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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
The experienced laborers, those who toiled under the weight and
the oppressive burdens when there were but few to help bear them,
God regards; and He has a jealous care for those who have proved
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faithful. He is displeased with those who are ready to find fault with
and reproach those servants of God who have grown gray in building
up the cause of present truth. Your reproaches and your murmurings,
young men, will surely stand against you in the day of God. As long
as God has not laid heavy responsibilities upon you, do not get out of
your place and rely upon your own independent judgment and assume
responsibilities for which you are not fitted.
Dear brother and sister, you need to cultivate watchfulness and
humility, and to be diligent in prayer. The more closely you live to
God, the more clearly will you discern your weaknesses and your
dangers. A practical view of the law of God, a clear discernment of
the atonement of Christ, will give you a knowledge of yourselves and
will show you wherein you fail to perfect Christian character. In short,
you both need a daily experience in God’s will concerning you. When
you see your great spiritual lack you will realize the fact that human
depravity, specified in the word of God, is true in your experience. You
are both pharisaical, and are in danger of remaining voluntarily and
fearfully in the dark in regard to your dangers and your true standing
before God.
You both need to learn the duties which devolve upon you in the
various circumstances and relations of life. You have neglected your
duties to both God and man. Self-knowledge you need so much. The
ignorance of your own hearts leads you to overlook the necessity of
a daily, living experience in the divine life. In a degree you overlook
the necessity of having a divine influence constantly with you. This
is positively necessary in doing the work of God. If you neglect this,
and pass on in self-confidence and self-sufficiency, you will be left to
make very great blunders. You need constantly to cherish lowliness of
mind and a spirit of dependence. He who feels his own weakness will
look higher than himself and will feel the need of constant strength
from above. The grace of God will lead him to exercise and cherish a
spirit of constant gratitude. He who is best acquainted with his own
weakness will know that it is the matchless grace of God alone that
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will triumph over the rebellion of the heart.