Friday May 17, 2024
Manna / Weekly Manna

Devotions
My Morning Resolve
My Earliest Thought I Desire Shall Be:

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord [for grace to help]. I will pay my vows unto the Most High." – Psalm 116:12-14

Remembering the Divine call, "Gather My saints together unto Me; those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice" (Psalm 50:5), I resolve that by the Lord's assisting grace I will today, as a saint of God, fulfil my vows, continuing the work of sacrificing the flesh and its interests, that I may attain unto the Heavenly inheritance in joint-heirship with my Redeemer.

I will strive to be simple and sincere toward all.

I will seek not to please and honor self, but the Lord.

I will be careful to honor the Lord with my lips, that my words may be unctuous and blessed to all.

I will seek to be faithful to the Lord, the Truth, the brethren and all with whom I have to do, not only in great matters, but also in the little things of life.

Trusting myself to Divine care and the Providential overruling of all my interests for my highest welfare, I will seek not only to be pure in heart, but to repel all anxiety, all discontent, all discouragement.

I will neither murmur nor repine at what the Lord's providence may permit, because

"Faith can firmly trust Him,
      Come what may."
Exceeding Great & Precious Promise
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Heb. 3:14
      The spirit of discontent looks away from the heavenly manna of Divine provision, longing for other food of their own provision or of other earthly supply. The Lord grants such an opportunity of feasting to the full on what they are desiring....The Bible supplies the Manna of Divine Truth. The truth needs to be gathered, ground and baked, but it is God's provision. It is wholesome and nutritious, it is the very thing that we, as the people of God, need for our strengthening and perfecting. Yet some crave the flesh pots of Egypt – the world's theories. Then He allows these to come within their reach. They fill themselves with Higher Criticism and Evolutionary theories, and as a result perish as New Creatures, cease to be the people of God, cease to walk in the Master's footsteps. They are consumed by the fire, or fever, which the errors they crave produce. R5306,c2,bottom; R5307,c1,p1


Daily Heavenly Manna (May 17)
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. John 16:2
THE persecutions of today are more refined than in any previous period. The faithful today are not stoned with literal stones or shot with literal arrows or literally beheaded, but it is still true that the wicked shoot out arrows at the righteous, "even bitter words," and many because of faithfulness are reproved and slandered and cut off from fellowship – "beheaded for the testimony of Jesus." Let all such emulate Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Let their testimonies be given with radiant faces like his. Let their eyes of faith perceive Jesus at the right hand of the Majesty on High as their Advocate and Deliverer. Let their words be with moderation as were Stephen's, and let it be true of them, as written of him, "full of grace and power" and "filled with the Holy Spirit." `Z.'97-57` R2109:6
Weekly Manna (May 16)
...Thou shalt be called by a new name,...thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Isaiah 62:2,3
   LET us never forget that we are a "peculiar people," separate from the great body of nominal Christians, as well as from the world, having higher hopes, aims and ambitions and favored with a clearer insight into the deep things of God, having been called out of our former darkness into His marvelous light. And if thus separate from the world and from Christians who partake largely of the worldly spirit, what wonder if we find them all out of harmony with us, and either ignoring or opposing us. `Z.'03-164` R3199:2