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Changes Our Stubborn Wills to Sanctified Wills, April
18
As the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.
Ephesians 6:6
.
Let no one say, “I cannot overcome my defects of character”; for if
this is your decision, then you cannot have eternal life. The impossibility
is all in your will. If you
will not
, that constitutes the
cannot
.
The real difficulty is the corruption of an unsanctified heart, and an
unwillingness to submit to the will of God. When there is a determined
purpose born in your heart to overcome, you will have a disposition to
overcome, and will cultivate those traits of character that are desirable,
and will engage in the conflict with steady, persevering effort. You will
exercise a ceaseless watchfulness over your defects of character, and will
cultivate right practices in little things. The difficulty of overcoming will
be lessened in proportion as the heart is sanctified by the grace of Christ
What a work might have been done for us as individuals, if our proud
and stubborn wills had been wholly submerged in the will of God, and our
souls lifted up from earthliness to a higher, purer atmosphere
Self-will and pride are evils that turned angels into demons and barred
the gates of heaven against them
You cannot control your impulses, your emotions, as you may desire,
but you can control the will, and you can make an entire change in your
life. By yielding up your will to Christ, your life will be hid with Christ in
God, and allied to the power which is above all principalities and powers.
You will have strength from God that will hold you fast to His strength;
and a new light, even the light of living faith, will be possible to you....
There will be in you a power, an earnestness, and a simplicity that will
make you a polished instrument in the hands of God
[116]
44
The Youth’s Instructor, September 7, 1893
.
45
The Youth’s Instructor, July 26, 1894
.
46
Pacific Health Journal, January, 1890.
47
Messages to Young People, 152, 153
.
117