Fourth Cry: “Lead me”-Additional reading

To be used with CALL TO FASTING & PRAYER, Sept 22^nd, 2017

From the book” Fundamentals of Christian Education

Chapter 32—The Education Most Essential for Gospel Workers

There are Christian workers who have not received a collegiate education because it was impossible for them to secure this advantage; but God has given evidence that He has chosen them. He has ordained them to go forth and labor in His vineyard. He has made them effectual co-workers with Himself. They have a teachable spirit; they feel their dependence upon God, and the Holy Spirit is with them to help their infirmities. It will quicken and energize the mind, direct their thoughts, and aid in the presentation of truth. When the laborer stands before the people to hold forth the words of life, there is heard in his voice the echo of the voice of Christ. {FE 242.1}

It is evident that he walks with God; that he has been with Jesus and learned of Him. He has brought the truth into the inner sanctuary of the soul; it is to him a living reality, and he presents the truth in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. The people hear the joyful sound. God speaks to their hearts through the man consecrated to His service. As the worker lifts up Jesus through the Spirit, he becomes really eloquent. He is earnest and sincere, and is beloved by those for whom he labors.

What a sin would rest upon any one who should listen to such a man merely to criticize, to notice bad grammar, or incorrect pronunciation, and hold these errors up to ridicule. The speaker who has not a thorough education may sometimes fall into errors of grammar or pronunciation; he may not employ the most eloquent expressions or the most beautiful imagery, but if he has himself eaten of the Bread of Life; if he has drunk of the Fountain of Life, he can feed the hungry souls; he can give of the Water of Life to him that is athirst. His defects will be forgiven and forgotten. His hearers will not become weary or disgusted, but will thank God for the message of grace sent them through His servant. {FE 243.1}

From Book: The Great Controversy,

No truth is more clearly taught in the Bible than that God by His Holy Spirit especially directs His servants on earth in the great movements for the carrying forward of the work of salvation. Men are instruments in the hand of God, employed by Him to accomplish His purposes of grace and mercy. Each has his part to act; to each is granted a measure of light, adapted to the necessities of his time, and sufficient to enable him to perform the work which God has given him to do. But no man, however honored of Heaven, has ever attained to a full understanding of the great plan of redemption, or even to a perfect appreciation of the divine purpose in the work for his own time. Men do not fully understand what God would accomplish by the work which He gives them to do; they do not comprehend, in all its bearings, the message which they utter in His name. {GC 343.2}

From Book:  Pastoral Ministry

If the minister is surrendered, the Holy Spirit speaks through every discourse and makes it effective—It is the efficiency of the Holy Spirit that makes the ministry of the Word effective. When Christ speaks through the minister, the Holy Spirit prepares the hearts of the listeners to receive the Word. The Holy Spirit is not a servant, but a controlling power. He causes the truth to shine into minds, and speaks through every discourse where the minister surrenders himself to the divine working. It is the Spirit that surrounds the soul with a holy atmosphere, and speaks to the impenitent through words of warning, pointing them to Him who takes away the sin of the world.—Gospel Workers, 155. {PaM 187.1}

 From Book: Selected Messages, No. 3

Unsafe Counselors

The interests of the cause of God are not to be committed to men who have no connection with heaven. Those who are disloyal to God cannot be safe counselors. They have not that wisdom which comes from above. They are not to be trusted to pass judgment in matters connected with God’s cause, matters upon which such great results depend. If we follow their judgment, we shall surely be brought into very difficult places, and shall retard the work of God. {3SM 300.2}

Those who are not connected with God are connected with the enemy of God, and while they may be honest in the advice they give, they themselves are blinded and deceived. Satan puts suggestions into the mind and words into the mouth that are entirely contrary to the mind and will of God. Thus he works through them to allure us into false paths. He will mislead, entangle, and ruin us if he can. {3SM 300.3}

Anciently it was a great sin for the people of God to give themselves away to the enemy, and open before them either their perplexity or their prosperity. Under the ancient economy it was a sin to offer sacrifice upon the wrong altar. It was a sin to offer incense kindled by the wrong fire. {3SM 300.4}

We are in danger of mingling the sacred and the common. The holy fire from God is to be used in our efforts. The true altar is Christ; the true fire is the Holy Spirit. This is our inspiration. It is only as the Holy Spirit leads and guides a man that he is a safe counselor. If we turn aside from God and from His chosen ones to inquire at strange altars we shall be answered according to our works. {3SM 300.5}

Let us show perfect trust in our Leader. Let us seek wisdom from the Fountain of wisdom. In every perplexing or trying situation, let God’s people agree as touching the thing they desire, and then let them unite in offering prayer to God, and persevere in asking for the help they need. We are to acknowledge God in all our counsel, and when we ask of Him, we are to believe that we receive the very blessings sought.—Manuscript 196, 1898. {3SM 301.1}

Cooperation With Divine Agencies

The people of God on earth are the human agents that are to cooperate with divine agencies for the salvation of men. To the souls that have joined themselves to Him, Christ says, “You are one with Me, ‘labourers together with God’” (1 Corinthians 3:9). God is the great and unperceived actor; man is the humble and seen agent, and it is only in cooperation with the heavenly agencies that he can do anything good. It is only as the mind is enlightened by the Holy Spirit that men discern the divine agency. And hence Satan is constantly seeking to divert minds from the divine to the human, that man may not cooperate with Heaven. He directs the attention to human inventions, leading men to trust in man, to make flesh their arm, so that their faith does not take hold upon God. {2SM 123.1}

And when our light becomes darkness, how shall we be a light to the world? {2SM 123.3}

The work of our personal salvation also depends upon our cooperation with the divine agencies. God has imparted to us moral powers and religious susceptibilities. He has given His Son as a propitiation for our sins, that we might be reconciled to God. Jesus lived a life of self-denial and sacrifice, that we might follow His example. He has given the Holy Spirit to be in Christ’s stead in every place where help is needed. He employs the heavenly intelligences to bring divine power to combine with our human efforts. But we must accept the gift of God, we must repent, and believe in Christ. We must watch, we must pray, we must obey the requirements of God. We must practice self-denial and self-sacrifice for Christ’s sake. We must grow up into Christ by constant connection with Him. Whatever turns the mind away from God to trust in man, or conform to a human standard, will prevent us from cooperating with God in the work of our own salvation. This is why the Lord forbade His people to form any alliance with the heathen, “lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee” (Exodus 34:12). He said, “They will turn away thy son from following me” (Deuteronomy 7:4). And the same principle applies to the association of Christians with the ungodly. {2SM 123.4}