Saturday, April 16, 2022

God’s hand can prosper or withhold; and He frequently withholds from one while He seems to prosper another. All this is to test and prove men, and to reveal the heart....

 

If God’s blessing rests upon you because you surrender all to Him, you will prosper. If you turn from God, He will turn from you. His hand can scatter faster than you can gather.—Testimonies for the Church 2:496. 

The spirit of liberality is the spirit of heaven. This spirit finds its highest manifestation in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.... On the other hand, the spirit of selfishness is the spirit of Satan. The principle illustrated in the lives of worldlings is to get, get. Thus they hope to secure happiness and ease, but the fruit of their sowing is misery and death. 

Not until God ceases to bless His children will they cease to be under bonds to return to Him the portion that He claims. Not only should they render the Lord the portion that belongs to Him, but they should bring also to His treasury, as a gratitude-offering, a liberal tribute. With joyful hearts they should dedicate to the Creator the first-fruits of their bounties,—their choicest possessions, their best and holiest service. Thus they will gain rich blessings. God Himself will make their souls like a watered garden, whose waters fail not. And when the last great harvest is gathered in, the sheaves that they are enabled to bring to the Master will be the recompense of their unselfish use of the talents lent them.—The Acts of the Apostles, 339. 

God’s hand can prosper or withhold; and He frequently withholds from one while He seems to prosper another. All this is to test and prove men, and to reveal the heart.—Testimonies for the Church 3:547. WGD 108

 

The precious graces of the Holy Spirit are not developed in a moment. Courage, fortitude, meekness, faith, unwavering trust in God's power to save, are acquired by the experience of years. By a life of holy endeavor and firm adherence to the right the children of God are to seal their destiny. MH 454 



Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. Proverbs 3:9-10, KJV