Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Lt 160, 1907

Starr, Brother and Sister [J. A.]

Loma Linda, California

April 30, 1907

Portions of this letter are published in TDG 129.

Dear Brother and Sister Starr:

A message has been given to me for you. The Lord has in His work a place for you both. You have been greatly tried, but through all your trials the Lord’s grace and His loving care have been over you both. The angels of God have been round about you. As you have sought the Lord, His Spirit has ever been ready to guide you into right paths. 22LtMs, Lt 160, 1907, par. 1

Brother Starr, it is your privilege and your duty to resist steadfastly the suggestions of the enemy that tend to discouragement. The Lord has permitted you to be brought into strait places, but He has preserved you. He has enabled you to discern between the true and the false. It has pleased Him that, even under great stress of circumstances, you have refused flattering, worldly inducements, that would have led you to dishonor Him. In His great love for you, He has kept you from permitting flattering, worldly inducements, or the opportunity to avail yourself of large advantages, to take away your uppermost desire to maintain your communion with God, and to remain with your feet ever planted upon the platform of eternal truth. You have felt that full communion with the living God is more to be desired than great gifts or a life of ease. The honor of God must be preserved at any cost. 22LtMs, Lt 160, 1907, par. 2

You have gained victories, where many would have found excuse to receive a bribe of seeming advantages. Through the pure truth of the Word, you have preserved your integrity. Had you yielded the principles of truth, the enemy would have prevailed and God would have been dishonored. 22LtMs, Lt 160, 1907, par. 3

In the books of heaven is registered your determination to keep the way of the Lord. God has marked the power of the truth implanted in the soul to control the actions of the life. The conscientious and steadfast maintenance of right under tests that have been brought to bear testify that correct principles have been held sacred. In the sight of Him who has said, “I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even the golden wedge of Ophir,” it is written of you, “Kept by the power of God through temptation.” [Isaiah 13:12.] 22LtMs, Lt 160, 1907, par. 4

Brother Starr, you are not to demerit the experiences through which you have passed. God has been nigh you, angels have preserved you. Let His keeping power be to you an evidence of His love. Resist the power of unbelief, and glorify God by holding fast the truth in faith. With your whole heart say, I believe in the power of Christ to save and to keep. He will help you to maintain truth in the inner court of the soul. 22LtMs, Lt 160, 1907, par. 5

We are living amid the perils of the last days. The Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the earth, but the Lord has not left you, my brother. I am bidden to encourage you to believe that your life has not been wasted. Wake up, my brother, and the Lord will guide you to the work He has for you. But do not longer please the enemy by yielding to the temptation to despair. Let the truth of God be to your soul as the sunshine and the vital air. 22LtMs, Lt 160, 1907, par. 6

My brother, will you not co-operate with the great Healer? It is necessary that you exercise your muscles as well as your nerves. While you are here at Loma Linda, or wherever you may be, do not neglect physical exercise. The hands, the feet, all the muscular organs were created for action. And if you do not exercise these organs and your brain power proportionately, you will lose that vitality which you should preserve. 22LtMs, Lt 160, 1907, par. 7

The Lord has instructed me to tell you that you are to use the members of the body as well as the brain. Find something that you can do about the place, and make it a special charge to use the limbs and also the organs of speech. God gave these members for use, not to remain idle. 22LtMs, Lt 160, 1907, par. 8

Many people come to our sanitariums who have thought they could not exercise their muscles. I remember one of our workers who some years ago came to the institution in St. Helena. He was so weak he felt he could not arise from his bed. The physician in charge of the case told me, I see no hope for him unless we can get him off from the bed and make use of his limbs and his mind in some way. I advised the doctor to persuade the patient to dress himself for a short walk for the purpose of asking his opinion about something. It proved to be a difficult matter to get him off his bed, but he succeeded; and again the next day, he went a little farther. After three weeks, the man needed no further urging, and he soon acquired a good appetite for hygienic food. This was seventeen years ago, and the man is still alive, strong in brain, bone, and muscle. 22LtMs, Lt 160, 1907, par. 9

My brother, you cannot be what you should be physically unless you exercise the powers of your being equally. I recommend to you, as one of the Lord’s remedial agencies, that you take right hold and work for a period of time each day, lightly at first, but gradually increase your labor. You can spend part of your time in the office helping Sister Burden, but you should not neglect to find some work that will bring into action the hands and limbs. This is the Lord’s prescription for you. 22LtMs, Lt 160, 1907, par. 10

I shall now leave this matter with you. The Lord is your Helper and your God. He desires to take your case in hand, and He will co-operate with you, as you put in working order brain, bone, and muscle. Will you take this prescription of the great Physician? You will never gain strength in turning your thoughts upon yourself and in brooding over the past or in worry for the future. You can do for yourself what no one else can do for you. I beseech of you to try this remedy. 22LtMs, Lt 160, 1907, par. 11