Ellen G. White Devotional

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Daily Devotional

August 3, 2016

Christ's Example Gives Power to Resist Temptation

It came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased." Luke 3:21, 22, NKJV.

Christ's professed followers may be strong in the Lord if they avail themselves of the provisions made for them through the merits of Jesus. God has not closed the heavens against the humble prayers of repenting, humble, believing souls. The humble, simple, earnest, persevering prayer of the faithful one will now penetrate heaven, as surely as did the prayer of Christ [when He was baptized]. Heaven opened to His prayer, and this shows us that we may be reconciled to God, and that communication is established between God and us through the righteousness of our Lord and Savior. Christ took upon Him humanity, and yet He was in close, intimate relationship with God. He linked humanity with His divine nature, making it possible for us also to become partakers of the divine nature, and thus escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Christ is our example in all things. In response to His prayer to His Father, heaven was opened, and the Spirit descended like a dove and abode upon Him. The Holy Spirit of God is to communicate with men and women and to abide in the hearts of the obedient and faithful. Light and strength will come to those who earnestly seek it in order that they may have wisdom to resist Satan, and to overcome in times of temptation. We are to overcome even as Christ overcame.

Jesus opened His public mission with fervent prayer, and His example makes manifest the fact that prayer is necessary in order to lead a successful Christian life. He was constantly in communion with His Father, and His life presents to us a perfect pattern which we are to imitate....

We are dependent upon God for success in living the Christian life, and Christ's example opens before us the path by which we may come to a never-failing source of strength, from which we may draw grace and power to resist the enemy and to come off victorious. - The Signs of the Times, July 24, 1893.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 9.

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Thought of the Day

August 3, 2016

If we abide in Christ, if the love of God dwells in the heart, our feelings, thoughts, and actions, will be in harmony with the will of God. - SC 61

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Monday, August 1, 2016

Devoción Matutina en español

August 1, 2016

Satanás nos invita a depender del yo

“Sabe Dios que el día que comáis de él, serán abiertos vuestros ojos, y seréis como Dios, sabiendo el bien y el mal”. Génesis 3:5.

Al escuchar al tentador, nuestros primeros padres perdieron su hermoso hogar edénico. Satanás percibió que Eva estaba dispuesta a escuchar sus insinuaciones y en esta actitud entrevió su disposición a desconfiar de la palabra de Dios...

Era la intención de Satanás lograr que la transgresión pareciera una bendición a los ojos de ellos y que en la prohibición de comer del fruto del árbol, Dios les estaba impidiendo alcanzar un gran bien. Si coméis, vuestros ojos serán abiertos, dijo, y seréis como dioses. Seréis iguales a Dios en conocimiento y poder...

¡Pero qué apertura fue aquélla! “Sabiendo el bien y el mal”. Alcanzaron conocimiento, pero ¿qué clase de conocimiento? La maldición del pecado era el conocimiento que lograron. Eva codició lo que Dios había prohibido. Manifestó de este modo su desconfianza en Dios y en la bondad divina y abrigó el deseo de actuar en forma independiente, y obrar según su mejor parecer. Eva le ofreció el fruto a Adán y se transformó en su tentadora. Sería una diosa. Se transformaría en su propio código legal. Así no reconocería restricción alguna. Pero aquello que aparentaba ser un pecadillo insignificante, la constituyó en una transgresora de la ley de Dios...

El Señor Jesús vino a este mundo y sufrió las tentaciones del mismo enemigo. Recorrió la misma senda en la que Adán tropezó, pero permaneció fiel. Resistió los embates del demonio y en beneficio de la humanidad entera se alzó como Conquistador. El universo celestial logró triunfar. Satanás fue a Cristo con sus falaces tentaciones a fin de inducirlo a cuestionar los planes y la ley de Dios y lograr que asumiera una posición independiente, pero todos sus intentos fracasaron. Cristo no entró en controversia con Satanás. Antes bien, confrontó al enemigo del Cielo con la Palabra de Dios, “Escrito está”.

“No sois vuestros”, “por precio fuisteis comprados”. Y qué precio pagó el Cielo por nosotros, ¡Cristo dio su vida para salvar al mundo de la muerte!... Todo aquel que se une a Cristo se apartará del mundo. No ingresará al mundo por su propia elección. Ni se vinculará con nada que lo ponga en el camino de la tentación. No será educado según los lineamientos mundanales. Por el contrario, preferirá acudir a la escuela de Cristo y aprender del gran Maestro que invita a todos diciendo: “Venid a mí todos los que estáis trabajados y cargados, y yo os haré descansar”.—Manuscrito 21, 1898.

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Daily Devotional

August 1, 2016

Satanic Miracles--I

There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Matt. 24:24.

The enemy is preparing to deceive the whole world by his miracle-working power. He will assume to personate the angels of light, to personate Jesus Christ. So far as his power extends, he will perform actual miracles. Says the Scripture: "He . . . deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do," not merely those which he pretends to do. Something more than mere impostures is brought to view in this scripture. But there is a limit beyond which Satan cannot go, and here he calls deception to his aid and counterfeits the work which he has not power actually to perform. In the last days he will appear in such a manner as to make men believe him to be Christ come the second time into the world. He will indeed transform himself into an angel of light. He will come personating Jesus Christ, working mighty miracles; and men will fall down and worship him as Jesus Christ. We shall be commanded to worship this being, whom the world will glorify as Christ. Just before us is "the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." Revelation 3:10. All whose faith is not firmly established upon the word of God will be deceived and overcome. Satan works "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness" to gain control of the children of men, and his deceptions will continually increase. But he can gain his object only as men voluntarily yield to his temptations. Those who are earnestly seeking a knowledge of the truth and are striving to purify their souls through obedience, thus doing what they can to prepare for the conflict, will find, in the God of truth, a sure defense. "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee" (verse 10), is the Savior's promise. He would sooner send every angel out of heaven to protect His people than leave one soul that trusts in Him to be overcome by Satan.

From Devotional: Maranatha, p. 207.

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Thought of the Day

August 1, 2016

When we feel that we need the presence of Christ at every step, Satan will have little opportunity to intrude his temptations. It is his studied effort to keep us away from our best and most sympathizing friend. We should make no one our confidant but Jesus. We can safely commune with Him of all that is in our hearts. Prayer, p. 8

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Thought of the Day

August 1, 2016

Desire the fullness of the grace of Christ. Let your heart be filled with an intense longing for His righteousness. - AA 566

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Daily Devotional

August 1, 2016

Jesus, Our Pattern, Depended on Prayer

Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear. Hebrews 5:7, NKJV.

Evening is drawing on as Jesus calls to His side three of His disciples, Peter, James, and John, and leads them across the fields, and far up a rugged path, to a lonely mountainside....

The light of the setting sun still lingers on the mountaintop, and gilds with its fading glory the path they are traveling. But soon the light dies out from hill as well as valley, the sun disappears behind the western horizon, and the solitary travelers are wrapped in the darkness of night....

Presently Christ tells them that they are now to go no farther. Stepping a little aside from them, the Man of Sorrows pours out His supplications with strong crying and tears. He prays for strength to endure the test in behalf of humanity. He must Himself gain a fresh hold on Omnipotence, for only thus can He contemplate the future. And He pours out His heart longings for His disciples, that in the hour of the power of darkness their faith may not fail....

At first the disciples unite their prayers with His in sincere devotion; but after a time they are overcome with weariness, and, even while trying to retain their interest in the scene, they fall asleep. Jesus has told them of His sufferings; He has taken them with Him that they might unite with Him in prayer; even now He is praying for them. The Savior has seen the gloom of His disciples, and has longed to lighten their grief by an assurance that their faith has not been in vain.... Now the burden of His prayer is that they may be given a manifestation of the glory He had with the Father before the world was, that His kingdom may be revealed to human eyes, and that His disciples may be strengthened to behold it. He pleads that they may witness a manifestation of His divinity that will comfort them in the hour of His supreme agony with the knowledge that He is of a surety the Son of God and that His shameful death is a part of the plan of redemption.

His prayer is heard. While He is bowed in lowliness upon the stony ground, suddenly the heavens open, the golden gates of the City of God are thrown wide, and holy radiance descends upon the mount, enshrouding the Savior's form. Divinity from within flashes through humanity, and meets the glory coming from above. Arising from His prostrate position, Christ stands in godlike majesty. The soul agony is gone. His countenance now shines "as the sun," and His garments are "white as the light." - The Desire of Ages, 419-421.