Prayer and Promises

The promise 

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” 

— Matthew 5:14,16, NLT 

The testimony 

The Lord has said to his people, “Ye are the light of the world.” We are representatives of Bible truth. God has made us the repositories of his law. Then let none hold the truth in unrighteousness, but let the spirit, the words, and the deportment correspond with the principles of truth we claim to believe. We keep Christ in the background, and do not bring him into our hearts. I feel deeply that as a people we are not following our Bibles in our treatment of one another. There is not that spirit of full and entire forgiveness which brings peace and rest to the soul. 

We must learn to be Christ-like in disposition and character. We need an increase of faith in the promises of God. He has shown us great and precious favors; he has revealed to us his glory, all loving, holy. These attributes are blended with justice and mercy. We are not to think of God only as a judge, and to forget him as our loving Father. Nothing can do our souls greater harm than this; for our whole spiritual life will be molded by our conceptions of God’s character. We have lessons to learn of Jesus’ love. He has been ever solicitous for our welfare. His voice is ever inviting us to come to him with all our griefs and sorrows; and if we will obey the call, we shall draw toward Jesus. 

Then let all pride, all self-sufficiency be laid at the feet of Jesus. He is faithful that hath promised. If we approach him with a lowly, child-like trust, he will give us his grace and the treasures of eternal life as a free and everlasting gift. 

No earthly parent could plead more earnestly with an erring child, than he who made us pleads with the transgressor. No human, loving interest has ever followed the impenitent with such tender invitations. Then with what tender sympathies should we labor for the erring, sin perishing souls around us! We must work in the spirit in which Christ worked, with the compassionate tenderness that he manifested. When by living faith we shall claim the promises of God, when we shall live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, we shall place ourselves on the side of Christ, and have his Spirit and his grace to work with our efforts to bring souls to a knowledge of the divine will. 

— The Review and Herald, April 5, 1887 

The response 

Bring Christ into your heart. Let the spirit, the words, and the deportment correspond with the principles of truth you claim to believe.

Follow the Bible in your treatment of others. Seek a spirit of full and entire forgiveness which brings peace and rest to the soul by an increase of faith in the promises of God.

Let all pride, all self-sufficiency be laid at the feet of Jesus. He is faithful who has promised, seek His grace and the treasures of eternal life with a child-like trust. 

With tender sympathy labor for the erring, sin perishing souls around you! By living faith claim the promises of God and live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.