Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
[A Compilation]
“To every one who constantly yields his will to the will of the Infinite, to be led and taught of God, there is promised an ever-increasing development of spiritual things.” —My Life Today p 54
“He who loves Christ the most will do the greatest amount of good. There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, by putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, and lives a life wholly consecrated to God. If men will endure the necessary discipline, without complaining or fainting by the way, God will teach them hour by hour, and day by day. He longs to reveal His grace. If His people will remove the obstructions, He will pour forth the waters of salvation in abundant streams through the human channels. If men in humble life were encouraged to do all the good they could do, if restraining hands were not laid upon them to repress their zeal, there would be a hundred workers for Christ where now there is one.”—Desire of Ages p 250, 251
“In the future, men in the common walks of life will be impressed by the Spirit of the Lord to leave their ordinary employment and go forth to proclaim the last message of mercy.... They cooperate with heavenly agencies, for they are willing to spend and be spent in the service of the Master.”—Testimonies 7, p 27
“Do not think me an extraordinary believer, having privileges above other of God’s dear children, which they cannot have; nor look on my way of acting as something that would not do for other believers. Make but trial! Do but stand still in the hour of trial, and you will see the help of God, if you trust in Him.”—George Müller, quoted in George Müller, Delighted in God by Roger Steer p 310
James McConkey
In my early life I entered into a partnership with a friend in a wholesale ice business. Both of us were young men and had invested all we had, and considerably more, in the business. As time passed we met with disappointments. For two seasons in succession our ice was swept away by winter thaws. Things had come to a serious pass. It seemed very necessary that we should have ice in the winter of which I now speak. The weather became very cold. The ice formed and grew thicker and thicker, until it was ready to gather. I remember the joy that came into our hearts one afternoon when an order came for thousands of tons of ice which would lift us entirely out from our financial distress.
Not long before God had shown me the truth of committal. He had impressed me that I was to commit my business to Him and absolutely trust Him with it. And I did, as best I knew how. I never dreamed that such testing would come. And so I lay down that Saturday night in quietness. But, at midnight there came an ominous sound—rain! By morning it was pouring in torrents. I looked at the river from my home on the hillside. Yellow streaks of water were creeping over the ice. I knew what it meant. The water was at flood stage. The same condition had twice swept our ice away before. By noon the storm was raging in all its violence, and by afternoon I was facing a great spiritual crisis.
It may seem strange that a spiritual crisis would come over something seemingly trivial. But I have learned that a matter, though seemingly trivial, may have a profound and far-reaching impact on one’s life. And so it was with me. By mid-afternoon I had come face to face with the fact that deep in my heart was a spirit of rebellion against God. That rebelliousness seemed to develop through a suggestion to my heart like this:
“You gave everything to God. You say you are going to trust God with your business. Is this the way He rewards you? Your business will be swept away, and tomorrow you will come into a place of desperate financial distress.” And I found my heart growing bitter at the prospect of God taking away my business when I only wanted it for legitimate purposes. Then another voice whispered: “My child, did you mean it when you said you would trust me? Can you trust me in the dark as well as in the light? Would I do anything, or suffer anything to come into your life which would not work out for your good?” Then came the other voice: “But it is hard. Why shouldn’t God spare Your ice? Why should He take your business when it is clean and honest and you want to use it in the right way?” It was a very plausible sort of voice, and for the moment I did not detect the serpent hiss in the word “why.”
Back and forth, with ever increasing intensity, waged one of the greatest spiritual battles of my life. At the end of two hours, I was able to cry out by the grace of God, “Take the business; take the ice; take everything; only give me the supreme blessing of a fully submitted will.” Then came peace.
The storm was still raging and flooding my ice. But it did not seem to matter whether it continued raining or not. Then and there I discovered that the secret of anxious care was not in surroundings, but in the failure of allowing life and will to not be wholly given to Him regardless of circumstances or surroundings.
That night I slept in perfect peace. The rain continued to pour down on my ice, and it seemed my business would lie ruined in the morning. But it did not. At midnight there came another sound, the sound of the wind. By morning the worst blizzard of the year was upon us. By evening the mercury had fallen to zero. And in a few days we were harvesting the finest ice.
God did not want my ice. But He did want my yielded will and absolute trust in Him. When the matter of yielding my will had been settled, He gave back the ice. Not only that, but He blessed the business, and led me on, and out, until He finally guided me from it entirely and into the place He had chosen for me from the beginning: a teacher of His word. If you give your life to God, will God ruin it? No! As you trust in Jesus Christ, God will restore, enrich and glorify your life as never before.—Taken from The Surrendered Life, James McConkey, Silver Publishing 1923