Watchfulness | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jun 29, 1876

Watchfulness.

We fight an invisible foe. He has craft, subtlety, malignity, and every quality that makes him potent for evil. Our strength to resist him comes alone from God. Without his direct help we stand no chance at all in such a conflict. That we may meet him successfully, we are bidden to watch unto prayer. We must do our part of the work if we would secure the Lord's help, which alone can give us the victory. We must watch for his assaults. We must pray for help to resist them. If we thus watch against evil, we shall see the utmost need of fervent prayer. We shall not indulge in one moment of carelessness, levity or vanity. Our words will be such that the Spirit of God shall not be grieved by them. Our very thoughts will be inspired by that Spirit. We must realize our danger and fly to God for help. We can never cease our watchfulness except at the imminent peril of defeat. God help us to realize danger and stand upon our guard.

And we ought to feel not only that we should watch for our own sakes, but for the sake of others also. If we suffer Satan to overcome us, we not only wound our own souls, but we suffer him to gain an entrance into the camp of the Lord. Every one of us must watch, not merely to save ourselves, but to give Satan no chance to enter the ranks of the loyal army by means of our unfaithfulness. If the Lord has given us a place in his army as soldiers of Christ, we are under solemn obligation not to be careless in the presence of so terrible a foe.