From: paul gage
FASTING, PRAYING, STUDYING, AND LIVING FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD
FEBRUARY 25, 2021
Greetings of Grace and Peace to the lovely Saints around the world,
We hope and pray that things are going well for each of you in spite of the turmoil in the world. It does seem as if time is speeding up, of course, the Lord said in DC 52:3 d and 83:16 f that His work would be cut short in righteousness.
The spiritual disciplines we have been practicing for many years and encouraging more recently are designed to help us reach a condition of righteousness. A condition, we know was reached by Enoch and those with him, as evidenced in Genesis 7:23 as well as DC 36:2 h. Righteousness is what will "cause" Zion. Not just fasting, praying and studying, but actually living in righteousness within ourselves, families and as much as possible, in our branches and groups.
We realize that our "cutting something short" and God's "cutting something short" are entirely two different things. We know a day is as a thousand years to the Lord, (Psalm 90:4) so our task is to remain strong in the faith because we can only see one day at a time and only then as each day unfolds. God sees it all from the beginning of time until the end. So as one hymn states, "Be faithful weary pilgrim, the morning I can see. Just lift your cross and follow close to Me, (Follow Me, p. 176 Hymns of the Restoration."
Brother Ray Huggett had an experience in the mid 1950's which is commonly referred to as "Four Clouds Over Zion.' Prior to the experience he fasted and prayed one whole day and had his scriptures with him. He stated that as he studied, meditated, fasted and prayed he began to sense some things about the Kingdom of God. He made this statement, "I was told some things and these clouds seemed like such little things that I was really surprised that we hadn't removed them long ago. Then, too, I was told that we have failed to worship with a full heart, but have held reservations which have limited our spiritual insights and withheld from us the blessings of His Kingdom, the spiritual blessings which are so necessary and which do come to those who have faith in him and who will make that kind of preparation which brings them into being."
Thusly, we all face the daily challenge of staying on task for the cause of the Kingdom, even Zion. Many times, the inability to accomplish a major task can be traced back to little things. Fasting, prayer, and study can be looked at as "little things," but those little things become bigger through loss of focus on the main goal...Zion.
Since we do know the day nor the hour when "our work" may be cut short, let us then be anxiously engaged in those little things that produce the big things, righteousness and the Kingdom. Tis an Old, Old Path, shadowed vales between, YET, I fearless walk with the NAZARENE!
God bless
Paul Gage
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