Twilight Perceptions of Character—Sudden and Decisive Steps—From a Weakling to a Prince—The Twofold Life
By MRS. E. G. WHITE
We need constantly a fresh revelation of Christ, a daily experience that harmonizes with His teachings. High and holy attainments are within our reach. Continual progress in knowledge and virtue is God’s purpose for us. His law is the echo of His own voice, giving to all the invitation, “Come up higher, be holy, holier still.”
Every day, we may advance in perfection of Christian character.
A TWILIGHT PERCEPTION
Many who are already members of God’s great family know little of what it means to behold His glory, and to be changed from glory to glory. Many have a twilight perception of Christ’s excellence, and their hearts thrill with joy. They long for a fuller, deeper sense of the Saviour’s love. Let these cherish every desire of the soul after God. The Holy Spirit works with those who will be worked, fashions those who will be fashioned. Give yourselves to the culture of spiritual thoughts and holy communings. You have seen but the first rays of the early dawn of His glory. As you follow on to know the Lord, you will know that the “path of the righteous is as the light of dawn, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”
“Come up unto Me into the mount,” God bids us. To Moses, before he could be God’s instrument in delivering Israel, was appointed the forty years of communing with Him in the mountain altitudes. Before hearing God’s message to Pharaoh, he spoke with the Angel in the burning bush. Before receiving God’s law as the representative of His people, he was called into the mount, and beheld His glory. Before executing justice on the idolaters, he was hidden in the cleft of the rock, and the Lord said, “I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee,” “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth, . . . and that will by no means clear the guilty.” Before he laid down, with his life, his burden for Israel, God called him to the top of Pisgah, and spread out before him the glory of the promised land. Before the disciples went forth on their mission, they were called up into the mount with Jesus. Before the power and glory of Pentecost, came the night of communion with the Saviour, the meeting on the mountain in Galilee, the parting scene upon Olivet, with the angel’s promise, and the days of prayer and communion in the upper chamber.
Jesus, when preparing for some great trial, would resort to the solitude of the mountains, and spend the night in prayer to His Father. A night of prayer preceded the ordination of the apostles and the Sermon on the Mount, the transfiguration, the agony of the judgment hall and the cross, and the resurrection glory. We too must have times set apart for meditation and prayer, and for receiving spiritual refreshing. We do not value the power and efficacy of prayer as we should.
Prayer and faith will do what no power on earth can accomplish. We are seldom, in all respects, placed in the same position twice. We continually have new scenes and new trials to pass through, where past experience cannot be a sufficient guide. We must have the continual light that comes from God.
Christ is ever sending messages to those who listen for His voice. On the night of the agony in Gethsemane, the sleeping disciples heard not the voice of Jesus. They had a dim sense of the angel’s presence, but lost the power and glory of the scene. Because of their drowsiness and stupor, they failed of receiving the evidence that would have strengthened their souls for the terrible scenes before them. Thus to-day the very men who most need divine instruction often fail of receiving it, because they do not place themselves in communion with Heaven.
SHORT AND DECISIVE STEPS
The temptations to which we are daily exposed make prayer a necessity. Dangers beset every path. Those who are seeking to rescue others from vice and ruin are especially exposed to temptation. In constant contact with evil, they need a strong hold upon God, lest they themselves be corrupted. Short and decisive are the steps that lead men down from high and holy ground to a low level. In a moment, decisions may be made that fix one’s condition forever. One failure to overcome leaves the soul unguarded. One evil habit, if not firmly resisted, will strengthen into chains of steel, binding the whole man.
It was through faith and prayer that Jacob, from being a man of feebleness and sin, became a prince with God. It is thus that you may become men and women of high and holy purpose, men and women who will not for any consideration be swayed from truth, right, justice. All are pressed with urgent cares, burdens, and duties; but the more difficult your position, and the heavier your burdens, the more you need Jesus.
Nothing is more needed in our work than the practical results of communion with God. We should show, by our daily lives, that we have peace and rest in the Saviour. His peace in452the heart will shine forth in the countenance. It will give to the voice a persuasive power. Communion with God will ennoble the character and the life. Men take knowledge of us, as of the first disciples, that we have been with Jesus. This will impart to the worker a power that nothing else can give. Of this power he must not allow himself to be deprived.
THE TWOFOLD LIFE
We must live a twofold life, a life of thought and action, of silent prayer and earnest work. The strength received through communion with God, united with earnest effort in training the mind to thoughtfulness and caretaking, prepares one for daily duties, and keeps the spirit in peace under all circumstances, however trying.
When we are humble and contrite, we stand where God can and will manifest Himself to us. He is well pleased when we urge past mercies and blessings as a reason why He should bestow on us greater blessings. He will more than fulfill the expectations of those who trust fully in Him. The Lord Jesus knows just what His children need, how much divine power we will appropriate for the blessing of humanity; and He bestows upon us all that we will employ in blessing others and ennobling our own souls.
