Those who are colaborers with God will have no disposition to engage in the various expedients for amusement; they will not be seeking after happiness and enjoyment. In taking up their work in the fear of God, and doing service to the Master, they will secure the most substantial happiness. Connected with Jesus Christ, they will be wise unto salvation. They will be fruit-bearing trees. They will develop a blameless life, a beauteous character. The great work of redemption will be their first consideration. Eating and drinking and dressing, houses and lands, will be secondary matters. The peace of God within will force off the withered or gnarled branches of selfishness, vanity, pride, and indolence. It is faith and practice that make up the Christian's life. We do not meet the standard of Christianity in merely professing Christ and having our names upon the church book. We should be individual workers for Christ. By personal effort we can show that we are connected with Him.
Daughters of God 16.2
I am instructed to say to all whom Christ sends into the work: He will help you in all things to carry out His commission in holiness and truth. No human oddities are to be brought in. No expressions of sang-froid are to be heard; for such things detract from the sacredness of the truth that is being presented. It is the Word of God that our ministers are to give to the people, and they must give it in pure language. Not one cheap word is to be mixed up with the words of truth. Some suppose that sarcastic expressions will increase the interest of the hearers, but they lower the speaker in the minds of the hearers. The cheap, common words uttered destroy in many minds the effect of the discourse.
21 LtMs, Lt 336, 1906, par. 18
We may be cheerful. God does not want any sour faces on this ground; the Lord does not want anyone in gloom and sadness; He wants you to lift up your countenance to Him, and let Him just pour upon it the brightness of the light of the Sun of Righteousness.
Manuscript 42, 1894.
There is need of coming close to the people by personal effort. If less time were given to sermonizing, and more time were spent in personal ministry, greater results would be seen. The poor are to be relieved, the sick cared for, the sorrowing and the bereaved comforted, the ignorant instructed, the inexperienced counseled. We are to weep with those that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice. Accompanied by the power of persuasion, the power of prayer, the power of the love of God, this work will not, cannot, be without fruit.
From Ministry of Healing Chapter 9