Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt
What is God’s will for you? Does He really love you? Does He really care for you? Is He upset with you? Does He care about how your life is going? Are you on your way to Heaven or to Hell?
Do you know how important the answers to questions like that are? Do you understand that what you believe the answers to those question are, has everything to do with how you perceive and relate to God? Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV) says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…”
If you didn’t believe that He loved you with a greater love than anything you could possible conceive, then you have fallen short of knowing His love toward you. If you didn’t know that He wants to reveal His love to you and wants you to comprehend it, then you are losing out on His love—a love so great that it has inherent power to transform and bless your life. Ephesians 3:18-19 (NLT) says, “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully….” Imagine that! A love so great that it’s incomprehensible!
His word says He loved you while you were a sinner. Romans 5:8 (NLT) says, “But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Personalize this! Put your name in there. He sent Jesus to come die and pay the punishment for your sins when you didn’t even know if you believed in Him or even cared about what He did. People think, I’ll try to get close to God when I clean up my life. No, this says Jesus died for you when you were anything but clean. That is an unfathomable love!
If you don’t believe that He wants great things for you, then you have fallen short of knowing His love toward you. Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT) says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” God’s will for you is good! It is Satan who is out to destroy your life. It’s why he tries to lead everyone down the path of sin! Sin will always work destruction in your life.
Until Jesus comes back, Satan is called “the god of this world” because of what Adam did. Adam was created without sin and given authority over this world. When he was deceived by and obeyed Satan rather than God, it was the same as yielding his authority over to him. 2 Corinthians 4:4 (NLT) says, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” Jesus exposed Satan’s agenda revealing that it’s his goal is to kill, steal and destroy all of God’s children and creation. Satan infects this world through luring them to participate in sin, hate, and destruction. People make those wrong choices every day. But they don’t have to!
Jesus, because of His great love and mercy, has given back life, love, help, and protection to those who have received Him. You still live in this defiled world but you are not of it. God will help you overcome the lure of sin and it’s destruction through faith and right choices. John 1:12 (NIV) says, “Yet to all who received Jesus, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” And, 1 John 5:4 (NIV) says, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
What you know of God and His promises to you have everything to do with your faith and how you perceive His love to you and desire to help you! It affects your prayers and your faith behind those prayers! Remember, it is faith in God’s love and promises that pleases God and releases His power to move in and through your life.
Do you know that? Do you believe that? God’s goodness, love, and promises are the anchor of your life and soul! So take the time to read and become acquainted with your loving God and His promise to bless your life through Jesus. It will draw you to Him and into an intimate relationship with Him!
Psalms 119:140 (NLT) “Your promises have been thoroughly tested; that is why I love them so much.”
In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
