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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
God has ordained that in order to grow in grace and in a knowledge
of Christ, men must follow His example and work as He worked. It
will often require a struggle to control our own feelings and to refrain
from speaking in a manner to discourage those who are laboring under
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temptation. A life of daily prayer and praise, a life which will shed
light upon the path of others, cannot be maintained without earnest
effort. But such effort will yield precious fruit, blessing not only the
receiver, but the giver. The spirit of unselfish labor for others gives
depth, stability, and Christlike loveliness to the character and brings
peace and happiness to its possessor. The aspirations are elevated.
There is no room for sloth or selfishness. Those who exercise the
Christian graces will grow. They will have spiritual sinew and muscle,
and will be strong to work for God. They will have clear spiritual
perceptions, a steady, increasing faith, and prevailing power in prayer.
Those who are watching for souls, who devote themselves most fully
to the salvation of the erring, are most surely working out their own
salvation.
But how has this work been neglected! If the thoughts and affec-
tions were wholly given to God, think you that souls in error, under the
temptations of Satan, would be dropped as carelessly and unfeelingly
as they have been? Would not greater efforts be put forth, in the love
and simplicity of Christ, to save these wandering ones? All who are
truly consecrated to God will engage with the greatest zeal in the work
for which He has done the most, for which He has made an infinite
sacrifice—the work for the salvation of souls. This is the special work
to be cherished and sustained, and never allowed to flag.
God calls upon His people to arise and come out of the chilling,
frosty atmosphere in which they have been living, to shake off the
impressions and ideas that have frozen up the impulses of love and
held them in selfish inactivity. He bids them come up from their low,
earthly level and breathe in the clear, sunny atmosphere of heaven.
Our meetings for worship should be sacred, precious occasions.
The prayer meeting is not a place where brethren are to censure and
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condemn one another, where there are to be unkind feelings and hard
speeches. Christ will be driven from the assemblies where this spirit
is manifested, and Satan will come in to take the lead. Nothing that
savors of an unchristian, unloving spirit should be permitted to enter;
for do we not assemble to seek mercy and forgiveness from the Lord?