And go … unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. Ezekiel 3:11.
I am again and again reminded that I am not to try to clear away the confusion and contradiction of faith and feeling and unbelief that is expressed. I am not to be depressed, but am to speak the words of the Lord with authority, and then leave with Him all the consequences. I am instructed by the Great Physician to speak the word that the Lord gives me, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. I am told that I have nothing to do with the consequences, that God, even the Lord Jehovah, will keep me in perfect peace if I will rest in His love and do the work He has given me….
The Lord desires us to put our trust in Him. I am keeping on the watch, not knowing how soon I may be called on to lay off my armor. I want my every word and impulse and action to be such that in the judgment I shall not be ashamed of them. I realize something of the time in which we are living. Our time of discipline on this earth, yours and mine, is very limited….
I never realized more decidedly than at the present time the help of the Lord in my speaking and writing. I shall stand on the field of battle until the Lord releases me. I am afraid for our people—afraid that the love of the world is robbing them of godliness and piety. I am trying to arouse them to see the danger of being decoyed by the enemy onto enchanted ground. I am trying to show them the need of cultivating faith and love at all times and under all circumstances.
It is only by strong faith that a strong love for the Saviour can be kept alive in the heart. Our faith in Christ must be a pure, strong, genuine faith. There is a spurious faith, which leads only to confidence in self and to criticism of others. Such faith quenches every spark of Christlike love in the soul.
God calls upon His people to be united. But our union can be genuine only as we move upward to the cross of Calvary, every day crucifying self. All efforts at union that are not founded on the softening, subduing love of Christ in the heart will most assuredly fail….
There is power in genuine religion. Through faith, through conformity to the will of God, we shall become so Christlike that men will see that we are partakers of the divine nature, and that we are making constant advancement in the knowledge of Christ.—Letter 146, September 22, 1902, to Brother and Sister S. T. Belden, her brother-in-law in self-supporting service.
The Upward Look p. 279
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Jackie who is in the final stages of kidney failure. Stella
—-Please pray for my niece Candace who is in ICU with pneumonia and and really struggling now. Cathey
—-Please pray for my friend Denee, she is in the hospital very sick and unresponsive. They aren’t sure what’s wrong with her yet.. Debra
—-Please continue to pray for David. Buck
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Dear Friends,
Until I was five, my aunt Joyce still lived with my grandparents. Since they had adopted me when I was a baby, I lived there too. My aunt loved all children, but I was especially dear to her. So, for those first five years, she showered me with expensive gifts. To her disappointment, I often played with the box instead of the toy when she first gave them to me. Later I played with the gifts but it was not the same.
As I got older, her gifts were enjoyed, but I did not appreciate the hours of work that she put in at the factory in order to buy these expensive gifts for me. Gilmore’s Department Store was the fanciest and most expensive store in Kalamazoo; and because Auntie Joyce loved me, she bought my presents there. One time when I was very little, she saw a portable dollhouse with very expensive and realistic miniature furnishings. Instantly, she knew that this would make me happy. Each week she would buy a piece of furniture, so that by the time I was old enough to enjoy playing with it, I had the complete set. How I loved that dollhouse! It was one of the few things that I really enjoyed playing with and I kept it until I was in my late teens. Then I gave it (along with my other toys and my bicycle) to a neighbor girl who didn’t have many toys. She was so happy to receive such a wonderful dollhouse.
Looking back to my early childhood, I can never remember really thanking Auntie Joyce for all the lovely things she bought me. Of course, I said “thank you,” because I had been taught to be polite; but the heartfelt thanks was not there. I took her gifts for granted as though they were something I deserved.
How often do we do the same with our Heavenly Father’s gifts. How often we enjoy His wonderful blessings with scarcely a thought of the Giver. We might even thank Him politely for something special, but our heart is not filled with the gratefulness we should feel. How often we forget that, “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17 With tears in His Voice He laments, “this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me.” Isa 29:13
How little we appreciate God’s Greatest Gift, the Gift of His Dear Son. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom 5:8 “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.” John 3:16, 17 How often we take His Great Sacrifice for granted and live our life as though we think it is something due us!
Do we daily thank Him for the great sacrifice that He made for us? Do we have gratefulness and love for His goodness continually welling up within our hearts? Do we respond to His Great Love by lovingly obeying His precepts? Can others see His character shining through us or do they see little difference between us and someone who makes no profession? Are God’s praises continually on our lips? Paul advises, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thes 5:18
May God open our eyes to His blessings each day. May we thank our Dear Saviour for leaving the glories of Heaven where He was worshiped and adored by the myriads of the heavenly host and came to this dark and rebellious planet to suffer all the abuse the evil one could heap upon Him at the hands of wicked men and die the cruelest of deaths that we might be saved. As my favorite author wrote in Testimonies vol. 8, p. 208 “Christ gave Himself, an atoning sacrifice, for the saving of a lost world. He was treated as we deserve, in order that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. “With His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5. May we praise Him from a heart filled with love and gratitude for His marvelous love and grace is my prayer.
Rose

Stand Fast in God