Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 5 (1887-1888)

Lt 49, 1888

Sister

1888

Portions of this letter are published in OHC 119.

Dear Sister:

Let us put away everything like distrust and want of faith in Jesus. Let us commence a life of simple, childlike trust, not relying upon feeling, but upon faith. Do not dishonor Jesus by doubting His precious promises. He wants us to believe in Him with unwavering faith. 5LtMs, Lt 49, 1888, par. 1

There is a class who say, “I believe, I believe,” and lay claim to all the promises which are given on condition of obedience; but they do not the works of Christ. God is not honored by any such faith, it is spurious. Another class are trying to keep all the commandments of God, but many of them do not come up to their exalted privilege in claiming the promises that were given for them. God’s promises are for those who keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 5LtMs, Lt 49, 1888, par. 2

I find, Sister _____, that I have to fight the good fight of faith every day. I have to exercise all my faith, and not rely upon feeling; I have to act as though I knew the Lord heard me, and would answer me and bless me. Faith is not a happy flight of feeling; it is simply taking God at His word, believing that He will fulfill his promises because He said he would. 5LtMs, Lt 49, 1888, par. 3

I am much interested in your experience. The Lord has let His blessing rest upon you at seasons of prayer, and if you had kept looking to Jesus and fully believed on Him, then you would have received a much larger measure of the Spirit of God. But your husband’s coldness, unbelief, and manifest inability to appreciate the blessing proffered, was a heavy weight which hindered you so that you did not trust the promises of God. 5LtMs, Lt 49, 1888, par. 4

I hope you will not become discouraged in any way. I hope you will not allow the want that is evident in the experience of your husband to be the means of keeping your soul in darkness and discouragement. He seems to feel very anxious in regard to you, but if he would leave you in the hands of a merciful God and work for his own deliverance by a perfect surrender to God, he would have no cause to be troubled about your case. It will require much of the Spirit of God to break up his Phariseeism. He does not see himself. He has so woven self into the warp and woof of his experience that God has little to do with him. When he is able, through grace, to see his own defects, then Jesus can be his restorer. 5LtMs, Lt 49, 1888, par. 5

My sister, stand free in God. Let not your husband’s ideas become yours. Unless he rids himself of his supreme self-complacency and falls humbly at the foot of the cross of Calvary, he will deceive his own soul. He can relate wonderful incidents in a past experience, but he has no new, joyful experience in God. 5LtMs, Lt 49, 1888, par. 6

The Lord wants you to be free; He wants you to be trustful, to cease doubting, and believe. Self-righteousness is a terrible plague spot, but it does not belong to you at all. You are altogether distrustful of self and write and talk bitter things of yourself. Rest in the sheltering arms of Jesus, and do not worry yourself out of His arms; just believe, and praise God, and go forward. We are almost home. The Lord is coming. “Look up, and lift up your head; for your redemption draweth nigh.” [Luke 21:28.] I see in Jesus a compassionate, loving Redeemer, One who can save to the uttermost all who come unto Him. Lean your whole weight on the promises of God. May God help you to believe as it is your privilege to do. 5LtMs, Lt 49, 1888, par. 7