“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men… For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” – 1 Timothy 2:1, 3-4
Of him who walks in the way of life everlasting, using his blessings to bless others, the prophet Isaiah declares: “The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not” [Isaiah 58:11].
These blessings we need. We need the water of life that flows from Jesus Christ, which will be in us a well of water springing up into everlasting life. “The Lord shall guide thee continually.” When we are guided by the Lord, we shall have clear discernment. We shall not call righteousness unrighteousness, nor think that things that the Lord has forbidden are right. We shall understand where the Lord is working.
Many have not understood this. There are some who I know have been led astray by the enemy. But God wants to make you a partaker of the divine nature. He wants no yoke of human authority on your neck, but that you shall look to Him who is able to save to the uttermost every one that comes to Him in righteousness and truth. We have no time to tamper with the enemy; for we are very near the close of this earth’s history. …
I write this because many in the church are represented to me as seeing men like trees walking. They must have another and deeper experience before they discern the snares spread to take them in the net of the deceiver. There must be no halfway work done now. The Lord calls for stanch, decided, whole-souled men and women to stand in the gap, and make up the hedge.
There is a decided testimony to be borne by all our ministers in all our churches. God has permitted apostasies to take place in order to show how little dependence can be placed in man. We are always to look to God; His word is not Yea and Nay, but Yea and Amen. (1)
Charge for the Day: Consider the following words from the above passage, “The Lord calls for stanch, decided, whole-souled men and women to stand in the gap, and make up the hedge. ” How can you stand in the gap today? Write down a list of names of people you long to see in the Kingdom. Intercede in prayer for them today.
1. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, pp. 1151, 1152