Young men who have had only a few years of imperfect experience in the cause of present truth ...should manifest a delicacy in taking positions contrary to the judgment and opinions of those whose lives have been interwoven with the cause of God and who have had an active part in this work for many years. God does not select to lead out in His sacred, important work, men of immature judgment and great self-confidence. Those who have not passed through the sufferings, trials, opposition, and privations that have been endured to bring the work to its present condition of prosperity, should cultivate modesty and humility. They should be careful how they become exalted, lest they be overthrown. They will be accountable for the clear light of truth which shines upon them.
(GW 318.1)
I saw that God is displeased with the disposition that some have to murmur against those who have fought the heaviest battles for them, and who endured so much in the beginning of the message, when the work went hard. The experienced laborers,—those who toiled under the weight and the oppressive burdens when there were but few to help bear them,—God regards; and He has a jealous care for those who have proved faithful. He is displeased with those who are ready to find fault with and reproach the servants of God who have grown gray in building up the cause of present truth. Your reproaches and murmurings, young men, will surely stand against you in the day of God.
(GW 318.2)
Humility in Young Ministers
As long as God has not laid heavy responsibilities upon you, do not get out of your place, and rely upon your own independent judgment, and assume responsibilities for which you are not fitted. You need to cultivate watchfulness and humility, and to be diligent in prayer. The nearer you live to God, the more clearly will you discern your weaknesses and dangers. A practical view of the law of God, and clear discernment of the atonement of Christ, will give you a knowledge of yourselves, and will show you wherein you fail to perfect Christian character....
(GW 319.1)
In a degree you overlook the necessity of having a divine influence constantly with you. This is positively necessary in doing the work of God. If you neglect this, and pass on in self-confidence and self-sufficiency, you will be left to make very great blunders. You need constantly to cherish lowliness of mind and a spirit of dependence. He who feels his own weakness will look higher than himself, and will feel the need of constant strength from above. The grace of God will lead him to cherish a spirit of constant gratitude. He who is best acquainted with his own weakness will know that it is the matchless grace of God alone that triumphs over the rebellion of the heart.
(GW 319.2)
You need to become acquainted with the weak as well as the strong points in your characters, that you may be constantly guarded lest you engage in enterprises and assume responsibilities for which God has never designed you. You should not compare your actions and measure your lives by any human standard, but with the rule of duty revealed in the Bible....
(GW 319.3)
You are too dependent upon your surroundings. If you have a large congregation, you are elated, and you desire to address them. But sometimes your congregations diminish, your spirits sink, and you have but little courage to labor. Surely, something is wanting. Your hold upon God is not firm enough....
(GW 320.1)
Christ sought for men wherever He could find them,—in the public streets, in private houses, in the synagogues, by the seaside. He toiled all day, preaching to the multitude, and healing the sick that were brought to Him; and frequently, after He had dismissed the people that they might return to their homes to rest and sleep, He spent the entire night in prayer, to come forth and renew His labors in the morning....
(GW 320.2)
You need to bring your soul into close communion with God by earnest prayer mixed with living faith. Every prayer offered in faith lifts the suppliant above discouraging doubts and human passions. Prayer gives strength to renew the conflict with the powers of darkness, to bear trials patiently, and to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ.
(GW 320.3)
While you take counsel with your doubts and fears, or try to solve everything that you cannot see clearly before you have faith, your perplexities will only increase and deepen. If you come to God, feeling helpless and dependent, as you really are, and in humble, trusting prayer make your wants known to Him whose knowledge is infinite, who sees everything in creation, and who governs everything by His will and word, He can and will attend to your cry, and will let light shine into your heart and all around you; for through sincere prayer your soul is brought into connection with the mind of the Infinite. You may have no remarkable evidence at the time that the face of your Redeemer is bending over you in compassion and love, but this is even so. You may not feel His visible touch, but His hand is upon you in love and pitying tenderness....
(GW 320.4)
You have need of constant watchfulness, lest Satan beguile you through his subtlety, corrupt your minds, and lead you into inconsistencies and gross darkness. Your watchfulness should be characterized by a spirit of humble dependence upon God. It should not be carried on with a proud, self-reliant spirit, but with a deep sense of your personal weakness, and a childlike trust in the promises of God.
(GW 321.1)
Days of Conflict and Soul-Anguish
It is now an easy and pleasant task to preach the truth of the third angel’s message, in comparison with what it was when the message first started, when the numbers were few, and we were looked upon as fanatics. Those who bore the responsibility of the work in the rise and early progress of the message, knew what conflict, distress, and soul-anguish are. Night and day the burden was heavy upon them. They thought not of rest or convenience, even when they were pressed with suffering and disease. The shortness of time called for activity, and the laborers were few.
(GW 321.2)
Frequently, when brought into strait places, the entire night was spent in earnest, agonizing prayer, with tears, for help from God, and for light to shine upon His word. When the light did come, and the clouds were driven back, what joy and grateful happiness rested upon the anxious, earnest seekers! Our gratitude to God was as complete as had been our earnest, hungering cry for light. Some nights we could not sleep because our hearts were overflowing with love and gratitude to God.
(GW 321.3)
Men who now go forth to preach the truth, have things made ready to their hand. They cannot experience such privations as the laborers in present truth endured before them. The truth has been brought out link after link, till it forms a clear, connected chain. To bring the truth out in such clearness and harmony has required careful research. Opposition, the most bitter and determined, drove the servants of God to the Lord and to their Bibles. Precious indeed to them was the light which came from God....
(GW 322.1)
In the final victory, God will have no use for those persons who are nowhere to be found in time of peril and danger, when the strength, courage, and influence of all are required to make a charge upon the enemy. Those who stand like faithful soldiers to battle against wrong and to vindicate the right, warring against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, will each receive the commendation from the Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant; ...enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”Matthew 25:23.—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. III, pages 320-327.
(GW 322.2)
He who loses sight of his entire dependence upon God is sure to fall. We are contending with those who are stronger than we. Satan and his hosts are constantly watching to assail us with temptations, and in our own strength and wisdom it is impossible for us to withstand them. Hence, whenever we permit our hearts to be drawn away from God, whenever we indulge self-exaltation or self-dependence, we are sure to be overthrown.
(GW 322.3)
The world will never know the work secretly going on between the soul and God, nor the inward bitterness of spirit, the self-loathing, and the constant efforts to control self; but many of the world will be able to appreciate the result of these efforts.
(GW 323.1)
Those who have the deepest experience in the things of God, are the farthest removed from pride or self-exaltation. It is when men have the most exalted conceptions of the glory and excellence of Christ, that self is abased, and they feel that the lowest place in His service is too honorable for them.
(GW 323.2)
The Lord wants us to come up into the mount, more directly into His presence. We are coming to a crisis which, more than any previous time since the world began, will demand the entire consecration of every one who has named the name of Christ.
(GW 323.3)
May God make His servants wise through the divine illumination, that the impress of man may not be seen on any of the great and important enterprises before us.
(GW 323.4)