Sanctified Life, p. 47-49

“Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” Daniel 9:3.

This week in our family’s daily morning devotionals we were reading on Ellen White’s writings on prayer. When we were reading this part it impressed me to share this reading with you all. It comes from White’s book “Sanctified Life”:

The man of God was praying for the blessing of Heaven upon his people and for a clearer knowledge of the divine will. The burden of his heart was for Israel, who were not, in the strictest sense, keeping the law of God. He acknowledges that all their misfortunes have come upon them in consequence of their transgressions of that holy law. He says, “We have sinned, we have done wickedly.... Because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us” (verses 15, 16). The Jews had lost their peculiar, holy character as God’s chosen people. “Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate” (verse 17). Daniel’s heart turns with intense longing to the desolate sanctuary of God. He knows that its prosperity can be restored only as Israel shall repent of their transgressions of God’s law, and become humble, faithful, and obedient.

In answer to his petition, Daniel received not only the light and truth which he and his people most needed, but a view of the great events of the future, even to the advent of the world’s Redeemer. Those who claim to be sanctified, while they have no desire to search the Scriptures or to wrestle with God in prayer for a clearer understanding of Bible truth, know not what true sanctification is.

Daniel talked with God. Heaven was opened before him. But the high honors granted him were the result of humiliation and earnest seeking. All who believe with the heart the word of God will hunger and thirst for a knowledge of His will. God is the author of truth. He enlightens the darkened understanding and gives to the human mind power to grasp and comprehend the truths which He has revealed.

Sanctified Life, p. 47-49

The high honor that was given was to talk with God. Sometimes the mistake we make in our prayers is that we only talk but fail to communicate with God. In this passage, Daniel shows us an example of how we can have the same honors as well.

Numbers 6:24,25

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.” Numbers 6:24,25.

I believe I shared my devotionals on this verse before but I must share my experience from this morning again. So our little Sejin is now 8 weeks old and she’s been doing real well at night so far. She was a bit fussy last night and for some reason she kept getting up. Hyemi had to get up along with her to put Sejin back to bed and you know that is not easy. Hyemi herself was getting real tired all night long.

It was just past 4 am and once again Sejin is up and crying. Finally she asked me to hold her. I got up and I was still in my sleep. I held Sejin in my arms and I started walking around. You can’t just stand still. Babies love it when you walk around while holding them. So here I am with Sejin in my arms walking all over the second floor. She seemed to be enjoying it and was not going to sleep. After some minutes, I got tired and I sat on the top of the stairs. This is my favorite place in the house. This is where I can sit, open the window, and enjoy the outside view and the cool breeze. The window wasn’t open because it would be cold but I sat down. I can see that it was slowly getting brighter outside. It was about 4:40am. I held Sejin closely and looked into her face. She was beautiful. I brought her face as close as I can and I just enjoyed the moment. I was the happiest man on earth. My face was glowing with joy. She looked calm and ready to fall asleep again.

I think this experience taught me something about this verse. I mean, it’s awkward sometimes when you see someone face to face or when you are staring at someone and then that person notices that you are staring at that person. But this is God’s face shining upon us. I think it would be such a beautiful experience when God is looking into our eyes and let His amazing face shine upon us.

Luke 5:4

“Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Luke 5:4.

Let me share this devotional thought I learned from a pastors meeting this week. The story is found in Luke 5. It’s the story where Jesus calls the fishermen to be His followers. When Jesus spotted two boats by the lake, He got into one of them. Jesus simply sat down and started speaking to the multitudes waiting at the beach. When Jesus was done speaking, He said, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

Simon replied and told Jesus that they had been working all night long and that they couldn’t catch a single fish. But Simon eventually said, “Nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” You know the rest of the story. They caught so much fish that their boat almost sunk. Simon came to his knees at the feet of Jesus. Luke 5:11 says, “they forsook all and followed Him.”

What does this tell us? These men were pros at what they were doing. They knew what needed to do and followed their work by the book. Yet they had no results. It was only when they surrendered to the voice of Jesus that brought them abundance.

We may be making a similar mistake in ministry. We do our best. We do everything we can by the book. But the most important thing to remember is that we need to listen to Jesus. Our skills and techniques mean nothing. There is nothing we can do on our own. We need to depend on Jesus and listen to Him. 

Deuteronomy 6:2

“That you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.” Deuteronomy 6:2.

I am just amazed how much young kids can do. I think it was since last year we started teaching Sebin memory verses. She just turned two years old and she just started learning to talk. I mean, she’s really good at speaking now but she’s still a little child. Hyemi started teaching Sebin short verses beginning with Genesis 1:1. It took a while but after some time Sebin started following what we tell her and within a week she was able to memorize the whole verse. After that Hyemi started teaching Sebin to memorize the Ten commandments.

When it’s time for a meal, we’d pray together and then memorize a verse together. Many times Sebin is too eager to eat her food but we wait until she memorizes her verse. We are now working on the fourth commandment. It’s quite long but Sebin is learning and soon enough she’ll be able to memorize the whole passage.

I am just amazed at what these little ones can do and it shows that we are stewards of God to teach the young ones of God’s Word and follow what the verse tells us above. We should not only abide by what God tells us in the Bible but also teach our children to follow God’s ways. This is one of our sacred duties. Do not underestimate them. They can do so much and they are ready to absorb anything we teach them. They also copy everything we do or say, so we must do our best to reflect the character of Christ.