460
      
      
         Counsels for the Church
      
      
        be ready and waiting for His appearing. Oh, how glorious it will be
      
      
        to see Him and be welcomed as His redeemed ones! Long have we
      
      
        waited, but our hope is not to grow dim. If we can but see the King in
      
      
        His beauty we shall be forever blessed. I feel as if I must cry aloud:
      
      
        “Homeward bound!” We are nearing the time when Christ will come
      
      
        in power and great glory to take His ransomed ones to their eternal
      
      
        home.
      
      
        In the great closing work we shall meet with perplexities that we
      
      
        know not how to deal with; but let us not forget that the three great
      
      
        powers of heaven are working, that a divine hand is on the wheel, and
      
      
        that God will bring His promises to pass. He will gather from the
      
      
        world a people who will serve Him in righteousness
      
      
      
      
        The Promise of Victory
      
      
        I pray earnestly that the work we do at this time shall impress itself
      
      
        deeply on heart and mind and soul. Perplexities will increase; but let
      
      
        us, as believers in God, encourage one another. Let us not lower the
      
      
        standard, but keep it lifted high, looking to Him who is the author and
      
      
        finisher of our faith. When in the night season I am unable to sleep, I
      
      
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        lift my heart in prayer to God, and He strengthens me, and gives me
      
      
        the assurance that He is with His ministering servants in the home field
      
      
        and in distant lands. I am encouraged and blessed as I realize that the
      
      
        God of Israel is still guiding His people, and that He will continue to
      
      
        be with them, even to the end.
      
      
        The Lord desires to see the work of proclaiming the third Angel’s
      
      
        message carried forward with increasing efficiency. As He has worked
      
      
        in all ages to give victories to His people, so in this age He longs to
      
      
        carry to a triumphant fulfillment His purposes for His church. He bids
      
      
        His believing saints to advance unitedly, going from strength to greater
      
      
        strength, from faith to increased assurance and confidence in the truth
      
      
        and righteousness of His cause.
      
      
        We are to stand firm as a rock to the principles of the word of
      
      
        God, remembering that God is with us to give us strength to meet each
      
      
        new experience. Let us ever maintain in our lives the principles of
      
      
        righteousness, that we may go forward from strength to strength in the
      
      
        name of the Lord. We are to hold as very sacred the faith that has been
      
      
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         Testimonies for the Church 8:252-254