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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
soul. Christ is the indwelling Saviour. That which may be regarded
as hard to give up must be yielded. The overbearing, dictatorial word
must be left unspoken; then a precious victory will be gained. True
happiness will be the result of every self-denial, every crucifixion of
self. One victory won, the next is more easily gained. Had Moses
neglected the opportunities and privileges granted him of God, he
would have neglected the light from heaven and would have been a
disappointed, miserable man. Sin is from beneath; and when it is
indulged, Satan is enshrined in the soul, there to kindle the very fires
of hell. God has not given His law to prevent the salvation of souls,
but He wants all to be saved. Man has light and opportunities, and if
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he will improve them he may overcome. You may show by your life
the power of the grace of God in overcoming. Satan is trying to set
up his throne in the soul-temple. When he reigns he makes himself
heard and felt in angry passions, in words of bitterness that grieve and
wound; but as light has no communion with darkness, and Christ no
union with Belial, the man must be wholly for one or the other. In
yielding to self-indulgence, avarice, deception, fraud, or sin of any
kind, he encourages the principles of Satan in his soul and closes the
door of heaven to himself. Because of sin, Satan was thrust out of
heaven; and no man indulging and fostering sin can go to heaven, for
then Satan would again have a foothold there.
When a man is earnestly engaged day by day in overcoming the
defects in his character, he is cherishing Christ in his soul-temple; the
light of Christ is in him. Under the bright beams of the light of Christ’s
countenance his entire being becomes elevated and ennobled. He has
the peace of heaven in his soul. Many give loose rein to passion,
avarice, selfishness, and deception, and all the time excuse themselves
and lay the blame on the circumstances which brought around the
trial to themselves. This has been your case. God permitted your sur-
roundings to exist to develop character. But you could have made your
surroundings; for by resisting or enduring temptation, circumstances
are controlled by the might of the will in the name of Jesus. This is
overcoming as Christ overcame. “This is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith.”
Brother F, God is merciful to you. Your life has been a mistake,
nothing like what it might and should have been. There has not been
in you genuine manliness, true elevation and purity of feeling. You