Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Fresh Daily - #5454

Thursday, December 6, 2007

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When our son comes to visit, he usually comes with a box of doughnuts under his arm. Just what we need! Now these are not just any doughnuts. These are from a doughnut chain that has become very popular in America. I don't do ads, so you'll have to figure it out. But we were driving with our son through a tourist community not long ago, and he suddenly exclaimed, "The hot light is on!" I thought my car was overheating. No, he meant that the light in the window of this doughnut store was on, which is their signal that a hot batch of their delicious doughnuts has just come out of the oven. And I have to tell you, when you get them fresh like that, oh, can you say "irresistible"? I'll bet I just made you hungry.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fresh Daily."

It's true of doughnuts. It's true of bread. It's always best when you get it fresh and hot out of the oven. So is bread for your soul, as in God's own words for your heart, recorded in that Bible of yours. There's nothing like getting it fresh from God to your soul - daily.

If your spiritual life has seemed a little stale lately, it may be because you've been neglecting your time with God where He gives you His word for this moment, hot out of the oven. There's a picture of this in our word for today from the Word of God in Exodus 16 , beginning with verse 4. God's ancient people are in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land, in desperate need of nourishment. God says: "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day..." How often was that, now? "...each day and gather enough for that day." Then the Bible says, "Each one gathered as much as he needed."

A few people got this bright idea that they could stock up on manna and not have to go out every day for a new supply. Bad idea. "Some of them," the Bible says, "paid no attention to Moses. They kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell." God never meant for them to live on day-old food from heaven. He doesn't mean for you to do that either. Because, as Lamentations 3:22-23 says, "Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning." That is fresh daily. Your time with God, nourishing your soul with His Word, is literally the difference between your being "consumed" or being a conqueror.

Every morning, God is saying, "I'm your Heavenly Father, and I want to have a word with you today about..." And each day you discover what He wants to give you for what He knows this day will hold. Getting His fresh word for you begins by seeking His direction as to which book of the Bible He wants you to be reading in right now. Ask Him to match Scripture with this moment in your life. You may be reading verses you read many times before, but you're bringing a different life to them. Stay with Him until you've digested the verses you've read, which means applying them to something you're going to face that day. Then write down what He's shown you in a daily spiritual journal. Then dwell on the word He gave you all day long. It's what He wanted you thinking about all day as you deal with whatever He knew was going to come up.

Remember, you don't just read God's Word for information. You read it for transformation! Let Him change you each new morning through the power of His Word. And don't settle for just getting someone else's devotional thoughts, or counting on church or group Bible studies to keep you going, or depending on what God said to you some "yesterday" in your life. Get it fresh! Get it hot! The Bible said that if His people would get fresh manna each new day, "in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord." So will you!