Press Your Case, March 20

I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely. Hosea 14:4.AG 87.1

I hope that none will obtain the idea that they are earning the favor of God by confession of sins or that there is special virtue in confessing to human beings.... The Lord would have us come to Him daily with all our troubles and confessions of sin, and He can give us rest....AG 87.2

Confess your secret sins alone before your God. Acknowledge your heart wanderings to Him who knows perfectly how to treat your case. If you have wronged your neighbor, acknowledge to him your sin and show fruit of the same by making restitution. Then claim the blessing. Come to God just as you are, and let Him heal all your infirmities. Press your case to the throne of grace; let the work be thorough. Be sincere in dealing with God and your own soul. If you come to Him with a heart truly contrite, He will give you the victory.... He will not misapprehend or misjudge you.AG 87.3

Your fellow men cannot absolve you from sin or cleanse you from iniquity. Jesus is the only One who can give you peace. He loved you and gave Himself for you. His great heart of love is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15). What sins are too great for Him to pardon? what soul too dark and sin-oppressed for Him to save? He is gracious, not looking for merit in us, but of His own boundless goodness healing our backslidings and loving us freely, while we are yet sinners. He is “slow to anger, and of great kindness” (Nehemiah 9:17).^{42Testimonies for the Church 5:648, 649.}AG 87.4

There is a remedy for the sin-sick soul. That remedy is in Jesus. Precious Saviour! His grace is sufficient for the weakest; and the strongest must also have His grace or perish.AG 87.5

I saw how this grace could be obtained. Go to your closet and there alone plead with God. “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Be in earnest, be sincere. Fervent prayer availeth much. Jacob-like, wrestle in prayer. Agonize. Jesus in the garden sweat great drops of blood; you must make an effort. Do not leave your closet until you feel strong in God; then watch, and just as long as you watch and pray, you can keep these evil besetments under, and the grace of God can, and will, appear in you.^{43Spiritual Gifts 2:257.}AG 87.6