Bible Studies, Kitwe Nkana (2026)

05/12/2020

Matthew 7:7
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

There was a place in England that no longer exists, where a loaf of bread was served to every passerby who chose to ask for it. Whoever the traveler was, he had only to knock at the door of St. Cross Hospital, and the loaf of bread was his to enjoy. Jesus Christ loves sinners so much that He has built a St. Cross Hospital, so that whenever a sinner is hungry, he has only to knock and have his needs supplied.

He has actually done better: This Hospital of the Cross has a bath; and whenever a soul is marred and filthy, it may go to this effective fountain and be cleansed. No sinner ever went into it and found that it could not wash away his stains. Sins that were scarlet and crimson have all disappeared, and the sinner was made whiter than snow.

As if this were not enough, there is attached to this Hospital of the Cross a dressing room, and a sinner making application simply as a sinner may be clothed from head to foot; and if he wishes to be a soldier, he will be provided not just with street clothes, but with armor that will cover him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. If he asks for a sword, that will be given to him, and a shield too. He will be denied nothing that is good for him. He will have spending money as long as he lives, and he will have an eternal heritage of glorious treasure when he enters into the joy of his Lord.

If all these things are available by simply knocking at mercy's door, then, my soul, knock hard this morning, and make large requests of your generous Lord. Do not leave the throne of grace until all your wants have been spread before the Lord and until by faith you are confident that they will all be supplied.

You need not be shy about taking Jesus up on His invitation. No unbelief should hinder when Jesus promises. No coldheartedness should restrain when such blessings are to be obtained.

27/08/2020

Numbers 14:11
The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?

Strive with all diligence to keep out the monster of unbelief. It is so dishonoring to Christ that He will withdraw His visible presence if we insult Him by tolerating it. It is true it is a w**d that we can never entirely remove from the soil, but we must aim at its root with zeal and perseverance. Among hateful things it is the most to be defeated. Its hurtful nature is so poisonous that he that uses it and he upon whom it is used are both harmed by it. In your case, believer, it is most wicked, for the mercies of your Lord in the past increase your guilt in doubting Him now. When you distrust the Lord Jesus, He may well cry out, "Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses down." To doubt is to crown His head with thorns of the sharpest kind.

It is very cruel for a well-beloved wife to mistrust a kind and faithful husband. The sin is needless, foolish, and unwarranted. Jesus has never given the slightest ground for suspicion, and it is hard to be doubted by those to whom our conduct is consistently affectionate and true. Jesus is the Son of the Highest and has unlimited wealth; it is shameful to doubt Omnipotence and distrust His sufficiency. The cattle on a thousand hills will be enough for our most hungry feeding, and the granaries of heaven are not likely to be emptied by our eating. If Christ were only a cistern, we might soon exhaust His fullness, but who can drain a fountain? Countless believers throughout the ages have drawn their supplies from Him, and not one of them has complained at the insufficiency of His resources.

Dispel this lying traitor unbelief, for his only errand is to cut the bonds of communion and make us mourn an absent Savior. Bunyan tells us that unbelief has "as many lives as a cat"; if so, let us kill one life now, and continue the work until the whole nine are gone. Down with you, traitor, my heart detests you.

12/08/2020

Psalms 97:1
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.

There are no real causes for anxiety as long as this blessed sentence is true. On earth the Lord's power controls the rage of the wicked as readily as the rage of the sea; His love refreshes the poor with mercy as easily as the earth with showers. Majesty gleams in flashes of lightning amid the tempest's horrors, and the glory of the Lord is seen in its grandeur in the fall of empires and the crash of thrones. In all our conflicts and tribulations, we may behold the hand of the divine King.

God is God; He sees and hears
All our troubles, all our tears.
Soul, forget not, in your pains,
God o'er all forever reigns.

In hell, evil spirits acknowledge, with misery, His undoubted supremacy. When permitted to roam about, it is with a chain at their heel; the bit is in the mouth of the beast, and the hook in the jaws of the monster. Death's darts are under the Lord's jurisdiction, and the grave's prisons have divine power as their jailer. The terrible vengeance of the Judge of all the earth causes fiends to cower and tremble.

Fear not death, nor Satan's thrusts,
God defends who in Him trusts;
Soul, remember, in your pains,
God o'er all forever reigns.

In heaven there are none who doubt the sovereignty of the King Eternal, but all fall on their faces to do Him homage. Angels are His courtiers, the redeemed His favorites, and all delight to serve Him day and night. May we soon reach the city of the great King!

For this life's long night of sadness
He will give us peace and gladness.
Soul, remember, in your pains,
God o'er all forever reigns.

15/07/2020

Leviticus 6:13
The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

Keep the altar of private prayer burning. This is the very life of all piety. The sanctuary and family altars borrow their fires here; therefore let this burn well. Secret devotion is the very essence, evidence, and barometer of vital and experimental [experiential] religion.

Burn here the fat of your sacrifices. Let your closet seasons be, if possible, regular, frequent, and undisturbed. Effectual prayer avails much. Have you nothing to pray for? Let us suggest the church, the ministry, your own soul, your children, your relations, your neighbors, your country, and the cause of God and truth throughout the world.

Let us examine ourselves on this important matter. Do we engage with lukewarmness in private devotion? Is the fire of devotion burning dimly in our hearts? Do the chariot wheels drag heavily? If so, let us be alarmed at this sign of decay. Let us go with weeping, and ask for the Spirit of grace and of supplications. Let us set apart special seasons for extraordinary prayer. For if this fire should be smothered beneath the ashes of a worldly conformity, it will dim the fire on the family altar and lessen our influence both in the church and in the world.

The text will also apply to the altar of the heart. This is a golden altar indeed. God loves to see the hearts of His people glowing toward Himself. Let us give to God our hearts, all blazing with love, and seek His grace, that the fire may never be quenched, for it will not burn if the Lord does not keep it burning. Many foes will attempt to extinguish it; but if the unseen hand behind the wall pours on the sacred oil, it will blaze higher and higher. Let us use texts of Scripture as fuel for our heart's fire; they are live coals. Let us attend to sermons, but above all, let us be much alone with Jesus.

08/07/2020

Judges 16:6
So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

Where does the secret strength of faith lie? It lies in the food it feeds on; for faith studies what the promise is-an emanation of divine grace, an overflowing of the great heart of God. And faith says, "My God could not have given this promise except from love and grace; therefore it is quite certain His Word will be fulfilled." Then faith thinks, "Who gave this promise?" It considers not so much its greatness as, "Who is the author of it?" She remembers that it is God, who cannot lie-God omnipotent, God immutable-and therefore concludes that the promise must be fulfilled; and onward she proceeds in this firm conviction. She remembers why the promise was given--namely, for God's glory--and she feels perfectly sure that God's glory is safe, that He will never stain His own insignia, nor spoil the sparkle of His own crown; and therefore the promise must and will stand.

Then faith also considers the amazing work of Christ as being a clear proof of the Father's intention to fulfill His word. "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"1 Moreover, faith looks back upon the past, for her battles have strengthened her, and her victories have given her courage. She remembers that God has never failed her, that He never once failed any of His children. She recalls times of great peril when deliverance came, hours of awful need when as her day her strength was found, and she cries, "No, I never will be led to think that He can change and leave His servant now. Thus far the Lord has helped me, and He will help me still."

Thus faith views each promise in its connection with the promise-giver and, because she does so, can with assurance say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!"2

1) Romans 8:32
2) Psalm 23:6

07/07/2020

1 Thessalonians 5:25
Brothers and sisters, pray for us.

This one morning in the year we reserved to remind each reader of the importance of praying for ministers, and we earnestly implore every Christian household to heed this request first uttered by Paul and now repeated by us.

Brothers, our work is solemnly momentous, involving good or ill to thousands; we deal with souls for God on eternal business, and our word is either a savor of life unto life or of death unto death. A very heavy responsibility rests upon us, and it will be no small mercy if at the last we be found clear of the blood of all men. As officers in Christ's army, we are the special target of the hostility of men and devils; they watch for our faltering and work to trip us at the heels.

Our sacred calling involves us in temptations from which you are exempt; above all it too often draws us away from our personal enjoyment of truth into a ministerial and official consideration of it. We meet with many difficult cases, and our wits are at a quandary; we observe very sad backslidings, and our hearts are wounded; we see millions perishing, and our spirits sink. We wish to encourage you by our preaching; we desire to be a blessing to your children; we long to be useful both to saints and sinners.

Therefore, dear friends, intercede for us with our God. We are miserable men if we miss the help of your prayers, but happy are we if we live in your supplications. You do not look to us but to our Master for spiritual blessings, and yet how many times has He given those blessings through His ministers; ask then, again and again, that we may be the earthen vessels into which the Lord may put the treasure of the Gospel. We, the whole company of missionaries, ministers, and students, do in the name of Jesus beseech you: "Brothers, pray for us."

05/07/2020

Romans 1:7
To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were "saints" in a more special manner than the other children of God. All are "saints" whom God has called by His grace and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves.

Yet in doing so we forget this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God, the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the more his Master honors him in His service, the more the evil of the flesh vexes and teases him day by day. The fact is, if we had seen the apostle Paul, we would have thought him remarkably like the rest of the chosen family: And if we had talked with him, we would have said, "We find that his experience and ours are much the same. He is more faithful, more holy, and more deeply taught than we are, but he has the selfsame trials to endure. Actually, in some respects he is more sorely tried than ourselves."

Do not, then, look upon the ancient saints as being exempt either from infirmities or sins; and do not regard them with that mystic reverence that will almost make us idolaters. Their holiness is attainable even by us. We are "called to be saints" by that same voice that constrained them to their high vocation. It is a Christian's duty to force his way into the inner circle of saintship; and if these saints were superior to us in their attainments, as they certainly were, let us follow them; let us emulate their passion and holiness. We have the same light that they had, the same grace is accessible to us, and why should we rest satisfied until we have equaled them in heavenly character? They lived with Jesus, they lived for Jesus, therefore they grew like Jesus. Let us live by the same Spirit as they did, "looking to Jesus,"1 and our saintship will soon be apparent.

1Hebrews 12:2

30/11/2019

Romans 7:12
The law of God, from its very nature, is unchangeable. It is a revelation of the will and the character of its Author. God is love, and His law is love. Its two great principles are love to God and love to man... The character of God is righteousness and truth; such is the nature of His law... Such a law, being an expression of the mind and will of God, must be as enduring as its Author. {GC 467}.happy Sabbath

17/02/2018

Daily Consecration

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Ephesians 4:29.

Consecration is a very simple thing. When brought daily into our individual life in practice, we shall know far more by consecration than by trusting to an experience. Each day, each hour, let the heart go out after God: "Here, Lord, am I, Thy property; take me, use me today. I lay all my plans at Thy feet; I will have no way of my own in the matter. My time is Thine; my whole life is Thine." Let the heart be constantly going forth to God for strength, for grace every moment.

Let not one evil word escape our lips, because our lips, our voice, belong to the Lord, and must be consecrated to the Lord and to His service. These lips must not dishonor Jesus, for they belong to Him. He has bought them and I must speak nothing that will offend Jesus. My ears must be closed to evil. Thus day by day we can consecrate ourselves to God. The ears must not be defiled by listening to any gossip that faultfinding ones would have us hear, for I not only cause them to sin in allowing them to talk of others' faults, but I sin myself in listening to them. I can prevent much evil speaking in thus having ears consecrated to God. I can say before the evil is done, "Let us pray," then ask God to enlighten both our minds to understand our true relation to one another and our true relation to God.

Let us open our hearts to Jesus with all the simplicity that a child would tell his earthly parents his perplexities and the things that trouble him. Thus we can restrain evil not only in ourselves but in others. Practice consecration to God daily; then there will be no danger in the life of service to God. We want gratitude brought into our life, words, and works.

Every word, every thought of complaining indulged in, is a reflection upon God, a dishonor to His name. We want our hearts attuned to His praise, full of thankfulness, talking of His love, our hearts softened and subdued by the grace of Christ, full of sweetness and peace and fragrance. We shall be patient, kind, tenderhearted, pitiful, courteous, even when dealing with those who are disagreeable. Oh, how many precious blessings we lose because we esteem self altogether too highly and have so little esteem for others....

We must not demerit ourselves and lightly esteem the ability given us of God, neither should we overestimate our own importance and trust to our human ability.—Letter 7a, August 11, 1886, to a husband and wife working in England.

13/02/2018

Christ Has Power for Us

And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2:10.

We are to live in the warm, genial rays of the Sun of Righteousness. Nothing but His loving compassion, His divine grace, His almighty power, can enable us to baffle the relentless foe and subdue the opposition of the human heart. What is our strength? The joy of the Lord. Let the melting love of Christ fill the heart, and we are softened and subdued, prepared to receive the power that He has for us.

Let us thank God every day for the blessings that are ours. If the human agent will humble himself before God, realizing how inappropriate it is for him to cherish a feeling of self-sufficiency; realizing his utter inability to do the work that needs to be done in order for his soul to be purified, casting away, making of no account, his own righteousness, Christ will engrave His own image upon his soul....

Christ will never neglect the work that has been placed in His hands. He will inspire the resolute disciple with a sense of the perversity, the sin-stained condition, the depravity, of the heart upon which He is working. The true penitent has learned the uselessness of self-importance. Looking to Jesus, comparing his own defective character with the Saviour's perfect character, he can say,

In my hand no price I bring;
Simply to Thy cross I cling.

With Isaiah he declares, "Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name" (Isaiah 26:12, 13).

Beholding Christ for the purpose of becoming like Him, the seeker after truth sees the perfection of the principles of God's law, and he becomes dissatisfied with everything but perfection. Hiding his life in the life of Christ, he sees that the holiness of the divine law is revealed in the character of Christ, and more and more earnestly he strives to be like Him. A warfare may be expected at any time, for the tempter sees that he is losing one of his subjects. A battle must be fought with the attributes which Satan has been strengthening for his own use.

The human agent sees what he has to contend with—a strange power opposed to the idea of attaining the perfection that Christ holds out. But with Christ there is saving power that will gain for him victory in the conflict. The Saviour will strengthen and help him as he comes pleading for grace and efficiency.—Manuscript 89, August 12, 1903, "First Be Reconciled to Thy Brother."

This devotional is from The Upward Look by Ellen G. White. To download free books by Ellen G. White,

04/02/2018

Remove the Rubbish of Criticism

I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2.

Do not criticize others. The spirit of criticism is eating away the very vitals of the people of God. We cannot afford to pile up rubbish. Heaven sees the work that is going on of piling up the rubbish of words. Suppose we decided not to add anything to this pile of heedless, vain, and foolish words? We have a most sacred, solemn work to do....

The piles of rubbish that have been accumulating need to be removed. How? Let us "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1). Cultivate personal piety. God would have us inquire, "Who hath known the mind of the Lord?" that He may instruct us, and that we may be able to say, "We have the mind of Christ." Then all the rubbish of evil words will be removed. May the Lord imbue us with His Spirit, and touch our lips with a burning coal from the altar. Earnestly, vigilantly watching and waiting and working, we are to be "not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord" (Romans 12:11).

The church is the one object of Christ's intense interest in this world, and for which He has unceasing care. This church is engaged in securing the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life to all who receive it. In every soul God looks for stable principles revealed in word and action. Then they will bring from the treasure house words weighted with the principles of eternal truth.

We have no time to praise the devil, no time nor voice to criticize. We are to show that the grace of Christ is abiding in our hearts. Its influence will be revealed, whatever company we are in, by words of deepest importance, involving consequences as enduring as eternity.

At this period of the earth's history we cannot afford to weaken one another's influence. The Christian warfare is close and severe. We have to meet and battle with unseen foes, and we must be in harmony with the heavenly agencies, who are seeking to cleanse us from the inclination to criticize our brethren, to pass judgment on them. The Lord desires us to stand under the yoke of Christ....

We are to believe and love the truth for Christ's sake. We must rise higher and higher in purity [and] knowledge. We are Christ's witnesses. Then let us not talk of difficulties or ponder over our trials, but come close to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. By beholding Him, studying and talking of Him, we become transformed into His image.—Letter 119, August 13, 1899, to a husband-and-wife team working in the Southern States.

04/02/2018

Need for Reformation

If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Zechariah 3:7.

The future of the church depends on the efforts made by its members to understand the sinfulness of selfishness, and their willingness to take the remedy which will cure the disease from which they are suffering. Let a reformation take place, that those who accept the truth in the future shall not be contaminated by the corrupting influence of Satan....

Many who are condemned by men are vindicated by God. Many who are exalted by human judgment are by God pronounced to be wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Human judgment often errs. Often man condemns his brother because his discernment is defective. God looks at the heart. He reads the motives which prompt to action.

God prompts the question, "Ought I to do this?" Satan leads man to say, "I can." Right is a loyal subject. Might is a haughty tyrant, leading to warfare, the scourge of the world. Right is a representation of the perfect man in Christ Jesus. It is the foundation of all righteousness and peace—the oil which fills the divine flagons....

There is a work to be done among the churches of Seventh-day Adventists that has not yet been done. Ministering angels are waiting to see who will take up the work in the right spirit.... Let all humble themselves before God, asking for grace and wisdom, that they may see wherein they have violated His holy law. Unless His Spirit enlightens them, they will never know, even though it is set before them by their brethren. Those who refuse to come into right relation to God, who will not obey the rules of His government, do not bear His mark....

The Lord is merciful. He does not chastise His people because He hates them, but because He hates the sins they are committing. He must chastise them, that they may return to their loyalty. He designs their punishment to be a warning to them and to others. No one need walk in darkness. No one need say, "Specify to me the precise wrongs of which I am guilty." To those who say this, I give the word of the Lord: "Search prayerfully, and you will know."

If the warnings and reproofs given in the Word of God and in the testimonies of His Spirit are not plain enough, what words would be sufficiently plain to bring about a revival and a reformation?—Manuscript 108, August 14, 1901, "Diary."

Bible Studies

05/12/2020

27/08/2020

12/08/2020

15/07/2020

08/07/2020

07/07/2020

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