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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
powerful influence of divine love; for this will renew and refine the
heart, sanctify the life, and elevate and ennoble the entire man. Then
his words and works will savor of heaven rather than of his own spirit.
If the words of eternal life are sown in the heart, fruit will be
produced unto righteousness and peace. A spirit of self-sufficiency
and self-importance must be overcome by you, my dear brother. You
should cultivate a spirit that is willing to be instructed and counseled.
Whatever others may say or do, you should say: What is that to me?
Christ has bidden me follow Him. You should cultivate a spirit of
meekness. You need an experience in genuine godliness, and unless
you have this, you cannot engage in the work of God understandingly.
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Your spirit must soften and be subdued by being brought into obedience
to the will of Christ. You should at all times maintain the lowly dignity
of a follower of Jesus. Our deportment, our words and actions, preach
to others. We are living epistles, known and read of all men.
You should be careful not to preach the truth from strife or con-
tention, for if you do you will most assuredly turn the battle against
yourself and be found advancing the cause of the enemy rather than the
truth of God. Every time that you engage in a contest it should be from
a sense of duty. If you make God your strength and subdue yourself,
and let the truth bear away the victory, the devices of Satan and his
fiery darts will fall upon himself, and you will be strengthened, kept
from error, and guarded from every false way. You need to cultivate
caution and not rush on in your own strength. The work is important
and sacred, and you need great wisdom. You should counsel with your
brethren who have had experience in the work. But, above everything
else, you should obtain a thorough knowledge of your own weakness
and dangers, and should strengthen the weak points in your character,
that you may not make shipwreck of faith.
We are living amid the perils of the last days, and if we have a spirit
of self-sufficiency and independence we shall be exposed to the wiles
of Satan and be overcome. Self-importance must be put away from
you, and you be hid in God, depending alone upon Him for strength.
The churches do not need your labor. If you are consecrated to God,
you can labor in new fields, and God will work with you. Purity of
heart and life God will accept. Anything short of this, He will not
regard. We must suffer with Christ if we would reign with Him.