Camp Meeting
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them to know what we are, and what we believe. We must find our way
to their hearts. Let the army of the Lord be on the ground to represent
the work and cause of God. Do not plead an excuse. The Lord has
need of you. He does not do His work without the co-operation of the
human agent. Go to the camp meeting, even though you have to make
a sacrifice to do so. Go with a will to work. And make every effort
to induce your friends to go, not in your place, but to go with you, to
stand on the Lord’s side and obey His commandments. Help those
who are interested to attend, if necessary providing them with food
and lodging. Angels who are commissioned to minister to those who
are heirs of salvation will accompany you. God will do great things for
His people. He will bless every effort to honor His cause and advance
His work.
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Preparation of Heart
At these gatherings we must ever remember that two forces are at
work. A battle unseen by human eyes is being waged. The army of
the Lord is on the ground, seeking to save souls. Satan and his host
are also at work, trying in every possible way to deceive and destroy.
The Lord bids us: “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be
able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places.”
Ephesians 6:11, 12
. Day by day the battle goes on. If our
eyes could be opened to see the good and evil agencies at work, there
would be no trifling, no vanity, no jesting or joking. If all would put
on the whole armor of God and fight manfully the battles of the Lord,
victories would be gained that would cause the kingdom of darkness
to tremble.
None of us should go to the camp meeting depending on the min-
isters or the Bible workers to make the meeting a blessing to us. God
does not want His people to hang their weight on the minister. He does
not want them to be weakened by depending on human beings for help.
They are not to lean, like helpless children, upon someone else as a
prop. As a steward of the grace of God, every church member should
feel personal responsibility to have life and root in himself. Each one
should feel that in a measure the success of the meeting depends upon