Daily Manna from Heaven

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” -Jeremiah 29:13

A pastor began his message reading Psalm 42. He read, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” He had no sooner asked the question of the psalmist, “When can I go and meet with God?” when the voice of a little child, about six years of age, loudly proclaimed, “Right now!”

At least someone was listening, and although the pastor hadn’t expected an answer to that rhetorical question, the simplicity and honesty of the child’s response was far more moving and sincere than anything anyone could have said.

When can I go and meet with God? Right now! Suppose, just suppose for a moment that you were to have an audience with the Creator, the Almighty who knows neither beginning nor ending, the Alpha and Omega, the Supreme Judge of the Universe, what would you say? ”Just a minute,” you may be thinking? “All those titles sound rather scary, and besides, I don’t know what I would say.”

If, however, God is your heavenly Father, and you know that you are His child, and besides, every day you spend time in His presence as you open your heart in prayer, there is nothing frightening about meeting with Him. If you had a meeting with a business executive, say, an acquaintance with whom you do business, no doubt you would think about your presentation– what you would say and the order in which you would present your case. If, on the other hand, you were meeting a close friend for lunch, you would probably just talk in random sequence. As you thought of something important, you’d just say it, right?

Well, when you meet with God, on occasion both approaches are valid. You don’t have to prepare a sales presentation when you talk with your heavenly Father. You can just say what’s on your heart. But if the prayers of Paul in the New Testament form a pattern for our prayers (and I believe they should), there are certainly elements which should be included in our prayers. Like what?

First, the ingredient of thanksgiving. Before you ask God for anything, focus on what He has already done for you. Sometimes this necessitates reflection, pondering God’s goodness in the past, momentarily forgetting the needs that you have. “Pray continually,” says Paul, adding, “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:17,18). To the Philippians Paul wrote, “…In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6).

Next, include the element of worship and praise. This changes your focus from what you want to who God is, and it is amazing how quickly your problems get dwarfed when you really see the greatness and majesty of the Almighty. A few moments of reflection on hymns or songs such as Jack Hayford’s “Majesty,” or the old favorite, “How Great Thou Art,” begin to liberate your downtrodden spirit.

As you reflect, search your own heart. Call this confession. “If we confess our sins,” writes John, “he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Then comes the petitions or requests. “We have not because we ask not,” wrote James, the half-brother of Jesus. John 16:24 commands, “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” “When can I meet with God?” asked the psalmist. Why not take the advice of a little boy who suggested, “Right now!” Yes, why not?

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” -Matthew 18:19

General George Patton believed in getting things done. He once told a chaplain, “There are three ways that men get what they want: by planning, by working, and by prayer.” When rainy, foggy weather stopped the Allied Forces intent on liberating Germany, Patton telephoned the Third Army Chaplain and said, “This is General Patton. Do you have a good prayer for weather?”

The chaplain came up with one in a hurry, and Patton had it printed and distributed to the 250,000 men under his command with the order to pray for good weather. “I am a strong believer in prayer,” he said. When the weather couldn’t be changed by hard work or by planning, Patton resorted to prayer.

Everyone, however, doesn’t share Patton’s enthusiasm for getting things done through prayer. A contemporary of the Russian novelist, Dostoyevski, whose name was Turgeniev, wrote that “whatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer,” he said, “reduces itself to this: ‘Great God, grant that twice two not be four.’”

Donald Cole points out that H. L. Mencken used to laugh at prayer. When he signed his letters, “I am praying for you,” he considered that to be wildly humorous. I, suspect, however, that on his deathbed, Mencken changed his mind.

As the Titanic listed in the icy waters of the cold Atlantic and people began to realize the unsinkable ship was about to go down, the orchestra began playing, “Nearer My God to Thee,” and people began praying.

If I had never attempted the broad jump, and I was on a roof with safety a mere six feet away, I can tell you for sure that I would be highly motivated to give the leap my very best try. But if I had trained for the Olympics as a broad jumper, then, a six feet or two meter leap would be a pretty simple feat.

The difference, of course, would be the discipline and training. That’s why the one who prays only as a ship is going down, or prays only at the bedside of a dying loved one, or only as a plane tosses in angry clouds, is not sure whether his prayer is a grasping for a wild hope that God will hear him, or knows that in the time of trouble, his father will hear his voice.

For you who want to discover something of the power of prayer, may I suggest that you start training today. “How?” you may be thinking. Let me put it like this. If I wanted to learn how to acquire a skill, I’d begin by getting some of the best books available and hearing what the experts have to say.Does that work with prayer? Yes and no.

Taking time to study both the contents of the prayers which both Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul prayed gives you a structure, something to use as a guide. There are times when I have read some of Paul’s prayers—say, those recorded in his letters—and said, “Yes, Lord, that’s how I feel. Increase my understanding and give me wisdom. What Paul prayed is what I want and need.”

But in the final analysis, you have to learn to pray yourself. Prayer is conversation, remember? It has to come out of your heart, not out of a book. A study of Paul’s prayer, however, shows that he prayed for others, he prayed for friends, for enemies, for situations, for safety, for deliverance from difficult problems, for physical needs, for deliverance from those who hindered the work.

He prayed with other believers in small groups, on his own, in times of worship and praise. General George Patton was right. Prayer is a means of getting things done, God’s way.

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” -Psalm 43:5

No individual can really be educated apart from a knowledge of the Bible, and the book of Psalms in this grand book contains some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking passages and prose of all the world’s great literature. I, for one, marvel at the profound emotional insights which you find described here—the same emotions and feelings we grapple with today.

In Psalm 42 and 43, which were probably written as one, the writer voices a recurring theme. Three times he asks, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” Three times, he speaks of the solution: “Put your hope in God,” he says, adding, “for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”

Hey, friend, can you relate to that? Do you ever face personal bouts with discouragement and depression? You really know things aren’t as bad as you feel, but you just can’t quite get on top of things. You aren’t alone. The writer of this psalm felt the same way 3000 years ago, and the answer to his problem can be your answer as well.

“Hope in God,” he says–not the stock market, not your beauty or charm, and certainly not your ability to fix things. Following two deep valleys of human suffering, Norman Cousins authored a book entitled, The Biology of Hope. “The human spirit,” he wrote, “can’t be diagnosed or dissected.” What Cousins described as “the human spirit,” the writer of Psalms called “soul.” Therapy, tranquilizers, counseling and surgery can never surpass the power of hope when it comes to healing.

In these two psalms, the writer begins by saying that as the deer pants for water, so his soul pants for God, yet he says that tears have been his constant companion. In this soliloquy the writer makes three “I” statements which provide guidelines for us when we feel cast down and our souls are disturbed within. Here they are: First—“I remember…” Then, “I will say to God…” and finally, “I will go to the altar of God.”

When you reach the valley of despair, looking in your rear view mirror is OK. It’s positive to look behind and recognize the hand of God, remembering His blessings on your life. That’s what the psalmist did. He talked about going to the house of God “with shouts of joy and thanksgiving.”

He remembers how in bygone days, God made him a focus of love and gave him a song in the night. No, he didn’t feel like doing this. Remembering was a conscious matter of his will, and so is it for you, too, friend. Forcing yourself to remember is like building a platform upon which you reach towards the strength of the Almighty.

The second step in climbing out of his misery was a frank admission of his depression to God. “I say to God my Rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?’” That’s plain talk. Telling God exactly how you feel is therapy of the soul. It’s OK to let the tears flow. That’s part of breaking up the hardness of what life has done to you. Tears can be a powerful catalyst for healing.

Then the psalmist said, “I will go to the altar of God,” whom he described as “his joy and delight.” There’s just enough time to share a closing thought: When the psalmist was depressed, he turned to God, not on God. There’s a big difference.

He was convinced that God is a refuge and strength, the One in whom he could hope, and the One he called, “My Savior and my God.” When you ask that question, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” remember, the psalmist’s solution: “Put your hope in God,” and then you will find cause for praising Him who is your Savior and God.

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” -Proverbs 16:3

“If you want to make God laugh,” says a post-it sticker, “make plans!” And what is the real message—that you should never try to plan anything? No, but rather, when God is left out of your plan, your game plan may never happen. There is a proverb which says, “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD” (Proverbs 16:33, KJV).

Whether you climb a mountain, traverse an ocean, build a house or a high-rise building, run in the Olympics, or attempt to plant a garden—or for that matter, do about anything—there are scores of factors over which you have little, if any, control. Like what? Like the economy, the weather, the availability of goods and services, the flow of electrical current that can wipe out machinery, the capriciousness of trade and surpluses, and a host of other things. The reality is, there are a lot of factors which we take for granted over which we have very little control. Does this mean that we should sit on our hands, waiting for God to make things to happen? Not unless you are expecting a new outpouring of Manna from heaven. God honors planning and hard work, but what makes God laugh is the presumption that men and women often have which ignores Him entirely.

Take, for example, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, one of the most powerful men who ever lived, who was the dread and fear of all the earth. He’s the one Daniel tells about whose heart was filled with pride, and God finally said, “Enough!” His mind snapped and he “ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes,” so wrote Daniel (see Daniel 5:21).

A generation ago, Christians often signed their letters using two Latin words, Deo Volente, which means, “God willing.” They recognized that God—not chance or fate—is the final arbiter of what happens to us in life.

Presumption is a sin which God detests. Want to make God laugh? Then make plans and leave Him out of your plans. Apparently this is not simply a problem which we who are living in the twenty-first century struggle with. It’s an old one. James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote about this very situation when he penned the letter which bears his name–which, incidentally, was probably the first New Testament book.

He wrote to Jewish Christians—probably merchants—and said, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:13-16). How could it be any plainer?

Presumption was the sin which Jesus condemned when He told the story of the merchant who boasted, “I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones.” “A fool,” is the way Jesus described him, using a rather strong word.

A closing thought. There is a very “up” side to what may appear to be a “down-issue.” It’s this. When you make plans which you feel are within the scope and purpose of what God wills, and you ask Him to guide and bless your efforts, you can then trust that He will give you His best. Well does Proverbs 16:3 say, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Then it is we who will laugh with joy.

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” -Mark 11:25

Of the four Gospels, none is more to the point and straightforward that the account of Jesus’ life as rendered by Mark. Because of his close relationship with Peter who, himself, was a pretty blunt, leave-nothing-unsaid sort of a person, many scholars believe that Mark simply reflected Peter’s thoughts.

With that in mind, may I remind you that some of the most uplifting, positive words of Jesus are also recorded by Mark? For example, Mark tells about the time Jesus was talking with the disciples and said, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24). Then Jesus said, “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins” (v. 25).

Ponder those words, “When you stand praying…forgive…” “Just a minute.” you may be thinking, “What does God have to do with my relationship with other people?” In one word, everything! Prayer reflects a vertical relationship between you and God, but forgiveness is a picture of the horizontal relationship between you and someone else.

Jesus is saying that personal, answered prayer is conditioned upon your relationships with others as well as with God. But that’s not the way we like it. We prefer to get what we want from God at the same time we snub people or are angry and bitter with them. But it doesn’t work.

Immediately after Jesus gave the disciples the prayer we know as The Lord’s Prayer, He made this statement: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14,15).

You can’t have it both ways. If you want God’s forgiveness, you must learn to forgive others. If you want God to answer your prayers, you have to turn loose of the bitterness and let Him deal with some situations.

Question: Why is it so difficult to do this? The answer is that you feel more in control, more in charge, when you are filled with anger. But the very opposite is true. We also feel that forgiving someone is a matter of weakness, a giving in to the other, capitulating. But it is none of these. It is turning loose; it is letting go.

The Bible teaches that to forgive someone is to give up your right to hurt that individual because he hurt you first. It isn’t letting the person off the hook, but turning him over to God. And believe me, when you do this, the burden lifts and the anger and hatred in your heart is replaced with God’s love.

A rabbi who had lost his family in the Holocaust said that he forgave Hitler for the horrible loss he had sustained because he chose not to bring Hitler to America with him. That’s wisdom. In their book How to Forgive When You Don’t Know How,” authors Mary Grunte and Jacqui Bishop write, “When you forgive, you reclaim your power to choose. It doesn’t matter whether someone deserves forgiveness; you deserve to be free.”

Should you take time to do a study of how the word forgive is used in the Bible, you will discover that in the vast number of occurrences, it relates to an individual’s response to wrongs that others have done to him or her, rather than to seeking God’s forgiveness for what the individual has personally done. It includes wrongs done by husbands and wives, by brothers and sisters, by business associates, by neighbors and by friends. Alexander Pope once wrote, “To err is human, to forgive divine.” He was right.

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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Take Every Thought Captive
by Max Lucado

Today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions.
Today’s jealousy is tomorrow’s temper tantrum.
Today’s bigotry is tomorrow’s hate crime.
Today’s anger is tomorrow’s abuse.
Today’s lust is tomorrow’s adultery.
Today’s greed is tomorrow’s embezzlement.
Today’s guilt is tomorrow’s fear.

Could that be why Paul writes, “Love … keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5 NIV)?

Some folks don’t know we have an option.

Paul says we do: “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

Do you hear some battlefield jargon in that passage—“capture every thought,” “make it give up” and “obey Christ”? You get the impression that we are the soldiers and the thoughts are the enemies.

It was for Jesus. Remember the thoughts that came his way courtesy of the mouth of Peter? Jesus had just prophesied his death, burial, and resurrection, but Peter couldn’t bear the thought of it. “Peter took Jesus aside and told him not to talk like that.… Jesus said to Peter, ‘Go away from me, Satan! You are not helping me! You don’t care about the things of God, but only about the things people think are important’” (Matt. 16:22–23).
See the decisiveness of Jesus?

What if you did that? What if you took every thought captive? What if you took the counsel of Solomon: “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life” (Prov. 4:23).

You are not a victim of your thoughts. You have a vote. You have a voice. You can exercise thought prevention. You can also exercise thought permission.

Change the thoughts, and you change the person. If today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions, what happens when we fill our minds with thoughts of God’s love? Will standing beneath the downpour of his grace change the way we feel about others?

Paul says absolutely! It’s not enough to keep the bad stuff out. We’ve got to let the good stuff in. It’s not enough to keep no list of wrongs. We have to cultivate a list of blessings. The same verb Paul uses for keeps in the phrase “keeps no list of wrongs” is used for think in Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (RSV). Thinking conveys the idea of pondering—studying and focusing, allowing what is viewed to have an impact on us.

Rather than store up the sour, store up the sweet.

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