Channels Through Which the Father Can Pour His Boundless Love
compiled from the writings of Ellen G. White
God desires His people to show by their lives the advantage of Christianity over worldliness, to show that they are working on a high, holy plane. He longs to see them showing that the truth they have received has made them children of the heavenly King. He longs to make them channels through which He can pour His boundless love and mercy. [1]
Daily beset by temptation, constantly opposed by the leaders of the people, Christ knew that He must strengthen His humanity by prayer. In order to be a blessing to men, He must commune with God, pleading for energy, perseverance, and steadfastness. Thus He showed His disciples where His strength lay. Without this daily communion with God, no human being can gain power for service. Christ alone can direct the thoughts aright. He alone can give noble aspirations and fashion the character after the divine similitude. If we draw near to Him in earnest prayer, He will fill our hearts with high and holy purposes, and with deep longings for purity and righteousness. The dangers thickening around us demand from those who have an experience in the things of God, a watchful supervision. Those who walk humbly before God, distrustful of their own wisdom, will realize their danger and will know God's keeping care. [2]
We have only one channel of approach to God. Our prayers can come to him through one name only,--that of the Lord Jesus our advocate. His Spirit must inspire our petitions. No strange fire was to be used in the censers that were waved before God in the sanctuary. So the Lord himself must kindle in our hearts the burning desire, if our prayers are acceptable to him. The Holy Spirit within must make intercessions for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered. [3]
Is the kingdom of God enthroned in your heart by Christ's presence abiding there? or is self still a controlling power within? Whose subjects are you? If a selfish spirit continues to keep you out of Christ's service, pray, "Thy kingdom come. They will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Pray, oh, pray most earnestly, "Put Thy Spirit, Lord, Thy Holy Spirit, within my heart, that I may be sincere in keeping my baptismal vow." Pray that the intercession of Christ in your behalf shall not be in vain. Pray that unbelief shall no longer lead you to claim to be in God's service, while in the life-practice, because of a perverted will, you reveal that you are not bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Pray for the power to demonstrate to the world that you are dead to sin, and that your life is indeed hid with Christ in God. . . . [4]
When we see ourselves weak, ignorant, and helpless, as we really are, we shall come before God as humble suppliants. It is ignorance of God and of Christ that makes any soul proud and self-righteous. The infallible indication that a man knows not God, is found in the fact that he feels that in himself he is great or good. Pride of heart is always associated with ignorance of God. It is the light from God that discovers our darkness and destitution. When the divine glory was revealed to Daniel, he exclaimed, "My comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength." The moment the humble seeker sees God as he is, that moment he will have the same view of himself that Daniel had. There will be no lifting up of the soul unto vanity, but a deep sense of the holiness of God and of the justice of his requirements. The fruit of such an experience will be manifested in a life of self-denial and self-sacrifice. [5]
When the prayer is sincerely offered, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me," the voice of the Lord answers, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them." The renewed heart will have no plants of selfishness to cultivate. Pride will be seen in its sinfulness, and will be expelled. It is not for the human clay to find fault with the molding process of the potter, but to submit to be molded in any way. Every soul must submit to the Lord before he can be made a vessel unto honor, to be filled with the renewing, sanctifying grace of Christ. [6]
When man is created anew in Christ Jesus, he becomes a partaker of the divine nature. God has, through His own power, united in man the human and the divine. He clothes humanity with the robe of Christ's righteousness. Man is enabled to discern the Saviour, and by beholding he is changed into the likeness of His character. He recognizes the words of Christ, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." He who discerns Christ is a partaker of His Spirit and His righteousness. He has the inward assurance that Christ is abiding in the soul-temple. [7]
Receiving the Spirit of Christ, every one of His followers will fulfill a divinely appointed mission not merely to be an influence among influences, but to be a special influence for God in every sense of the term. [8]
1. 1913, Councils to Parents, Teachers and Students, page 324 par. 2
2. Ibid, page 323, par. 2
3. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, February 9, 1897 par. 10
4. 1902, Manuscript Releases Vol. 2, page 33 par. 1
5. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, February 9, 1897 par. 12
6. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, May 5, 1896 par. 5
7. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, June 21, 1898 par. 41
8. 1902, Manuscript Releases Vol. 2, page 33 par. 2
