By John Thiel, Godly Affections That Motivate Series, mp3

Scripture reading: John 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Pleasant, kind, and well-bred Christians will have an influence for God and His truth; it cannot be otherwise. The light borrowed from Heaven will shed its brightening rays through them to the pathway of others. . . . The words we speak, our daily deportment, are the fruit growing upon the tree. If the fruit is sour and unpalatable, the rootlets of that tree are not drawing nourishment from a pure source. If our affections are brought into harmony with our Saviour, if our characters are meek and lowly, we evidence that our life is hid with Christ in God; and we shall leave behind us a bright track. . . . Beholders will discern that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him. {OHC 238.4}

Do we desire to be witnesses for the truth and for God? As members of the church of the original pioneer seventh-day Adventism we have the most important purpose for existence: we are to give to the world the three angels’ messages, to proclaim them, and nothing should interfere with this. So we have a high calling to be faithful missionaries to this planet.

If our affections are brought into harmony with our Saviour, if our characters are meek and lowly, we evidence that our life is hid with Christ in God; and we shall leave behind us a bright track. {Ibid.}

And people who are looking at us “will discern that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him.” Why? Because of the words we speak, and because of our daily deportment. Whether or not we are pleasant, kind, and well-bred Christians, will determine our influence upon others. This helps us to understand what true missionaries will demonstrate.

The words of Jesus to His disciples as He was about to leave this earth are very important for us today:

Matthew 28:18 …All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.

All power is given unto Me, said Jesus, Go ye therefore. That statement affectionately connects the true missionary with Jesus. Jesus brought the power of God’s love to this planet, and that power is in Jesus, and He says, “Now you are My disciples; go therefore, and fulfil My commission to the world. Teach all nations to observe all the things that I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. I am with you today in the last days of earth’s history.” This is profound.

The words that Jesus addressed to His church back then are addressed to us today. He says, All power is given unto Me, you are to go and teach. This is the commission that He gave and is giving to us as well – to be missionaries, to teach the world around us.

Who Is Jesus With?

As we realise He is speaking to the church today in these last days, we ask the question, With whom is He? He said, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. With whom? Let us explore the prophecies which identify with whom Jesus actually is, and what is really involved in those words for us in the last days.

Zephaniah 3:12 I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. 13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make [them] afraid.

Who are these people that He is with in the last days? A poor and afflicted people, a people who will trust in the Lord – the remnant of Israel. Let us allow the Scriptures to really play this out for us so that we may understand with whom Jesus is in His commission of Matthew 28 in these last days, at the end of the world. God would leave a remnant, a poor and afflicted people.

Amos 5:1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, [even] a lamentation, O house of Israel. 2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; [there is] none to raise her up.

This is a prophecy for Israel of old, and also for modern Israel over the years. The faithful virgin of modern Israel, the early Christian church, ended up as a fallen church. Then in subsequent periods of time, all throughout the history of the seven churches of Revelation, we see fallen churches along the way. The virgin of Israel is fallen, and she will not rise again. This is why there are so many denominations today who claim to be God’s church; but they are fallen. Babylon is fallen, we are told.

Then, as we come to the last end of earth’s history, the virgin of Israel that has once been a faithful people has fallen and will not rise again; and what happens with the church?

Amos 5:3 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out [by] a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth [by] an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

It is fascinating to actually see how this is connected with our time, because the prophet continues to say:

Amos 5:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: 5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

Seek the Lord, and you shall live. “Don’t go to these places, these different denominations (pictured here by Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba). Don’t look for Me there,” says God, “because the virgin of Israel has fallen, and she will not rise again. Don’t go there. Seek ye Me.” And all that is going to be left will be a remnant of Israel.

This remnant that will submit themselves to Jesus and follow Him closely are written of in the following words:

Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

By reading these three Bible texts together we are gaining a biblical understanding of the people with whom Jesus will be in the end of the world. He said, Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world. At the end of the world the woman (the church) that had once been faithful became corrupted, and in her place arose her seed. Then that seed, having been given a period of time, also ends up as a virgin that falls and rises not up again. And upon whom does Satan make his final thrust in the last end? Upon the remnant of the woman’s seed. Not the woman, not the seed, but the remnant of her seed. A little company is left while the rest of it has fallen.

God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; {UL 315.5}

Because as you go through history all those denominations who had once been faithful eventually fall and do not rise again. So God’s church is not the various denominations. They are all fallen.

…it is the people who love God and keep His commandments. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity can alone constitute a church. {Ibid.}

The presence of Jesus constitutes the church.

Where two or three are present who love and obey the commandments of God, Jesus there presides, let it be in the desolate place of the earth, in the wilderness, in the city enclosed in prison walls. The glory of God has penetrated the prison walls, flooding with glorious beams of heavenly light the darkest dungeon. His saints may suffer, but their sufferings will, like the apostles of old, spread their faith and win souls to Christ and glorify His holy name. {UL 315.6}

“Where two or three are present who love and obey the commandments of God, Jesus there presides.” He said, I am with you, even unto the end of the world. And at the end of the world there is a little remnant – the remnant of her seed – and that is His church. They are a poor and afflicted people, small in numbers, and that is where Jesus is.

Impacting the World

Now comes the big question which has been thrown at me over the years on uncountable times, Can such a humble few make an impact in the world?

What sort of missionaries can you be? we are asked. The whole world has to be warned, what are we? You feel very hamstrung, don’t you? We are to warn the world. People who are large churches, the Seventh-day Adventist organisation ministry for example says to us, as they said to me, “What can you do?? You can’t evangelise the world!” Then we sit here as the few numbers that we are, and we see how much the church has been rattled and shaken and torn, and we ask ourselves, What can we do? Can such a humble few make an impact on the world?

I saw the nominal church and nominal Adventists, like Judas, would betray us to the Catholics to obtain their influence to come against the truth. The saints then will be an obscure people, little known to the Catholics; but the churches and nominal Adventists who know of our faith and customs (for they hated us on account of the Sabbath, for they could not refute it) will betray the saints and report them to the Catholics as those who disregard the institutions of the people; that is, that they keep the Sabbath and disregard Sunday. {SpM 1.5}

People often point out, correctly so, that Sr. White is here talking about the nominal church and the nominal Adventists of her time. These were not Seventh-day Adventists. But as we come now to our time, you just have to go past a Seventh-day Adventist church today and see the advert of their billboard. In most churches it no longer says, Seventh-day Adventist church, but Adventist church. In fact we see today that the Seventh-day Adventist church, unfortunately, is only a nominal Seventh-day Adventist church. And the statement above applies to us today just as vividly as it might have been applied to Sr. White’s time. But in Sr. White’s time the Catholics had not been persecuting them. And here it says that when the Sabbath/Sunday question really comes to the forefront, it will be nominal Adventists and churches that will strike upon God’s people. And who are God’s people at that time, when the Sabbath/Sunday question becomes very challenged? It says, The saints then will be an obscure people, little known to the Catholics.

I ask you the question, Are Seventh-day Adventists little known to the Catholics? Is the Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement little known to the Catholics? No, they are very well known. Every organised denomination of today is well known to the Catholics. But these people who are here talked about will be an obscure people, little known to the Catholics. Can you see how that fits in perfectly with twos and threes in different places, a people who have ended up outside as a little remnant from the seed of the woman? What is the meaning of obscure? You are hardly noticed. “Who are you? You’re not a church. You’re just a few little individuals here and there!”

What will these people who know of the true Seventh-day Adventist customs and practices do? They will report the little company to the Catholics. And if you go back in history to the time of the First and Second World War, it was the Seventh-day Adventist people behind the Iron Curtain who reported the faithful ones to the government. This is what has happened already. And when we come to the Sabbath/Sunday question more fully it will be exactly that.

Every position of truth taken by our people will bear the criticism of the greatest minds; the highest of the world’s great men will be brought in contact with truth, and therefore every position we take should be critically examined and tested by the Scriptures. Now we seem to be unnoticed, but this will not always be. {Ev 69.1}

Is the Seventh-day Adventist church unnoticed? Not at all. But as the Sabbath/Sunday question is stirred in its final onslaught the expression above applies to this obscure people. How will these poor, afflicted, obscure people be able to make an impact in the world? Because of this:

Now we seem to be unnoticed, but this will not always be. Movements are at work to bring us to the front, and if our theories of truth can be picked to pieces by historians or the world’s greatest men, it will be done. {Ibid.}

What will bring an obscure and poor company of people (just twos and threes, this little remnant in different places of the world) to the front? The movements of certain governmental laws. And as those governmental laws bring them to the front, who will “dob them in” to the Catholics? Those denominations that are fallen. They will bring us to the attention. Because Adventism today knows what true Sabbath-keeping was in the early years. They know, but they’re not doing it anymore; they don’t see it as important. So when the strong attack of the papal edicts comes through the government that we must work on the Sabbath and must keep Sunday holy, then the obscure Sabbathkeepers, those that really keep the Sabbath holy, that love God and His commandments, will be confronted by circumstances. And now you have exactly the same picture as that of Shadrac, Meshach, and Abednego. How many were there who stood faithful out of the great number of Jews in the great multitude? They were to bow down to the image, which is a symbol of bowing down to the image of the beast, Sunday-keeping. Only three men stood faithful; and there will only be at this time a small obscure number who will be brought to the front.

Yet what a story came out of those three young men. The whole empire heard about it. So I smile to myself when the leaders of these denominations, especially Adventist leaders, come to me and say, “What can you do to evangelise the world?” Well, what Shadrac, Meshach, and Abednego did.

Circumstances of Exposure

What are the circumstances that bring us to the front?

We must individually know for ourselves what is truth, and be prepared to give a reason of the hope that we have with meekness and fear, not in a proud, boasting, self-sufficiency, but with the spirit of Christ. We are nearing the time when we shall stand individually alone to answer for our belief. {Ev 69.2}

It will be obscure individuals standing alone. When we are brought to the front we will not have each other’s support; we will be standing alone. Now we have each other’s support, now we are to learn what we are to understand, so that as we thoroughly study the truth, we become equipped with important material to answer for our faith. But not only that, we must also have a character that will demonstrate the truth.

Religious errors are multiplying and entwining themselves with Satanic power about the people. There is scarcely a doctrine of the Bible that has not been denied. {Ibid.}

The doctrine of Turkey being the king of the north is being denied in Adventism. The doctrine that Armageddon is a physical war is being denied in Adventism, although it was taught by the pioneers. The doctrine that the sanctuary in heaven has two apartments has been largely denied by the modern Seventh-day Adventist leadership. And it goes on to the practices of God’s true people: the faithful keeping of the Sabbath, what true Sabbath-keeping really is, has been denied in Adventism. People today cook on the Sabbath, they do jobs and work activities on the Sabbath which they think are good, but it’s breaking the Sabbath. There is scarcely a doctrine of the Bible that has not been denied.

So as God’s faithful people stand full and proper on the platform of truth and have to stand singly and alone as obscure individuals, when they are finally reported to the Catholic church (provided they have been faithful), when these movements bring them to the front, what will be their experience, and what missionary outreach will they perform?

As the controversy extends into new fields and the minds of the people are called to God’s downtrodden law, Satan is astir. The power attending the message will only madden those who oppose it. The clergy will put forth almost superhuman efforts to shut away the light lest it should shine upon their flocks. By every means at their command they will endeavor to suppress the discussion of these vital questions. The church appeals to the strong arm of civil power, and, in this work, papists and Protestants unite. As the movement for Sunday enforcement becomes more bold and decided, the law will be invoked against commandment keepers. {GC 607.1}

Not commandment preachers, but commandment keepers. The law will be invoked against that little faithful company.

They will be threatened with fines and imprisonment, and some will be offered positions of influence, and other rewards and advantages, as inducements to renounce their faith. But their steadfast answer is: “Show us from the word of God our error”–the same plea that was made by Luther under similar circumstances. {Ibid.}

Because we have been put in by the government, and the government has made laws which are brought forth by Sunday-keeping Christians; and now:

Those who are arraigned before the courts make a strong vindication of the truth, and some who hear them are led to take their stand to keep all the commandments of God. Thus light will be brought before thousands who otherwise would know nothing of these truths. {Ibid.}

Can you see the repeat of Shadrac, Meshach, and Abednego? Thousands will hear the message, because individually we have to stand in the courts and defend our faith. The courts have brought us to the forefront by the laws, so that we have to defend ourselves against the law invoked against us. And there in the courts, God’s obscure, little known individuals will be arraigned; and as they defend their faith, thousands will hear, and the last call to the people out there will be given by an obscure people little known to the Catholics. How clear do we want it?

When Champions Are Few

In this time the great majority has become paralysed and are completely incapable of standing for the truth because the truth has been made obscure to their minds – they don’t know prophecies very well anymore, they don’t know true Sabbath-keeping anymore. It has been fudged in their minds.

Already the judgments of God are abroad in the land, as seen in storms, in floods, in tempests, in earthquakes, in peril by land and by sea. {5T 136.2}

That was already the case in Sr. White’s time.

The great I AM is speaking to those who make void His law. When God’s wrath is poured out upon the earth, who will then be able to stand? Now is the time for God’s people to show themselves true to principle. When the religion of Christ is most held in contempt, when His law is most despised [because the laws of the land are destroying the law of God], then should our zeal be the warmest and our courage and firmness the most unflinching. To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few–this will be our test.

The majority will be against us. We have had little foretastes of that through the history of the Adventist message – through World War I and World War II – and now it is coming again. At this time when champions are few, and our loyalty is tested,

At this time we must gather warmth from the coldness of others, courage from their cowardice, and loyalty from their treason. {Ibid.}

This is the challenge. As we end up with this tiny little company that will remain stalwart to all of the platform of truth that has once been handed down, that will be faithful not only in teaching that the seventh-day is the Sabbath, but that will keep the Sabbath correctly – that will be the test. Many Adventists, and even Sunday-keepers, know that Sabbath is the seventh-day, but how to keep it is not clear. But these people know.

And these people, as they stand in defence of their faith, will not make a big show. They will be prepared to give a reason of their hope meekly, not proudly and boastfully. They won’t be making a big show of their missionary spirit. No, no show. They will be an obscure people, little known to the Catholics, the humble few, the individuals standing alone for their faith. But what is inside of them? They love God and His commandments. In other words, their hearts are aflame with the affections to Jesus and to His will and His law.

Motive of True Missionary Work

Their hearts are affectionately bound to the truths they practise. That being the case, are they powerful missionaries? How powerful can these people be? Examine yourself. It’s not enough to say, Yes, I’m going to stand in defence of the truth; the question is, How? As I am defending the truth because I am being challenged by nasty people, people who will report me to the authorities, as we are dealing with antagonists against us, ask yourself the question, How do you at present deal with antagonism against you? What sort of a nature do you display? When someone is saying something nasty to you, when someone is putting you in a bad spot, what do you do to them? How do you talk to them? How do you communicate to people who are themselves confused as to what is truth because of circumstances that have thrown them into false understandings, and they come along and lash out at you? How do you react? Ask yourself the question, and ask the Lord to help you understand.

What part do our affections for Jesus play in this missionary outreach? These obscure people who are being brought before the courts, and who are there identifying the falsehoods of the churches, how will they do it? What part do their affections play in missionary work? In a world that is in darkness in reference to the pure truth, God says,

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

What was the prayer of Jesus? “I in them, and Thou in Me.” What is contained in those words in regards to relationship? We see the Father and the Son affectionately bound together; Jesus affectionately bound to us in our dilemma; and our affections being drawn to Him because He has come into the atonement of our sinful flesh, and has battled with our sins, and now stands there as our hero. Our affections are that we are in Him and He is in us, as the Father is in Him. And He prays that in our affections to Him we would have affections for our fellow human beings; and in the church we are to be affectionately bound into one. How strong is this in our experience? Are we still being drawn into a deeper appreciation of this? It is our affections for Jesus that will deal with true missionary display, because part of Jesus’ prayer was, “That the world may know that thou hast sent me…” We are to be missionaries to the world! And how are we to demonstrate this missionary spirit? By our affections for God who loved the world. Can you see the way that missionary work is to be done in giving the last warning to the world?

Jesus says, “Love one another as I have loved you.” {SD 101.2}

It was His love to us that drew our affections to Him.

Love is not simply an impulse, a transitory emotion, dependent upon circumstances; it is a living principle, a permanent power. The soul is fed by the streams of pure love that flow from the heart of Christ, as a well-spring that never fails. O, how is the heart quickened, how are its motives ennobled, its affections deepened, by this communion! Under the education and discipline of the Holy Spirit, the children of God love one another, truly, sincerely, unaffectedly,–“without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” And this because the heart is in love with Jesus. {Ibid.}

The heart is affectionately bound to Jesus.

Our affection for one another springs from our common relation to God. {Ibid.}

Because if our affections are really bound up with God we will have affections for one another.

We are one family, we love one another as He loved us. When compared with this true, sanctified, disciplined affection, the shallow courtesy of the world, the meaningless expression of effusive friendship, are as chaff to the wheat. {Ibid.}

An affectionate bonding with Jesus will translate itself into an affectionate bonding with one another, and the world will see it.

To love as Christ loved means to manifest unselfishness at all times and in all places, by kind words and pleasant looks. {SD 101.3}

When you are being harassed, when someone is lashing out at you because of what you have or haven’t done, is that a time or a place when disciplined affection is to be exercised? When you are being harassed by someone, how do you react? Do you get anger all over your face? Your look is not pleasant at all, is it? “I’m being harassed here, so I’m going to look at this person with staring eyes and look him through and through!” Is this what we should do? No. When we stand in the courts and we are being harassed by the nastiness of people around us, are we going to grumble inside of ourselves and stare them in the face and shrivel them up? No. We will manifest kind words and pleasant looks.

Genuine love is a precious attribute of heavenly origin, which increases its fragrance in proportion as it is dispensed to others. {Ibid.}

This is missionary work. This is the true missionary spirit that will convince people. It will be dispensed from a heart of affection.

Christ’s love is deep and earnest, flowing like an irrepressible stream to all who will accept it. There is no selfishness in His love. {SD 101.4}

No selfishness; it doesn’t matter what they do to me.

If this heaven-born love is an abiding principle in the heart, it will make itself known, not only to those we hold most dear in sacred relationship, but to all with whom we come in contact. It will lead us to bestow little acts of attention, to make concessions, to perform deeds of kindness, to speak tender, true, encouraging words. It will lead us to sympathize with those whose hearts hunger for sympathy. {Ibid.}

This is missionary work. As we have to meet people day by day we demonstrate the love and affection that we have for Jesus and His ways. This is the Testimony of Jesus to us that we are reading, and if we are going to display the message that we are displaying through the internet, through our communication in a platonic manner, we haven’t finished yet; because we will yet have to do it in an affectionate manner.

It is our own character and experience that determine our influence upon others. {AG 276.6}

Isn’t missionary work an influence that we must have upon others? So it is our character and experience that will determine this influence.

In order to convince others of the power of Christ’s grace, we must know its power in our own hearts and lives. The gospel we present for the saving of souls must be the gospel by which our own souls are saved. Only through a living faith in Christ as a personal Saviour is it possible to make our influence felt in a skeptical world. {Ibid.}

The world is sceptical against us. We will be in courts because of that. Some of them know us too. These people who put us in to the courts know our mistakes; they know what sort of people we have been. But now the love of Jesus has changed us.

If we would draw sinners out of the swift-running current, our own feet must be firmly set upon the Rock, Christ Jesus. {Ibid.}

The badge of Christianity is not an outward sign, not the wearing of a cross or a crown, but it is that which reveals the union of man with God. {AG 276.7}

It is when we are affectionately united with God, as Jesus is united with God.

By the power of His grace manifested in the transformation of character the world is to be convinced that God has sent His Son as its Redeemer. No other influence that can surround the human soul has such power as the influence of an unselfish life. The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian. {Ibid.}

Practical Reality of the Loud Cry

We talk about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and we say, It’s going to be a powerful, loud cry to the world around us; but what is this power? What is it all reality when we stand in the courts? It is the loving and lovable character of the Christian who has affections for God pulsating through his being; and these affections will be expressed in words and looks and by all the affectionate communications to my fellow man.

By the quiet, unconscious influence of a holy life, true Christians reveal Christ. The fragrance of the life, the loveliness of the character, show to the world that they are children of God. Men take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus. {ST, May 18, 1904 par. 5}

They are Christians; the world will know it, because the fragrance of the life, the loveliness of the character, show the people, This is true Christianity. And when we have to defend the doctrines of our faith with this kind of method, is this not a power? Let us take to heart what the Lord wants us to do in preparation for the big loud cry that He will use us to make, if we will only love the Lord with deep affections. When He uses us, this is how it will be demonstrated:

Kind words, pleasant looks, a cheerful countenance, throw a charm around the Christian that makes his influence almost irresistible. {OHC 238.2}

You want to attract people to this message? They don’t like what you are teaching, they don’t necessary like that we have a message so contrary to the world around us, they think they want to argue against us; but with kind words, pleasant looks and a cheerful countenance they will be charmed and it will give an influence that is almost irresistible. They will say, “I really want to be part of these people; they’re too beautiful. I don’t agree with what they’re saying, but wow, what they are teaching must be doing something to them.” This is missionary work.

This is a way to gain respect, and extend the sphere of usefulness, which costs but little. It is the religion of Christ in the heart that causes the words issuing therefrom to be gentle and the demeanor condescending, even to those in the humblest walks of life. {Ibid.}

Even towards the gutter people we will have a demeanour that is condescending, gentle. When someone wants to rattle and attack you, how do you respond?

A blustering, faultfinding, overbearing man is not a Christian; for to be a Christian is to be Christlike. {Ibid.}

We want to learn from Jesus to conquer that sort of behaviour.

He who drinks in the spirit of Christ will let it flow forth in kind words, and be expressed in courteous deportment. The plan of salvation is to soften whatever is harsh and rough in the temper, and to smooth off whatever is rugged or sharp in the manners. External change will testify of an internal change. The truth is the sanctifier, the refiner. Received into the heart, it works with hidden power, transforming the receiver. But those who profess the truth and at the same time are rough, and sour, and unkind in words and deportment, have not learned of Jesus; all these manifestations show that they are yet servants of the wicked one. No man can be a Christian without having the spirit of Christ, manifesting meekness, gentleness, and refinement of manners. {OHC 238.3}

Pleasant, kind, and well-bred Christians will have an influence for God and His truth; it cannot be otherwise. {OHC 238.4}

Are we preparing for the end? As we read this and we realise, I have revealed something unkind and unpleasant there; and we feel discouraged again, let us get the message right. It is absorbing the beauty of Jesus that will change all that. So let us not despair because I am so rough and sour at times, or because I do not always express the kindness I should express. Let us discover that, Yes, this is what I have done, but I flee into the arms of Jesus. And let His amazing mercy and kindness affect me once again, so that when the next rasping experience comes my way (from whomsoever it may be) I will respond with kind looks, with courteous behaviour, with lovingkindness, words that are not rasping and nasty, but melting and kind. Let us practice this. Let us make it our preparation for the time to come, so that we can be the missionaries God wants us to be.

Where are my affections? If they are centred upon Jesus and I am being drawn more and more by His love and my affections are aroused by Him, it makes all the difference to our missionary endeavours.

May God help us not to forget this message.

Amen.