For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Romans 8:14.

Through the ministry of the angels the Holy Spirit is enabled to work upon the mind and heart of the human agent and draw him to Christ…. But the Spirit of God does not interfere with the freedom of the human agent. The Holy Spirit is given to be a helper, so that man may cooperate with the Divine, and it is given to Him to draw the soul but never to force obedience.

Christ is ready to impart all heavenly influences. He knows every temptation that comes to man, and the capabilities of each. He weighs his strength. He sees the present and the future, and presents before the mind the obligations that should be met, and urges that common, earthly things shall not be permitted to be so absorbing that eternal things shall be lost out of the reckoning. The Lord has fullness of grace to bestow on every one that will receive of the heavenly gift. The Holy Spirit will bring the God-entrusted capabilities into Christ’s service, and will mold and fashion the human agent according to the divine Pattern.^{24Letter 71, 1893.}

The Holy Spirit is our efficiency in the work of character building, in forming characters after the divine similitude. When we think ourselves capable of molding our own experience, we make a great mistake. We can never of ourselves obtain the victory over temptation. But those who have genuine faith in Christ will be worked by the Holy Spirit. The soul in whose heart faith abides will grow into a beautiful temple for the Lord. He is directed by the grace of Christ. Just in proportion as he depends on the Holy Spirit’s teaching he will grow.^{25Manuscript 8, 1900.}

The influence of the Holy Spirit is the life of Christ in the soul. We do not now see Christ and speak to Him, but His Holy Spirit is just as near us in one place as another. It works in and through every one who receives Christ. Those who know the indwelling of the Spirit reveal the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.^{26Manuscript 41, 1896.}

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The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Jeremiah 31:3.

The work dearest to the heart of Christ is that of drawing souls to Him…. Look at Jesus, the Majesty of heaven.^{*From a personal letter of appeal.} What do you behold in His life history? His divinity clothed with humanity, a whole life of continual humility, the doing of one act of condescension after another, a line of continual descent from the heavenly courts to a world all seared and marred with the curse, and in a world unworthy of His presence, descending lower and still lower, taking the form of a servant, to be despised and rejected of men, obliged to flee from place to place to save His life, and at last betrayed, rejected, crucified. Then, as sinners for whom Jesus suffered more than the power of mortal can portray, shall we refuse to humble our proud will?

Study day and night the character of Christ. It was His tender compassion, His inexpressible, unparalleled love for your soul, that led Him to endure all the shame, the revilings, the abuse, the misapprehensions of earth. Approach nearer Him, behold His hands and His feet, bruised and wounded for our transgressions. “The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

Lose no time, let not another day pass into eternity, but just as you are, whatever your weakness, your unworthiness, your neglect, delay not to come now…. The call of Jesus to come to Him, the presentation of a crown of glory that fadeth not away, the life, the eternal life that measures with the life of God, has not been of sufficient inducement to lead you to serve Him with your undivided affections….

Be no longer on Satan’s side of the question. Make decided, radical changes through the grace given you of God. No longer insult His grace. He is saying with tears, “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40). Now Jesus is inviting you, knocking at the door of your heart for entrance. Will you let Him come in? ^{23Letter 36, 1892.}

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For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Thus the world’s Redeemer illustrates the work of the Holy Spirit upon the human heart. The living agent, by an act of faith of his own, places himself in the hands of the Lord for Him to work in him His good pleasure in His time. There must be a continual exercise of faith to be in Christ and keep in Christ, abiding by faith in Him.

This is a training process, a constant discipline of the mind and heart, that Christ shall work His great work in human hearts. Self, the old natural self, dies, and Christ’s will is our will, His way is our way, and the human agent becomes, with heart, mind, and intellect, an instrument in the hands of God to work no more wickedness but the righteousness of Christ….

In the divine arrangement God does nothing without the cooperation of man. He compels no man’s will. That must be given to the Lord completely, else the Lord is not able to accomplish His divine work that He would do through the human agency. Jesus declared that in a certain place He could not do many mighty works among the people because of their unbelief. He wanted to do for them in that place just what He knew that they needed to have done, but He could not because unbelief barred the way. The potter cannot mold and fashion unto honor that which has never been placed in his hands. The Christian life is one of daily surrender, submission, and continual overcoming, gaining fresh victories every day. This is the growing up into Christ, fashioning the life into the divine Model….

Devotion, piety, and sanctification of the entire man come through Jesus Christ our righteousness. The love of God needs to be constantly cultivated. O how my heart cries out to the living God for the mind of Jesus Christ! I want to lose sight of self.^{22Manuscript 8, 1900.}

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But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. John 1:12.

How did men treat Christ when He came? … “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11). Thus it is today. This history is being repeated, and will be repeated again and again before the Lord shall come in the clouds of heaven. The deceptions of Satan will be upon those who dwell on the earth….

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” … After fitting up this world as the dwelling place of man, God looked upon it, and rejoiced in it, pronouncing it very good. So He will accept of and rejoice in the reformation wrought out by those who, receiving Christ as their Saviour, have obtained power to become the sons of God….

The first chapter of Colossians shows us the heights to which it is our privilege to attain. We may be “filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,” walking “worthy of the Lord,” “being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:9-14).

Is there not woe enough in this sin-stricken, sin-cursed earth to lead us to consecrate ourselves to the work of proclaiming the message that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16)? This earth has been trodden by the Son of God. He came to bring men light and life, to set them free from the bondage of sin. He is coming again in power and great glory to receive to Himself those who during this life have followed in His footsteps.^{21Letter 117, 1903.}

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He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Isaiah 40:11.

A true shepherd knows and pities and helps the sheep that most need his help—those that are bruised and lame and feeble. “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.”

Far more intimately than the patriarch Jacob knew the weak, the suffering, and the lame among his sheep, does the Chief Shepherd know His flock. He knows what no one else knows. He has Himself weighed every burden. No one knows the weight like Himself, for He has borne all our griefs, and carried all our sorrows. It was this that made Him a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief….

If there is not another soul in the universe that regards you, the Lord God of Israel is looking upon you with thoughts of compassion, tenderness, and sympathy. He sees you with your strong impulses when fainthearted and discouraged…. You have the deepest, the richest, the most refreshing sympathy in the bosom of the great Shepherd. We have not an high priest who cannot sympathize with us, but One who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin….

Not only has every provision been made that when tried and tempted you should find help and strength and grace, but also that your influence upon other minds should be fragrant. Not only does Christ know every soul, and the temptations and trials of that soul, but He knows all the circumstances that irritate and chafe the spirit. Your great danger is in being self-sufficient. This will not do for a Christian. Christ will give you His patience if you ask for it….

God’s abounding love and presence will give you the power of self-control. He will mold and fashion your mind and character. He will direct your aims and purposes and capabilities in a channel that will give you moral and spiritual power which you will not have to leave here in this world but can carry with you and retain through eternal ages.^{20Letter 46, 1898.}

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