"Leftovers"

"And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted." Exodus 16:21

Have you ever been in a church service, or some other meeting, where the presence of the Lord came down in a powerful way?  You felt so refreshed and left knowing that you had an encounter with the Lord.  You were so blessed that you were still basking in it later that night at home. But the next morning when you got up, hoping to continue to feel the "overflow" of what the Lord had done for you the night before-- it wasn't there.

That has happened to me, but instead of waking up the next morning and feeling what I had felt the night before- the refreshing, cleansing, joy, peace, love- in the same measure.  I didn't. I wondered why not. I wondered what had happened. I wondered if I did something to lose it. I asked the Lord about it. He immediately brought the verse above to my mind.

When God touches us, when He pours out a special blessing, when He ministers to us in a powerful way, He doesn't intend for us to keep going in that one touch only. He doesn't want us to just sit back and bask in what happened yesterday, last night, in last year's revival, at a conference, etc. He wants us to allow His Spirit to touch us in these same ways each and every day.

In my case, it was the Lord who lifted the next morning what I had felt the night before for that very reason. The manna was not intended to be left over. It was intended to be gathered fresh each day. That is why God did not allow it to stay on the ground all day or until the night. It melted when the sun came out so that the people would have to gather it again the next day. God would not allow them to have "leftovers".

Are you trying to live on the "leftovers"? Don't try to live on yesterday's experience. Don't try to keep holding on to what the Lord did for you last week and not get a fresh touch from Him this week. Don't try to walk in the anointing of the past, ask for a fresh anointing for today. Don't settle for the "leftovers", get something fresh for today.

Have a great day. Leftovers may be good when it's food, but God doesn't intend for you to live on spiritual leftovers. He wants to give you something fresh everyday.

For further reading:
Exodus 16
Matthew 6:11