The Right Exercise of the Will, May 28

Consecration and Christian Experience

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13.FLB 154.1

God's promise is, “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13.FLB 154.2

The whole heart must be yielded to God, or the change can never be wrought in us by which we are to be restored to His likeness.^{93Steps to Christ, 43.}FLB 154.3

Pure religion has to do with the will. The will is the governing power in the nature of man, bringing all the other faculties under its sway. The will is not the taste or the inclination, but it is the deciding power which works in the children of men unto obedience to God or unto disobedience.^{94Testimonies for the Church 5:513.}FLB 154.4

The Saviour says, “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33. Whatever shall draw away the heart from God must be given up. Mammon is the idol of many. The love of money, the desire for wealth, is the golden chain that binds them to Satan. Reputation and worldly honor are worshiped by another class. The life of selfish ease and freedom from responsibility is the idol of others. But these slavish bands must be broken. We cannot be half the Lord's and half the world's. We are not God's children unless we are such entirely....FLB 154.5

Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding the will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians.^{95Steps to Christ, 44-48.}FLB 154.6

The Lord does not propose to save us in companies. Individually we are to make our choice. One by one we are to appropriate the grace of God to the soul, and one cannot decide for another what course he shall take.^{96The Youth's Instructor, October 17, 1895.}FLB 154.7

A pure and noble life, a life of victory over appetite and lust, is possible to everyone who will unite his weak, wavering human will to the omnipotent, unwavering will of God.^{97The Ministry of Healing, 176.}FLB 154.8