Lift Him Up as the Healer of Body and Soul
We are not always willing to come to Jesus with our trials
and difficulties. Sometimes we pour our troubles into human ears, and
tell our afflictions to those who cannot help us, and neglect to confide
all to Jesus, who is able to change the sorrowful way to paths of joy and
peace. . . . Oh, that all, ministers and people, would take their burdens
and perplexities to Jesus, who is waiting to receive them, and to give
them peace and rest! ( Signs of the Times, Mar. 17, 1887).
This Day with God
Page 104
Heavenly Guarantee
As Christians we want a new and living experience every
day. We want to learn how to trust Jesus, to believe in Him and confide
everything to Him. Jacob was raised from a man of feebleness and defects,
through faith in God in prayer, to be a prince with God. He prevailed through
faith. God is omnipotent. Man is finite. In converse with God, we may
lay the most secret thing of the soul open to Him--for He knows it all--but
not to man. . . .
Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 2
Page 774
The Great Counselor
Come to God with all your needs. Don't go to others
with your trials and temptations; God alone can help you. If you fulfill
the conditions of God's promises, the promises will be fulfilled to you.
If
your mind is stayed upon God, you will not go from a state of ecstasy to
the valley of despondency when trial and temptation come upon you. You
will not talk doubt and gloom to others. You will not say, "I do not
know about this or that. I do not feel happy. I am not sure that we have
the truth." You will not do this, for you will have an anchor to the soul
both sure and steadfast.
When we talk discouragement and gloom, Satan listens with fiendish joy, for it pleases him to know that he has brought you into his bondage. Satan cannot read our thoughts, but he can see our actions, hear our words; and from his long knowledge of the human family, he can shape his temptations to take advantage of our weak points of character. And how often do we let him into the secret of how he may obtain the victory over us. Oh, that we might control our words and actions! How strong we would become if our words were of such an order that we would not be ashamed to meet the record of them in the day of judgment. How different will they appear in the day of God from what they seem when we utter them.--RH, May 19, 1891.
There stands among you the Mighty Counselor of the ages,
inviting you to place your confidence in Him. Shall we turn away from
Him to uncertain human beings, who are as wholly dependent on God as we
ourselves are? Have we fallen so far below our privileges? Have we
not been guilty of expecting so little that we have not asked for what
God is longing to give?--RH, June 9, 1910.
Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 2
Page 776-777
Our Confidant Is Jesus
There are few who rightly appreciate or improve the precious
privilege of prayer. We should go to Jesus and tell Him all our needs.
We may bring Him our little cares and perplexities as well as our greater
troubles. Whatever arises to disturb or distress us, we should take it
to the Lord in prayer. When we fell that we need the presence of Christ
at every step, Satan will have little opportunity to intrude his temptations.
It is his studied effort to keep us away from our best and most sympathizing
friend.
We should make no one our confidant but Jesus. We can safely
commune with Him of all that is in our hearts.--5T 200, 201 (1882).
A Caution Concerning Confessions
Never encourage men to look to you for wisdom.
When men come to you for counsel, point them to the One who reads the
motives of every heart. A different spirit must come into our ministerial
work. No persons must act as confessors; no man must be exalted as supreme.
Our work is to humble self and to exalt Christ before the people. After
His resurrection, the Saviour promised that His power would be with all
who would go forth in His name. Let this power and this name be exalted.
We need to keep continually before our minds the prayer of Christ when
He prayed that self might be sanctified by truth and righteousness.--MS
137, 1907. (2SM 170.)
Do Not Confess Secret Sins to Humans Unless Led by
Holy Spirit
Present these thoughts to the persons who come asking
for your prayers: we are human; we cannot read the heart or know the secrets
of your life. These are known only to yourself and God.
If you now repent of your sin, if any of you can see that
in any instance you have walked contrary to the light given you of God
and have neglected to give honor to the body, the temple of God, but by
wrong habits have degraded the body which is Christ's property, make confession
of these things to God. Unless you are wrought upon by the Holy Spirit
in special manner to confess your sins of private nature to man, do not
breathe them to any soul.-- Our Camp Meetings, pp 44, 45, 1892. (CH
373, 374.)
Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 2,
Page 777
Make God Man's Confessor
Everyone needs a practical experience in trusting God
for himself.
Let no man become your confessor; open the heart to God;
tell Him every secret of the soul. Bring to Him your difficulties,
small and great, and He will show you a way out of them all. He alone can
know how to give the very help you need.--GW 418 (1915).
No Special Virtue in Confessing to Man
I hope that none will obtain the idea that they are earning
the favor of God by confession of sins or that there is special virtue
in confessing to human beings. There must be in the experience that faith
that works by love and purifies the soul. The love of Christ will subdue
the carnal propensities. The truth not only bears within itself the evidence
of its heavenly origin but proves that by the grace of God's Spirit it
is effectual in the purification of the soul. The Lord would have us
come to Him daily with all our troubles and confessions of sin, and He
can give us rest in wearing His yoke and bearing His burden. His Holy Spirit,
with its gracious influences, will fill the soul, and every thought will
be brought into subjection to the obedience of Christ.--5T 648 (1889).
Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 2
Page 778
Open Confession of Secret Sins Sows Seeds of Evil
I have been shown that many, many confessions should
never be spoken in the hearing of mortals; for the result is that which
the limited judgment of finite beings does not anticipate. Seeds of
evil are scattered in the minds and hearts of those who hear, and when
they are under temptation, these seeds will spring up and bear fruit, and
the same sad experience will be repeated. For, think the tempted ones,
these sins cannot be so very grievous; for did not those who have made
confession, Christians of long standing, do these very things? Thus the
open confession in the church of these secret sins will prove a savor of
death rather than of life.--5T 645 (1889). 779
The Ministry of Healing
Page 512,
The Divine Counselor
When in trouble, many think they must appeal to some
earthly friend, telling him their perplexities, and begging for help. Under
trying circumstances unbelief fills their hearts, and the way seems dark.
And
all the time there stands beside them the mighty Counselor of the ages,
inviting them to place their confidence in Him. Jesus, the great Burden
Bearer, is saying, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." Shall
we turn from Him to uncertain human beings, who are as dependent upon God
as we ourselves are?
