(Concluded.)
EGW
We should educate the mind so that we can hold communion with God constantly. We must learn to glance upward in sincere desire, sending a prayer to Heaven in all places and under all circumstances. You may have that faith that will place your hand in the hand of Jesus, and by faith you may keep hold of him. You should keep your mind filled with the precious promises of God. As Christians we do not make half enough of the promises, for God will never fail in any good thing which he has promised. We should take these promises singly, view them critically in all their richness, meditate upon them until the soul is burdened with their greatness, and delighted with their strength and power. I am so sorry that we deprive ourselves of the blessing we might have, and it is simply because we do not cherish the thought that the promises of God are for us. God has left them in his word for us, and we should dig for them as for hidden treasures. Why are we so easily satisfied with little flashes of light when there is a heaven of illumination for us? We drink at shallow streams, when there is a great fountain just above us, if we will only rise a little higher in the pathway of faith. Our natures must be raised from their earthliness, they must be kindled and purified in the upper brightness of God's divine presence. But you must remember that only those who obey the commandments of God through his grace have a right to appropriate the promises written for the consolation of the children of God. The psalmist says: “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” ST April 14, 1890, par. 1
When a man gives himself to the work of the gospel and is made overseer of the church of God by the Holy Ghost, he is to keep himself as free as possible from everything that would hinder his work. The apostle writes: “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” Christ has given the command, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” And when one gives himself to the ministry he should not in his very first move entangle himself with the perplexities and burdens of this life, but he should seek to be free that he may attend to his Captain's orders. He must so arrange his affairs that he may be able to give undivided attention to the work of saving souls. If he is so circumstanced that he is drawn away from his duty to God, he should not claim to be an enlisted soldier in the service of God. The greatest anxiety of the soldier should be to please his captain, and the greatest care of Christ's soldiers should be to please their divine Master. Many have become cumbered with care; earthly things have taken up their attention until their spiritual discernment is dimmed. They cannot appreciate the wants of the cause of God, and therefore cannot put forth well-directed efforts to meet its emergencies, and to advance its interests. They constantly seek to shape the work in accordance with their circumstances, in place of shaping circumstances to meet the demands of the cause of God. ST April 14, 1890, par. 2
The minister's first thought should be, How shall I labor so that I will meet with God's approval? If a soldier loads himself down with extra burdens, he unqualifies himself both for the march and the battle, and if a minister becomes absorbed in the temporal things of this life, he cannot be a success as a soldier of Christ. “And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits.” The minister is to present the truth to others, not in a harsh, dictatorial manner, manifesting fretfulness when opposed, and becoming impatient when those for whom he labors are slow to accept the truth; he is to be patient, gentle unto all men, in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves, if peradventure God may give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. The laborer for God will not receive the crown unless he strives according to the requirement of God, and that is in the spirit of Christ. ST April 14, 1890, par. 3
The apostle says: “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” ST April 14, 1890, par. 4
Those who strive lawfully will have complete victory at last, but there is too much striving that is not done in the Spirit of Christ. We should strive to obtain the victory over every unholy passion of the soul, over every spiritual weakness, over every defect of character. We should seek to excel in the graces of the Spirit of God, in meekness, patience, goodness, love, peace, and joy. If we strive for this, it will be a worthy, lawful striving that will be rewarded of God. In contending for the faith, we must be careful to stand as did Christ before the people; we must have a spirit that will correspond to the purity and greatness of the doctrines we advocate. We must teach the truth as it is in Jesus. We must labor as does the husbandman, with diligence and patience, that we may be partakers of the fruits. We must do the will of God before we can receive the promise. “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.” ST April 14, 1890, par. 5