Humble Tasks Prepare For Higher Service

Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White

Humble Tasks Prepare For Higher Service

Today's Text: Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. 2 Kings 3:11

The Message:      His [Elisha's] leave-taking was not with mourning and bitter regrets. They made a feast in his home in commemoration of the honor conferred upon one of the family. And what was the first work of Elisha? It was to take up the little things, and do them with heartiness. He is spoken of as pouring water on the hands of Elijah his master. He was the prophet's personal attendant.      Any work, however small it may appear, that is done for the Master with a thorough surrender of self, is as acceptable to Him as the highest service.... Humble, willing service is before everyone who claims to be a child of God.       After Elisha had been some time in the service of Elijah, he was called to take his place in the first rank. No one in that time was to be greater than he. He had worked under Elijah as a learner, and the time came when the head manager was removed, and the one under him came to the front; and as in Elijah there was a preparedness to be translated, so Elisha was prepared to take his place as the successor of the prophet....      "And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, Yea, I know it.... And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." So they came to Jericho.... "And they two stood by Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.... And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.      "And Elisha saw it.... He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over."...      By plowing in the field, Elisha had learned the lesson of not allowing failure or discouragement to be entertained. He had now set his hand to the plow in another line of work, and he would not fail nor be discouraged. Every time the invitation to turn back was given, he declared, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee."-Letter 12, 1897.

Commentary: My friend, the Lord has called each and every one of us to a solemn work of preparing the people to meet their Lord in the sky.  That work is the greatest that has ever been committed to man and is just before us.  But before we can do this work we must first learn at the feet of the Master.  We are to learn at the feet of Jesus that we may be prepared to be filled with His Spirit and proclaim the three angels message to them with the power of God. To learn at the feet of Jesus we must surrender our lives fully to Him.  Our hearts must not be divide between Him and the world, nor our families, friends, or any other consideration.  We must be singly His if we are to be filled with His Spirit. Too many times the professed people of God are just that, professed in words alone and not in their lives.  They have a form of godliness but they deny the power of God to give them victory over sin.  This is the condition of the remnant church today.  They are rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing (Revelation 3:17).  They are in this condition because they have a false righteousness of Christ.  They have accepted the false god of the trinity and as such receive the righteousness of a false god. The trinity teaches that the Son of God is not truly and naturally the Son of God, but is God playing the role of the Son.  They teach that the Son is only a title or a metaphor and is not literally true.  They contend that Jesus is God the Son rather than the Son of God, placing his authority as God first and His Sonship second.  But the the Father and the Scriptures all declare that He is the Son of God, placing his authority as coming from the Father first and His divinity second.  As such since the church is looking unto God the Son as their Savior they are receiving a false righteousness.  This is why the church is depicted as "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Revelation 3:17). 1 John 5:9-12 says "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.  He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."  The Father has declared that Jesus is His Son whom He has sent unto the world that we all may be saved.  He is not just the Son of God after His birth as a man, but is His Son from "the beginning of his way, before his works of old." (Proverbs 8:22). If we hold to the doctrine of the trinity we deny that Jesus is literally and naturally the Son of God, and make God a liar.  The apostle John says "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ [Son of God]? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.  Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also." (1 John 2:22, 23). My friend, the work that we are called to do cannot be done while we worship the false god of the trinity.  We must follow the counsel of the Faithful and True Witness of God by turning away from this false god and  being zealous in our repentance towards Him.  We must invite the true Son of God into our lives that He may come in and sup with us.  As we humbly surrender our hearts to the One true God through His Son Jesus Christ, we will be prepared to be filled with His Spirit and we may, like Elisha, go to the world with the power of the Spirit of God and prepare the world to take a stand for Him. God bless,

Video of the Week What You Need to Know about Creeds - Matt Dooley In this presentation, we look at creeds and the reason why the pioneers were adamantly against them.