Separate from God
Quotations from the writings of Ellen G. White with the phrase . . .
| It is natural for us to have much self-confidence and to follow our own ideas, and in so doing we separate from God; and we do not realize how far we are from him until the sense of self-security is so firmly established that we are not afraid of failure. We should be much in prayer. We need Jesus as our counselor; at every step we need him as our guide and protector. If there was more praying, more pleading with God to work for us, there would be greater dependence upon him, and faith would be strengthened to take him at his word. This faith would honor our Redeemer. It would be easier to believe that if we ask for grace or wisdom, we shall receive it, because his word says, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." [MATT. 7:7; JAMES 1:5.] {GW92 418.3} |
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| If the youth understood their own weakness, they would find in God their strength. If they seek to be taught by Him they will become wise in His wisdom, and their lives will be fruitful in blessing to the world. But if they give up their minds to mere worldly and speculative study, and thus separate from God, they will lose all that enriches life.-- The Ministry of Healing, pages 439-450. - {CT 388.3} |
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| Satan well knew the results that would attend obedience; and during the earlier years of Solomon's reign -- years glorious because of the wisdom, the beneficence and the uprightness of the king -- he sought to bring in influences that would insidiously undermine Solomon's loyalty to principle and cause him to separate from God. And that the enemy was successful in this effort, we know from the record: "Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David." {AH 64.1} |
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| The polluted stream represents the soul that is separate from God. . . . Through sin, the whole human organism is deranged, the mind is perverted, the imagination corrupted; the faculties of the soul are degraded. There is an absence of pure religion, of heart holiness. The converting power of God has not wrought in transforming the character. . . . {CC 224.4} |
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| Men thought themselves wiser than God, and altogether too wise to obey . . . the statutes and precepts of Jehovah. The rich things of earth which God had given them did not lead them to obedience, but away from obedience, because they misused their choice favors of heaven, and made the blessings given them of God objects to separate from God. And because they became satanic in their nature, rather than divine, the Lord sent the flood of waters upon the old world. {OHC 252.3} |
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| Man is not to permit God's work to be carried on contrary to a plain "Thus saith the Lord." But it is becoming more and more customary for men to separate from God, thinking that it is their privilege to go forward in their own way and according to their own ideas.-- MS 96, 1902. {PM 170.1} |
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| When men Separate from God ( 42 ) |
 When men separate from God, they place themselves under the control of Satan. Talents have been given to men that they may be used in God's service. . . . There is only one safe way for any man, and that is the way of obedience to a "Thus saith the Lord." {CC 34.6} |
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| Satan takes advantage of circumstances. At times evil men seem to triumph without hindrance. They do their dark deeds and there is no interposition of Heaven. When men separate from God by transgression, Satan has no further conflict to wage with them, and they have no more opposition to offer to the adversary of God and man. Had there been no interference on the part of God. Satan and man would have united in an unbroken alliance against Heaven. There can be no enmity between fallen men and fallen angels. Both are evil, and both have become so by apostasy; and evil always leagues with evil against God and in opposition to those who keep his commandments. They have refused to fulfill the requirement of Heaven, and they are at enmity with those who love and obey God. {ST, September 21, 1888 par. 11} |