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The Ministry of Health and Healing
upon them to arouse and in the strength of Christ win back the God-
given nobility that has been sacrificed through sinful indulgence.
Feeling the terrible power of temptation, the drawing of desire
that leads to indulgence, many people cry in despair, “I cannot resist
evil.” Tell them that they can, that they must, resist. They may have
been overcome again and again, but it need not be always thus.
They are weak in moral power, controlled by the habits of a life
of sin. Their promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. The
knowledge of their broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens
their confidence in their own sincerity and causes them to feel that
God cannot accept them or work with their efforts. But they need
not despair.
Those who put their trust in Christ are not to be enslaved by
any hereditary or cultivated habit or tendency. Instead of being held
in bondage to the lower nature, they are to rule every appetite and
passion. God has not left us to battle against evil with only finite
strength. Whatever may be our inherited or cultivated tendencies
to wrong, we can overcome through the power that He is ready to
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impart.
The Power of the Will
The tempted one needs to understand the true force of the will.
This is the governing power in human beings—the power of decision,
of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. Desires
for goodness and purity are right, so far as they go, but if we stop
here they avail nothing. Many will go down to ruin while hoping
and desiring to overcome their evil inclinations. They do not yield
the will to God. They do not
choose
to serve Him.
God has given us the power of choice; it is ours to exercise.
We cannot change our hearts, we cannot control our thoughts, our
impulses, our affections. We cannot make ourselves pure, fit for
God’s service. But we can
choose
to serve God; we can give Him
our will. Then He will work in us to will and to do according to
His good pleasure. Thus our whole nature will be brought under the
control of Christ.
Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be
made in the life. By yielding the will to Christ, we ally ourselves with