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Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene
If you cannot control your impulses, your emotions, as you may desire,
you can control the will, and thus an entire change will be wrought in
your life. When you yield up your will to Christ, your life is hid with
Christ in God. It is allied to the power which is above all principalities
and powers. You have a strength from God that holds you fast to his
strength; and a new life, even the life of faith, is possible to you.
You can never be successful in elevating yourself, unless your will
is on the side of Christ, co-operating with the Spirit of God. Do not
feel that you cannot; but say, “I can, I will.” And God has pledged his
Holy Spirit to help you in every decided effort.
Every one of us may know that there is a power working with our
efforts to overcome. Why will not men lay hold upon the help that has
been provided, that they may become elevated and ennobled? Why do
they degrade themselves by the indulgence of perverted appetite? Why
do they not rise in the strength of Jesus, and be victorious in his name?
The very feeblest prayer that we can offer, Jesus will hear. He pities
the weakness of every soul. Help for every one has been laid upon
Him who is mighty to save. I point you to Jesus Christ, the sinner’s
Saviour, who alone can give you power to overcome on every point.
[149]
Heaven is worth everything to us. We must not run any risk in
this matter. We must take no venture here. We must know that our
steps are ordered by the Lord. May God help us in the great work of
overcoming. He has crowns for those that overcome. He has white
robes for the righteous. He has an eternal world of glory for those who
seek for glory, honor, and immortality. Every one who enters the city
of God will enter it as a conqueror. He will not enter it as a condemned
criminal, but as a son of God. And the welcome given to every one
who enters there will be, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” [
Matthew
25:34
.]
Gladly would I speak words that would aid such trembling souls
to fasten their grasp by faith upon the mighty Helper, that they might
develop a character upon which God will be pleased to look. Heaven
may invite them, and present its choicest blessings, and they may have
every facility to develop a perfect character; but all will be in vain
unless they are willing to help themselves. They must put forth their
own God-given powers, or they will sink lower and lower, and be of
no account for good, either in time or in eternity.