Sanctification

We Cannot Change Ourselves

`Love is of God - the unconsecrated heart cannot originate or produce it.' (SC59)

`We can never come into possession of this [loving] spirit by trying to love others.' (COL384)

But Love Can Change Us

`Love begets love.' (DA519)

`Only by love is love awakened.' (DA22)

`God does not employ compulsory measures; love is the agent which He uses to expel sin from the heart. By it He changes pride into humility, and enmity and unbelief into love and faith.' (MB77)

`In the heart renewed by divine grace, love is the principle of action. It modifies the character, governs the impulses, controls the passions, subdues enmity, and ennobles the affections. This love, cherished in the soul, sweetens the life and sheds a refining influence on all around.' (SC59)

Love The Catalyst

`Come . . . and learn of Me [for I am love].' (Matthew 11:28,29 KJV)

`The contemplation of the love of God manifested in His Son will stir the heart and arouse the powers of the soul as nothing else can.' (DA478)

`The perception of God's love works the renunciation of self.' (MB105)

`In looking to Christ, we shall see that His love is without a parallel, that He has taken the place of the guilty sinner, and has imputed unto him His spotless righteousness. When the sinner sees his Saviour dying upon the cross under the curse of sin in his stead, beholding His pardoning love, love awakes in the heart. The sinner loves Christ, because Christ has first loved Him, and love is the fulfilling of the law.' (1SM374)

The Gospel of Love

`It is the glory of the gospel that it is founded upon the principle of restoring in the fallen race the divine image by a constant manifestation of [God's loving] benevolence . . . With Christ He gave all the resources of heaven, that nothing might be wanting in the plan for man's uplifting. Here is love - the contemplation of which should fill the soul with inexpressible gratitude! Oh, what love, what matchless love! The contemplation of this love will cleanse the soul from all selfishness. It will lead the disciple to deny self, take up the cross, and follow the Redeemer.' (CH223)

Loving to Obey

`To those who love God it will be the highest delight to keep His commandments, and to do those things that are pleasing in His sight.' (1SM217)

[Please note: when we appreciate the gospel of God's love, gratitude fills the heart. Then that which once was impossible and totally contrary to the desires of the carnal heart, now becomes a delight. See Good News on Obedience. 

`It is the gospel of the grace of God alone that can uplift the soul.' (DA478)

`Belief in the propitiation for sin [the reconciliation made by Jesus between God and man] enables fallen man to love God with his whole heart and his neighbour as himself.' (COL378)

Focus on Jesus

`By beholding Christ, by talking of Him, by beholding the loveliness of His character we become changed [not by struggling against our carnal desires]. Changed from glory to glory. And what is glory? Character.' (SD337)

`By beholding we are to become changed; and as we meditate upon the perfection of the divine Model, we shall desire to become wholly transformed, and renewed in the image of His purity.' (1SM338)

`By beholding, man can but admire and become more attracted to Him, more charmed, and more desirous to be like Jesus until he assimilates to His image and has the mind of Christ. Like Enoch he walks with God. His mind is full of thoughts of Jesus. He is his best Friend.' (3SM170)

The Secrets To
Sanctification Therefore

Stop Trying

`The Saviour does not bid the disciples labour to bear fruit. He tells them to abide in Him.' (DA677)

Start Spending Time Alone With Jesus Every Day

`If we abide in Christ, if the love of God dwells in us, our feelings, our actions, our thoughts, our purposes will be in harmony with the will of God, as expressed in His holy law.' (SC61)

`Continual devotion establishes so close a relation between Jesus and His disciple that the Christian becomes like Him in mind and character.' (DA251)

Ignore The Discouragements

`We shall not gain a particle of strength by dwelling on the discouragements. By beholding we become changed. As we look in faith to Jesus, His image is engraven on the heart. We are transformed in character.' (Letter 134, 1903)

`Let us, then, take our minds off the perplexities and the difficulties of this life, and fix them on Him, that by beholding we may be changed into His likeness.' (7BC970)

Our Weakness - God's Strength

`Christ's heart is cheered by the sight of those who are poor in every sense of the term: cheered by the seemingly unsatisfied hungering after righteousness, by the inability to begin. He welcomes as it were the very condition of things that would discourage many ministers.' (EV49)

The Principles

1) Right Foods For The Mind

`Our religious experience is of exactly the same quality as the food we give our minds.' (UT57)

`It is a law of the mind that it gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is trained to dwell.' (PP596)

2) Determined Effort

`Those who are waiting to behold a magical change in their characters without determined effort on their part to overcome sin, will be disappointed.' (1SM336)

But we do not overcome sin, by fighting sin - anymore than we overcome darkness by fighting darkness. To overcome darkness we turn on the light. To overcome sin, we plug into Jesus daily - for He is the light of life.

Avoid The Adulterated Foods
of The Mind

`The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks.' (Luke 6:45)

`Sister K. has not felt the importance of separation from the world, as the command of God enjoins. The sight of her eyes and the hearing of her ears have perverted her heart [character].' (4T108)

`There is no influence in our land more powerful to poison the imagination, to destroy religious impressions, and to blunt the relish for the tranquil pleasures and sober realities of life than theatrical amusements.' (4T653)

`There is a constant round of excitement [stimulation] that causes indifference to God and prevents the people from being impressed by the truths which alone can save them from the coming destruction.' (PP103)

`Satan's ruling passion is to pervert the intellect and cause men to long for shows and theatrical performances. The experience and character of all who engage in this work will be in accordance with the food given to the mind.' (2MR247)

`It was contrary to His plan to have the life of any creature taken. There was to be no death in Eden.' `One animal was not to destroy another animal for food.' (4SGa120; CD396)

`Those who allow the mind to come down to the superficial, to the unreal, to simple, cheap, fictitious acting, are doing the devil's work just as surely as they look upon and unite in these scenes. Could their eyes be opened they would see that Satan was their leader.' (2MR246)

`Things that cause people to sin are bound to come.' `Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin!' (Luke 17:1; Matthew 18:7)

Take Advantage Of
The Four Carpenters

1) Bible Study

`His power, His very life, dwells in His word. As you receive the word in faith, it will give you power to obey.' (MB150)

2) Prayer

`Unceasing prayer is the unbroken union of the soul with God, so that life [love] from God flows into our life; and from our life, purity and holiness flow back to God.' (SC98)

"Prayer is the breath of the soul. It is the secret of spiritual power. No other means of grace can be substituted, and the health of the soul be preserved. Prayer brings the heart into immediate contact with the Wellspring of life [love], and strengthens the sinew and muscle of the religious experience.' (GW254,255)

3) Meditation

`Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,' (John 1:29 KJV)

4) Helping Others

`The spirit of unselfish labour for others gives depth, stability, and Christlike loveliness to the character, and brings peace and happiness to its possessor.' (SC80)