Come—the Invitation of a Loving God

Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Psalm 34:11.

The Holy Spirit illumines our darkness, informs our ignorance, and understands and helps us in our manifold necessities. But the mind must be constantly going out after God. If coldness and worldliness are allowed to come in, we shall have no heart to pray, no courage to look up to Him who is the source of strength and wisdom. Then pray always, dear brethren and sisters, “lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” Urge your requests to the throne of grace, and rely upon God hour by hour and moment by moment. The service of Christ will regulate all your relations with your fellow-men, and make your life fruitful in good works.

Let none imagine that selfishness, self-esteem, and self-indulgence are compatible with the Spirit of Christ. Upon every truly converted man or woman there rests a responsibility that we cannot rightly estimate. The maxims and ways of the world are not to be adopted by the sons and daughters of the heavenly King….

The arduous struggle for conquest over self, for holiness and Heaven, is a life-long struggle. There is no release in this war; the effort must be continuous and persevering. Christian integrity must be sought with resistless energy, and maintained with a resolute fixedness of purpose. A genuine religious experience unfolds and intensifies. Continual advancement, increasing knowledge and power in the Word of God, is the natural result of a vital connection with God. The light of holy love will grow brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.—Testimonies for the Church 5:410-413.