Manna from John

I have been using a variety of devotionals and a lot from Timothy which we are studying in Sunday School, consequently, I have been jumping around like a 5 year old after 5 Sundrops... So I feel like I am being lead to start going through a book of the Bible and have settled on John. Its been a couple of years since I have read through all of it, so I am really looking forward to it.

(NASB) John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Ok, one whole verse...but there is a lot of good stuff in here. We'll see it later, but the Word is Christ Jesus and this is one of the most clear sections of the Bible showing the Trinity at least with the Father and Jesus. If you look back at Genesis, you will see that there are a lot of plaural pronouns in Chapter one. Jesus has always existed with God, distinctly different as we will later see, but the same. Its God math, frankly I struggle with it, but the Bible clearly teaches it.

Jesus will claim to be God Himself later, but as has been said, these claims eliminate the "Jesus was a good man" theory of lost people. He was either a lunatic, a liar or Lord. Thousands of people have submitted themselves to death with the belief that the latter is true, including almost all of the people that we will read about in this book who were closest to him.

That leaves us with a decision to make, is it truth or a lie. Wr must make a decision, we cannot ignore something so important.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

Sent from my iPad

Manna

The past few days have been challenging, but the Lord has been good. Please continue to pray especially for my mom and her brothers and sisters.

(ESV) Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Romans 8 contains so much good spiritual food, some of it a bit contraversial, but every verse is packed with nutrition for your soul. These verses magnify the freedom that we should feel in walking with the Lord. We are HIS! He withheld NOTHING in order to reach out to us, clean us and prepare us for an eternity with Him. If we are living our lives withu Him as our master, then His joy is all we need to worry about. Let us truely be His servants here in this World. Smetimes that means traveling around the world to share Christ, as a few who get this email will be doing today. Smetimes it means traveling hours from your home to reach ouit to young people, or special needs families or....

Sometimes it is as simple as helping your lost neighbor and having the opportunity to tell them about something great the Lord is doing in your life. The Lord will provide the prompting through the Holy Spirit, we merely have to say yes...easy enough right? No, we are good at justifying our disobedience. We are worried about everything except please Him who withheld nothing for us.

Let us each listen for His prompting today. If anyone would like to share something that the Lord used them to do today, email me and I'll share it sometime in future emails, no names of course.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna

Thank you for your prayers, we had a nice service for my grandmother today, the preacher spoke about believing, the music was good and everyone played well together...not to be taken for granted, the Lord's grace was sweet as always and supplied the peace that passes all understanding.

(NET) 2 Pet 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith excellence, to excellence, knowledge; 1:6 to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; 1:7 to godliness, brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, unselfish love. 1:8 For if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately.

These qualities depicted in these verses could represent a spiritual thermometer in the Christian walk here on earth. If you lack the former then the later things are impossible. The verse says make every effort...that's a tough saying. We have done those things that come natural, come easy and require some effort, but have we really made every effort to attain the really hard things.

I think about Jesus going to the desert for 40 days of fasting...y'all know I haven'y missed 40 meals, maybe ever, much less 40 days...that's "every effort"...I think about Paul, nearly beat to death, left for dead and then when he came to, went back into Lystra...that's every effort...Jesus giving his life as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins as a redeemer for us...that's every effort.

I don't know what the Holy Spirit has shown you in this little piece of scripture, but the list will show you your spiritual temperature. Few, if any of us walk in the unselfish love all of the time, but we are equipped to do so and the reward is great!

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

Sent from my iPad

Manna

(ESV) 1 Corinthians 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Many times we limit the things that "we will do" for God to what we are good at or what things are easy. I don't believe that is what the Bible teaches, Moses couldn't speak well, David was a very young man when he defeated Goliath and fell morally with Bathsheba, Guidian was far from a "mighty man of valor", Peter was a mere fisherman, etc, etc. We need to realize that whatever God needs us to do he will provide the grace and power through the Holy Spirit to accomplish it. We tend to steal God's glory by boasting about what we are good at doing, but as Paul taught here, God's glorified in our weakness. He used a Jew to reach the Gentiles (that's us) He used many others that were way out of their comfort zone, remember Jonah running from God's request to go to Nineveh?

We are His, accomplishing His work, with His power. The pressure is off of us, we just need to have the faith to say yes. As one of the folks who get this email said, "if your faith requires proof, you have no faith."

Are you worried you will look like a fool by doing something that you are not good at? Moses fought God tooth and nail, but he did ultimately speak to Pharroh and lead millions of stiffnecked people to freedom, but didn't get to see his people enter the promised land because he didn't listen to God.

Let each of us be willing to use our weakness as well as our strengths for the glorious plan of our Master and be careful to glorify Him with the results.

In Christ,
Steve

Steve Amos

Sent from my iPad

Manna

My grandmother passed away yesterday, please keep my mom and her family in your prayers. I did my bible study last night, but nothing inspired me to write...so rather than forcing something I just didn't send anything.

(ESV) 1 Thess 4:9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10 for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

I remember when I was young, my dad had someone who was a Jehova's Witness begin to talk to him. It went on for several months. Including "bible study" for a while where they discussed the JW "bible" and many other things. In their cult, they teach works plus Jesus, kind of, for salvation. It made me think all the nice things that this guy did for our family were nothing more than a selfish attempt at earning his "salvation"

Brotherly love is the biggest testimony of Christ in our lives. When there is no reason for us to do something for someone other than the love that we have for them through Christ, we can speak LOUDLY to those lost family members of the recipient to our love. We have nothing to gain from our good works here on earth. If we repent, believe in Christ and commit our lives to Him, we have nothing more to earn, our jobs are simple, love everyone in His name, to be His hands and feet in is world before Christ's return.

Love on somebody today, in His name,

Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna

It has been a challenging week. At the last word, my grandmother is hanging on although her blood oxygen sats are in the 70s. Other challenges have presented themselves, but the Lord has worked them all out. Praise Him for His grace and mercy.

(ESV) Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

There is so much meat in this passage, I could write for days, but the central message God is in control and wants us to be with Him at any cost. He did not spare anything in our redemption, that's a fine church word....it means to set free, as in a slave, from sin...another wierd church word...sin is simply missing the mark, God's mark, of perfection. if you do something that God would never do, that's sin.

Back to the text...God wanted us to be with him so much that even after the fall of Man in the garden of Eden, even after he had to flood the world to start over, even after all of the miraculous things he did for Israel, we still chased after other gods. But through Christ, we are redeemed from our sinfulness and our relationship with God is restored for eternity and we will once again be able to walk with Him in the coolness of the morning as Adam and Eve did in the garden.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna

(ESV) Proverbs 19:20 Listen to advice and accept instruction,
that you may gain wisdom in the future.
21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

We each think we have our stuff together, but we are surrounded by others that can help us if we will humble ourselves and listen. Putting good advise to use is wisdom. We plan and God just lovingly smiles at us and works His plan. Our limited wisdom is no match for His infinite wisdom. We need to look for Him working and join Him rather than ending up frustraited by doing our own thing.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

Sent from my iPad

Manna

(ESV) 1Corinthians 2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Trying to convince someone of anything spiritual using words is most frustraiting. Most have tried it and ultimately failed. What you can convince someone of can be easily turned around by someone more convincing. However, if the Lord has a hold of them, they will be wooed by their creator who knows every little crack and hiding place in their soul.

Paul, who was one of the most learned men in the New Testament, kept his message simple... Jesus came and was innocent, but was killed in the most shameful way in that time. Not for what he did wrong, but for what we would do wrong....truely amazing love...let us all focus on this simple message.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna

(ESV)2 Timothy 2:20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

Have you ever done something and though I haven't done something that dumb in a while? I know I have. All Christians still have the same unholy flesh as they did before they were saved and it is a battle to keep from satisfying those youthful desires that bring dishonor to our Lord. They key in this passage is the "if anyone cleanses" part. Yoou need to keep confessed up, if you want to be used for good work. We also need time in prayer and Bible study to see the crud in our lives more clearly. Awareness of our sinning is the beginning of cleansing and Holiness!

In Christ's Love,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna

(ESV) Matthew 6:1 "Beware of rpracticing your righteousness before other people in order sto be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 

2 t"Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may ube praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have vreceived their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. wAnd your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 

Jesus talked about handling possessions a lot. Jesus talked about loving one another a lot. Putting the two together, we should all look for opportunities to be generous with our resources, both to Christians and non-Christians. But if we want eternal rewards, we don't need a press conference or press release to do it. Don't give your flesh an opportunity to boast in something that you didn't do anyway. According to scripture we are given everything that we have be our loving God. If we boast in charity, we are stealing God's glory! 

For His Glory,

Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna

(ESV) Matthew 7:24 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Jesus was nearing the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, very early in his ministry. We've all heard sermons on this and many of them focused on the rock and the sand. But to me a great truth is that the storm hit both houses. Wisdom is preparing for the storm, not running away from it. We shall all have trials, but if we prepare, the storms will relent before we do...

Trust Him...even in the storm,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna

(ESV) I Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or fas a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

Unlike popular teaching, the Christian walk is not a gold paved street on this side of physical death. We are still surrounded in a world of pain and suffering, trials are part of the gig. I do not understand how the health and wealth preachers can read any of the Bible and come to the conclusions the blessings and wealth are related. I grew up poor, but was blessed in many ways. Many others far poorer than I was and were still blessed....off the soapbox...now the text talks about trials. We wouldn't expect them at all if we sent in our "seed money" to some slick talking preacher on TV, but Peter expected them and ultimately was crucified upside down at the hands of Romans. We live in a worry free Christian environment, little direct persecution occurs, but our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world are far less fortnate. Many are KILLED every day. Follow @persecutionblog or @persecutionnews on Twitter to learn about some.

I think about Steven, the first martyr, he truely honored Christ until he breathed his last. We have not guarantee of the future remaining the same her in America and there are still many places in this world that hate the name of Jesus, but someone must go and tell them. Pray for our foreign missionaries today.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna

(ESV) 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

If, as Christians, were are only here to serve Him, then where do we need to go for training? We have Church were we are taught, but we don't retain most of what we hear. We have one another, but we are prone to change our minds, to seek after our own interests. Ultimately the best training tool ends up left in our vehicles after church for next week too many times. Been there done that. We have the answers for endless questions in our lives and we don't mke an effort to seek them.

As I have dove into the scriptures over the past few months, the peace in my life has grown. I think I have become a better dad and better brother in Christ. But it is God doing the work, not me. The old saying of dusty Bibles leading to dirty lives is dead on.

We need to make more time for the Word in our lives, most of us spend more time watching commercials than we do reading the Word.

Have a blessed Lord's day,
Steve

Steve Amos

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Manna

Please add my Grandmother to your prayer list. Yesterday, she had a very serious stroke and is still on a ventilator. With other health issues, she needs the Lord's intervention to get any better.

(ESV) Joshua 24:14 "Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

We need to be very careful applying God's promises to specific people or to the Nation of Israel to our walk, but we can learn a great deal from this, because people do not change...we need to have a healthy fear of the Lord. Israel had been in Egypt for generations and spent a lot of time serving other gods. We have the same struggles today, becoming distracted by things and people and obsession of self fulfillment, I pray each of our houses learn to serve the Lord and trust Him more completely.

For Him,

Steve

Steve Amos

Sent from my iPad

Manna

(NASB) I Corinthians 3:7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.
11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

We all should have the assignment of planter, waterer or harvester, but always keep in mind as the text says, it isn't you doing the work. Are job is mearly to be a vessel of truth and love shining the bright beam of salvation into the dark corners of our community. Saving conviction only comes from the Father, guilt about the consequences of our action, although painful, isn't necessarily conviction of sin. Think about the prodigal son....Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I do not deserve to be called your son...He didn't say, I'm starving to death and I need a piece of bread.

What an honor to be God's fellow workers, but before we build into someone else, we must make sure that the foundation of Christ is laid and carefully, by the wisdom off the Holy Spirit, build on it.

Praise Him for His mercy and grace,

Steve
www.joyjournal.net

Manna

Since I get to teach tonight at Alexis, I wanted to get in the Word early today and set my mind right.

(ESV) Luke 16:10 "One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in sthat which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

This is a very good business practice, test someone on something small and give them more responsibility when they do those things well, nothing surprising there. A person's integrity will shine through during times of want and times of plenty. We all think that if I were rich, I would....well the truth is people who are generous with little are generous with much. People who watch thhe small details with little are faithful to continue that with much and vise versa. We each need to assess our ability with the small things.

Many Blessings to you this morning,
Steve

Manna

(ESV) Luke14:34 "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Jesus uses a similar parable a couple other times. The salt in the area came from the dead sea and much of it was mixed with other compounds other than salt and was actually a liability, what can you do with it...not preserve anything or use it as fertilizer. How could Jesus apply this to today? He might be talking about is watered down Christianity. No essential substance, it's worthless. The modern church has more Bibles than any Church in history, but a essentially illiterate....we need to protect our saltyness.

For Him,
Steve
www.joyjournal.net

Manna

(ESV)Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
24 Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
25 Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.

Your heart is the fountain of life...protect it. What a great truth. If your heart is corrupt, your eyes, speach and the path of your life will be equally corrupt. But how do you protect it? Do not resist evil, but run from it...whether that is a person, a tv program, music, or the internet, do not play with filth, cut it out, make no provision for it. We are all weak in some area of our lifes, do not allow that weakness start to grow and affect us in a greater way, causing us to get off our spiritual path and making us inneffective for our beautiful Lord.

For Him,
Steve

www.joyjournal.net

Manna from Twiggs

(ESV) Proverbs 3:21 My son, do not lose sight of these—
keep sound wisdom and discretion,
22 and they will be life for your soul
and adornment for your neck.
23 Then you will walk on your way securely,
land your foot will not stumble.
24 If you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

How many times do we toss and turn over either something that we have done or something that we think may affect us the next day. Many times wisdom and discretion would have kept us from being in those positions. That is why my blog is called Joyjournal.net. God's wisdom through the Word and through the Holy Spirit produces Joy, not only fleeting happiness. When you do the right things for the right reasons, you sleep well. This small piece of this great chapter of Proverbs would keep people from restless sleep, grinding teeth, overwhelming worry and would probably extend our lives. Time in the Word and time in prayer taps in to that wisdom. If you are not doing it, start with a chapter of Proverbs a day, there are 31, then after a month of that, I guarantee you will want more and more.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

Sent from my iPad

Manna

(ESV) Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

These words of Jesus had to be a shock to hear for the family centered Jews. The word hate means to love less, not hate as we mean today. You have to place your devotion to Christ even above yourself and your family. A very difficult thing apart from the assistance of the Holy Spirit.

And the bearing the cross would have been shocking, crucifiction was a dispicable death in the minds of the Jews. Following Christ means not neccessarily giving up everything, but being willing to. Not too hard though if you truely trust Christ will take care of you and wants the best for you. Let us each give up more of our stuff and trust Him more today.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos
www.joyjournal.net
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Manna from the sticks

After an 8 hr, 6 hr trip we got to my mom's about an hour ago. Thank you Lord for the traveling mercies. We were on the other side of the interstate when a tire blew on an 18 wheeler and couldn't imagine if I had been behind it when it blew.

(ESV) Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 6 So we can confidently say,
"The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?"

The Christian walk is 99% attitude. Many of us cannot leave the perspective of the "old man" behind, we look for a Church where the creature comforts are right and have a good whatever program for the kids and they can't play piano, they have to have an organ or whatever....and then we have the audacity to sing "its all about you Jesus"

Hogwash....we have to fight back the old man every day we are on this side of death. We go to church and everyone is "fine" when the sky may be falling. If we want to have any impact on this generation, we have to stop playing the game the right way and start being genuine and transparent. That is radical.... If we truely trust that the Lord is our helper and we are not preforming for man, then it's easy to be transparent...you see Jesus already knows our struggles, our fears and our ambitions.

If we cast away what the world says is success and security and trust only in Christ for those things, we cannot fail. In fact that is about the only way not to fail. We have the Joy Journal written by God for us...we don't have to follow it, but if we do we will have peace and joy in our lives every day. That is how I came up with my blog address...happiness is fleeting, but Joy weathers all storms.

I'll shut up and go to sleep now. I pray you have a blessed weekend.

For Him,
Steve

Steve Amos

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