Does God answer your prayer❓

Does God answer your prayer❓

I have been working overtime recently. I can't get up in the morning and I don't insist on normal devotion. I didn’t work overtime last night and I’d like to get up early the next morning. But I was afraid that I would snooze and could not get up, So I prayed to God and hope God could wake me up to take morning devotion. At 6:44am the next morning I suddenly woke up, I thought, let me sleep for another 6 minutes and then get up. After when I lay down, I felt hot behind and I could not sleep. I felt that the hot was not normal, and I realized that the room's geothermal heat had been turned on. After I got up and switched off the heat, I thought about why the ground heat would be turned on while I was sitting on the bed. At this time, I suddenly thought of the prayer I made to God last night, This is God wake me up in this way. Later I got to know it is the guests who came last night turned on the heat. In my understanding, I understood God's intention. It was God who listened to my prayers because my prayer was to satisfy God, not to satisfy my own body-flesh. I saw this passage when I doing morning devotion, "Personal prayer life is based upon understanding the significance of prayer and the basic knowledge of prayer. Man must often pray for his shortcomings in his daily life and must pray upon the foundation of the knowledge of God’s words in order to achieve changes in his life disposition. Everyone should establish their own prayer life, they should pray for the knowledge based upon God’s words, should pray in order to seek the knowledge of God’s work. Lay your actual circumstances before God, and be pragmatic, and don’t pay attention to method; the key is to attain a true knowledge, and to actually experience God’s words. " I truly feel God's holiness and God's wisdom, I understand the true meaning of prayer. The Lord Jesus said, "But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you." (Matthew 6:33) As long as what you ask for is inorder to satisfy God and is after God's heart. God will answer your prayer. If what your asked for is to satisfy flesh and satisfy Satan, God will hide His face from you. 

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4 Ways to Quiet Your Heart Before God

4 Ways to Quiet Your Heart Before God

By Liujing

Over the past few years when I believed in the Lord, I persisted in praying and reading the Bible every day, and always went out to work for the Lord, but I felt that I was still estranged from the Lord. Even when sometimes I prayed or read the Bible, my mind would wander away into other things, being bothered by some trifling matters in my daily life, and then I was incapable of quieting my heart before the Lord at all. So after several years, I did not have much understanding of the Lord’s words, nor did I have much growth in my spiritual life.

Recently, I read some books. And only then did I understand that if we want to achieve a result in our spiritual training, the most fundamental lesson to enter is to quiet our heart before God. Only by doing so can we receive the moving, enlightenment, and illumination of the Holy Spirit, and then establish a proper relationship with God and enter the right track in our spiritual life. Gradually, our spiritual life will have ever greater progress. Then what should we do to practice quieting our heart before God? I have found some ways of practice from a book. Now, I’d like to share them with you.

1, While Praying, Our Heart Must Be Focused and Sincere

As a Christian, we pray to the Lord every day, but most of our prayers are the following of procedure: We neither truly quiet our heart before the Lord or use a single-minded and honest heart to speak from our heart to Him, nor bring any issues we don’t understand or any difficulties we have before the Lord to seek, to ask for His enlightenment and illumination, and for more and new understanding of His words. Instead, we always kneel there merely to murmur what we do not mean, speaking some commonplace or repeated words. Sometimes when we hurry to go to work or go out to do something, in order to finish our prayer as soon as possible, we just say some words simply, going through the motions; even when sometimes we are kneeling in prayer, our heart is thinking about other things, and so on. All these behaviors show that we are not truly quieting our heart before God to have true communion with the Lord, but are stalling and deceiving the Lord. When we pray in this way, not only can we not obtain the Holy Spirit’s moving or enlightenment, but we will make God feel disgust and hatred. The Lord Jesus said, “When the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him” (John 4:23). From these words we can see that, the Lord’s demand for us is that we should worship God with an honest and focused heart. So while praying, we should tell God about our true states and difficulties. No matter what ideas and plans we have in our mind, we should completely open ourselves up to God. Only then will God be interested in our prayers, let us be more touched by the Holy Spirit, be enlightened and illuminated in various things that we do not understand, and let us gradually come to understand God’s will.

For instance, in the face of difficulties, our heart is always occupied by matters of wealth or the flesh, so we are unable to put our heart into working or expending for the Lord. At this time, we can speak the truth to the Lord, “O, Lord, I see that my stature is too small. I always live in the entanglement of the flesh, always consider and plan for my future, and always cannot wholeheartedly serve You. When I see those brothers and sisters who expend for You can forsake their flesh, and are considerate to Your will, I feel very ashamed. I also want to rise up to care for Your will, to expend and work for You, but my faith is too paltry, so I cannot achieve it. I only wish to entrust this difficulty into Your hands. May You lead me and grant me confidence and strength….” If we always share what is in our heart and commune with God like this, God will see our prayer is sincere rather than the following of procedure. Then the Holy Spirit will work within us, lead us to gradually break free from the entanglement of the flesh and to rise up to devote ourselves to the Lord. Simultaneously, when we pray to God, we should avoid all of the matters, people, and things that can disturb our mind, and find a quiet environment. Just like the Lord Jesus said, “But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6).

2, While Reading the Word of God, We Should Be Quiet and Use Our Heart to Ponder

Although we often read the Bible at ordinary times, we seldom expend effort in pondering God’s word. Most of the time we just read without devotion, like viewing flowers on horseback, and being satisfied with understanding the literal meaning of the truth. Even though sometimes we are staring at God’s word and reading it, our heart is wandering in the great world, and as a result, after we read it, we do not know what God’s word means. Sometimes we also ponder God’s word for a while, but if we have no enlightenment afterward, then we will give up pondering it. Actually, we do not at all quiet our heart before God to figure out why God say these words, what results God wants to reach with them, and how to practice and enter in order to meet God’s requirements. That’s why we have believed in the Lord and read God’s word for many years, but we still do not have much understanding of the will of God, nor have we found the way to practice the many truths which we should practice and enter. It is clear to see that ordinarily we do not ponder God’s words enough, so even though we have read much of God’s words, we are still incapable of comprehending their inner meaning, and our spiritual life still cannot grow. Then, as to this aspect of truth, how should we do to enter into it? Here is an example. The Lord Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Mat 19:24). Then we should contemplate: What did the Lord mean by saying that? Which aspects of God’s will and disposition are revealed? What result does God want to achieve on us? By contemplating, we see that those people who pursue money but not the truth cannot get into the kingdom of God. We may think back to the Age of Grace. Some landlords also wanted to follow the Lord. But they were unwilling to give up their wealth and superior living conditions because they were greedy for comforts and pleasures of the flesh, and could not bear to live a simple and poor life. Therefore, although they knew that those who believed in the Lord would have eternal life and the chance to enter into the kingdom of heaven, they still lost the opportunities to get God’s salvation. This shows that it’s nearly impossible for a landlord to enter into the kingdom of God. Through this story, God’s will is that we should not pursue money but should pursue life. If we pay attention to money, and when we get the money, we lose our life, then what benefit is this to us? As we ponder God’s words like this, we will understand God’s will better and better, and then we can also act in accordance with God’s will better no matter what we encounter.

3, When Something Happens, We Should Seek and Practice the Truth, and Live Before God

We all know that spiritual devotionals take up only a small portion of time in our daily life; most of the time we are working or dealing with various matters in our life. So if we want to practice quieting our heart before God, then we cannot be limited to just practicing reading the Bible and praying. We should also practice to come close to God, to meditate on and contemplate God’s love with our heart, and to focus on seeking the truth and God’s will, and on acting in accordance with the truth at any time in all the people, events, and things that we encounter in our daily life. God’s word says, “In your daily life, you must grasp those words you say and those things you do that will cause your relationship with God to be abnormal, then rectify yourself and enter into the correct manner. Examine your words, your actions, your each and every move, and your thoughts and ideas at all times. Grasp your true state and enter into the way of the work of the Holy Spirit. Only in this way can you have a normal relationship with God. By weighing out whether your relationship with God is normal, you will be able to rectify your intentions, understand the essence of man, and understand yourself; through this, you will be able to enter into real experiences, truly forsake yourself, and achieve deliberate submission.”

Through God’s words we can see that, only by always quieting our heart before God and seeking God’s will in all the things we encounter, can we have a clearer understanding of our true states, shortcomings, and inadequacies; can we grasp God’s will in everything we encounter to practice the truth and satisfy the Lord. Only through this can we maintain a normal relationship with the Lord, live before Him, avoid being ensnared in the temptations and schemes of Satan and doing things that rebel against and oppose the Lord.

Just like Job, during his daily life, he sought to fear God and shun evil in everything, for fear that he would sin against God and make God feel disgusted in what he did. So when his sons and daughters feasted and made merry, he not only distanced himself from them, but also sent and sanctified his sons, and sacrificed burnt offerings for them. Even when Job encountered Satan’s temptation and lost a mountain of sheep and cattle, untold masses of wealth, and his sons and daughters, although he was very distressed in his heart and did not understand God’s will, he still was able to quiet his heart before God, seek God’s will, neither sinned with his lips nor said hurtful words about God, much less resisted God. And it was precisely because Job was possessed of rationality and a heart of seeking the truth and fearing God that he could submit to such environment and said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21), thus standing a beautifully resounding bearing of witness and made Satan retreat in humiliation. In the end, Job was doubly blessed by God. Not only that, but he got the opportunity of seeing the appearance of Jehovah God, and got the blessings which no one had ever previously received.

4, Paying Attention Every Day to Reflecting on Our Problems and Shortcomings

Every day we will face with various things. So we should come before God to reflect on all the things that we have done in a day: Over what matters we practiced the Lord’s words and our actions conformed to the truth; over what matters we followed our own will and went against the Lord’s will. We can recall them and try our best to write them down in our notebook when conditions and time allow. We can go on practicing the things that we acted according to God’s word; as for our doings that were not in line with God’s will, we should integrate God’s words to inspect ourselves about the problems and deviations in them, and seek the truth to resolve them timely. For example, we believe that we can treat the brothers and sisters with sincerity when in association with them at ordinary times. But at nighttime when we reflect on ourselves, we are aware that in the daytime, we did not speak openly and honestly to others in order to protect our own interests in something. We see that for the sake of our personal interests, we lied and committed fraud to the brothers and sisters, and revealed deceitful corrupt disposition in this thing. We know that God is disgusted with deceitful people; He loves those people who are honest, innocent and open. So we should open ourselves up to the brothers and sisters actively, confess to having told lies and deceived them, ask them to forgive us, and resolve not to do this anymore. In this way, unconsciously, we will have some entry into the truth of being an honest person. If we do not reflect on ourselves by coming before God, we will pay no heed to our everyday expressions of corruption, thinking they are all trifles, and then we cannot achieve the effect of improving our spiritual life. So only by focusing on quieting our heart before God, by always reflecting on ourselves and pondering those problems in ourselves, will our spiritual life grow ever greater, our relationship with God become ever closer, and we gradually become a person compatible with God’s intentions.

The four aspects above are the direction and path of practicing entry into quieting our heart before God. I really hope that we can all benefit from them.

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Knowing God Can Help Us Shake Off Worries

Knowing God Can Help Us Shake Off Worries

By Lin Lin

Photo by Giorgio Montersino – CC BY-SA 2.0

Worries are the invisible ties with which Satan bind our heart. Once we get ensnared in Satan’s net, we would lose faith in God and finally be shoved into the abyss of death.

In today’s rapidly changing and competitive society, we are assailed by various kinds of worries without release.

Worrying that we can’t win others’ affection, we have cosmetic surgery and lose weight at the expense of our health and money. Worrying about the children’s prospect, we make them attend all kinds of remedial classes, which leads to enormous pressure on them. Worrying that the work can’t go well, apart from doing the job carefully, we also need to deal with the guards and attacks from colleagues. Worries about the quality of life cause us to apply for various loans and become mortgage slaves; worries about our children’s living conditions keep us laboring even at an old age; worries about sudden sickness and disasters impel us to buy various kinds of insurance. … Because of these worries, we have no God’s place in our heart, living in a world without light.

God says: “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?” (Matthew 6:27).“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:34). However, who will truly believe and submit to God’s words, and come before God to enjoy His promise without any worries?

In fact, worries come from our arrogance, greed, and ignorance. They are the expressions of our distrust and disobedience of, and resistance to God. The root of worries is that we don’t know God. Only when we know God’s authority and sovereignty, can we gain the true freedom and release, and no longer feel worried.

Just as God’s word says: “Because people do not recognize God’s orchestrations and God’s sovereignty, they always face fate defiantly, with a rebellious attitude, and always want to cast off God’s authority and sovereignty and the things fate has in store, hoping in vain to change their current circumstances and alter their fate. But they can never succeed; they are thwarted at every turn. This struggle, which takes place deep in one’s soul, is painful; the pain is unforgettable; and all the while one is frittering away one’s life. What is the cause of this pain? Is it because of God’s sovereignty, or because a person was born unlucky? Obviously neither is true. At bottom, it is because of the paths people take, the ways people choose to live their lives. Some people may not have realized these things. But when you truly know, when you truly come to recognize that God has sovereignty over human fate, when you truly understand that everything God has planned for and decided for you is a great benefit, and is a great protection, then you feel your pain gradually lighten, and the whole of you become relaxed, free, liberated.”

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How to Improve Your Mother-Daughter Relationship

Photo credit: CameliaTWU on Best Running / CC BY-NC-ND

Dong Xin and her daughter Tingting were going out. When she saw Tingting was rolling up her pant legs before the mirror, Dong Xin asked confusedly: “Come now, why are you rolling them up?” Tingting didn’t pay attention to her mom’s question. She looked at her rolled-up pant legs and smiled with satisfaction, thinking: Hum, after rolling them up, I really look different. My legs look thin and long, and I look tall. Nice! As she enjoyed her beauty, she responded to her mom, “Dressing like this I’ll look slimming and pretty.” At Tingting’s words, Dong Xin felt that teenagers’ thoughts were strange today. She said frowning at her daughter, “Look at you. Rolling up your pant legs, you look like a hoodlum. It’s strange. Let them down.” At the moment, Tingting’s smile froze in a flash and a big question mark appeared before her eyes: Oh, my gosh! How can my mom have this thought? Don’t my contemporaries all dress this way? It’s normal. How can my mom describe me like this? She is really outdated. I wouldn’t like to listen to her. So she said, “No. I like this style. It’s in fashion.” Dong Xin saw Tingting didn’t give in, so she played her trump card, saying, “If you don’t let them down, I won’t take you to go shopping.” Tingting thought gloomily: If I don’t meet her requirement, my buying clothes will fall through. Ah, it seems the older the wiser. For the sake of my beloved clothes, I have to be aggrieved and listen to my mom. So she unwillingly let down her pant legs. As a result, Dong Xin was satisfied while Tingting wasn’t content in her heart. She thought: My mom’s so outdated. She doesn’t understand fashion nor can she keep pace with social trends closely. It seems as if she and I belong to different worlds, and we can’t simply communicate with each other.

From food, clothing and shelter to their networks of friends, it seemed that Tingting’s opinions about them were never in tune with Dong Xin’s. As long as they talked about something, they would argue and they each would insist on their own opinions, ending up parting unhappily. Therefore, even if Tingting had something on her mind, she would rather suppress it in her heart or tell others than tell Dong Xin. Although they lived under the same roof, sometimes they even wouldn’t say a word to each other in a day, so that the distance between them increased and they became the most familiar strangers. Dong Xin said Tingting didn’t understand how to do her a favor nor was she willing to be near to her. There was the saying, “The daughter is the apple of the mother’s eyes,” but Tingting fell far short. After she heard this, Tingting felt very uncomfortable and thought to herself: Don’t blame me. Regardless of what I say and what I do, they are all wrong in my mom’s eyes. Since there is no common language, then we have nothing to communicate with each other. Just like this, they complained against one another and wouldn’t put themselves aside, and thus they were always locked in this kind of stalemate.

The generation gap between them didn’t disappear but was even widening. When Tingting hit the market, she met a boy student and said hello to him. Seeing this, Dong Xin would ask her who the boy was, and warn her against calf love; when Tingting sometimes made a facial mask, Dong Xin would also say she was pursuing world trends; every time when Tingting went to shop for clothes with her mother, Dong Xin would be unsatisfied with each dress Tingting picked out, either saying the clothes were too tight, or had plunging neckline, or saying they were offbeat and didn’t fit a girl. In short, Dong Xin’s opinions were all different from Tingting’s, so Tingting felt very wronged and uncomfortable. Nevertheless, she didn’t dare argue with Dong Xin, because she never spoke but Dong Xin scolded her by saying that all she knew was to seek the trends of the world all day and that she wasn’t engaged in honest work. In the aspect of life, she was a bit picky and she liked vegetarian foods and hated meat. For this, Dong Xin often kept dinning in her ears: “It’s more difficult to feed you than feed ten children. If you visit others, will you act like this? If a famine occurs, you’ll absolutely starve to death.…” At these words, Tingting felt like she had a headache. So, what Dong Xin said often went in at one ear and out at the other.

Until that day, under the guidance of God’s words, their relationship began to change silently.…

One day, Dong Xin came to Tingting and said, “Tingting, let’s have a meeting together.” Hearing this, Tingting agreed reluctantly. She thought: Well, in any case, everything is for you to decide. If I don’t listen to you, you’ll nag me again. Then, they sat together and began to read God’s words, “Parents raise their children from infancy to adulthood, nagging them and looking after them throughout. How do parents see time? Whether twenty or thirty years later, their attitude toward their children is the same as when they were born, it doesn’t change. The child has, in fact, long since grown up, he’s long since established his own way of thinking, state of mind, insight, and viewpoints—he’s long since had these things—yet the adults never realize this, they can never keep up, they always talk and interact with the child as if he’d just been born. So what issue does the child have? As soon as the parents start nagging, the child objects. He stays away from them, he avoids them, saying to himself, ‘How I wish there was no nagging, how I wish that no one nagged me, then I’d be free.’ He doesn’t know how to open up to them, or look for the chance to tell them what’s in his heart, which would allow his parents to understand him, and know what he needs, what he’s thinking in his heart, whether there is any problem with what’s in his mind, or anything erroneous about it; whether, if he carries on thinking like this, it will make him do something wrong. He suppresses these things, he doesn’t know how to have a heart-to-heart talk, with the result that the two generations reach an impasse.”

Having finished reading God’s word, Dong Xin looked at Tingting and said, “Tingting, by reading God’s words, I know I’m wrong. I think it’s necessary for me to say I’m sorry. Since you believed in God, in order to let you believe in God properly, for fear that you are attracted by various evil worldly trends and keep far away from God, I, in accordance with my own will, have controlled you and obstructed you from doing this and that. I thought I was doing this for your own good, but I have never expected our relationship becomes more strained for this. Now, through God’s words, I came to realize I’m too arrogant. I regard what I believe is right as the standard and control you in my position as a parent all the time. I always treat you as a child and want you to live in line with my thoughts. When you don’t listen to me, I’m angry with you and still complain about your not understanding things. In hindsight, there’s such great estrangement between us and I should bear much of the blame. In fact, just as what God says, you’ve grown up. You have your own way of thinking and your free space. I shouldn’t always impose my thoughts on you. I ought to talk with you more and understand your ideas. When we understand each other and know what the other think of, can’t we know each other? Then there won’t be such great estrangement between us.”

At Dong Xin’s words, Tingting was lost in thought: Things have progressed to this point today. It wasn’t all my mother’s fault and I was also wrong. If I was supposed to see every matter I encountered from the perspective of the truth, always acted in accordance with God’s words in everything, learned to chat with my mother, and said what was in my heart so that we understood each other, then there wouldn’t happen these things.

Tingting bowed her head and right saw a passage of God’s words, “When some young people are talking, they keep rolling their eyes, they hold everyone in contempt, and everything they say is filled with a note of disdain. If you have a word with them but it’s not to their liking, they will just ignore you. It is rather hard to be a parent nowadays and very hard to get to know the mentality of young people. If they say one wrong word, their child will throw a tantrum and storm off, and it is very difficult for them to communicate with adults. This is to say that there are problems with the thinking of many young people today. Is this situation not created by evil trends and this evil society? The things of people’s normal humanity are becoming fewer and fewer. … Then there is ‘they can’t tell a four from a six.’ This is a dialect expression. Have you heard it before? (Yes.) Explain to Me the literal meaning of these words. (It means that they cannot discern between good or bad. Whatever they think is good is always good. Whatever they think is bad is always bad. No matter how you explain something to them, they don’t listen.) (It means that they are unable to know what is good for them, they have no discernment, they have no understanding about anything and are all mixed up.) This is roughly the literal meaning, that is, not being able to know what is good for them, not knowing what is positive or what is negative and not being able to tell good from bad. Because they are young, brash and arrogant, they don’t listen to anything anyone says. ‘Anything anyone else says is wrong, what I say is right. Don’t anyone try to say anything to me, I won’t take anything in. I know I’m right. Even if I am wrong, I’ll still stick to my guns. Though I know perfectly well that I’m wrong, I’ll still persist with my opinions.’ They have this kind of disposition, of not being able to tell a four from a six. From the outside it is hard to tell whether the child is being clever or stupid; they can put forward ordered arguments. When arguing something, they know better than anyone and they understand more than anyone else, so how come they always do things in such a befuddled way? Though they know perfectly well that a certain way of doing something is right, they don’t listen, they do as they wish and do things however they want—they are willful and muddled.”

After reading God’s words, Tingting felt shamed and humiliated. She thought: All along, although I’m a child believing in God, many of my thoughts and actions were no different from that of nonbelievers. Just as God said, “They are young, brash and arrogant, and they can’t tell a four from a six.” Every time my mother pointed out my mistakes, I either retorted or opposed her with silence; each time she did something that wasn’t to my liking, though I didn’t throw a tantrum, I pulled a long face and gave a dirty look to her. In fact, I obviously didn’t change my views on pursuing, paying much attention to following the trends of the world, but instead I put all the blame on my mother. I think it was my mother who was autocratic and her thoughts were outdated and she always tried to control me. So I was unwilling to communicate with her and opened up to her. As a result, we became the most familiar strangers. In fact, although my mother always tried to control me, that was because she was afraid my heart was attracted by the world, for the evil world is full of sensual pleasures, and we young people will face too many and too great temptations. If we stop paying attention for a moment, we will be seized by Satan. Then she recalled: Each time I went shopping with my classmates, they would talk about how to eat, drink, and have fun and which two classmates fell in love. Every time after I listened to what they said, I would descend into negativity and didn’t thirst for God’s words as before. Didn’t my mother control me because she feared that I kept far away from God and that I was seized by Satan? But I was often muddled and misunderstood her intention. I was really unable to know what was good for me.

After Tingting understood this, she began to apologize to Dong Xin, “Mom, this is not your fault. I should say I’m sorry. I myself follow the trends of the world, even saying you’re outdated. I oughtn’t to put all the blame on you.”

At her words, Dong Xin gently said, “Tingting, I’m wrong, too. I shouldn’t always try to control you. Your growing in life has a process and I shouldn’t ask too much of you. I haven’t considered your feelings, nor have I expected that I brought you such hurt.”

Tingting said, a little embarrassed, “Mom, in the past I didn’t understand your heart and regarded your concern as controlling me. What’s more, I always blamed you for nagging me, ignored you and didn’t know how to get on with you. Now thinking this over, before, I really couldn’t tell a four from a six and didn’t know you doing this was good for me. Mom, I see this passage of God’s word is very good and shows us the path of how to get along. Let’s read it together.”

Dong Xin responded happily, “Okay! Read it.”

Tingting carefully read, “You must endeavor to take the initiative in changing. Put yourself aside, don’t pit yourself against them, don’t contradict them. Don’t always say to yourself, ‘I’m their child, I can do whatever I want.’ When you act from this perspective, such an attitude is inherently wrong. You must put this attitude aside, it must be changed. When you interact with your parents like you would with an ordinary brother or sister, their attitude toward you will most certainly change. … If parents don’t act high and mighty, and the children can open up to them, and treat them as intimates, could there still be the estrangement between them?” “Tell them this: ‘It’s actually very simple. You don’t always think of yourselves as my parents, and I won’t think of myself as your child. The relationship between us will be that of ordinary brothers and sisters. If something’s up with you, tell me. Don’t suppress it or hide it. I won’t laugh at you. If you see something wrong with me, you can point it out to me. Tell me what you understand, so that I can put it into practice and not walk the wrong path.’ What’s it called when two people confer in this way? It’s called speaking heart-to-heart. And what is the purpose of speaking heart-to-heart? Is it to maintain a proper relationship between parents and children? Let Me tell you, narrowly speaking, the purpose of speaking heart-to-heart is for there to be normal human communication, having an exchange of minds. That’s narrowly speaking. Broadly speaking, it is for people to understand each other’s state, learn from each other, support each other, and help one another—that’s the effect. And thus, isn’t the relationship by which people interact with each other normal? … In short, the most proper relationship between children and parents is for them to understand each other, support each other, help each other, and make up for each other’s shortcomings. If you can practice this and achieve this, the conflicts between you and your parents will surely be resolved, and there will be no longer any problems.”

Having finished reading God’s word and pondering for a moment, Tingting said, “Mom, through God’s word, I know why I couldn’t communicate with you before. I always thought since you’re my mom, I could do what I wanted. When what you said wasn’t to my liking, I would be unreasonable before you without the slightest consideration for your feelings. Sometimes I would rather tell what’s in my heart to my brothers and sisters than tell you, and always pitted myself against you, with the result that we reached an impasse. I think about when my brothers and sisters communicated to me, sometimes though their communication didn’t accord with my will, I still could accept it from God and learn a lesson. Nonetheless, with regard to you, I thought your thoughts were too outdated and you were too nagging. Even if what you communicated was right, I wouldn’t like to accept it, and I’m really that kind of a child who sticks to his guns in God’s words. Mom, through this passage of God’s word, I have found the path to practice. Afterward, I just treat you as an ordinary sister. When we have different viewpoints, I’ll no longer suppress my viewpoint in my heart. I’ll have a heart-to-heart talk with you to have an exchange of our thoughts. As a result, we two will understand each other.”

When Dong Xin heard what Tingting said, she felt very gratified. With nodding, she said, “I’ll no longer control you later on consciously. Afterward, when my opinion is different from yours, let’s seek the truth, communicate about the truth and act according to God’s words. In our family, we should let Christ and God’s words reign and shouldn’t stick to ourselves.”

Hereafter, when encountering the matters, they both practiced implementing God’s word. When Dong Xin wanted to make demands on Tingting in accordance with her own will, she would consciously come before God to pray, put herself aside and no longer acted high and mighty in her position of a mother. On the contrary, she would place her in Tingting’s place and try to understand what she thought, and gradually, she wouldn’t control Tingting with intention; when Dong Xin discussed something with her, Tingting would learn to regard her mom as a sister and respect her opinion instead of being unreasonable as before. When she had a different viewpoint, she would open up and speak heart-to-heart to let her mom know her genuine thoughts, in order that they understood each other.

Later, Tingting went shopping with her mother. When choosing the clothes, Tingting no longer held to her viewpoints as before but learned to listen to her mom’s opinion and allowed her mom to give her some advice. Once, an assistant said to Dong Xin, “Present-day young people are of character and assertive. Your daughter is already this big. When she goes shopping with you, she still can listen to your advice. It’s not easy and your daughter is really obedient.” At these words, Tingting and her mom looked at each other and smiled, and they both clearly knew it was God’s words that changed them. They tasted the sweetness in practicing in accordance with God’s word and experienced a happiness they had never felt before in their hearts.

Gradually, their relationship has changed obviously. They dispute less and speak hear-to-heart more; they worry less and smile more; besides, their hearts are closer. Through the true experience, Tingting has tasted that only by practicing according to God’s word can she truly be the apple of her mom’s eyes. She has even more experienced the feelings between her and her mom should be based on practicing God’s words. This kind of affection between them, though without the fragrance of carnations, was simple and genuine like fruits, bringing them the tang of happiness.

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whether is heaven in heaven or on earth?

whether is heaven in heaven or on earth?

Today, sister Wendy and sister Carrie fellowshiped what is heaven and whether heaven is in heaven or on the earth. I want to share my knowledge with everyone.

whether is heaven in heaven or on earth?

Wendy: The Lord has promised to us, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2-3).
We know that the Lord has prepared a place for us in heaven. When He's back directly to the kingdom of heaven, we'll go.
So if the Lord has returned, I truly wonder why we are still here and not in heaven.


Carrie: Sister, the Lord has gone to prepare a place for believers; that's true. But is this place on earth or in heaven? No one knows for certain.
In our imaginations, the kingdom of heaven should be far off in heaven.
But is this how it really is? Let's see what Jesus has said about it.
"Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be your name. 
Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:9-10).

So this tells us the Lord says His kingdom is on earth, not in heaven. God's will will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.
Not to mention, it's also in Revelation 21:2-3,
…… "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven….
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."
And in Revelation 11:15,
"The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ;
and he shall reign for ever and ever."

The prophecies say,
"the tabernacle of God is with men."
"… new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven."
"The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ."
The proof is clear that God will establish His kingdom on earth, and live with mankind here on earth.

So the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of Christ forever. Imagination tells us that God's kingdom is in heaven far away, and that when He comes, we'll be raptured up there.
But if that's the case, wouldn't God's words be in vain? (Yes.)
In fact, the final result of God's management plan is to save man and make His kingdom here on earth.
Almighty God, Christ of the last days, does the work of judging and purifying man,
just to make a group of overcomers on earth. Those overcomers here who are perfected by God are those who practice His word and follow His way on earth.
They are the people of God's kingdom.
When this group of overcomers is made, then God's will will be done here on earth.
And when the kingdom of Christ is finally realized on earth, then God will gain glory.
These prophecies in Revelation are what God will accomplish.
Isn't this a fact we can all agree with?
What kind of place has the Lord Jesus prepared for us?
He has predestined that we are born in the last days, and welcome His coming on earth to accept His purification to be made overcomers and carry out His will, so that the kingdoms of this world would be the kingdoms of Christ. This is surely God's will.

God is here on earth, but men still insist on heaven.
If we were taken up into the midair, how would we survive without food or housing?
That's man's imagination and notion. Would the Lord do that to us? It's naive of men to think that way with their heads in the clouds.

Carrie: What you've said makes a lot of sense. These years, we've been reciting the Lord's prayer:
''Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.''
Revelation also states,
"the tabernacle of God is with men."
"The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ."
"… new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven."
Now I see the scriptures are clear. How did we not see it before? (Yes.) We've longed to be in heaven for so long. We are so dull and numb! (That's right.)

Mary: These years, our belief in the Lord was muddled. Even though the prophecies were clear, we didn't understand. (It's true.)  Even though the prophecies were clear, we didn't understand. (It's true.) For so long, pastors and elders told us God's kingdom was in heaven. We believed it to be true, so we waited to be raptured into heaven. (Right.)
Seems like our pastors and elders don't really understand the Bible, (She's right.)
blindly explaining God's word with imagination and defining His work.
Aren't they deceiving and ruining man? (Mm. Yes.) We have been deeply deceived and never understood its literal meaning. We actually thought we would be raptured up to heaven. But the thought is absurd.

Jennie: Yeah. We need other people who understand the truth to fellowship with us.
Otherwise, no matter how long we believe, we won't gain anything from it.
How could we not be rejected by the Lord? Yeah. That's right. That makes sense.

Vivian: It's impossible for us to say whether God's kingdom is on earth or in heaven.
The Lord Jesus said several times, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand" and "Your kingdom come."
Since He clearly says, "the kingdom of heaven," how can it be on earth?
Yeah. The kingdom of heaven must be in heaven. Otherwise, why call it that?

Carrie: We should keep in mind that "heaven" always refers to God. The kingdom of heaven means God's kingdom.
Revelation says,
"the tabernacle of God is with men."
"The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ."
It shows us that God's kingdom is on earth. The kingdoms of this world will become those of God. After the disasters, the old world will be destroyed and the Millennial Kingdom will appear. And this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
And then God's will shall be done on earth just as it is in heaven. This fulfills the prophecy that new Jerusalem will come down to earth then.
God incarnate in the last days does the work of judgment to end the dark and evil times. Those who hear God's voice and are raptured before the throne will be made overcomers. 
Then the great disasters will fall. Only those who are purified, saved through God's work in the last days can remain on earth and be in God's kingdom.

Today, we who accept God's work in the last days are truly the most blessed. We're fortunate to hear God's voice and be raptured before His throne. We will be purified through the judgment of God's word, and also be overcomers made before the disaster and be His first fruits. Then God will return to Zion and the great disasters will fall.

All those who oppose God and the followers of Satan in the disasters will be destroyed, while those who are sanctified and perfected by God shall remain on earth protected.
When the Lord descends to people openly on a cloud, then God will come to His kingdom on earth. That's what God will accomplish very soon.
As believers, if we don't know this vision, aren't we blind? Those who simply gaze up at the sky and wait for the Lord to come with clouds will weep and gnash their teeth when they see the Lord come upon white clouds.
Just as Revelation prophesied,
 "Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. " (Revelation 1:7).

When the disasters come, those who haven't heard God's voice and aren't raptured will be punished in these disasters, weeping and gnashing their teeth.

Wendy: Thanks be to the Lord. It's a mystery. Without such fellowship, we would've never known.

Mary: Right. They're all very wise and enlightened. So that's how the prophecy in Revelation is fulfilled. Yes. I understand so clearly. Their fellowship makes so much biblical sense. They're full of enlightenment. We should listen to them more.

Carrie: Brothers and sisters, in the beginning God created man on earth. Satan corrupts man on that same earth. However, it is still on earth that God saves man.
Until the kingdom of Christ appears to man, all this happens on earth. That's why God establishes His kingdom on earth in the last days. In the end, man's destination is on earth, not in heaven. It's ordained by God. Let's see what Almighty God says in His own words.
"God will return to His original position, and each person will return to his or her respective place. These are the destinations that God and man will respectively reside in after the end of God's entire management. God has God's destination, and man has man's destination. While resting, God will continue to guide all of humanity in their lives upon earth. While in God's light, man will worship the one true God in heaven. … When humanity enters into rest, it means that man has become a true creation; humanity will worship God from upon the earth and have normal human lives. People will no longer be disobedient to God or resist God; they will return to the original life of Adam and Eve. These are the respective lives and destinations of God and humanity after they enter into rest. Satan's defeat is an inevitable trend in the war between God and Satan. In this way, God's entering into rest after the completion of His management work and man's complete salvation and entrance into rest likewise become inevitable trends. Man's place of rest is on earth, and God's place of rest is in heaven. While man rests, he will worship God and also live upon earth, and while God rests, He will lead the remaining portion of humanity…."

Carrie: Almighty God has put it very clearly. When God's management work is complete, God and man will enter into rest together. God's place of rest is in heaven while man's is on earth just as it is now. This is the destination God has prepared for us, and also God's kingdom to be established on earth.
If we can't see this after years of believing in God, doesn't it show then that we are ignorant of the Lord's word?

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Obey God’s Sovereignty, Ordinary But Wonderful

Obey God’s Sovereignty, Ordinary But Wonderful

Gao Qian

At nightfall, under the dim light, I was looking at the fallen leaves outside the window with a thread of slight grief welling up in my heart. Thinking that I lacked proficiency at my work, didn’t do things as well as others, and suffered loss of face, I felt I was dwarfed by others, and could not help but be a little depressed: Why do so many unpleasant things appear in my life? Why am not I outstanding in all respects like others? Why don’t others pay attention to me? … When I was full of complaints within, a delicate fragrance floated toward me and interrupted my thoughts. Turning around, I saw the pot of jasmine on the windowsill. If it didn’t emit fragrance, I could hardly pay attention to it. I hadn’t taken good care of that flower, so it lacked nutrition, only bearing two little white flowers. It was hard to believe that these two flowers which were small and unremarkable could emit such fragrance. I couldn’t help walking forth to observe them. I found that these two flowers weren’t big, but their fragrance was so refreshing that I felt a comfort and happiness; they were common, ordinary and unremarkable, but could bring a thread of pleasure to people. Suddenly, I realized that these little flowers live a meaningful life.

Looking at the little flowers, I couldn’t help thinking of God’s words, “While God was speaking, all these things came into being following the thoughts of God, and in an instant, an assortment of delicate little life forms were unsteadily poking their heads up through the soil, and before they had even shaken the bits of dirt from their bodies they were eagerly waving to each other in greeting, nodding and smiling to the world. They thanked the Creator for the life that He bestowed upon them, and announced to the world that they were a part of all things, and that they would each devote their lives to showing forth the authority of the Creator. … This barren world, in which there had not been any trace of life, was rapidly covered by a profusion of grass, herbs and trees and overflowing with greenery…. They were all born, and lived, because of the words of the Creator. They would receive the unceasing provision and nourishment of the Creator, and would always tenaciously survive in every corner of the land in order to show forth the authority and power of the Creator, and they would always show forth the life force bestowed upon them by the Creator …” (“God Himself, the Unique I”).

God’s words gave me a deep feeling. God bestows life on these plants, and they are all demonstrating God’s great power. In addition, they treasure their instincts God has bestowed on them, giving play to their own functions: They add colors to the world for people to enjoy, devoting their life silently and quietly. Though they’ll be withered soon after, they still try their best to give play to their own functions in the limited time, emitting their delicate fragrance and demonstrating God’s authority and power. They thank the Creator for the life that He has bestowed upon them and willingly submit to the order of the Creator. With a thankful heart, they live in happiness, relaxation, freedom and release and haven’t been unworthy of their life bestowed by God. I’m also a creature, but why am I unable to live a relaxed and calm life like these flowers?

Recalling the time when I wrote cases with my two coworkers, they talked about their thinking and opinions, but I sat there and said little. Sometimes, I put forward a piece of advice, but it wasn’t adopted. Then, I felt very uncomfortable, envious and defiant at that moment. And I secretly thought: I can’t fall behind them, otherwise they’ll more look down upon me. However, the more I wanted to express some unique insights in order to be approved, the more I had no thinking, my mind went blank and I had nothing to say. So, my heart became extremely pained. Even more, I wanted to escape that environment and didn’t want to stay there at all. I could not but ask myself: Why am I so sad, painful and always unhappy? I thought of God’s word, “Human beings, dominated by their satanic disposition, harbor a sort of desire, a type of ambition, inside of them. This is hidden within their humanity. They never want to stay on the ground; they keep wanting to go up into the air. Is being in the air a place for a person to stay? Whose place is it to stay? (Satan’s.) That is a place for Satan, not a place for humans. When creating humans, God put them on the ground so that your daily lives could be completely normal and your lifestyles disciplined, and so that you could learn general knowledge about how to be human beings, and learn how to behave, how to live, and how to worship God. God did not give you wings; He did not allow you to stay up in the air. Those with wings are birds, and the ones wandering around in the air are Satan and evil spirits and filthy demons. Those are not human beings! If people keep having such ambitions, always wanting to turn themselves extraordinary and superior, different from others, and special, then that is a problem!” (‘The Five Conditions People Have Before They Enter the Right Track of Believing in God’). The judgment in God’s words made me understand: The reason why I was unhappy and pained was that my ambitions and desires were too strong. In fact, God’s intention of creating us is not to ask us to pursue becoming supermen, great persons or unique men, but to be grounded and forthright in conducting ourselves and doing things, and to be an ordinary and normal man. Though we live a simple life, we can worship God and obey God’s orchestration and arrangement. I reflected on myself: I was unwilling to submit to God’s orchestration and arrangements, living in dependence on Satan’s poisons, such as “ranking higher than others” “rising above others.” I always wanted to be on a higher level, cultivate my own image in other people’s hearts, and let them look up to me, so when I could not be looked up to by others, I would be worried about personal gains and losses and live in agony. Am not I the same as Satan? Satan is unwilling to obey God’s sovereignty and wants to ascend to the highest heights. As a result, it was struck down and into the air by God. I always wanted to rank higher than others, so would I be disgusted by God? How can a man who is disgusted by God obtain God’s blessing or have real joy?

Just then, I remembered a paragraph of words in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life: “If God lets us be like grass, we should be like grass and not seek to be great trees; if we’re like trees, we shouldn’t seek to become high buildings. Just be ourselves. We should stand correctly in our positions and be honest in seeking truth and fulfilling our duties. Only living in this way is the best and not tiring.” Just then, I had a clear understanding and had a way of practice: Though I’m ordinary, I can try my best to do what I should do, which is the best manner of living. I was no longer depressed, nor did I escape or stay away from this environment, and instead, I was willing to obey the order and arrangement of the Creator, living out the manner of a created being like these flowers. I couldn’t help praying to God, “Oh, God! I’m willing to straighten out my state of mind, and try my best to do what I should do according to Your words. Whatever You give me is the best. I hope that I can live freely, submit to Your orchestration and arrangement, stand correctly in my position, and manifest and glorify God like these little flowers!”

These flowers made me realize a principle of how to be human: Though we are ordinary, we aren’t humble. As long as we submit to God’s sovereignty, we can also live out a wonderful life.

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