April 16
"There were some who sought His society, feeling at peace in His presence; but many avoided Him, because they were rebuked by His stainless life. Young companions urged Him to do as they did. He was bright and cheerful; they enjoyed His presence, and welcomed His ready suggestions; but they were impatient at His scruples, and pronounced Him narrow and strait-laced. Jesus answered, It is written, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy word." "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." Ps. 119:9, 11."
Desire of Ages, page 90 from the chapter, 'Days of Conflict'
Just focus on one thing from the reading, “He was bright and cheerful; they enjoyed His presence, and welcomed His ready suggestions…”
Do you think you could determine today that you are going to be like this to everyone you meet?
I’m not asking you to ‘fake it until you make it’ or to be legalistic about your faith – but I am suggesting an outlet for one thing that should be being developed in you.
As you spend a thoughtful hour, or even 12 minutes, contemplating the closing scenes of Christ’s life, thinking of the loving God who could allow or even plan for such a thing there is something special happening in your brain. If you want to know why I mention 12 minutes, ask me.
You are performing an exercise on a part of your brain that is specifically designed to control and allow you to do good things for people.
You contemplate a loving God, you need to do something good. Do the things Jesus did. Try this, Jesus, “was bright and cheerful; they enjoyed His presence, and welcomed His ready suggestions”.
The song that has been chosen by Bryn returns a little to the country style from last week – ‘Blessings’ by Laura Story
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
