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The 2020 Revival and Reformation daily devotional messages are from the book The Faith I Live By by Ellen. G. White.
The Sabbath of God
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8.
At the very beginning of the fourth commandment the Lord said, “Remember.” He knew that amid the multitude of cares and perplexities man would be tempted to excuse himself from meeting the full requirement of the law, or would forget its sacred importance. Therefore He said: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
All through the week we are to have the Sabbath in mind and be making preparation to keep it according to the commandment....
When the Sabbath is thus remembered, the temporal will not be allowed to encroach upon the spiritual. No duty pertaining to the six working days will be left for the Sabbath. During the week our energies will not be so exhausted in temporal labor that on the day when the Lord rested and was refreshed we shall be too weary to engage in His service....
On Friday let the preparation for the Sabbath be completed. See that all the clothing is in readiness and that all the cooking is done.... The Sabbath is not to be given to the repairing of garments, to the cooking of food, to pleasure seeking, or to any other worldly employment. Before the setting of the sun let all secular work be laid aside and all secular papers be put out of sight. Parents, explain your work and its purpose to your children, and let them share in your preparation to keep the Sabbath according to the commandment.119
There is another work that should receive attention on the preparation day. On this day all differences between brethren, whether in the family or in the church, should be put away. Let all bitterness and wrath and malice be expelled from the soul. In a humble spirit, “confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another.”
Before the setting of the sun let the members of the family assemble to read God’s Word, to sing and pray.120
We should jealously guard the edges of the Sabbath. Remember that every moment is consecrated, holy time.121
The Sabbath of God
Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. Ezekiel 20:12.
As the Sabbath was the sign that distinguished Israel when they came out of Egypt to enter the earthly Canaan, so it is the sign that now distinguishes God’s people as they come out from the world to enter the heavenly rest.
The observance of the Sabbath is the means ordained by God of preserving…
The Sabbath of God
He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. Psalm 111:4.
In Eden, God set up the memorial of His work of creation, in placing His blessing upon the seventh day. The Sabbath was committed to Adam, the father and representative of the whole human family. Its observance was to be an act of grateful acknowledgment, on the part of all who should dwell upon the earth, that God was their creator and their…
The Sabbath of God
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Genesis 2:2, 3.
The great Jehovah had laid the foundations of the earth; He had dressed the whole world in the garb of beauty, and had filled it with things useful to man; He had created all…
God’s Word and the Creation
The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Luke 12:23.
Our life was given us of God, and is dependent upon Him, as the leaf is dependent upon the bough for sustenance.
Life is a manifestation of God’s love. It is a talent which God has committed to our care, and it is a very costly talent, as viewed in the light of the sacrifice of God’s Son. It is an expression of the ownership of God. We are His by creation, and…
God’s Word and the Creation
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him. Genesis 1:27.
Here is clearly set forth the origin of the human race; and the divine record is so plainly stated that there is no occasion for erroneous conclusions.98
After the earth, with its teeming animal and vegetable life, had been called into existence, man, the crowning work of the Creator, and the one for whom the beautiful earth had been fitted up, was…
God’s Word and the Creation
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Colossians 1:17.
As regards this earth, Scripture declares the work of creation to have been completed. “The works were finished from the foundation of the world.” Hebrews 4:3. But the power of God is still exercised in upholding the objects of His creation.... Every breath, every pulsation of the heart, is an evidence of the care of Him in whom we live and move and have our being.
Not…
God’s Word and the Creation
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Psalm 33:6.
Since the book of nature and the book of revelation bear the impress of the same master mind, they cannot but speak in harmony....
Inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature have, however, led to supposed conflict between science and revelation.... Millions of years, it is claimed, were required for the evolution…
God’s Word and the Creation
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Isaiah 40:26.
God’s great book of nature is open for us to study, and from it we are to gain more exalted ideas of His greatness and unexcelled love and glory. He ... would have His children appreciate His works, and delight…
Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Luke 12:27.
In their original perfection all created things were an expression of the thought of God. To Adam and Eve in their Eden home nature was full of the knowledge of God, teeming with divine instruction. Wisdom spoke to the eye and was received into the heart; for they communed with God in His created works.... The…
God’s Word and the Creation
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Hebrews 11:3.
It is the Word of God alone that gives to us an authentic account of the creation of our world.
The theory that God did not create matter when He brought the world into existence is without foundation. In the formation of our world, God was not indebted to pre-existing matter.…
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Peter 1:4.
The Saviour took upon Himself the infirmities of humanity, and lived a sinless life, that men might have no fear that because of the weakness of human nature they could not overcome.
“The prince of this world cometh,” said Jesus, “and hath nothing in me.” John 14:30.…
Vital Power of the Word
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. John 6:54, 55.
Eternal life is the receiving of the living elements in the Scriptures, the doing of the will of God. This is what is meant by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God. It is the privilege of all to partake of the bread of heaven by studying the Word,…
Vital Power of the Word
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63.
Every seed has in itself a germinating principle. In it the life of the plant is enfolded. So there is life in God’s Word. Christ says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” ... In every command and in every promise of the Word of God is the power, the very life of God,…
Vital Power of the Word
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Luke 4:4.
The Word of God is to be our spiritual food.
The life of Christ that gives life to the world is in His word. It was by His word that Jesus healed disease and cast out demons; by His word He stilled the sea, and raised the dead....
As our physical life is sustained by food, so our spiritual life is sustained by…
Vital Power of the Word
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 1 Peter 1:23.
The change of heart by which we become children of God is in the Bible spoken of as birth. Again, it is compared to the germination of the good seed sown by the husbandman.... So from natural life, illustrations are drawn, to help us better to understand the mysterious truths of spiritual life. Not all the wisdom…
Vital Power of the Word
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Psalm 119:9.
It is one thing to treat the Bible as a book of good moral instruction, to be heeded so far as is consistent with the spirit of the times and our position in the world; it is another thing to regard it as it really is—the Word of the living God, the Word that is our life, the Word that is to mold our actions, our words, and our thoughts.…
Vital Power of the Word
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14.
Jesus is called the Word of God. He accepted His Father’s law, wrought out its principles in His life, manifested its spirit, and showed its beneficent power in the heart. Says John: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten…
A Divinely Inspired Book
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matthew 24:35.
He [Christ] pointed to the Scriptures as of unquestionable authority, and we should do the same. The Bible is to be presented as the word of the infinite God, as the end of all controversy and the foundation of all faith.34
The infidel Voltaire once boastingly said: “I am weary of hearing people repeat that twelve men established the Christian religion.…
A Divinely Inspired Book
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Romans 11:33.
The Word of God, like the character of its divine Author, presents mysteries that can never be fully comprehended by finite beings....
If it were possible for created beings to attain to a full understanding of God and His works, then, having reached this point, there would be for them no…
A Divinely Inspired Book
The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times. Psalm 12:6.
In His Word, God has committed to men the knowledge necessary for salvation. The Holy Scriptures are to be accepted as an authoritative, infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the revealer of doctrines, and the test of experience.
Spiritual darkness has covered the earth and gross darkness the people....…
A Divinely Inspired Book
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16.
The Word of God includes the Scriptures of the Old Testament as well as of the New. One is not complete without the other.21
The Old Testament, no less than the New, should receive attention. As we study the Old Testament, we shall find living springs bubbling up where the careless…
A Divinely Inspired Book
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 2 Corinthians 4:7.
God has been pleased to communicate His truth to the world by human agencies, and He Himself, by His Holy Spirit, qualified men and enabled them to do this work. He guided the mind in the selection of what to speak and what to write. The treasure was intrusted to earthen vessels, yet it is, none the less, from Heaven....…
A Divinely Inspired Book
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:21.
God committed the preparation of His divinely inspired Word to finite man. This Word, arranged into books, the Old and New Testaments, is the guidebook to the inhabitants of a fallen world, bequeathed to them that, by studying and obeying the directions, not one soul would lose its way to heaven.
The Bible points to God…