Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21.
“In ancient times God spoke to men by the mouth of prophets and apostles. In these days He speaks to them by the testimonies of His Spirit. There was never a time when God instructed His people more earnestly than He instructs them now concerning His will and the course that He would have them pursue.”
The instruction that was given in the early days of the message is to be held as safe instruction to follow in these its closing days.
Let the Testimonies be judged by their fruits. What is the spirit of their teaching? What has been the result of their influence? “All who desire to do so can acquaint themselves with the fruits of these visions….”
“This work is of God, or it is not. God does nothing in partnership with Satan. My work … bears the stamp of God or the stamp of the enemy. There is no halfway work in the matter. The Testimonies are of the Spirit of God, or of the devil.”
The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18. Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God’s remnant people in the true testimony. He will bring in spurious visions, to mislead and mingle the false with the true, and so disgust people that they will regard everything that bears the name of visions, as a species of fanaticism; but honest souls, by contrasting false and true, will be enabled to distinguish between them.
“When the Testimonies, which were once believed, are doubted and given up, Satan knows the deceived ones will not stop at this; and he redoubles his efforts till he launches them into open rebellion, which becomes incurable and ends in destruction.
The Faith I Live By p. 296
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer Requests
—-Praise report! My Mama doesn’t have cancer like the doctors said she would! Connie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
When I was a little girl, I loved to go to the museum in my hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The museum was housed in an old, Victorian-style mansion, which added to the mystery of the place. My favorite exhibit was an Egyptian mummy. It was partially unwrapped and there was a little mummy baby beside her. As I would gaze at that blackened, leatherlike face, I would try to imagine what she was like when she was alive. Was she beautiful or ugly? Was she kind and loving, or selfish and cruel?
Eventually, that old Victorian mansion became unsafe. The stairs to the top floors began to sway under our feet. One by one the floors were closed down and those exhibits moved to the first floor. The city built a new library/museum complex. Some of the mystery was gone, still, it was a treat for me to go there. Always my favorite exhibit was that mummy. After Ron and I were married, I took him there to see it. The new museum had an Egytian room that made her seem all the more mysterious.
Ron and I moved farther and farther away from my hometown and eventually had children. The memory of the museum and its exhibits was pushed far into the back of my mind. Then, one day, as my children were watching a program on TV, the memories came flooding back. I heard the host saying, “I am standing outside the museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan…..”
I stopped what I was doing and joined my children. As we watched, I became excited. They were taking the very mummy that I had seen all of my life to Bronson Hospital for an MRI and CAT scan. They found that she had been a mother and that she had dental problems from all of the sand that would get into her food. They took the pictures from that scan to a forensic expert. He studied them carefully. Then, photo by photo, he copied the woman’s bone structure. Next, he added glass eyes. With clay, he reconstructed her facial muscles. Artificial “skin” covered the muscle layer. For the finishing touch, eyebrows, lips, ears, and a wig were added. There, before my eyes, was a likeness of the woman who had lived so long ago. It was a special moment for me.
Someday soon, our Dear Saviour will “reconstruct” those people throughout the ages who believed in Him. He does not need an MRI, CAT scan, or a forensic expert for this task. He knows each of us as if there were no other person in the world. Indeed, “the very hairs of [our] head are all numbered.” Matt 10:30 Our Great Creator 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 49:15,16
Isaiah prophesied of the resurrection time, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” Isa 26:19 Paul also looked forward to that grand and glorious event, “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Cor 15:51-55; 1 Th 4:16,17
Think of it! We will see our loved ones again! Precious promise! They will come forth from their graves as did Lazarus when he was awakened by the voice of the Lifegiver. (John 11) Even better than that long-ago event will be the resurrection of the just. Lazarus was awakened only to die again years later. Not so with the righteous. They will come forth from their graves with a glorified body, a renewed mind: they will never die again. Joy and happiness will be upon each face, they will radiate with perfect health. As they look into the face of their Redeemer, songs of praise will spring forth from within.
As we travel together to His Glorious Kingdom, we will praise the One Who gave His life so that we could live. “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And 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: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there….And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him.” “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Rev 21:1-7;23-22:3,14
May that time come soon. May we bring God’s great message of grace to those around us, that they, too, may be raised in the resurrection of the just. (Luke 14:14; Rev 20:6) May we all look up and exclaim, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isa 25:9
Rose
Copyright Rose’s Devotional © 1999-2019 All rights Reserved
Prove All Things