Only One

“No man can serve two masters.”—Matthew 6:24.

Christ does not say that man will not or shall not serve two masters, but that he cannot. The interests of God and the interests of mammon have no union or sympathy. Just where the conscience of the Christian warns him to forbear, to deny himself, to stop, just there the worldling steps over the line, to indulge his selfish propensities. On one side of the line is the self-denying follower of Christ; on the other side is the self-indulgent world lover, pandering to fashion, engaging in frivolity, and pampering himself in forbidden pleasure. On that side of the line the Christian cannot go. 

No one can occupy a neutral position; there is no middle class, who neither love God nor serve the enemy of righteousness. Christ is to live in His human agents and work through their faculties and act through their capabilities. Their will must be submitted to His will; they must act with His Spirit. Then it is no more they that live, but Christ that lives in them. He who does not give himself wholly to God is under the control of another power, listening to another voice, whose suggestions are of an entirely different character. Half-and-half service places the human agent on the side of the enemy as a successful ally of the hosts of darkness. When men who claim to be soldiers of Christ engage with the confederacy of Satan, and help along his side, they prove themselves enemies of Christ. They betray sacred trusts. They form a link between Satan and the true soldiers, so that through these agencies the enemy is constantly working to steal away the hearts of Christ's soldiers. 

The strongest bulwark of vice in our world is not the iniquitous life of the abandoned sinner or the degraded outcast; it is that life which otherwise appears virtuous, honorable, and noble, but in which one sin is fostered, one vice indulged. To the soul that is struggling in secret against some giant temptation, trembling upon the very verge of the precipice, such an example is one of the most powerful enticements to sin. He who, endowed with high conceptions of life and truth and honor, does yet willfully transgress one precept of God's holy law, has perverted His noble gifts into a lure to sin. Genius, talent, sympathy, even generous and kindly deeds, may become decoys of Satan to entice other souls over the precipice of ruin for this life and the life to come. 

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15, 16. MB 93-95

Why Are We Still Here?

Firstly let’s begin with a brief history.

There has never been a time since the “first vision” on 31st December, 1844, that there has not been error introduced in our church, which has had to be met with a “Thus saith the LORD” or the counsel of the “Faithful and True Witness”/“the Testimony of Jesus, which is the Spirit of Prophecy”. 
Following the 1888 “most precious message”, “the LORD was ready to come, but…”

He would have been here “ere this” before 1902. There was the successful outcome of the 1901 General Conference (GC), where the “kingly power” was stopped and a committee with a rotating chairman was instituted by God. But, our prophet was shown that this would be short lived and it was overturned at the next GC in 1903.

Seeing all of this coming in vision we received the following statement instead of the world ending and His people going to heaven -

Charge It Not to God—We may have to remain here in this world because of insubordination many more years, as did the children of Israel; but for Christ's sake, His people should not add sin to sin by charging God with the consequence of their own wrong course of action. Ev 696 

N.B. the date.

So, now we know what caused the delay and why we are still here.

insubordination 
noun [mass noun]
defiance of authority; refusal to obey orders. 
Oxford Dictionary.

Much could be said about the topic, the defiance and refusal to adhere to the counsel given, and its results in the intervening time, but, if we would all “receive reproof” correctly and understand the true “purpose of the testimonies”, then, let’s switch the subject around to the +ve and see how we could all hasten His coming -

It is the privilege of every Christian, not only to look for, but to hasten the coming of the Saviour. AA 600

“Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own. 
It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, (2 Peter 3:12, margin). Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain.” COL 69

So, it is our privilege hasten His coming, subordinating ourselves, and allowing Him to produce this glorious outcome in our lives. Let us no longer delay His coming, but hasten it.

We can then be with our Beloved Husband for eternity!

Prayers In The Bible - Hannah

I Samuel 1:9-18 And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. 

2:1-10 And Hannah prayed, and said,

My heart rejoiceth in the LORD,

mine horn is exalted in the LORD:

my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies;

because I rejoice in thy salvation.

There is none holy as the LORD:

for there is none beside thee:

neither is there any rock like our God.

Talk no more so exceeding proudly;

let not arrogancy come out of your mouth:

for the LORD is a God of knowledge,

and by him actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty men are broken,

and they that stumbled are girded with strength.

They that were full have hired out themselves for bread;

and they that were hungry ceased:

so that the barren hath born seven;

and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

The LORD killeth, and maketh alive:

he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich:

he bringeth low, and lifteth up.

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,

and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill,

to set them among princes,

and to make them inherit the throne of glory:

for the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he hath set the world upon them.

He will keep the feet of his saints,

and the wicked shall be silent in darkness;

for by strength shall no man prevail.

The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces;

out of heaven shall he thunder upon them:

the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth;

and he shall give strength unto his king,

and exalt the horn of his anointed.

5T 101

“The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly;” but where do we behold the true advent spirit? Who are preparing to stand in that time of temptation which is just before us? The people to whom God has entrusted the sacred, solemn, testing truths for this time are sleeping at their post. They say by their actions: We have the truth; we are “rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;” while the True Witness declares: Thou “knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”

Christ Reveals His Holiness - Job

Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. 

I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Job 40:4,5; 42:5,6

Straightforward

“If ... thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”—Matthew 6:22.

Singleness of purpose, wholehearted devotion to God, is the condition pointed out by the Saviour's words. Let the purpose be sincere and unwavering to discern the truth and to obey it at whatever cost, and you will receive divine enlightenment. Real piety begins when all compromise with sin is at an end. Then the language of the heart will be that of the apostle Paul: “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Philippians 3:13,14,8. 

But when the eye is blinded by the love of self, there is only darkness. “If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” It was this fearful darkness that wrapped the Jews in stubborn unbelief, making it impossible for them to appreciate the character and mission of Him who came to save them from their sins. 

Yielding to temptation begins in permitting the mind to waver, to be inconstant in your trust in God. If we do not choose to give ourselves fully to God then we are in darkness. When we make any reserve we are leaving open a door through which Satan can enter to lead us astray by his temptations. He knows that if he can obscure our vision, so that the eye of faith cannot see God, there will be no barrier against sin. 

The prevalence of a sinful desire shows the delusion of the soul. Every indulgence of that desire strengthens the soul's aversion to God. In following the path of Satan's choosing, we are encompassed by the shadows of evil, and every step leads into deeper darkness and increases the blindness of the heart. 

The same law obtains in the spiritual as in the natural world. He who abides in darkness will at last lose the power of vision. He is shut in by a deeper than midnight blackness; and to him the brightest noontide can bring no light. He “walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.” 1 John 2:11. Through persistently cherishing evil, willfully disregarding the pleadings of divine love, the sinner loses the love for good, the desire for God, the very capacity to receive the light of heaven. The invitation of mercy is still full of love, the light is shining as brightly as when it first dawned upon his soul; but the voice falls on deaf ears, the light on blinded eyes. 

No soul is ever finally deserted of God, given up to his own ways, so long as there is any hope of his salvation. “Man turns from God, not God from him.” Our heavenly Father follows us with appeals and warnings and assurances of compassion, until further opportunities and privileges would be wholly in vain. The responsibility rests with the sinner. By resisting the Spirit of God today, he prepares the way for a second resistance of light when it comes with mightier power. Thus he passes on from one stage of resistance to another, until at last the light will fail to impress, and he will cease to respond in any measure to the Spirit of God. Then even “the light that is in thee” has become darkness. The very truth we do know has become so perverted as to increase the blindness of the soul. MB 91-93

Love To Christ

Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Luke 7:47

Our love to Christ will be in proportion to the depth of our conviction of sin. FW 96

Names of Christ - Branch

And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying,

Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH;

and he shall grow up out of his place,

and he shall build the temple of the LORD:

Even he shall build the temple of the LORD;

and he shall bear the glory,

and shall sit and rule upon his throne;

and he shall be a priest upon his throne:

and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. Zechariah 6:12,13