Have You Found Your Bearings?

Conformity to the world is causing many of our people to lose their bearings. I feel deeply over this matter, because it is continually kept before me by the Lord….

If ever there was a time when those who have a knowledge of present truth should find their bearings, it is the present time. Although no one is to move independently of his brethren, yet each one must gain a knowledge of his own condition, his exact bearings. The question that each one should ask himself is, “What is my relation to God?”

It is conformity to the world that is causing our people to lose their bearings. The perversion of right principles has not been brought about suddenly. The angel of the Lord presented this matter to me in symbols. It seemed as if a thief were stealthily moving closer and still closer, and gradually but surely stealing away the identity of God’s work by leading our brethren to conform to worldly policies….

The Lord expects us to make most diligent efforts to free ourselves of the worldly spirit that has come in among us…. The Lord calls for a reformation. In every place where believers have adopted worldly principles, He desires a voice of warning to be raised. “Cry aloud,” He says, “spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1)….

From many minds a realization of the times in which we are living is as far away as is heaven from the earth. It seems that their duty to prepare to meet a soon-coming Saviour is entirely forgotten. God wants us to come to our senses. He wants us to act like rational beings, who are living on the borders of the eternal world.

Remember that in preparing yourselves for the heavenly kingdom, you are preparing others. The Scriptures say, “Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way.” …

So long as we work in Christ’s lines, laying hold of the arm of the Mighty One, we are safe; but just as soon as we loosen our grasp of His arm, and begin to depend upon human beings, we are in great danger.

This very day the Lord desires us to reach a higher standard than we have ever reached in the past. Day by day we are to advance upward, ever upward, until it can be said of us as a people, “Ye are complete in him.”—Manuscript 96, July 7, 1902, an early morning talk before the Pacific Union Medical Missionary Council at St. Helena,
The Upward Look p. 202
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Prayer Requests
—-Prayer requests from last night’s prayer meeting: Sherlyn’s shoulder that she will not need surgery—Ann’s dental work today—Joyce’s back pain—Ron’s need of a job—Barb as she goes back to work—Pastor the new church school teacher and Bible study contacts—Brian that he will be able to video chat with his dad and that BG will make good decisions regarding work—Veronica in the loss of her aunt.
—-ome friends of mine his daughter in Washington who has MS. was taken to the ER today they think she had a stroke.. she is 52. also my girlfriend Gayle who has stage 4 cancer is in bad shape in iCU. when the nurse went to move her from one b1ed to another they broke her fema. they did surgery this morning .she came through it but her B/P bottomed out plus the oncologist had to open her up and put some jell in her so she wouldn’t bleed to death during surgery. M
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Dear Friends,

When I was a little girl, my mother used to take me to the carnival. The fair grounds were at that time only about a mile from my grandparents’ house, so it was not far to walk. The carnival was a place of wonderment for me. Rides that I would never think of going on loomed overhead. Little kiddie rides that I enjoyed, “fishing” for a prize, watching my mother shoot a rife and getting to choose the prize, rough looking men hawking their wares, watching a man swallow a sword, and other wonders captivated my attention.
As we were walking along, my mother saw the House of Mirrors. Curious, she paid the entrance fee. When we got inside, there were mirrors of all types. When we stood in front of one, we looked very tall and skinny. Another one made us look very short and fat. Still another, made us look misshapen. I laughed and laughed. We entered a corridor of mirrors and soon we were lost in a maze. It was impossible to find our way out by sight. The mirrors were set up in such a way that we could see many reflections of ourselves, but not the way out. I felt panic-stricken! After a time of attempting to find the exit, my mother began to panic too. That scared me even more. Finally, she got the idea of feeling her way along the maze. That worked! Once on the outside, we determined never to enter a maze of mirrors again.
How often life is like that maze of mirrors. Without the our Great Redeemer’s guidance, we become lost in the tangle of trials and troubles of our own making. Without His special leading, we can get ourselves into circumstances where there seems to be no way out. The more we try to extricate ourselves from the situation, getting deeper we get in the trap.
There is only one way of escape. If we ask Him, Jesus will help us disentangle ourselves from the mess we have gotten ourselves into. All we need to do is ask. Our Dear Saviour promises, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” Psa 32:8 He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life! (John 14:6) No matter what our circumstance, no matter how deeply we are ensnared in our own “house of mirrors, “if we cry unto the Lord in our trouble, He will save us out of all of our distresses, deliver us from self- destruction, teach us His way, and make a plain path for our feet. ( Psa 107:19,20; 27:11)
May we, this very day, while the door of mercy is still open, ask our Loving Saviour to take complete control of our life. May we declare as did David, “Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” Psa 73:24 May we ever “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth” is my prayer. Rev 14:4
Rose

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