Adding and Multiplying

We are not to trust in our faith, but in the promises of God. When we repent of our past transgressions of His law, and resolve to render obedience in the future, we should believe that God for Christ’s sake accepts us and forgives our sins.

Darkness and discouragement will sometimes come upon the soul and threaten to overwhelm us, but we should not cast away our confidence. We must keep the eye fixed on Jesus, feeling or no feeling. We should seek to faithfully perform every known duty, and then calmly rest in the promises of God….

We may not feel today the peace and joy which we felt yesterday, but we should by faith grasp the hand of Christ, and trust Him as fully in the darkness as in the light.

Satan may whisper, “You are too great a sinner for Christ to save.” While you acknowledge that you are indeed sinful and unworthy, you may meet the tempter with the cry, “By virtue of the atonement, I claim Christ as my Savior.” …

If we would permit our minds to dwell more upon Christ and the heavenly world, we should find a powerful stimulus and support in fighting the battles of the Lord…. When the mind has been long permitted to dwell only on earthly things, it is a difficult matter to change the habits of thought. That which the eye sees and the ear hears, too often attracts the attention and absorbs the interest. But if we would enter the city of God, and look upon Jesus in His glory, we must become accustomed to beholding Him with the eye of faith here….

Sanctification is a progressive work. The successive steps are set before us in the words of Peter: “Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” … Here is a course by which we may be assured that we shall never fall. Those who are thus working upon the plan of addition in obtaining the Christian graces, have the assurance that God will work upon the plan of multiplication in granting them the gifts of His Spirit.—The Review and Herald, November 15, 1887.
From the Heart p. 57
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Prayer Requests
—-My 80 plus neighbor asked for prayer for her cat miracle who is very sick she may have to put her down she has no family never had kids except her cats and dogs. Please pray for miracle that she can have the strength for put her down she is 16 years old. thanks M.
—-Please pray Doyle, Bladder cancer treatment. BL
—-Please pray for Sylvia as the doctors only gave her a week to live. Pril
—-Ermise’s young sister just had a stroke and her daughter having surgery. Plus the husband’s health is deteriorating. Michael
—-Cheryl has serious health issues and needs prayers for healing. Wanda
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Dear Friends,

How I loved to listen to my grandfather’s wonderful stories of the long-ago days when he was a boy in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He explained in detail how he was able to live off wild edibles and the fish he would catch on a fishing hook and a line always carried in his pocket wherever he went. His fishing pole was nothing more than a supple branch from a nearby tree. He told of the drainage holes along the floor of the area’s covered bridges that were just right for letting down his line into the river below but afforded him protection from the elements. Those descriptions of the covered bridges fascinated me. I had seen covered bridges, but never the kind he described.

In 1976, we were living in rural Pennsylvania, and my grandfather’s stories seemed to come alive. One day, my mother came for a visit. We decided to take her for a long drive to show her the beauties of the area around our home. As we drove farther and farther, we began speaking of Grandfather’s stories as everywhere we looked there was something to remind us of them. Soon we came to a lovely little park nestled in the mountains. My mother wanted to stop, so we pulled the car to the side of the narrow road and began to walk in among the trees.

The central attraction of this park was an ancient covered bridge. We were delighted! We walked quickly down the path and entered the bridge. As we explored every nook and cranny, my mother wondered aloud if her father had fished from there. We laughed at the thought, yet his description of this bridge was so exact that it seemed a real possibility. As we stopped by one of the rectangular drainage holes, we talked about how he had fished from ones just like it.

Suddenly my mother shouted! We had kept walking along the bridge, but she had stayed to gaze out over the water. We hurried back to see what she was so excited about. Pointing to the railing, she said, “Daddy always carved his name wherever he went. Look here!” There, carved in the railing, was the name “Ed Harmon.” Even after all those many years it was still plainly visible. The letters were about an inch and a half tall and started out very deep but became shallower toward the end. He must have gotten tired of his carving, just as any kid would. My grandfather, sometime in his early teens, had fished from that very bridge! What a precious experience!

Just so, on every tree and leaf and flower, our Great Creator has left His Name for us to discover. As we look at the beauties of this earth, even after 6,000 years of sin, we can see His tender care for every part of His creation. As we look up into the sky on a crisp cool night and see the billions of stars above us, we think of the words of the Psalmist, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” Ps 19:1, 2 As we gaze upon those same stars and galaxies David saw, we anticipate the delightful discoveries that await us when sin and sinners shall be no more.

The majestic mountains remind us that “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Deut 32:4 The clear flowing streams that we walk along here, are a foretaste of the “river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” The lovely trees that shade us from the sun’s rays, make us long to eat from “the tree of life which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month.” Rev 22:1,2

Think of it! The “LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it,” is the very One Who gave His life that we may live eternally. (Isa 45:18) Our Loving Saviour left all the glories of Heaven, lived a life of poverty and hardship, suffered all the hatred of wicked men spurred on by demons; so that someday we may dwell in His glorious kingdom where “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.” Rev 21:4 “O Praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD. Ps 117

May praise to Jesus be upon our lips as we discover the signature of our Redeemer upon His creation is my prayer.

Rose