Talk/Unity of Effort
NP
April 1, 1903
This manuscript is published in entirety in GCB 04/02/1903.
April 1, 1903
Talk by Mrs. E. G. White at General Conference
I know that the Lord means us good. I know that we are our worst enemies when we listen to the suggestions of the enemy. Let us not allow the truth, the precious, sanctifying truth of God, to pass by without our laying hold upon it. We are to be sanctified by the truth. The Lord will help us if we will but humble our hearts before Him and accept Him as our personal Saviour. Only the living, acting power of our Redeemer can save us from the wiles of the enemy. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 1
The Word declares, “Ye are God’s husbandry.” But can He work upon our hearts unless we are willing to be worked? “Ye are God’s building.” [1 Corinthians 3:9.] He is willing to build up in each one of us a symmetrical character—a character after the divine similitude. But He must have our co-operation. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 2
We do not reach high enough. We do not come to God with the faith that will not be denied. He says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven of the wind, and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” [James 1:5-7.] We must lay hold of the promises, saying, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.” [Genesis 32:26.] And when you receive the blessing, you will carry it to others. The atmosphere of heaven will surround your soul because Christ will be with you. He says, “Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me, and he shall make peace with Me.” [Isaiah 27:5.] 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 3
Let us not allow the enemy to gain the victory. We are sorry that we are not standing on vantage ground, that we have not been standing there ever since the last General Conference. We are sorry that we did not make diligent work unto repentance; sorry that we did not cease our complaining and faultfinding, and that we did not overcome the inclination to press others to the wall. My brethren, crowd yourselves into as small a compass as you please, but let your brethren alone. Do not try to pres them into hard places. Place yourselves where God can give you the presence of His Spirit in your work. If your brethren see from your life that this Spirit is abiding in your heart, they will be led to go for help to the same source that you did. They will be led to obey the Word, “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich: and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” [Revelation 3:18.] 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 4
My brethren, clear your souls before God. Cease your criticizing and faultfinding. Satan will keep you at this till the Lord comes, if he can. He knows that thus he can most effectually hinder the Lord’s work. Backbiting is cannibalism. God calls upon His people to have nothing to do with it, but to come to Him, that they may have light and life and salvation. We need the wisdom that comes from above. Pure this wisdom is, “peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated.” [James 3:17.] If it were not, the love of the Father would not have been so constantly exercised toward us. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 5
Again and again God has pardoned our transgressions. Now there are steps that we must take. And what are they?—Let us try to understand. You will remember the time that the news came from Europe regarding the financial embarrassment of the publishing house in Christiania. Some in this country said that we ought to let the institution go; that the managers ought to have known better than to get so heavily in debt; that they had no right to be in such a situation. But had such advice been followed, would it have placed the workers in the publishing house in Norway on vantage ground, where they could carry on their work for the Master? Light was given me that the institution was to be placed where it could do its work. But the workers there could not do this without help. Their brethren in other lands were to help them, standing with them shoulder to shoulder, making their interests and their loss their own. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 6
And let me say that God does not design that the Sanitarium that has been erected in Battle Creek shall be in vain. He wants His people to understand this. Now that the building has been put up, He wants this institution to be placed on vantage ground. He does not want His people to be looked upon by the enemy as a people that is going out of sight. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 7
We are to see that now, for the second time, something must be done to place the work of God upon its feet. It is to be placed where, as the work of God, it should be. Let no one say, because there is a debt on the Sanitarium, “We will have nothing more to do in helping to build up that institution.” The people of God must build that institution up, in the name of the Lord. It is to be placed where its work can be carried on intelligently. One man is not to stand at its head alone. Dr. Kellogg has carried the burden until it has almost killed him. God wants His servants to stand united in carrying that work forward. Because one man is one-sided, and another man is one-sided, this does not show that the work of God is to be one-sided. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 8
God’s people are to place the Sanitarium in Battle Creek on vantage ground. How is this to be done?—I cannot tell you. But I know that just as soon as the Holy Spirit shall come upon hearts, there will be unity in voice and understanding; and wisdom will be given us. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 9
I have given you these thoughts as suggestions, trusting that they will have some influence upon you in your councils and in the movements that you will make. It is not only for that little corner in Battle Creek that we are laboring. We must stand on vantage ground before our own people and before the world. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 10
God calls upon us to seek Him with the whole heart, and He declares that when we do this, He will be found of us. Shall we do it? In order to find Him, we must seek Him with every power of the being. A lawyer came to Christ with the question, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Knowing that he had been sent by the Pharisees, Christ laid upon him the burden of answering his own question. “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” He asked. And the lawyer answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” [Luke 10:25-27.] 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 11
These principles are the foundation of Christian life. When we receive them into our hearts, when we live by them, we shall see the salvation of God. Then will His power rest upon His work as it has not rested since the first days of the message. Then we knew what it meant to see the salvation of God. We understood what God told us. God lives, and He calls upon us to come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty powers of darkness. “Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” [Judges 5:23.] God forbid that these words should be spoken of us! 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 12
Because men have made mistakes, they are not to be uprooted. The blessing of God heals; it does not destroy. The Mighty Healer, the great Medical Missionary, will be in the midst of us, to heal and to bless, if we will receive Him. John said of Him, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” [John 1:29.] He is waiting to come to us, to take away our sins and fill us with His Spirit. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 13
A mighty host is arrayed against us. But God is on our side, and He has all power. He has separated us from the world for Himself, and He declares that we are a peculiar people, an holy nation, a royal priesthood. He tells us not to rely upon men, but to put our trust in the Lord God of Israel. Then we shall gain the victory. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 14
In the season of prayer following Elder Daniells’ remarks during the devotional service Wednesday morning, April 1, Sister White united, praying as follows: 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 15
Heavenly Father, Thou hast said, “Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” [Matthew 7:7.] Heavenly Father, we need Thy Holy Spirit. We do not want to work ourselves, only as we work in unity with God. We want to be in a position where the Holy Spirit of God shall be upon us with its reviving, sanctifying power. Wilt Thou manifest Thyself unto us this very morning! Wilt Thou sweep away every mist and every cloud of darkness! 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 16
We come to Thee, our compassionate Redeemer; and we ask Thee, for Christ’s sake—for Thine own Son’s sake, my Father, that Thou wilt manifest Thy power unto Thy people here. We want wisdom, we want righteousness, we want truth, we want the Holy Spirit to be with us. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 17
Thou hast presented before us a great work that must be carried forward in behalf of those that are in the truth and in behalf of those that are in ignorance of our faith; and O Lord, as Thou hast given to every man his work, we beseech of Thee that the Holy Spirit may impress the human mind in regard to the burden of work that shall rest upon every individual soul, according to Thine appointment. We want to be proved; we want to be sanctified through and through; we want to be fitted up for the work; and here, right here in this session of the Conference, we want to see a revelation of the Holy Spirit of God. We want light, Lord—Thou art the Light. We want truth, Lord—Thou art the Truth. We want the right way—Thou art the Way. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 18
Lord, I beseech of Thee that we may all be wise enough to discern that we must individually open the heart to Jesus Christ, that through the Holy Spirit He may come in to mold and fashion us anew, in accordance with the divine image. O my Father, my Father! melt and subdue our hearts. We desire this morning to make an entire surrender to Thee; we desire to give up our will, our way, our course of action that has not been in harmony with the way and the will of God; we desire to accept the Lord’s way, the Lord’s will, the Lord’s counsel. Come, O come into the midst of us this very morning, and move upon hearts, young and old. In a special manner move upon the hearts of those who are handling gospel truths, that they may all be lighted up with the bright beams which Thou dost permit to shine upon Thy Word, in order that Thy instruction may come to the human understanding with the power and the Spirit of the living God. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 19
We acknowledge before Thee that we have not honored Thy name as we should. We acknowledge before Thee that we need to be broken in heart. We desire just now to be reconverted; we desire just now to realize what Christ is to us, and what we are and can be to Him as His co-workers—“laborers together with God.” [1 Corinthians 3:9.] 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 20
O my Father, let every soul that is confused, every soul that cannot understand and see the way, have the way presented before him so clearly that the mist will be removed, and that the cloud will pass, so that the Sun of righteousness may shine into the chambers of the mind and into the soul temple. Wash us, and we shall be clean, Lord. Let melting mercy, mercy from Thee, come into every heart; and then, when we realize the melting mercy of a compassionate and loving Saviour, our hearts, once more united, will beat in unison, and all will stand shoulder to shoulder in advancing this great work. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 21
We cannot afford to be indifferent, Lord; we cannot afford to work contrary to one another. We must trust in Thee; and we ask, this very morning, that Thou shalt let the Holy Spirit descend upon us. We are ready to receive the Comforter; we open the door of the heart, and invite the Saviour in. We love Thee, dear Saviour; Thou knowest that we love Thee. We see in Thee matchless charms, and we desire that every soul shall constantly look unto Thee, Thou who art the Author and the Finisher of our faith. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 22
Come, Lord Jesus, come and take us as we are, and put upon us the robe of Thy righteousness. Take away our sins. Our Saviour, Thou didst come to the earth to do this. We repent of wrongdoing; we are sorry for every departure from Thee; and we ask Thee to pardon our transgressions, that we may show to the world that we have a Saviour who is able to take away our sins and to impute unto us His own righteousness. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 23
Lord, we accept Thee now; we receive Thee now; we believe in Thee now; and we ask Thee to let Thy Holy Spirit rest upon us just now. Just now walk through this house, we pray Thee; and may the angels accompanying Thee go around to every seat and to every heart; and may every person have a realization of what “I” should do. May every one look not to man, but to Christ—to Him who has died to save us. We are saved by Thee, Lord; we look to Thee, Lord. O let Thy power come upon us, to tell us that our sins are pardoned. Thou hast promised, “A new heart will I give thee.” [Ezekiel 36:26.] We desire to have our hearts renewed, Lord; we long for this. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 24
Bless our ministering brethren. Bless all those who are in office in our institutions. We do not want Thee to destroy these institutions; we do not want to see their influence wiped away. We want that Thou shouldst simply take away everything that is wrong in the heart, the life, the character of each worker, so that Thou canst use every institution of Thine own planting to glorify Thy name. We need every one of them. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 25
O my Saviour, Thou who hast shown compassion to us all, again we ask Thee to grant unto us a rich portion of Thy mercy, Thy fulness, Thy compassion, Thy everlasting love. Come, Lord Jesus, and make us partakers of Thy divine nature, that we may overcome the corruption that is in the world through lust. O may the Spirit of Christ, the love of God, comfort every heart this morning! Banish darkness, turn away the deceptive powers of the enemy, and let Thy voice and Thy Spirit and Thy love come into our souls, that we may sit together in heavenly places with Christ Jesus; and Thy name shall have all the glory. Amen. 18LtMs, Ms 16, 1903, par. 26