Revival Efforts
At our camp
meetings there are far too few revival efforts made. There is too little
seeking of the Lord. Revival services should be carried from the beginning to
the close of the meeting. The most determined efforts should be made to arouse
the people. Let all see that you are in earnest because you have a wonderful
message from heaven. Tell them that the Lord is coming in judgment, and that
neither kings nor rulers, wealth nor influence, will avail to ward off the judgments
soon to fall. At the close of every meeting, decisions should be called for.
Hold fast to
those
interested, until they are confirmed in the faith.
We must be more
decidedly in earnest. We must talk the truth in private and in public,
presenting every argument, urging every motive of infinite weight, to draw men
to the Saviour uplifted on the cruel cross. God desires every man to attain
unto eternal life. Mark how all through the word of God there is manifest the
spirit of urgency, of imploring men and women to come to Christ, to deny
appetites and passions that corrupt the soul. With all our powers we must urge
them to look unto Jesus and to accept His life of self-denial and sacrifice. We
must show that we expect them to give joy to the heart of Christ by using every
one of His gifts in honoring His name. Many who come to the meeting are weary
and heavy-laden with sin. They do not feel safe in their religious faith.
Opportunity should be given for those who are troubled and want rest in spirit
to find help. After a discourse those who wish to follow Christ should be
invited to signify their desire. Invite all who are not satisfied that they are
prepared for Christ’s coming, and all who
feel burdened
and heavy-laden, to come apart by themselves. Let those who are spiritual
converse with these souls. Pray with and for them. Let much time be spent in
prayer and close searching of the word. Let all obtain the real facts of faith
in their own souls through belief that the Holy Spirit will be imparted to them
because they have a real hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Teach
them how to surrender themselves to God, how to believe, how to claim the
promises. Let the deep love of God be expressed in words of encouragement, in
words of intercession.
Let there be far
more wrestling with God for the salvation of souls. Work disinterestedly,
determinedly, with a spirit never to let go. Compel souls to come in to the
marriage supper of the Lamb. Let there be more praying, believing, and
receiving, and more working together with God.
There is the
most distressing indifference and neglect in regard to the great salvation. The
careless must be awakened, else they are lost. Since God has given His own Son
to save the guilty sinner, He means through His agents to counterwork the human
and satanic agencies that are united to destroy the soul. The Lord has made
every provision that the uplifted Saviour may
be revealed to
sinners. Although they are dead in trespasses and sins, their attention must be
aroused by the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. Men must be convicted of
the evil of sin. The eyes of the transgressor must be enlightened. Let all who
have been drawn to Christ tell the story of His love. Let everyone who has felt
the converting power of Christ upon his own soul
do what he can
in the name of the Lord. The infinite value of the sacrifice required for our
redemption reveals the fact that sin is a tremendous evil. God might have wiped
out this foul blot
from His creation
by sweeping the sinner from the face of the earth. But He “so loved the world,
that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. Why are not all who claim to
love God seeking to enlighten their neighbors and their associates, that they
may not longer neglect this great salvation?
Christ gave
Himself to a shameful, agonizing death, showing His great travail of soul to
save the perishing. Oh, Christ is able, Christ is willing, Christ is longing,
to save all who will come unto Him! Talk to souls in peril and get them to
behold Jesus upon the cross, dying to make it
possible for Him
to pardon. Talk to the sinner with your own heart overflowing with the tender,
pitying love of Christ. Let there be deep earnestness; but not a harsh, loud
note should be heard from the one who is trying to win the soul to look and
live. First have your own soul consecrated to God. As you look upon our
Intercessor in heaven, let your heart be broken. Then, softened and
subdued, you can
address repenting sinners as one who realizes the power of redeeming love. Pray
with these souls, by faith bringing them to the foot of the cross; carry their
minds up with your mind, and fix the eye of faith where you look, upon Jesus
the Sin Bearer. Get them to look away from their poor, sinful selves to the
Saviour, and the victory is won. They behold for themselves the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world. They see the Way,
the Truth, the
Life. The Sun of Righteousness sheds its bright beams into the heart. The
strong tide of redeeming love pours into the parched and thirsty soul, and the
sinner is saved to Jesus Christ. Christ crucified—talk it, pray it, sing it,
and it will break and win hearts. This is the power and wisdom of God to gather
souls for Christ. Formal, set phrases, the presentation of merely argumentative
subjects, is productive of little good. The melting love of God in the hearts
of the workers will be recognized by those for whom they labor. Souls are
thirsting for the waters
of life. Do not
be empty cisterns. If you reveal the love of Christ to them, you may lead the
hungering, thirsting ones to Jesus, and He will give them the bread of life and
the water of salvation.
Written by
Testimonies
for the Church
Volume Six
Ellen G. White
1901
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