Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

August 31, 2020

8/31/2020

CONNECT YOURSELF WITH GOD

        Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.--1 Corinthians 4:3-4

    The enemy has worked, and he is working still. He is come down in great power and the Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the earth. God has withdrawn His hand. We have only to look at Johnstown [in reference to the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood]. He did not prevent the devil from wiping that whole city out of existence. And these very things will increase until the very close of this earth's history, because he has come down in great power, and he works with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.

    What is he doing? Going about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And when he sees those who are resisting the light, and that God does not shelter them, he will exercise his cruel power upon them. This is what we may expect....

    Just prior to the time when the children of Israel left Egypt,...the God of heaven suffered the firstborn of both man and beast to be slain....

    What was there to do the last night? They were to kill a lamb and take the blood and mark the lintels and the doorposts. What for? To evidence to the whole of Israel, as they shall see these things, that there was something that connected them with God....

    Just prior to the coming of the Son of man there is and has been for years a determination on the part of the enemy to cast his hellish shadow right between man and his Saviour. (Manuscript 5, June 19, 1889)

REFLECTION: The great mass of the world will reject God's mercy, and will be overwhelmed in swift and irretrievable ruin. But those who heed the warning shall dwell "in the secret place of the Most High," and "abide under the shadow of the Almighty." His truth shall be their shield and buckler. (Patriarchs and Prophets, 167)

August 30, 2020

8/30/2020

CLOSER THAN YOU THINK

        When you see all these things, know that it is near--at the door!--Matthew 24:33

    The end of all things is at hand; the Lord is at the door. What influence has it had to solemnize our minds and arouse in us an earnestness to separate from us everything that is offensive to God?...He is nearer now than when we first believed. The day of the Lord is right at hand, and it is not safe for us to delay His coming.

    Do you think that any of us, when He comes, will be brought before the great judge and will feel that we have devoted too much time to preparation? Will such thoughts come into our minds? Shall we think that we have been altogether too sympathetic, that we have devoted too much time in winning souls back to Christ and binding up the brokenhearted? No indeed, our thoughts will be these, as we look back to those who stand before the Judge: "Why didn't I help them at such a time when I ought to?" or "Oh, I am glad I did deny myself and help them to stand on the solid rock." These are the very thoughts that will come up to us in the judgment when everyone is judged according to the deeds done in the body.

    And as many are weighed in the balance, they will be found wanting. Then they will proclaim their sins upon the housetop. They will not be afraid to have everybody know their sins, if they only make restitution for them and save one soul. (Manuscript 4, May 14, 1889)

REFLECTION: Most Christians understand that this world will end. God's Word tells us it is much sooner than we think. The question on every Christian's heart should be,
"Have I really surrendered all? Have I taken up the cross of Christ? Am I really ready?" There is a time soon to come when no more can be done. "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!" (Jeremiah 8:20)

August 29, 2020

8/29/2020

WAITING AND WATCHING

        I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me.--Micah 7:7

    There were many proclaiming a new time after [October 22, 1844], but I was shown that we should not have another definite time to proclaim to the people. All who are acquainted with me and my work will testify that I have borne but one testimony in regard to the setting of the time....

    The time-setters have pronounced the curse of the Lord upon me as an unbeliever who said, My Lord delayeth His coming. But I have told them that the books of heaven would not make my record thus, for the Lord knows that I loved and longed for the appearing of Christ. But their oft-repeated message of definite time was exactly what the enemy wanted....

    We are to take heed to ourselves lest our hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon us unawares. Our position has been one of waiting and watching, with no time proclamation to intervene between the close of the prophetic periods in 1844 and the time of our Lord's coming. We do not know the day nor the hour, or when the definite time is, and yet the prophetic reckoning shows us that Christ is at the door.

    We have not cast away our confidence, neither have we a message dependent upon definite time, but we are waiting and watching unto prayer, looking for and loving the appearing of our Saviour, and doing all in our power for the preparation of our fellow men for that great event. We are not impatient. (Letter 38, August 11, 1888)

REFLECTION: God has perfect timing. We can know by the signs and prophecy that the time for Christ's coming is soon, very soon. But the day or hour we do not know. So we should pray, watch, and wait to prepare our hearts to meet Him.

August 28, 2020

8/28/2020

YOU STILL LACK ONE THING

        When Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."--Luke 18:22

    "Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another." [Leviticus 19:11.] This is done in nearly all transactions of real estate buying and selling, and many who are engaged in this business need to cut lose from it before they can be considered as healthful branches of the church....

    The message from the lips of Christ is, "Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not." [Luke 12:33.] There will be many great failures in earthly banks, and in speculations, including mining and real estate.

    How pleased Satan would be if in the very time when men should be selling their possessions to sustain the cause of God, he can so deceive them that all their available means shall be invested in land speculation and other worldly enterprises, thus taking away from the cause of God means which should flow into the treasury to advance His work in the earth....

    Satan sets in operation schemes that will produce in the minds of our brethren a great desire to try their fortunes, as in a lottery. One and still another are flattered by strong representations of financial gain if they will only invest their money in lands....

    The device of Satan is successful;...The spirit of greed is fostered, and the naturally penurious man begrudges every dollar that is called for to be used in the advancement of the cause of God in the earth. (Letter 41, July 7, 1888)

REFLECTION: The lover of self is a transgressor of the law. This Jesus desired to reveal to the [rich] young man, and He gave him a test that would make manifest the selfishness of his heart. He showed him the plague spot in his character. The young man desired no further enlightenment. He had cherished an idol in the soul; the world was his god....In his love of self and worldly gain he was out of harmony with the principles of heaven. (Christ Object Lessons, 392)

August 27, 2020

8/27/2020

SAVED BY FAITH

        Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.--Isaiah 40:31

    We are approaching stormy times, and we want to study the true foundations of our faith. We want to search the law book to see our title to the immortal inheritance is without a flaw....

    The Christian world is now making movements which will necessarily bring the commandment-keeping people of God to notice. There is daily suppression of God's truth for the theories and false doctrines of human origin. There are plans and movements being set on foot to enslave the consciences of those who would be loyal to God. The law-making powers will be against God's commandment-keeping people. Every soul will be tested. Oh. that we would as a people be wise for ourselves and by precept and example impart that wisdom to our children.

    Every position of our faith will be searched into; and if we are not thorough Bible students, established, strengthened, settled, the wisdom of the world's great men will be too much for us. The world is busy, anxious, and devoted. All are in the pursuit of some course that God has no part in. Evil is eagerly pursued as though it were righteousness, error as though it were truth, and sin as though it were holiness. Darkness is thickening, covering the earth, and gross darkness the people, and shall God's peculiar people at such a time as this be asleep? Shall those who hold the truth be silent as if paralyzed? (Letter 65, December 31, 1886)

REFLECTION: Is our faith strong enough to be tested? Remember Peter who believed he was strong? Yet, when the test came, he failed miserably. Our only strength is in the Lord.

August 26, 2020

8/26/2020

THE FAIR WEATHER CHRISTIANS

        Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.--Ecclesiastes 9:10

    I want to speak to the ears of our people in America in every church. Awake from the dead, and Christ will give you life. Souls are perishing for the light of truth as it is in Jesus. We are standing upon the very borders of the eternal world. Fair-weather Christians will not be wanted for this work. The sentimental and tasteful religion is not needed for this time.

    There must be intensity brought into our faith and in the proclamation of truth. I tell you, a new life is proceeding from satanic agencies to work with a power we have not hitherto realized. And shall not a new power from above take possession of God's people? The truth, sanctifying in its influence, must be urged upon the people. There must be earnest supplications offered to God, agonizing prayer to Him, that our hopes as a people may not be founded on suppositions, but on eternal realities.

    We must know for ourselves, by the evidence of God's Word, whether we are in the faith, going to heaven or not. The moral standard of character is God's law. Do we meet its requirements? Are the Lord's people bringing their property, their time, their talents, and all their influence into the work for this time? Let us arouse. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" [Colossians 3:1]. (Letter 55, December 8, 1886)

REFLECTION: Every Christian has been given some gift or talent from God. It may not be preaching or teaching. It may be the gift of mercy or kindness. Whatever it is, praise God and use it to the best of your ability to glorify God.

August 25, 2020

8/25/2020

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF

        Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.--Philippians 2:12

    Well may the question be asked with earnest, anxious heart, Is envy cherished, is jealousy permitted to find a place in my heart? If so, Christ is not there, Do I love the law of God, is the love of Jesus Christ in my heart? If we love one another as Christ has loved us, then we are getting ready for the blessed heaven of peace and rest. There is no struggling there to be first, to have the supremacy; all will love their neighbor as themselves. Oh, that God would open the understanding and speak to the hearts of our churches by arousing the individual members....

    When Jesus ascended on high He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Some have entered the work with a human commission rather than the divine. They have educated themselves as debaters, and the churches under their care show the character of their work. They were not ready, they were not fitted for the work. Their hearts are not right with God. In short, they have a theory, but not true conversion and sanctification through the truth....

    Those who are at ease in Zion need to be aroused. Great is their accountability who bear the truth and yet feel no weight or burden for souls. Oh, for men and women professing the truth to arouse, to take on the yoke of Christ, to lift His burdens. There are wanted those who will not have merely a nominal interest, but a Christlike interest, unselfish--an intense ardor that will not flag under difficulties or cool because iniquity abounds. (Letter 55, December 8, 1886)

REFLECTION: God has given us the power of choice; it is ours to exercise. We cannot change our hearts, we cannot control our thoughts, our impulses, our affections. We cannot make ourselves pure, fit for God's service. But we can choose to serve God, we can give Him our will; then He will work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus our whole nature will be brought under the control of Christ. (The Ministry of Healing, 176)

August 24, 2020

8/24/2020

A LIVING MISSIONARY

        "Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you." And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.--Luke 8:39

    If Christ is my Saviour, my sacrifice, my atonement, then I shall never perish. Believing on Him, I have life forevermore. Oh, that all who believe the truth would believe in Jesus as their own Saviour. I do not mean that cheap faith unsupported by works, but that earnest, living, constant, abiding faith, that eats the flesh and drinks the blood of the Son of God. I want not only to be pardoned for the transgression of God's holy law, but I want to be lifted into the sunshine of God's countenance. Not simply to be admitted to heaven, but to have an abundant entrance.

    Are we so insensible as a peculiar people, a holy nation, to the inexpressible love that God has manifested for us? Salvation is not to be baptized, not to have our names upon the church books, not to preach the truth. But it is a living union with Jesus Christ, to be renewed in heart, doing the works of Christ in faith and labor of love, in patience, meekness, and hope.

    Every soul united to Christ will be a living missionary to all around him. He will labor for those near and those afar off. He will have no sectional feeling, no interest merely to build up one branch of the work over which he presides, and there let his zeal end. All will work with interest to make every branch strong. There will be no self-love, no selfish interest. The cause is one, the truth a great whole. (Letter 55, December 8, 1886)

REFLECTION: We are all called to be missionaries for Christ. We don't need to be a seasoned pastor or have a degree in theology. All we need is a relationship with Christ and a burden for souls. You can all start by telling others "what great things God has done for you." (Luke 8:39)

August 23, 2020

8/23/2020

DON’T BE OVERCOME

        To this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.--1 Timothy 4:10

    Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths. We must be divested of our self-righteousness and arrayed in the righteousness of Christ.

    The remnant that purify their souls by obeying the truth gather strength from the trying process, exhibiting the beauty of holiness amid the surrounding apostasy. All these, He says, "I have graven...upon the palms of My hands" [Isaiah 49:16]. They are held in everlasting, imperishable remembrance. We want faith now, living faith. We want to have a living testimony that shall cut to the heart of the sinner. There is too much sermonizing and too little ministering. We want the holy unction. We need the spirit and fervor of the truth. Many of the ministers are half paralyzed by their own defects of character. They need the converting power of God.

    That which God required of Adam before the fall was perfect obedience to His law. God requires now what He required of Adam, perfect obedience, righteousness without a flaw, without shortcoming in His sight. God help us to render to Him all His law requires. We cannot do this without that faith that brings Christ's righteousness into daily practice. (Letter 55, December 8, 2886)

REFLECTION: Satan leads many to believe that God will overlook their unfaithfulness in the minor affairs of life; but the Lord shows in His dealings with Jacob that He will in no wise sanction or tolerate evil. All who endeavor to excuse or conceal their sins, and permit them to remain upon the books of heaven, unconfessed and unforgiven, will be overcome by Satan. (The Great Controversy, 620)

August 22, 2020

8/22/2020

PRAYER NOT PRIDE

        Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.--Proverbs 16:18-19

    Let the sin of pride be put away, let all superfluities of dress be overcome, and repentance toward God be exercised for the highhanded robbery toward Him which has withheld money which should flow into the treasury to sustain the work of God in its mission fields. Let the work of reformation, of true conversion, be set before and urged upon the people. Let our works, our deportment, correspond with work for this time, that we may say, Follow me as I follow Christ. Let us humble our souls before God by humiliation, fasting and prayer, repentance of sin, and putting away.

    The voice of the true watchman needs now to be heard all along the line, "The morning cometh, and also the night" [Isaiah 21:12]. The trumpet must give a certain sound, for we are in the great day of the Lord's preparation. All the struggles to carry our appeals to the highest authorities in our land, however earnest and strong and eloquent may be the pleas in our favor, will not bring about that which we desire, unless the Lord works by His Holy Spirit in the hearts of those who claim to believe the truth.

    We may struggle as a mighty man in swimming against the current of Niagara, but we shall fail unless the Lord pleads on our behalf. God will be honored among His people. They must be pure, they must be divested of self, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The Lord will elevate the humblest soul that trusts in Him. He will unite His power with human effort, if that man will honor Him as did Daniel. But as a people we need the beauty of righteousness, holiness, and truth. The most harmonious theory will not save us. The God that ruled in Babylon is the same God that rules now. (Letter 55, December 8, 1886)

REFLECTION: Let a people boast themselves in their own wisdom, let them exalt self and indulge pride, and the result will surely follow. As surely as the sun shines by day, so surely does pride go before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Let a church become proud and boastful, and that church will be laid low. Let those in charge of any institution become presumptuous, taking to themselves the credit for the success that has come to them in certain lines, let them glory in their wisdom and their efficiency, and they will certainly be brought to humiliation. (Letter 114, May 23, 1903)