An Open Door

[Thompson, Darryl]

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Ellen G. White Estate, Devotional for July 3
Visit us at http://www.whiteestate.org
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An Open Door

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not
found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had
this testimony, that he pleased God. Heb. 11:5.

When we learn to walk by faith and not by feeling, we shall have help
from God just when we need it, and His peace will come into our hearts.
It was this simple life of obedience and trust that Enoch lived. If we
learn this lesson of simple trust, ours may be the testimony that he
received, that he pleased God.

In every phase of your character building you are to please God. This
you may do; for Enoch pleased Him though living in a degenerate age. And
there are Enochs in this our day.

For three hundred years Enoch had been seeking purity of heart, that he
might be in harmony with heaven. For three centuries he had walked with
God. Day by day he had longed for a closer union; nearer and nearer had
grown the communion, until God took him to Himself. He had stood at the
threshold of the eternal world, only a step between him and the land of
the blest; and now the portals opened, the walk with God, so long
pursued on earth, continued, and he passed through the gates of the holy
city,-the first from among men to enter there.

With the word of God in his hands, every human being, wherever his lot
in life may be cast, may have such companionship as he shall choose. In
its pages he may hold converse with the noblest and best of the human
race, and may listen to the voice of the Eternal as He speaks with men.
. . . He may dwell in this world in the atmosphere of heaven, imparting
to earth's sorrowing and tempted ones thoughts of hope and longings for
holiness; . . . like him of old who walked with God, drawing nearer and
nearer the threshold of the eternal world, until the portals shall open,
and he shall enter there. He will find himself no stranger. The voices
that will greet him are the voices of the holy ones, who, unseen, were
on earth his companions-voices that here he learned to distinguish and
to love. He who through the word of God has lived in fellowship with
heaven, will find himself at home in heaven's companionship.

>From Devotional: Our Father Cares, pp. 171, 172.