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In the Inner Circle, December 28
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and
I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess
his name before my Father, and before his Angels.
Revelation 3:5
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Can you, dear youth, look forward with joyful hope and expectation
to the time when the Lord, your righteous Judge, shall confess your name
before the Father and before the holy angels? The very best preparation
you can have for Christ’s second appearing is to rest with firm faith in
the great salvation brought to us at His first coming. You must believe in
Christ as a personal Saviour.
Many of us do not realize the covenant relation in which we stand
before God as His people. We are under the most solemn obligations
to represent God and Christ. We are to guard against dishonoring God
by professing to be His people, and then going directly contrary to His
will. We are getting ready to move. Then let us act as if we were. Let
us prepare for the mansions that Christ has gone to prepare for those that
love Him.
Unless those who claim to believe the truth for this time submit to
the training of God on earth for the future life, they will never see the
King in His beauty.... They must cultivate patience, kindness, meekness,
goodness, sympathy, and tender compassion for one another. All their
rough, uncourteous, un-Christlike disposition must be purged away, for
none of these unkind attributes are of Christ, but after the satanic order.
The pure, heavenly graces are received and flourish in mind, heart, and
character only as man becomes a partaker of the divine nature.... Heaven
must begin on earth for every soul who will enter the heavenly mansions
above.
All heaven appreciates the struggles of those who are fighting for the
crown of everlasting life, that they may be partakers with Christ in the city
of God.... God wants you there, Christ wants you there, the heavenly host
wants you there. The angels are willing to stand in the outer circle, and
let those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus stand in the inner
circle.... A crown of glory waits for all who fight the good fight of faith.
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