Morning Manna by Rufus Parker: Morning Manna by Rufus Parker

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Morning Manna by Rufus Parker - 12 December 2020

Criticism

“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:1-4)

Today’s Morsel: People do not like to be criticized these days. But really, corrective criticism is good for you. If you never get your feelings hurt, you are not growing nor will you be able to endure in this life. Someone needs to tell you that your deodorant is not working, and you need to be able to accept it and fix the problem. You need to be able to sandwich every bit of criticism between two layers of praise. Paul told Timothy to reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. To reprove is to criticize and to rebuke is to criticize. But to exhort is to encourage and inspire. Just think how much stronger our encouragement should be when we are reproved and rebuked from all sides by our spiritual leaders and others.

Sing: He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. Surely, He bore all our sorrows and by His stripes we are healed.

Thought For Today: Sandwich every bit of criticism between two layers of praise.

1 comment:

Stan 1000December 12, 2020 at 5:07 PM
Amen. I've taught that principle to my son when he was little and he still remembers it today. Fix me Jesus cause I still need you today!
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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.