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An Open Door, July 3
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.
Hebrews 11:5
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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
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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.
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