And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. Isaiah 46:4.
I feel anxious that in our old age we who have known the truth for so long shall become mellow in spirit and in our methods of labor; that we shall understand the simple, yet important and comprehensive truths of the third angel’s message; and that we shall receive these truths in the love of God, and impart them to others. . . .
Every day put on Christ. Hold the beginning of your confidence firm unto the end. The Lord has not forsaken you. He desires you to grow in grace, to increase in ability to help the people. But if you interest them, you must speak right to the point, and you must stop before you think you are half through.
I cannot endure the thought of any of our aged believers decreasing in influence and efficiency. The Lord wants you to cooperate with Him in making all you can of yourself. If you will unite willingly with Him in this work, your last days will be your brightest and best. . . .
Open the windows of your soul heavenward and close them earthward. Let the rays of the Sun of Righteousness shine into the chambers of the mind. To cultivate the meekness and lowliness of Christ, to wear His yoke and bear His burdens, this is the lesson before you, and it concerns you and all with whom you are brought in contact. Cultivate the heavenly virtues. Purify your soul from all defilement. Obtain a fitness to be received as a member of the royal family.
Instruction from the Word of God, right amid the cares of building, will keep the minds of the workers sweetened with grace, and will help them to accomplish their work. As the Lord impresses their minds, they will catch the most precious ideas from one another. Angels of God are on the [Sydney] Sanitarium ground. Then let the workers speak words that will be a blessing to those around them. Act your part, my brother, in the love of the truth. Have faith in the Scriptures as the Word of the living God.–Letter 11, Jan. 21, 1901, to Dr. M. G. Kellogg, working in Australia.
This Day with God p. 29
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Prayer Requests
—–Please pray for me. I’m feeling so much stress right now I can barely cope. R
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Dear Friends,
In1896, when my grandmother was five, she lived in a tiny apartment at the back of a big hotel. Her mother was a single mom raising four children and working as a baker at that hotel. Rarely did the children get to do anything fun. They were not allowed outside when mother was working and were thin and pale from being cooped up in that apartment so much of the time. Blanche, the oldest, had the job of cleaning, cooking, and watching her brother and sisters. Life was hard.
One day her mother came home with a smile on her face. She had a nice surprise. The hotel owner had let her take some time off from work and even gave her some left over food so they could have a picnic. Not only that, but as a reward for her good work, he let her borrow his horse and wagon. The children were delighted!
As they rode along in the wagon, Ida marveled at new sights and sounds. To a five year old used to being cooped up in a tiny room all day, this was a marvelous treat! Soon, they left the town behind and lumbered along a country road that paralleled the Kalamazoo river. At last they came to a nice grassy area that was just right for their picnic.
Ida jumped off from the wagon in great excitement. While the other children were helping unload the wagon, she started running around in the grass. How free she felt! How wonderful this place! Suddenly Ida realized that she couldn’t see the river because there was a hedge of bushes in the way. Ida began running full speed toward those bushes.
At that moment her mother saw her. She shouted, “Ida, stop!” Instantly the girl came to a standstill right by the bushes. Her mother came running over to her youngest daughter. Holding her hand tightly, they took a few more steps and parted the bushes. On the other side was about a ten or fifteen foot drop-off to the river. If she had not instantly obeyed, she would have fallen and gotten terribly hurt or even killed. Ida’s instant and unquestioning obedience had saved her life.
Just as Ida obeyed her mother instantly and unquestioningly, so we must obey our Heavenly Father knowing that He knows what is best for us. We are in greater danger than falling off from a ten foot drop-off. We have a mighty foe, who is constantly urging us to fall spiritually. Peter warns, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith.” 1 Peter 5:8, 9 Only by obedience to Christ are we safe from harm. What God said to Israel of old, He says to us, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.” Jer 7:23 “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed…then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:” Ex 19:5 ”
God’s Great Law has been given that we may be safe from the evil one who wants to destroy us. It is a hedge of protection around us. The first four commandments deal with our love and responsibility to our Great Creator. The last six are for the happiness of ourselves and those around us. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.” Ps 119:9-12
Even our Dear Saviour obeyed His Father in Heaven. Our Dear Saviour lived such a life of obedience that He could say, “the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” John 14:30 The evil one, the “accuser of the brethren” could not find even one tiny sin to accuse Jesus before the Father. Jesus was not only our Perfect Sacrifice but also our Perfect Example. We have the privilege to follow His example by keeping the perfect law of liberty. John tells us, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 1 John 2:6 Paul declares, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him,” Heb 5:9 “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Rom 6:12-16
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.” Jude 24, 25
Rose

Brightest and Best
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