Help Only in Christ

I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Isaiah 41:10.
I know that all who are saved in the kingdom of God will have battles to fight against Satan; and I know that he will work every device to secure you to himself, for through you he could afflict us and weaken our courage and bring a burden of care upon us. But I am glad for every letter that we receive expressing your feelings of determination to press on and fight the good fight of faith. You say you love Jesus and mean to devote your lives to His service. Precious resolution!
The more you preserve your Christian integrity to know and understand for yourself the way of life and salvation, the less of the worldly mold will be upon you. The more you know of Jesus, the more you will desire to know, and the more ignorant you will feel that you are in regard to things of eternal interest. We want the right spirit, the teachable spirit, willing to learn in Christ’s school the lessons of humility and meekness. “Learn of me,” said the heavenly Teacher, “for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29, 30).
It is when we seek to carry our own burdens and when we manufacture a yoke for our own necks that the yoke is grievous and the burden becomes heavy. We want Christ’s meekness; then little things will not irritate us. We may have zeal in working, but this is not all that we need. We want true Christian sympathy. We want self and our will submerged in the will of Christ. We want an eye single to the glory of God. We want to be continually anxious and working for the honor and glory of God.
The soundness of our principles will be tested, and the strength of our loyalty will be proved. I wish all could see as I have seen the sharp, keen, persevering workings of Satan to tempt and to deceive. His vigilance never relaxes. He has ready access to souls because they are not attentive to heed the warnings God has given them…. So many invite the enemy to tempt them. They walk so carelessly that they become an easy prey. They throw wide open the citadel of the soul and invite his entrance, place themselves in circumstances where they will be entrapped….
We are to remain just the people God designed we should be, gathering the divine rays of light from the Son of righteousness, and diffusing these rays amid the moral darkness that covers the earth.—Letter 8a, January 20, 1879, to Edson and Emma White.
The Upward Look p. 34
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer Requests
—-I want to send out a prayer request for Pat and her family as she has an aunt Lorraine who is battling brain cancer and whose husband just died in a tractor accident. Ronnie Jay
—-Please pray for my mom and my family. She is losing her battle with Colon cancer. Louise
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
It’s hard to believe that nearly a month has passed since the Fourth of July. We went to the parade in a nearby town commemorating our birth as a nation. That night there were fireworks displays large and small that we could see from our back porch. Many of the fireworks in our neighborhood were almost as good as the ones in town. We were amazed at their beauty.
Far more beautiful than any manmade fireworks we saw are the wonderful works of our Great Creator. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.” “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” Ps 33:6-9; 19:1, 2; 8.
May we praise the Lord as we view His great creation. May our hearts swell with love for Him. May we someday soon leave this old earth behind and travel beyond our solar system as we journey toward His Heavenly Home is my prayer.
Rose