Guided Through the Written Testimony

The Holy Spirit always leads to the written Word, and calls the attention to the great moral standard of righteousness. To be honored of God in thus being privileged to testify of the truth is a wonderful thing. Said Christ to His disciples just before He ascended up and the clouds of angels received Him out of their sight, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). They were qualified by the heavenly endowment of the Holy Spirit to testify of Christ.

I wish to impress upon you the fact that those who have Jesus abiding in the heart by faith have actually received the Holy Spirit. Every individual who receives Jesus as his personal Saviour just as surely receives the Holy Spirit to be his Counselor, Sanctifier, Guide, and Witness. The more closely the believer walks with God, the clearer his witness, and, as a sure result, the more powerful will be the influence of his testimony upon others of a Saviour’s love; the more he will give evidence that he prizes the Word of God. It is his meat, it is his drink, to satisfy the thirsty soul. He prizes the privilege of learning the will of God from His Word.

Some souls who claim to be believers have slighted, and turned from, the Word of God. They have neglected the Bible, the wonderful Guidebook, the true tester of all ideas, and claim that they have the Spirit to teach them, that this renders searching the Scriptures unnecessary. All such are heeding the sophistry of Satan, for the Spirit and the Word agree. Say the Scriptures, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” He only is a free man whom the truth makes free.—Manuscript Releases 14:70, 71.
Ye Shall Receive Power p. 118
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray that God will especially work for E and children’s best good in the next two weeks. R
—-Please say a prayer for a really good friend of mine. She is 28 weeks pregnant. She has no amniotic fluid and has been admitted to the hospital until the baby is born. Also say a prayer for the family that everything can get situated. Janice
—-A friends co-workers daughter named Kendra is suicidal and just sent a note to her mom detailing her wishes for being laid to rest. Michael
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Dear Friends,

A few years ago, I knew someone who was always sharing with me their inmost thoughts and feelings of doubt and despair. They felt too sinful to be saved. Although they had confessed their sins repeatedly, they came away from their prayer feeling no different than before they prayed. I explained that we must have faith in the Word of God which tells us, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 It didn’t help. They still felt the same.

I decided to make up a story that might help them to see their attitude. I said, “Asking forgiveness, but not believing you’re forgiven is as if Ron were to take me to see a beautiful log cabin located by a mountain lake. This large cabin was exquisitely furnished and even had new dishes, utensils, and linens. A baby grand piano was in one corner of the living room. I was thrilled! Taking me outside, he showed me a lightweight canoe with the finest paddles. Thoughts of hours of pleasure exploring every nook and cranny of that mountain lake filled my head. Then he told me that it was all mine. He had paid for it all. While he was away on a business trip, I was to move our personal belongings into this ideal place and enjoy it for it was to be our new home. Time passed. Finally, Ron’s business trip was over and he returned to the cabin. I was not there. Everything was the same as it had been when he had left. He panicked. What terrible thing had happened to me while he was gone? Driving as fast as he dared down the mountain road, he went to our former residence to see if he could find someone who had seen me. Just as he drove into the driveway, he saw me come out of our twenty-one year old mobile home. With disbelief and shock written all over his face, he asked me why I was still living in that old trailer. I told him that I just didn’t feel like that beautiful cabin was mine, I couldn’t believe that I could really have anything so nice, and I felt like I wasn’t worthy of such a wonderful gift.” Then I asked the person, “how do you think Ron would feel at my ingratitude and lack of trust?” I explained that when we confess our sins to our Dear Saviour but refuse to believe that our sins have been washed away, we are doing just as I did in my little parable.

How it must break our Heavenly Father’s heart when we do not believe His promises and say, “The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” He assures us, ” Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” Isa 49:14-16 Praise God!

Our Great Redeemer has promised, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” “And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.” Jer 31:34; 33:8 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa 1:18 “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Eze 33:11

Isaiah shares his experience, “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” Isa 38:17 Micah adds, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity. . . and thou wilt cast all [our] sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:18,19 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. . . . He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.” Ps 103:8-19 May we joyfully accept God’s free gift of salvation is my prayer.

Rose