According to His divine power

I am so thankful for Jesus. Oh, I feel so thankful wherever I am, on the water, on the land, that Jesus is my Saviour. There is no caste with God. Whatever the color, whatever the nationality, however weak we may be, rich or poor, God is our Father, and we can come to Him and ask for the things that we need. 

Now here is the word before us. "According to His divine power." We have no strength, we have nothing of ourselves, we are utter weakness. We cannot take one step toward God unless His grace is working upon human hearts and drawing us. Just as soon as we take the first step toward His mercy and grace He advances toward us, He advances with His pardon and grace. He takes away the sins of the world, and imputes to us His righteousness.

Now we may think, "I did not feel just as I wanted to." In that very meeting there was one that thought that he had received the love of God as he never had received it before. The next morning he came to the meeting and he got up. I knew in a moment something was the matter. The light was not in his countenance. Said he, "Somehow I don't feel as I did last night. Somehow I don't feel a nearness to God. I lost the blessing." 

"Where did you lose it, Brother R? Where did you lose it?" "I can't tell." "You slept through the night and God guarded you all night. Then what is the matter this morning?" Well, he did not know. I will tell you. You have not educated yourself to believe in God whatever feelings you have. Feeling is not your God, and it is no use for you to offer sacrifice on the altar of feeling, for feeling and faith are just as distinct from each other as heaven and earth, as the east is from the west. 

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Now faith walks the narrow plank, and walks till it comes to the end, then steps right off onto nothing, as it were. Yet it is everything. It is a mighty upholder. You walk the plank of faith and you cannot see another step to go. You need not consult how you feel. Feeling has nothing to do with it. Do I believe in God, that He is my God, and that His promises will be verified to me? Then I go right about my work. I never look or examine whether I have feeling or have no feeling. I know what my duty is from the expressed will of God, and it is for me to do it and do it intelligently. 

I will tell you when I know that God helps me. It is when I feel utterly unable physically to speak to the people. I go out so weak at times that it seems to me that I could not utter a word. As I stand before the people the blessing of God never fails me. The Lord uses the frail instrument to speak to the people.

Ellen G. White, Manuscript 49, 1894, pp. 10-13. (Camp Meeting, Ashfield, Australia, November 3, 1894.)