God Lives Within You!

Fresh Manna© by Pastor Tim Burt

HI Fresh Manna Readers: Renee and I will be on a vacation for the next week and I will resume writing on Tuesday, Sept.4th. You can go to http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/ and read from the archives while I am gone if you so wish. Be blessed! Pastor Tim

Acts 17:27-28 ” God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being…We are His offspring.”

I was in a special place in the Lord this morning and it made me laugh. Let me tell you about it.

I got up early this morning as I do most, to spend time in the Word of God and to take time just to worship Him. I just opened my Bible to the book of Acts and began reading in Chapter 17. I was reading about the Apostle Paul in his journeys of taking the gospel to those that had never heard it.

He was in Athens preaching in a public area surrounded by many pagan statues; one of them called the ’unknown god.’ He was preaching to those around him about the ‘unknown god’. Part of what He said to them is revealed in Acts 17:24-28. It reads, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.”

When I got to the words, “…For in him we live and move and have our being,” I just paused. I felt impressed to just take those Words and being to worship the Lord as I meditated upon them. As I was thinking about the awesomeness of God, His Holiness, His power, His majesty, His great mercy and grace, I could begin to see all of my human failings and weaknesses. I so desire to be like Him and work hard to be pure and represent the Lord in a right manner as a Christian. But, when I get in presence of God, I quickly see how ‘unclean’ and ‘unworthy’ I am in myself. Now it isn’t the Lord making me feel this way. Nor, am I one to beat myself up. It’s just that when I am in the presence of God, the reality of Isa 64:6 comes to rings true. It says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

But, in that quiet and special place in the Lord, that profound truth of my personal righteousness being like filthy rags is stopped short by my Heavenly Father. At times like this, the Lord did what He always does when I am in this place. He reminds me that He, through Jesus Christ, has made me His offspring – through faith. Then the Lord reminds me of a verse that is an anchor of my soul. 2 Cor 5:21 says, “God made Jesus, who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” God made me righteous through Jesus Christ. His righteousness is accredited to me despite myself. The Bible paints the picture of God putting a white robe that covers my faults upon me. He did this when I accepted Jesus as my Savior. So, I don’t stand in my own righteousness or ability to be like the Lord. I do the best I can, but by His mercy and grace, I stand righteous before Him by His doing through Jesus.

When I come into the place of being in God’s presence, this truth is what allows me to stay in His presence. He has made me righteous. From there I can continue to mediate on today’s Fresh Manna verse, “For in Him we live and move and have our being….We are his offspring.” I’m awed that He has chosen to not only make us His children, but that He has chosen to lives in us and we in live in Him. His power, His heart and mind, the leading of His Spirit – they are within us as we stay with Him. That means there are some pretty awesome things that God is able to do through our lives as we surrender to Him. I want that for my life. I know deep down that you do too!

While in this intimate time with the Lord, I was requesting that He use me in a special way today. So, you ask, what made me laugh? While in this special place, I suddenly had to go to the bathroom. I went into the downstairs bathroom which my boys primarily use when they are over. As I was sitting there, I suddenly noticed there was no toilet paper on the roll. Looking further I saw no Kleenex in the box. I thought, “Am I ever going to be able to teach my sons how to simply refill these things when they empty them?” Then I started laughing. This was the beginning of my super spiritual quest today – the thought of bathroom training. I just had to laugh about how though I can spend such special times with God, yet I have to incorporate what I get from Him in the most practical and natural settings of life. All this revelation from God as I moved from one throne to another. Be blessed as used of Him today. You are His offspring and in Him we live and move and have our being!

His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2007 Tim Burt, All rights reserved.

What is Fresh Manna? God’s Word – the Bible, should be exciting and alive to us. God wants to speak to us through His Holy Spirit and give us a fresh word from heaven every day. Fresh Manna is a daily devotional – that nourishment of daily bread from His heart to ours!

Be Strong in the Face of Adversity!

Fresh Manna© by Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

Psalm 28:7 “The Lord is my strength, my shield from every danger. I trust in him with all my heart”

Life has its hardships. As a Christian, you are in an earth that has been defiled by Satan. He has turned the earth into a spiritual battlefield. Although he is not a god, he pretends to be and has many that believe in him. That is why he is called the god of this world. 2 Cor 4:4 reveals this truth saying, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” When you sin, you are actually empowering him and his cause. We live in this earth but it is a defiled earth that has been touched by Satan and sin. That’s why there is so much death and destruction here. Our true home that will be undefiled by sin and Satan’s touch is Heaven. Concerning those that have lived before us by faith in God, Heb 11:13-16 says, “…they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland…. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.” For those that have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior, this will be their homeland also – your homeland!

Knowing this then, we need to not just see ourselves as living day by day, but living in a place that Satan has made a spiritual battlefield. You know it’s true! Satan has tried to make you sick, steal your livelihood and finances, break up relationships with those you love, and disrupt your life in a hundred ways. Because he has, we need God’s direction and wisdom for every step. God is more than willing to help us. His Word sets up boundaries that are not meant to deprive us of good things or fun, but instead to help us avoid minefields where we might step on a mine.

Yesterday, in my writings I told you about David’s discouragement and how he encouraged his heart. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that they have been some of the most important verses in the Bible to me in standing strong in adversity. Because of that, I want to take a risk by talking with you about them again today.

In 1 Sam 30:3-3 we read about David and all his men coming back from a victorious series of battles of surrounding enemies. As they were returning home after being gone for a long time, they saw smoke. They then found out that their enemies had burnt their town to the ground and more. It says, “When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.” David’s men were so discouraged that they wanted to lash out and blame someone. They wanted to stone him as their leader. David’s family was also taken and he was just as discouraged as they were but instead of letting the discouragement overcome him so that he also was useless, we are told in verse 6, “but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.”

This wasn’t David learning some principle to execute in His life. This was David’s character. He had learned to praise and worship and sing to the Lord in all the trials of life. He wrote songs speaking of God’s promises of deliverance. He knew what God had promised him and had seen God work in his life over and over. He refused to think this was one of those times God had abandoned Him!

The devil would like you to think that God has abandoned you. No He has not! He never will! It’s only about if you have abandoned your faith in Him. David looked Goliath in the face. Moses looked at the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army coming at him. Daniel looked at the lions. Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego, looked at a fiery furnace. Paul a raging sea. They all trusted God and saw His deliverance and help. God alone is worthy of your full and complete trust!

Let the Word of God speak PROMISE to you EVERY day. Read those promises. Proclaim them over your family and circumstances. Rebuke the devil and move forward. If you’re a husband, your wife and children want a dad that is a leader, not a quitter. If you were upbeat because you trusted God in the face of adversity and your heart, your face, your countenance, your words, and your actions showed it, they’d be happy with you and follow your lead no matter what the circumstance. Take authority over the thief in your life. Rebuke him in Jesus name. Put your hand to the plow and work hard asking Him for guidance every step of the way. Praise God together and believe He will turn things around. God wants you working and praying and believing for his best.

Put your name in His promises and write them out. Then say them, declare them, sing them, and get your family to pray them in faith together.

Psalm 28:7 (NLT)
The Lord is Tim Burt’s strength, my shield from every danger.
I trust in him with all my heart.
He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.
I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

I can honestly say to all of you, I’ve been in many hard and seemingly impossible circumstances. But, by the grace of God, I’ve kept my wife upbeat because I’ve stayed upbeat. We always expected God to be around the corner with our answers. He always took care of us till we did get in that right place.

If you’ve been overcome by woe, repent to your family. Discipline your life to spend time with God and then take the joy and promise of His Word to your family. Stir all their faith and believe God together. You will see God arise!

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2007 Tim Burt, All rights reserved.

What is Fresh Manna? God’s Word – the Bible, should be exciting and alive to us. God wants to speak to us through His Holy Spirit and give us a fresh word from heaven every day. Fresh Manna is a daily devotional – that nourishment of daily bread from His heart to ours!

The Fragrance of a Victory for Jesus

Fresh Manna© by Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

2 Cor 2:14 “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.”

If some people were to read this scripture, they would say that the Apostle Paul wrote this just as kind of raa – raa exhortation because it certainly isn’t true – no one ALWAYS triumphs in life! Paul isn’t just trying to exhort us but to help us see that in every situation, we can have victory and triumph. He isn’t saying that every circumstance – to our natural eyes – will turn out with the appearance of great victory. To the contrary, many people encounter experiences of disaster, calamity, and great loss and pain. For someone that has just had their home and belongings washed away in a flood or who has lost loved ones, it would be easy to say, “Where is the triumph and victory in that?” It can seem and feel impossible to imagine God bringing victory and triumph to a situation that painful.

Then there are battles we want to fight that result in victory and they’ll bring great joy. I was recently talking with a gentleman who along with his wife, fought hard to succeed at what was a deteriorating marriage and close to divorce. They instead went to professional counseling and each made hard and deliberate changes determined to have a successful marriage. They now have that and are triumphing in Christ in this victory over Satan and his plan to get them to fail.

When circumstances don’t seem to go your way and yet you are able to stay above the circumstances knowing in faith that God will help you, that is when your triumphing in the Lord is greatest. In 1 Sam 30:3-3 we read about David and all his men coming back from a victorious series of battles of surrounding enemies. As they were returning home after being gone for a long time, they saw smoke. They then found out that their enemies had burnt their town to the ground and more. It says, “When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.” David’s men were so discouraged that they wanted to lash out and blame someone. They wanted to stone him as their leader. David’s family was also taken and he was just as discouraged as they were but instead of letting the discouragement overcome him so that he also was useless, we are told in verse 6, ” but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.”

Like a true leader, he encouraged the men, went out to pursue and destroy the enemy, and get back what the devil had stolen. He did just that and then we are told that they got everything back and more! They got back their wives and children and all the riches the enemy has stolen from them and others.

If David would have stayed discouraged like his men, he’d be dead and they’d be wandering leaderless, hopeless and aimless through life blaming and hating God. David didn’t allow himself to stay discouraged. He knew His God. He knew the God who helped him slay Goliath. He knew God would not abandon him in this desperate and appearingly hopeless time. He knew in the Lord there was triumph and victory and so he encouraged himself in the Lord.

I wrote you some time back in May about the hail storm that devastated the garden that I was trying to win an award for. It demolished it. Renee and I went out and prayed over the entire garden. We refused to let the devil steal anything from us. The Lord says when our enemies come against us one way they must flee seven ways. Deuteronomy 28:7 “The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.” I declared Satan caught and demanded a sevenfold return. Proverbs 6:31 says, “But if the thief be caught, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.” All my friends know how much I love to garden and wer surprised I was not more upset. I wasn’t because I knew the devil would pay and declared that “I am believing for a sevenfold return.“

I went out and cut everything (which was shredded from the hail and that was everything) back to the ground and prayed it would all come back. It did within a month and turned into an absolutely beautiful garden. Even my Hostas grew back! On top of that, the insurance man came out to examine the hail damage to the house. We got over 45,000 in repair that has restored our house to perfect condition (with new siding, roof, paint, and more.) I got more than a seven fold return.

That’s where the second part of today’s Fresh Manna verse has its biggest impact. It says, “And through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.” The fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus is in the testimony of how God took what the devil meant for evil and turned if for good causing others to have faith and trust in Him. The fragrance is in the joy of knowing before hand that God does have a silver lining to the evil the devil tries to bring – if we can hang in there and trust God for it in faith. That is the promise of God. Isa 54:17 “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment God shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”

God will use us to make Satan pay for what he has tried to bring against us. Others will be touched by and come to know God in the process. And God will bring us to victory! Be blessed as you triumph in every circumstance of your life today.

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2007 Tim Burt, All rights reserved.

What is Fresh Manna? God’s Word – the Bible, should be exciting and alive to us. God wants to speak to us through His Holy Spirit and give us a fresh word from heaven every day. Fresh Manna is a daily devotional – that nourishment of daily bread from His heart to ours!