Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. James 4:7, 8.
When temptation comes upon us, we need spiritual discernment, that we may detect Satan’s agency, and draw close to Jesus. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Every moment it is necessary to fight the good fight of faith; for doubt must be resisted, and faith must be encouraged. In temptation, inclination must be overruled by reason. Self will clamor for indulgence, but inclination must be resisted, and temptation overcome.
The Lord has given warnings, He has presented principles that it is necessary for every Christian to heed, and bring into his practical life. Those who pass on in indifference to the light and warning which God has been pleased to give will grow more and more egotistical and self-sufficient. Those who do not place their dependence upon God will certainly be overthrown by the enemy. Satan is working by every conceivable device to keep in his own ranks those who claim to be on the Lord’s side. He can blind their eyes until they will call light darkness, and darkness light….
Though the light of God is shining in more distinct rays than ever before, and will shine more and more clearly as we near the close of earth’s history, those who will be able to discern truth from error will be men who are often upon their knees, seeking wisdom from God. The bright beams of the Sun of righteousness can alone reveal the numerous and varied plottings of the enemy. The wicked one is at work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; and while we are not to keep our eyes upon the powers of darkness, we cannot be ignorant of their devices.
But our faith must center in Jesus Christ. Looking unto Him, clinging to His strength as sufficient for every emergency, our heart joins His heart, our life is knit by hidden links to His life, and because He lives, we shall live also. This is practical religion; for we are to be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. No one of us can be safe save as we join the Lord in a perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten by us.—The Review and Herald, March 14, 1893.
Ye Shall Receive Power p. 256
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Prayer Requests
—- asking for prayers for my husband. Hes losing weight rapidly and is extremely tired. This is not at all like him. His name is Steve. Heather
—-My dear friend Cindy lost her husband of 19 years very suddenly on Wednesday morning. She is beyond devastated! Please keep her and their family in your prayers! Mary
—-Please continue to pray for E and children. R
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Dear Friends,
When Ronnie Jay was eight years old, I wanted to buy him something special for Christmas, so I went to town to get some ideas. As I passed a pet store, I thought I’d check in there. I saw cages filled with hamsters and gerbils. There was the perfect pet for my son! These gerbils came in a variety of colors. I chose a tiny black and white one that had just been weaned.
Ronnie Jay was delighted! He took such good care of him, that Gerbily-erbily lived to be nearly five years old. To soothe Ronnie Jay’s sadness at the death of his pet, we went that very day and bought another one. The next one didn’t last as long, nor did the next, nor the next, each living the customary year or two in captivity.
Each of these little rodents has some common traits that gave us enjoyment. They were gentile and didn’t bite, which made them fun to handle. They liked to run in their wheel as well as in this little ball that they could get inside and explore the house to their “heart’s content.” One of the funniest things they did that made us laugh was the way they would eat M&M’s. When given one of these coated chocolate candies, they would carefully shell it and eat the chocolate inside. Not one of the gerbils we had had would eat the outside of the candy. They must have thought that candy coating was the shell of a very sweet seed.
Their approach to life is the way they had been taught, but it caused them to miss out on part of the treat. So it is with us. Our thought patterns, our actions, our words are largely developed from what we have been taught and the experiences we have gone through. They do not always make sense, but we stick to them because they are familiar: they are comfortable. They are full of self, pride, and sin.
Often, deep within us, we long for something better. We have a desire for a change, yet day after day, year after year, we think the same thoughts, do the same things, react the same way. We become discontented and try to fill the void we are feeling by tasting the pleasures of this world, but they leave us unsatisfied. Those fleeting pleasures last but a moment. When they are over, we are must look for something else to satisfy that emptiness within us.
Each of us have within our reach the answer that can break us out of our routine. Each can find the fulfillment we crave. True joy and happiness is found in God’s Word. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat” Isa 55:1 How much we need that water of life! How much we need a way to receive it. Jesus says to us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
Our Dear Saviour is the fulfillment of all our desire for happiness and peace, but it costs us something to accept His great offer of salvation. It costs us our preconceived ideas, the fleeting pleasures of sin, our cherished sin, our self-centeredness. Sometimes it will even cause us to be hated by the very ones we love the most. Yet all is worth giving up for the One Who loves us so. Jesus told a parable to illustrate this fact. “the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Matt 13:44-46
The way that the Good Shepherd leads will open to us new avenues of thought, new ways of doing things, new ways of speaking. He will lead us in the way in which we should go both here in this world and in the earth made new. “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Rev 7:17 What an experience can be ours!
May we set aside everything that distracts and follow our Loving Redeemer today. May we allow Him to have complete control of our thoughts, our words, and our actions. May we find our greatest happiness in the One Who left the glories of Heaven and died upon the cruel cross that we might spend eternity in close fellowship with Him is my prayer.
Rose