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Testimonies for the Church Volume 6
The best help that ministers can give the members of our churches
is not sermonizing, but planning work for them. Give each one some-
thing to do for others. Help all to see that as receivers of the grace of
Christ they are under obligation to work for Him. And let all be taught
how to work. Especially should those who are newly come to the faith
be educated to become laborers together with God. If set to work, the
despondent will soon forget their despondency; the weak will become
strong, the ignorant intelligent, and all will be prepared to present the
truth as it is in Jesus. They will find an unfailing helper in Him who
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has promised to save all that come unto Him.
Prayer and Counsel
Those who labor at camp meetings should frequently engage to-
gether in prayer and counsel, that they may labor intelligently. At
these meetings there are many things that demand attention. But the
ministers should take time to meet together for prayer and counsel
every day. You should know that all things are drawing in even lines,
“that you are standing,” as the words were spoken to me, “shoulder
to shoulder, marching right ahead, and not drawing off.” When the
work is carried on in this way, there is unity of heart, and there will
be harmony of action. This will be a wonderful means of bringing the
blessing of God upon the people.
Before giving a discourse, ministers should take time to seek God
for wisdom and power. In earlier times the ministers would often go
away and pray together, and they would not cease until the Spirit of
God responded to their prayers. Then they would return from the
place of prayer with their faces lighted up; and when they spoke to the
congregation, their words were with power. They reached the hearts
of the people because the Spirit that gave them the blessing prepared
hearts to receive their message. There is far more being done by the
heavenly universe than we realize in preparing the way that souls may
be converted. We are to work in harmony with the messengers of
heaven. We want more of God; we are not to feel that our talking and
sermonizing can do the work. Unless the people are reached through
God, they will never be reached. We are to rely wholly upon God,
pleading His promise: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,
saith the Lord of hosts.”
Zechariah 4:6
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