Stand Fast in the Faith, February 24

Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Philippians 1:27.

I pray that the people of God may not cast aside the peculiarities of their faith. Christ is glorified by a life of constant, well-defined faith. Paul declares, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Christ is to be glorified by the living, working faith of His people. The just shall live by faith. Christ has not left His people to stumble along in darkness. He has marked out the way before them. He says, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). It is along the path of self-denial, the royal highway cast up by the Redeemer, that God's people are to travel.

My brother, bow in submission before Him who has brought life and immortality to light. Let your will and the will of Christ be one. Talk this, pray this, live this. God's word to us is, “Go forward,” and this word we are to obey, though we shall meet with obstacles seemingly as insurmountable as the Red Sea. Let us trust the Lord God of heaven to open the way before His people. “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5). This patience of the soul is the rest of faith. The Lord will bless His tried, faithful people. He will not leave them to become confused.

In the last great day every word, every act, will be subjected to the crucial test of the Judge of all the earth…. The Lord calls for heartfelt repentance from those who claim to be His people. Self-indulgence is to find no place in their lives. The church of God is to be jealously guarded from every phase of dishonesty, every taint of corruption. The love of Christ is directly opposed to all avarice, all pride, all pretense. The Lord calls for humble, contrite hearts. He will work by His Holy Spirit upon all who will be worked, all who love Him and keep His commandments. And they will make the presence and power of God so manifestly to appear that the enemies of the truth will be compelled to say that God and His angels are indeed the friends and helpers of those who serve Him.

Schism and division are not the fruits of righteousness; they are of the wicked one. The great hindrance to our advancement at this time is the selfishness that prevents believers from having true fellowship with one another. The last prayer that Christ offered for His disciples before His trial was that they might be one in Him. Satan is determined that this oneness shall not be, for it is the strongest witness that can be borne that God did indeed send His Son to reconcile the world to heaven.—Letter 41, February 24, 1903, to Dr. F. E. Braucht, a physician laboring in Chicago.

Angel Companions, February 23

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Hebrews 1:14.

The angels who do always behold the face of the Father in heaven would prefer to remain close by the side of God. But the Lord gives to every angel his work for this fallen world. Divine help is provided for men. They have the opportunity of cooperating with heavenly intelligences, of being laborers together with God. The possibilities of gaining a fitness for the presence of God, of being enabled to see His face, are placed before them. Heavenly angels are working to bring the human family into a close brotherhood, a oneness described by Christ as like to that existing between the Father and the Son. How can men so highly honored by God fail to appreciate their opportunities and privileges? How can they refuse to accept the divine help proffered? How much it is possible for human beings to gain if they will keep eternity in view.

Satanic agencies are ever warring for the mastery over human minds. But the angels of God are constantly at work, strengthening the weak hands and confirming the feeble knees of all who call upon God for help. The promise to every child of God is, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7). The Lord is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than parents are to give good gifts to their children. Then ask; believe what God has said. He will surely fulfill His word. Say from the heart, “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever” (Psalm 73:26). The victory must be gained day by day. As followers of Christ we are to stand on vantage ground before the world as Christ's representatives. Let us then engage in this part of the Christian warfare, determinedly overcoming every weakness of character….

The Lord has had truehearted men and women, those who have made a covenant with God by sacrifice. They have not swerved from their integrity; they have kept themselves unspotted from the world. These have been led by the Light of life to defeat the purposes of the wily foe. Will human beings now act their part in resisting the devil? If they will do this, he will surely flee from them. Angels will do for you the things you cannot do for yourselves. They are waiting for your cooperation….

While you have one desire to resist the devil, and sincerely pray, “Deliver me from temptation,” you will have strength for your day. It is the work of the heavenly angels to come close to the tried, the suffering, the tempted ones.—Manuscript 14, February 23, 1899, “To Every Man His Work.”

Christ Lived a Life of Humble Obedience, February 22

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. Hebrews 5:8, 9.

Christ came to our world, and lived in the home of a peasant. He wore the best garments His parents could provide, but they were the humble garments of the peasants. He walked the rough paths, and climbed the steeps of the hillsides and mountains. When He walked the streets He was apparently alone, for human eyes did not behold His heavenly attendants. He learned the trade of a carpenter, that He might stamp all honest labor as honorable and ennobling to all who work with an eye single to the glory of God….

Christ, the Lord of the whole earth, was a humble artisan. He was unrecognized, neglected, and despised. But He held His commission and authority from the highest power, the Sovereign of heaven. Angels were His attendants, for Christ was doing His Father's business just as much when toiling at the bench as a carpenter, as when working miracles for the multitude. But He concealed the secret from the world. He attached no high titles to His name, to make His position understood, but He lived the royal law of God. His work must begin in consecrating the humble trade of the craftsmen who have toiled for their daily bread. Had Christ passed His life among the grand and the rich, the world of toilers would have been deprived of the inspiration which the Lord intended they should have.

Meek and lowly was the life of Christ. He chose this life that He might help the human family. He did not take His place upon a throne as Commander of the whole earth. He laid aside His royal robe, He laid off His kingly crown, that He might be made one of the human family. He took not on Him the nature of angels. His work was not the priestly office after the appointments of men. It was impossible for man to understand His exalted position, unless the Holy Spirit should make it known. For our sake, He clothed His divinity with humanity, and stepped down from the royal throne. He resigned His position as Commander in the heavenly courts, and for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. Thus, He hid His glory under the guise of humanity, that He might touch humanity with His divine, transforming power….

Those to whom Christ has given a probation in which to form characters for the mansions He has gone to prepare are to enter into His life example.—Manuscript 24, February 22, 1898, “Christ's Life on Earth.”

Genuine Christianity, February 21

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1.

There is a counterfeit Christianity in the world as well as a genuine Christianity. The true spirit of the man is manifested by the way in which he deals with his fellow man. We can ask the question, “Does he represent the character of Christ in spirit and action, or simply manifest the natural selfish traits of character that belong to the people of this world?” Profession weighs nothing with God. Before it is everlastingly too late for wrongs to be righted, let each one ask himself, “What am I?” It depends upon ourselves as to whether we shall form such characters as will constitute us one of God's royal family above.

If we would become Christlike, we must study Christ's character…. It is necessary that we should closely examine ourselves, and enquire, “Is this Christ's way? Would Christ pursue this course of action? What kind of an impression am I leaving upon the minds of those with whom I am connected? Shall I pursue a course of action that will weaken the confidence of anyone with whom I deal and cause them to think lightly of the Christianity that I profess? Shall I be uncourteous, un-Christlike, unmerciful toward the purchase of the blood of Christ?”

I would speak words of warning to the brethren of our churches, for I fear that many are acting the part of the slothful servant who hid his lord's talent in the earth. His sin was the sin of neglect, the sin of failing to improve the great treasures of knowledge that were committed to his trust. God has given precious light to His people with which to enlighten the world, and are not many treating it with indifference, and acting as though the heavenly gift were of little consequence? …

Fair weather disciples will not answer to the Lord's call in time of peril toward which we are hastening. It will take those who not only hear but do the words of Christ to be active disciples—“Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11). A new energy proceeding from beneath is taking possession of the whole synagogue of Satan, and a new life descending from heaven is taking possession of every human agent who is consecrated, devoted, and who is seeking to work the works of God….

Let those who minister in word and doctrine mix faith with earnest prayer, and seek to put to use every ray of light that comes from the Written Word. The voice of God calls from heaven, and demands the use of every entrusted capability. Every talent is to be used to its uttermost.—Manuscript 6, February 21, 1895, “Genuine and Counterfeit Christianity.”

Trials Will Come, February 20

For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. Lamentations 3:33.

Our heavenly Father does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. He has His purpose in the whirlwind and the storm, in the fire and in the flood. The Lord permits calamities to come to His people to save them from greater dangers. He desires everyone to examine his own heart closely and carefully, and then draw near to God, that God may draw near to him. Our life is in the hands of God. He sees dangers threatening us that we cannot see. He is the Giver of all our blessings; the Provider of all our mercies; the Orderer of all our experiences. He sees the perils that we cannot see. He may permit to come upon His people that which fills their hearts with sadness, because He sees that they need to make straight paths for their feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way. He knows our frame, and remembers that we are dust. Even the very hairs of our head are numbered. He works through natural causes to lead His people to remember that He has not forgotten them, but that He desires them to forsake the way which, if they were permitted to follow unchecked and unreproved, would lead them into great peril.

Trials come to us all to lead us to investigate our hearts, to see if they are purified from all that defiles. Constantly the Lord is working for our present and eternal good. Things occur which seem inexplainable, but if we trust in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him, humbling our hearts before Him, He will not permit the enemy to triumph.

The Lord will save His people in His own way, by such means and instrumentalities that the glory will be returned to Him. To Him alone belongs the praise….

Every soul that is saved must be a partaker with Christ of His sufferings, that he may be a partaker with Him of His glory. How few understand why God subjects them to trial. It is by the trial of our faith that we gain spiritual strength. The Lord seeks to educate His people to lean wholly upon Him. He desires them, through the lessons that He teaches them, to become more and more spiritualized. If His Word is not followed in all humility and meekness, He brings to them experiences which, if rightly received, will help to prepare them for the work to be done in His name. God desires to reveal His power in a marked manner through the lives of His people.—Manuscript 76, 1903, February 20, 1902, “The Burning of the Sanitarium.”