Faith Is the Key to Overcoming

Many who try to obey God’s commandments have little peace or joy. These people do not correctly represent sanctification. The Lord wants all His sons and daughters to be happy, peaceful, and obedient. Through faith the believer possesses these blessings. Through faith, every lack in our characters can be filled, every defilement cleansed, every fault corrected, every excellence developed.ULe 206.2

Prayer is heaven’s appointed way to success in developing character. For forgiveness of sin, for the Holy Spirit, for a Christlike temper, for wisdom and strength to do His work, for any gift He has promised, we may ask, and the promise is, “You will receive.”ULe 206.3

It is in personal, private fellowship with Him that we are to think deeply about God’s glorious ideal for humanity. In all ages, as people have prayed and turned their thoughts to heaven, God has worked out His purpose for His children by unfolding the doctrines of grace gradually to their minds.ULe 206.4

True sanctification means perfect love, perfect obedience, perfect conformity to God’s will. We are to be sanctified through obeying the truth. It is our privilege to cut away from the entanglements of self and sin and move forward to perfection.ULe 206.5

Many interpret the will of God to be what they want to do. These people have no conflicts with self. Others may sincerely struggle for a time against their selfish desire for pleasure and ease, but then they get tired of dying to self every day and of endless trouble. Death to self seems repulsive, and instead of resisting temptation, they fall under the its power.ULe 206.6

The Word of God leaves no room for compromise with evil. At whatever sacrifice of convenience or selfish indulgence, of effort or suffering, Christ’s followers must continue to wage a constant battle with self.ULe 206.7

The greatest praise we can bring to God is to become consecrated channels through whom He can work. Let us not refuse to give God that which, though we cannot gain merit by giving it, will bring us ruin if we deny it to Him. He asks for a whole heart—give it. It is His, both by creation and redemption. He asks for your intellect—give it. It is His. He asks for your money—give it. It is His. “Do you not know that ... you are not your own? For you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). God holds up before us the highest ideal—perfection. He asks us to be absolutely and completely for Him in this world, as He is for us in the presence of God.ULe 206.8

“This is the will of God” concerning you, “your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Is it your will also? If you humble your heart and confess your sins, trusting in the merits of Jesus, He will forgive and cleanse you. God demands entire obedience to His law. Let your heart be filled with an intense longing for His righteousness.ULe 207.1

As you contemplate the unimaginable riches of God’s grace, you will come into possession of them, and your life will reveal the merits of the Savior’s sacrifice, the protection of His righteousness, and His power to present you before the Father “without spot and blameless” (2 Peter 3:14).ULe 207.2