(no subject)

When Christ ascended to heaven, the sense of His presence was still with His followers. It was a personal presence, full of love and light. Jesus, the Saviour, who had walked and talked and prayed with them, who had spoken hope and comfort to their hearts, had, while the message of peace was still upon His lips, been taken up from them into heaven, and the tones of His voice had come back to them, as the cloud of angels received Him—"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matthew 28.20. He had ascended to heaven in the form of humanity. They knew that He was before the throne of God, their Friend and Saviour still; that His sympathies were unchanged; that He was still identified with suffering humanity. He was presenting before God the merits of His own precious blood, showing His wounded hands and feet, in remembrance of the price He had paid for His redeemed. They knew that He had ascended to heaven to prepare places for them, and that He would come again and take them to Himself.

As they met together after the ascension they were eager to present their requests to the Father in the name of Jesus.

- Ellen White, "Steps to Christ", chapter "Growing Up Into Christ", emphases mine

WOW. This is so charged! I never thought of it quite this way before. The disciples were claiming Jesus' promise to answer all they asked in His name. Think what it meant to them. Think what it should mean to us, that Jesus will forever sympathise with humanity because He became humanity for that express purpose. He truly understands and is one with us, and in His name we can approach the Father.

That's pretty amazing.

More quotes from "Steps to Christ"

"We should not take the testimony of any man as to what the Scriptures teach, but should study the words of God for ourselves. If we allow others to do our thinking, we shall have crippled energies and contracted abilities. The noble powers of the mind may be so dwarfed by lack of exercise on themes worthy of their concentration as to lose their ability to grasp the deep meaning of the word of God. The mind will enlarge if it is employed in tracing out the relation of the subjects of the Bible, comparing scripture with scripture and spiritual things with spiritual."

"...Angels are ever engaged in working for the happiness of others. This is their joy. That which selfish hearts would regard as humiliating service, ministering to those who are wretched and in every way inferior in character and rank, is the work of sinless angels. The spirit of Christ's self-sacrificing love is the spirit that pervades heaven ans is the very essence of its bliss. This is the spirit that Christ's followers will possess, the work that they will do.

"Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him."

(no subject)

BOOK ONE!!!!1

Steps to Christ, by Ellen White - if you hadn't already gathered by now. 94 pages, and how are those pages packed. I'm a fast reader, and Ellen White forces me to slow down. There's simply a mass of information and inspiration in there that I know even trying to slow down I didn't get it all.

The beginning was a bit of a slow start for me because she's talking about how to become saved. Which, for anyone who has been a Christian for any period of time, you generally know a fair amount about that. But it's good that it's there for those who are not saved yet and are reading the book.

My favourite part was definitely the last two-thirds or so, when she moves on to the Christian walk and talks about things like developing a Christlike character, our prayer lives, and so forth.

The last chapter, about rejoicing in the Lord, was definitely a slam-bang finish. I know people who wallow in pessimism and I know I have a tendency to do the same. Probably we all do... but the Bible tells us to rejoice! She points out that if we allow ourselves to appear despondent and our conversations and interaction with others causes the unsaved to assume Christ brings no joy, then we are bearing false witness to God. That's... pretty serious. It definitely made me think I need to be more careful not to whine, not to complain, not to inflict my pity parties on anyone else. She says the place for our complaints and struggles is in our prayer closet, something to be kept between us and God only, and He will remove our troubles from us so we can face the world with a cheerful face and heart.

Quite a big order, that - and yet God does not ask us to do anything beyond our ability. Surely with God we can do even what seems impossible.

A good first book to make my list for this year, and I definitely recommend it to everyone.