O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works. Psalm 105:1, 2.

The dealings of God with His people should be often repeated. How frequently were the waymarks set up by the Lord in His dealings with ancient Israel! Lest they should forget the history of the past, He commanded Moses to frame these events into song, that parents might teach them to their children. They were to gather up memorials and to lay them up in sight. Special pains were taken to preserve them, that when the children should inquire concerning these things, the whole story might be repeated. Thus the providential dealings and the marked goodness and mercy of God in His care and deliverance of His people were kept in mind. We are exhorted to “call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions” (Hebrews 10:32). For His people in this generation the Lord has wrought as a wonder-working God…. We need often to recount God’s goodness and to praise Him for His wonderful works.

Let us not cast away our confidence, but have firm assurance, firmer than ever before. “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us,” and He will help us to the end (1 Samuel 7:12). Let us look to the monumental pillars, reminders of what the Lord has done to comfort us and to save us from the hand of the destroyer. Let us keep fresh in our memory all the tender mercies that God has shown us—the tears He has wiped away, the pains He has soothed, the anxieties removed, the fears dispelled, the wants supplied, the blessings bestowed—thus strengthening ourselves for all that is before us through the remainder of our pilgrimage.

We cannot but look forward to new perplexities in the coming conflict, but we may look on what is past as well as on what is to come, and say, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” “As thy days, so shall thy strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25). The trial will not exceed the strength that shall be given us to bear it. Then let us take up our work just where we find it, believing that whatever may come, strength proportionate to the trial will be given.
Conflict and Courage p. 364
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Prayer Requests
—–Eileen is still sick with a terrible cough and cold. Please pray that she gets some relief so she can sleep. Rose
—–In our family I’m the only an a SDA and I was baptize last 2014. Every time I talking them about the ” words of God ” or biblical words my mother she get mad at me. And my all sisters they don’t want to hear the words of God. My mother she told me, ” I never sinned God? I am worried for my mother, when my mother told like that. My family they believed in God but the problem is; they don’t believe the words of God. My mother she always drinking liquor almost everyday if she wants, eating meat and her health condition is not goog because she have a diabetes, and high blood. I am worried for my whole family. I hope you can help me to pray for my mother & my whole family. Eunice
—–Pray for my friend, Eilene. Help her to realize her finace is pulling the wool over her eyes. So she does not become unequally yoked with an unbeliever in marriage. Jacquline
—–I could really use prayer for my eyesight… I’ve lost most of the sight in my left eye due to a condition that is linked to inflammation and shows up in people who have other inflammatory diseases. The doctor told me that I should have my eyesight back to normal in 4 to 6 weeks, but that has not happened in 8 weeks. I’m just over 50, raising grandkids, and I dearly need my eyesight. I’ve put it in God’s hands, and am not stressed, (much), and just continue to pray. Kelly R.
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Dear Friends,

In 1895, when my grandmother, Ida, was a four year old, she lived with her mother, two sisters, and a brother in a little upstairs apartment at the back of the hotel where their mother worked. Her father had deserted the family and her mother had to work long and hard as a baker for the hotel in order to have food and clothing for the children. The hotel owner was kind to them, but he had a few rules that they could not disobey if they wanted to stay. The must stay out of sight of the guests by keeping inside that cramped apartment while their mother was working.

One day, Ida tired of being cooped up in their dingy apartment. While the others were not looking, she slipped out of the door and tip-toed quietly down the wooden stairway. Looking this way that that to make sure she was not seen, she dashed across the backyard and into the small woods behind the hotel.

What a feeling of freedom! Soon she saw a black and white kitty a few yards before her. Carefully she approached the kitty and soon stood beside it. She was too young to understand why the animal was acting strangely, so she reached out and petted it. Suddenly she was enveloped in a cloud of smelly vapor. She coughed, she sneezed, she tried to run away from that offending odor, but it stayed with her. No matter where she went, she still smelled like a skunk! She ran home crying but got no sympathy. The hotel owner threatened to throw them out if anything like that happened again. Her poor mother cleaned Ida as best as she could and had to bury her clothes. This caused more hardship on the family. Ida learned her lesson that day. Never again did she try to escape.

How often we are like Ida. We feel trapped and cramped and long for a freedom that we think those who make no profession of faith are experiencing little realizing that it will only cause us grief in the end. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Prov 16:25 Sin appears so attractive. It seems desirable but in the end, it stings and burns and makes us miserable. David speaks of those who seek not God, “I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain, violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world, they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I say, I will speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.” Ps 73:3-19

Although they appear to be having fun, in reality they are as polluted with sin as my grandmother was polluted with skunk odor. They are miserable inside and cannot get away from the sins that bind them any more than Ida could get away from the skunk smell. Others are affected by it and in the end, turn away in disgust. Although they appear to be in control, they are helpless. Our Dear Saviour tells us, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.” John 8:34,35 “The wages of sin is death” Rom 6:23

Praise God! We have a way of escape from the pollution of sin! Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life!” John 14:6 ” For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” John 3:16-21 He bids us, “Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 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 1:16-18 John assures us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. . . .My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” 1 John 1:9, 2:1

May we daily accept that Free Gift. May we come to the Living Fountain and wash and be clean from the skunk-smell of sin. May we look away from the things of this world and look forward to the glorious future our Loving Redeemer has for us is my prayer.

Rose

“Hitherto Hath the Lord Helped Us”
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