus with his own eyes, he would not believe what others had reported—that Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus wasn’t there when Thomas spoke those words, but when Jesus appeared to Thomas, he was very much corrected and schooled in the subject of faith.

In John 20:29 (NIV), we read the words of Jesus spoken to doubting Thomas.  “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen me and believe anyway.”

Many of the Jewish leaders of Jesus’s day actually DID see the miracles of Jesus before their very own eyes but still chose not to believe them. As a matter of fact, they even declared that the miracles He did were demonically influenced. For them, seeing was not believing. They were blinded by their jealousies and insecurities about Jesus taking His rightful place of leadership. They also hated that He was exposing them for the frauds they were. The gospels reveal that many people saw Jesus heal others yet failed for numerous reasons to believe for themselves. Hebrews 4:2 (NIV) says, “For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”

You do not have the benefit of seeing Jesus physically healing others with your own eyes today. He is not walking the earth in the flesh. If it was a struggle for some of them when he was there in person, then how much more might it be for you to believe today? We are all surrounded by sick people. We are all surrounded by those who would mock you for believing something that sounds so crazy as believing that Jesus still heals today! Yet, our belief must be empowered by knowing the nature of God and His will as revealed in His Word. It is belief in what God’s word says and promises us that will give you the faith and strength to stand against the attacks of unbelief that work to undermine your heart’s faith.

To the skeptic, the story of the creation, the parting of the Red Sea, Jonah and the whale, the miracles of Jesus, and all things true that God has given us to build and inspire our faith are nothing more than fairy tales and stories to be explained away or written off.

When it comes to spiritual truths, God’s Word says that there is a higher form of seeing—the ability through faith to see through the eyes of your heart what God’s word promises. Ephesians 1:18 (NIV) says, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which God has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance…” In Revelation, chapter 19, one of the names given to Jesus is “The Word of God.” We can trust Jesus, and we can trust the Word of God to be true.

The prophet Isaiah, 700 years before Jesus’ death, prophesied and described the life and death of Jesus. He painted a picture of the Messiah (Jesus) who would come and be punished for our sins. He would pay the price not only for our sins but for our sicknesses and diseases. Isaiah 53:3-5 (TLB) wrote: “We despised him and rejected him—a man of sorrows, acquainted with the bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we didn’t care. Yet it was our grief he bore, our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, for his own sins! But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed—and we were healed! ”

The Hebrew words for grief mean sickness and disease—“by His stripes, we were healed.” Jesus was beaten and punished for our sins to deliver us not just from sin but from the curse of sin—sickness, poverty, lack, despair, and all that sin has permeated the earth with. Jesus came to destroy Satan’s attacks. 1 John 3:8 (NKJV) “… For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

When you are facing impossible situations, God’s promises speak loudly to them. Belief in His word and promises is what creates faith in your heart for help, healing, and peace from God. Isaiah knew he was speaking to a world of mockers and doubters, so by the inspiration of God; he spoke,  “Who has believed our message or report? To whom will the Lord reveal His saving power?” (Isaiah 53:1) The answer to that question is, to those who believe!

If you are convinced of God’s love and desire to help you on any level, let the promises of God and the works of Jesus build your faith and encourage and anchor you so that you can remain strong in faith in the storm of impossible circumstances. Let the Word and promises of God encourage your heart and bring you fresh hope today! Pray and believe and don’t waiver despite circumstances. In doing so, you’ll experience a lifetime of miracles, great and small, as the touch of Jesus touches your life again and again.

Mark 9:23 (NKJV) “Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt

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