FRESH MANNA

1 Timothy 6:18 TLB Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. From a biblical perspective, the concept of "sharing is caring" aligns closely with the teachings of love, generosity, and community. Sharing is something we must all learn to do and like. Sharing brings us joy. We must all have been taught about sharing whatever we have with others, and we must learn to share anything and everything within reason. It is very important for us to share, and I bet we all have something to share. Sharing is not only an act of caring but also a way to live out the principles of love, generosity, and community. It brings joy and strengthens the bonds within a community. There are a few biblical examples of sharing that we can emulate: The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37): Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, where a man is beaten and left...

Mark 10:13-16 GNT Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples scolded the people. [14] When Jesus noticed this, he was angry and said to his disciples, "Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. [15] I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it." [16] Then he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on each of them, and blessed them. Childlike faith is vital to the Christian Walk and the life of the believer. It is deeply rooted in Christ’s teaching on faith and humility, implying simplicity, trust, and an unpretentious relationship with the Father. Jesus says in Matthew 18:3: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." This means we must be converted to becoming like children in innocent trust, belief, faith, and acceptance. Why? C...

James 4:4-6 TLB You are like an unfaithful wife who loves her husband's enemies. Don't you realize that making friends with God's enemies-the evil pleasures of this world-makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy the evil pleasure of the unsaved world, you cannot also be a friend of God. [5] Or what do you think the Scripture means when it says that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, watches over us with tender jealousy? [6] But he gives us more and more strength to stand against all such evil longings. As the Scripture says, God gives strength to the humble but sets himself against the proud and haughty. Spiritual adultery is being devoted to worldly things, seeking after feelings and flesh, instead of seeking God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and body, as stated in Matthew 6:33. It’s a term often used in religious contexts to describe the act of being unfaithful to one's spiritual beliefs or commitments. It typically refe...

Colossians 3:1-11 NLT Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. [2] Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. [3] For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. [4] And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. [5] So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. [6] Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. [7] You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. [8] But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. [9] Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked...

Numbers 9:21-23 NASB If sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was lifted in the morning they would set out; or if it remained in the daytime and at night, whenever the cloud was lifted, they would set out. [22] Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted, they did set out. [23] At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out; they did what the Lord required, in accordance with the command of the Lord through Moses. Decisions are sometimes difficult to make and achieve. We struggle daily with making all kinds of decisions, and the impact of the ones we make is seen in the consequences. We make decisions daily for all areas of our life, for varying issues. Sometimes we make good decisions, and sometimes bad ones, but regardless, our decisions are impactful and often far-reaching....

Amos 8:1-3 AMPC Thus, the Lord God showed to me, and behold, a basket of [ripe and therefore soon to perish] summer fruit. [2] And He said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord to me, the end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by and spare them anymore. [3] And the songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day, says the Lord God. The dead bodies shall be many; in every place they shall be cast forth in silence. The Hebrew terms for "summer fruit" and "end" sound alike, so this is probably a wordplay. “Summer fruit” signified the last of the harvest. The long summer of God’s patience has finally come to an end, and there has been no harvest of repentance. A basket of summer fruits typically includes a variety of fresh, juicy fruits that are in season during the summer months. Some common fruits you might find in a summer fruit basket are strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, nectarines, waterm...

Acts 1:8 AMPC But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth. Change, as a verb, means to make someone or something different, to alter or modify the original or faulty and replace it with something else, especially something of the same kind that is newer or better. It can also mean to substitute one thing for another. As a noun, change is an act or process through which something becomes different. From a biblical perspective, change means to make something completely different. The power for change and the shift required to modify us is only empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, referred to as the helper in John 14:26, enables and helps believers to walk in righteousness and carry out their spiritual activities without stumbling. The Holy Spirit came upon Saul powerfully in 1 Samuel 10:6, turning, changing,...

Ephesians 4:26-27 TLB If you are angry, don't sin by nursing your grudge. Don't let the sun go down with you still angry-get over it quickly; [27] for when you are angry, you give a mighty foothold to the devil. Spiritual legal grounds refer to actions, behaviours, or sins that can give spiritual entities, such as demons, the right to influence or affect a person's life. Legal rights are permissions or openings that allow spiritual entities to enter or influence a person's life. Common legal rights include unconfessed sins, involvement in occult practices, or holding onto unforgiveness. Just as there are physical laws, there are believed to be spiritual laws that govern the spiritual realm. Demons are thought to operate within these laws, and they need a legal right to affect someone. Paul admonishes us especially about anger as it’s one of the things that would give an opportunity to the devil to do evil. This means we must daily control and deal with our anger issues,...

Jeremiah 5:14 NET Because of that, the LORD, the God who rules over all, said to me, “Because these people have spoken like this, I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire. And I will make this people like wood which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.” We are in a generation now that seems to think the fire has gone out of God’s word, but not so according to our text. Fire is potent, and the scriptures use fire as a representation of purification, destruction, God’s presence, transformation, and divine retribution. Fire is a representative symbol of God’s presence and an instrument of His power, either in the way of approval or of destruction, according to Exodus 3:2 and 14:19. There could not be a better symbol for God than fire, and one of His names is the Consuming Fire in Deuteronomy 9:3. Fire is a living, breathing entity—fire eats and destroys whatever is in its path and breathes to remain alive. If the word of God is like fire shut up inside us, as Jeremi...

Exodus 2:23-25 CSB After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, they cried out, and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God. [24] God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. [25] God saw the Israelites, and God knew. Isaiah 59:1 says the Lord’s ear is not so deaf that He cannot hear you. “Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear. Lo, the hand of Jehovah Hath not been shortened from saving, Nor heavy his ear from hearing.” God is not hard of hearing. He hears our cries—loud, soft, low, hysterical, and all the internal groanings. Boy! Do we know how to groan! I think groaning is a language for some people. People can groan in pain, pleasure, joy, and sadness, but God hears them all. The Lord said in Exodus 3:7, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cr...

John 1:29 AMPC: The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Look! There is the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!"  There are sacrifices and sacrifices, but only one perfect sacrifice. A perfect sacrifice is an offering that is without defect or blemish. The central topic of the gospel is the offering of Christ’s life, flesh, and blood for the sins of the world as a sacrifice. The body and blood of Jesus, because He was without sin, made an offering that satisfied God once and for all. By that perfect offering, we are perfected and are being sanctified.  What did it cost us to be free from guilt, shame, and death? From slavery to sin? Certainly not silver or gold or any perishable thing. The cost of our freedom was something much more valuable than gold and silver—it is the precious blood of Jesus Christ.  The blind can't help the blind; in fact, we see in John 5:1-17 the hopelessness of relying on a mortal to save and deliver us when they're i...

 Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV): Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Diligence is defined as persistence or effort. The Bible speaks highly of diligence and emphasizes its importance in various aspects of life. The Bible is filled with stories of diligent individuals who demonstrated hard work, commitment, and faithfulness in their lives and missions. Are you a diligent person? Diligence is one of those virtues that has gradually faded from society today. Instead, carelessness, disregard, and laziness have become the norm, as seen in Proverbs 10:4-5. God is particular about diligence, judging from the many characters that exemplified it in the Bible. Some characters exemplify how diligence, combined with faith in God, can lead to remarkable accomplishments and blessings. As Proverbs 21:5 states, they worked dili...

Matthew 14:26-32 CSB When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. "It's a ghost!" they said, and they cried out in fear. [27] Immediately Jesus spoke to them. "Have courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." [28] "Lord, if it's you," Peter answered him, "command me to come to you on the water." [29] He said, "Come." And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. [30] But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me!" [31] Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" [32] When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. There are all kinds of fear. They say, there’s nothing to fear but fear itself. But we must all have a healthy fear of those things that are detrimental to us, whether physical or otherwise. The power of th...

Ruth 1:16-17 TLB But Ruth replied, "Don't make me leave you, for I want to go wherever you go and to live wherever you live; your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God; [17] I want to die where you die and be buried there. May the Lord do terrible things to me if I allow anything but death to separate us." We cannot have a perfect example of loyalty without looking at God the Father. The Lord our God is loyalty personified! Loyalty is the feeling of allegiance, the act of binding yourself intellectually or emotionally to another person, a relationship, or a course of action. The Lord bound Himself completely to us, willing that we would choose Him always, but even when we don’t, He doesn’t cease to chase after us for our redemption and salvation. There is a sense of commitment, faithfulness, and friendship in Godly loyalty. Loyalty requires a rational and personal commitment, which allows one to stick with another or a thing without doubt or fear and doe...

 Proverbs 17:17 MSG Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble. Loyalty is the strong feeling of support or allegiance exhibited in a relationship. It is synonymous with faithfulness, constancy, devotion, and commitment to God, people, and a cause. It’s when we exhibit trustworthiness in a relationship, honest dependability, and reliability. Loyalty has a face and a look because it’s something that can be seen in people—in their actions, words, and character. Are you a loyal person? We all expect people to be loyal to us, but are we loyal to others? Loyalty comes in degrees. We can be loyal to people for any number of reasons—spiritual, financial, material, familial, and many more. We can be more loyal to some people than others and to certain issues and matters more than others. We talk about customer loyalty, brand loyalty, and more. How loyal are you? Are we loyal to those we should be? Or are we quick to jump ship when things ...

John 6:1-6 TLB After this, Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. [2-5] And a huge crowd, many of them pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for the annual Passover celebration, were following him wherever he went, to watch him heal the sick. So when Jesus went up into the hills and sat down with his disciples around him, he soon saw a great multitude of people climbing the hill, looking for him. Turning to Philip he asked, "Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?" [6] (He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.) God always knows what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. He is the "how" in every situation. The sooner we understand that the Lord is never confused about what to do, the easier it becomes for us to face whatever comes our way. He always knows what, when, how, and why to do anything He does or what we ask Him to do for us. Isaiah 46:10 says God knows the end from the beginning, ...

1 Corinthians 11:24-26 AMPC And when He had given thanks, He broke [it] and said, Take, eat. This is My body, which is broken for you. Do this to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance. [25] Similarly when supper was ended, He took the cup also, saying, This cup is the new covenant [ratified and established] in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink [it], to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance. [26] For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are representing and signifying and proclaiming the fact of the Lord's death until He comes [again]. Everyone, believers and non-believers alike, has heard this phrase. Most can connect it to the Last Supper, while others may not fully understand its meaning and implications. The word "remember" is found 240 times in the entire Bible, but the most notable instance is Christ’s urging to us to "remember me." What Jesus actually said was, "Do this as often as you remember me." Almost everywhere i...

Psalm 23:1-6 TLB Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need! [2-3] He lets me rest in the meadow grass and leads me beside the quiet streams. He gives me new strength. He helps me do what honors him the most. [4] Even when walking through the dark valley of death I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me, guarding, guiding all the way. [5] You provide delicious food for me in the presence of my enemies. You have welcomed me as your guest; blessings overflow! [6] Your goodness and unfailing kindness shall be with me all of my life, and afterwards I will live with you forever in your home. Do you have a shepherd besides the Lord? The Lord is my shepherd and yours, and He alone is the good shepherd. We are only as good as we are, but with the Lord’s care for us, we are fully and totally completed in Him. The twenty-third psalm is one of the most powerful and comforting passages in the Bible, packed full of promises. There are over 3,573 promises in the entire Bible,...

Genesis 7-8 We all talk about the great flood of Noah's time, but have we ever taken note of the hidden messages within this tragic and traumatic encounter? God revealed His plan to Noah, as He always does according to Amos 3:7, to bring a flood that would destroy all of creation. The only escape route for Noah and his family would be the Ark. What a revelation! If we knew beforehand what the Lord was going to do with us, some of us would faint, run, bargain, or ask that our “enemy” face the difficulties while we reap the benefits. But Noah didn’t. Noah did everything as the Lord instructed him, demonstrating complete and total obedience. The horrors of the flood are unimaginable to us, as was God's destruction of everything He created, including humans. Unfortunately, this is a pale comparison to what is to come as described in Revelation 19:11-16. Today, just as in Noah's days, people are living without a care for eternity. How many of the billions of people on the planet...

Matthew 18:20 AMPC For wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as My followers) in (into) My name, there I AM in the midst of them.   Fellowship involves communion and friendship with God and connects us with other believers in the Spirit of God and with God’s blessings. We are not created to live alone, in isolation, or in loneliness; we need fellowship with others. We need a relationship with God, but how many of us know how to fellowship with others and the Holy Spirit? The primary reason for fellowship is to join forces with others in a mutual activity. The basis of fellowship is found in 1 John 1:7: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.” Christ is the source and fount of all spiritual communion. Only when rightly related to the Lord do we experience true fellowship with another Christian. Just as light and darkness are incompatible, so a believer can have no real fellowship with an unbeliever. Neither can the Christian...

Matthew 22:15-21 (AMP)  15  Then the Pharisees went and consulted and plotted together how they might entangle Jesus in His talk.  16  And they sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that You are sincere and what You profess to be and that You teach the way of God truthfully, regardless of consequences and being afraid of no man; for You are impartial and do not regard either the person or the position of anyone.  17  Tell us then what You think about this: Is it lawful to pay tribute [levied on individuals and to be paid yearly] to Caesar or not?  18  But Jesus, aware of their malicious plot, asked, Why do you put Me to the test and try to entrap Me, you pretenders (hypocrites)?  19  Show me the money used for the tribute. And they brought Him a denarius.  20  And Jesus said to them, Whose likeness and title are these?  21  They said, Caesar's. Then He said to them, Pay therefo...