perfect

Overcoming

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Sometimes the word perfection strikes people as being too harsh or unattainable. In the book, The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection, by A. T. Jones (Leaves of Autumn Books, Inc., Payson, Arizona [1978], 118), it says, “The service in the earthly sanctuary shows also that in order for the sanctuary to be cleansed, and the course of the gospel service there to be finished, it must first be finished in the people who have a part in the service. That is to say: In the sanctuary itself, transgression could not be finished, an end of sins and reconciliation for iniquity could not be made, and everlasting righteousness could not be brought in, until all this had been accomplished in each person who had a part in the service of the sanctuary.”

The sanctuary is the central part of the message that defines us as Seventh-day Adventists. It goes on to say, “Therefore the very first work in the cleansing of the sanctuary was the cleansing of the people. That which was preliminary and essential to the cleansing of the sanctuary itself, to the finishing of the transgression and bringing in everlasting righteousness there, was the finishing of transgression, and the making an end of sins, and making reconciliation for iniquity, and bringing in everlasting righteousness in the heart and life of each one of the people themselves. When the stream that flowed into the sanctuary was thus stopped at its source, then, and then alone, could the sanctuary itself be cleansed from the sins and transgression which, from the people, by the intercession of the priests, had flowed into the sanctuary.” Ibid., 118, 119.

Perfection was required on the day of atonement. It was only when sin stopped flowing into the sanctuary that it could be cleansed; otherwise the blood of the sacrificial lambs would continually defile it. In the earthly sanctuary, Jesus has given us an example.

James 1:27 identifies what is needed to belong to the true church—true religion! “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble [in their affliction KJV], and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” Notice that this is not just a social visit. It is for a specific purpose to help them in their need or affliction. God has a special care for the widows and orphans, and if you touch the orphan, you have touched the apple of God’s eye.

We are told to “keep unspotted from the world.” Paul says, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14. We can understand peace, even though there is misunderstanding as to how to pursue it. Don’t let the trouble be on you, but let you be the peacemaker. So “pursue peace … and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord.” These words sometimes strike fear or terror in people, but they are necessary, for God is holy and only holy people will be with Him in eternity.

In Jesus’ prayer to His Father, He said, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” John 17:14–16.

What is the world spoken of here? We speak about Babylon and to come out of her and it is related, because Babylon is the world. However, Jesus here says, “You should [not] take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” Verse 16.

“The world” gets to us through our senses. Satan gains entrance into our minds through the senses. He does not know what we are thinking, but he is a master at watching us our whole lives. We are to guard the avenues of the soul, which includes what we allow into our minds through our senses. We always talk about the temptations and how they need to be resisted. Joseph was tempted daily from the outside. The entire universe was watching what Joseph would do when confronted by Potiphar’s wife. Joseph’s intentions were pure, and when tempted he said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9. Joseph’s integrity cost him many years in prison, but God’s hand was over him, preparing him to be a ruler in Egypt.

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” James 1:13, 14. According to James, the temptation comes from within, and we are enticed through our own desires. Through the senses the desire is worked up and becomes enticed. When you give in and agree to the temptation, it is then sin. When a person realizes he is tempted, and in the strength of the Lord resists and repents of it, he beats the desire. All are tempted through the world but we all have free will to choose either to give in to the temptation or resist.

There are many Adventists who do not really believe that it is possible to live the Christian life and continually overcome, claiming that even Paul struggled every day. They quote Paul in Romans 7 where he says he wanted to do what was right, but he couldn’t do it, always catching himself doing what he shouldn’t be doing, and they identify with him. In Romans 8, Paul writes that he was successful in overcoming that vacillating life of in and out of sin. In verses 5 and 6 he tells us, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

He points out that it is not just being tempted or enticed, but there is a choice in what to think about and where to direct your mind. He says, “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.” This is making a deliberate choice on what to focus. It can be compared to driving. While your focus is on the road ahead you are unlikely to sway from your lane, but if you start focusing on something out to the side, you could be off the road in seconds. It is a natural law that you will go where you are looking.

The first half of Romans 8 deals with focusing the mind. This is the key, and it is your choice whether you set it on the Spirit or on the flesh. No one can do it for you.

Jesus said, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34. He said, it is not what goes into the mouth but what comes out, that defiles a person. We know that the heart is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). Who you really are will eventually come out and be made public. You cannot hold it in. Some people are great actors. The word actor in Greek means hypocrite. It was a profession just as today in Hollywood we have actors in this world that profess. In Greece they would be called hypocrites. An actor cannot act continually without what is in the heart coming out sooner or later.

True Christians are to be apart from the world. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:15–17. Jesus said that the world will pass away and all the lusts, but whoever does the will of God will abide forever. He said, “I always do the will of My Father.” He did not say, “Yes, I pray five times and I study so long.” No, He said, “I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father.” John 5:30.

One of the worst-case scenarios at the end of time is found in Matthew 7. There is a group of people who go around converting people in the world with great success, but then the Lord will say, “I never knew you; depart from Me.” Matthew 7:23. The reason for this is that they did not do the will of His Father. Jesus said that they might have done all the right things, but it was not from the heart, not from the will.

Jesus spoke of “all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” 1 John 2:16. These are the three things of which the world consists. The word lust means passion or passionately liking something. It is far more than just a like or a dislike. It involves selfishness. For example, I want everything for me. I want nice clothes and my belly full. The lust of the eyes would be greed. You have enough, but you want more, and you also want what the other person has. You see it and you want it. The pride of life is the self-identity that we have. It may not be really true, but I build myself up to think highly of who I am, considering myself better than others. It is who I am in my own estimation, disregarding who I am in Christ. Others might see me differently than I see myself. This is the pride of life.

These are the three things that include everything in this world and provide the motives for everything we do. It applies to each business transaction, how we present ourselves in the church and in our homes. Sadly, this includes selfishness, greed and our ego or pride.

In Galatians 5:19–23, Paul talks about the fruits of the Spirit and the works of the flesh: “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” We must be aware of the works of the flesh and fight against those kinds of fruits, for a tree is known by its fruits.

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:6. Here is the description of how Eve fell. Three things Satan promised Eve that were going to happen. Then, when she bit into it, it seemed like it had happened. The fruit tasted good. It was like black light. You can see things under black light that you have never seen before, but remember—it is black light, not light!

Isaiah 14:13 says, “For you [Satan] have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation.’ ” Above the stars, me! I’m going to be over all this. And then, “sit on the mount of the congregation” and look over my kingdom; I am going to have it all!

“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” Verse 14. In other words, Satan would have the adoration that belonged to Christ. He said, “I’m somebody; I’m not just a servant around here.”

God did not create sin. He wants each person to think freely and choose wisely. Which direction are you putting your thoughts, inward or outward? Satan turned his inward. He said, “I don’t have to do what God says; I can do what I want to do.” That is exactly what many children do. They get to be old enough and then say, “You’re not going to tell me what to do again.” That is the same thinking that started the sin problem. Satan was a free thinker, and he turned inward saying, “I am going to do.” As long as our mind is running in the same direction there is no difference. The problem begins with what is in our hearts.

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:14, 15.

How can this be? Jesus did not have a wife. He did not have children that were born to Him. He didn’t suffer a broken arm, or get cancer or those kinds of things, so how could He be tempted in all points as we are?

When you examine carefully the temptations Jesus endured in the wilderness, they boil down to just three. He overcame sin on a very basic level. The problem we have is not dissecting our temptations to the basic level. We are often so concerned about our own little situation and do not recognize the root problem, preferring to just take a pill and make it go away.

Let’s examine the temptations that Jesus endured. “And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.” Matthew 4:2. I remember years ago something that happened in Ireland. The English were fighting against the Irish and England had rounded up some Irish men and put them in jail. The Irish prisoners went on a hunger strike that lasted about 35 or 38 days. They refused to give in to the English, resulting in ten or twelve of them dying. Forty days is about the maximum anyone can last fasting.

Stones into Bread

After forty days, the first thing Jesus would think is, “I need something to eat.” It was at that point that Satan came as an angel of light suggesting that He turn the stones into bread. Didn’t He need to take care of Himself? After all, didn’t He have to live and save the world? Wasn’t that the reason for Him being there? He tried to put doubt in Jesus’ mind that His Father would take care of Him, so wouldn’t it be better to try and take care of Himself?

How often we readily fall for this same temptation and stop waiting on the Lord. We pray, and things keep happening. Then an idea may come and we take matters into our own hands, forgetting to wait on the Lord and do what we think is best. Jesus refused to accept the temptation from Satan.

Cast Thyself Down

“Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: “He shall give his angels charge over You,” and, “In their hands they shall bear You up, lest You dash Your foot against a stone.” ’ ” Matthew 4:5, 6.

Basically, the devil said, “You want people to believe You. You want people to know who You are. You didn’t change the stones into bread, ok. But, hey, the Bible says You can do this. It’s permissible to show them that you are the One.” The devil tempted Jesus to prove who He was to all. But Jesus replied, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” Verse 7.

Fall Down and Worship Me

“Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” ’ ” Matthew 4:8–10. As soon as Jesus saw this presentation, He turned so that He was not drawn by the desires.

In His humanity, Jesus overcame every temptation that we have to overcome. We need to bow down in the morning and surrender our lives to Him. Then in the evening bow again, asking forgiveness for where we have fallen short during the day. Jesus led a holy life. He was the second Adam who did not sin.

Paul contrasts the two natures: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Galatians 5:16, 17. Here we get the idea that when we walk in the Spirit, we are not part of the world. We live in the world, but are not part of it, with all the lust and passionate desires controlling our lives.

When He was arrested, Jesus’ disciples did not understand, because their hearts were still in this world. They told Him, “No, we’ll die for you. No problem!” And they may have died if there would have been a battle between Him and the high priest, his guards and Herod. Peter whipped out the sword, and he was going to fight. Peter rebuked Jesus because He humbled Himself ready to meet death and allowing them kill Him. Peter said, “No, you can’t do that.” Jesus said to him: “You favor things that be of men, not that be of God” (Matthew 16:23). Peter did not know his true motivation.

As Jesus preached to the people, they realized that He was getting serious, and they were not prepared to face the real issues that He was coming down to so they all left. Finally, when only the twelve were there, Jesus asked, “Are you also going to leave?” But they said, “Where would we go?”

Galatians 5:18–21 says, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.” He was not finished with the list but ended that way because there would be too many to mention.

He continued, “Just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Jesus had none of these characteristics in Himself. The Bible says that, if possible, the very elect would be deceived (Matthew 24:24). But the very elect are not deceived because Satan’s temptations have no appeal to their senses.

We need to understand why we always want more money or bigger houses, etc. The reason is because of greed. We must admit and confess our wrong fruits and repent; otherwise we will never be overcomers. Some people walk with the Lord for a time and then say, “I’ve had enough of this self-sacrifice. I’ve had enough of this self-denial. Everybody else is doing those things that I am restricting and they are still here; it hasn’t hurt them.” They start living for self. Jesus was tempted on all points as we are, and He overcame and promises us the victory also in His strength.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22, 23. Jesus was perfect. He went about healing and doing good for the thirty years that He lived on earth. When you think about this, don’t think of the three and a half years that He ministered, but think of the thirty years that He lived, when He was in the shop, when He worked, when He delivered the furniture and when He talked with the people. And when He got home His brothers would say things like: “You’re just no good. You don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t know how to run this business.” Read the chapter in The Desire of Ages about Judas. Mrs. White definitely says that they thought Jesus was making a big mistake by not listening to Judas. Unbelievable! Why? Because Judas had a fine way about him, and he knew what to do. Because of his demeanor, all the rest of the disciples saw eye to eye with him, and when he doubted what Jesus did, that doubt influenced their minds. They never would have believed that Judas was the one who would betray Him.

But Judas was too smart. Because of his evil greed and his selfishness, he thought he could make a good deal. Judas thought, “This is enough now. I’ve been with Jesus three years and I have lost a lot of money because I was in business. Jesus doesn’t know how to handle money and even when the situation was right to make Him king He did not accept it.” Selfish people can be helpful people, but they help so they can help themselves. Judas thought he had made a good deal with the priests, so he thought that if Jesus was who He said He was, there would be no way that He would allow Himself to die; that would be silly. He was convinced, so decided to push the issue. Thinking himself pretty smart, he came up with a little plan. Jesus was captured, and he thought that if Jesus was not who He said He was, he would have the thirty pieces of silver.

Judas had no idea what He was all about, because Jesus gained the victory right from the beginning. He already dealt with the issue of dying, dying to self, not wanting anything of this world or its ensuing pride. Jesus said, “The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” John 14:30. Exactly nothing! Satan could not appeal to Him, so he was furious and threw the final vehemence at Him because there was nothing with which he could accuse him. That is why we need the mind of Jesus.

There will come a time when people in the world are no longer appealing to Christ for forgiveness in the sanctuary, for all sins will be forgiven. The blood will cease to flow in the heavenly sanctuary and Jesus will have no more work to do and will no longer need to intercede. He will take off His high priestly robe and put on His kingly robe and claim His people who He has cleansed from sin. Heaven will be free of sin. There will be no more temptation because the one who began sin will finally be done away with and there will be joy in heaven.

May God help us to see and understand this issue as we study how to overcome sin at its root, and let God put His seed in us every day.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

John Korponay and his wife, Robin, moved to Wichita from Washington state in July, 2012, after John had accepted a position at Steps to Life. John and Robin are life-long Adventists with much experience in self-supporting work. He may be contacted by email at: johnkorponay@stepstolife.org.

Made Perfect in Weakness

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I was sitting with a gentleman who had traveled a good many miles to spend a little time in counsel and study. He was a new Christian and had just a few weeks previous heard the Seventh-day Adventist message; so he had a number of questions to ask. He was burdened about the healing of someone connected with the group he had been with that had cancer and he was anxious to have him healed. It was apparent from his questions that he thought that according to the Scripture if a man had enough faith that there would certainly be no question about the healing. So together we opened the word of God and began to look at some things.

First we looked at 2 Timothy 4:20. This is an interesting question: If we have enough faith, will we and the people we pray for be healed and if not, does it prove that we or the individual prayed for lacks faith? Here Paul is writing from Rome to Timothy, his dearly beloved son in the ministry. “Erastus (one of Paul’s helpers) abode in Corinth: Trophimus (another fellow minister) have I left in Miletus sick.” I asked my new friend, Why did Paul, who had healed many people, go off and leave Trophimus sick in Miletus? The Bible does not say, but the point is that Paul certainly had faith enough to heal hundreds perhaps thousands of people but somehow Trophimus was not healed.

In 1 Timothy 5:23 is an earlier letter Paul wrote to Timothy apparently dealing with some sick spells that Timothy suffered from time to time. He did not tell Timothy that he needed to pray more or have more faith but gives him some practical suggestions. “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine” that is, pure grape juice, “for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.” This was not just once that Timothy felt bad, under the weather as we would say, but it happened every now and then. Paul said, Timothy, you need something more than water; get some grape juice when you feel like this for your often infirmities.

My new friend began to see some things in the Bible that he had not seen before. We considered the experience of the apostle Paul himself. In the earlier part of 2 Corinthians 12, Paul describes some of the wonderful visions that the Lord gave him of the glorious things in heaven. But in the 7th through 10th verses he describes the program that God allowed him to be on so that he would not get exalted about what he had seen. “Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” Notice, He did not say Paul, the matter with you is that you don’t have enough faith; you haven’t prayed enough. No!

The apostle Paul, one of the greatest men of faith, perhaps, in all the sacred Scripture history, was not only able to heal hundreds of people and win thousands to Christ, but we read that he, himself, had to put up with infirmities. After he prayed so earnestly about it, finally the Lord said, Paul, that’s enough! God was more anxious to save Paul than He was to heal him. Apparently, God saw that if Paul was too full of zip and energy and had these wonderful revelations and felt good every day he might get exalted. It was exultation that caused Lucifer’s fall, but do not misunderstand—a person who is exalted does not have to fall. Lucifer did not have to fall. Because of the abundance of the revelation Paul was given from God, it was safer for his salvation that the thorn in Paul’s flesh remain there. He said that it was going to hurt you every now and then, but never mind, I’ve got it all taken care of. “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

With this new information my friend said he did not know how to put it all together. He asked, “What thermometer is there for measuring faith? The man had in his mind that the more faith a person had, the more answers to prayer there would be and if they prayed for people and they got well, it would prove they had a lot of faith and if they did not get well, the faith thermometer would show that the temperature was not very high. I suggested that my friend was actually thinking about hope. Hope and faith are not the same thing at all. I can hope for a lot of things, but one must understand what faith is. Romans 10:17 tells how faith comes, what it is based on: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

The word faith is sometimes used in a rather loose way. We may speak of a man buying some stocks on the stock exchange and say that he has faith in that company. I would say that he had hope in it, and faith after a fashion, but when the Bible talks about faith, it is not talking about believing in something; it is believing that what God has promised will come to pass. That is faith.

Now I can hope for all kinds of things, but I can only have faith when the thing that I ask for and expect is what God has promised. My friend began to understand and began to help me finish the little study I was sharing with him. His mind was led to the Savior’s prayer in Gethsemane when three times Jesus prayed that the cup might pass, but each time he added, “Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Luke 22:42, literal translation). Certainly Jesus did not lack faith. In fact, He exhibited the highest expression of faith. Can you think of any greater expression of faith? Jesus was there in the garden, faced with that awful agony and longing to be relieved from it and hoping that He might be. Yet His faith said, Father, I know that You will do the thing that is best; so not what I ask, but what You will be done. He had taken our humanity and in our human flesh He was crying out. Only the burden that He carried was infinitely heavier than ours.

There is wonderful encouragement as you meditate on that promise to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:8: “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” Most everyone has pleaded with God for relief from a problem or concern, maybe physical, or mental concern, or some spiritual struggle. Paul had that experience and “He [God] said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (verse 9). He did not honor the apostle’s faith by taking away the thing that Paul longed to get rid of, but He gave him the grace to bear it and to go ahead and accomplish something for God with that thorn in the flesh afflicting him.

My heart thrills that I can bring you this wonderful fact: that you do not have to wait until you get your problems solved to come to God. You do not have to wait until God removes all the difficulties from your life before you step out to do something for Him. The glorious good news of the gospel is this: No matter what situation you are in, no matter how many problems surround you, no matter how many weaknesses and infirmities you have, God has a way to use you right where you are with all the difficulties and problems that beset and upset you. God has a way to do it. His grace is indeed sufficient for you.

There are people who have been praying a lot longer than Paul prayed for something to be removed from their life so they could do something, but Jesus said, My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in your weakness. Do you have weakness to deal with? Well, He has got the strength to go with it! Which is bigger, your weakness or His strength? Our infinite God has infinite power, infinite might and infinite strength. If you were ten times as weak as you are, He could still handle the matter. Oh, you may say, I wish that He would do it so that I would just feel strong, but Paul said, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Dear friends, it would be far better to have God work through a weak man than to be strong and God not have so much chance to work. Some may say, But can God not work through a strong man? Yes, He could if they would let Him. But remember Samson, the strongest man that ever lived. God had him born for that very job and he was given strength for that job, but God had a very hard time with Samson. I believe the reason God had this story recorded was so that you and I could understand that being strong is not always the answer; it has its problem. It is so easy for a strong man, whether it is strong in muscle or strong in any other way, to depend upon that strength instead of the power of God. There have been plenty of weak men who have accomplished far more than Samson ever did.

Think of Solomon’s uniqueness. He was the wisest man that ever lived, but do you know of anybody that ever did any more foolish things than he did? What was his problem? Solomon got to the place where he depended on his own wisdom instead of the Source of his wisdom. He had the right answer so many times that he got to the place where he thought he always had the right answer.

Some of us thank the Lord that we get the wrong answer often enough to humble us. If that is what it takes, so be it. I so wish that God could trust a lot of us with much more power and strength and wisdom than we had ever thought of having. He would like to, for God takes no pleasure in our sickness, our infirmities, these thorns in the flesh. He would like to deliver all of us from ulcers, cancers, high blood pressure, nervous breakdowns, and all the rest of our infirmities. He would like to lift us out of every trial and difficulty. When we weep, He weeps. But listen, He is taking the long view; He wants to save us and He would rather that we have some problems now that help us to feel our need of Him and stay close to Him and be saved at last than miss that fellowship throughout all eternity.

“He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” And if that means hobbling along with one lung, it is all right. It is better to go to heaven with one lung than to miss it with two. It is better to be used in God’s work with one leg or even no legs at all, one hand or no hands at all; it is better to be used in God’s work, to spend our time and energy working for the world which will come to an end with all kinds of handicaps than it is to be strong and healthy and full of vigor and do nothing.

Why, think of Ellen G. White, the young woman called at 17 to be God’s messenger to the remnant and to the world. This was God’s channel through which these wonderful revelations for the last generation were to be given, and whom does He pick out? The weakest of the weak. There were others that were called before her. They were educated, they were strong, they had the things that she lacked, but she had what they lacked. God chose to use her weakness because He could not get full opportunity to use their strength and wisdom. Finally, when the Lord kept pressing her on accepting this call, young Ellen prayed, Oh Lord, I know there are others that You have used and they have been exalted and lost their way. Oh Lord, if this is what you want me to do, will you please keep me from being exalted? God heard her prayer and He said, Your prayer is heard and it will be done, and if you are in danger of being exalted, trials and things will come that will humble you.

Look at her life. From Portland, Maine, to St. Helena, California, from 1844 to her call unto 1915, her final call, her call to rest, is one long series of difficulties and problems. Think of the diseases that she suffered, her experience with tuberculosis, cancer, heart trouble, neuritis and all kinds of afflictions. Think of her sorrow and bereavement, losing her little baby in her arms, losing her teenage oldest son, Henry, a beautiful singer at the age of 16. Think of her husband, cut down in the prime of life, leaving her to struggle on through many years. Nevertheless, God always sustained her. Think of the many problems she had with those that should have appreciated her message and instead circulated lies about her, or what was sometimes even more frustrating, to see those she was instructed to help simply have read the messages and put them aside, doing nothing about it. Problem after problem!

Think of the financial burden in New England and New York as a young wife with her husband, when it was hard to know just how to get enough food to keep them living from day to day, as they were struggling to get the publishing work started and to preach the message. Abundance of revelations, yes. Abundance of afflictions, yes. Some people would rather have fewer revelations and fewer trials and some people are content to have no trials and no revelations. But thank God, the apostle Paul, called by the Master Himself, got the view and He was willing to accept God’s program. He was willing to let God use what he had regardless of what it cost him. He did not wait until he got strong but allowed God to use his weakness. More was accomplished by him than ten strong men could have done.

What are you struggling with? Whatever it is, it is your privilege to pray as Paul did, Lord, please remove this. God may do it; He does sometimes. God answers prayer. “Sometimes when hearts are weak, He gives the very gift believers seek; but often faith must learn a deeper rest, and trust God’s silence when He does not speak.” Myra G. Plantz, (1856–1914).

Oh, let me tell you, friends, if short division is learning to get answers to your prayers so that you see the answers, long division is learning to pray when the answers are not apparent, while still maintaining your faith. If kindergarten is praying and things happen just like that, real school is getting down to the practical business of letting God use your weakness to magnify His strength. “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10). [Emphasis added.] What a paradox! Let us be willing for God to use us, all there is of us.

If you have a problem, whatever it is – whether tobacco or liquor or any other problem concerning some physical craving, perhaps it’s overeating, what is your prayer? Do you pray, oh Lord, deliver me from this craving and I’ll never fall again? There is nothing wrong with asking God to remove the craving for any of these things, but we must always pray, nevertheless, not as I will but as You will. Remember, there is one thing that we can know is always God’s will, and that is for you to have victory. There is no question about that. Can you furnish the weakness? Well, let God furnish the strength. Put Him to the test, His strength is made perfect in weakness.

A man may come face to face with God’s message for today and see that the seventh day is the Sabbath and that God’s true creation Sabbath is the seal of the living God. He sees that it is a great issue in this last generation but asks, What can I do? I have got to make a living; I have got to support my family and the job that I have requires me to work at least part of the time during the 24 hours from Friday sundown till Saturday sundown. What can I do? He may pray and get his family to pray and he may get others to pray, Lord, open the way so I can keep your commandment. This is a good prayer. He steps out in faith and obeys his conviction and says, “Dear Lord, I’m going to obey You whether I know how it will work out or not.”

Another man’s problem is losing his temper. Every now and then he tells his family off, he scolds his children and talks mean to his wife. He feels sorry about it and gets down on his knees and prays, “Oh Lord, help me; I wish You would take that angry temper out of me so that I would never feel mad again and always feel like a meek lamb for this is what I want.” He means it and God hears his prayer but the way God answers may not be to fix him up so that he never feels anything but a lamb. The book of Romans teaches that it is possible for the righteousness of the law to be fulfilled in us even though the flesh is clamoring against the spirit (Romans 8:4). Thank God the Spirit can rule in our lives if we allow it to. There are many people with angry tempers, but believe this wonderful promise of God that you do not have to act like you feel. You do not have to say everything that you feel like saying. There is victory in Jesus Christ. It is not necessarily the victory of a calm summer evening with everything peaceful and feeling that this is wonderful and I wouldn’t want to hurt anybody. No, but the victory comes in knowing that we don’t have to act like we feel, that we can talk about Jesus and His love. Victory is, if necessary, to close our lips through faith in God and say nothing rather than dishonor our Redeemer.

Whatever your problem, whether it be physical, mental or spiritual, pray anything you want and ask God for any method of deliverance, but remember to ask as did Jesus, Nevertheless, not as I will but as Thou wilt. I wish I didn’t have to drink the cup but if that is the way then I’ll drink it. I wish I could feel strong, but if it is necessary for me to feel weak lest I be exalted above measure, Lord, I’ll carry that thorn in the flesh, I’ll let Your strength be made perfect in weakness. And if I can’t be as strong as Samson, if I’m as weak as Ellen Harmon was back there in Portland, Maine, in 1844, I say, here I am Lord; use whatever you can of me and I’ll let Your name and Your throne get the glory.

Step out in faith today and do what God says no matter how you feel, and if you believe God will give you the strength, you will find victory. Jesus is our wonderful Savior; He will carry you through.

Elder W.D. Frazee studied the Medical Missionary Course at the College of Medical Evangelists in Loma Linda, California. He was called to Utah as a gospel medical evangelist. During the Great Depression, when the church could not afford to hire any assistants, Elder Frazee began inviting professionals to join him as volunteers. This began a faith ministry that would become the foundation for the establishment of the Wildwood Medical Missionary Institute in 1942. He believed that each person is unique, specially designed by the Lord, of infinite value, and has a special place and mission in this world which only he can fill. His life followed this principle and he encouraged others to do the same.