Come unto Me (1/11-15)

11-15 January 2016 - Come Unto Me – Manna by Dorothy Callies
Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." John 14:6

May the Lord touch your heart as you come to Jesus.

Poem: Come Unto Me

Are you tired? Are you weary?
Are you feeling life is so dreary?
Come unto Me and I will give you rest.

Are you feeling restless?
Are you angry that life’s a mess?
Come unto Me and I will give you My best.

Are you feeling anxieties?
Is your mind full of worries?
Come unto Me and your mind will be at ease.

Are you feeling the worst
since the day of your birth?
Come unto Me and you shall find peace.

Are you struggling with your life?
Are you and your friends in strife?
Come unto Me and allow Me to show you.

Are you so very proud
that you couldn’t come around?
Come unto Me for I am lowly in heart, too.

Are you confused with life’s road?
Do you carry a heavy load?
Come unto Me and I will show you the Way.

Are you broken in heart
and feeling pulled apart?
Come unto Me and I will brighten your day.

Why are you so down?
Is your face darkened by a frown?
Come unto Me and with you, let Me embrace.

Are you feeling bad?
Are you feeling sad?
Come unto Me and let me give you My grace.

Poem written by Dorothy Callies in January 20, 1986

Dorothy: What this poem means to me? Early this Sunday morning I was trying to prepare myself for the Manna. There was a time when I had grown weary in well-doing. It seemed that the very life of God was drained in me. I did not feel like praying; I did not feel like ministering to anyone; and I certainly did not feel like praising. I was lacking in strength and endurance.

I turned to Jesus and He led me to read this poem several times and He spoke to my heart, “Come unto Me and I will give you rest. Come unto Me and I will give you My best. Come unto Me and your mind will be at ease. Come unto Me and you shall find peace. Come unto Me and allow Me to show you. Come unto Me for I am lowly in heart, too. Come unto Me and I will show you the Way. Come unto Me and I will brighten your day. Come unto Me and with you, let Me embrace. Come unto Me and let me give you My grace.”

I felt the spirit of heaviness left and I was clothed in the garment of praise. I began to sing this prayer song to Jesus under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. “Oh, Jesus, I love You, I know You are mine. For You all my feelings of sin I resign. My wonderful Redeemer, My Savior are Thou. Who would I ever loved Thee, but You Jesus, just now.”

Song: My Jesus, I Love Thee

By William Ralph Featherston, Sing His Praise

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me

And purchase my pardon on Calvary’s tree;

I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,

I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;

I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,

“If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.”

I will began my day by proclaiming praises to my Father: “Father, this is the day that You have made. I will rejoice and be glad in it! The spirit of rejoicing, joy and laughter are my heritage. I will praise You with joyful lips. I am always filled and stirred by the Holy Spirit. Where Your Spirit is, Lord, there is liberty—freedom from bondage. I walk in that liberty.

“I speak out in psalms and hymns and make melody with all my heart to You, Lord. My happy heart is a good medicine and my cheerful mind works healing. Your joy is my strength, Lord. Then I can count it all joy, all strength, when I faced with tests or trials of any kind because I am strong in You, Lord, and in the power of Your might. I have victory in the name of Jesus. Satan is under Jesus’ feet. I will be strong in Jesus’ name. Amen!”

The Lord is not Slack (1/6-10)

06-10 January 2015 - The Lord is not Slack – Manna by Dorothy Callies

2 Peter 3:9a “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us ward . . .”

The word slack interests me. I like the King James Version to keep in the Word of God as much as possible before going into other translations. I choose to interpret this: Slack means slow, weak, careless, taking sweet time as if it was nothing, not busy or nothing important.

Question: Why would Peter bring up the subject, “The Lord is not slack?” I looked at 2 Peter 3:1-8 and noticed verse 3 & part 4 says, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own flesh, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? …”

NLT gives a clear translation: “First, I want to remind you that in the last days there will be scoffers (mockers) who will laugh at the truth and do every evil thing they desire. This will be their argument: “Jesus promised to come back, did he? Then where is he? Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly the same since the world was first created” 2 Peter 3:3-4.

Peter responded and said, “They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth up from the water and surrounded it with water. Then He used the water to destroy the world with a mighty flood. And God has also commanded that the heavens and the earth will be consumed by fire on the Day of Judgment, when ungodly people will perish” 2 Peter 3:5-7 NLT.

Peter went on to defend God from those who mocked God about His ‘slackness.’ Peter said, “But you must not forget, dear friends, that a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day” 2 Peter 3:8 NTL. God is an eternity God so one day is like a 1,000 years to Him.

The mockers attacked God and His Word so Peter gave an answer to defend God. Peter responds this verse to the scoffers and said, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise to return, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so He is giving more time for everyone to repent” 2 Peter 2:9.

Peter exhorted us and said, “I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends, so that you can watch out and not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people. I don’t want you to lose your own secure footing. But grow in the special favor and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be all glory and honor, both now and forevermore. Amen” 2 Peter 3:17b, 18.

Dorothy: What does this whole devotion means to me? I see TV and internet news about riot in other countries, wars, hazardous weather, flood, people died everywhere, leaders corrupted, unrest people, people losing homes, and oh so many things going on that we may have never seen this much happenings so fast and so distressing.

It is a temptation for anyone to say “Where is God in all this? Why is He so slow in doing something to stop the bad things from happening to all of us? Where is He? Why God keeps putting it off? Is Jesus coming back at all?” Peter, the Apostle had the answers since He knew Jesus and His Word so well. Peter was very close to Jesus and Peter loved Jesus.

If Peter was here today, what do you think his answers would be to us? “The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise to return, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so He is giving more time for everyone to repent” 2 Peter 2:9.

You know, God read my secret thought when I admit at times, it does feel like He was being slow about everything. God cares what I thought and through Peter’s quoting that “God isn’t being slow.” The Holy Spirit corrected my thoughts and His Word changed me. I realized that God still has a plan and that I am to trust Him. I thank God for loving me this much.

Maybe you felt the same way and I pray that His Word would corrected our thoughts that He seems slow when in fact, God isn’t slow in His promise to return. Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray.” So let us continue to pray and thank God for each day.  

Song: O How Sweet to Trust in Jesus

O How Sweet to Trust in Jesus

Just to trust Him at His Word.

Just to rest upon His promise,

Just to know “Thus saith the Lord.”

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him,

How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er.

Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus!

O, for grace to trust Him more.

(Louisa M. R. Stead, Sing His Praise)

Good Treasure & Happy New Year! (1/1-5)

01-05 Jan 2016 - Good Treasure – Manna by Dorothy

"The Lord shall open unto thee good treasure." Deut. 28:12a

Moses was giving his last speech to the newest generation. They had come to the end of their 40 years of wandering and they were now ready to enter the Promise Land. Moses said, "The Lord will open up the heavenly storehouse so that the skies send rain on your land at the right time, and He will bless... you" Deut. 28:12ab New Century Version.

The new generation had been wandering in the desert and when they hear "rain" from "treasure"? That was new to them. All they had seen was their daily manna to eat except Sabbath Day. So now they were called to trust God's Promise by faith they had not seen yet. For them, that was a big daring step to put their faith in God. And Israel became a nation.

Are we ready to enter the New Year of 2016 with “God’s Promise Land of Healing Manna and to meet our needs?” I say, “Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Heb. 4:16. Yes, let us come boldly unto God’s grace and His healing power.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promises. God is not slack, taking His sweet time. God has a plan and He is very patience, working on us to come into the likeness of Christ. One of the character of Christ is longsuffering in time of His great pain through stripes and through being nailed to the cross.

We are under God’s grace and if you felt like you had been wandering through the desert for a long time. Good news … The Lord shall open unto you His good treasure. Let us visualize that God will open up His heavenly storehouse that He will rain His blessings upon us every day. Why? Because His mercy is new every morning.

So let us trust God today! AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dorothy
[By the way, I’ll be 73 on Jan. 3^rd]

Happy New Year! (12/27-31)

December 27-31, 2015 - Pressing Toward the Goal – Manna by Dorothy Callies

 [Revised from 12/31/2013]

Philippians 3:13 “… I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead” (NLT).

Paul said that his goal was to know Christ, to be like Christ, and to be all Christ had in mind for him. This goal took all of Paul’s energies. Paul gave us an example that we are to set our eyes on the goal—knowing Christ.  Paul said, “… I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be” (Phil.3:12 NLT).

Paul said, “I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven” (Phil. 3:13,14 NLT).

Paul had reason to forget the past—he had held the coats of those who stoned Stephen, the first Christian martyr (Acts 7:57, 58, Paul is called Saul here). Paul was not proud of what he did. When he accepted Christ, many Christians were not able to accept Paul then. Paul went away for a while to get to know Christ. Later on, Barnabas went to find him and became his friend. Barnabas introduced Paul to the Christians to hear him preach the gospel. They were amazed that Paul became a different man. They forgave Paul and learned to forget what Paul had done in the past.

We have all done things for which we were ashamed of. But our hope is in Christ, and we can let go of past guilt and look forward to what God will help us to become like Jesus. Don’t dwell on your past. Instead, grow in the knowledge of God by concentrating on your relationship with Him now. Realize that you are forgiven, and then move on to a life of faith and obedience. Look forward to a fuller and more meaningful life because of your hope in Christ.

Song: My Lord Knows The Way

My Lord knows the way thro’ the wilderness,

All I have to do is to follow.

My Lord knows the way thro’ the wilderness,

All I have to do is to follow.

Strength for today is mine all the way,

And all that I need for tomorrow.

My Lord knows the way thro’ the wilderness,

All I have to do is to follow.

(Inspiring Choruses)

Greetings from Callies (12/22-26)

FROM TONY AND DOROTHY CALLIES WITH CHRISTMAS' GREETING:

CHRISTMAS IS A BUSY TIME OF HOLIDAYS! BAKING COOKIES! ONE DEAF FRIEND SAID, "BAKING COOKIES WILL KEEP HER BUSY ALL WEEK".  THINKING ABOUT COOKIES, I REALIZED THAT CHRISTMAS COOKIES ARE THE POPULAR TIME OF OUR "SWEET TOOTH" WITH ALL KINDS OF DESIGNS. I REMEMBER LEARNING HOW TO MAKE "NO BAKE DROP COOKIES" FROM MY DEAF SISTER, ANNA WHO LIVES IN CALIFORNIA WITH HER GRANDDAUGHTER, SABINA WHO HAS A SON NAME, ELIJAH. MY DEAF SISTER IS 84 AND SHE IS DOING WELL.

TONY TOLD ME A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS STORIES ABOUT HIS THREE BROTHERS AND HIS PARENTS. HIS MOM WAS SO GREAT WITH BAKING SO MANY DECORATIVE HOLIDAY COOKIES. THESE BOYS JUST LOVE THEM, ESPECIALLY TONY. WHEN ONE GETS OLDER, THE MEMORIES OF CHRISTMAS FAMILY GATHERINGS WHILE GROWING UP ARE PRECIOUS. ESPECIALLY BAKING HOLIDAY COOKIES TIME!

IT MAKES ME THINK OF GOD, OUR CREATOR WHO LOVES TO SEE THE CREATIONS OF ALL KINDS OF IMAGINABLE 'COOKIES.' WE ARE BLESSED TO HAVE OUR CREATOR WHO BECAME OUR SAVIOR AND A CHRISTMAS TIME IS A TIME TO REMEMBER JESUS' BIRTHDAY. SO "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!"

Memory of Crisis 2008 (12/17-21)

17-21 December 2014 - Memory of Crisis 2008 – Callies’ News

Psalm 34:7-8 “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.”

Memory of Christmas crisis was seven years ago on Dec. 19, 2008. After reading the crisis news, the Lord reminds me of how He is always with Tony and me. I wrote this news in December 22, 2008 for Fresh Manna.

[As for news, we had no power last Friday, Dec. 19th until Dec. 21, 2008 when we came home to check the power on late Sunday morning. We stayed at Double Tree Hotel which is across the lake from our apartment. It was like a special Christmas date on Saturday night when it got too cold to stay in our apartment on the second night with no power.

I had the Fresh Manna ready but no power and something urged me to go to Panera. I remembered they had wireless free so we were there on Saturday morning for breakfast. I was able to transfer from document saved to Fresh Manna. Awesome to me, there was a way to do that when power went out.]

O taste and see that the Lord is good. You are blessed when you trust in God! Maybe you had some crisis time in the past or recently, but you learn to trust in God in all things that we don’t always understand. When we trust God, notice something? We feel good! That is a feeling of God’s blessing on you when we trust in Him! I am reminded of a . . .

Song, ‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus!

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His word.
Just to rest upon His promise, Just to know “Thus saith the Lord.”
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er.
Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus! Oh for grace to trust Him more.

Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to trust His cleansing blood.
Just in simple faith to plunge me ‘Neath the healing, cleansing flood.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er.
Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus! Oh for grace to trust Him more.

I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee, Precious Jesus, Savior Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me, Wilt be with me to the end.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er.
Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus! Oh for grace to trust Him more.

(Lyrics: Louisa M. R. Stead, Sing His Praise)

A Story of Arthur & the Cross (12/13-16)

13-16 Dec 2015 - A Story of Arthur & the Cross – Manna from Jan. 2008 Revised. God used Arthur to carry the cross, around the world and to spread the Good News about Jesus.

Cheer-leading by Arthur Blissit
Give me a 'J'!
J
Give me an 'E'!
E
Give me an 'S'!
S
Give me a 'U'!
U
Give me another 'S'!
S
What's that spell? Jesus!

In December of 1969, Arthur Blissit began to carry a twelve-foot wooden cross on a journey that would take him around the world and in every nation on earth. Since that time, he has walked over 37,000 miles with the cross in more than 300 nations and territories. Website to order the book, "Give Me J". www.tbn.org.

Arthur and his wife were carrying the cross in Sri Lanka--a predominately Buddhist nation. A story about a man who met Arthur and his wife, Denise, carrying the cross. A man asked question about the cross and Arthur. He told of how he was dying and a Man came to him, but the man didn't know His name. The man recognized the cross from the bookstore. Arthur had introduced Jesus to him and that His name was Jesus. Arthur told him about the Bible. The man gloriously welcomed Jesus in his life. Jesus had revealed Himself to this man.

You might ask, "What exactly happened when he carried the cross?" On page 168 summary story: On a warm day in the early 1980's, during a long cross walk from Warsaw to Czestochowa, Poland, he stopped to rest. His interpreter, an English-speaking Polish school teacher, was sitting near him and they were eating as they sat in the grass. People were all around him, when suddenly through the crowd came a young woman who sat down in front of him. The girl name was Anna.

Beautiful and 24-years old, she had lovely clear eyes and short blonde hair. But she sat there with tears running down her face, and her legs were covered with blood. Through the interpreter, he explained that Anna had heard that Arthur knew how to find Jesus. The girl's legs were bleeding and he asked what was wrong with her legs. Interpreter pointed toward the hill where they could see the people climbing up on their knees.

Anna has been climbing that hill on her knees to show her love for Christ and has been trying to find Jesus. Someone just told her that the man with the cross knew how to talk with Jesus, so she came to see if he can tell her how to find Him. Arthur explained to her, "Jesus loved you before you ever started up that hill, and He loves you now that you have come down. All that blood was not necessary; he has already shed His blood for you.

Now I know He appreciates your desire to show your love, but you don't have to do that to prove you love Him. He can live in your heart." He explained how Christ had died for her and had offered her the gift of salvation. She prayed and invite Jesus into her heart and He became her Savior. Anna cried, hugged, laughed and smiled, and said, "I have found Jesus. I found Him. Now I know Him--that is all I need. I've found Him! I've found Him!" And she ran away.

Dorothy: It reminds me of a song:
Reach out and touch the Lord as He walked by.
You'll find He's not too busy to hear your heart cry.
He's passing by this moment, your need to supply.
Reach out and touch the Lord as He walked by.

(Inspiring Choruses)