Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. Ephesians 6:14.

The enemy is on the track of every one of us, and if we would resist temptations which assail us from without and from within, we need to make sure we are on the Lord’s side, that His truth is in our hearts, that it keeps watch in our souls, ready to sound an alarm and summon us to action against every enemy. Without this defense amid unseen foes we shall be like the willow bending to blast, driven of the wind and tossed. But if Christ abides in the soul we may be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might….

The mind can be expanded and ennobled and should be made to dwell upon heavenly things. Our powers must be cultivated to the uttermost, else we shall fail of meeting God’s standard. Unless … [the mind] flows in a heavenward direction it becomes an easy prey to the temptation of Satan to engage in worldly projects and enterprises that have no special connection with God…. All zeal and devotion and restless energy and feverish desire are brought into this work, and the devil stands by and laughs to see human effort wrestling so perseveringly for an object that it will never gain, which eludes its grasp….

To be independent and self-reliant in some respects is [a] duty that we owe to ourselves. But here, where the enemy will come in with his delusive snares, pride takes the place of humility. And when you or I trust to our own resources, our own wisdom, and seek counsel of our own heart, then certain disappointment, shame, and confusion will be our portion at last. We are in a fair way to triumph only when we are closely connected with God, and have on the whole armor of righteousness….

It is essential that you feel the power of the truth as well as to believe it. It should have a steady, abiding influence upon the mind. But dreamlike projects are favored and bar the way to deep and thorough heavenly principles. The things of this life have the precedence of the interest pertaining to the future, immortal life. The common and earthly deaden the sense of the eternal.

There is one safeguard against Satan’s deceptions and snares—that is the truth as it is in Jesus. The truth planted in the heart, nourished by watchfulness and prayer, nourished by the grace of Christ, will give us discernment. The truth must abide in the heart, be felt in its power in spite of all the alluring enchantments of Satan, and your experience and mine must be that the truth can purify, guide, and bless the soul.—Letter 17, December 1, 1886, to “My Dear —” (addressee unknown).

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Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:11.

The Bible is to be the rule of your life practice, for all who follow its teachings are made wise unto salvation.

You cannot depend on your own righteousness. If you make the Lord your trust constantly, you will not be brought into confusion. For keeping power, trust wholly in the One who understands all your spiritual necessities. God is very pitiful. Depend on Him alone. Christ’s righteousness atones for your sins. He is making intercession in your behalf. Seek to please Him by keeping all His commandments.

The more that we, individually, are acquainted with the Bible, and the more earnestly and zealously we criticize ourselves, comparing our hearts and lives with the standard of God’s requirements, the more fully will we trust only in the Wisdom that cannot err. Through faith we will accept the promise given to those who receive Christ as their personal Saviour—the promise that to them He will give power to become sons and daughters of God.

My brother, keep the perfection of Christ’s character ever before you. Whatever may be the human judgment pronounced on your case, remember that God has authorized no human agent to be judge of his fellow man. Put your trust in God at all times, and you will find Him able to keep you by His almighty power. He will be an ever-present, all-sufficient defense against the strife of tongues which Satan inspires to confuse and weaken and discourage….

The Friend of sinners knows how to help and strengthen and bless those who, having sinned, turn again unto the Lord. Those who seek God with the whole heart will find Him a present help in every time of need. He will heal the erring, instead of denouncing and crushing them. He will hear the penitential prayers, and will pardon the repentant ones, doing them good, according to the great riches of His grace….

Lift up heart and soul in praise to God because He has acknowledged you as His child. He will make you His helping hand, and will bless you in the work of trying to help other souls. The Holy Spirit will work every heart susceptible to its holy influence. Christ’s righteousness will go before such an one, and the glory of the Lord will be his rearward.—Letter 192, November 30, 1902, to W. O. Palmer, one of J. E. White’s helpers in his work for the blacks of the Southern States.

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Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:11.

The heart is the place for the truth to begin its work. Truth is to be a power in the life and character. If received and cherished in the heart, it will work as the leaven of a life-giving principle, changing the whole being.

Truth has power to make the sayings of Christ spirit and life. If cherished and respected, it will cause the man to turn from his evil ways. Truth and error cannot abide in the same heart. “He that is not with me is against me,” Christ declares, “and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” (Matthew 12:30).

Wisdom, intellect, power—these are not God. But God is the Author of all wisdom, all grace, all power. God gave Lucifer his power and wisdom, yet this intelligence was not God Himself. We are to know God as He is revealed in His marvelous works. Who by searching can find out God? This is not part of our work…. God’s character is expressed in the Ten Commandments. To know God as He is—this is the science of all goodness and truth and righteousness. We must obey every expression of His character as revealed in His law.

God requires obedience, not for the purpose of showing His authority, but that we may become one with Him in character. We will find in God the attributes of character needed to form characters after His likeness. We are to form characters that are in harmony with the Deity. Thus our natures become spiritualized in every faculty.

We cannot present any correct representation in words of God’s glory and majesty. It is beyond expression. But we can enjoy the contemplation of God, and the sense of His presence. We can know of Him all that human beings can bear. We can talk with Him in prayer.

At times, when our faith goes out to Him completely, we converse with Him, and by faith endure the seeing of the Invisible. Faith revealed Him and we contemplate all that we can endure. When in times of trouble and perplexity we trust Him fully, we have a living sense of His cheering, all-pervading presence and power. We realize that the Lord is indeed our strength and our portion forever. We can be one with Christ in God. But let us never undertake to define God as an essence. Never, never venture one step into the way of putting God in the place of the things of His creation.—Manuscript 126, November 29, 1905, “A Warning Against Present Dangers.”

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My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. John 10:29.

We must rise to a higher standard on the subject of faith. We have too little faith. The Word of God is our endorsement. We must take it, simply believing every word. With this assurance, we may claim large things, and according to our faith it will be unto us…. If we humble our hearts before God, if we seek to abide in Christ, we shall have a higher, holier experience….

True faith consists in doing just what God has enjoined, not manufacturing things He has not enjoined. Justice, truth, mercy, are the fruit of faith. We need to walk in the light of God’s law; then good works will be the fruit of our faith, the proceeds of a heart renewed every day.

We must not in any way make self our god. God has given Himself to die for us, that He might purify us from all iniquity. The Lord will carry on this work of perfection for us if we will allow ourselves to be controlled by Him….

The work of righteousness cannot be carried forward unless we exercise implicit faith. Move every day under God’s mighty working power. The fruit of righteousness is quietness and assurance forever. If we had exercised more faith in God and had trusted less to our own ideas and wisdom, God would have manifested His power in a marked manner on human hearts. By a union with Him, by living faith, we are privileged to enjoy the virtue and efficacy of His mediation. Hence we are crucified with Christ, dead with Christ, risen with Christ, to walk in newness of life with Him.

We are not to hold ourselves in our own hands. We are to drop self into the hands of God…. Our lack of faith is the reason that we have not seen more of the power of God. We exercise more faith in our own working than in God’s working for us. God designs that everything possible shall be done to enable us to stand heart to heart, mind to mind, shoulder to shoulder. This lack of love and confidence in one another weakens our faith in God.

We need to pray as we never have prayed before for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, for if there was ever a time when we needed this baptism, it is now. There is nothing the Lord has more frequently told us He would bestow upon us, and nothing by which His name would be more glorified in bestowing, than the Holy Spirit. When we partake of this Spirit, men and women will be born again…. Souls once lost will be found, and brought back.—Letter 105, November 28, 1898, to Elder and Mrs. S. N. Haskell.

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Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Ecclesiastes 12:1.

My Dear Young Friend: I have felt an interest in you similar to the yearning desire a mother feels for her child. Will you let me be your friend? Gladly would I help you to help yourself to become an honorable, trustworthy man. You need a Friend that will help you at all times, and I point you to Jesus as your Friend and Helper. I do not ask how far you separated your soul from God in the days of your temptation. I do not seek to draw aside the curtain that conceals the past. But some things which have been opened before me in your past history have made me feel an intense desire to preserve you from companionship that would not be a help to you, that would not lift you up, but would drag you down….

Your only safety is in making a decided movement in the right direction. I cannot choose for you. If I could, gladly would I do it…. You have kept yourself aloof from Christ for a long time, and yet probation has been granted you—you have had light and opportunities to know what is truth. It rests with you to decide whether you will choose the service of Satan or the service of Him who gave His life for you….

In your younger days you had conscientious convictions, but your associations were not properly chosen, and in following your own lead, you have brought danger and suffering upon yourself. You will carry the marks as long as life shall last. If an angel of God had not, in answer to the many prayers sent up to heaven in your behalf, stood by your side at the time of the accident, your life would have ended then and there…. But the Lord said, “I will spare him for another trial.” …

We sometimes blunder, but if we see and confess our errors, God is just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Our failures should not discourage us, but should be turned into victories. It is your privilege to choose this day whom you will serve….

You have within your reach more than finite possibilities. If you link yourself with God, turning to Him with full decision of soul, He will accept the prodigal….

Make your decision for time and for eternity. Let not any human agent cheat you out of your soul. No one can pay a ransom for your soul. Jesus has done that. Will you be indifferent to such love? … Again I say, “Come.” Jesus invites [you]; all heaven says, “Come.”—Letter 33, November 27, 1896, to a young Adventist in Australia.

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