Wednesday, January 16, 2013

From Revival and Reformation Today


 Love as Christ Loves
Christ's prayer [in John 17] ... is an illustration of the intercession that He is offering for us before the Father.
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth," He prayed (Verse 17). "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
 "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me" (Verses 18-23). 

Today the One who uttered this prayer is interceding before the Father in behalf of the human beings He has redeemed. He presents them to Jehovah, saying, "I have graven them upon the palms of My hands" (cf. Isaiah 49:16). 

Sanctification is to come through the truth; oneness with Christ—this is God's purpose for us. By their sanctification and their unity, Christians are to give evidence to the world that a perfect work has been done for them, in and through Christ. Thus they are to bear witness that God sent His Son to save sinners. Will you not let Christ carry on this work of sanctification in your hearts? You may all be complete in Him. You have the assurance that through the sanctification of the truth you may be made perfect in one.... 

The Saviour is acquainted with the mental suffering of His children. He knows how at times their hearts are wounded and bleeding. He would have the afflicted soothed and helped. He says to us, "Bear ye one another's burdens" (Galatians 6:2). "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves" (Romans 15:1). We are to relate ourselves rightly to one another, even though to do this demands sacrifice. Christ made an infinite sacrifice for us, and should we not be willing to sacrifice for others? We are to guard carefully against wounding or bruising the hearts of God's children, for when we do this, we wound and bruise the heart of Christ.—Letter 31, January 17, 1904, to Elder and Mrs. J. A. Burden, and Dr. and Mrs. D. H. Kress. 

This devotional is from The Upward Look by Ellen G. White.  For more books by Ellen G. White, visit www.egwwritings.org
www.revivalandreformation.org

Friday, December 21, 2012

Revival for Mission: Christmas Special


Join Seventh-day Adventist world church President Ted N. C. Wilson and his wife Nancy Wilson as they host a special Christmas edition of “Revival for Mission,” featuring the new music video, “God’s Gifts.” Nancy tells the story of Jesus’ birth through the eyes of a young shepherd and Pastor Wilson shares a message about forgiveness inspired by Christ’s birth.



Available in Various languages at: http://perspectives.adventist.org/news/revival_for_mission_christmas_special_available_in_multiple_languages

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

International Day Of Prayers #Pray4Togo



Seventh-day Adventist world church President Ted N. C. Wilson today called for an International Day of Prayer and Fasting on December 1 to rally support for the release of two Adventists currently imprisoned in the West African country of Togo. Wilson and top church executives who voted the emphasis day at a November 20 morning business meeting said the event will raise awareness of the plight of Antonio dos Anjos Monteiro, Sabbath School and Personal Ministries director for the church’s Sahel Union Mission, headquartered in Lome; and Bruno Amah, an Adventist lay member and businessman in Lome. 

Adventist lawyers and human rights activists have called for both men’s release since they were detained in March for conspiracy to commit murder. A Togolese man implicated Monteiro and Amah as conspirators in an alleged blood trafficking network, but a police search of Monteiro’s home and local church headquarters did not produce evidence. Since then, local authorities have recognized both men’s innocence. 

Antonio do Anjos Monteiro [photo courtesy West-Central Africa Division]
Diplomatic efforts to secure both men’s release are expected to continue. Today church leaders established a working group to oversee efforts led by John Graz, director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the Adventist world church. Church leaders are enlisting the support of members worldwide to raise further awareness through a social media campaign to promote the December 1 Day of Prayer. “We are asking the entire world Seventh-day Adventist Church to join in prayer and fasting on December 1,” Wilson said. 


The world church leader met with both men in prison earlier this month during a tour of West Africa. “These are falsely accused, innocent church members and we are pleading with the Lord for his intervention so that they can be reunited with their families and continue their work,” he said.

Source: http://news.adventist.org/archive/articles/2012/11/20/adventist-president-calls-for-december-1-day-of-prayer-fasting-to-support-f and 
http://news.adventist.org/archive/articles/2012/09/27/in-togo-cape-verdean-adventist-pastor-imprisoned-on-dubious-charges

Sunday, November 4, 2012

THE WONDERFUL FATHER


Theme: The Heavenly Father looks every day "up the road," ready to welcome home prodigals.
Theme Text: Luke 15:11-24



In the previous parables of lostness, Jesus has told of a lost sheep that was lost unintentionally and a coin lost through carelessness. This parable of the lost son is, by contrast, a wilful lostness, a lostness by intentional choice. The son willfully breaks from the restraints of home. He is old enough to be responsible for his own choices and conduct. He exercises his own free will, a citadel that God Himself never violates. He chooses to leave home, and he alone can choose to come home. Only when he sees his son in the distance does the Father go out to meet him.

The Son's Choice
He has reached the age where he thinks he knows more than his father does. He is tired of the restraints of home. He is weary of his father's watchfulness. He wants freedom. He wants fun. He has heard about the pleasures of the far country. Self-will grows stronger in his heart. He will do as he pleases. He will have his own way. He demands a division of the property. (Jewish law afforded the elder son two-thirds of the family inheritance. He has a right to his share, but not as long as his father lives.) His heart is already in the far country. His feet were sure to follow.

On Becoming a Prodigal
A person becomes a prodigal in gradual stages. The transition is made in degrees. A person is first a prodigal in the heart, then in fact. The transition may not always be immediately visible, but inevitably-though perhaps imperceptibly-the cracks begin to show and the condition of the heart is evidenced in attitude and behavior.

Hard Consequences
In the far country he "wastes his substance with riotous living. "He has the best chariot and the fastest horses in town. He lives in style, spends freely. He revels in his freedom. No hampering restraints, no guilt-producing influences, no disquieting cautions. Too many "friends" to count. He lives hard and fast and with abandon, fleetingly feeling sorry for his poor brother still at home.

As often happens when we follow the Devil's enticing lures, just at the moment we think we have it all, a twist of fate reveals our true condition (cf. Rev. 3:17). Famine strikes. The prodigal finds himself penniless on the streets. His "friends" leave him in the dust. His last remaining hold on life is the pittance he is able to earn feeding a man's pigs.

A Long Look in the Mirror
At this point in the story, the prodigal does an about-face from "give me" to "make me." "Give me" represented the epitome of self-will. "Make me," represents a surrender of his will. The Scripture says the prodigal "came to himself."Perhaps he caught a long look at himself in the mirror. His clothes are in rags. His eyes are sunken, his cheeks hollow, his stomach shrunken. Perhaps he had a flash of insight into his true condition, really understood his lostness, his helplessness, the hopelessness of his condition, how far away from home he really was (cf. Eph. 2:1-3, 12-13; Rom. 5:6-10). His thoughts turn toward home. His senses come alive as he smells the aromas from the kitchen, lingers on his vision of each face, abandons himself to the memories of the good times. Even the servants live in luxury compared to this. He will go to his father. He knows he deserves nothing. He has squandered his inheritance; he has not more rights in his father's house. But perhaps he will take him in as a hired hand. There's nothing to lose.

The Wonderful Father
In one of Scripture's most glorious metaphors for our Heavenly Father, the boy's father appears on the scene, looking longingly down the road for the returning prodigal. And when he sees him a long way off, his heart leaps and his legs run. He throws his arms about him, lifts him off his feet and twirls him around. He sets him back down, holds him at arms length, looks long into his face, then draws him to himself again in another long embrace. The boy is babbling something about becoming one of the hired men, but the father will hear nothing of it. What is he talking about! This is his son he had given up for lost! The dead come back to life! He needs food. He needs clothes. He needs to tell his story, but that can wait. "Hurry," he calls out to the servant who has followed to see what all the commotion is about. "Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 

For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!"
So it is with us. "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast" (Eph. 2:1-9).

What a wonderful father! It's never too late for new beginnings! Let the celebration begin!

Danie Swanepoel Director, Department of Family Ministries, Southern Africa Union Conference
Reprinted from Karen & Ron Flowers, New Beginnings. Silver Spring, MD: Department of Family
Ministries, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 2000. http://family.adventist.org/10%20PARABLE%20OF%20THE%20WONDERFUL%20FATHER.pdf

Sunday, October 14, 2012

WHAT'S WRONG WITH OUR MIND?

God created us in His image and made us perfect beings with a great mind different to animals or any other creatures He has made (Genesis 1.26 ). The mind is the standard of man, and a true measure of a person which need to be well kept and trained in its higher perfection, to fill the mind with clean thoughts and lead into great thinking and performance. 

The spiritual component is what separates the human mind from animal mind. This component is the missing key that science has been searching the physical brain for from the beginning. Obviously, they will never find this component because it is beyond the physical realm. It empowers the physical brain tissue in ways that bring about consciousness of self, and all the other amazing, but severely limited "God-like" qualities mankind has. Remember, we were "Made in the Image and Likeness of God," to be able to think, feel, love, design, create art, etc. This aspect to mankind provides the "Free Will" that no other animal species that exists has.

How do we use the free will that has been given to our minds by the creator? Apart from being that special as created by God, human minds have been corrupted and brings no glory to the creator but making inhuman acts through the brain and the body. Young men/women and old have been performing poorly intellectually and spiritually because of allowing the devil to corrupt the mind. 

There is no other way we can solve our minds problems without being transformed by the renewal of our mind. World leaders are trying to solve  current world problems with a number of interventions but still not much is happening. Human problems are cause by human minds. Hunger, wars, environmental pollution, suicides, genocides, poverty etc all are caused by the acts of mind. Without the total transformation of our minds, the world will live to experience these problems without any solution. "Be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind." - Romans 12.2 and "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" - Philippians 2. 5 -11

Dr. Samwel Pipim speaks through the Bible and the current world challenges in the following sermon about the topic "WHAT'S WRONG WITH OUR MIND". Take some minutes and learn a lot on how you can make your mind transformed Intellectually and Spirituality.



Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Health REFORMS: God's Message For Today


Who gives food to all flesh, for His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever. Psalm 136:25, 26, NKJV

The Lord had in His providence given light in regard to the establishment of sanitariums where the sick should be treated upon hygienic principles. The people must be taught to depend on the Lord's remedies, pure air, pure water, simple, healthful foods.

Every effort made for the physical and moral health of the people should be based on moral principles. The advocates of reform who are laboring with the glory of God in view will plant their feet firmly upon the principles of hygiene; they will adopt a correct practice. The people need true knowledge. By their wrong habits of life, men and women of this generation are bringing upon themselves untold suffering.

Physicians have a work to do to bring about reform by educating the people, that they may understand the laws which govern their physical life. They should know how to eat properly, to work intelligently, to dress healthfully, and should be taught to bring all their habits into harmony with the laws of life and health, and to discard drugs. There is a great work to be done. If the principles of health reform are carried out, the work will indeed be as closely allied to that of the third angel's message as the hand is to the body.

Why is there so much dissension? Why so much independent action, so much selfish ambition in this great missionary field? God is dishonored. There should be concentrated, united action. This is as necessary in the physician's work as in any other branch of the work of preparation for the great day of God.

Teach the people how to prevent disease. Tell them to cease rebelling against nature's laws, and by removing every obstruction give it a chance to put forth its very best efforts to set things right. Nature must have a fair chance to employ its healing agencies. We must make earnest efforts to reach a higher platform in regard to the methods of treating the sick. If the light which God has given prevails, if truth overcomes error, advanced steps will be taken in health reform. (This Must Be - Manuscript Releases 13:177, 178.)

Friday, September 28, 2012

What a Friend We Have in Jesus


What a Friend We Have in Jesus, the Song and the Story

Composer Joseph M. Scriven

“There is no greater love than this: that a person would lay down his life for the sake of his friends.” John 15.13
Irish born Joseph M. Scriven (1819-1896) was 25 years old, in love and to be married. The day before his wedding his fiance died in a tragic drowning accident. Heartbroken, Joseph sailed from his homeland to start a new life in Canada. While in Canada working as a teacher, he fell in love again and became engaged to Eliza Roche, a relative of one of his students. Once again, Joseph's hopes and dreams were shattered when Eliza became ill and died before the wedding could take place.
Although one can only imagine the turmoil within this young man, history tells us that his faith in God sustained him. Soon after Eliza's death Joseph joined the Plymouth Brethren and began preaching for a Baptist church. He never married, but spent the remainder of his life giving all his time, money and even the clothes off his own back to help the less fortunate and to spread the love and compassion of Jesus wherever he went.
Around the same time that Eliza died, Joseph received word from Ireland that his mother was ill. He could not go to be with her, so he wrote a letter of comfort and enclosed one of his poems entitled What a Friend We Have in Jesus.
Many years later a friend was sitting with Joseph, as he was very ill. During this visit, the friend was very impressed when he ran across his poems, including What a Friend We Have in Jesus. As a result of this visit, almost 30 years after his letter of comfort to his mother, Joseph's poems were published in a book called Hymns and Other Verses. Soon thereafter, noted musician Charles C. Converse (1834-1918) put music to one of those poems: What a Friend We Have in Jesus.
Well-known musician and revivalist Ira D. Sankey (1840-1908) was a great admirer of Joseph Scriven. In 1875, Sankey came upon the music and words for What a Friend We Have in Jesus. He included it as the last entry into his well-known publication Sankey's Gospel Hymns Number 1.
After Joseph Scriven's death, the citizens of Port Hope, Ontario, Canada, where he gave so much of himself, erected a monument to his life. The seemingly sad and obscure life of one man resulted in so many lives being uplifted, both in his own time, and for many years after whenever the beautiful and comforting words of What a Friend We Have in Jesus are sung.

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He'll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear

May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.
Source: Sharefaith.com

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Heritage Singers We really Love

Story of the foundation by Max Mace

Max Mace, a singer and conductor, founded the Heritage Singers, a pioneering self-supporting gospel music ensemble. Now the longest running group of its type, it has flourished for nearly four decades. It has traveled to more than sixty countries, performed in every state in the U.S., released over 100 recordings, and inspired the formation internationally of numerous similar singing groups and other self-supporting music ministries.

Mace's work with the Heritage Singers was a natural outgrowth of a love for music that started while he was a child growing up in a musical family in a farming community in Eagleton, Idaho, near Boise. From his earliest years, he sang in a trio with his two brothers and later in male quartets while at Gem State Academy and Walla Walla College, now University. While at WWC, he met and dated Lucy Hatley, a musically talented student at nearby Walla Walla College Academy, now Walla Walla Valley Academy. They married in January 1958, following her graduation from the academy in 1957.


It was while Mace was working at United Medical Labs in Portland, Oregon, and leading the Rose City Singers, a group sponsored by the company, that the idea for the Heritage Singers developed. After conducting and singing in the group for four years and observing the effect its music had on its audiences, particularly the young, Max and Lucy, also an employee, decided to launch a full-time performing group.



Although this decision cost them their jobs, by June 1971 they had formed a group of eight singers and accompanying instrumentalists, chosen a name, scheduled a tour, and started to travel. While there were challenges then and in later years, they succeeded beyond their wildest expectations. By the end of their second year, it had become obvious that the organization needed a base from which it could operate. The Maces, who had been renting when the group started, were staying in friends' homes or in motels between tours and operating out of their business manager's garage.

In 1973, they and their business manager found and purchased a large acreage, previously a cattle ranch in Placerville, California. Construction of an 11,000 square foot lodge was started in 1973 that included a rehearsal area, offices, nine bedrooms with shared baths, and two one-bedroom apartments for Max and Lucy and the business manager and his wife. A recording studio was added later. Although the facility, which has become known as "The Ranch," was not finished by Christmas 1974, the Maces, tired of sleeping in motels, moved into their apartment, which had just been sheetrocked to provide privacy, for the holiday.



Members of the group, wanting to be the first to also sleep at "The Ranch," joined them, even though it meant they had to sleep in their sleeping bags on the first floor, which was totally open and strewn about with building materials. Five years after the purchase of the land, when the business manager and the Maces dissolved their business relationship, the Maces retained the facility and 35 acres.

In time, the Mace family, including their two children, Val and Greg, and their spouses all became participants in an experience that enabled large numbers of young people to sing while providing a Christian witness that has touched the lives of countless listeners.

It is our prayer that the Heritage Singers ministry will keep shining all over the world and touching souls with their wonderful gospel music that touches and heals. 

God Bless Heritage Singers! 


Saturday, August 4, 2012

Work Given as a Source of Happiness


Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Genesis 2:15, NKJV.

God placed human beings under law, as an indispensable condition of their very existence. They were subjects of the divine government, and there can be no government without law. God might have created humans without the power to transgress His law; He might have withheld the hand of Adam from touching the forbidden fruit; but in that case people would have been, not free moral agents, but mere automatons. Without freedom of choice, their obedience would not have been voluntary, but forced. There could have been no development of character. Such a course would have been contrary to God's plan in dealing with the inhabitants of other worlds. It would have been unworthy of humans as intelligent beings, and would have sustained Satan's charge of God's arbitrary rule....

The home of our first parents was to be a pattern for other homes as their children should go forth to occupy the earth. That home, beautified by the hand of God Himself, was not a gorgeous palace. Men and women, in their pride, delight in magnificent and costly edifices, and glory in the works of their own hands; but God placed Adam and Eve in a garden. This was their dwelling. The blue heavens were its dome; the earth, with its delicate flowers and carpet of living green, was its floor; and the leafy branches of the goodly trees were its canopy. Its walls were hung with the most magnificent adornings--the handiwork of the great Master Artist.

In the surroundings of the holy pair was a lesson for all time--that true happiness is found, not in the indulgence of pride and luxury, but in communion with God through His created works. If people would give less attention to the artificial, and would cultivate greater simplicity, they would come far nearer to answering the purpose of God in their creation. Pride and ambition are never satisfied, but those who are truly wise will find substantial and elevating pleasure in the sources of enjoyment that God has placed within the reach of all.

To the dwellers in Eden was committed the care of the garden, "to dress it and to keep it." Their occupation was not wearisome, but pleasant and invigorating. God appointed labor as a blessing to our first parents, to occupy their minds, to strengthen their bodies, and to develop their faculties.--Patriarchs and Prophets, 49, 50

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

As for Me and My House, We will Serve the Lord!

Like sheep without a shepherd, we have all gone astray, far from the source of life, leaving the way to victory and worshiped idols. Satan has taken advantage of our weaknesses and made us his captives. In that he has cause misfortune and led us into unhappy endings. We have the Lord; with Him we will never be defeated. Its time today to decide, as Joshua said "...Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24.14 - 15

Why not deciding today that you and your family will save the Lord. There is no safety out there, the devil is roaring like a lion wants to destroy you and your loved ones, but there is one insurance and hope that we have, before we loved Him, Jesus loved us first and died for you and me. Decide today to save the Lord. As for me and my Family, we will save the Lord. Take a look at this wonderful music video from John Waller. God bless you as you decide to save the Lord, not you alone, but with your family. This is my prayer for you today, "God, please reach my friend as he/she decides today to save you and claim your wonderful promises, Amen"

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Don't be talkin' 'bout friends - Best Gospel Acapella Ryric


Of all the things to do to a friend
You hurt them by your tongue.
Relationships will fatally end
Without a knife or gun.

Waitin' till you 're back behind them,
Then you put them down
How could you be talkin' 'bout them
When they're not around?

Chorus:
Don't be talkin' 'bout friends when they're not around
Don't be cuttin' their hearts and puttin' them down.
Don't be temptin' the Lord and makin' Him frown,
Don't be talkin' 'bout your friends when they're not around.

How all the gossip falls on our ears
It doesn't make much sense,
How we can cause the innocent tears,
Not helping their defense.

Listening, we all should fear it,
Listening is wrong.
If there were no one to hear it
It could not go on.

Chorus

Too many friendships have been broken
By just a simple, careless word spoken.

Chorus 

Don't be talkin' down, throwin' down, cuttin' down friends
Why not treat them more like friends (when they're not around)?
Don't be saying lots of things, overlook the hurt it brings
Don't be talkin' bout your friends (when they're not around).

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

FAITH of Abram


Abram lacked the very thing that was most important to him—an heir.  But nothing is beyond possibility with God, including promising a child to a couple who are long past their child-bearing years.  Is anything too hard for the Lord?  God promised not only a child but descendants like the stars for number and like the sand of the seashore.  What good thing does your heart desire, that God as a loving Father would delight to give you?  Do you believe that He is not only able but ready to bless you abundantly?  Will you believe God’s promises to “give you the desires of your heart” (Ps 37:4)?  Abram “believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen 15:6).

God also promised Abram the land where He had brought him, “a good and large land,” “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exod 3:6), with the lush Jordan valley being “well watered everywhere . . . like the garden of the Lord” (Gen 13:10).  God had made a covenant with Abram (12:1-3), but now Abram asks for a sign that the covenant will really take place(15:8).  God grants him the sign (vv. 9-11,17), but also cautions him that the promise will not be fulfilled in his lifetime (vv. 12-16).  Only to his heirs will the covenant be fulfilled (v. 18).  What kind of faith did God require of Abram?  What kind of faith does He require of me?  Study Heb 11:8-19,39-40.

By faith Abram obeyed the Lord and Blessing come on his promise, so it is to me and you, its only by trusting and obeying we can be happy with the promises of God, nothing is impossible to Him. 

Edwin Reynolds, Ph.D.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Genesis 1: Revived By His Word

Genesis 1

Tuesday, April 17, 2012



Bible Blog

Genesis 1 sets the tone for the entire Bible. It establishes the fact that God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. In the Bible’s first chapter, God is revealed as Creator thirty one times. There are three significant expressions to watch for in Genesis 1. They are “God said”, “God created”, and “God saw that it was good.” These expressions are full of meaning for our lives today.

When God speaks, He creates. What God says is so even if it were never so before because when God says it, it becomes so. God’s spoken word is reality and the result of accepting what God says is “good.”  God’s Word is a living, creative Word. When we believe what God said because of our confidence in the One who said it, the living, creative Word transforms our lives. All of the creative power which brought worlds into existence is in the Word of God. Are there ways which the Bible has spoken to your heart? Why not share them on the blog?


- Mark Finley


Source; Revived By His Word


Monday, April 16, 2012

New Daily Bible Reading plan launches April 17, 2012

A Journey of Discovery Together Through the Bible



                                                                     To Sign Up Today,click here!
                                    Prepared by The Adventist Church through http://www.revivedbyhisword.org/

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Work for Low Wages Rather Than Be Idle


But he answered one of them and said, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you." Matthew 20:13, 14, NKJV.


God has graciously entrusted us with twenty-four hours in each day and night. This is a precious treasure by which much good can be accomplished. How are we using God's golden opportunities? We must, as Christians, set the Lord always before us, if we would not lose precious hours in uselessness, and have nothing to show for our time.

Time is money. If people refuse to work because they cannot obtain the highest wages, they are pronounced idlers. Far better would it be for them to work, even if they receive much less than they suppose their labors are worth.
Time is a talent committed to our trust that may be shamefully misused. Every child of God, man, woman, youth or child, should consider and appreciate the value of the moments of time. If they do this, they will keep themselves employed, even if they do not receive as high wages as they have been able to command. They should show their appreciation of diligence, and work, receiving what wages they can get. The idea of a poor person with a family refusing to work for moderate wages, because it is not showing, as he or she supposes, sufficient dignity for their trade, is folly that is not to be encouraged.

How little thought has been bestowed upon this subject. How much greater prosperity might have attended the missionary enterprises if this talent of time had been thoughtfully considered and faithfully used. We are each one answerable to God for the time that has been wantonly thrown away, and for the use of which we must give an account to God. This is a stewardship that has been but little appreciated; many think it not sin to waste hours and days in doing nothing to benefit themselves or to bless others.--Manuscript Releases 6:80, 81.



Sunday, April 1, 2012

Preventive Health Care for Marriage - The Importance of Spending Time Together

Many married couples are so exhausted at the end of the day that they have no time for each other. Weeks and even months may go by without any deep, intimate sharing or time alone.
If you do not fill in your calendar, someone else will. Make it a priority to write in appointments with your spouse. (3) You have to schedule time for one another as carefully as you schedule work, classes, and church activities. This is such an important concept that even God has written us into His calendar. That is why He gave the Sabbath as a special time for us to be with Him.

An important aspect of your planning together also includes setting goals for your marriage. Consider the needs that you have as individuals or as a couple. These may be tangible needs such as further education, paying off debts, saving for a home, or they may be intangible needs such as more personal leisure time, more couple time, or developing better communication skills (Flowers, 1988, p. BE 75). Which needs do you think are the most important for you? How might you and your spouse work together to set goals to meet these needs?

A young wife's mother gave her money for the down payment on a car. Since the money was given to her, the wife decided she would make the decision on what kind of car to buy. Without consulting her husband, she went to a dealership and bought a brand new vehicle. After the downpayment, the financial arrangements still required five years of monthly payments. Needless to say, the husband was not happy about his wife's unilateral decision. There were several implications for the family. The car seats were very uncomfortable for his large size, but, more than this, the monthly payments meant that the wife had to leave their children with a babysitter and find a job outside of the home.

This illustrates the importance of communication between husband and wife. Serious consideration given to her needs and wishes, and consultation together might have led to some alternative solutions that would have created less tension between them and led to a more satisfactory situation for the family.

Use Responsibly the Gifts of Speech and Influence

Meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Colossians 4:3, 4, NKJV.

God has not given talents capriciously. He who knows all things, who is acquainted with each one, has given to every person his or her work. Those to whom He has entrusted much are not to boast, for what they possess is not their own; it is lent them on trial; and the greater the endowment, the greater the returns required. Day by day God is testing men and women, to see whether they will acknowledge Him as the giver of all that they have. He watches to see whether they will prove themselves worthy of eternal riches. The use they make of their precious endowments decides their destiny for eternity.

Of all the gifts that God has bestowed upon His children, none is capable of being a greater blessing than the gift of speech. With the tongue we convince and persuade; with it we offer prayer and praise to God; and with it we tell others of the Redeemer's love. God would have us consecrate this gift to His service, speaking only such words as will help those around us. And if Christ rules in our hearts, our words will reveal the purity, beauty, and fragrance of a character molded and fashioned by Him. But if we are under the guidance of the enemy of all good, our words will echo his sentiments. Watch well your words. Consecrate your gift of speech to the Lord's service; for He will one day require it at your hands.

Every one of us exerts an influence on those with whom we come in contact. This influence we have from God, and we are responsible for the way it is used. God designs that it shall tell on the side of right; but it rests with each one of us to decide whether our influence shall be pure and elevating, or whether it shall act as a poisonous malaria. Those who are partakers of the divine nature exert an influence that is Christlike. Holy angels attend them on their way, and all with whom they come in contact are helped and blessed. But those who do not receive Christ as their personal Savior cannot influence others for good.... Such lose all hope of eternal life themselves, and by their example lead others astray.

Guard well your influence; it is "your reasonable service" to place it on the Lord's side.--The Signs of the Times, January 21, 1897.

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