This devotional first appeared in https://www.revivalandreformation.org
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:7, 8.
If the world is to be convinced of sin as transgressors of God’s law, the agency must be the Holy Spirit working through human instrumentalities. The church needs now to shake off her deathlike slumber; for the Lord is waiting to bless His people who will recognize the blessing when it comes, and diffuse it in clear, strong rays of light. “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean…. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
If the wilderness of the church is to become as a fruitful field, and the fruitful field to be as a forest, it is through the Holy Spirit of God poured out upon His people. The heavenly agencies have long been waiting for the human agents, the members of the church, to cooperate with them in the great work to be done. They are waiting for you. So vast is the field, so comprehensive the design, that every sanctified heart will be pressed into service as an agent of divine power.
At the same time there will be a power stirring everything from beneath. The working of evil angels will be manifest in deceptions, delusions, in calamities, and in casualties and crimes of no ordinary character. While God employs the angels of mercy to work through His human agents, Satan sets his agencies in operation, laying under tribute all the powers that submit to his control. There will be lords many and gods many. The cry will be heard, “Lo, here is Christ” and “Lo, He is there.” The deep plotting of Satan will reveal its workings everywhere, for the purpose of distracting attention from present duty. The appearance of a false Christ will awaken delusive hopes in the minds of those who will allow themselves to be deceived. The church members that are awake will arise to the emergency, and manifestations of satanic power are to be presented in their true light before the people.—General Conference Daily Bulletin, February 28, 1893.