Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? Micah 7:18.

We need greater faith in Jesus Christ. We need to bring Him into our everyday life. Then we shall have peace and joy, and we shall know by experience the meaning of His words, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” Our faith must claim the promise that we abide in the love of Jesus….

Precious opportunities and privileges are granted to us to be a light and blessing to others, strengthening their faith and encouraging them through the heavenly sunshine in our own souls. We may gather for our own benefit precious rays of cheerful hope and peace and fullness of joy, and in so doing help everyone with whom we associate. Instead of strengthening unbelief and doubt, we shall inspire hope.

It is the privilege of all who comply with the conditions to have an experimental faith, to know for themselves that pardon is freely extended for every sin. God has pledged His word that when we confess our sins He will forgive them and cleanse from all unrighteousness. Put away unbelief. Put away the suspicion that these promises are not meant for you. They are for every repentant transgressor, and God is dishonored by your unbelief. Let those who have been filled with doubt only believe the words of Jesus fully, and thenceforward they will rejoice in blessedness of light….

We keep the Savior too far apart from our everyday lives. We want Him abiding with us as an honored, trusted friend. We should consult Him on all subjects. We should tell Him every trial, and thus gain strength to meet temptation….

What more can we ask of God than what He has already given us? Oh, the love, the infinite love of our blessed Lord, to be our sacrifice! What joy should fill the hearts of Christians, and what expressions of gratitude be heard from their lips, that through the blood of Jesus it is possible for us to gain the love of God, to be one with Him! … Believing on the Son, we shall be obedient to all of the Father’s commandments and have life through Jesus Christ….

Christ is our hope and our refuge. His righteousness is imputed only to the obedient. Let us accept it through faith, that the Father shall find in us no sin.—The Review and Herald, September 21, 1886.

From From the Heart

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. Genesis 3:15.

In this first prophecy contained in the Scriptures is found an intimation of redemption. Though a part of the sentence pronounced upon the serpent, it was uttered in the hearing of our first parents, and hence must be regarded as a promise. While it announces war between Satan and mankind, it declares that the power of the great adversary will finally be broken.

Adam and Eve stood as criminals before their God, awaiting the sentence which transgression had incurred. But before they hear of the thorn and the thistle, the sorrow and anguish which should be their portion, and the dust to which they should return, they listen to words which must have inspired them with hope. Though they must suffer from the power of their adversary, they might look forward to ultimate victory.

God declares, “I will put enmity.” This enmity is supernaturally put and not naturally entertained. When Adam and Eve sinned, their nature became evil, and they were in harmony, and not at variance, with Satan. The lofty usurper, having succeeded in seducing our first parents as he had seduced angels, counted on securing their allegiance and cooperation in all his enterprises against the government of heaven. There was no enmity between himself and the fallen angels. Whatever discord might exist between them, all were united, as by bands of steel, in their opposition and hatred against God. But when Satan heard that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, he knew that though he had succeeded in depraving human nature and assimilating it to his own, yet by some mysterious process God would restore to humans their lost power and enable them to resist and overcome their conqueror.

It is the grace that Christ implants in the soul that creates the enmity against Satan. Without this grace we would continue to be the captives of Satan, servants ever ready to do his bidding. The new principle in the soul creates conflict where hitherto had been peace. The power which Christ imparts enables us to resist the tyrant and usurper. Whenever men and women are seen to abhor sin instead of loving it, when they resist and conquer those passions that have held sway within, there is seen the operation of a principle wholly from above.—The Review and Herald, July 18, 1882.

From From the Heart

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14.

Christ came to the world to reveal the character of the Father and to redeem the fallen race. The world’s Redeemer was equal with God. His authority was as the authority of God. He declared that He had no existence separate from the Father. The authority by which He spoke and wrought miracles was expressly His own, yet He assures us that He and His Father are one….

As legislator, Jesus exercised the authority of God; His commands and decisions were supported by the Sovereignty of the eternal throne. The glory of the Father was revealed in the Son; Christ made manifest the character of the Father. He was so perfectly connected with God … that He who had seen the Son had seen the Father. His voice was as the voice of God….

Christ was misjudged by the Jews because He did not dwell constantly on the law as written in the tables of stone. He invited men and women to learn of Him, for He was a living representation of the law of God…. He knew that no one could point out any defect in His character or conduct. What power His spotless purity gave to His instructions, what force to His reproofs, what authority to His commands! Truth never languished on His lips, never lost any of its sacredness, because it was illustrated in the divine character of its Advocate….

When Jesus spoke, it was not with hesitating uncertainty, with repetition of words and familiar figures. The truth came from His lips clothed in new and interesting representations that gave it the freshness of a new revelation. His voice was never pitched to an unnatural key, and His words came with an earnestness and assurance appropriate to their importance and the momentous consequences involved in their reception or rejection. When His doctrines were opposed, He defended them with so great zeal and certainty as to impress His hearers that He would die, if need be, to sustain the authority of His teachings.

Jesus was the light of the world. He came forth from God with a message of hope and salvation to the fallen descendants of Adam. If men and women would but receive Him as their personal Savior, He promised to restore to them the image of God and to redeem all that had been lost through sin. He presented to them the truth without one thread of interwoven error.—The Review and Herald, January 7, 1890.

From From the Heart

Each of us shall give account of himself to God. Romans 14:12.

God has given to “every man his work.” He has not left the spiritual interests of the church wholly in the hands of the minister. It is not for the good of the minister, nor for the good of the individual members of the church, that the minister should undertake exclusive charge of the Lord’s heritage. Each member of the church has a part to act in order that the body may be preserved in a healthful condition. We are all members of the same body, and each member must act a part for the benefit of all the others. All members have not the same office. As the members of our natural body are directed by the head, so as members of the spiritual body we should submit ourselves to the direction of Christ, the living head of the church….

The minister and the church members are to unite as one person in laboring for the upbuilding and prosperity of the church. Every one who is a true soldier in the army of the Lord will be an earnest, sincere, efficient worker, laboring to advance the interests of Christ’s kingdom….

Many members of the church have been deprived of the experience which they should have had, because the sentiment has prevailed that the minister should do all the work and bear all the burdens. Either the burdens have been crowded upon the minister, or he has assumed those duties that should have been performed by the members of the church. Ministers should take the officers and members of the church into their confidence, and teach them how to labor for the Master. Thus the minister will not have to perform all the labor himself, and at the same time the church will receive greater benefit than if he endeavored to do all the work and release the members of the church from acting the part which the Lord designed that they should….

The burden of church work should be distributed among its individual members, so that each one may become an intelligent laborer for God. There is altogether too much unused force in our churches…. Many have willing hands and hearts, but they are discouraged from putting their energies into the work…. The wisdom to adapt ourselves to peculiar situations, the strength to act in time of emergency, are acquired by putting to use the talents the Lord has given us and by gaining an experience through personal work.—The Review and Herald, July 9, 1895.

From From the Heart

And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood. Exodus 12:22.

The directions that Moses gave concerning the Passover feast are full of significance, and have an application to parents and children in this age of the world….

The father is to dedicate every inmate of his home to God and to do a work that is represented by the feast of the Passover. It is perilous to leave this solemn duty in the hands of others. This peril is well illustrated by an incident that is related concerning a Hebrew family on the night of the Passover.

The legend goes that the eldest daughter was sick, but that she was acquainted with the fact that a lamb was to be chosen for every family, and that its blood was to be sprinkled upon the lintel and side posts of the door so that the Lord might behold the mark of the blood and not suffer the destroyer to enter in to smite the firstborn. With what anxiety she saw the evening approach when the destroying angel was to pass by. She became very restless. She called her father to her side, and asked, “Have you marked the doorpost with blood?” He answered, “Yes, I have given directions in regard to the matter. Do not be troubled, for the destroying angel will not enter here.”

The night came on, and again and again the child called her father, still asking, “Are you sure that the doorpost is marked with blood?” Again and again the father assured her that she need have no fear, that a command which involved such consequences would not be neglected by his trustworthy servants. As midnight approached, her pleading voice was heard saying, “Father, I am not sure. Take me in your arms, and let me see the mark for myself, so that I can rest.”

The father conceded to the wishes of his child; he took her in his arms and carried her to the door; but there was no blood mark upon the lintel or the posts. He trembled with horror as he realized that his home might have become a house of mourning. With his own hands he seized the hyssop bough and sprinkled the doorpost with blood. He then showed the sick child that the mark was there.—The Review and Herald, May 21, 1895.

From From the Heart