A Nominal Faith Not Sufficient, April 21

For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Isaiah 41:13.HP 118.1

For a few weeks past I have had a deep sense of the promises of God and the hope of the Christian. The Bible never seemed to me so full of rich gems of promise as within the last few weeks. It seems that the dews of heaven are ready to fall upon us and refresh us, if we will only take the promises to ourselves. We can never overcome our own natural tendencies without the help of Heaven, and the precious Jesus places Himself right by our side to help us in this work. He says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). We want to believe just what Christ has said. We want that our faith shall compass the promises....HP 118.2

It is a great thing to believe in Jesus. We hear many say, “Believe, believe; all that you have to do is to believe in Jesus.” But it is our privilege to inquire, What does this belief take in? and what does it comprehend? There are many of us who have a nominal faith but we do not bring that faith into our characters.... We must have that faith which works by love and purifies the soul, that this belief in Christ will lead us to put away everything that is offensive in His sight. Unless we have this faith that works, it is of no advantage to us. You may admit that Christ is the Saviour of the world, but is He your Saviour? Do you believe today that He will give you strength and power to overcome every defect in your character? ...HP 118.3

We have individually this lesson to learn of special trust in our Saviour. We are to trust our heavenly Father just as a child trusts its earthly parents, and believe that He is working for our good in all things; and that every struggling cry and every effort against the adversary of our soul enters into the ears of the God of Sabaoth, and that He will send us help every time we need it. He will help us over every temptation if we call upon Him in faith. Now this is the lesson we must learn.HP 118.4

I can trust my Saviour; He saves me today; and while I am struggling to overcome the temptations of the enemy He will give me grace to conquer.^{40Manuscript 5, 1886.}HP 118.5