Ellen G. White Devotional

Friday, September 2, 2016

Daily Devotional

September 2, 2016

Prayer Helps Guide to Truth

If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. John 7:17, NKJV.

Before Jesus went forth to His final conflict with the powers of darkness, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and prayed for His disciples....

The burden of Jesus' request was that those who believed on Him might be kept from the evil of the world, and sanctified through the truth. He does not leave us to vague surmising as to what the truth is, but adds, "Thy word is truth." The Word of God is the means by which our sanctification is to be accomplished.

It is of the greatest importance, then, that we acquaint ourselves with the sacred instruction of the Bible. It is as necessary for us to understand the words of life as it was for the early disciples to be informed concerning the plan of salvation. We shall be inexcusable if, through our own negligence, we are ignorant of the claims of God's Word. God has given us His Word, the revelation of His will, and has promised the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, to guide them into all truth; and every soul who honestly desires to do the will of God shall know of the doctrine....

Since the time when the Son of God breasted the haughty prejudices and unbelief of humankind, there has been no change in the attitude of the world toward the religion of Jesus. The servants of Christ must meet the same spirit of opposition and reproach, and must go "without the camp, bearing his reproach." ...

His [Jesus'] teaching was plain, clear, and comprehensive. The practical truths He uttered had a convincing power, and arrested the attention of the people. Multitudes lingered at His side, marveling at His wisdom. His manner corresponded with the great truths He proclaimed. There was no apology, no hesitancy, not the shadow of a doubt or uncertainty that it might be other than He declared. He spoke of the earthly and the heavenly, of the human and the divine, with positive authority; and the people "were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power." ...

It is a matter of the highest importance and interest to us that we understand what the truth is, and our petitions should go forth with the intense earnestness that we may be guided into all truth. - The Review and Herald, February 7, 1888.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 38.

Click here to delete or update your subscription.

Recommend this newsletter to others. Click here to invite them!

Tell others on Facebook about this service!

Thought of the Day

September 2, 2016

Human wisdom, aside from God, will prove itself to be foolishness, and will bring confusion and perplexity. - DG 144

Click here to delete or update your subscription.

Recommend this newsletter to others. Click here to invite them!

Tell others on Facebook about this service!

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Devoción Matutina en español

September 1, 2016

Cuidando el templo del cuerpo

Te alabaré; porque formidables, maravillosas son tus obras; estoy maravillado, y mi alma lo sabe muy bien. Salmos 139:14.

Dios nos ha dado facultades mentales y físicas que es el deber de todos conservar en las mejores condiciones. Si algunos debilitan sus facultades mediante la indulgencia del apetito, disminuyen su capacidad de influencia haciéndose imperfectos. Solamente mediante la costosa ofrenda hecha en la cruz del Calvario podemos comprender el valor del alma humana. Somos colocados en terreno ventajoso mediante el poder redentor de Jesucristo para tener libertad del yugo del pecado que fue obrado por la caída de Adán.—Carta 90, 1898.

Debemos aprovechar al máximo las capacidades y talentos que Dios nos ha prestado. Todos los que están debilitando y destruyendo las facultades físicas, mentales y morales, con una alimentación y una manera de vestir pecaminosa y la violación de las leyes de la salud en todo respecto, deberán rendir cuenta a Dios por todo el bien que podrían haber hecho si hubiesen observado las leyes de la salud en vez de practicar la complacencia propia y de ser descuidados e irreflexivos en cuanto a la morada en que viven... Dios dice: “Vosotros no sois vuestros”. Sois propiedad de Dios. Vuestro rescate costó la vida del Hijo de Dios ... Todos deben considerar la magnitud del sacrificio hecho. La Majestad del cielo, el Rey de gloria quiere que hombres y mujeres le den su servicio de todo corazón.

Hay un significado muy profundo en las palabras del apóstol Pablo: “Así que, hermanos, os ruego por las misericordias de Dios, que presentéis vuestros cuerpos en sacrificio vivo, santo, agradable a Dios, que es vuestro culto racional. No os conforméis a este siglo, sino transformaos por medio de la renovación de vuestro entendimiento, para que comprobéis cuál sea la buena voluntad de Dios, agradable y perfecta”. Romanos 12:1, 2... Nuestro sacrificio debe ser santo y sin mancha. Este es el servicio racional de cada uno. Somos hechura de Dios, el edificio de Dios.—Ibid.

Click here to delete or update your subscription.

Recommend this newsletter to others. Click here to invite them!

Tell others on Facebook about this service!

Daily Devotional

September 1, 2016

A Comforter Like Christ

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. John 16:7.

The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour.

With the consecrated worker for God, in whatever place he may be, the Holy Spirit abides. The words spoken to the disciples are spoken also to us. The Comforter is ours as well as theirs.

There is no comforter like Christ, so tender and so true. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. His Spirit speaks to the heart. Circumstances may separate us from our friends; the broad, restless ocean may roll between us and them. Though their sincere friendship may still exist, they may be unable to demonstrate it. . . . But no circumstances, no distance, can separate us from the heavenly Comforter. Wherever we are, wherever we may go, He is always there, one given in Christ’s place, to act in His stead. He is always at our right hand, to speak soothing, gentle words; to support, sustain, uphold, and cheer. The influence of the Holy Spirit is the life of Christ in the soul. This Spirit works in and through every one who receives Christ. Those who know the indwelling of this Spirit reveal its fruit—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.

The Holy Spirit ever abides with him who is seeking for perfection of Christian character. The Holy Spirit furnishes the pure motive, the living, active principle, that sustains striving, wrestling, believing souls in every emergency and under every temptation. The Holy Spirit sustains the believer amid the world’s hatred, amid the unfriendliness of relatives, amid disappointment, amid the realization of imperfection, and amid the mistakes of life. Depending upon the matchless purity and perfection of Christ, the victory is sure to him who looks unto the Author and Finisher of our faith. . . . He has borne our sins, in order that through Him we might have moral excellence, and attain unto the perfection of Christian character.

From Devotional: Our Father Cares, pp. 210, 211.

Click here to delete or update your subscription.

Recommend this newsletter to others. Click here to invite them!

Tell others on Facebook about this service!

Thought of the Day

September 1, 2016

Those who have a humble, trusting, contrite heart, God accepts, and hears their prayer; and when God helps, all obstacles will be overcome. Prayer, p. 33.

Click here to delete or update your subscription.

Recommend this newsletter to others. Click here to invite them!

Tell others on Facebook about this service!

Thought of the Day

September 1, 2016

Selfish motives lead to self-indulgence, and animal appetites and passions bear sway, and dominate over mind and soul. - ST July 29, 1889

Click here to delete or update your subscription.

Recommend this newsletter to others. Click here to invite them!

Tell others on Facebook about this service!

Daily Devotional

September 1, 2016

Pray in Humbleness of Heart

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26, NKJV.

Prayer is acceptable to God only when offered in humility and contrition and in the name of Christ. He who hears and answers prayer knows those who pray in humbleness of heart. The true Christians ask for nothing except in the name of Christ, and they expect nothing except through His mediation. They desire that Christ shall have the glory of presenting their prayers to the Father, and they are willing to receive the blessing from God through Christ.

The Spirit of God has much to do with acceptable prayer. He softens the heart; He enlightens the mind, enabling it to discern its own wants; He quickens our desires, causing us to hunger and thirst after righteousness; He intercedes in behalf of the sincere suppliant....

Human beings must draw nigh to God, realizing that they must have the help that God alone can give. It is the glory of God to be known as the hearer of prayer because the human suppliant believes that He will hear and answer....

The prayer of faith is the key that unlocks the treasury of heaven. As we commit our souls to God, let us remember that He holds Himself responsible to hear and answer our supplications. He invites us to come to Him, and He bestows on us His best and choicest gifts - gifts that will supply our great need. He loves to help us. Let us trust in His wisdom and His power. Oh, what faith we should have! Oh, what peace and comfort we should enjoy! Open your heart to the Spirit of God. Then the Lord will work through you and bless your labors. - Manuscript Releases 8:195, 196.

Shall we not humble ourselves before God in behalf of those who apparently have little spiritual life? Shall we not have appointed seasons of prayer for them? Shall we not pray every day for those who seem to be dead in trespasses and sins? As we plead with God to break the hearts of stone, our own hearts will become more sensitive. We shall be quicker to see our own sin. - Manuscript Releases 8:197.