His Abiding Presence
Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! Deuteronomy 33:29.
He who serves under the blood-stained banner of Emmanuel often has that to do which calls for heroic effort and patient endurance. But the soldier of the cross stands unshrinkingly in the forefront of the battle. As the enemy presses the attack against him, he turns to the Stronghold for aid; and as he brings to the Lord the promises of the Word, he is strengthened for the duties of the hour. He realizes his need of strength from above.... Relying upon that power, he is enabled to present the message of salvation so forcibly that it awakens an answering chord in other minds.—Gospel Workers, 16.
While Paul possessed high intellectual endowments, his life revealed the power of a rarer wisdom, which gave him quickness of insight and sympathy of heart, and brought him into close touch with others, enabling him to arouse their better nature and inspire them to strive for a higher life. His heart was filled with an earnest love for the Corinthian believers.... He knew that at every step in the Christian pathway they would be opposed by the synagogue of Satan, and that they would have to engage in conflicts daily.... But he knew also that in Christ crucified they were offered power sufficient to convert the soul, and divinely adapted to enable them to resist all temptations to evil. With faith in God as their armor, and with His Word as their weapon of warfare, they would be supplied with an inner power that would enable them to turn aside the attacks of the enemy.—The Acts of the Apostles, 307.
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