Daily Devotional

July 31, 2017

In Love and Mercy Jesus Pleads With Us and for Us

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22, 23, NKJV.

“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” The Lord honors His human agents by taking them into partnership with Himself. The heart of Christ is full of forgiving mercy and truth. He is afflicted in all the afflictions of His people. We are to be compassionate, and find joy in coming with a kindly interest to bind up the wounds of those who have been pursued and left half dead by the ruthless hand of the destroyer. We are to be ready to heal the bruises that sin has made.

Those who do this are Christ’s ministers, and the world has a living testimony of the love of God before them in His representatives. God is revealed before the world in those who practice the works of Christ, and through His messengers He is known as a God of mercy, goodness, and forgiveness. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

God in Christ is ours, and His bounties of love and mercy are inexhaustible. He desires that everyone shall be benefited by the rich provisions that He has made for those who love Him; He invites us all to share with Him in His glory. The bliss of heaven has been provided for all who love God supremely and their fellow mortals as themselves.

Men and women would no longer be the slaves of sin if they would but turn from Satan’s alluring, delusive attractions, and look to Jesus long enough to see and understand His love. New habits will be formed, and powerful propensities for evil will be held in check. Our Leader is a conqueror, and He guides us on to certain victory.

Our Advocate, Jesus, is pleading before His Father’s throne in our behalf, and He is also pleading with the sinner, saying, “Turn ye, for why will ye die?” Has not God done everything possible through Christ to win us from satanic deception? … Is He not a risen Savior, ever living to make intercession for us? Is He not ever following up His great work of atonement by the work of the Holy Spirit on every heart? The bow of mercy still arches the throne of God, testifying to the fact that every soul who believes in Christ as a personal Savior shall have everlasting life. Mercy and justice are blended in God’s dealing with His heritage. – The Signs of the Times, September 19, 1895.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 339.

Daily Devotional

July 30, 2017

In Every Situation Jesus Gives Fresh Blessings

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 42:11, NKJV.

We have learned in the midst of dark providences that it was not wise to have a will or way of our own, and to cast not reflection and surmises on the divine faithfulness. I feel that we are those who can understand and sympathize with each other. We are bound together by the grace of Jesus Christ and in the bonds of Christian sympathies made sacred by afflictions….

Afflictions are oft mercies in disguise. We know not what we might have been without them. When God in His mysterious providence overthrows all our cherished plans, and we may receive sorrow in the place of joy, we will bow in submission and say, “Thy will, O God, be done.” We must and we will ever cherish a calm, religious trust in One who loves us, who gave His life for us. “The Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” …

The Lord looks upon our afflictions. He graciously and discriminately metes them out and apportions them. As a refiner of silver He watches us every moment until the purification is complete. The furnace is to purify and refine, not to destroy and consume. He will cause those who put their trust in Him to sing of mercies in the midst of judgments. He is ever watching to impart, when most needed, new and fresh blessings, strength in the hour of weakness, succor in the hour of danger, friends in the hour of loneliness, sympathy, human and divine, in the hour of sorrow.

We are homeward bound. He that loveth us so much as to die for us hath builded for us a city. The New Jerusalem is our place of rest. There will be no sadness in the City of God. No wail of sadness. No dirge of crushed hopes and buried affection shall ever more be heard. – Daughters of God, 223, 224.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 338.

Daily Devotional

July 29, 2017

Victory Is Assured for All Who Obey Christ’s Orders

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33, NKJV.

Christ came to our world as the surety for humanity, preparing the way for all to gain the victory by giving them moral power. It is not His will that any shall be placed at a disadvantage. He would not have those who are striving to overcome intimidated and discouraged by the crafty assaults of the serpent. “Be of good cheer,” He says, “I have overcome the world.”

With such a General to lead us on to victory, we may indeed have joy and courage. He came as our champion. He takes cognizance of the battle that all who are at enmity with Satan must fight. He lays before His followers a plan of the battle, pointing out its peculiarities and severity, and warning them not to join His army without first counting the cost. He tells them that the vast confederacy of evil is arrayed against them, and shows them that they are fighting for an invisible world, and that His army is not composed merely of human agencies. His soldiers are coworkers with heavenly intelligences, and One higher than angels is in the ranks; for the Holy Spirit, Christ’s representative, is there.

Then Christ summons every decided follower, every true soldier, to fight for Him, assuring them that there is deliverance for all who will obey His orders. If Christ’s soldiers look faithfully to their Captain for their orders, success will attend their warfare against the enemy. No matter how they may be beset, in the end they will be triumphant.

Their infirmities may be many, their sins great, their ignorance seemingly insurmountable; but if they realize their weakness, and look to Christ for aid, He will be their efficiency. He is ever ready to enlighten their dullness and overcome their sinfulness. If they avail themselves of His power, their characters will be transformed; they will be surrounded with an atmosphere of light and holiness. Through His merits and imparted power they will be “more than conquerors.” Supernatural help will be given them, enabling them in their weakness to do the deeds of omnipotence.

Those who fight for Christ are fighting in the sight of the heavenly universe, and they should be soldiers, not cowards…. By faith they are to look calmly upon every foe, exclaiming: “We fight the good fight of faith, under the command of an omnipotent Power. Because He lives, we shall live also.” – The Signs of the Times, May 27, 1897.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 337.

Daily Devotional

July 28, 2017

Family Worship Can Help Create Harmony

Who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. Malachi 3:2, NKJV.

We are rapidly nearing the close of this earth’s history. The end is very near, much nearer than many suppose, and I feel burdened to urge upon our people the necessity of seeking the Lord earnestly. Many are asleep, and what can be said to arouse them from their carnal slumber? The Lord would have His church purified before His judgments shall fall more signally upon the world….

Christ will remove every pretentious cloak. No mingling of the true with the spurious can deceive Him. “He is like a refiner’s fire,” separating the precious from the vile, the dross from the gold.

Like the Levites, God’s chosen people are set apart by Him for His special work. Every true Christian bears priestly credentials. All are honored with the sacred responsibility of representing to the world the character of their heavenly Father. They are to heed well the words “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” …

I am instructed to urge upon our people most earnestly the necessity of religion in the home. Among the members of the household there is ever to be a kind, thoughtful consideration. Morning and evening let all hearts be united in reverent worship. At the season of evening worship, let every member of the family search well his own heart. Let every wrong that has been committed be made right. If, during the day, one has wronged another, or spoken unkindly, let the transgressor seek pardon of the one injured. Often grievances are cherished in the mind, and misunderstandings and heartaches are created that need not be. If the one who is suspected of wrong be given an opportunity, he or she might be able to make explanations that would bring relief to other members of the family.

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another,” that ye may be healed of all spiritual infirmities, that sinful dispositions may be changed. Make diligent work for eternity. Pray most earnestly to the Lord, and hold fast to the faith. Trust not in the arm of flesh, but trust implicitly in the Lord’s guidance. Let each one now say, “As for me, I will come out, and be separate from the world. I will serve the Lord with full purpose of heart.” – The Review and Herald, November 8, 1906.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 336.

Daily Devotional

July 26, 2017

Jesus in the Heart Makes the Life Fragrant

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up. Psalm 5:3, NKJV.

Christian reader, let the great purpose that constrained Paul to press forward in the face of hardship and difficulty lead you to consecrate yourself wholly to God’s service. Whatever your hands find to do, do it with your might. Let your daily prayer be “Lord, help me to do my best. Teach me how to do better work. Help me to bring into my service the loving ministry of the Savior.”

The responsibility of each human agent is measured by the gifts he or she holds in trust. All are to be workers; but upon the worker who has had the greatest opportunities, the greatest clearness of mind in understanding the Scriptures, rests the highest responsibility. All receivers should hold themselves accountable to God, and use their talents for God’s glory.

Success in the work of God is not the result of chance, of accident, or of destiny; it is the outworking of God’s providence, and the award of faith and discretion, of virtue and persevering labor. It is the practice of the truth that brings success and moral power. The bright rays of the Sun of Righteousness are to be welcomed as the light of the mind; the principles of the character of Christ are to be made the principles of the human character….

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This is the love that is the fulfilling of the law. Every person whose heart is filled with compassion for fallen humanity, who loves to a purpose, will reveal that love by the performance of Christlike deeds. True Christianity diffuses love through the whole being. It touches every vital part – the brain, the heart, the helping hands, the feet – enabling us to stand firmly where God requires us to stand, lest the lame be turned out of the way. The contemplation of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us will make the life fragrant and give power to perfect a Christian experience.

We can, we can, reveal the likeness of our divine Lord. We can know the science of spiritual life. We can glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are His. Christ has shown us what we may accomplish through cooperation with Him. “Abide in me,” He says, “and I in you.” – The Review and Herald, April 4, 1912.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 335.