Morning Manna by Rufus Parker: 2011 January 17

Monday, January 17, 2011

2011 January 17 - Morning Manna

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31-32)

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17)

Today's Morsel: Freedom! What comes to your mind when you hear that word? Whether many know it or not, they, like some of the children of Israel, were born into slavery. Paul said, by one man (Adam) disobedience made many sinners, but by one man's (Jesus Christ) obedience, were many made righteous. When we are slaves to sin, we have no freedom. As Solomon said, "The ways of a transgressor is hard." It isn't easy being a sinner. Don't let the world fool you. Sinning in hard business. You have to cheat, lie, steal, deceive, and compromise your integrity to be a sinner. When you are a sinner you have to be on the lookout for who is going to backstab you at every corner. There isn't any freedom in this way of life. But Solomon also said that a just man is satisfied from himself. In other words when I am free from me, I'm free. And that's what Jesus came to do, to make me free.

In August 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke about bringing about justices for all. At the end of his famous, "I have a dream speech," he concluded with these words, "When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Are you free?

Sing: Once like a bird in prison I dwelt, no freedom from my sorrow I felt, but Jesus came and listened to me, glory to God, He set me free.

He set me free, yes, He set me free. He broke the bars of prison for me, I'm glory bound my Jesus to see, glory to God He set me free!

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Morning Manna

And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God. And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat (Exodus 16:10-15).

“Morning Manna” is a short daily devotion which began in 2002, with just a short note of encouragement to a friend who was facing difficulties at the time. Through their response, I was encouraged to begin a daily devotion via email and send it to people who asked to be put on the distribution list. It is now reaching around the globe. Its birth came about during Morning Prayer. The Lord revealed to me that I should forward my friend a word of encouragement, since it is through patience and comfort of the scripture that we find hope. Thus, I forwarded him the words the Lord had given to me for him, and he forwarded it on to someone else who was having difficulties in their life as well, and thus the original list began.

The goal of “Morning Manna” is to provide people with a quick, thought provoking Word from the Lord, as well as provide encouragement from His Word that can help them through the day and during unexpected trails and circumstances in their daily lives.

Several years ago, Jesus moved on my heart to start writing daily devotions; thus began “Morning Manna”. Today, many people are receiving these daily devotions and many of these people are forwarding it on to their family and friends. It is my hope to encourage even more through posting the devotions to this blog-page.

I pray that you, too, will enjoy reading the manna from this site.