MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
July 27, 2022
THE TERRIBLE AND FIERY, YET NECESSARY ORDEAL OF THE SIFTING (Part 1)
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues [official places of public worship and prayer]; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them.”
“God will arouse His people [because they are spiritually asleep]; if other [less trying and painful] means fail, HERESIES will come in among them, which will SIFT them, SEPARATING the chaff from the wheat. The Lord calls upon all who believe His word to AWAKEN out of sleep [see Rom. 13: 11-14]. Why?
“Precious light has come. APPROPRIATE FOR THIS TIME [described as the present, testing truth’]. It is Bible truth, showing the PERILS THAT ARE RIGHT UPON US. This light should lead us to:
1] a diligent study of the Scriptures [not ‘Googling’],
2] A MOST CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE POSITIONS WE HOLD.
“God would have ALL the bearings and positions of truth THOROUGHLY AND PERSEVERINGLY SEARCHED, WITH PRAYER AND FASTING. Believers are not to rest in SUPPOSITIONS AND ILL-DEFINED ideas of what constitutes truth. Their FAITH must be firmly founded upon the Word of God [‘It is written;’ ‘Thus saith the Lord’ only], so that WHEN THE TESTING TIME SHALL COME, and they are brought before COUNCILS (of church and state) to answer for their faith, they may be able to give a reason for the hope that is in them with meekness and fear’ [not with the self-confident debater’s spirit, stance, looks, tone of voice, and choice of words].” – E. G. White, Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 40 (1915).
How many professed people of God today are ‘praying,’ ‘doing Bible study’ but not accompanied with FASTING. Instead, they “go about doing their own pleasure and speaking their own words,” thus polluting the holy hours of the Sabbath day!
The “deep things of God” can only “be spiritually discerned,” and cannot be comprehended, much less appreciated and treasured! Jesus, our Savior and Example, and all His faithful followers from the beginning, diligently “searched the Scriptures, while praying and fasting [not only in food and drink but in any and all forms of self-pleasing and carnal indulgences].
Hence they were braced and equipped, intellectually and spiritually, to meet Satan and his agents with their guile, vexations, and false accusations, with the simple, childlike faith of the saints and the unwavering and uncompromising courage of the martyrs, daily, one victorious day at a time!
Bless all. Until next MWM, God willing, NMF.