And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. Luke 17:5.

Faith should be cultivated. If it has become weak it is like a sickly plant that should be placed in the sunshine and carefully watered and tended. The Lord would have every one who has had light and evidence cherish that light and walk in its brightness. God has blessed us with reasoning powers so that we may trace from cause to effect. If we would have light we must come to the light. We must individually lay hold on the hope set before us in the gospel…. How foolish it would be to go into a cellar, and mourn because we were in the dark. If we want light we must come up into a higher room. It is our privilege to come into the light, to come into the presence of God….

We should grow daily in faith in order that we may grow up to the full measure of the spiritual stature in Christ Jesus. We should believe that God will answer our prayers, and not trust to feeling. We should say, My gloomy feelings are no evidence that God has not heard me. I do not want to give up on account of these sad emotions, for “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). The rainbow of promise encircles the throne of God. I come to the throne, pointing to the sign of God’s faithfulness, and cherish the faith that works by love and purifies the soul.

We are not to believe because we feel or see that God hears us. We are to trust to the promise of God. We are to go about our business believing that God will do just what He has said He would do, and that the blessings we have prayed for will come to us when we most need them. Every petition enters into the heart of God when we come believing. We have not faith enough. We should look upon our heavenly Father as more willing to help us than an earthly parent is to help his child. Why not trust Him?

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).^{17Letter 97, 1895.}

From That I May Know Him

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 2:26.

There are many in the Christian world who claim that all that is necessary to salvation is to have faith; works are nothing, faith is the only essential. But God’s Word tells us that faith without works is dead, being alone…. Faith and works go hand in hand…. Works will never save us; it is the merit of Christ that will avail in our behalf. Through faith in Him, Christ will make all our imperfect efforts acceptable to God. The faith we are required to have is not a do-nothing faith; saving faith is that which works by love and purifies the soul. He who will lift up holy hands to God without wrath and doubting will walk intelligently in the way of God’s commandments.

If we are to have pardon for our sins we must first have a realization of what sin is, that we may repent and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. We must have a solid foundation for our faith; it must be founded on the Word of God, and its results will be seen in obedience to God’s expressed will…. Faith and works will keep us evenly balanced, and make us successful in the work of perfecting Christian character…. We are living in an important and interesting period of this earth’s history. We need more faith than we have yet had; we need a firmer hold from above. Satan is working with all power to obtain the victory over us, for he knows that he has but a short time in which to work….

There is no excuse for sin or for indolence. Jesus has led the way, and He wishes us to follow in His steps. He has suffered, He has sacrificed as none of us can, that He might bring salvation within our reach. We need not be discouraged. Jesus came to our world to bring divine power to man, that through His grace we might be transformed into His likeness. When it is in the heart to obey God, when efforts are put forth to this end, Jesus accepts this disposition and effort as man’s best service, and He makes up for the deficiency with His own divine merit.^{16Signs of the Times, June 16, 1890.}

From That I May Know Him

O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Matthew 14:31.

“Wherefore didst thou doubt?” said Christ to the sinking Peter. The same question may be addressed to us…. The Lord has pledged Himself to give us strength to enable us to stand. As we search the Scriptures we find ground for confidence, provision for sufficiency. It is our privilege to say boldly, yet humbly, The Lord is my helper, therefore I shall not be moved from my steadfastness. My life is hid with Christ in God. Because He lives, I shall live also. Let us pledge ourselves before God and the angels of heaven that we will not dishonor God by speaking words of discouragement or unbelief…. Close the door to distrust and open the door wide to faith. Invite into the soul temple the heavenly Guest.^{13The Review and Herald, June 9, 1896.}

You may have your choice as to who shall rule your heart and control your mind. If you choose to open the door to the suggestions of the evil one, your mind will be filled with distrust and rebellious questioning. You may talk out your feelings, but every doubt you utter is a seed that will germinate and bear fruit in another’s life, and it will be impossible to counteract the influence of your words. You may be able to recover from your season of temptation …, but others that have been swayed by your influence may not be able to escape from the unbelief you have suggested. How important it is that we speak to those around us only those things which will give spiritual strength and enlightenment! ^{14The Review and Herald, February 11, 1890.}

It is our duty to encourage faith, to talk faith that we may have faith. If we talk doubt and encourage doubt we shall have abundant doubt, for Satan will help us in this kind of work. We need sanctified hearts and sanctified lips. We need to breathe in the rich, bracing atmosphere that comes from the heavenly Canaan…. Why should we fill the gallery of the mind with gloomy scenes of doubt? Why not let the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine into the chambers of heart and mind, and dispel the shadows of unbelief? Turn to the Light, to Jesus the precious Saviour.^{15Manuscript 66, 1895.}

From That I May Know Him

And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? Mark 4:40.

Why are we so weak in faith? … We are so faithless, so unbelieving, that the Lord cannot do for us those things which He longs to do. There are doubts in our minds that are very saddening and very difficult to dispel.

These doubts that bow down the soul we should each one bravely face, and tell the soul that we must conquer them at once. Make no delay, for there can be no peace where faith is lost. We need not express these doubts, for they may cause some poor soul to stumble. But examine them in the light of God’s Word, then talk them over with Jesus with His Word of promise in your hand, and pray for their removal. Tell the Lord, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24). Let not doubt be placed in a comfortable, easy chair. It is a dangerous guest when it is left to rankle in the mind and counteract faith….

Genuine faith is life, and where there is life there is growth. The life which Jesus imparts cannot but grow more and more abundantly. A living faith means an increase of vigor, a confiding trust, by which the soul becomes a conquering power. He who drinks of the water of life which Jesus gives, possesses within himself a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Though it shall be cut off from all created springs, it is fed from the hidden fountain. It is a perpetual spring, in immediate communication with the inexhaustible fountain of life.

The Lord is dishonored when any who profess His name have an emptiness. This misrepresents God. Nothing but Christ manifested in spirit and life and character can reveal God to a world that knows Him not. The soul renewed in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, demonstrates its divine fullness in a living, growing experience—even the fullness of Him that filleth all things.^{12Letter 70, 1897.}

From That I May Know Him

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6.

The time has come when we are to expect large blessings from the Lord. 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….

The work of faith means more than we think. It means genuine reliance upon the naked word of God. By our actions we are to show that we believe that God will do just as He has said. The wheels of nature and of providence are not appointed to roll backward nor to stand still. We must have an advancing, working faith, a faith that works by love and purifies the soul from every vestige of selfishness. It is not self, but God, that we must depend upon. We must not cherish unbelief. We must have that faith that takes God at His word….

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. The tree must be made good before the fruit can be good. We must be wholly consecrated to God. Our will must be made right before the fruit can be good. We must have no fitful religion. “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

O what a field is opened before me! Our people must have the deep working of the Spirit of God every day. They must have a faith that works by love, a faith that emanates from God. There must not be a thread of selfishness drawn into the fabric. When our faith works by love, just such a love as Christ revealed in His life, it will be of a firm texture; it will be the fruit of a will subdued. But not until self dies can Christ live in us. Not until self dies can we possess a faith that works by love and purifies the soul.^{11Letter 105, 1898.}

From That I May Know Him