December 31

“Mary looked forward to the Messiah's reign on David's throne, but she saw not the baptism of suffering by which it must be won. Through Simeon it is revealed that the Messiah is to have no unobstructed passage through the world. In the words to Mary, "A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also," God in His tender mercy gives to the mother of Jesus an intimation of the anguish that already for His sake she had begun to bear.

"Behold," Simeon had said, "this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against."

Desire of Ages, page 56 from the chapter, 'The Dedication'

We go back a few days to the time when Ellen White introduced Simeon to us. We noted the words he used to describe Jesus’ future. We need to remind ourselves that those aren’t just words. They are prophetic words.

What is a prophecy? The easiest way to put it, and therefore possibly the wrong way, is to say that a prophecy is simply letting people know what will happen in the future.

We know the point of the words. Simeon is the ‘tool’ that God uses to give Mary an inkling of the future. She doesn’t know what will happen, with no guidance she will fear for the future.

We find ourselves in a similar position. “So much to do and so little time”. So many trials ahead of us – and were we not to be informed we would be going into the rest of our lives with no clue as to how to deal with our future.

That is the point of prophecy. A prophecy does not just tell the future but is prepared for us to be prepared for the future. That is the point. If we actually want to be prepared for the future then we need to take note of the prophecies directed to us and given for our benefit.

This is the last day of 2013. You know that you are not just called to take a place on a seat in a church on a Sabbath morning. You know that we live in a difficult world – and you need to know how to be prepared for that future.

Take note of prophecy. Our Conference Strategy and our churches have a key element at it’s heart, we need to get to know God more intimately by reading the Bible effectively and the Spirit of Prophecy. We do that and we have prophetic guidance in bucket loads.

Take a look here at a sample of the Bible Reading Guide that is closely co-ordinated with reading the whole of the Conflict of the Ages books. If you want the years complete set – then please click here to have the full set of guides sent to you.

In the meantime, feel so blessed that God has not left you bereft of comfort and guidance but has given you written guidance for the future.

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