Many are inquiring, ?How am I to make the surrender of myself
to God?? You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in
moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your
life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You
cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The
knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens
your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that
God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to
understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power
in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything
depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God
has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your
heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can
choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then
work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus
your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of
Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts
will be in harmony with Him.

Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but
if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while
hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point
of yielding the will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians.

Many, especially those who are young in the Christian life, are at
times troubled with the suggestions of skepticism. There are in the
Bible many things which they cannot explain, or even understand,
and Satan employs these to shake their faith in the Scriptures as a
revelation from God. They ask, ?How shall I know the right way? If
the Bible is indeed the word of God, how can I be freed from these
doubts and perplexities??
God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence
upon which to base our faith. His existence, His character, the
truthfulness of His word, are all established by testimony that appeals
to our reason; and this testimony is abundant. Yet God has never
removed the possibility of doubt. Our faith must rest upon evidence,
not demonstration. Those who wish to doubt will have opportunity;
while those who really desire to know the truth will find plenty of
evidence on which to rest their faith.
It is impossible for finite minds fully to comprehend the character
or the works of the Infinite One. To the keenest intellect, the most
highly educated mind, that holy Being must ever remain clothed in
mystery. ?Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out
the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst
thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?? Job 11:7, 8.

1Co_10:13? There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.

Eze 36:25? And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.?
Eze 36:26? A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.?
Eze 36:27? And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.?

Jer 31:31? Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:?
Jer 31:32? not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD.?
Jer 31:33? But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the LORD; I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:?
Jer 31:34? and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.?

Hab 2:4? Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.?

Joh 17:1? These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that the Son may glorify thee:?
Joh 17:2? even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that whatsoever thou hast given him, to them he should give eternal life.?
Joh 17:3? And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.?

The Christian life is a battle and a march. But the victory to
be gained is not won by human power. The field of conflict is the
domain of the heart. The battle which we have to fight?the greatest
battle that was ever fought by man?is the surrender of self to the
will of God, the yielding of the heart to the sovereignty of love. The
old nature, born of blood and of the will of the flesh, cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. The hereditary tendencies, the former habits,
must be given up.
He who determines to enter the spiritual kingdom will find that [142]
all the powers and passions of an unregenerate nature, backed by
the forces of the kingdom of darkness, are arrayed against him.
Selfishness and pride will make a stand against anything that would
show them to be sinful. We cannot, of ourselves, conquer the evil
desires and habits that strive for the mastery. We cannot overcome
the mighty foe who holds us in his thrall. God alone can give us
the victory. He desires us to have the mastery over ourselves, our
own will and ways. But He cannot work in us without our consent
and co-operation. The divine Spirit works through the faculties and
powers given to man. Our energies are required to co-operate with
God.
The victory is not won without much earnest prayer, without
the humbling of self at every step. Our will is not to be forced
into co-operation with divine agencies, but it must be voluntarily
submitted. Were it possible to force upon you with a hundredfold
greater intensity the influence of the Spirit of God, it would not
make you a Christian, a fit subject for heaven. The stronghold of
Satan would not be broken. The will must be placed on the side of
God?s will. You are not able, of yourself, to bring your purposes
and desires and inclinations into submission to the will of God; but
if you are ?willing to be made willing,? God will accomplish the
work for you, even ?casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.? 2 Corinthians
10:5. Then you will ?work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do
of His good pleasure.? Philippians 2:12, 13.
Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing pp 141 - 143.

There are many in the broad way who are
not fully satisfied with the path in which they walk. They long to
break from the slavery of sin, and in their own strength they seek
to make a stand against their sinful practices. They look toward
the narrow way and the strait gate; but selfish pleasure, love of the
world, pride, unsanctified ambition, place a barrier between them
and the Saviour. To renounce their own will, their chosen objects of
affection or pursuit, requires a sacrifice at which they hesitate and
falter and turn back. Many ?will seek to enter in, and shall not be
able.? Luke 13:24. They desire the good, they make some effort to
obtain it; but they do not choose it; they have not a settled purpose
to secure it at the cost of all things.
The only hope for us if we would overcome is to unite our will to
God?s will and work in co-operation with Him, hour by hour and day
by day. We cannot retain self and yet enter the kingdom of God. If we

ever attain unto holiness, it will be through the renunciation of self
and the reception of the mind of Christ. Pride and self-sufficiency
must be crucified. Are we willing to pay the price required of us?
Are we willing to have our will brought into perfect conformity to
the will of God? Until we are willing, the transforming grace of God
cannot be manifest upon us.
The warfare which we are to wage is the ?good fight of faith.? ?I [144]
also labor,? said the apostle Paul, ?striving according to His working,
which worketh in me mightily.? Colossians 1:29. Thoughts from the
Mount of Blessing pp 143, 144

Exo 31:12? And the LORD said to Moses,?
Exo 31:13? ?You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ?Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you.?
Exo 31:14? You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.?

Eze 20:12? Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.?

Deu_30:6? And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Col 2:11? In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,?
Col 2:12? having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.?
Col 2:13? And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

Rev 3:14? ?And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ?The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.?
Rev 3:15? ??I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!?
Rev 3:16? So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.?
Rev 3:17? For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.?
Rev 3:18? I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.?
Rev 3:19? Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.?
Rev 3:20? Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.?
Rev 3:21? The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.?

?Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what
comparison shall we compare it?? In earthly governments there was
nothing that could serve for a similitude. No civil society could
afford Him a symbol. ?It is like a grain of mustard seed,? He said,
?which, when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all the
seeds that are upon the earth, yet when it is sown, groweth up, and
becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches;
so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof.?
(R.V.).
The germ in the seed grows by the unfolding of the life-principle
which God has implanted. Its development depends upon no human
power. So it is with the kingdom of Christ. It is a new creation.
Its principles of development are the opposite of those that rule the
kingdoms of this world. Earthly governments prevail by physical
force; they maintain their dominion by war; but the founder of the
new kingdom is the Prince of Peace. The Holy Spirit represents
worldly kingdoms under the symbol of fierce beasts of prey; but
Christ is ?the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.?
John 1:29. In His plan of government there is no employment of
brute force to compel the conscience. The Jews looked for the
kingdom of God to be established in the same way as the kingdoms
of the world. To promote righteousness they resorted to external
measures. They devised methods and plans. But Christ implants a
principle. By implanting truth and righteousness, He counterworks
error and sin.
As Jesus spoke this parable, the mustard plant could be seen
far and near, lifting itself above the grass and grain, and waving
its branches lightly in the air. Birds flitted from twig to twig, and
sang amid the leafy foliage. Yet the seed from which sprang this
giant plant was among the least of all seeds. At first it sent up a
tender shoot, but it was of strong vitality, and grew and flourished
until it reached its present great size. So the kingdom of Christ in its
beginning seemed humble and insignificant. Compared with earthly
kingdoms it appeared to be the least of all. By the rulers of this world
Christ?s claim to be a king was ridiculed. Yet in the mighty truths
committed to His followers the kingdom of the gospel possessed
a divine life. And how rapid was its growth, how widespread its
influence! When Christ spoke this parable, there were only a few
Galilean peasants to represent the new kingdom. Their poverty, the
fewness of their numbers, were urged over and over again as a reason
why men should not connect themselves with these simple-minded
fishermen who followed Jesus. But the mustard seed was to grow
and spread forth its branches throughout the world. When the earthly
kingdoms whose glory then filled the hearts of men should perish,
the kingdom of Christ would remain, a mighty and far-reaching
power.
So the work of grace in the heart is small in its beginning. A
word is spoken, a ray of light is shed into the soul, an influence is
exerted that is the beginning of the new life; and who can measure
its results?

God regards us as His children. He has redeemed us out of the
careless world and has chosen us to become members of the royal
family, sons and daughters of the heavenly King. He invites us to
trust in Him with a trust deeper and stronger than that of a child in
his earthly father. Parents love their children, but the love of God
is larger, broader, deeper, than human love can possibly be. It is
immeasurable. Then if earthly parents know how to give good gifts
to their children, how much more shall our Father in heaven give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?
Christ?s lessons in regard to prayer should be carefully consid-
ered. There is a divine science in prayer, and His illustration brings
to view principles that all need to understand. He shows what is
the true spirit of prayer, He teaches the necessity of perseverance in
presenting our requests to God, and assures us of His willingness to
hear and answer prayer.
Our prayers are not to be a selfish asking, merely for our own
benefit. We are to ask that we may give. The principle of Christ?s
life must be the principle of our lives. ?For their sakes,? He said,
speaking of His disciples, ?I sanctify Myself, that they also might be
sanctified.? John 17:19. The same devotion, the same self-sacrifice,
the same subjection to the claims of the word of God, that were
manifest in Christ, must be seen in His servants. Our mission to
the world is not to serve or please ourselves; we are to glorify God
by co-operating with Him to save sinners. We are to ask blessings
from God that we may communicate to others. The capacity for
receiving is preserved only by imparting. We cannot continue to
receive heavenly treasure without communicating to those around
us.

Joh 17:1? When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, ?Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,?
Joh 17:2? since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.?
Joh 17:3? And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.?
Joh 17:4? I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.?
Joh 17:5? And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.?
Joh 17:6? ?I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.?
Joh 17:7? Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.?
Joh 17:8? For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.?
Joh 17:9? I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.?
Joh 17:10? All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.?
Joh 17:11? And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.?
Joh 17:12? While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.?
Joh 17:13? But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.?
Joh 17:14? I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.?
Joh 17:15? I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.?
Joh 17:16? They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.?
Joh 17:17? Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.?
Joh 17:18? As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.?
Joh 17:19? And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.?
Joh 17:20? ?I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,?
Joh 17:21? that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.?
Joh 17:22? The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,?
Joh 17:23? I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.?
Joh 17:24? Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.?
Joh 17:25? O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.?
Joh 17:26? I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.??

"Laborers in the cause of truth should present the righteousness of Christ,
not as a new light, but as precious light that has for a time been lost sight of by the
people. We are to accept Christ as our personal Saviour, and He imputes unto us
the righteousness of God in Christ."--Review and Herald, March 20, 1894.

"Do not allow your minds to be diverted from the all-important theme of the
righteousness of Christ by the study of theories. Do not imagine that the perform-
ance of ceremonies, the observance of outward forms, will make you an heir of
heaven. We want to keep the mind steadfastly to the point for which we are work-
ing; for it is now the day of the Lord's preparation, and we should yield our hearts
to God, that they may be softened and subdued by the Holy Spirit."--Review and
Herald, April 5, 1892.

"The great center of attraction, Jesus Christ, must not be left out of the third
angel's message. By many who have been engaged in the work for this time, Christ
has been made secondary, and theories and arguments have had the first place."--
Review and Herald, March 20, 1894.

"The mystery of the incarnation of Christ, the account of His sufferings, His
crucifixion, His resurrection, and His ascension, open all humanity the marvelous
love of God. This imparts a power to the truth."--Review and Herald, June 18,
1895.

"The small churches have been presented to me as so destitute of spiritual
food that they are ready to die, and God says to you, 'Be watchful, and strengthen
the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works per-
fect before God."--Review and Herald, March 4, 1890.

"This I do know, that our churches are dying for the want of teaching on the
subject of righteousness by faith in Christ, and on kindred truths."--"Gospel Work-
ers," page 301.

"The theme that attracts the heart of the sinner is Christ and Him crucified.
On the cross of Calvary, Jesus stands revealed to the world in unparalleled love.
Present Him thus to the hungering multitudes, and the light of His love will win
men from darkness to light, from transgression to obedience and true holiness. Be-
holding Jesus upon the cross of Calvary arouses the conscience to the heinous
character of sin as nothing else can do."--Review and Herald, Nov. 22, 1892.

"Christ crucified--talk it, pray it, sing it, and it will break and win hearts. Set,
formal phrases, the presentation of merely argumentative subjects, is productive of
little good. The melting love of God in the workers will be recognized by those for
whom they labor. Souls are thirsting for the water of life. Do not allow them to go
from you empty. Reveal the love of Christ to them. Lead them to Jesus, and He
will give them the bread of life and the water of salvation."--Review and Herald,
June 2, 1903.

Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are, that He might know how to succor those who should be tempted. His life is our example. He shows by His willing obedience that man may keep the law of God and that transgression of the law, not obedience to it, brings him into bondage. The Saviour was full of compassion and love; He never spurned the truly penitent, however great their guilt; but He severely denounced hypocrisy of every sort. He is acquainted with the sins of men, He knows all their acts and reads their secret motives; yet He does not turn away from them in their iniquity. He pleads and reasons with the sinner, and in one sense?that of having Himself borne the weakness of humanity?He puts Himself on a level with him. ?Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.?4T 294.1

Man, who has defaced the image of God in his soul by a corrupt life, cannot, by mere human effort, effect a radical change in himself. He must accept the provisions of the gospel; he must be reconciled to God through obedience to His law and faith in Jesus Christ. His life from thenceforth must be governed by a new principle. Through repentance, faith, and good works he may perfect a righteous character, and claim, through the merits of Christ, the privileges of the sons of God. The principles of divine truth, received and cherished in the heart, will carry us to a height of moral excellence that we had not deemed it possible for us to reach. ?And it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.?4T 294.2

Here is a work for man to do. He must face the mirror, God's law, discern the defects in his moral character, and put away his sins, washing his robe of character in the blood of the Lamb. Envy, pride, malice, deceit, strife, and crime will be cleansed from the heart that is a recipient of the love of Christ and that cherishes the hope of being made like Him when we shall see Him as He is. The religion of Christ refines and dignifies its possessor, whatever his associations or station in life may be. Men who become enlightened Christians rise above the level of their former character into greater mental and moral strength. Those fallen and degraded by sin and crime may, through the merits of the Saviour, be exalted to a position but little lower than that of the angels.4T 294.3

But the influence of a gospel hope will not lead the sinner to look upon the salvation of Christ as a matter of free grace, while he continues to live in transgression of the law of God. When the light of truth dawns upon his mind and he fully understands the requirements of God and realizes the extent of his transgressions, he will reform his ways, become loyal to God through the strength obtained from his Saviour, and lead a new and purer life.4T 295

?His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.? Isaiah 9:6.Ed 73.1

In the Teacher sent from God, heaven gave to men its best and greatest. He who had stood in the councils of the Most High, who had dwelt in the innermost sanctuary of the Eternal, was the One chosen to reveal in person to humanity the knowledge of God.Ed 73.2

Through Christ had been communicated every ray of divine light that had ever reached our fallen world. It was He who had spoken through everyone that throughout the ages had declared God's word to man. Of Him all the excellences manifest in the earth's greatest and noblest souls were reflections. The purity and beneficence of Joseph, the faith and meekness and long-suffering of Moses, the steadfastness of Elisha, the noble integrity and firmness of Daniel, the ardor and self-sacrifice of Paul, the mental and spiritual power manifest in all these men, and in all others who had ever dwelt on the earth, were but gleams from the shining of His glory. In Him was found the perfect ideal.Ed 73.3

To reveal this ideal as the only true standard for attainment; to show what every human being might become; what, through the indwelling of humanity by divinity, all who received Him would become?for this, Christ came to the world. He came to show how men are to be trained as befits the sons of God; how on earth they are to practice the principles and to live the life of heaven.Ed 73.4

God's greatest gift was bestowed to meet man's greatest need. The Light appeared when the world's darkness was deepest. Through false teaching the minds of men had long been turned away from God. In the prevailing systems of education, human philosophy had taken the place of divine revelation. Instead of the heaven-given standard of truth, men had accepted a standard of their own devising. From the Light of life they had turned aside to walk in the sparks of the fire which they had kindled.Ed 74.1