Testimonies for the Church Volume 1 - A New You Ministry

internal struggle. Firmness and great earnestness were expressed in their countenances,while large drops of perspiration fell from their foreheads. Now and then their faceswould light up with the marks of God’s approbation, and again the same solemn,earnest, anxious look would settle upon them. [“Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctifya fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemblethe elders.... Let the priests the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch andthe altar and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage toreproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say amongthe people, where is their God?” Joel 2:15-17.“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; andpurify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let yourlaughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in thesight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:7-10.“Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; before thedecree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lordcome upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord,all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seekmeekness: It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” Zephaniah 2:1-3.]Evil angels crowded around them, pressing their darkness upon them, to shut outJesus from their view, that their eyes might be drawn to the darkness that surroundedthem, and they distrust God and next murmur against Him. Their only safety was inkeeping their eyes directed upward. Angels of God had charge over His people, andas the poisonous atmosphere from the evil angels was pressed around these anxiousones, the heavenly angels were continually wafting their wings over them, to scatterthe thick darkness.Some, I saw, did not participate in this work of agonizing and pleading. Theyseemed indifferent and careless. They were not resisting the darkness around them,and it shut180