Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men’s labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you. 2 Corinthians 10:15.
You should keep off from Satan’s enchanted ground and not allow your minds to be swayed from allegiance to God. Through Christ you may and should be happy and should acquire habits of self-control. Even your thoughts must be brought into subjection to the will of God and your feelings under the control of reason and religion. Your imagination was not given you to be allowed to run riot and have its own way without any effort at restraint or discipline. If the thoughts are wrong the feelings will be wrong, and the thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character. . . . If you yield to your impressions and allow your thoughts to run in a channel of suspicion, doubt, and repining you will be among the most unhappy of mortals. . . .
Dear Sister F, you have a diseased imagination; and you dishonor God by allowing your feelings to have complete control of your reason and judgment. You have a determined will, which causes the mind to react upon the body, unbalancing the circulation and producing congestion in certain organs; and you are sacrificing health to your feelings.
You are making a mistake, which, if not corrected, will not end with wrecking your own happiness merely. You are doing positive injury, not only to yourself, but to the other members of your family. . . . You have . . . let your highly wrought imagination control reason. . . . Had you no power over your feelings, this would not be sin; but it will not answer thus to yield to the enemy. Your will needs to be sanctified and subdued instead of being arrayed in opposition to that of God. . . .
Man has been placed in a world of sorrow, care, and perplexity. He is placed here to be tested and proved, as were Adam and Eve, that he may develop a right character and bring harmony out of discord and confusion. There is much for us to do that is essential. . . . And there is much for us to enjoy. Through Christ we are brought into connection with God. His mercies place us under continual obligation; feeling unworthy of His favors, we are to appreciate even the least of them.
Maranatha p. 222
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Prayer Requests
—–Please pray for the Bower family who lost a family member through a traffic accident. Rose
—–Please pray for the following evangelism events that are taking place in the near future: Diane
Kelso-Longview, OR (Jan 9 – Sep 19) pastoral team
Goodland, KS (Mar 20 – Apr 25) are going well. We have about 6 attending and most have indicated that they would like to be baptized. One family that is attending came because of the handbills that were sent out the week before the meetings began, they have been to almost every meeting so far.
Healing Hope, OR (Mar 28 – Apr 25) Lyle Albrecht
Idaho Falls, ID (Mar – Apr) Jason Morgan
Gateway, OR (Mar – Apr) Nick Jones
Independence, OR (Apr) Benjamin Tello
South Tacoma, WA (Apr)
Mount Vernon, WA (Apr)
Seattle, WA (Apr)
Port Angeles, WA (Apr)
Willapa Harbor, WA (Apr)
Edmonton, Alberta (Apr 9 – May 20) It Is Written (200 people have been baptized already as a result of Bible study request cards that were mailed in preparation for the meetings. Praise God!)
Oasis, OR (Apr 2 – 26) Rick New
Honolulu, HI (Apr 10 – May 9)Revelation of Hope Bible Prophecy Seminar with Taj Pacleb and Team
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Dear Friends,
In 1896, when my grandmother was five, she lived in a tiny apartment at the back of a big hotel. Her mother was a single mom raising four children and working as a baker at that hotel. Rarely did the children get to do anything fun. They were not allowed outside when mother was working and were thin and pale from being cooped up in that apartment so much of the time. Blanche, the oldest, had the job of cleaning, cooking, and watching her brother and sisters. Life was hard.
One day her mother came home with a smile on her face. She had a nice surprise. The hotel owner had let her take some time off from work and even gave her some left over food so they could have a picnic. Not only that, but as a reward for her good work, he let her borrow his horse and wagon. The children were delighted!
As they rode along in the wagon, Ida marveled at new sights and sounds. To a five year old used to being cooped up in a tiny room all day, this was a marvelous treat! Soon, they left the town behind and lumbered along a country road that paralleled the Kalamazoo river. At last they came to a nice grassy area that was just right for their picnic.
Ida jumped off from the wagon in great excitement. While the other children were helping unload the wagon, she started running around in the grass. How free she felt! How wonderful this place! Suddenly Ida realized that she couldn’t see the river because there was a hedge of bushes in the way. Ida began running full speed toward those bushes.
At that moment her mother saw her. She shouted, “Ida, stop!” Instantly the girl came to a standstill right by the bushes. Her mother came running over to her youngest daughter. Holding her hand tightly, they took a few more steps and parted the bushes. On the other side was about a ten or fifteen foot drop-off to the river. If she had not instantly obeyed, she would have fallen and gotten terribly hurt or even killed. Ida’s instant and unquestioning obedience had saved her life.
Just as Ida obeyed her mother instantly and unquestioningly, so we must obey our Heavenly Father knowing that He knows what is best for us. We are in greater danger than falling off from a ten foot drop-off. We have a mighty foe, who is constantly urging us to fall spiritually. Peter warns, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith.” 1 Peter 5:8, 9 Only by obedience to Christ are we safe from harm. What God said to Israel of old, He says to us, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.” Jer 7:23 “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed…then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:” Ex 19:5 ”
God’s Great Law has been given that we may be safe from the evil one who wants to destroy us. It is a hedge of protection around us. The first four commandments deal with our love and responsibility to our Great Creator. The last six are for the happiness of ourselves and those around us. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.” Ps 119:9-12
Even our Dear Saviour obeyed His Father in Heaven. Our Dear Saviour lived such a life of obedience that He could say, “the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” John 14:30 The evil one, the “accuser of the brethren” could not find even one tiny sin to accuse Jesus before the Father. Jesus was not only our Perfect Sacrifice but also our Perfect Example. We have the privilege to follow His example by keeping the perfect law of liberty. (James 1:25, 2:12) John tells us, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 1 John 2:6 Paul declares, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;” Heb 5:9 “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Rom 6:12-16
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.” Jude 24, 25
Rose