Ellen G. White Devotional

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Daily Devotional

January 3, 2017

Why Worship Is Due God

Hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. Ezekiel 20:20, NKJV.

In Revelation 14, human beings are called upon to worship the Creator; and the prophecy brings to view a class that, as the result of the threefold message, are keeping the commandments of God. One of these commandments points directly to God as the Creator. The fourth precept declares: "The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: ... for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:10, 11)....

"The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation is that it keeps ever present the true reason why worship is due to God" - because He is the Creator, and we are His creatures. "The Sabbath therefore lies at the very foundation of divine worship, for it teaches this great truth in the most impressive manner, and no other institution does this. The true ground of divine worship, not of that on the seventh day merely, but of all worship, is found in the distinction between the Creator and His creatures. This great fact can never become obsolete, and must never be forgotten." - J. N. Andrews, History of the Sabbath, chap. 27.

It was to keep this truth ever before the minds of people that God instituted the Sabbath in Eden; and so long as the fact that He is our Creator continues to be a reason why we should worship Him, so long the Sabbath will continue as its sign and memorial. Had the Sabbath been universally kept, the thoughts and affections of humans would have been led to the Creator as the object of reverence and worship, and there would never have been an idolater, an atheist, or an infidel.

The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God, "him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." It follows that the message which commands mortals to worship God and keep His commandments will especially call upon them to keep the fourth commandment. - The Great Controversy, 437, 438.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 160.

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Thought of the Day

January 3, 2017

Jesus is your loving Friend; He will take your hand and help you over every hard and trying place. - UL 276

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Monday, January 2, 2017

Devoción Matutina en español

January 2, 2017

Cuando Jesús intercede

Porque no entró Cristo en el santuario hecho de mano, figura del verdadero, sino en el cielo mismo para presentarse ahora por nosotros ante Dios. Hebreos 9:24.

Nuestro precioso Redentor está delante del Padre como nuestro intercesor. ... Los que quieran alcanzar la norma divina, escudriñen por sí mismos las Escrituras para que tengan un conocimiento de la vida de Cristo y la comprensión de su misión y obra. Contémplenlo como a su Abogado, que está dentro del velo, teniendo en su mano el incensario de oro, del cual asciende a Dios el santo incienso de los méritos de su justicia en favor de los que oran a él. Si ellos pudieran contemplarlo, experimentarían la seguridad de que tienen un Abogado poderoso e influyente en las cortes celestiales, y que su caso está ganado ante el trono de Dios.

Cuando confesáis vuestros pecados, cuando os arrepentís de vuestras iniquidades, Cristo toma vuestra culpabilidad sobre sí mismo y os imputa su propia justicia y poder. Para los contritos de espíritu, da el áureo aceite del amor y los ricos tesoros de su gracia. Entonces es cuando podéis ver que el sacrificio del yo ante Dios, mediante los méritos de Cristo, os hace de infinito valor, pues revestidos con el manto de la justicia de Cristo, os convertís en hijos e hijas de Dios. Los que se acercan al Padre, reconociendo el arco iris de la promesa, y piden perdón en el nombre de Jesús, recibirán lo que piden. Con la primera expresión de arrepentimiento, Cristo presenta la petición del humilde suplicante delante del trono como si fuera su propio deseo en favor del pecador. Dice: “Yo rogaré al Padre por vosotros”. Juan 16:26.

Jesús, nuestro precioso Salvador, no pudo vernos expuestos a las trampas fatales de Satanás y reprimirse de hacer un sacrificio infinito en nuestro favor. Se interpone entre Satanás y el alma tentada y dice: “‘Quítate de delante de mí, Satanás’. The Youth’s Instructor, 16 de enero de 1896.

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Daily Devotional

January 2, 2017

Preparation for What Lies Ahead

Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger. Zeph. 2:3.

Transgression has almost reached its limit. Confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near. God’s people should be preparing for what is to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.

The “time of trouble, such as never was,” is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not now possess and which many are too indolent to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand for himself before God. “Though Noah, Daniel, and Job” were in the land, “as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.” Ezekiel 14:20.

The last great conflict between truth and error is but the final struggle of the long-standing controversy concerning the law of God. Upon this battle we are now entering—a battle between the laws of men and the precepts of Jehovah, between the religion of the Bible and the religion of fable and tradition.

We should study the great waymarks that point out the times in which we are living. . We should now pray most earnestly that we may be prepared for the struggles of the great day of God’s preparation.

Those who place themselves under God’s control, to be led and guided by Him, will catch the steady tread of the events ordained by Him to take place. Inspired with the Spirit of Him who gave His life for the life of the world, they will no longer stand still in impotency, pointing to what they cannot do. Putting on the armor of heaven, they will go forth to the warfare, willing to do and dare for God, knowing that His omnipotence will supply their need.

From Devotional: Our Father Cares, p. 325.

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Thought of the Day

January 2, 2017

Christ's victory was as complete as had been the failure of Adam. So we may resist temptation, and force Satan to depart from us. Jesus gained the victory through submission and faith in God. Desire of Ages, p. 130.

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Daily Devotional

January 2, 2017

A Vision of the Sabbath Commandment

The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. Deuteronomy 5:14, NKJV.

Jesus stood by the ark, and as the saints' prayers came up to Him, the incense in the censer would smoke, and He would offer up their prayers with the smoke of the incense to His Father.

In the ark was the golden pot of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of stone, which folded together like a book. Jesus opened them, and I saw the ten commandments written on them with the finger of God. On one table were four, and on the other six. The four on the first table shone brighter than the other six. But the fourth, the Sabbath commandment, shone above them all; for the Sabbath was set apart to be kept in honor of God's holy name. The holy Sabbath looked glorious - a halo of glory was all around it....

And I saw that if God had changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day, He would have changed the writing of the Sabbath commandment, written on the tables of stone, which are now in the ark in the most holy place of the temple in heaven; and it would read thus: The first day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. But I saw that it read the same as when written on the tables of stone by the finger of God, and delivered to Moses on Sinai, "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God." I saw that the holy Sabbath is, and will be, the separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers; and that the Sabbath is the great question to unite the hearts of God's dear, waiting saints.

I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully. - Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 100, 101.

From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 159.

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Thought of the Day

January 2, 2017

Look to Jesus at all times and in all places, offering a silent prayer from a sincere heart that you may know how to do His will. - AH 214

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