When we feel that we have sinned and cannot pray, it is the time to pray. Ashamed we may be and deeply humbled, but we must pray and believe.

Ellen G White, Christ’s Deepest Truths

Unsanctified ministers are arraying themselves against God. They are praising Christ and the god of this world in the same breath.

Ellen White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers

409.2

Self Control

How dark and terrible the record of that life which might have been a praise to God and a glory to the nation! Had Samson been true to his divine calling, the purpose of God could have been accomplished. But he yielded to temptation, and his mission was fulfilled in bondage and death. {EP 410.2}Physically, Samson was the strongest man upon the earth, but in self-control, integrity, and firmness, he was one of the weakest. He who is mastered by his passions is a weak man. Real greatness is measured by the power of the feelings that a man controls, not by those that control him.{EP 410.3}Those who in the way of duty are brought into trial may be sure that God will preserve them; but if men willfully place themselves under the power of temptation, they will fall, sooner or later. Satan attacks us at our weak points, working through defects in the character to gain control of the whole man. He knows that if these defects are cherished, he will succeed. {EP 410.4}But none need be overcome. Help will be given to every soul who really desires it. Angels of God that ascend and descend the ladder which Jacob saw in vision will help every soul who will, to climb even to the highest heaven. {EP 410.5}

Defects of Character

Let no one say, “I cannot overcome my defects of character;” for if this is your decision, then you cannot have eternal life. The impossibility is all in your will. If you will not, that constitutes the cannot. The real difficulty is the corruption of an unsanctified heart, and an unwillingness to submit to the will of God. When there is a determined purpose born in your heart to overcome, you will have a disposition to overcome, and will cultivate those traits of character that are desirable, and will engage in the conflict with steady, persevering effort. You will exercise a ceaseless watchfulness over your defects of character; and will cultivate right practices in little things. The difficulty of overcoming will be lessened in proportion as the heart is sanctified by the grace of Christ. Earnest, persevering effort will place you on the vantage-ground of victory; for he who strives to overcome in and through the grace of Christ, will have divine enlightenment, and will understand how great truths can be brought into little things, and religion can be carried into the little as well as into the large concerns of life. {YISeptember 7, 1893, par. 10}

Stop looking at yourself and the other’s errors!

We should bring the attractiveness of Christ into our Christian service. The soft beams of the Sun of Righteousness should shine into our hearts, that we may be pleasant and cheerful and have a strong and blessed influence on all around us. The truth of Jesus Christ does not tend to gloom and sadness…. We must look away from the disagreeable to Jesus. We must love Him more, obtain more of His attractive beauty and grace of character, and cease the contemplation of others’ mistakes and errors. We should remember that our own ways are not faultless. We make mistakes again and again…. No one is perfect but Jesus. Think of Him and be charmed away from yourself, and from every disagreeable thing, for by beholding our defects faith is weakened. God and His promises are lost from sight.... {TMK 136.2}O what deep, rich experiences we might gain if we were devoting all our God-given ability to seeking knowledge and spiritual strength from God! … How little we really know of sweet communion with God. How little we know the mysteries of the future life. We may know far more than we do know if all our powers are sanctified to discern the character of Christ. {TMK 136.3}There are heights for us to reach, depths of experience to sound, if we are to be the light of the world…. Let the mind expand, that you may take in the heavenly beauties of the blessed promises. Only believe in Jesus and learn in the school of the greatest Teacher the world ever knew, and His grace will act mightily upon the human intellect and heart. His teaching will give clearness to the mental vision. It will give compass to the thoughts; the soul hunger will be filled. The heart will be softened and subdued and filled with glowing love, that neither discouragement, despondency, affliction, or trial can quench. God will open to the mind’s eye His preciousness and His fullness. Then let us love and labor. I point you to Christ, the Rock of Ages.12 {TMK 136.4}

We are to believe God hears and then live out our prayers—Children and youth may come to Jesus with their burdens and perplexities, and know that He will respect their appeals to Him, and give them the very things they need. Be earnest; be resolute. Present the promise of God, and then believe without a doubt. Do not wait to feel special emotions before you think the Lord answers. Do not mark out some particular way that the Lord must work for you before you believe you receive the things you ask of Him; but trust His word, and leave the whole matter in the hands of the Lord, with full faith that your prayer will be honored, and the answer will come at the very time and in the very way your heavenly Father sees is for your good; and then live out your prayers. Walk humbly and keep moving forward.—(Messages to Young People, 123.) {Pr 68.3}

Pray for grace to resist temptation—In the daily life you will meet with sudden surprises, disappointments, and temptations. What saith the word? “Resist the devil,” by firm reliance upon God, “and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.”“Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.” Look unto Jesus at all times and in all places, offering a silent prayer from a sincere heart that you may know how to do His will. Then when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard for you against the enemy. When you are almost ready to yield, to lose patience and self-control, to be hard and denunciatory, to find fault and accuse—this is the time for you to send to heaven the prayer, “Help me, O God, to resist temptation, to put all bitterness and wrath and evil-speaking out of my heart. Give me Thy meekness, Thy lowliness, Thy longsuffering, and Thy love. Leave me not to dishonor my Redeemer, to misinterpret the words and motives of my wife, my children, and my brethren and sisters in the faith. Help me that I may be kind, pitiful, tenderhearted, forgiving. Help me to be a real house-band in my home and to represent the character of Christ to others.”(The Adventist Home, 214, 215.) {Pr 68.4}

We know the dangers and temptations that beset the youth at the present time are not few or small…. We live in an age when to resist evil calls for constant watchfulness and prayer. God’s precious Word is the standard for youth who would be loyal to the King of heaven. Let them study the Scriptures. Let them commit text after text to memory, and acquire a knowledge of what the Lord has said…. And in trial let the youth spread out the Word of God before them, and with humble hearts, and in faith, seek the Lord for wisdom to find out His way, and for strength to walk in it…. {Pr 69.1}