Stir Up Thyself

If we would escape having a sickly experience, we must begin in earnest without delay to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. There are many who give no decided evidence that they are true to their baptismal vows. Their zeal is chilled by formality, worldly ambition, pride, and love of self. Occasionally their feelings are stirred, but they do not fall on the Rock, Christ Jesus. They do not come to God with hearts that are broken in repentance and confession. Those who experience the work of true conversion in their hearts will reveal the fruits of the Spirit in their lives. O that those who have so little spiritual life would realize that eternal life can be granted only to those who become partakers of the divine nature, and escape the corruption that is in the world through lust!

The power of Christ alone can work the transformation in heart and mind that all must experience who would partake with Him of the new life in the kingdom of heaven.—Testimonies for the Church 9:155, 156.

There is a noisy zeal, without aim or purpose, which is not according to knowledge, which is blind in its operations and destructive in its results. This is not Christian zeal. Christian zeal is controlled by principle, and is not spasmodic. It is earnest, deep, and strong, engaging the whole soul, and arousing to exercise the moral sensibilities. The salvation of souls and the interests of the kingdom of God are matters of the highest importance. What object is there that calls for greater earnestness than the salvation of souls and the glory of God?—Testimonies for the Church 2:232.
With God at Dawn p. 118
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray that I trust fully in the Lord to guide me. Annie
—-Please pray that God will heal David spiritually and mentally. Buck
—-Pray for Carolyn who is having her arteries cleaned today. Also pray for the father of that little boy who is in the hospital his name is John he had an accident in the kitchen where he works and cut his hand an fingers cut with the machine. he too is in the hospital, but his son is in the children hospital, Also pray for my daughter and grandchildren. thanks M.
—-Please keep me in your prayers. Been vomiting on and off since last night and been having this really bad pain in my stomach. Leah
—-My niece has so many polyps in her sinuses she can barely breathe out of her nose. She’s had 2 surgeries and lots of tests. She may need a shot that costs $3000 a month and not sure about insurance yet. She has suffered a long time with this. Please pray for her. Her name is Tina. Debra
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Dear Friends,

For several years, my mother had a small garden at the back of our neighbor’s yard. It gave her so much pleasure to work in the soil and watch the fruit of her labor develop and grow. The rich, black soil of Kalamazoo brought forth abundantly. She grew green beans, corn, tomatoes, squash, lettuce, radishes, all the produce that she was especially fond of. She had the tomato vines staked up and was proud of the fact that the plants were over her head and full of large, juicy, red fruit.

Since her garden was in the city, many in the neighborhood knew it was there. One day, some teenage boys decided to have some “fun.” They started a fire in her garden and soon the green plants were smoldering. Most of them were ruined. The plants were too lush and green to burn well, so the boys must have used kerosene or something. All of my mother’s care and hard work was for nothing. The garden could not be saved.

My mother smelled the smoke and went outside. She began crying with disappointment and anger. All sorts of emotions filled her as she saw one of the neighborhood boys in that smoldering garden. She was filled with rage and started yelling and threatening him. The youth finally made my mother realize that he was trying to put out the smoldering mess. He gave her the names of the boys who had done this mischief and she contacted the police and their parents.

Just as my mother had misjudged the youth who was trying to help her, so we sometimes are quick to jump to wrong conclusions. How often we misjudge someone’s motives and cause hurt feelings that ruin a person even more than my mother’s garden was ruined. The hurt from our misjudgment can last for years and cause pain beyond our comprehension.

The Great Judge of the Universe warns us, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matt 7:1-5 “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” Luke 6:37,38

We all make mistakes. We all make errors in judgment. We have all sinned. (Rom 3:23) Yet, how often we never let a person rise above an error that they may have committed years before. They are looked down upon and made to feel the effects of a misjudgment until their life is destroyed just as surely as was my mother’s garden and we are responsible for their destruction. We will have to answer to the Great God of the Universe for our part in destroying them. Fearful position.

Just as a parent wants His children to get along in harmony, so our Great Creator wants us to be happy, loving, forgiving, kind, and to enjoy being together without mentioning former words or actions. Peter tells us, “above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psa 133:1

Indeed, we must learn to live together in peace and love here in this world, if we expect to live together in the kingdom of Heaven. In that fair land there will be nothing to hurt or annoy. “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.” What a great and glorious time that will be! To have our Loving Creator take us in His arms and comfort us and wipe away our tears. There will be no misjudging in that Fair Land, no irritations, no disunity there. We will live in love and harmony for there we shall know even as also we are known. (1 Cor 13:12) May we start living a life now that will rightly represent our Great Creator is my prayer.

Rose