The voice is a wonderful organ. It is a wonderful blessing, and let us use it wholly on Christ’s side, and not praise the devil by complaining of the hardness of the way to heaven. Suppose we give to the world a living example of the beauty there is in religion and Jesus Christ by the offerings we present to God, talking of His goodness, and telling of His power.
If you feel disposed to murmur, let it die before you give it breath, and let your voice and tongue be educated, and then when you open your eyes in the morning the very first thing will be, “I thank the Lord; He has kept me through the night. I thank Thee, Jesus Christ, for the peace that is in my heart,” and morning, noon, and night you have a gratitude offering. It comes up before God as sweet perfume.
And Jesus said He would give us the Comforter. What is the Comforter? It is the Holy Spirit of God. What is the Holy Spirit? It is the representative of Jesus Christ, it is our Advocate that stands by our side and places our petitions before the Father all fragrant with His merits. There He accepts the petition of the humblest saint. He doesn’t ask you how much money you have, or how heavy you are loaded with property, but the very humblest saint that brings his petition to God, and [his] thank offering is made fragrant with the riches of His grace, and the Father accepts it as your offering, and the blessing comes to you, grace for grace.
As you pour out your thank offering, God is glorified, and He gives you more. As you pour out thanksgiving He gives you more joy. We learn to praise God from whom all blessings flow. Shall we not begin right here to turn over the page and forget our murmurings and complainings and faultfinding, and educate the tongue to courteous words, and loving words, and sympathetic words, and tender kindness for one another of His children?
Let us show Christ formed within, the hope of glory, by the fruit that we bear, and thus we can evidence to the world a living Saviour.... He arose. He broke the fetters of the tomb. In triumph He rejoices over the rent sepulchre of Joseph. “I am the resurrection and the life.” Glory to God. I praise Him, the resurrection and the life. You have ... a living Saviour.
Then hang your helpless souls on Jesus Christ. Abide in the vine, and bear fruit to His glory, and His joy shall be in you, and your joy shall be full.... May the Holy Spirit of God impress the heart, and may the character reveal the loveliness of Jesus Christ, because you are His representatives.—Manuscript 43, 1894. RC 285
The disciples were filled with great joy. Over and over again they repeated the words Christ had spoken to them in His last lessons, as recorded in the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of John; and every one had something to say about the instruction, especially with regard to the words of the fourteenth of John ... Hvn 24
"I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving." Psalm 69:30 (King James Version)