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Conversion the Secret of Victory
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with joy, and eyes overflowing with tears, he grasped my hand, and
said, “You do not know me, but you remember the man in an old
blue coat who rose in your congregation, and said that he would
try to reform?” I was astonished. He stood erect, and looked ten
years younger. He had gone home from that meeting, and passed the
long hours in prayer and struggle till the sun arose. It was a night of
conflict, but, thank God, he came off a victor. This man could tell by
sad experience of the bondage of these evil habits. He knew how to
warn the youth of the dangers of contamination; and those who, like
himself, had been overcome, he could point to Christ as the only
source of help.—
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 19, 20
.
No Genuine Reform Apart From Christ
—Apart from divine
power, no genuine reform can be effected. Human barriers against
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natural and cultivated tendencies are but as the sandbank against the
torrent. Not until the life of Christ becomes a vitalizing power in
our lives can we resist the temptations that assail us from within and
from without.
Christ came to this world and lived the law of God, that man
might have perfect mastery over the natural inclinations which cor-
rupt the soul. The Physician of soul and body, He gives victory over
warring lusts. He has provided every facility, that man may possess
completeness of character.
When one surrenders to Christ, the mind is brought under the
control of the law; but it is the royal law, which proclaims liberty to
every captive. By becoming one with Christ, man is made free. Sub-
jection to the will of Christ means restoration to perfect manhood.
Obedience to God is liberty from the thralldom of sin, deliver-
ance from human passion and impulse. Man may stand conqueror
of himself, conqueror of his own inclinations, conqueror of princi-
palities and powers, and of “the rulers of the darkness of this world,”
and of “spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Ephesians 6:12
.—
The
Ministry of Healing, 130, 131
.