A True Witness

John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there. John 10:41, 42.
In the announcement to Zacharias before the birth of John, the angel had declared, “He shall be great in the sight of the Lord” (Luke 1:15). In the estimation of Heaven, what is it that constitutes greatness? Not that which the world accounts greatness; not wealth, or rank, or noble descent, or intellectual gifts, in themselves considered…. It is moral worth that God values. Love and purity are the attributes He prizes most. John was great in the sight of the Lord, when, before the messengers from the Sanhedrin, before the people, and before his own disciples, he refrained from seeking honor for himself, but pointed all to Jesus as the Promised One. His unselfish joy in the ministry of Christ presents the highest type of nobility ever revealed in man….
Aside from the joy that John found in his mission, his life had been one of sorrow. His voice had been seldom heard except in the wilderness. His was a lonely lot. And he was not permitted to see the result of his own labors. It was not his privilege to be with Christ and witness the manifestation of divine power attending the greater light. It was not for him to see the blind restored to sight, the sick healed, and the dead raised to life. He did not behold the light that shone through every word of Christ, shedding glory upon the promises of prophecy. The least disciple who saw Christ’s mighty works and heard His words was in this sense more highly privileged than John the Baptist, and therefore is said to have been greater than he..
It was not given to John to call down fire from heaven, or to raise the dead, as Elijah did, nor to wield Moses’ rod of power in the name of God. He was sent to herald the Saviour’s advent, and to call upon the people to prepare for His coming. So faithfully did he fulfill his mission that as the people recalled what he had taught them of Jesus, they could say, “All things that John spake of this Man were true.” Such witness to Christ every disciple of the Master is called upon to bear.
Conflict and Courage p. 279
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Prayer Requests
—–Please pray for me, my son and daughter took it upon 
themselves to sell my home, really gave it away, put me into
an assisted living place, confiscated my car.  Its been five 
months and have not seen or heard from either of them.  It  
hurts because when I was single mom and my youngest child
was just 18 months old, their dad left me for another woman and so I  
as a single mom raised them alone and am very sad and 
depressed.  I’m no spring chicken anymore, but 76 yrs age
and feel very alone and sad, depressed.  Frieda
—–PLEASE pray for my family! It seems as soon as we get through one issue we’re hit with another and I just ask that the Lord strengthen us and carry us through! He knows our needs! Nicole
—–Brethren kindly pray for my friend Sam is in lots of pain the headache, neck pain. Nats
—–Requesting pray for a pastor and his family. Ann
—–My family needs prayers! We have all fallen away from the Lord. We desperately need to get back before we destroy each other. Darcy
—–My brother-in-law has an extreme case of pancreatitis and his organs are not functioning. His entire body is swollen because it can’t release fluids, the fluids in his body turn to a gel like substance, he has a severe infection in his body and can’t be operated on until all inflammation and infection is gone. They are just married 4 months ago today. Please pray that the infection and inflammation in his body be removed or be healed so that he can have surgery. Mariana
—–Please pray for my daughter who is full of self-hate and sadness. L
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Dear Friends,
When my mother was in her late twenties, she began having problems with her gallbladder. She had gone to the doctor many times for it and was given medicine which would settle things down for a while. As her gallbladder attacks became more and more common, she learned to live with it. As much as she possibly could, she avoided foods that she knew would cause an attack and just went on with her life. Even so, there were times when she was in a lot of pain and extremely miserable.
One day, when she was in her early fifties, she began getting very sick and having more pain than she normally had when having a gallbladder attack. She did all the normal things that she usually did to make the attack subside, but nothing worked. Even a cracker or a drink of water would cause it to start all over again.
Finally, she went to the emergency room at the small community hospital near her house. They were not sure what the problem was and admitted her to the hospital for tests. The doctor finally decided that she must have cancer because of the severe pain she was experiencing. One older nurse, who was very kind to my mother, didn’t think so. When she saw a particular specialist, she asked him to examine my mother. The kind man said that he would.
Entering the room, the doctor could see that my mother was in terrible pain. He walked over, sat on the side of her bed, and began to ask her questions. As they were speaking, my mother suddenly stopped, looked surprised, and told him that the pain was suddenly and completely gone. At that, the man put his hand on her arm and said, “Don’t worry, dear, I know what the problem is. Your gallbladder has burst. We’ll get you ready for surgery immediately.”
Everyone scrambled around working against time, for they knew that my mother had only minutes to live. Although they whisked her off to surgery very, very quickly, she still died on the operating table. That did not stop them. Within moments, she was revived and the doctor continued his work.
After the surgery was over and my mother was awake, the doctor told her that he had never seen such a gallbladder in all of his years as a specialist in that area. It had swollen to gigantic size before it had burst—-bigger than he had ever seen before. How thankful my mother was to that nurse who had asked the man to visit with her at the very time when she was but moments from death.
Just as my mother had learned to live with her gallbladder troubles until it was almost too late, so we often learn to live with our “pet” sins until we are in danger of dieing spiritually. Year after year, we go about our life as if nothing were wrong. Year after year, the sin gets bigger and bigger. Finally, it takes such control of our life that it can no longer be ignored. It has the mastery. We find that we are as helpless to free ourselves from the sin that is crushing us as was my mother to get well on her own. Isaiah speaks of our pitiable condition, “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isa 1:5,6, 64:6