Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Dear Friend,

If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning.

Message: Paul connects three ideas here. Sloth, or laziness, was traditionally one of the ”seven deadly sins” and was much emphasized by the Puritans. Who has not heard “idle hands are the Devil's playground”? Here, Paul is not actually talking about general laziness, though. He says not to be slothful “in zeal”, and the rest of the context makes it clear that he is saying, “do not be apathetic about Christianity.” Translated to today, Paul is warning against Sunday Christianity: going to church on Sunday and dropping a check in the collection plate. We must keep the Spirit active within ourselves, by reading, study and prayer, for the flesh is always with us and gives Satan constant opportunities to steer us wrong. It is good to have both a group and an individual discipline for prayer and study; because we learn more in private, but studying with others can buoy our spirit, increase our sense of fellowship with other Christians, and let us hear other voices to keep from making private error. Above all we must love God with passion. The Bible drives this home time and time again: We must seek God passionately. We must love God passionately. We serve and obey God passionately; we trust God passionately. And just in cast the message isn't coming across, read Colossians 3:23: “Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ.” This is God's will for us; and He tells us to be passionate about serving Him, not for His sake, but for ours! Paul entreats us to serve the Lord and be fervent in our Spirit. We must work, somehow, for the spread of the Gospel and not be too embarrassed or quiet about our belief. This is harder for some people than others, for we all have different gifts, but we must make sure we use our gifts. For as Ben Franklin said, “what good is a sundial in the shade”?