When we have a promise that is so rich and so full as [John 3:14-19] . . . I inquire, "What excuse have any of us for unbelief? What excuse have you to say, "I don't think the Lord hears my prayer; I wish I could believe I was a Christian, or I wish I could have the evidence that I was a child of God"? Feelings are very changeable, but here are the precious words of eternal life.
What is evidence? Is it a flight of feeling? Is it an emotion of the heart that gives you the evidence that you are a child of God? But here is the precious word of eternal life and it gives us the assurance that we may lay hold on the hope set before us in the Gospel by living faith.
We may reach up to Jesus Christ who is our Advocate in the heavenly courts. We need a friend at court. We have been sinning, been disobedient, been transgressors, and it is of the highest consequence to us that we have a Friend at court to plead our cases to the Father. He says, "If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me." Well, will all be drawn? Christ draws but will they respond to the drawing? Will they come? The invitation here in Revelation is this: "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev. 22:17).
It is not only the minister that is to say, "Come," but let him that heareth say, "Come." Then you must hear to a purpose, and as you hear the message you begin to talk it, and you say, "Come." The coming to you is everything. And as you see that you may come, the privilege is so large, so undeserving, that you feel that you want everybody to have the same privilege with yourself, so that we are laborers together with God. That is our work.
God says, "Come," the Spirit says, "Come," the Bride says, "Come," and whosoever heareth says, "Come." Oh, that more will with consistent godly life and with the words of their lips say, "Come." . . . It is not only by precept, but by example that you carry the living example with you that heaven is worth something, that Christianity is worth striving for.--Manuscript 10, Aug. 2, 1891. TDG 223
From the secret place of prayer came the power that shook the world in the Great Reformation. There, with holy calmness, the servants of the Lord set their feet upon the rock of His promises. During the struggle at Augsburg, Luther “did not pass a day without devoting three hours at least to prayer, and they were hours selected from those the most favorable to study.” In the privacy of his chamber he was heard to pour out his soul before God in words “full of adoration, fear, and hope, as when one speaks to a friend.” Pr 89
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (New King James Version)