Talk/How to Receive God’s Blessing
NP
March 31, 1903
This manuscript is published in entirety in GCB 04/02/1903.
“Hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you.” [Deuteronomy 4:1, 2.] 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 1
In order for the blessing of God to rest upon us, we must not only hear His Word; we must carry it out in the daily life. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 2
“Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal Peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord are alive every one of you unto this day.” [Verses 3, 4.] 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 3
“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” [Verses 5, 6.] You may think that it shows great wisdom to associate closely with worldlings, that you may receive their favor. But we cannot afford to do this. The world will discern the wisdom and the understanding possessed by those who keep all God’s commandments, and will say, Surely this is a wise and understanding people. It is in this position that God has always wanted us to stand. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 4
“For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?” [Verse 7.] If we will draw nigh to God, He will draw nigh to us, and His glory will go before us. He will indite our petitions, teaching us to ask for the very things that He has pledged Himself to bestow on us. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 5
“And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” [Verse 8.] Shall we heed this law? Or shall we cover up the message and hide the law of Jehovah? God forbid! 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 6
“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently.” [Verse 9.] I spoke yesterday of the individuality that we must maintain. It must be a sanctified individuality. Take heed to thyself. Do not talk of the faults of others. If you have anything against any one, go to him, and tell him all about it. Pray with him and for him. If all would do this, how many souls would be saved to the work of God! 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 7
“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen.” [Verse 9.] God has sent us reproofs and warnings. Forget not the things that you have seen. Forget not the history of the past, when God revealed His power and His grace, giving victory after victory, when He let His blessing and mercy rest upon us, and when He reproved our errors and our wrongs. Do not repeat the wrongs that He has reproved. Do not wait for Him to tell you every day what you must do. When He commands you once, it is forever. Establish your confidence in God. Come to Him with a living faith. He has said to you, “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 15, 1903, par. 8
Moses spoke of the day when the people stood before God in Horeb, when He said, “Gather Me the people together, and I will make them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” [Deuteronomy 4:10.] 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 9
My brethren and sisters, what is the matter with your children? Why is it that they do not obey God? It is because you yourselves do not obey Him. You hurry here and you hurry there; and your attention is so taken up with other things that you have no time to pray, no time to train your children. This is the way that it is in our institutions. Those in positions of trust in our publishing houses and our sanitariums have no time to educate the youth connected with these institutions as they should be educated. These youth are to be trained by precept and example to work for God. Do not speak to them harshly. You cannot afford to do this. When you speak harshly or discouragingly, Satan is speaking through you. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 10
Place yourselves in right relation to God. Ask Him to cleanse you from all iniquity and to heal you of your backsliding and your forgetfulness of Him. He says, “Draw nigh to Me, and I will draw nigh to you.” [James 4:8.] He asks you to teach His lessons to your children. This is your work. Your children are God’s property. He sent His Son to die for them. He has redeemed them. He wants you to begin to work for the church in your own house. Teach your children to keep the way of the Lord, to walk humbly before Him. Teach them to be His missionaries in the church and in the world. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 11
Brethren and sisters, do not let this meeting pass by this morning without doing the work that God wants you to do. If there are any differences between you and your brethren, for Christ’s sake clear them away. Take up the stumbling blocks. Clear the King’s highway. If you have done your neighbor a wrong, go to him, and try to make the matter right. Talk with God, and when you have done this, you will be able to talk in a Christlike manner to your brother. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 12
If you have made mistakes or errors in judgment or in speech, or if you have used the precious talent of speech to proclaim the wrong doings of others, may God help you to make a change. Humble your hearts before the Lord. Do not feel that your brethren will lose confidence in you if you make confession of sin. We are all finite. We are God’s little children. Do not feel that it would lower your dignity to confess your sins. Christ says, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 18:3.] We have separated ourselves from God. Let us draw near to Him. Let us confess our sins, and let us be sure that we go to the bottom and make thorough work for repentance. Will you do this? Will you prepare the way for God to bless you? Shall we not see of the salvation of God in this meeting? We may see it; we may have it. Let us not do anything that will hinder it from coming to us. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 13
Do not use the talent of speech to talk of your troubles and difficulties or of the wrong that some one has done you. Live in the confidence and love of Christ. He is with you. He will give you strength. Remember that when you are irritated, silence is eloquence. Keep still. The strongest rebuke that you can give to a faultfinder is to return no answer to his criticism. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 14
May the salvation of God be manifest among us this morning. May the Lord help us all. I felt thankful that God gave me strength to talk to you yesterday. Then I thought, What good has it done? I felt a wave of discouragement coming over me. But I said, No, I cannot afford that. I have done my duty, and I leave the result with God. I slept for about fifteen minutes, and when I awoke, it seemed as if the glory of God was all around me. My heart was filled with praise and thankfulness. And I feel thankful this morning. O shall we not clear away the rubbish that is filling our hearts and invite Christ to enter as an abiding Guest? Then He will richly bless us, and we shall receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 15
Our heavenly Father, we come to Thee this morning just as we are, needy and wholly dependent upon Thee. Help us to have a clear knowledge of what we must be, and of the characters that we must form, in order that we may be prepared to unite with the heavenly family in the city of our God. We ask Thee that Thou wilt remove the reproach that has come upon Thee through the neglect of those who profess to be Thy people, but who have not walked in Thy counsel. Lord, help us to understand our individual responsibilities, that our hearts may be worked by the Holy Spirit. We ask Thee that Thou wilt open blind eyes, that they may see, to enlighten the darkened understanding, that all may understand that there must be a reconversion, that hearts must break before God. Give us hearts of repentance, hearts of humiliation. O my Father, how can we proclaim Thy goodness, and Thy mercy, and Thy love, unless we cherish them in our own hearts and reveal them in our own experiences. Thou knowest how Thou hast presented this matter to Thy servant. Thou knowest what a dishonor it has been to Thee because Thy people have failed to come to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus and to obey Thy commandments. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 16
Let not Thy wrath come upon Thy people while they are in their sins, unconverted and unsaved. Here are Thy ministers whose work it is to proclaim Bible truth. I ask Thee that they may have a clear realization of the responsibilities that rest upon them as guardians and as shepherds of Thy flock. Roll upon them the burden that they should bear for those who are out of the truth. Let them understand their own weakness, and may the sanctification of the Spirit come to them. May there be a purifying of character and a breaking of heart before God. Thou canst show them that while they cherish their own dispositions and temperaments, Thou canst not work through them by the Holy Spirit, because they would become lifted up. Thou canst show them that there is a work to be done in their own hearts. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 17
Here are those who bear responsibilities in our institutions. Thou hast signified that Thou hast been displeased with their ministration. They have not in their dealings given a right example to the world. They did not realize that men were taking knowledge of them to see whether they were sanctified by the truth. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 18
O pardon our transgressions, and forgive our sins. Show us where we have come short. Let Thy Holy Spirit descend upon us. The world is perishing in sin, and we ask Thee to roll the burden upon us at this meeting. We desire to be weighted down with the Holy Spirit. We desire to stand where Thou canst reveal Thyself to us. Take away our hardness of heart, and give us softened hearts. I ask Thee, for Christ’s sake, that Thou wouldest give understanding, that Thou wouldest give spiritual knowledge, that Thou wouldest give sensitive hearts, that all may see that it is high time to open the door of the heart to Jesus. Thou hast said that Thou hast heard the many words of complaint, and faultfinding, and murmuring, brother against brother, and friend against friend. Thou hast heard these words, and they are written in Thy book. They have stood as a block against the wheel of salvation, hindering its advancement. Convert Thy people in this the day of Thy preparation, that the time may not come when they will say, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” [Jeremiah 8:20.] 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 19
Thou hast opened these things before me, and Thou alone canst prepare minds and hearts to hear the message that, unless those who have left their first love shall return to recognize the work that needs to be done in their individual hearts, Thou wilt come quickly and remove the candlestick out of his place. Open the eyes of Thy people that they may see their deficiencies. We do not want one to be separated from the work. We do not want one to perish. We ask Thee that Thou wilt move upon hearts by the quickening influence of Thy Spirit, that there may be a break in this meeting such as has not been before. O the break must come, if the Spirit of God shall take hold of hearts. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 20
O my Father, shall this meeting close, and we go back to our places with the same hard hearts? We must be reconverted, sanctified, and made fit to bear the message of the Lord. Cleanse the vessel, that the message that shall be given shall have not taste so strongly of the dish that those to whom it is given shall have no appetite to partake of it. Let Thy melting mercy come upon us. Work in the midst of us with Thy power, and with Thy love, and with Thy majesty and glory. Put to shame the listlessness of those who have not come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Sweep back the cloud of darkness and unbelief. Let the Holy Spirit come into our hearts and break down every barrier. Thou King of Glory, look upon Thy people in these closing scenes of this earth’s history. It seems as if nothing could arouse many of them to realize that they are on the very eve of the day of God, that His judgments are in the land. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 21
Wilt Thou hear our petition? Wilt Thou answer our petitions? Wilt Thou reveal Thyself to us? May we behold Thy glory, and be changed into Thine image. We thirst for the waters of Lebanon, and we hunger for the bread of life. We ask Thee to break our hearts today. We ask Thee to help us to put away our sinful thoughts, our disparagement of one another, and to seek the Lord while He may be found. My Father, break down the barriers, that confessions may be made, from heart to heart, from brother to brother. May the Spirit of God come in; and Thy blessed name shall have all the glory. Amen. 18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 22