Closer To Heaven
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You can view an in-depth discussion of Struggling with All Energy; in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. Click on the image to view:
With thanks to
Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.
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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/6-struggling-with-all-energy-hope-ss-video-discussion/
“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30).
Image © Kevin Carden at Goodsalt.com
Radical action is necessary not because God has made the Christian life difficult, but because we and our culture have drifted so far away from God’s plans for us. People often wake up and wonder to themselves, “How could I have gone so far away from God?” The answer is always the same: just one step at a time.
Read , Matthew 5:30. Jesus is speaking in the context of sexual sin. However, the underlying principles apply to dealing with other sin, as well. Indeed, the principles can apply to our growth in Christ in general.
Jesus isn’t calling us to harm our bodies physically — not at all! Rather, He is calling us to control our minds and therefore our bodies, no matter the cost. Notice that the verses do not say that we should pray and that God will instantly remove the sinful tendencies from our lives.
Sometimes God may graciously do this for us, but often He calls us to make a radical commitment to give up something, or start doing something, that we may not feel like doing at all. What a crucible that can be! The more often we make the right choices, the stronger we will become, and the weaker the power of temptation in our lives.
God sometimes uses crucibles to catch our attention when there are so many noisy distractions around us. It is in the crucible that we realize how far we have drifted from God. The crucible may be God’s call for us to make a radical decision to return to our Father’s plan for us.
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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/wednesday-radical-commitment/
One of the greatest enemies of our wills is our own feelings. We are increasingly living in a culture bombarded with pictures and music that can appeal directly to our senses, triggering our emotions — anger, fear, or lust — without our realizing it. How often do we think such things as “What do I feel like eating for supper?” “What do I feel like doing today?” “Do I feel good about buying this?” Feelings have thus become intimately involved in our decision-making. Feelings are not necessarily bad, but how I feel about something may have little to do with what is right or best. Indeed, our feelings can lie to us (“The heart is deceitful above all things” [Jeremiah 17:9]) and can create a false picture of reality, causing us to make bad choices, setting us up for a crucible of our own making.
Image © Ron Bell at Goodsalt.com
Peter understood that the mind is the rudder for the body that we control. Take away the control of the mind, and we will be controlled by whatever feelings blow our way.
Imagine walking along a narrow path to the Shepherd’s home. Along the way there are many paths leading in different directions. Some of these paths go to places that we would not want to visit. Others look tempting; they appeal to our feelings, our emotions, our desires. If, though, we take any one of them, we get off the right path and go in a way that might be exceedingly difficult to get off.
| What important decisions are you facing? Ask yourself honestly, “How can I know if I am basing my choices on feeling, emotion, desire, as opposed to the Word of God?” |
(2)The post Tuesday: The Disciplined Will appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Having scanned through the lesson quarterly, there are so many hymns from which to choose a theme. In effect, there is a commencing theme hymn which changes through the quarter to the finale theme hymn. To start with, we could use:
Hymn 552 – The Lord’s My Shepherd or
Hymn 545 – Savior, Like a Shepherd.
Somewhere in the middle of the quarter one could change the theme and add in 
Hymn 159 – On a Hill Far Away which is where we complete our studies in Lesson 13.
Sabbath afternoon’s introductions tells us of our will and how it has impact on our choices, so
Prince of Peace, Control My Will – Hymn 153.
On reading John 16:5-15 (Sunday), we are encouraged to request
Come, Holy Spirit – Hymn 269,
Hymn 266 – Spirit of God so that we may then be able to sing
Sweet, Sweet Spirit – Hymn 262 because we have prayed
Spirit of the Living God – Hymn 672.
Time and effort are required “to achieve something worthwhile in this life” which shows we are
Working, O Christ, With Thee – Hymn 582. Continuing on in Monday, we find Paul struggling with God requesting he
Come, Labor On – Hymn 357.
Tuesday has the theme of
Prince of Peace, Control My Will – Hymn 153 from Sabbath afternoon’s introduction, and again presents for Wednesday.
Ellen G White’s writings on Friday will have us singing
Just a Closer Walk With Thee because:
<blockquote>I am weak but Thou art strong,
Jesus keep me from all wrong,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
Just a closer walker with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
(writer/composer unknown)</blockquote>
To learn unknown hymns, you will find the accompaniment music for each one at: https://sdahymnals.com/Hymnal/
Another great resource is for when there is a hymn you wish to sing but can’t find it in your hymnal. Go to https://www.sdahymnal.org and in the search bar type a special word in that is in the hymn. I am sure you will be amazed at the help you will be given.
2 Timothy 2:15 KJV – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/6-struggling-with-all-energy-singing-with-inspiration/
What is your greatest accomplishment ever? Chances are, whatever you achieved did not happen simply by your rolling out of bed in the morning. If we want to achieve something worthwhile in this life, it takes time and effort. Our discipleship to Christ is no different.
Image © Jack Purdue at Goodsalt.com
In Colossians 1:29 there is a very interesting insight into the way Paul sees his relationship with God in this work. He says that he is struggling — but with the power of God.
The word for “labor” means to “grow weary,” to “work to the point of exhaustion.” This word was used particularly of athletes as they trained. The word for “struggle,” which comes next, can mean in some languages “to agonize.” So, we have the word picture of an athlete straining with everything to win. But then Paul adds a twist to the idea, because Paul is straining, not with everything he has, but with everything that God gives him. So we are left with a simple conclusion about Paul’s ministry — it was a ministry done with great personal effort and discipline, but done with God’s power. This relationship works in exactly the same way as we pursue the development of Christ’s character in us.
This is important to remember, because we live in a world in which we want more and more with less and less effort. That idea has crept into Christianity, too. Some Christian evangelists promise that if you just believe, the Holy Spirit will fall upon you with amazing supernatural power and perform great miracles. But this can be a dangerous half-truth, because it can lead people to the conclusion that we just need to wait for God’s power to come while sitting comfortably in our seats!
| What is your own experience with the kind of striving Paul talked about? What things has God laid upon your heart that you are struggling with? How can you learn to surrender to God’s will? |
(1)The post Monday: The Divine-Human Combination appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/monday-divine-human-combination/
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