Basic HTML Version
Heart Service, February 13
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy
neighbour as thyself.
Luke 10:27
.
The heart is the citadel of the whole man, and until the heart is wholly on
the Lord’s side, the enemy will find unguarded entrances through which he
can take possession. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure”
(
Philippians 2:12, 13
). If you would have light, you must intelligently cherish
it, and constantly exercise faith, and not be controlled by feeling. It is evident
that truth has been planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit when it is loved
and cherished, and regarded as a sacred endowment. Love will then spring
up in the heart like a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life.
When this love is in the heart, the worker will find no weariness in the work
of Christ.
Let not one ray of light from heaven be held in questioning and doubt.
In great power the Lord has revealed to you His grace, His mercy, and His
love; and He who charges the work of God to undue excitement, and calls it
fanaticism, is certainly standing on dangerous ground. If such do not retrieve
their steps, their consciences will become less and less sensitive, and they will
have less and less appreciation of the Spirit of God. It will become harder
and harder for them to understand the message of God. Why?—Because
they are sinning against the Holy Ghost; and as a result of their resistance,
they place themselves where they cannot recognize the Spirit of God, but set
themselves against every instrumentality that God might use to save them
from ruin. “What sign shewest thou?” (
John 2:18
) said the Jews to Christ,
when at the same time His life and character, His lessons and miracles, were
continual signs of His holy mission and divinity.
When God moves upon the hearts of men to draw them to Christ, it
seems that a compelling power comes over them, and they believe, and give
themselves up to the influence of the Spirit of God. But if they do not maintain
the precious victory that God has given; if they permit old practices and habits
to revive, and indulge in amusement or worldly luxury; if they neglect prayer,
and cease resisting evil, then Satan’s temptations are accepted, and they are
led to doubt the verity of their former experience.—
The Review and Herald,
February 13, 1894
.
[53]
50