(All Bible texts are in the NKJV Bible unless otherwise indicated)
27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God,
believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are
many mansions; if it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to
Myself; that where I am, there you may be
also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
Me.
7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet
you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the
Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you
not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The
words that I speak to you I do not speak on My
own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the
works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and
the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works
themselves.
12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
22 Cast your burden on the Lord,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
I received your two letters and have read them carefully. I was made sad, my brother, to read your letter written by your own hand. Oh, how glad I would be to comfort you, but I point you to Jesus. His invitation is given to you and to me: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; ... and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Grasp this precious promise with the hand of faith and never let go. I know your difficulties and some one knows them too who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto him.
One thing is evident, you must now unload even if you do not do the things as you would do them. We are not willing to see you killing yourself. Rest you must have. I think from your description of yourself it is your duty to call a halt. I am pained indeed. I cannot advise you to go on in the same line that you have done and have been doing these years violating the laws of nature, but then I will not irritate a mind and soul already bruised and suffering, but you must not, my brother, pursue the same course and extinguish the life that God would have you preserve.
In writing to you in regard to Christian character I did not mean to discourage you, but I have so strong, so earnest a desire that you should not have run in vain, neither labor in vain, but through the grace richly provided you should come off more than conqueror through Him that has loved you. At any cost unload. I know and you know that hard battles have been fought to keep the principles of health reform upon a high elevated platform where it should have stood before our people who have had great light. God has placed in their keeping most sacred sanctifying truths. Oh, what a work might have been done far and nigh if we had all stood in our lot and position as faithful sentinels, our banners unfurled as progressive reformers.
How much has been lost because those who should have stood true as a rock to principle have been conformed to the world in their eating and drinking and dressing, rather than transformed. But you have hurt your own soul and the physical has suffered because of the backsliding of God's people when they might have been advancing firmly in practicing temperance in all things, and they would have had a free, clear, bold testimony to bear in regard to the requirements of God on this subject. But my much respected brother, keep in mind that the Lord has not made you a sin bearer; there is but one who can carry the sins of the world and you cannot bear even your own sins. These are laid upon the Son of the living God. Then your mind must not be irritated and chafed over the manifold defection of those around you, and especially those who you think should know better. This hurts the most.
But Dr. Kellogg, will you consider the spotless, pure, holy Son of the Infinite God—He passed through it all and was tempted in all points like as we are but without a single trace of tarnish, not the faintest blur was discernable upon His character. Through His virtue and through His righteousness imputed to us we have as His purchased possession to stand in His merits pure and undefiled before the Father. Bear in mind that the undeserving are made perfect through the merits of Christ, while the Saviour, the Son of God, undeserving, is made sin for us. He bore our sins in His own body on the accursed tree, and you, my brother, relying wholly upon Jesus, not trusting to what you have done or may do, through faith in the atoning sacrifice, have life, pardon, and the peace of Jesus Christ. You may claim all this rich endowment because Christ has borne the punishment of your own sins, all undeserving, that you undeserving may go free and receive the rich treasures of his grace. I bid you in the name of Jesus Christ to lay hold of the assurances of the word of God. But do not waver, do not look to yourself and doubt; trust the keeping of your soul to God as unto a faithful creator and He has promised that He will keep that which you have committed to His trust against that day.
You are accepted in the beloved. I have had the most earnest desire that you should perfect a Christian character, not in your own strength, but in the strength and in the virtue and righteousness of Christ. The donation of the Holy Spirit was the greatest gift God could bestow upon finite man. This is free to all and in this gift there could be no computation; this endowment specially signalized the enthronement of the only begotten Son of God in His mediatorial kingdom. In this the gift of the Comforter the Lord God of heaven demonstrates to man the perfect reconciliation which He had effected between Himself and men, which hope, says the apostle, “we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered.”
Has not God said He would give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? And is not this Spirit a real, true actual guide? Some men seem afraid to take God at His word as though it would be presumption in them. They pray for the Lord to teach us and yet are afraid to credit the pledged word of God and believe we have been taught of Him. So long as we come to our heavenly Father humbly and with a spirit to be taught, willing and anxious to learn, why should we doubt God's fulfillment of His own promise. You must not for a moment doubt Him and dishonor Him thereby. When you have sought to know His will, your part in the operation with God is to believe that you will be led and guided and blessed in the doing of His will. We may mistrust ourselves lest we misinterpret His teachings, but make even this a subject of prayer, and trust Him, still trust Him to the uttermost, that His Holy Spirit will lead you to interpret aright His plans and the working of His providence.
I cannot endure the thought that you are and have been slowly removing the underpinning of your house, and you must not go another step in this breaking down of your physical and mental forces. I have, you know, been warning you of this for years, and now do not, I entreat you, go straight on. Stop, stop a while that you shall have not merely one week's rest or two weeks’ rest, but a thorough rest and entire change. It will be to you like taking off the right arm, taking out the right eye, nevertheless I need not assure a physician that this is positively necessary in your case. Make some arrangements at once to change your line of labor and let there be a calling into exercise organs of the brain that have not been having so severe a strain. Will it pay to make the trial which seems so positively essential? Will you run any more risks? Will you venture on the very brink of the precipice? When you shall have months of complete change in your labor, then you may through the blessing of God, be as a new man....
A great work is to be done in the Sanitarium. Much more might have been done had the workers felt their dependence upon God and had they brought Christlikeness into their lives. The Lord calls for consecrated workers. He has no use for the half-hearted lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
Many, many souls, had the physicians and helpers been connected with God, might have been channels of light working as if in full view of the heavenly universe. The Spirit of the Lord would have worked with every effort and would have impelled and directed them. But all the grace and efficiency comes in united persevering prayer. Ask and ye shall receive.
The Lord move upon the churches! May the voice from the living oracles of God, the startling movings of providence, speak in clear language to the church, “separate unto me Paul and Barnabas.” Holy and devout men are wanted now to cultivate their mental and physical powers and their piety to the uttermost, and to be ordained to go forth as medical missionaries, both men and women. Every effort should be made to send forth intelligent workers. The same grace that came from Jesus Christ to Paul and Apollos, that distinguished them for spiritual excellencies can be reproduced and brought into working order in many devoted missionaries. Let not a large number fold their hands and say O yes, let such and such an one go to untried fields, while themselves put forth no interested devoted self-denying labor and expect their work that the Lord has committed to them to be done by proxy.
There are those who if they will deny self and lift the cross will find that God will communicate with them as verily as He did with Paul and Barnabas. These were representatives of what very many should be. The Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they preach without they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring good tidings of good things.
Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, pp. 553-556.
In order for a man to become a successful minister, something more than
book knowledge is essential. The laborer for souls needs integrity,
intelligence, industry, energy, and tact. All these are highly
essential for the success of a minister of Christ. No man with these
qualifications can be inferior, but will have commanding influence.
Unless the laborer in God's cause can gain the confidence of those for
whom he is laboring, he can do but little good. The worker in the
Lord's vineyard must daily derive strength from above to resist wrong
and to maintain uprightness through the varied trials of life, and his
soul must be brought into harmony with his Redeemer. He can be a
co-worker with Jesus, working as He worked, loving as He loved,
and possessing, like Him, moral power to stand the strongest tests of
character.
Brother R should cultivate simplicity. He should lay aside his false dignity and let the Spirit of God come in and sanctify, elevate, purify, and ennoble his life. Then he can bear the burden for souls which a true gospel minister must feel when presenting a message of solemn warning to those in peril, who must perish in their darkness unless they accept the light of truth. This dignity borrowed from his Redeemer will adorn with divine grace, for by it he is brought into close union with Jesus Christ.
I was carried forward in the life of Brother R, and then carried back to review the result of his labors while he was attempting to teach others the truth. I saw that some few would listen, and, as far as the head is concerned, might be convinced; but Brother R has not an experimental, daily, living knowledge of the grace of God and His saving power, and he cannot convey to others what he does not himself possess. He has not the experience of a truly converted man. How, then, can God make him a blessing to sinners? He is blind himself, while trying to lead the blind.
I was shown that his work has spoiled good fields for others. Some men who were truly consecrated to God and who felt the burden of the work might have done good and brought souls into the truth in places where he has made attempts without success, but after his superficial work the golden opportunity was gone. The minds that might have been convinced, and the hearts that might have been softened, have been hardened and prejudiced under his efforts.
I looked to see what souls of value were holding on to the truth as the result of his labors. I watched closely to see what watchcare he had had for souls, to strengthen and encourage them, a labor which should ever accompany the ministry of the word. I could not see one who would not have been in a far better condition had he not received the first impressions of the truth from him. It is about impossible for a stream to rise higher than its fountainhead. The man who bears the truth to sinners stands in a fearfully responsible position. Either he will convert souls to Christ or his efforts will balance them in the wrong direction.
I have been shown that Brother R is an indolent man. He loves his pleasure and his ease. He does not love physical labor, neither does he love close application of the mind to the study of the word. He wants to take things lazily. He will go to a place and attempt to introduce the truth there, when his heart is not in it. He feels no weight of the work, no real burden for souls. He has not the love of souls at heart. He lets his inclinations divert him from the work, suffers his feelings to control him, and leaves the work and goes back to his family. He has not an experience in self-denial, in sacrificing his ease and his inclinations. He labors too much with respect to wages. He does not apply himself closely to his work, but merely touches it here and there without perseverance or earnestness, and so makes a success of nothing. God frowns upon all such professed workers. They are unfaithful in everything. Their consciences are not sensitive and tender.
To introduce the truth into places and then lack courage, energy, and tact to carry the matter through is a great error, for the work is left without that thorough and persevering effort being made which is positively essential in these places. If matters go hard, if opposition arises, he makes a cowardly retreat instead of fleeing to God with fasting and praying and weeping, and by faith clinging to the Source of light and power and strength until the clouds break away and the darkness disperses. Faith grows strong by coming in conflict with doubts and opposing influences. The experience gained in these trials is of more value than the most costly jewels.
The result of your labors, Brother R, should make you ashamed. God cannot accept them. It would be better for the cause of God if you would cease preaching, and take up a work which involves less responsibility. It would be better for you to go to work with your hands. Humble your heart before God; be faithful in temporal matters; and when you show that you are faithful in the smaller responsibilities, God may commit to you higher trusts. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” You need a deeper experience in religious things. I advise you to go to work with your hands and earnestly plead with God for an experience for yourself. Cling to Jesus and never, never dare to assume the responsibilities of a gospel minister until you are a converted man and have a meek and peaceable spirit. You need to tarry away from the work of God till you are endowed with power from on high. No man can make a success of saving souls unless Christ works with his efforts and self is put out of sight.
A minister of Christ should be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. You have made a miserable failure. You must show in your family that kindly consideration, that tenderness, love, gentleness, noble forbearance, and true courtesy, that is becoming to the head of a family, before you can make a success of winning souls to Christ. If you have not wisdom to manage the small number with whom you are closely united, how can you make a success of managing a larger company, who are not especially interested in yourself? Your wife needs to be truly and thoroughly converted to God. Neither of you are in a condition to correctly represent our faith. You both need a thorough conversion.
Retirement from the work of God at present is best for you. Brother R, you have neither perseverance nor moral backbone. You are very deficient in those traits of character which are necessary for the work of God at this time. You have not received that education in practical life that is necessary for you in order to make a success as a practical minister of Christ. Your education has been deficient in many respects. Your parents have not read your character, nor trained you to overcome its defects, to the end that you might develop a symmetrical character, and possess firmness, self-denial, self-control, humility, and moral power. You know very little of practical life or of perseverance under difficulties. You have a strong desire to controvert others’ ideas and to press forward your own. This is the result of your feelings of self-sufficiency and of following your own inclinations in youth.
You do not see yourself and your errors. You are not willing to be a learner, but have a great desire to teach. You form opinions of your own and cling to your peculiar ideas with a persistency that is wearying. You are anxious to carry your points, and in your eyes your ideas are of greater importance than the experienced judgment of men of moral worth who have been proved in this cause. You have been flattered with the idea that you had ability that would be prized and make you a valuable man; but these qualities have not been tested and proved. You have a one-sided education. You have no inclination or love for the homely, daily duties of life. Your indolence would be sufficient to disqualify you for the work of the ministry were there no other reasons why you should not engage in it. The cause does not need preachers so much as workers. Of all the vocations of life, there is none that requires such earnest, faithful, persevering, self-sacrificing workers as the cause of God in these last days.