Seite 143 - Testimonies for the Church Volume 1 (1868)

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Be Zealous and Repent
139
difficulties between themselves and their brethren to remove. Others
have evil tempers, selfish covetousness, to remove before they can
open the door. Others have rolled the world before the door of their
heart, which bars the door. All this rubbish must be taken away, and
then they can open the door and welcome the Saviour in.
Oh, how precious was this promise, as it was shown to me in
vision! “I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.”
Oh, the love, the wondrous love of God! After all our lukewarmness
and sins He says: “Return unto Me, and I will return unto thee, and will
heal all thy backslidings.” This was repeated by the angel a number of
times. “Return unto Me, and I will return unto thee, and will heal all
thy backslidings.”
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Some, I saw, would gladly return. Others will not let this message
to the Laodicean church have its weight upon them. They will glide
along, much after the same manner as before, and will be spewed out
of the mouth of the Lord. Those only who zealously repent will have
favor with God.
“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne,
even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His
throne.” We can overcome. Yes; fully, entirely. Jesus died to make a
way of escape for us, that we might overcome every evil temper, every
sin, every temptation, and sit down at last with Him.
It is our privilege to have faith and salvation. The power of God has
not decreased. His power, I saw, would be just as freely bestowed now
as formerly. It is the church of God that have lost their faith to claim,
their energy to wrestle, as did Jacob, crying: “I will not let Thee go,
except Thou bless me.” Enduring faith has been dying away. It must
be revived in the hearts of God’s people. There must be a claiming of
the blessing of God. Faith, living faith, always bears upward to God
and glory; unbelief, downward to darkness and death.
I saw that the minds of some of the church have not run in the right
channel. There have been some peculiar temperaments that have had
their notions by which to measure their brethren. And if any did not
exactly agree with them, there was trouble in the camp at once. Some
have strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel.
These set notions have been humored and indulged altogether too
long. There has been a picking at straws. And when there were no real
difficulties in the church, trials have been manufactured. The minds of