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Stand Fast in the Faith, February 24
Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the
gospel.
Philippians 1:27
.
I pray that the people of God may not cast aside the peculiarities of their faith.
Christ is glorified by a life of constant, well-defined faith. Paul declares, “The life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me” (
Galatians 2:20
). Christ is to be glorified by the living,
working faith of His people. The just shall live by faith. Christ has not left His
people to stumble along in darkness. He has marked out the way before them. He
says, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross,
and follow me” (
Mark 8:34
). It is along the path of self-denial, the royal highway
cast up by the Redeemer, that God’s people are to travel.
My brother, bow in submission before Him who has brought life and immor-
tality to light. Let your will and the will of Christ be one. Talk this, pray this, live
this. God’s word to us is, “Go forward,” and this word we are to obey, though we
shall meet with obstacles seemingly as insurmountable as the Red Sea. Let us
trust the Lord God of heaven to open the way before His people. “Commit thy
way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” (
Psalm 37:5
).
This patience of the soul is the rest of faith. The Lord will bless His tried, faithful
people. He will not leave them to become confused.
In the last great day every word, every act, will be subjected to the crucial
test of the Judge of all the earth.... The Lord calls for heartfelt repentance from
those who claim to be His people. Self-indulgence is to find no place in their lives.
The church of God is to be jealously guarded from every phase of dishonesty,
every taint of corruption. The love of Christ is directly opposed to all avarice,
all pride, all pretense. The Lord calls for humble, contrite hearts. He will work
by His Holy Spirit upon all who will be worked, all who love Him and keep His
commandments. And they will make the presence and power of God so manifestly
to appear that the enemies of the truth will be compelled to say that God and His
angels are indeed the friends and helpers of those who serve Him.
Schism and division are not the fruits of righteousness; they are of the wicked
one. The great hindrance to our advancement at this time is the selfishness that
prevents believers from having true fellowship with one another. The last prayer
that Christ offered for His disciples before His trial was that they might be one
in Him. Satan is determined that this oneness shall not be, for it is the strongest
witness that can be borne that God did indeed send His Son to reconcile the world
to heaven.—
Letter 41, February 24, 1903
, to Dr. F. E. Braucht, a physician
laboring in Chicago.
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