“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38).
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me….Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You” (Psalm 51:10, 12-13).
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues, and you will keep My judgments and do them….Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate….Then they shall know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 36:26-27, 38).
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38).
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation….We are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17-20).
”For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14).
“Every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary. He who drinks of the living water becomes a fountain of life. The receiver becomes a giver. The grace of Christ in the soul is like a spring in the desert, welling up to refresh all, and making those who are ready to perish eager to drink of the water of life” (Desire of Ages, 195).
”Brethren, we must have less of self and more of God. He claims the energies of the Church; but to a great extent the ability of our people is absorbed by unworthy objects. Too much time is devoted to petty ideas and claims. God wants us to come up into the mount, more directly into his presence. We are coming into a crisis, which, more than any previous time since the world began, will demand the entire consecration of every one that has named the name of Christ. God’s work demands all there is of us. But our people will never make this consecration until their hearts are changed. They need conversion as much as did Peter. When they have been thus quickened, Christ can say to them, ‘Strengthen thy brethren,’ ‘Feed my sheep,’ ‘Feed my lambs’” (Review and Herald, December 15, 1885).
“Every truly converted soul will be intensely desirous to bring others from the darkness of error into the marvelous light of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The great outpouring of the Spirit of God, which lightens the whole earth with His glory, will not come until we have an enlightened people, that know by experience what it means to be laborers together with God. When we have entire, wholehearted consecration to the service of Christ, God will recognize the fact by an outpouring of His Spirit without measure; but this will not be while the largest portion of the church are not laborers together with God. God cannot pour out His Spirit when selfishness and self-indulgence are so manifest; when a spirit prevails that, if put into words, would express that answer of Cain—'Am I my brother's keeper?’ ...
When the hearts of the believers are warm with the love for God, they will do a continual work for Jesus. They will manifest the meekness of Christ and display a steadfast purpose that will not fail nor be discouraged. God will use humble men to do His work, for there is a large vineyard calling for laborers” (My Life Today, 59).
“The angels of God in their messages to men represent time as very short. Thus it has always been presented to me. It is true that time has continued longer than we expected in the early days of this message. Our Saviour did not appear as soon as we hoped. But has the word of the Lord failed? Never! It should be remembered that the promises and threatenings of God are alike conditional.
God had committed to His people a work to be accomplished on earth. The third angel’s message was to be given, the minds of believers were to be directed to the heavenly sanctuary, where Christ had entered to make atonement for His people. The Sabbath reform was to be carried forward. The breach in the law of God must be made up. The message must be proclaimed with a loud voice, that all the inhabitants of earth might receive the warning. The people of God must purify their souls through obedience to the truth, and be prepared to stand without fault before Him at His coming.
Had Adventists, after the great disappointment in 1844, held fast their faith, and followed on unitedly in the opening providence of God, receiving the message of the third angel and in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming it to the world, they would have seen the salvation of God, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts, the work would have been completed, and Christ would have come ere this to receive His people to their reward.
But in the period of doubt and uncertainty that followed the disappointment, many of the advent believers yielded their faith. Dissensions and divisions came in. The majority opposed with voice and pen the few who, following in the providence of God, received the Sabbath reform and began to proclaim the third angel's message. Many who should have devoted their time and talents to the one purpose of sounding warning to the world, were absorbed in opposing the Sabbath truth, and in turn, the labor of its advocates was necessarily spent in answering these opponents and defending the truth. Thus the work was hindered, and the world was left in darkness. Had the whole Adventist body united upon the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, how widely different would have been our history!
It was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be thus delayed. God did not design that His people, Israel, should wander forty years in the wilderness. He promised to lead them directly to the land of Canaan, and establish them there a holy, healthy, happy people. But those to whom it was first preached, went not in “because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19). Their hearts were filled with murmuring, rebellion, and hatred, and He could not fulfill His covenant with them.
For forty years did unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. In neither case were the promises of God at fault. It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord’s professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years” (Selected Messages, Volume 1, 67-69).
“We may have to remain here in this world because of insubordination many more years as did the children of Israel; but for Christ’s sake, His people should not add sin to sin by charging God with the consequence of their own wrong course of action. Now, have men who claim to believe the Word of God learned their lesson that obedience is better than sacrifice? ‘He hath shewed thee (this rebellious people), O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.’ [Micah 6:8.]
Now the Lord will not be pleased with those men, whom He hath appointed to do a certain work, [if they] take on many lines of work and carry them until they become so wearisome that it breaks their strength. You, nor any other agency, cannot heal the hurt that has come to God’s people by neglect to lift up His standard and occupy new territory. The churches should now be acting in their strength, with capabilities, talents, and means, carrying the work, reaching higher and broader in capacity to stand before the world in the power of invincible truth.
But if all now would only see and confess and repent of their own course of action in departing from the truth of God, and following human devising, then the Lord would pardon” (Letter 184, 1901).
• What do you understand as true conversion and how confident are you that it is yours?
• What does the missionary activity in your life or lack of it tell you about your conversion?
• What steps does God want you to take to experience a deeper conversion?
Dear Rescuing Redeemer, I want a deeper experience in which You are everything and I am nothing. Please forgive my selfishness and all the sinful thoughts, words, and actions that have filled my life. Create in me a clean heart full of the love of Jesus. Let living waters flow out of me to those who are thirsty so that they can find deep conversion too.
Grow more in this area by exploring the book Steps to Christ,reading it online, listening to it, studying it in a small group, or by purchasing a copy.
