Author Topic: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"  (Read 28101 times)

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Joan

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #20 on: August 24, 2001, 04:48:00 AM »

"The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place." 2SM 380 (1886).

*Would someone interpret this above quote for me, please ? Was E.White referring to the General Conference of SDA's as an organisation or was she referring to the true remnant  body of Christ ?

".... so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses." -TI- The Desire of Ages -CN- 73 -CT- Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled .

This is the most beautiful way of describing unity with Jesus that I have as of yet read. It  pictures what many of our believer brethern are indeed living out as a blessing to God and their fellowman. I have been the recipient of the will of God for me because a believer was faithful in being obedient to the wee task that God laid on their heart to get done. I thank the Lord for these ones who were obedient and thus I was either helped in my spiritual coming along or in a material way.

When this level of relationship to Jesus is reached and lived, that one person's thought gets so singleminded to accomplish the tasks before him, that it is oft in retrospect only that he can tell you how energies of the Heavenlies carried him through the assignment though not knowing concretely he was being led of God. To have it as your own nature to do the will of God is the greatest blessing of soul health there is.

Joan


Richard Myers

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #21 on: July 15, 2003, 04:10:00 PM »
Joan, sorry I missed your question. I will try and answer it in the Laodicea Forum as best I can.

We just finished recording this chapter again. It is most important. There is much in it. The recording time is one hour.

Of all the chapters in the book, this is the one that I have most recommended. All have trials, but as Christians we have measured trials. Each day the Lord will measure out our trial. He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. In this chapter we find the explanation of why He does so. It is most comforting to understand there is a reason and that God is at our right hand.

Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

JimB

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #22 on: April 02, 2016, 05:17:42 AM »
As yet the disciples were unacquainted with the Saviour's unlimited resources and power. He said to them, "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name." John 16:24. He explained that the secret of their success would be in asking for strength and grace in His name. He would be present before the Father to make request for them. The prayer of the humble suppliant He presents as His own desire in that soul's behalf. Every sincere prayer is heard in heaven. It may not be fluently expressed; but if the heart is in it, it will ascend to the sanctuary where Jesus ministers, and He will present it to the Father without one awkward, stammering word, beautiful and fragrant with the incense of His own perfection. 
     The path of sincerity and integrity is not a path free from obstruction, but in every difficulty we are to see a call to prayer.

Another chapter with so much in it, it's hard to grab just one or two thoughts. Our path is not a path of leisure and free of difficulties but a humble prayer can and will smooth out the hard places.

Here is another encouraging thought that I couldn't leave out.

     The Lord is disappointed when His people place a low estimate upon themselves. He desires His chosen heritage to value themselves according to the price He has placed upon them. God wanted them, else He would not have sent His Son on such an expensive errand to redeem them. He has a use for them, and He is well pleased when they make the very highest demands upon Him, that they may glorify His name. They may expect large things if they have faith in His promises.

She goes after this to explain what it means to pray in Christ's name. That shouldn't be left out either but I don't wish to make this a lengthy post.

By communion with God in nature, the mind is uplifted, and the heart finds rest.  {DA 291.1}

Richard Myers

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #23 on: April 02, 2016, 09:06:38 PM »
Yes, another chapter with so much in it!   :)

One of my favorites is this:

 The soul dead in trespasses and sins receives life through connection with Christ. By faith in Him as a personal Saviour the union is formed. The sinner unites his weakness to Christ's strength, his emptiness to Christ's fullness, his frailty to Christ's enduring might. Then he has the mind of Christ. The humanity of Christ has touched our humanity, and our humanity has touched divinity. Thus through the agency of the Holy Spirit man becomes a partaker of the divine nature. He is accepted in the Beloved.
     This union with Christ, once formed, must be maintained. Christ said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me." This is no casual touch, no off-and-on connection. The branch becomes a part of the living vine. The communication of life, strength, and fruitfulness from the root to the branches is unobstructed and constant. Separated from the vine, the branch cannot live. No more, said Jesus, can you live apart from Me. The life you have received from Me can be preserved only by continual communion. Without Me you cannot overcome one sin, or resist one temptation. 
     "Abide in Me, and I in you." Abiding in Christ means a constant receiving of His Spirit, a life of unreserved surrender to His service. The channel of communication must be open continually between man and his God. As the vine branch constantly draws the sap from the living vine, so are we to cling to Jesus, and receive from Him by faith the strength and perfection of His own character.   


I tried to shorten this, but I cannot do any more. This is too important.

The life of the vine will be manifest in fragrant fruit on the branches. "He that abideth in Me," said Jesus, "and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing." When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing. 


The following is what I have shared almost more than any statement from this book. Many suffer great trials while living for Christ. The following helped me understand why:

  "And every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth [pruneth] it, that it may bring forth more fruit." From the chosen twelve who had followed Jesus, one as a withered branch was about to be taken away; the rest were to pass under the pruning knife of bitter trial. Jesus with solemn tenderness explained the purpose of the husbandman. The pruning will cause pain, but it is the Father who applies the knife. He works with no wanton hand or indifferent heart. There are branches trailing upon the ground; these must be cut loose from the earthly supports to which their tendrils are fastening. They are to reach heavenward, and find their support in God. The excessive foliage that draws away the life current from the fruit must be pruned off. The overgrowth must be cut out, to give room for the healing beams of the Sun of Righteousness. The husbandman prunes away the harmful growth, that the fruit may be richer and more abundant.   


Amen!  It is the Father's hand who holds the knife. It is for our good and His glory. We are to be His witnesses. So, even though we manifest all of the fruits of His Spirit, we can produce a more abundant crop. Jesus was always obedient, He always manifested all of the fruits of the Spirit. But, He learned obedience through the things He suffered. The fruit in His life grew more abundant. So it is with all who will abide in Christ.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Richard Myers

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #24 on: June 30, 2016, 07:10:37 AM »
This is truly a wonderful chapter full of important instruction. It is hard to narrow things down when so much is so very important. But, in a Laodicean church, where many believe they have life when they do not, I think it important to understand God has given a way to know our condition before Him. Are we in a converted state, or are we in a lost state? How are we to know? Jesus told Nicodemus how to know, and He told Him that Moses had lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, in hopes he would understand how to be converted. Jesus told Nicodemus "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3:6,7. That ought to be enough for us to understand we need to be born again of the Spirit.

But, some who may understand the need to have this experience, may not understand it necessary to maintain this experience. That is, we must be filled with the Spirit continually to continually have eternal life. "If we have not His Spirit, we are none of His." Romans 8:9 Do we find this in our reading today? Yes, we find something very helpful that we might measure our experience, that we might know if we are presently born of the Spirit of God. Are we fully surrendered to Jesus? Are we separated from Him or reconciled to Him? How can we know?

Jesus says:

   "Abide in Me, and I in you." Abiding in Christ means a constant receiving of His Spirit, a life of unreserved surrender to His service. The channel of communication must be open continually between man and his God. As the vine branch constantly draws the sap from the living vine, so are we to cling to Jesus, and receive from Him by faith the strength and perfection of His own character. 
     The root sends its nourishment through the branch to the outermost twig. So Christ communicates the current of spiritual strength to every believer. So long as the soul is united to Christ, there is no danger that it will wither or decay.  {DA 676.3} 
     The life of the vine will be manifest in fragrant fruit on the branches. "He that abideth in Me," said Jesus, "and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing." When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing.  pg 676. 


Amen!! We are to cling to Jesus, and receive from Him by faith the strength and perfection of His own character. This is what it means to have the righteousness of Christ imparted to the repentant sinner. We are to reflect His perfection of character.....when we are truly converted, not just at the end of time.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Pastor Sean Brizendine

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #25 on: June 30, 2016, 07:34:36 AM »
Amen, Richard!

May we continually abide in Him! This chapter has one of my favorite statements in all of the Spirit of Prophecy, and you already quoted it! But it is worth repeating:

"The life of the vine will be manifest in fragrant fruit on the branches. "He that abideth in Me," said Jesus, "and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing." When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing." {DA 676.4} 

I love how victorious our life in Christ is when we are continually surrendered and abiding in Him by the Holy Spirit! There is ongoing victory in Jesus for those who are truly converted!

"Christ rejoiced that He could do more for His followers than they could ask or think. He spoke with assurance, knowing that an almighty decree had been given before the world was made. He knew that truth, armed with the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, would conquer in the contest with evil; and that the bloodstained banner would wave triumphantly over His followers. He knew that the life of His trusting disciples would be like His, a series of uninterrupted victories, not seen to be such here, but recognized as such in the great hereafter." {DA 679.2}

Live a life of victory in Jesus, and trust His power to keep you from falling.

May we continually abide in Him! Christ is able to give us His perfection of character, not just when He returns, but today to the soul who surrenders completely to Jesus! We have no power apart from Christ, but in Christ all things are possible!
"When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing." {The Desire of Ages, 676.4}

JimB

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #26 on: September 25, 2016, 06:33:59 AM »
There is just so much in this chapter. Especially in the explanation of the vine and how to become connected and stay connected. However what I'm going to point out something a little different. This caught my eye this morning.

The Lord is disappointed when His people place a low estimate upon themselves. He desires His chosen heritage to value themselves according to the price He has placed upon them. God wanted them, else He would not have sent His Son on such an expensive errand to redeem them. He has a use for them, and He is well pleased when they make the very highest demands upon Him, that they may glorify His name. They may expect large things if they have faith in His promises.

One of the ploys of the devil is get you to focus on your past before Christ with all it's shame and folly. Or maybe the devil points it out as one is seriously considering a full surrender. If this is you or someone you know maybe this paragraph will be an encouragement. There is a lot of talk in the world today about self-esteem that I don't believe a Christian should believe but there is something called self-worth that one can have without being self centered.

You and I are worth something to Christ otherwise, just as the paragraph above says, Christ would have not come on such an expensive journey to redeem His separated people. I pray everyone reading understands what they are truly worth to Christ. What love He bestowed to demonstrate His love towards you!

By communion with God in nature, the mind is uplifted, and the heart finds rest.  {DA 291.1}

Richard Myers

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #27 on: September 25, 2016, 07:08:39 AM »
Amen, Jim!  God loves us and would have allowed His Son to suffer and die just for you or any one of us!!!

It is that love that when allowed into the heart transforms a sinner into a saint. The greatest miracle God can perform.

     "Abide in Me, and I in you." Abiding in Christ means a constant receiving of His Spirit, a life of unreserved surrender to His service. The channel of communication must be open continually between man and his God. As the vine branch constantly draws the sap from the living vine, so are we to cling to Jesus, and receive from Him by faith the strength and perfection of His own character.
     The root sends its nourishment through the branch to the outermost twig. So Christ communicates the current of spiritual strength to every believer. So long as the soul is united to Christ, there is no danger that it will wither or decay.   
     The life of the vine will be manifest in fragrant fruit on the branches. "He that abideth in Me," said Jesus, "and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing." When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing.   


How can we abide in Christ and have Him abide through the Spirit in us?  We learn of Him, we eat His flesh and drink His blood. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. He is the Manna which came down from heaven. If we will spend a thoughtful hour a day contemplating this great love, we shall become like Him in character. It is an intellectual and a spiritual truth that by beholding we become changed (2 Cor. 3:18).
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Pastor Sean Brizendine

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #28 on: September 25, 2016, 07:12:29 AM »
Amen, Jim! Amen Richard! What value God places upon us through the value of the sacrifice paid to redeem us! I am so thankful for how the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us with all the fruits of the Spirit so that not one is missing!

The life of the vine will be manifest in fragrant fruit on the branches. “He that abideth in Me,” said Jesus, “and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing. – {DA 676.4}

Such as experience is only possible by beholding the loveliness of Jesus, surrendering constantly, and abiding! We need Jesus constantly!
"When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing." {The Desire of Ages, 676.4}

Pastor Sean Brizendine

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #29 on: December 21, 2016, 07:21:27 AM »
I love, love, love this chapter! It is my second favorite in the book after chapter 7, "As a Child," as it is ABUNDANTLY FULL of promises for us in Christ by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! I could post nearly every paragraph, but here is one that is especially encouraging in light of trials we are facing in character building each day:

"And every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth [pruneth] it, that it may bring forth more fruit." From the chosen twelve who had followed Jesus, one as a withered branch was about to be taken away; the rest were to pass under the pruning knife of bitter trial. Jesus with solemn tenderness explained the purpose of the husbandman. The pruning will cause pain, but it is the Father who applies the knife. He works with no wanton hand or indifferent heart. There are branches trailing upon the ground; these must be cut loose from the earthly supports to which their tendrils are fastening. They are to reach heavenward, and find their support in God. The excessive foliage that draws away the life current from the fruit must be pruned off. The overgrowth must be cut out, to give room for the healing beams of the Sun of Righteousness. The husbandman prunes away the harmful growth, that the fruit may be richer and more abundant.

If we remember that the one who does the pruning is our Father in heaven, who loves us with an everlasting love, let us learn to accept the trial as what is best for us, and for God to be able to purify, simplify, and mold our lives to be more like Jesus! Hallelujah!

I also cannot help but post the statement that has transformed my life and ministry as a pastor:

The life of the vine will be manifest in fragrant fruit on the branches. "He that abideth in Me," said Jesus, "and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing." When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing.


How has this changed my life and ministry? Because it has shown me what is the biblical evidence of true conversion:

Galatians 5
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.


And recently in giving Bible studies with a man who wants to be baptized and is bearing the fruits of the Spirit more fully as He abides in Christ, we have also been encouraged that there are these fruit found in Ephesians 5:9:

"For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth."


He wrote me a card that had all eleven fruit of the Spirit in it, and it helped me to remember that as long as we present to the soul his or her continual need of Jesus, we point them to their need to behold Him in His loveliness in that "thoughtful hour," and we help them to experience the love of God in our own lives toward them (as they see the fruits of the Spirit without one missing in us), then how can there not be fruit? True fruit is a life transformed--and this is the GREATEST MIRACLE God can perform! Our part is to behold and allow God to do it in us as we co-labor with Him! He is faithful!

An excellent illustration of the fruit of the Spirit is the orange. I grew up in California, and I love oranges to this day. But each orange is like a fruit with "sections" of fruit inside. But if an orange has missing sections, it is an incomplete orange--it is not perfect. We do not have the Holy Spirit abiding in us unless all the fruit of the Spirit are manifest in our lives--and not one will be missing! Thankfully, most oranges have nine or eleven sections--just the biblical number of the fruit of the Spirit when you add up the different traits of character revealed in Galatians and Ephesians! Isn't God amazing! He created the orange to witness the truth of this spiritual mystery! Praise God for such amazing love by His Spirit producing in us the evidence of the divine nature!
"When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing." {The Desire of Ages, 676.4}

Richard Myers

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #30 on: December 21, 2016, 08:20:49 AM »
Amen!! What truth! What a chapter! I have come forth prepared for battle, to meet the conflict through the power of an indwelling Savior!!

As I read this morning, I was saddened that so very many fail to understand the simple truths put forth in Scripture regarding the power of grace to transform the life. And, my mind was led to the current Sabbath School lesson where it is revealed the teachers in our day are no different from the teachers Christ had to contend with in His day. The lessons in the Book of Job are not comprehended. The sufferings of Job are not seen to be for the glory of God, even though throughout the Bible we are told that in our suffering, the love of God, His glory is revealed.

In today's reading Pastor Sean has highlighted the truth that the world needs to know, God is in absolute control in this world. Bad things do happen to "good" people. But, there is a reason for it. Seventh-day Adventists have been given the answer that so many seek. Yet, when given opportunity to communicate it to the church and the world in the study of Job's great trial, we miss the mark so very much.

Here is the truth:

     "If a man abide not in Me," said Christ, "he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."
     "And every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth [pruneth] it, that it may bring forth more fruit." From the chosen twelve who had followed Jesus, one as a withered branch was about to be taken away; the rest were to pass under the pruning knife of bitter trial. Jesus with solemn tenderness explained the purpose of the husbandman. The pruning will cause pain, but it is the Father who applies the knife. He works with no wanton hand or indifferent heart. There are branches trailing upon the ground; these must be cut loose from the earthly supports to which their tendrils are fastening. They are to reach heavenward, and find their support in God. The excessive foliage that draws away the life current from the fruit must be pruned off. The overgrowth must be cut out, to give room for the healing beams of the Sun of Righteousness. The husbandman prunes away the harmful growth, that the fruit may be richer and more abundant.
     "Herein is My Father glorified," said Jesus, "that ye bear much fruit." God desires to manifest through you the holiness, the benevolence, the compassion, of His own character. Yet the Saviour does not bid the disciples labor to bear fruit. He tells them to abide in Him. "If ye abide in Me," He says, "and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." It is through the word that Christ abides in His followers. This is the same vital union that is represented by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. The words of Christ are spirit and life. Receiving them, you receive the life of the Vine. You live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4. The life of Christ in you produces the same fruits as in Him. Living in Christ, adhering to Christ, supported by Christ, drawing nourishment from Christ, you bear fruit after the similitude of Christ.


If one does not believe this, then how can he understand why God allowed Job to suffer, he cannot. If one does not believe Job was perfect in moral character then he has not spiritual discernment and will not see Job's fall from grace. But, it is God's desire that we understand our continual need of Jesus in order to resist the smallest temptation. And, that we also understand that when we are connected with Christ by having surrendered all to Him, He then lives in us through the Spirit. Then, having the Spirit in the heart, it is cleansed from all sin and the repentant sinner manifests every one of the fruits of His Spirit, not one is missing.

True conversion is the greatest miracle God can perform. But, He cannot work this miracle by Himself. It is impossible. For He leaves man with free will. It requires man's cooperation. Man must learn of Him who gave all that we might live. We must drink His blood and eat His flesh if we are to be transformed into His image (character). A simple truth, but one that needs be learned.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Pastor Sean Brizendine

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #31 on: March 18, 2017, 05:07:29 PM »
I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS AMAZING CHAPTER!!!

There are so so so many gems in this chapter, but I am so encouraged that all of these promises in this chapter will be fulfilled in our lives as we abide in Christ, including this AMAZING PROMISE:

    "And greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father." By this Christ did not mean that the disciples' work would be of a more exalted character than His, but that it would have greater extent. He did not refer merely to miracle working, but to all that would take place under the working of the Holy Spirit. 

What a promise! Let us behold the loveliness of Jesus and be changed from glory to glory, from character to character!
"When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing." {The Desire of Ages, 676.4}

Richard Myers

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #32 on: March 18, 2017, 10:12:39 PM »
Amen!! And where do we start?

The work of the Holy Spirit?  The power of grace? The promise of love, joy, and peace in this life? What it means to be "born again" as Jesus instructed Nicodemus? And, what about the pain experienced by Job, why did Jesus allow it?

All of this is answered in this most wonderful chapter!! And, a lesson for our pastors that have been burying so many alive? Why? The prophet said in her day that it was rare to find one who had truly experienced the new birth. This she said was why there were so many perplexities in the church. How can a pastor know if a baptismal candidate is truly converted? Many don't think they can "judge" this, even though Jesus said that there would be ravening wolves coming into the church dressed in sheep's clothing. He said we could tell them. How?

Can we know if we are in a Laodicean condition? Can we know if we were buried alive? God knew we needed to know the answer to these questions, and inspired the author to reveal the answer in this chapter.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Pastor Sean Brizendine

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #33 on: June 13, 2017, 04:54:01 AM »
We need Jesus abiding in us to do any good thing!

   This union with Christ, once formed, must be maintained. Christ said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me." This is no casual touch, no off-and-on connection. The branch becomes a part of the living vine. The communication of life, strength, and fruitfulness from the root to the branches is unobstructed and constant. Separated from the vine, the branch cannot live. No more, said Jesus, can you live apart from Me. The life you have received from Me can be preserved only by continual communion. Without Me you cannot overcome one sin, or resist one temptation. 

Let us behold Christ's loveliness and abide in Him!
"When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing." {The Desire of Ages, 676.4}

JimB

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #34 on: June 13, 2017, 05:50:24 AM »
Amen pastor Sean! and as Jesus abides in us we can take advantage of every escape afforded to us for every temptation.

"If ye had known Me," Christ said, "ye should have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him." But not yet did the disciples understand. "Lord, show us the Father," exclaimed Philip, "and it sufficeth us."
     Amazed at his dullness of comprehension, Christ asked with pained surprise, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?" Is it possible that you do not see the Father in the works He does through Me? Do you not believe that I came to testify of the Father? "How sayest thou then, Show us the Father?" "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." Christ had not ceased to be God when He became man. Though He had humbled Himself to humanity, the Godhead was still His own. Christ alone could represent the Father to humanity, and this representation the disciples had been privileged to behold for over three years.
     "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake." Their faith might safely rest on the evidence given in Christ's works, works that no man, of himself, ever had done, or ever could do. Christ's work testified to His divinity. Through Him the Father had been revealed. 


I know Thomas had his own issues with doubts but sometimes I think the "doubting" label should have been Philip's. Is not not a blessing to understand and know that the Father is not some kind of hard legalist just waiting for someone to do something wrong so He can exact some kind of punishment? If we know Christ we know the Father. The same kind, gentle, forgiving, patient attributes belong to both the Father and the Son!
By communion with God in nature, the mind is uplifted, and the heart finds rest.  {DA 291.1}

Richard Myers

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #35 on: June 13, 2017, 06:34:02 AM »
Amen, Jim. And that same character is seen in all who have given the heart fully to God. As Pastor Sean has pointed out, it is not enough to give the heart once, it must be surrendered continually. We must have Jesus continually if we hope to glorify Him continually.

  "I am the Vine, ye are the branches," Christ said to His disciples. Though He was about to be removed from them, their spiritual union with Him was to be unchanged. The connection of the branch with the vine, He said, represents the relation you are to sustain to Me. The scion is engrafted into the living vine, and fiber by fiber, vein by vein, it grows into the vine stock. The life of the vine becomes the life of the branch. So the soul dead in trespasses and sins receives life through connection with Christ. By faith in Him as a personal Saviour the union is formed. The sinner unites his weakness to Christ's strength, his emptiness to Christ's fullness, his frailty to Christ's enduring might. Then he has the mind of Christ. The humanity of Christ has touched our humanity, and our humanity has touched divinity. Thus through the agency of the Holy Spirit man becomes a partaker of the divine nature. He is accepted in the Beloved.

We must have a "saving faith" in Christ. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to have eternal life. If we have not the Spirit, then Jesus stands at the door of the heart, knocking.

  Of the Spirit Jesus said, "He shall glorify Me." The Saviour came to glorify the Father by the demonstration of His love; so the Spirit was to glorify Christ by revealing His grace to the world. The very image of God is to be reproduced in humanity. The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is involved in the perfection of the character of His people. 
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Richard Myers

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #36 on: September 08, 2017, 07:36:34 AM »
This chapter, if prayerfully read, and the Holy Spirit has been sought, will reveal the gospel truth. The false gospel that has kept Laodiceans blind will be exposed and our continual need of Jesus in order to do any good thing will be understood.

      The life of the vine will be manifest in fragrant fruit on the branches. "He that abideth in Me," said Jesus, "and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing." When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing.
     "My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away." While the graft is outwardly united with the vine, there may be no vital connection. Then there will be no growth or fruitfulness. So there may be an apparent connection with Christ without a real union with Him by faith. A profession of religion places men in the church, but the character and conduct show whether they are in connection with Christ. If they bear no fruit, they are false branches. Their separation from Christ involves a ruin as complete as that represented by the dead branch. "If a man abide not in Me," said Christ, "he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."
     "And every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth [pruneth] it, that it may bring forth more fruit." From the chosen twelve who had followed Jesus, one as a withered branch was about to be taken away; the rest were to pass under the pruning knife of bitter trial. Jesus with solemn tenderness explained the purpose of the husbandman. The pruning will cause pain, but it is the Father who applies the knife. He works with no wanton hand or indifferent heart. There are branches trailing upon the ground; these must be cut loose from the earthly supports to which their tendrils are fastening. They are to reach heavenward, and find their support in God. The excessive foliage that draws away the life current from the fruit must be pruned off. The overgrowth must be cut out, to give room for the healing beams of the Sun of Righteousness. The husbandman prunes away the harmful growth, that the fruit may be richer and more abundant.
     "Herein is My Father glorified," said Jesus, "that ye bear much fruit." God desires to manifest through you the holiness, the benevolence, the compassion, of His own character. Yet the Saviour does not bid the disciples labor to bear fruit. He tells them to abide in Him. "If ye abide in Me," He says, "and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." It is through the word that Christ abides in His followers. This is the same vital union that is represented by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. The words of Christ are spirit and life. Receiving them, you receive the life of the Vine. You live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4. The life of Christ in you produces the same fruits as in Him. Living in Christ, adhering to Christ, supported by Christ, drawing nourishment from Christ, you bear fruit after the similitude of Christ.


Thus, if we have not His Spirit, we are none of His. It is a narrow road that reaches unto heaven. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Romans 8:9.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Pastor Sean Brizendine

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #37 on: September 08, 2017, 08:44:35 AM »
Amen, Richard! While the road is narrow, the power is infinite! The grace is sufficient for us in our time of need, and we can go forth as did Christ to face trial and conflict with His abiding presence in our hearts by faith!

"Verily, verily, I say unto you," Christ continued, "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also." The Saviour was deeply anxious for His disciples to understand for what purpose His divinity was united to humanity. He came to the world to display the glory of God, that man might be uplifted by its restoring power. God was manifested in Him that He might be manifested in them. Jesus revealed no qualities, and exercised no powers, that men may not have through faith in Him. His perfect humanity is that which all His followers may possess, if they will be in subjection to God as He was.
"When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing." {The Desire of Ages, 676.4}

Richard Myers

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #38 on: September 08, 2017, 09:04:47 AM »
Amen, Pastor Sean! It is grace received into the heart that empowers the mind to keep the flesh under at all times. And, where do we find this grace? It surrounds us as thick as the air we breathe. Jesus put it this way: "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me."

It is through the Spirit working on the heart that He is drawing ALL unto Himself. If we resist the Spirit, it becomes easier to resist it. If we yield to It, it will be harder to resist it. Jesus explained this to Paul when at last Paul cried out "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"  "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks".....of the Holy Spirit. It was getting harder and harder for Paul (Saul), to kick against the pricking of his heart by the truth being revealed by the Holy Spirit.

     The Spirit was to quicken their understanding, that they might have an appreciation of heavenly things. "When He, the Spirit of truth, is come," said Jesus, "He will guide you into all truth."
     The Comforter is called "the Spirit of truth." His work is to define and maintain the truth. He first dwells in the heart as the Spirit of truth, and thus He becomes the Comforter. There is comfort and peace in the truth, but no real peace or comfort can be found in falsehood. It is through false theories and traditions that Satan gains his power over the mind. By directing men to false standards, he misshapes the character. Through the Scriptures the Holy Spirit speaks to the mind, and impresses truth upon the heart. Thus He exposes error, and expels it from the soul. It is by the Spirit of truth, working through the word of God, that Christ subdues His chosen people to Himself.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Pastor Sean Brizendine

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Re: The Desire of Ages--73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
« Reply #39 on: December 04, 2017, 05:51:56 AM »
Jesus is so precious to us, and His grace makes it possible for us to have a transformed character, a character imbued with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as long as we abide in Him, and go forward in humble trusting faith!

"When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing." {The Desire of Ages, page 676, paragraph 4}

This is a simple truth, but it shuts out the error of false gospels that allow one to commit a known sin and still retain justification. If we sin a known sin, we no longer have all of the fruits of the Spirit in our lives, for selfishness is the opposite of love, and Christ does not want us to be deceived as to our condition--we are either abiding in Him fruitfully, or we are disconnected and in need of repentance if we sin against Him knowingly, for which cause He comes calling out to us and knocking on the door of the heart (Revelation 3:20). Praise God for how tender and clear He is in His dealing with us!

  "Christ rejoiced that He could do more for His followers than they could ask or think. He spoke with assurance, knowing that an almighty decree had been given before the world was made. He knew that truth, armed with the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, would conquer in the contest with evil; and that the bloodstained banner would wave triumphantly over His followers. He knew that the life of His trusting disciples would be like His, a series of uninterrupted victories, not seen to be such here, but recognized as such in the great hereafter." {The Desire of Ages, page 679, paragraph 2}

I find a lot of encouragement from this statement--we can have continual victory in Christ, but we cannot expect the world to see it as such. In fact, if we were to follow the world's pattern and get their "approval" as if we were doing it the way the world calls "success," then we would not have the abiding witness from Christ of victory (all of the fruits of the Spirit in the life without one missing as we follow all the light of His law we know). We must look to heaven and Jesus, who alone can turn our trials into blessed opportunities to glorify Him, and who works all things together for good to them that love Him! 

"'These things I have spoken unto you,' He said, 'that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.' Christ did not fail, neither was He discouraged, and His followers are to manifest a faith of the same enduring nature. They are to live as He lived, and work as He worked, because they depend on Him as the great Master Worker. Courage, energy, and perseverance they must possess. Though apparent impossibilities obstruct their way, by His grace they are to go forward. Instead of deploring difficulties, they are called upon to surmount them. They are to despair of nothing, and to hope for everything. With the golden chain of His matchless love Christ has bound them to the throne of God. It is His purpose that the highest influence in the universe, emanating from the source of all power, shall be theirs. They are to have power to resist evil, power that neither earth, nor death, nor hell can master, power that will enable them to overcome as Christ overcame." {The Desire of Ages, page 679, paragraph 3}

Just picture it by faith--through a living-faith surrender to Christ, we are bound to His throne! Does not this encourage you? Does not this strengthen you to know that whatever you are facing today that you have an ever-present Savior who is more than able to help you? I rejoice that Jesus' loveliness of character is wrought out in us as we abide in Him, and that He can work in and through us. May we go forth to bless others and draw them to Jesus today because of all that He is to us by the Holy Spirit! What a privilege!
"When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing." {The Desire of Ages, 676.4}