The Angel of Revelation 18

[devotional at egwlists.whiteestate.org]

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 Ellen G. White Estate, Devotional for July 30
 Visit us at http://www.whiteestate.org
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The Early and the Latter Rain
Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he 
hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for 
you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. Joel 
2:23. 


There is to be in the churches a wonderful manifestation of the power of God, 
but it will not move upon those who have not humbled themselves before the 
Lord, and opened the door of their heart by confession and repentance. In the 
manifestation of that power which lightens the earth with the glory of God, 
they will see only something which in their blindness they think dangerous, 
something which will arouse their fears, and they will brace themselves to 
resist it. Because the Lord does not work according to their expectations and 
ideal, they will oppose the work. "Why," they say, "should we not know the 
Spirit of God, when we have been in the work so many years?" Because they did 
not respond to the warnings, the entreaties, of the messages of God, but 
persistently said, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of 
nothing." 

Talent, long experience, will not make men channels of light unless they place 
themselves under the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and are called, 
and chosen, and prepared by the endowment of the Holy Spirit. When men who 
handle sacred things will humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, the 
Lord will lift them up. He will make them men of discernment--men rich in the 
grace of His Spirit. Their strong, selfish traits of character and their 
stubbornness will be seen in the light shining from the Light of the world. "I 
will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, 
except thou repent." If you seek the Lord with all your heart, He will be 
found of you. 

There must be no neglect of the grace represented by the former rain. Only 
those who are living up to the light they have will receive greater light. 
Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian 
virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the 
latter rain. It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not 
discern or receive it. 

>From Maranatha - Page 219