Letter from Cody: Ecuador – March 2015

The Orellana family with a helper (left)

Have you ever been speaking to someone and realized that maybe they were just barely listening but were much more engaged in something else? Or perhaps you have been guilty of that while someone else was trying to talk to you. We all know how frustrating that can be at times, but have you ever stopped to think how thankful we can be that God is not like that with our prayers? It is true that He has millions of people speaking to Him at any given moment, but He can tune into the burden of our heart as if we were the only one—what a God! Could it be possible, though, that sometimes when we pray, we talk like we hardly think He is listening? We have a personal God who has “the very hairs of your head” “all numbered,” (Matthew 10:30) who longs for a personal relationship with you and me individually—do we believe it? We must take His Word as His personal message to us individually. “In His promises and warnings, Jesus means me. God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that I by believing in Him, might not perish, but have everlasting life. The experiences related in God’s word are to be my experiences. Prayer and promise, precept and warning, are mine. ‘I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.’ Gal. 2:20.” Desire of Ages, 390, 391. Do we take the promises of God’s Word for what they really are? Are we receiving them and assimilating them into our souls? “As our physical life is sustained by food, so our spiritual life is sustained by the word of God. And every soul is to receive life from God’s word for himself. As we must eat for ourselves in order to receive nourishment, so we must receive the word for ourselves.” Ibid, 390. May we personally appropriate Jesus’ words into our lives.

Billboard: Never Forget, true wisdom is only in God's Word

Sometimes opportunities arrive which call for decided action in getting God’s message out to those in need. The Orellana family have a family outpost center in Ecuador where they are seeking to share the love of a personal God who desires a personal relationship with the multitudes lost in rites and ceremonies. They have recently learned that Pope Francis is scheduling a visit this summer not only to Ecuador, but to the very province where they are laboring. While they have been very active in literature work in the past, this has renewed their desire to take advantage of this opportunity to point men and women to the One who alone is worthy of worship and praise—our personal God. They are planning on printing five thousand of The Great Controversy to distribute in the area so that people will be led to understand how Bible prophecy is fulfilling before our eyes. They have also put up several billboards on different subjects from the Sabbath to death, the judgment, the Word of God and the eight laws of health. They would like to be able to put up more, so as people pass by the Holy Spirit can speak to their hearts and lead them to desire something better. As they seek ways to share the truth with the masses, they are always serving individuals personally as they come to their outpost center seeking healing from physical afflictions, broken relationships and sin-sick hearts. Through their ministry to the multitudes and through their ministry to individuals, the Lord is blessing their efforts as they seek to shine as lights in the dark territory where God has placed them. If you would like to help the Orellana family in their plans for advancing God’s work, you can mark your donation “Ecuador.”

Yours receiving and sharing the words of Jesus,

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