October 28
"The work of redemption will be complete. In the place where sin abounded, God's grace much more abounds. The earth itself, the very field that Satan claims as his, is to be not only ransomed but exalted. Our little world, under the curse of sin the one dark blot in His glorious creation, will be honoured above all other worlds in the universe of God. Here, where the Son of God tabernacled in humanity; where the King of glory lived and suffered and died,--here, when He shall make all things new, the tabernacle of God shall be with men, "and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." And through endless ages as the redeemed walk in the light of the Lord, they will praise Him for His unspeakable Gift,--
Immanuel, "God with us."
Desire of Ages, page 26 from the chapter, 'God with us'
This is the last paragraph of the first chapter of Desire of Ages, tomorrow we move on to the next chapter. We have seen that God has not only gone to the greatest lengths to bring all of humanity back into relationship with Him, but God has planned that this should happen. Part of the last sentence expresses the relationship well, “Immanuel, "God with us."
That should have several effects on our life. One, I should never feel as though I am the one person in the whole universe that God has kept out of His plan. God planned for you to be included. That means the gift is for you. Walk tall. Walk as a Prince or Princess.
God’s plan was just that. Well thought through and well applied, the plan actually worked and still works. It is still working. That tells us much about the patience and earnest desire God has for us. Much time has passed but God is still carrying out the plan, the remedy is still effective.
If God has such a plan, so should we. I have been setting you small tasks over the past couple of weeks, bread baking and a little learning. I’m not testing you, my plan is out there for you to follow as you are led and as you choose. The next step in the plan is for you to go a little further. I want you to talk with your prayer partner and make a plan for this week. That you are to come up with an idea that you will carry out on Sabbath.
You might, for instance, talk to a couple of people at church and encourage them to be prayer partners. You could guide them to have a look at this website where they can find some basic instructions about prayer partnership. You might choose another plan.
The call is to reflect your royal status and invite someone to a closer walk with God. Can you do that?
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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
From October 21st this site will continue going through 'Desire of Ages' - but begin to advance rather faster than one paragraph at a time.
Our sister site, at the Upper Room, will progress at a rather slower pace - one paragraph at a time. If you want to head to our sister site for the slower trip through an excellent book you will eventually follow a link to the Upper Room. This will start on October 21st.
