How to Work for God

Tremendous responsibilities are ours; and men are called for who will not misinterpret their responsibilities, but will do their appointed work in a spirit of humility and in the fear of God. We should ever be afraid of a spirit that would lead us to place restrictions on the work of others, lest we hinder the advance of the message of truth. Those who have in the past allowed such a spirit to control them have sadly hurt the work. They need to repent and be converted; for the Holy Spirit cannot work with them while they refuse to acknowledge His counsel and control. He cannot use the men who employ the trust He has imposed upon them as an oppressive power to close the lips that He has opened.—Manuscript 117, 1907.

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God’s Plan for unified effort

To neglect or despise those whom God has appointed to bear the responsibilities of leadership in connection with the advancement of the truth, is to reject the means that He has ordained for the help, encouragement, and strength of His people. For any worker in the Lords’ cause to pass these by, and to think that his light must come through no other channel than directly from God, is to place himself in a position where he is liable to be deceived by the enemy, and overthrown. The Lord in His wisdom has arranged that by means of the close relationship that should be maintained by all believers, Christian shall be united to Christian, and church to church. Thus the human instrumentality will be enabled to cooperate with the divine. Every agency will be subordinate to the Holy Spirit, and all the believers will be united in an organized and well-directed effort to give to the world the glad tidings of the grace of God.—Gospel Workers, 443-444.

Interdependance

Some have advanced the thought that as we near the close of time, every child of God will act independently of any religious organization. But I have been instructed by the Lord that in this work there is no such things as every man’s being independent. The stars of heaven are all under law, each influencing the other to do the will of God, yielding their common obedience to the law that controls their action. And in order that the Lord’s work may advance, healthfully and solidly, His people must draw together.—(May 30, 1909) Testimonies for the Church 9:257-258.

How to have discernment

Unless men study God’s word and practice his teachings, to the letter, rendering willing obedience to him, they will have no more moral wisdom to discern the spiritual impact of the words of Christ than had the disciples who were offended, and left him. Messages may be brought to them from the Lord, but these messages will be just as incomprehensible as the words spoken by our Saviour to his disciples. Like the disciples, they will see some ideas that offend them.

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Spirituality Defined

Spiritual life—what is it? It is the contemplation of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, that our lives might be sweet and fragrant, that we might have power to perfect an unselfish Christian experience, and that from us others might learn to do good.
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Kind words

Let every one placed in a position of trust be as much more careful how he speaks and acts, as his position is greater in responsibility than the position of his fellow workers; for those connected with the work of God can please the Master by speaking kindly only. Any word spoken thoughtlessly or unadvisedly should be retracted on the spot. If the speaker forgets to do this, or if he does not regret his thoughtlessness, some one should in the spirit of Christ remind him of his duty to apologize; for we are to remember that as Christians professing to work in unity, we must not act like sinners, whose sinful words and works, unless repented of, will condemn them.

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Remedial Missionary Work

The design of the gospel is, by means of remedial missionary work, to confront this evil of selfishness… and destroy its destructive power by establishing enterprises of benevolence.

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Importance of Proper Focus

Let us stand where we look not at the defects and errors of others, but at Jesus, saying, “I have an individual case pending in the heavenly courts. It means everything to me whether I shall be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found complete in him, or whether I shall be found wanting.”

Provision has been made for every one of us to be saved. Those who do not accept the provision made by the shedding of the blood of the Son of the infinite God place their minds on little items, to the neglect of the great truths essential for salvation. They are diverted from the great Pattern, diverted from the study of the character of Christ. Failing to see him, they are not changed from glory to glory, from character to character. God wants us to look to Jesus.

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How to bring healing

Medical missionary work, ministering to the sick and suffering, can not be separated from the gospel. God help those whose attention has been aroused on this subject to have the mind of Christ, the sympathy of Christ. God help you to remember that Christ was a worker, that he went from place to place healing the sick. If we were as closely connected with Christ as were his disciples, God could work through us to heal many who are suffering.

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True missionary work

True missionary work leads those connected with it to bow before God in self-humiliation and in unfeigned gratitude to God for the past and present manifestation of his power. They hide self in Christ, praising and glorifying him as the One altogether lovely.

Christian missionary work is of great value to the home churches. By it the members, who know and believe the truth, are inspired with holy, sanctified zeal to deny self, to lift the cross of Christ, and labor with self-sacrificing zeal to send the truth to places nigh and afar off. Christian missionary work has a reflex influence upon the churches, an influence uplifting and sanctifying, demonstrating the importance of Christ’s teaching in the sixth chapter of John. Christian missionary work has a salutary influence upon unbelievers; for as them workers labor under divine superintendence, worldlings are led to see the greatness of the resources God has provided for those who serve him. God’s truth, demonstrated by the working of grace in the heart, multiplies the agencies of Christian usefulness and makes a decided impression upon the world.

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