Manna for Your Morning

Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. — 1 Timothy 4:7b (MSG) “What God wants to do is not just to make you happy. He wants to make you holy.” (Francis Chan) The good news is that we have already been given everything we need to live a godly life. Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. (2 Peter 1:3 MSG) Let us exercise discipline and self-control for the purpose of godliness. First Timothy 4:8 (NKJV) says, godliness is profitable for all things. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:  — Hebrews 12:14 (NKJV)

Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, — Psalm 92:13-14 (NKJV) We are to be planted in the house of the LORD. And Colossians 2:7 (NLT) says, “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. He who abides in Jesus, bears much fruit; for without Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5) As we are planted and rooted in Him, we will stay fresh, we will flourish and be fruitful. The righteous will flourish like the date palm [long-lived, upright and useful]; They will grow like a cedar in Lebanon [majestic and stable]. (Psalm 92:12 AMP)

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. — Acts 9:15 (NKJV) A vessel is a hollow container used to hold something. Just as Saul was chosen, you are vessel, chosen by God that His Holy Spirit may dwell in you. Without the Spirit of God living inside of us, we are all empty vessels. Before He formed you in the womb, the LORD knew you (Jeremiah 1:5). He created you on purpose and with a purpose. You are not a mistake and God has not forgotten about you. Let us be vessels for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work (2 Timothy 2:21).