They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Mark 16:18.

In teaching health principles, keep before the mind the great object of reform—that its purpose is to secure the highest development of body and mind and soul. Show that the laws of nature, being the laws of God, are designed for our good; that obedience to them promotes happiness in this life, and aids in the preparation for the life to come.

Lead the people to study the manifestation of God’s love and wisdom in the works of nature. Lead them to study that marvelous organism, the human system, and the laws by which it is governed. Those who perceive the evidences of God’s love, who understand something of the wisdom and beneficence of His laws, and the results of obedience, will come to regard their duties and obligations from an altogether different point of view. Instead of looking upon an observance of the laws of health as a matter of sacrifice or self-denial, they will regard it, as it really is, as an inestimable blessing.

Every gospel worker should feel that the giving of instruction in the principles of healthful living is a part of his appointed work. Of this work there is great need, and the world is open for it.

Everywhere there is a tendency to substitute the work of organizations for individual effort. Human wisdom tends to consolidation, to centralization, to the building up of great churches and institutions. Multitudes leave to institutions and organizations the work of benevolence; they excuse themselves from contact with the world, and their hearts grow cold. They become self-absorbed and unimpressible. Love for God and man dies out of the soul.

Christ commits to His followers an individual work—a work that cannot be done by proxy. Ministry to the sick and the poor, the giving of the gospel to the lost, is not to be left to committees or organized charities. Individual responsibility, individual effort, personal sacrifice, is the requirement of the gospel.

“Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in,” is Christ’s command, “that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23). He brings men into touch with those whom they seek to benefit. “Bring the poor that are cast out to thy house,” He says. “When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him” (Isaiah 58:7). “They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18). Through direct contact, through personal ministry, the blessings of the gospel are to be communicated.—The Ministry of Healing, 146-148.

From Reflecting Christ

Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught…. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. Luke 5:4-6.

Everyone who in living faith follows Jesus, with an eye single to His glory, will see the salvation of God just as surely as these discouraged, despondent fishermen saw their boats filled by the miraculous draught. It was because Christ was in the ship that they were successful in their efforts to catch fish. The indwelling presence of the Saviour is equally necessary in the work of winning souls.

In order to save humanity, Christ, the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, laid aside His kingly crown and royal robe, clothed His divinity with humanity, and came to this earth as our Redeemer. For thirty-three years He lived the life of a man among men, meeting the temptations that we must meet, and overcoming through the strength imparted from above. His divinity was not manifested in any display of pomp and royal power. He could have surrounded Himself with legions of heavenly angels, thereby inducing everyone to believe on Him; but this would not have been in accordance with God’s purpose.

Christ came to stand at the head of humanity, and to demonstrate that through the power of the Holy Spirit it is possible for man to withstand Satan’s temptations. With his long human arm the Saviour encircled humanity, while with His divine arm He grasped the throne of the Infinite….

We may endeavor to meet the enemy’s temptations in our own strength, doing the best we can to overcome; but we shall meet with disappointment after disappointment. This was the condition in which Christ found the disciples, after their night of unrewarded toil. They were annoyed and perplexed. Directing them to “launch out into the deep,” Christ said, “Let down your nets for a draught.”

Long had the fishermen toiled that night; often had they been disappointed in their expectations, as time and again the net was drawn up empty. When the Divine Presence was with them, and they, at His bidding, once more cast their net into the sea, what an abundance they gathered in! They were unprepared to handle so large a draught…. The sight of the miraculous draught of fish swept away the unbelief of the Galilean fishermen, and they were ready to respond to Christ’s invitation to follow Him, and to learn to be fishers of men…. However long and faithfully we may toil in our human strength, we can hope for no real results; but as soon as we welcome Christ into the heart, He will work with and through us, to the salvation of souls.—Manuscript 67, 1903.

From Reflecting Christ

For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. Acts 13:47.

Many professed Christians are laying upon the foundation-stone wood, hay, and stubble, which the fires of the last day will consume. They engage in work that wearies, work that occupies golden hours; but it is not work that need be done. Their time is occupied, their energies exhausted, in that which will bring no precious returns either in this life or in the future immortal life. What a difference will be seen when spiritual work engages the mind, when the talents are employed in the service of Jesus! The light that He has given us will then shine forth in direct, concentrated rays to others. All that we do for Jesus will enable us to enjoy this life better.

Oh, that all could see, as I have seen, the joy of those who have labored to the best of their ability, in humility and meekness, to help souls to come to Jesus! Oh, the joy that will be realized by the workers when the souls saved through their instrumentality express their gratitude in the mansions above!

While Christ will be glorified as the only Redeemer, there will be an overflow of gratitude from the saved for the human instrumentalities employed in their salvation. Their gratitude to those who rescued them will find expression in words like these: “I was pursuing a course that was a dishonor and an offense to my Redeemer; you manifested a love for my soul; you opened to me the Word of God. I was on the brink of ruin; your prayers, your tearful entreaties, your earnest interest, arrested my attention. I thought that you must have the truth or you would not be so earnest for the salvation of others. I read the Word of God for myself, and found that what you told me was the truth. I am saved, and I will praise my Redeemer for His matchless mercy and pardoning love.”

Those who think they can do but little should improve every opportunity to do that little. It may be the smallest link in the longest chain. Separated from other influences, it may appear of little worth; but in God’s great chain of circumstances it may be the link which connects a soul to Heaven. All can do something if they will; but too often selfishness prevents them from doing what they might, until the souls whom they might have saved are beyond the reach of human effort.

Dear brethren and sisters, you need divine enlightenment. When you have such a close connection with the world’s Redeemer as you should have, you will be led to make prompt, determined, personal efforts to save your fellow men. The future of God’s people lies in the present.—The Signs of the Times, January 28, 1886.

From Reflecting Christ

Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Hebrews 10:24.

The Christian pilgrim is not left to walk in darkness. Jesus leads the way. Those who follow Him walk in the sunshine of His presence. The path the pilgrim treads is clear and well defined. Christ’s righteousness goes before him—the righteousness that makes possible the good works characterizing the life of every true Christian. God is his rearward. He walks in the light as Christ is in the light. As he travels onward in the Christian journey, he combines faith with earnest endeavor to win others to accompany him. Constantly receiving the light of Christ’s presence, constantly he reflects this light to others in words of encouragement and deeds of self-denial. He bears the sign of obedience to God’s law, which distinguishes him from those who are not following the pathway that leads to life eternal….

He who walks in the light … heeds the apostle’s admonition to provoke his fellow pilgrims to love and good works. Those who have a careful regard for one another’s needs, those who speak words of kindly sympathy, those who give thoughtful assistance to others, to help them in their work, encourage not only their fellow men, but themselves as well, because they thus become laborers together with God….

Let us make straight paths, lest the lame be turned out of the way. Let no one follow a crooked path that someone else has made; for thus he would not only go astray himself, but would make this crooked path plainer for someone else to follow…. Determine that as for yourself, you will walk in the path of obedience. Know for a certainty that you are standing under the broad shield of Omnipotence. Realize that the characteristics of Jehovah must be revealed in your life, and that in you must be accomplished a work that will mold your character after the divine similitude. Yield yourself to the guidance of Him who is head over all….

Talk light; walk in the light. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Study not how to please self. Lose sight of self, and behold the multitudes perishing in their sins. Gather to your souls the courage that can come only from the Light of the world. Forgetting self, help the many who are within reach around you. Talk faith, and your faith will increase…. Walk so that your life will reflect rays of light to others. Confide in the love of Jesus, and you will have grace to save perishing souls. Your path will be as the path of the just—a “shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”—The Signs of the Times, June 3, 1903.

From Reflecting Christ

Let us not love in word …; but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18.

Divine love makes its most touching appeals to the heart when it calls upon us to manifest the same tender compassion that Christ manifested. That man only who has unselfish love for his brother has true love for God. The true Christian will not willingly permit the soul in peril and need to go unwarned, uncared for. He will not hold himself aloof from the erring, leaving them to plunge farther into unhappiness and discouragement or to fall on Satan’s battleground.

Those who have never experienced the tender, winning love of Christ cannot lead others to the fountain of life. His love in the heart is a constraining power, which leads men to reveal Him in the conversation, in the tender, pitiful spirit, in the uplifting of the lives of those with whom they associate. Christian workers who succeed in their efforts must know Christ; and in order to know Him, they must know His love. In heaven their fitness as workers is measured by their ability to love as Christ loved and to work as He worked.

“Let us not love in word,” the apostle writes, “but in deed and in truth.” The completeness of Christian character is attained when the impulse to help and bless others springs constantly from within. It is the atmosphere of this love surrounding the soul of the believer that makes him a savor of life unto life, and enables God to bless his work.

Supreme love for God and unselfish love for one another—this is the best gift that our heavenly Father can bestow. This love is not an impulse, but a divine principle, a permanent power. The unconsecrated heart cannot originate or produce it. Only in the heart where Jesus reigns is it found. “We love him, because he first loved us.” In the heart renewed by divine grace, love is the ruling principle of action. It modifies the character, governs the impulses, controls the passions, and ennobles the affections. This love, cherished in the soul, sweetens the life and sheds a refining influence on all around.

John strove to lead the believers to understand the exalted privileges that would come to them through the exercise of the spirit of love. This redeeming power, filling the heart, would control every other motive and raise its possessors above the corrupting influences of the world. And as this love was allowed full sway and became the motive power in the life, their trust and confidence in God and His dealing with them would be complete.—The Acts of the Apostles, 550-552.

From Reflecting Christ