“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:11
Work intelligently, wisely, unitedly. Let no special effort be made to magnify the men, but magnify the Lord, and let Him be your fear, your dread, and your sufficiency. Bring your minds up to the greatness of the work. Your narrow plans, your limited ideas, are not to come into your methods of working. There must be reform on this point, and there will be more means brought in to enable the work to be brought up to the high and exalted position it should ever occupy. There will be men who have means who will discern something of the character of the work, although they have not the courage to lift the cross, and to bear the reproach that attends unpopular truth. First reach the high classes if possible; but there should be no neglect of the lower classes.
But it has been the case that the plans and the efforts have been so shaped in many fields that the lower classes only are the ones who can be reached. But methods may be devised to meet the higher classes who need the light of truth as well as the lower classes. Many see the truth, but they are, as it were, in the slavery of poverty and see starvation before them should they accept the truth. Plan to reach the best [higher] classes, and you will not fail to reach the lower classes. There is altogether too much of putting the light under the bed or under the bushel, and not on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house. May the Lord give the workers true wisdom, and much of His Holy Spirit, that they may work in God’s order, and may stand as high as possible in favor with God and with the people. (1)
God’s servants are not to exhaust their time and strength in work for those whose whole lifetime has been devoted to the service of Satan till the entire being is corrupted. As the outcasts come, and they will come, as they came to Christ, we are to forbid them not. But God calls for workers to reach those of the higher classes, who, if converted, could in turn work for those of their own standing. He desires to see converted talent and converted influence enlisted in His work. The Lord is working upon men and women of talent and influence, leading them to connect with those who are giving the last message of mercy to the world. (2)
Charge for the Day: Look into what others have done or are doing to reach the higher classes. How can you help your church seek out the higher classes in your community?
1. Letter 14, 1887
2. Manuscript 6, 1902