Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

I was recently praying for someone whose life has been a disaster. She’s messed up her life so bad, that it could seem impossible to turn around… unless of course, your life was like that and the Lord turned your life around. Then you’d have faith for someone like this! As I was praying for her, the Lord instantly reminded me of my own life and how He completely turned me around. 

My life was a mess when I came to the Lord 44 years ago. I was an alcoholic. I was a drug addict. My entire personality and character and been dragged through the pit of dysfunction. But then one day someone told me I needed Jesus. I agreed. She led me in a prayer inviting Jesus into my life and little did I know how much it would alter the course of my life.

The Holy Spirit took residence in my heart and began to help me see life through God’s eyes. I started reading the Bible, attending a Bible-teaching church, and attending a Bible study, and my life soon began a 180-degree turn. I stopped drinking. I stopped using drugs. I developed new friends that encouraged me in a good direction and taught me how to pray. I went back to school. I started a business and invented the first commercial fold-down infant changing table you now see worldwide in public restrooms everywhere. I sold that business while studying to go into the ministry and eventually became a Pastor. And by the grace of God, my life has been able to influence millions. Who would have ever guessed that a simple heart-felt prayer would lead to such a miraculously changed life?

The Bible tells us of another really messed up person in Luke 8:27-39. “As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was possessed by demons came out to meet him. For a long time he had been homeless and naked, living in a cemetery outside the town. As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down in front of him. Then he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was placed under guard and put in chains and shackles, he simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon’s power. Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, for he was filled with many demons. The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit. There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons begged him to let them enter into the pigs. So Jesus gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned. When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed…The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him home, saying, “No, go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you.” So he went all through the town proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him.” 

This man and I had something in common with those who receive and experience Jesus’ love. We experienced a life transformation! This is what the Lord reminded me of this morning when I was praying for this person whose life is so utterly messed up. It was like the Lord nudged me and said, “It’s okay, this is my specialty and my love never fails… So pray! “

I don’t know what problems you may have this morning but I know this. I know that I am praying for you, and I know that “… You have already won a victory… because the Spirit of God who lives in you is greater than any adversarial and demonic spirit who lives in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt

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