Godsloveandlaw's Blog

“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.” (II Pet. 1:19.)

“And while they [the foolish virgins] went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut . . . Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” (Matt. 25:10, 13.) 

“But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” (I Pet. 4:7.) 

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he day devour.” (I Pet. 5:8.) 

“Those who are watching for the Lord, are purifying their souls by obedience to the truth.” “The Desire of Ages,” p. 634.

The Master commanded us to “watch and pray.” We may have the theory of the message so perfect that our hearers are made enthusiastic by our large knowledge of the Scriptures, but does that indicate that we are watching “in all things,” enduring “afflictions,” doing “the work of an evangelist,” and making “full proof” of our “ministry” as the apostle Paul exhorts us to do (see II Tim. 4:5): or praying, as the Master gave command for us to do? The wisest man who ever lived, wrote, by Inspiration, that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” 

To know our spiritual standing, it is well for us to consider some of the things which the Master desires us to watch for. As we are cognizant of the fact that Satan is determined to have us as his victims, then we must heed the first instruction given in the sermon on the mount—that we “be not deceived.” Therefore, our first duty is to make as thorough a study, by the use of both the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, of the devices and points of attack which he will use in his warfare to defeat us, as he makes in his study of our weaknesses as points of vantage from which to assail us.

To obey is better than to sacrifice. Obedience to God’s law and principles, both in our spiritual and moral lives, is the thermometer which records whether our spiritual temperature is up or down, and which thus affords Satan the most accurate gauge by which to determine his onslaughts. 

“We need never expect that when the Lord has light for His people, Satan will stand calmly by, and make no effort to prevent them from receiving it. He will work upon minds to excite distrust and jealousy and unbelief. Let us beware that we do not refuse the light God sends, because it does not come in a way to please us. Let not God’s blessing be turned away from us because we know not the time of our visitation.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. 5, p. 728. 

“We are taught in God’s Word that this is the time, above all others, when we may look for light from heaven. It is now that we are to expect a refreshing from the presence of the Lord. We should watch for the moving of God’s providence as the army of Israel watched for ‘the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees,’—the appointed signal that Heaven would work for them.”—Testimonies for the Church.” Vol 5 P. 728 

It behooves us, then, to study to know what is truth, what are God’s principles, what are the warnings and instructions given to His people at this time. In daily meditation of these, we shall be equipped to go forward in the Christian warfare, prepared for the darts of the evil one. However, we shall only be able to resist the enemy’s arrows by having our whole attention absorbed in being determined to serve God, and thus we shall know that we are walking in the light “even as He is in the light.” Then when specific calls come to us, we shall recognize in them the voice of our master, or, the voice of the usurper. 

With such a clear understanding, we shall get the vision of how to be like the little child of whom said Jesus, upon placing him in the midst of the company, “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3.)

If our faith in God is as implicit as the faith of a child, we will not be of a halting, doubting spirit. And thus when we receive orders to “Go forward,” regardless of whether or not the way looks clear to us, we will not hold back and wait to see if it is really the way we are to follow, or to see first if the message prospers. 

Just how foolish is such a spirit, we might, in one way, concretely demonstrate, by the following example. Someone who is a stranger to us, and who lives at a distance, for some reason desires that we pray and fast for him with a certain purpose or object in view. We know nothing of the circumstances surrounding his life. However, he requests that we fast and pray. Is it now for us to question and doubt the call because we do not know his Christian status, or is it better to pray for him regardless of our ignorance of his circumstances?

Other problems of major or minor importance continually confront us in like manner, but are we so closely following our Saviour that He can trust us with wisdom from heaven so that we shall at all times give the answer of a man who has the true understanding which comes only from letting God lead? If we are not able to give such an answer, then may Heaven help us to be determined to follow on to know the Lord better each day so that He can class us as the “wise and prudent,” though we be “as a little child.”

We are happy for the call which God has given to us. But are we watching for the many subtle devices, and snares of the enemy in his efforts to cheat us of eternal life, by causing us to lose sight of Jesus just long enough at this most critical hour; when the sealing message is determining what our reward shall be, so as to cause our loyalty to change to disloyalty and our faithfulness to unfaithfulness to that call? Are we holding fast by obedience to God’s commands, as did faithful Abraham, so that no man shall take our crown? Are we lovers of our own pleasures so much more than the lovers of God that we will not obey? Is this watching “unto prayer” “as they that must give account?”

Though we do not know the exact hour in which Christ shall “rise up from His mediatorial work . . . and shall clothe Himself with the garments of vengeance,” yet we do know that He will do so while truth is being revealed (5T 690). Therefore, we must, like “the good man of the house,” be ready for Him, instead of being surprised, when He comes to protect His faithful ones “until the indignation be overpast.” (Isa. 26:20.) 

Paul reminds us that we “are not in darkness, that that day should overtake” us “as a thief.” Also that “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” (1 Thess. 5:4-6.) 

By the Prophet, Hosea, God reveals the closeness of earth to heaven by the fact that the earth hears “the corn, and the wine, and the oil.” Therefore, as this is the condition upon which our close relationship with Christ exists, and Heaven with us, ought we not now as never before make it our great duty to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” while probationary time yet lingers? But it may be argued that the kingdom of God refers to the new earth state, and that we shall be changed from our sinful to the ‘sinless state in the twinkling of an eye. True, but what saith God by His servant? 

“Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our “characters have one spot, or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. Then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost.”

“Now is the time to prepare. The seal of God will never be placed upon the forehead of an impure man or woman. It will never be placed upon the forehead of the ambitious, world-loving man or woman. It will never be placed upon the forehead of men or women of false tongues or deceitful hearts. All who receive the seal must be without spot before God—candidates for Heaven.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. 5, pp. 214, 216.