We are excited to announce some new features to the blogsite. As more and more readers are viewing from foreign countries we have added the translate feature to the site. Our readers can also now choose to have the blog emailed to them, and they can search the blog by keywords on various topics. We hope that this makes the site more manageable for you. God Bless.

Hear current audio messages by Pastor Scott Burr at:
http://sermon.net/dayspringchurchag

Monday, September 3, 2012

“Breaking the Manna Mentality”

(Part 1)

“On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land; unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.”

                                                                                                Joshua 5:10-12

 

For 40 years God provided Israel with bread every day! Israel had never seen anything like it. The people called it manna, which translated literally means “What is it?” According to Exodus 16:13-14:

 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.”

 Exodus 16:31 describes it as being white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. They were to gather just what they needed for each day and twice as much on the day before the Sabbath. This bread from heaven was a perfect symbol of God’s grace. For throughout Israel’s journey whether they were grumbling against God, rebelling against Moses, worshipping idols or in willful disobedience…the manna was always there! God brought plagues, opened the earth in judgment, consumed the disobedient with fire, but never did He withhold the manna!

However there did come a day when the manna stopped! The day after they ate food from the land of Canaan the manna ceased. I wonder how many people went out looking for it the next day. I wonder how many days they went out to see if it would be there. There came a point in Israel’s journey that they had to start engaging kingdom principles. For 40 years, Israel woke up to heaps of manna around the camp. This means that an entire generation grew up who did not engage in sowing and reaping.

It is true that the desert was dry and barren. It would have been difficult, if not impossible, to grow crops there, but let’s remember that they were there by choice. They could have entered Canaan much sooner. Instead they willfully chose to disregard God and His promises and refused to enter the Promised Land. Still, by His grace, God provided manna to Israel.

Later, under Joshua’s command, when they did finally enter the land flowing with milk and honey, God expected them to re-employ kingdom principles. To live according to His Word! God was still going to provide for them, but it was no longer going to be heaps of food laid out at their doorsteps! God had to break them of their manna mentality!

Pastor Scott Burr

http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com/

 

No comments:

Post a Comment