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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
out in new places and prove your work. Go with a spirit to labor to
convert souls to the truth. If you feel the worth of souls, the least
indication for good will rejoice your heart, and you will persevere,
although there may be labor and weariness in the effort. After you
have once agitated the subject of truth, do not leave that place if there
is the least indication for good. Do you expect a harvest without
labor? Do you expect that Satan will readily allow his subjects to
pass from his ranks to the ranks of Christ? He will make every effort
to keep them bound in fetters of darkness under his black banner.
Can you expect to be victorious in winning souls to Christ without
earnest effort, when you have such a foe to face and battle?
You must have more courage, more zeal, and put forth greater
efforts, or you will have to decide that you have mistaken your
calling. An easily discouraged minister does injury to the cause
he desires to promote, and injustice to himself. All who profess to
be ministers of Christ should learn wisdom by studying the history
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of the Man of Nazareth, and also the history of Martin Luther and
the lives of other Reformers. Their labors were arduous, but they
endured hardness as faithful soldiers of the cross of Christ. You
should not shun responsibilities. With modesty, you should be
willing to be advised, to be instructed. After you have received
counsel from the wise, the judicious, there is yet a Counselor whose
wisdom is unerring. Fail not to present your case before Him and
entreat His direction. He has promised that if you lack wisdom and
ask of Him, He will give it to you liberally and upbraid not. The
sacred, solemn work in which we are engaged calls for wholehearted,
thoroughly converted men, whose lives are interwoven with the life
of Christ. They draw sap and nourishment from the living Vine,
and flourish in the Lord. Although they feel the magnitude of the
work, and are led to exclaim, “Who is sufficient for these things?”
yet they will not shrink from labor and toil, but will labor earnestly
and unselfishly to save souls. If the undershepherds are faithful in
all their duty, they will enter into the joy of their Lord and have the
satisfaction of seeing souls saved in heaven through their faithful
efforts.
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