Tuesday December 23, 2025
Manna / Weekly Manna

Devotions
My Morning Resolve
My Earliest Thought I Desire Shall Be:

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord [for grace to help]. I will pay my vows unto the Most High." – Psalm 116:12-14

Remembering the Divine call, "Gather My saints together unto Me; those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice" (Psalm 50:5), I resolve that by the Lord's assisting grace I will today, as a saint of God, fulfil my vows, continuing the work of sacrificing the flesh and its interests, that I may attain unto the Heavenly inheritance in joint-heirship with my Redeemer.

I will strive to be simple and sincere toward all.

I will seek not to please and honor self, but the Lord.

I will be careful to honor the Lord with my lips, that my words may be unctuous and blessed to all.

I will seek to be faithful to the Lord, the Truth, the brethren and all with whom I have to do, not only in great matters, but also in the little things of life.

Trusting myself to Divine care and the Providential overruling of all my interests for my highest welfare, I will seek not only to be pure in heart, but to repel all anxiety, all discontent, all discouragement.

I will neither murmur nor repine at what the Lord's providence may permit, because

"Faith can firmly trust Him,
      Come what may."
Exceeding Great & Precious Promise
Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. Isa. 65:24
      How many prayers are not heard or are hindered because the one who asks does not first purify himself of evil in his own heart? "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts;" i.e., you ask selfishly and without regard to the will of God. But to the chastened and sanctified comes the promise – "Before they call (reading the desire of the heart even before it finds expression in words) I will answer (will begin so to shape events as to bring the answer soon or later); and while they are yet speaking I will hear." While this is in connection with a prophecy relating to the Lord's people in the Millennial Age, it nevertheless is true of all His faithful ones of this age. Praise the Lord for all His loving kindness to even the least of His lowly children! R1866,c2,p2


Daily Heavenly Manna (December 23)
A word in season, how good it is! A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Proverbs 15:23; Proverbs 25:11
WE are to remember, when talking with those who have an ear to hear and are inquiring the way to the Lord, that there are great crises in the lives of men, momentous occasions, in which one word may be more valuable, more potent, than would be a hundred words or a thousand words at another time, under different circumstances; and we are to be instant in the Lord's service, whether seasonable or unseasonable to ourselves, – gladly ready to lay down our lives for the brethren....We are to distinguish, however, between out-of-season to ourselves and out-of-season to others; and to be willing to serve others at any time, however out-of-season to ourselves, if it be in season and opportune for them. We are not to intrude even the Gospel itself at inopportune times, however convenient the occasion may be to ourselves. `Z. '02-381` R3124:1
Weekly Manna (December 18)
The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Hebrews 13:6
   TO have the proper course in life, to be able to meet the trials and difficulties of life as they come to us, and to meet them in the proper spirit which the Lord directs – in the spirit of rejoicing in tribulation, and counting such experiences all joy, – it is necessary that all fear of man, which brings a snare, shall be removed. And it is our Lord's direction that we shall fear Jehovah, and not fear our mortal fellows. The righteous are bold as a lion, as well as gentle as a dove, and meek as a lamb. This peculiar combination should be found in every Christian, and we doubt if it will be found elsewhere. `Z. '02-45` R2953:1