Take Courage

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 24, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 30.

Take Courage.—Not long since we received the following letter, signed “Backslider”:—

Dear Christian Friends,—I implore you to pray for me, a backslider, who has grieved the Holy Spirit. Ask Him still to be merciful, and bear with me, and help me to come to Him aright.

We bid this soul to take courage. “No man can ‘come to Me,’ says Jesus, ‘except the Father which ‘sent Me draw him.’” It is God that gives repentance. And God never works by halves. He has touched your heart, Backslider; He has made you see, to some extent at least, your sins; He has awakened within you the desire to return to God. God has done all this by the Spirit that you grieved. He has done it all that He might restore you to Himself. Heed the Spirit’s call. At whatever cost to self, at whatever humbling of pride, confess all your sins where they should be confessed, and by faith (not feeling) know that they are forgiven. Praise Him that it is so. Take up every forgotten or neglected duty, and joyfully go forward in new service for Him. Do not look to others; do not look to the past. Study the Word. Take that alone as your guide, Jesus alone as your example, His life alone as your power, and slide back no longer, but in His name go forward.