The work begun in feebleness and obscurity has continued to increase and strengthen. Publishing houses and missions in many lands attest its growth. In place of the edition of our first paper carried to the post office in a carpetbag, many hundreds of thousands of copies of our various periodicals are now sent out monthly from the offices of publication. The hand of God has been with His work to prosper and build it up.

The later history of my life would involve the history of many of the enterprises which have arisen among us, and with which my lifework has been closely intermingled. For the upbuilding of these institutions, my husband and [I] labored with pen and voice. To notice, even briefly, the experiences of these active and busy years would far exceed the limits of this sketch. Satan’s efforts to hinder the work and to destroy the workmen have not ceased; but God has had a care for His servants and for His work.

In reviewing our past history, having traveled over every step of advance to our present standing, I can say, Praise God! As I see what the Lord has wrought, I am filled with astonishment, and with confidence in Christ as leader. We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.

We are debtors to God to use every advantage He has entrusted to us to beautify the truth by holiness of character, and to send the messages of warning, and of comfort, of hope and love, to those who are in the darkness of error and sin.—Life Sketches, 195, 196.
Ye Shall Receive Power p. 229
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer Requests
—-Please continue to pray for baby Wyatt who is being sent home for palliative care. Mary
—-Please pray for Andy that the manipulative, nastersistic girlfriend will get out of his life forever. Pray that he be restored to God. Rosemary
—-Please continue to pray for E and children. R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
One of the most well-loved of Jesus’ parables is found in Luke chapter fifteen. It is a perfect illustration of our Heavenly Father’s great love for us! “A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.” Luke 15:11-24
How much like that prodigal son we are for “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Rom 3:23 All have broken our Redeemer’s Great Heart of Love just as the son in this story broke his father’s heart. No, we have broken our Loving Creator’s heart even more than did he. For God so loved us that He gave Himself for us that we might be saved, yet, how often we turn away from His Great Provision by the thoughts we think, the things we watch, the words that come out of our mouth, the things that we do. How many times we go our own way, do our own thing with scarcely a thought heavenward. How often we take His Great Love for granted thinking that we can return to Him whenever we feel like it. Dangerous “game” we play!
We soon find ourselves in a “far country” full of uncleanness and as helpless to cleanse ourselves as was the prodigal when he was caring for the pigs. “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” Isa 64:6; 1:6
Day after day, our Heavenly Father yearns over us, watching with intense desire for us to make our first faltering steps toward Home. Indeed, He runs toward us with arms outstretched ready to embrace us, to welcome us, to cleanse us of our filth, and finally to lead us to His Home. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 3:1; 4:9,10
The love of God, how great it is! It is beyond comprehension! It is beyond measure! The Great King of the Universe, the Creator of all loves us so much more than we can even understand. His love far surpasses the love of a mother for her precious babe. He assures us, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” Isa 49:15,16 Think of it! Our Loving Creator is longsuffering toward us, not willing that we should perish, but that we should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
Let us give ourselves to the One Who gave Himself for us. When we give Him ourselves, what are we giving Him?—a weak, erring, self-centered person who is totally unworthy of His salvation. Yet, despite of what we are, despite what we have done, He offers us complete forgiveness. He offers us perfect cleansing from our sins, perfect restoration. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well.” Isa 1:18, 16,17 Let us “praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” Ps 107: 8,9 Let us serve Him always with our whole heart and soul and mind and being from this day forth and forevermore. Amen!

Rose

Source: https://rosesdevotional.org/the-eyewitness-inspired-to-give-testimony.html

The Bible is not given to us in grand superhuman language. Jesus, in order to reach man where he is, took humanity. The Bible must be given in the language of men. Everything that is human is imperfect. Different meanings are expressed by the same word; there is not one word for each distinct idea. The Bible was given for practical purposes.

The stamps of minds are different. All do not understand expressions and statements alike. Some understand the statements of the Scriptures to suit their own particular minds and cases. Prepossessions, prejudices, and passions have a strong influence to darken the understanding and confuse the mind even in reading the words of Holy Writ….

The Bible is written by inspired men, but it is not God’s mode of thought and expression. It is that of humanity. God, as a writer, is not represented. Men will often say such an expression is not like God. But God has not put Himself in words, in logic, in rhetoric, on trial in the Bible. The writers of the Bible were God’s penmen, not His pen. Look at the different writers.

It is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, but the men that were inspired. Inspiration acts not on the man’s words or his expressions but on the man himself, who, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, is imbued with thoughts. But the words and thoughts receive the impress of the individual mind. The divine mind is diffused. The divine mind and will is combined with the human mind and will; thus the utterances of the man are the Word of God.—Selected Messages 1:20, 21.
Ye Shall Receive Power p. 225
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for comfort for LS who is very discouraged. Buck
—-Please pray for God’s guidance and protection for E and her children. R
—-My hubby’s leg was extremely painful. That seems better but tonight he seems confused. Thanks for your prayers and for God’s love will done. Olive
—-prayers for Maya. She had a rough night and will likely be transferred out of state to ____. Covid is negative, and her chest x-ray looks good, but white blood cells are slightly elevated. Jennifer
—-Covid is going around our church. Please pray for all those who are sick. Rose
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
We have been having sicknesses going through our family for the past month and a half. As I was thinking about how our whole focus is on helping us qll to get well, it made me think of our Dear Heavenly Father’s whole focus on curing us from our sin-sickness. When our first parents sinned, the great plan of salvation, which had been planned before the foundation of the earth was laid, went into effect. (Rev 13:8) Jesus promised them, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen 3:15 Think of it! The Great God of the Universe left all of the glories of Heaven, the worship of all of the holy angels and unfallen beings on all of the worlds in space, and came to this dark, sinful, old planet to rescue us from the evil one.
How quickly He comes to our aid when we need Him. He bids us, “call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. ” Ps 50:15 He is always there watching over us, tenderly caring for us in our great need even though at times we may not realize it. Jesus gave us a parable to give us courage when there seems to be a delay in His answering our prayer. “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.” Luke 18:1-8
May we cast all of our care upon Him Who cares for us. (1 Peter 5:7) May we cling to our Precious Redeemer in good times as well as in bad. May we soon joyously meet our Saviour face to face when He comes is my prayer.

Rose

Source: https://rosesdevotional.org/divine-message-in-human-language.html

The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human hands; and in the varied style of its different books it presents the characteristics of the several writers. The truths revealed are all “given by inspiration of God”; yet they are expressed in the words of men. The Infinite One by His Holy Spirit has shed light into the minds and hearts of His servants. He has given dreams and visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom the truth was thus revealed have themselves embodied the thought in human language.

The Ten Commandments were spoken by God Himself, and were written by His own hand. They are of divine and not of human composition. But the Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in rank and occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the Bible present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the nature of the subjects unfolded. Different forms of expression are employed by different writers; often the same truth is more strikingly presented by one than by another. And as several writers present a subject under varied aspects and relations, there may appear, to the superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader, to be discrepancy or contradiction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with clearer insight, discerns the underlying harmony.—The Great Controversy, v, vi.
Ye Shall Receive Power p. 222
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for family members who are sick. R
—-Please pray for me. I will be going to a doctor to check what is causing pain on my left pelvic area. I pray it will be healed soon. Also for my son Ebenezer who will be taking an important exam. Sally
—-I have some dear friends whose family is dealing with covid and the husband apparently has it worse and his fever hasn’t broken in many days. Please pray for their healing, David
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,

Some years ago, an Interstate bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, Minnesota during rush hour traffic. A few years before when the bridge had been inspected, it was felt that there was some concern, yet nothing had been done. Shortly before it collapsed, it had been inspected again and pronounced safe. It obviously was not!
After the collapse, the news reported that many of the bridges in this country were as unsafe as was that bridge. While Ron and I talked about that worrisome bit of news, it reminded us of a bridge we often crossed when we lived in Washington State. It appeared safe, yet one day when we visited a park that was underneath that bridge, we noticed huge cracks in the structure as well as missing chunks of concrete. From then on, we avoided crossing that bridge whenever possible. We were taking no chances.
This sinful, old planet is like a dangerous bridge. Some of this world’s dangers are recognized, and we tremble in perplexity and fear. Some are hidden from our view, and we continue on, unaware of the danger we are in. How much we need Someone to guide us and protect us. Praise God! We do have such a One Who will lead us by the hand! “Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.” “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.” Isa 48:17; 43:1-3
May our response to our Dear Saviour be, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” “In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defense to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.” Ps 56:3; 31:1-3

Rose

Source: https://rosesdevotional.org/given-by-inspiration-of-god.html