HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!!! AS THE NEW YEAR IS UPON US, WHAT ARE WE COUNSELED TO DO FOR THIS DAY? QUOTES FROM THE Spirit of Prophecy are posted below to give us Counsel(be sure to read all if you can, but especially read the last quote) ...By the world the holidays are spent in frivolity and extravagance, gluttony and display. . . . Thousands of dollars will be worse than thrown away upon the coming Christmas and NEW YEARS in needless indulgences. But it is our privilege to depart from the customs and practices of this degenerate age; and instead of expending means merely for the gratification of the appetite or for needless ornaments or articles of clothing, we may make the coming holidays an occasion in which to honor and glorify God. {AH 480.3} Not only on birthdays should parents and children remember the mercies of the Lord in a special way, but Christmas and NEW YEARs should also be seasons when every household should remember their Creator and Redeemer. Instead of bestowing gifts and offerings in such abundance on human objects, reverence, honor, and gratitude should be rendered to God, and gifts and offerings should be caused to flow in the divine channel. Would not the Lord be pleased with such a remembrance of Him? O how God has been forgotten on these occasions! . . . {CS 296.3} Although in one sense the first day of the NEW YEAR is no more to God than any other day, yet He often puts into the hearts of His children at that time a desire to begin the new year with new resolves,--perhaps with plans to carry out some worthy enterprise,--and with purposes to depart from the wrongs of the old year and to live the new year with new determinations. {AUCR, January 5, 1914 par. 1} Another year has almost passed into eternity. A few more days, and we shall enter a NEW YEAR. My brethren and sisters, employ wisely the remaining hours of the old year. If you have in any wise neglected your duty, repent before God, and return to the path from which you have wandered. Remember how brief the period of life allotted you. You know not how soon your probation may close...Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. {RH, December 23, 1902 par. 1} Do we truly wish our loved ones a happy NEW YEAR? Then let us make it such to them by kindness, by sympathy, by cheerfulness, by unselfish devotion. If we connect with God, the source of peace, and light, and truth, His Spirit will flow through us, to refresh and bless all around us. {ST, January 7, 1903 par. 10} ...Begin this NEW YEAR to the glory of God. Pray to him, morning, noon, and night, to give you a meek and humble spirit, a mild temper, an affectionate disposition. Live as you never lived before. Begin this NEW YEAR with new feelings, fresh desires, and a strong determination to glorify God. {YI, January 1, 1856 par. 2} Let us enter upon the NEW YEAR with a clean record. Let faults be corrected. Let bitterness and malice be uprooted. Let right triumph over wrong. Let envy and jealousy between brethren be put away. Heartfelt, honest confession will heal grave difficulties. Then, with the love of God in the soul, there may flow from sincere lips the greeting, I wish you a happy New Year. {RH, January 3, 1882 par. 8} We are now entering upon a NEW YEAR, and may it prove a beginning of years to us. If in the old year we have made failures, let us commence the new by rectifying these errors as far as we can. If the old year has borne into eternity a spotted record of opportunities neglected and privileges slighted, let us see that that of the NEW YEAR is free from these blemishes. Its days are all before us; let us begin now to make the history of each as it passes, such as we shall not tremble to meet in the judgment. Let us fill each one full of loving, helpful work for others. Let us develop all our powers, and make of ourselves all that God designed that we should.{AUCR, January 5, 1914 par. 6} I counsel you, my brethren and sisters, to commence the NEW YEAR with a clean record. For the truths sake and for Christs sake, make every effort in your power to right you wrongs. Search your hearts critically, analyze your feelings, and remove every cause of dissension. If you have defrauded your brother, angels have written it against you. If you have failed to make his case your own, and to manifest toward him tenderness and compassion, you have neglected your duty, and thus it stands registered against you. Whatever have been the mistakes and errors of the past year, let them be canceled now; let them not be brought into the NEW YEAR, to mar the purity of its unwritten pages... {RH, January 4, 1881 par. 11} ...Now, as the old year is passing away and the NEW YEAR coming in, is a good time for those who have cherished alienation and bitterness to make confession to one another. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. This is the Lords direction; will we obey him, or choose to remain in pride, and justify our course of wrong? Oh! that many may seek to have the sins of the past year blotted out, and pardon written against their names in the heavenly record. {RH, December 26, 1882 par. 7} Brethren, 1886(2014) is almost gone. Improve its few remaining moments in making restitution for wrongs. Make thorough work for eternity. Every act, every word, must stand the test of the Judgment. Set your houses in order. Set your hearts in order. Make thorough work while Jesus is ministering in the sanctuary. When we will bring our hearts into unity with Christ, and our lives into harmony with his work, the Spirit that descended on the day of Pentecost will fall on us. We shall be strong in Christs strength, and be filled with the fullness of God. Then the NEW YEAR will be welcomed by us all as the commencement of a year of higher, better principles. We shall give ourselves to Christ, making an unreserved consecration of all our property, all our capacities, to his service. We shall make good our profession of faith; we shall serve God by serving those who need our help. Then we shall let our light shine forth in good works. {RH, December 14, 1886 par. 15} ..Let us begin the NEW YEAR by offering praise and thanksgiving to God, with the determination, through His grace, to consecrate the talent of speech to His service.... {PUR, December 15, 1904 par. 12} ...Begin the NEW YEAR with honest work between you and your Maker. Lift cheerfully your God-given responsibilities...{RH, December 23, 1890 par. 16 Plan we must in the name of the Lord, and lift for all that we are worth. Let parents take their share of this work, and let us see what kind of a showing we can make for God when the NEW YEAR shall open. Let all commence to work at once on a systematic plan...{6MR 400.2} There are a few days before the old year closes and the NEW YEAR begins. Will it not be most pleasing to the Lord for parents to give earnest attention to the salvation of their children? Will it not be pleasing to God for the children and youth to unite in this work with their parents, that the entire household, without further delay, may seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is nigh?.... {RH, December 24, 1889 par. 6} ...Shall we not, in the NEW YEAR just before us, consecrate ourselves entirely to him? Shall we not make him a NEW YEARS offering of a portion of the means he has given us?...{RH, January 31, 1907 par. 4} As we stand on the threshold of a NEW YEAR, there is need of an impartial examination of our hearts to dispel the pleasing illusions of self-love. Our condition is helpless and hopeless unless infinite mercy is granted us daily, and pardon is written against our names in the heavenly records...{ST, January 4, 1883 par. 12} The NEW YEAR is right upon us, and we should recount the blessings of the past, the favors we have received of God, and then bring to the Lord our freewill-offerings, our thank-offerings, and our sin-offerings...{RH, January 4, 1881 par. 2} Christmas and NEW YEAR celebrations can and should be held in behalf of those who are helpless. God is glorified when we give to help those who have large families to support. {AH 482.3} In the interchange of presents at the commencement of the NEW YEAR, we trust that our people, not only at Battle Creek but in all other places, will remember the wants of Gods cause. The Lord is not honored by the practice of bestowing costly presents upon a few favorites because it is the custom. These favorites are seldom the Lords poor. There are but few whose chief interest at this holiday season is to FEED THE HUNGRY, CLOTHE THE NAKED, AND LIFT UP THE DISCOURAGED AND OPPRESSED. Many are really perplexed to decide what gifts they can select that will give pleasure to those who are abundantly supplied with the good things of this life. Let the money usually expended for these gifts, flow into the Lords treasury...{RH, January 4, 1881 par. 4} Dear Brethren and Sisters: The NEW YEAR is just before us, and plans should be laid for earnest, persevering effort in the Masters service. There is much to be done to advance the work of God. I have been instructed that the canvassing work is to be revived, and that it is to be carried forward with increasing success. It is the Lords work, and a blessing will attend those who engage in it with earnestness and diligence. {CEv 35.2} My brethren and sisters, during this NEW YEAR let there be among you no accusing. This is the work of the enemy. If he can lead professing Christians to accuse and condemn, he is served as he desires to be. {PUR, January 15, 1903 par. 5} ...For Christs sake, my brethren and sisters, make the most of the hours of the NEW YEAR to place the precious light of present truth before the people...{CEv 41.2} Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Shall we obey God, and bring in all our tithes and offerings, that there may be meat to supply the demands of souls hungering for the bread of life? God invites you to prove Him now, as the old year draws to its close, and let the NEW YEAR find us with Gods treasuries replenished. . . . {CS 89.1} ...Who will seek at the beginning of this NEW YEAR to obtain a new and genuine experience in the things of God? Make your wrongs right as far as possible. Confess your errors and sins one to another. Let all bitterness and wrath and malice be put away; let patience, long-suffering, kindness, and love become a part of your very being; then whatsoever things are pure and lovely and of good report will mature in your experience...{LHU 15.3} ...Shall we not in this NEW YEAR seek to correct the errors of the past? It behooves us individually to cultivate the grace of Christ, to be meek and lowly of heart, to be firm, unwavering, steadfast in the truth...Let us begin the year with an entire renunciation of self; let us pray for clear discernment, that we may understand our Saviours claims upon us, and that we may always and everywhere be witnesses for Christ (Signs of the Times, Jan. 4, 1883). {LHU 15.5} Angels of God are waiting to show you the path of life. . . . Decide now, at the commencement of the NEW YEAR, that you will choose the path of righteousness, that you will be earnest and true-hearted, and that life with you shall not prove a mistake...(ML 5.4} As you enter upon a NEW YEAR let it be with an earnest resolve to have your course onward and upward. Let your life be more elevated and exalted than it has hitherto been. Make it your aim not to seek your own interest and pleasure, but to advance the cause of your Redeemer. Remain not in a position where you ever need help yourself, and where others have to guard you to keep you in the narrow way. You may be strong to exert a sanctifying influence upon others. You may be where your souls interest will be awakened to do good to others, to comfort the sorrowful, strengthen the weak, and to bear your testimony for Christ whenever opportunity offers. Aim to honor God in everything, always and everywhere. Carry your religion into everything. {ML 369.3} Another year of life is now in the past. A NEW YEAR is opening before us. What will be its record? What will we each inscribe upon its spotless pages? The manner in which we spend each passing day will decide this question. . . . {OHC 7.2} Let us enter upon the NEW YEAR with our hearts cleansed from the defilement of selfishness and pride. Let us put away every sinful indulgence, and seek to become faithful, diligent learners in the school of Christ. A NEW YEAR opens its unsullied pages before us. What shall we write upon them? ... {OHC 7.3} Let the remnant of this year be improved in destroying every fiber of the root of bitterness, burying them in the grave with the old year. Begin the NEW YEAR with more tender regard, with deeper love, for every member of the Lords family. Press together. United, we stand; divided, we fall. Take a higher, nobler stand than you ever have before. {OHC 370.5} ...Commence the NEW YEAR right...{1T 663.1} A NEW YEAR has commenced. What has been the record of the past year in your Christian life? How stands your record in heaven? I entreat you to make an unreserved surrender to God. Have your hearts been divided? Give them wholly to the Lord now. Make a different life history the coming year from that of the past. Humble your souls before God...{4T 521.4} Another year has nearly passed into eternity, with its burden of record. Let us look over the past year, and if we have not done our full duty willingly, heartily unto the Lord, let us come up to the NEW YEAR making a faithful record to our God.(TM 308.2) In this NEW YEAR let new methods be recommended. Let parents encourage their children to act a part in the circulation of Christs Object Lessons. This will instruct the children in acts of self-denial. The work of selling Christs Object Lessons is a work that Christ would have the children engage in and they themselves will be blessed in the work. Light, precious light, is contained in the book, which every family should follow. {LLM 334.4} ...Let all who possibly can, help in the circulation of Ministry of Healing that means may come in for the doing of the work. If at the beginning of this NEW YEAR, we will take hold of this work, the blessing of the Lord will be upon us. The pushing of this enterprise is included in the missionary work to be done for this time. Let all plan to see what can be done. {LLM 335.2} ...A NEW YEAR has opened upon us. Let it be a happy New Year. . . . Nestle in the sheltering arms of Jesus, and do not wrestle yourself out of His arms. Just believe and praise God and go forward. We are almost home...{TDG 9.6} Let the neglected tithes be now brought in. Let the NEW YEAR open upon you as men honest in their deal with God. Let those who have withheld their tithes, send them in before the year 1904 shall close, that they may be right with God, and never, never again run any risk of being cursed by God. {AU Gleaner, December 14, 1904 par. 7} I now ask my brethren and sisters for a NEW YEARS present, not for myself, but for the cause of God. This request will reach many after the new year has come in, but I trust they will not excuse themselves, thinking that it is too late to present their offerings. Let your gifts come in during the entire month of January; and if you cannot command the means now, send in your pledges, stating what you will do, and then redeem these pledges as soon as possible. {RH, January 4, 1881 par. 17} January 5, 1882 A Happy New Year - By Mrs. E. G. White. -REGARDING THE CHILDREN Another year of life is now in the past. A NEW YEAR is opening before us. What will be its record? What will we each inscribe upon its spotless pages? The manner in which we spend each passing day will decide this question. Fathers and mothers, while you wish your children a Happy NEW YEAR, will you strive in the fear of God to make it a happy year? Will you seek to lead your dear ones to the true source of peace and joy? Will you consecrate your own hearts to God, that you may exert a sanctifying influence upon your children? Will you separate them from sin and sinners, and by living faith connect them with God? {ST, January 5, 1882 par. 1} It should be the work of every parent to cultivate all that is good, and true, and noble, in his children. It is his duty to correct their faults, to restrain their waywardness, even as the Lord required Eli to restrain his sons. Fathers and mothers, make the word of God your guide in the education of your children, ever considering what will be for their future good, rather than what is for your present convenience. The mother may bestow upon her daughters an education that will be invaluable, by training them to bear their share of the family burdens. The father may give his sons a capital of more worth than gold or lands, by teaching them to love useful employment, instead of seeking happiness in idle amusements or dissipation. Parents, now is the time to form in your children habits of industry, self-reliance, and self-control; to cultivate economy and business tact. Now is the time to teach them courtesy and benevolence toward their fellow-men, and reverence and love for God. {ST, January 5, 1882 par. 2} You may make a happy NEW YEAR for your children, if you faithfully discharge your duty. Home should be the most sunny and attractive spot on earth; and it may be made such by pleasant words and kind acts, and, underlying all, a steadfast adherence to the right. {ST, January 5, 1882 par. 3} By their neglect to exercise proper restraint, many parents are creating great unhappiness for their children. The youth who are left to constantly seek for pleasure in amusement or selfish gratification are not happy, and never can be happy while following this course. Fathers and mothers, teach your children that the only way to be truly happy is to love and fear God; and enforce the lesson by your example. Let them see that the peace of Christ is ruling in your heart, and that his love pervades your life. Practical religion is the need of the present hour. You cannot teach this to your children unless you possess it yourselves. {ST, January 5, 1882 par. 4} Let us enter upon the NEW YEAR with our hearts cleansed from the defilement of selfishness and pride. Let us put away every sinful indulgence, and seek to become faithful, diligent learners in the school of Christ. A new year opens its unsullied pages before us. What shall we write upon them. {ST, January 5, 1882 par. 5} Children, you greet your father and mother with a Happy NEW YEAR, but will you make it a happy year to them? It is in your power to do this. Your conduct, more than everything besides, will make a happy or an unhappy year for your parents. You may cause their hearts to throb with joy or pain. Whatever dishonors your Saviour, whatever causes a stain upon your character, brings anxiety and distress to the heart of godly parents. You cannot give them a happy NEW YEAR if you live only for self-gratification. {ST, January 5, 1882 par. 6} Seek to begin this year with right purposes and pure motives, as beings who are accountable to God. Ever bear in mind that your acts are daily passing into history by the pen of the recording angel. You must meet them again when the Judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened. {ST, January 5, 1882 par. 7} How often your lips utter the kindly greeting, I wish you a happy NEW YEAR, and then in a few moments speak impatient, fretful words. How many children are ever ready to dispute about trifles, unwilling to make the smallest sacrifice for others. To such the NEW YEAR will bring no real happiness. They may indulge in boisterous mirth, but their hearts know no peace nor joy. Will you not come with penitence and humility to Jesus, that he may cleanse you from the impurity of sin, and fit you for his heavenly kingdom? All who do this will have the happiest new year that they ever experienced. It will bring joy in Heaven and joy on earth. {ST, January 5, 1882 par. 8} Many have been seeking some rare gift to bestow upon their friends. Will you not, children, bring to Jesus the gift which he prizes above all others--the gift of your heart? While others at the holiday season adorn themselves to please the eye of their friends, will you not seek the adorning which Heaven values--the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit? If we bring to God the first gift, the value of every other is enhanced; for love makes it not merely a passing compliment, but a precious offering. From the softened heart in which the peace of Christ abides, will flow forth sincere wishes, kindly words and deeds, and worthy, appropriate offerings. {ST, January 5, 1882 par. 9} Many are the gifts and greetings that have been exchanged on New Years day, by parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, friends and acquaintances. When it is over, many feel a sense of relief. They have discharged their duty in bestowing presents, and smiles, and compliments for the occasion, and there the matter is supposed to end. The next day, and the next, and onward to the end of the year, bring fretful, passionate words, faultfinding, recrimination, and careless neglect of the dear ones of the household. Oh, such a new year is one that angels will be grieved and ashamed to register. It is anything but happy. Friends and relatives bestow a gift of sorrow, a burden of unkindness, that crushes out hope, and makes the grave look desirable. {ST, January 5, 1882 par. 10} Do we truly wish our loved ones a happy new year? Then let us make it such to them by kindness, by sympathy, by cheerfulness, by unselfish devotion. If we connect with God, the source of peace, and light, and truth, his Spirit will flow through us as a channel, to refresh and bless all around us. This may be the last year of life to us. Shall we not enter upon it with thoughtful consideration? Shall not sincerity, respect, benevolence, mark our deportment toward all? {ST, January 5, 1882 par. 11} Let us withhold nothing from Him who gave his precious life for us. Fathers and mothers, bring to him your children, in the freshness and bloom of youth, and devote them to his service. Let us all consecrate to God the property he has intrusted to us. Above all, let us give him ourselves, a free-will offering. Let us do his will, live for his glory, and he will give us a Happy NEW YEAR. I wish you a happy NEW YEAR, will soon be repeated far and near, by parents and children, brothers and sisters, acquaintances and friends. In a world like ours, this New Years greeting seems far more appropriate than the Merry Christmas so lately echoed from lip to lip. On every hand are pale faces, brows furrowed with pain and care, or forms bowed with age. Wherever we turn may be seen the garb of mourning. The suffering, the care-worn, and the aged can no longer be merry. In many a household there is a vacant chair; a beloved child, a husband and father, whose presence gladdened the last Christmas and NEW YEARS festivity, is gone from the circle. A merry Christmas seems a mockery to that bereaved family. {RH, January 3, 1882 par. 1} But whatever the cares and sorrows of life, whatever the mistakes and errors of the past, the Happy NEW YEAR, when uttered as an expression of love or respect, falls pleasantly upon the ear. And yet, are not these kindly wishes often forgotten with the utterance? How often we fail to carry their import into the daily life, and thus to aid in their fulfillment. The NEW YEARS greeting is frequently uttered by insincere lips, from hearts that would not forego one selfish gratification in order to make others happy. Recipients of gifts and favors every new year, many accept these as their due. Receiving daily the bounties of Heaven, sunshine and shower, food and raiment, friends and home,--all the unnoted yet priceless blessings of life,--they forget the claims of the Giver; forget that God has left them a legacy in his poor; and that Christ, the Majesty of Heaven, identifies himself with suffering humanity in the person of his saints. {RH, January 3, 1882 par. 2} Says our Saviour, It was I whom you neglected. While your wardrobe was supplied with costly apparel, I had no comfortable clothing; while you feasted, I was hungry; while you were absorbed in pleasure, I was sick, a stranger, and uncared for. Let those who would have a happy NEW YEAR, seek to honor God and make all around them happy. Let them share the gifts of Providence with those more needy, and bring to the Lord their offerings of gratitude, their sin-offerings, and their free-will offerings. {RH, January 3, 1882 par. 3}
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 17:35:07 +0000
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