Observance of the Sabbath
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We do not obtain a hundredth part of the blessing we should obtain
from assembling together to worship God. Our perceptive faculties
need sharpening. Fellowship with one another should make us glad.
With such a hope as we have, why are not our hearts all aglow with
the love of God?
We must carry to every religious gathering a quickened spiritual
consciousness that God and His angels are there, co-operating with all
true worshipers. As you enter the place of worship, ask the Lord to
remove all evil from your heart. Bring to His house only that which
He can bless. Kneel before God in His temple, and consecrate to Him
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His own, which He has purchased with the blood of Christ. Pray for
the speaker or the leader of the meeting. Pray that great blessing may
come through the one who is to hold forth the word of life. Strive
earnestly to lay hold of a blessing for yourself.
God will bless all who thus prepare themselves for His service.
They will understand what it means to have the assurance of the Spirit
because they have received Christ by faith.
The place of worship may be very humble, but it is no less ac-
knowledged by God. To those who worship God in spirit and in truth
and in the beauty of holiness it will be as the gate of heaven. The
company of believers may be few in number, but in God’s sight they
are very precious. By the cleaver of truth they have been taken as
rough stones from the quarry of the world and have been brought into
the workshop of God to be hewed and shaped. But even in the rough
they are precious in the sight of God. The ax, the hammer, and the
chisel of trial are in the hands of One who is skillful; they are used, not
to destroy, but to work out the perfection of every soul. As precious
stones, polished after the similitude of a palace, God designs us to find
a place in the heavenly temple.
God’s appointments and grants in our behalf are without limit. The
throne of grace is itself the highest attraction because occupied by One
who permits us to call Him Father. But God did not deem the principle
of salvation complete while invested only with His own love. By His
appointment He has placed at His altar an Advocate clothed with our
nature. As our Intercessor, His office work is to introduce us to God as
His sons and daughters. Christ intercedes in behalf of those who have
received Him. To them He gives power, by virtue of His own merits,
to become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King.
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