In Heavenly Places

Each in His Place, August 9

With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men. Ephesians 6:7. HP 228.1

The Lord is acquainted with us individually. Every one born into the world is given his or her work to do for the purpose of making the world better.... Each one has his sphere, and if the human agent makes God his counselor then there will be no working at cross purposes with God. He allots to every one a place and a work, and if we individually submit ourselves to be worked by the Lord, however confused and tangled life may seem to our eyes, God has a purpose in it all, and the human machinery, obedient under the hand of divine wisdom, will accomplish the purposes of God. As in a well-disciplined army every soldier has his allotted position and is required to act his part in contributing to the strength and perfection of the whole, so the worker for God must do his allotted part in the great work of God. HP 228.2

Life as it now appears is not what God designed it should be, and this is why there is so much that is perplexing; there is much wear and friction. The man or woman who leaves the place God has given him or her, in order to please inclination and act on his own devised plan, meets with disappointment, because he has chosen his way instead of God's way. HP 228.3

There are those who accept positions of responsibility but fail to sense the responsibility, and thus do haphazard work without at all understanding its character. Others accept a work for which they have no fitness.... Other individuals study to have their own way and work out their own plans, and God erects His barriers and does not allow them to do as they would.... HP 228.4

Our heavenly Father is our ruler, and we must submit to His discipline. We are members of His family. He has a right to our service; and if one of the members of His family would persist in having his own way, persist in doing just that which he pleases, that spirit would bring about a disordered and perplexing state of things. We must not study to have our own way, but God's way and God's will.... HP 228.5

Let God speak, and we will say, “Not my will, but Thy will, O God, be done.” ^{15Letter 6, 1894.} HP 228.6