Morning Manna by Rufus Parker: Morning Manna by Rufus Parker

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Morning Manna by Rufus Parker - 10 February 2021

A Good Soldier

“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” (2 Timothy 2:1-4)

Today’s Morsel: For twenty-eight years, four months, and nine days; or 10, 360 days, 248,640 hours, 14,918, 400 minutes, 898,704,000 seconds, I was a U.S. Army Soldier. From day one, I quickly realized that the military was not about me, but rather about the defense of our nation. When I enlisted, I was told that if the Army would have wanted me to have a wife, they would have issued me one! They wanted nothing distracting me from the mission. I needed to separate myself to be a good soldier. The U.S Military has had many men and women who have separated themselves from their goals, dreams, and families, to defend other’s rights and this nation's way of life. Writing to Timothy, the apostle Paul told him to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou , therefore, endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. When Jesus chooses us into His army, we cannot be entangled with the affairs of this life. We must separate ourselves. As Paul states to the church at Corinth: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18) If you want to be a good soldier for Jesus, then you must separate yourself from this world.

Sing: Well, I’m a soldier in God’s army, and I'm fighting, I'm claiming victory; I will not give up, I will not turn around, I’m a soldier marching heaven-bound.

Thought For Today: “If you want to be a good soldier for Jesus, then you must separate yourself from this world.” (Parker)

1 comment:

Stan 1000February 10, 2021 at 3:07 PM
Bring it preacher!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add 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.