Take Time to Talk with God
Special instruction has been given me in regard to our ministers.
It is not God’s will that they should seek to be rich. They should not
engage in worldly enterprises; for this disqualifies them for giving
their best powers to spiritual things. But they are to receive wages
enough to support themselves and their families. They are not to have
so many burdens laid upon them that they cannot give proper attention
to the church in their own family; for it is their special duty to train
their children for the Lord.
It is a great mistake to keep a minister constantly at work in busi-
ness lines, going from place to place, and sitting up late at night in
attendance at board meetings and committee meetings. This brings
upon him weariness and discouragement. Ministers should have time
to rest, to obtain from God’s word the rich nourishment of the bread of
life. They should have time to drink refreshing draughts of consolation
from the stream of living water.
Let ministers and teachers remember that God holds them account-
able to fill their office to the best of their ability, to bring into their
work their very best powers. They are not to take up duties that conflict
with the work that God has given them.
When ministers and teachers, pressed under the burden of financial
responsibilities, enter the pulpit or the schoolroom with wearied brain
and overtaxed nerves, what else can be expected than that common fire
will be used instead of the sacred fire of God’s kindling? The strained,
tattered efforts disappoint the listeners and hurt the speaker. He has
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had no time to seek the Lord, no time to ask in faith for the unction of
the Holy Spirit....
I am instructed to say to my fellow-workers, If you would have the
rich treasures of heaven, you must hold secret communion with God.
Unless you do this, your soul will be as destitute of the Holy Spirit as
were the hills of Gilboa of dew and rain. When you hurry from one
thing to another, when you have so much to do that you cannot take
time to talk with God, how can you expect power in your work?
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