How to Pray? 4 Keys to Pray to God We Shall Know

How to Pray? 4 Keys to Pray to God We Shall Know

Xiaoxi

Prayer is often overlooked by us in our daily life. Often times, we pray before God perfunctorily, just going through the formalities. Never have we presented our hearts before God to have true prayers, and we just hurriedly come before Him to pray and look up to Him when we encounter some issues. It is because of such an attitude that we don’t know how to pray to God, even if we have believed in Him for many years. Today, let’s share how to pray to God together.

1. What Does It Mean to Truly Pray?

One day, a friend of mine came to my home and had a gathering with me. In talking about this topic, she took out a book and read to me: “What does it mean to truly pray? It means speaking the words within your heart to God, and communing with God having grasped His will and based upon His words; it means feeling particularly close to God, feeling that He is in front of you, and that you have something to say to Him; and it means being especially radiant within your heart, and feeling that God is especially lovely. You will feel especially inspired, and after hearing your words your brothers and sisters will feel gratified, they will feel that the words you speak are the words within their hearts, the words they wish to say, and that what you say represents what they want to say. This is what it means to truly pray”. This paragraph of words allowed me to understand: A true prayer means speaking our heartfelt words to God and opening our hearts to commune with Him about our difficulties, things that we face, and the questions we don’t understand. Through praying to God and drawing close to Him, we understand His will and find the ways of practice. With prayer such as this, we can be clear-minded and enlightened under the guidance of God, so that we can see the true nature of problems more thoroughly. In the meantime, we can feel that God is right by our side; our hearts will feel particularly close to Him and our relationship with Him gradually gets closer. If we always pray to God in this way, our prayers will be after His heart and surely be answered.

2. What Is the Content of Prayers?

Later we fellowshiped about the content of prayers. Many times our prayers before God are dry and banal and we don’t know what to say; we only spew out all difficulties and worries in our life and work to God, not caring whether it conforms to His will or not or whether He will listen to it, we just babble on and on like reciting scripture. As a result, we are unable to obtain the Holy Spirit’s work and our problems can’t be solved. Is this not ignorant? Actually, the Lord Jesus has long since told us, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you”. From this passage of God’s words, we come to understand: Praying is not to seek what we will eat, drink, or wear. God has painstakingly arranged these material needs for us since we came into this world, and there is no need for us to pray for them. This is similar to a mere child; does he need to tell his parents what he will eat and put on every day? No. All necessaries of his life have been arranged appropriately by his parents. In many instances, we pray to God, “Lord, I have no a good job, please give me one,” “Lord, I’m being sorely pressed, please give me a chance to make money,” and so on; such kind of prayers is not in line with the will of God. God has told us what the content of prayers ought to be, “You should pray, step-by-step, in accordance with your true state and that which is to be done by the Holy Spirit, and you should commune with God in keeping with God’s will and His requirements of man. … When you are possessed of this burden, God will surely make you perfect; you should not only pray for the sake of yourself, but also for the sake of carrying out the will of God, and for the sake of loving Him. Such is the truest kind of prayer”. Are your prayers for the purpose of carrying out the will of God? If we pray for ourselves, for the sake of satisfying our own flesh and selfish desires, God will definitely not accept our prayers.

3. What Is the Significance of Prayer?

Concerning the significance of prayer, after our fellowship, our understanding was: Only when we understand why we pray to God and the importance of prayer, will we place great importance on praying and pray with our hearts. Only when we know the significance of whatever we do, can lots of problems be readily solved. Then, after all, what’s the significance of prayer? God says, “Prayer is one of the ways in which man cooperates with God, it is a means by which man calls upon God, and it is the process by which man is touched by God’s Spirit. It can be said that those who are without prayer are dead ones without spirit, proof that they lack the faculties to be touched by God. Without prayer, they are unable to attain a normal spiritual life, much less are they able to follow the work of the Holy Spirit; without prayer, they sever their relationship with God, and are incapable of receiving God’s approval. Being someone who believes in God, the more you pray, the more you are touched by God. Such people have greater resolution and are more able to receive the latest enlightenment from God; as a result, only people like this can be made perfect as soon as possible by the Holy Spirit”.

4. How Can We Enter Into True Prayer?

We have just fellowshiped that “What is true prayer?” Then how do we enter into true prayer? God’s words tell us the answer, “Whilst praying, your heart must be at peace before God, and it must be sincere. You are truly communing and praying with God; you must not deceive God using nice-sounding words. Prayer is centered around that which God wishes to complete today. Ask God to bring you greater enlightenment and illumination, and bring your actual state and troubles before God to pray, and make resolution before God. Prayer is not the following of procedure, but the seeking of God using your true heart. Ask that God protect your heart, making it able to often be at peace before God, making you able to know yourself, and despise yourself, and forsake yourself in the environment that God has set for you, thus allowing you to have a normal relationship with God and making you someone who truly loves God”. These words make us understand: We can enter into true prayer as long as we grasp these three aspects: First, we must be quiet in front of God, speaking from the heart; we should never deceive God with words of praise and never cheat Him with falsehoods or empty words. Second, we should pray around actual things and the situation arranged by God. For example, our practical difficulty is that we don’t know how to practice to be an honest person, yet we pray for God to purify us in that we still have arrogant disposition. So this will be wrong. If we pray like this, it proves that we don’t possess the normal people’s thinking. Third, praying is not to go through the process but to come before God sincerely to seek the related truth and the way of practice, through which we can gain the work of the Holy Spirit and have deeper knowledge of our own corrupt disposition and better understanding of God’s will to save man. Possessing these three aspects of practice, we are able to enter into true prayer.

Our gathering has enabled me to understand the above four aspects of the truth with regard to the practice of prayer. I hope it will help you. Thank the Lord! In the end, I’d like to share with you the basic general knowledge of prayer:

“1. Do not blindly say whatever comes to mind. There must be a burden within your heart, which is to say, you must have an objective when you pray.

2. Your prayers must contain the words of God; they must be based upon the words of God.

3. When praying, you cannot go over old ground; you must not bring up things that are outdated. You should specially train yourself to speak the actual words of the Holy Spirit; only then will you be able to make a connection with God.

4. Group prayer must be centered around a core, which must be the work of the Holy Spirit today.

5. All people must learn how to pray for others. They must find the part in God’s words that they wish to pray for, based upon which they must have a burden, and for which they must often pray. This is one manifestation of care for God’s will”.

Though I pray to God every day, many times I feel my prayer dull and dry as if the Lord doesn’t listen at all; many times I pray, He doesn’t fulfill my prayers; still many times I have nothing to say when praying. How exactly to pray to God? I feel confused about that for a long time, and I haven’t find out a way to practice. Thanks for the Lord’s guidance and the author’s sharing, I understand the significance of prayer, and know how to pray to God with a true heart in order to gain rapid spiritual growth. I have no clue whether you’re also in this state. If you have any other practice and experience about praying, you’re welcome to leave messages to us or chat with us via the online window at the bottom of the website. We look forward to sharing God’s enlightenment with more and more brothers and sisters, growing together in Christ.

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Turn Left? Turn Right?: How Can We Find the Way to Happiness?

Xuesong

If we compare the course of a man’s life to a journey in this material world, then each journey is surely different in the length and direction. Anyway, all of us wish it to be a journey of bliss and significance. However, after going through various hardships in life, many of us become aware that reality doesn’t always meet our wishes and that our wishes are merely a sort of thought or belief. When arriving at a crossing, we are always full of anticipation and hesitation, as we are ignorant of which path leads to happiness, how to make the journey meaningful, and even more ignorant of what is waiting for us at the end of the path. At the intersection of your life, which do you choose, to turn left or turn right?

In the beginning, when we stepped onto the path of life, all of us roamed in the ocean of knowledge, because in it there were footprints and teachings left by our predecessors and through it we could understand the mysterious and unfathomable world. After all preparations were made, we came to the first intersection of our life officially, and then we chose different directions to seek happiness according to the knowledge we had learned. When we turned left, the world told us, “With money, you are able to obtain all material enjoyments, and only then is your life the happiest.” Thus, in order to gain happiness, we struggled hard and did our utmost to chase after money. In order to make money, we even lost our conscience and morality, learned to deceive, and moreover, learned to vie with each other. Ultimately, some gained money while others obtained nothing. But we were similar in that all of us were unhappy, because we felt empty in our heart as if we were staying in a desert waste and nothing could fill the emptiness. In confusion, we turned right. This time the world told us, “Only when you gain status can you be truly happy. This path leads to true happiness, because it will enable you to gain not only money but also others’ support and admiration.” Thereupon, we started to intrigue against each other and deceive mutually. At last, we trampled others underfoot and scrambled to the high peak that we yearned for. However, when we rode on the crest of success and earned others’ flowers and applause, we were still not so happy and joyful as imagined, because all of us held all that we had possessed tightly, worried about their gains and losses. Exhaustion and pain came over us, and we seemed to have been thrown into a prison cell. At this moment, we were disappointed and weary, and even wanted to finish our life journey soon. We were puzzled: Where on earth is happiness? Why didn’t I get it as expected, no matter whether I turned left or turned right?

We felt very anxious yet could do nothing. I didn’t know why we were so distressed in this journey until I heard the utterances of the Creator. Almighty God says, “People think that once they have fame and gain, they can then capitalize on them to enjoy high status and great wealth, and to enjoy life. Once they have fame and gain, they can then capitalize on them in their pleasure-seeking and unscrupulous enjoyment of the flesh. People willingly, albeit unknowingly, take their bodies, minds, all that they have, their futures and their destinies and hand them all over to Satan in order to attain the fame and gain they desire. People do this without ever a moment’s hesitation, ever ignorant of the need to recover it all. Can people still have any control over themselves once they go over to the side of Satan in this way and become loyal to it? Certainly not. They are completely and utterly controlled by Satan. They are also completely and utterly unable to free themselves from the quagmire they have sunk down into”. “In other words, people who have not been saved are prisoners to Satan, they have no freedom, they have not been relinquished by Satan, they are not qualified or entitled to worship God, and they are closely pursued and viciously attacked by Satan. Such people have no happiness to speak of, they have no right to a normal existence to speak of, and moreover they have no dignity to speak of”.

I realized that our minds had already been poisoned by Satan, and beguiled by it, we had taken the wrong path at the start of our life journey. Therefore, regardless of whether we turned left or right, we were all like prisoners in shackles. We rushed about painstakingly for fame and gain and status. We gave up our youth and expended everything, but in the end, we simply became increasingly corrupted. We lost our conscience, morality, and the bottom line of being a man in face of the enticement of fame and gain and status. In order to attain fame and gain, we fought against each other to such an extent that we were exhausted and incapable of freeing ourselves from it. … We got lost, had difficulty controlling ourselves, and were trapped in sins, living in increasing agony. Even though we obtained everything we wanted, emptiness and perplexity occupied our heart, making us have no idea of where to go. In this way, we had been corrupted by Satan to such a degree that we had less and less human likeness and strayed further and further from God’s care and keeping. We simply didn’t have any happiness to speak of.

Then, how could we find the path to happiness? Now a soft voice resounded in my ears, “At the moment when a person is born, one lonely soul begins its experience of life on earth, its experience of the Creator’s authority which the Creator has arranged for it. Needless to say, for the person, the soul, this is an excellent opportunity to gain knowledge of the Creator’s sovereignty, to come to know His authority and to experience it personally. … If one views life as an opportunity to experience the Creator’s sovereignty and come to know His authority, if one sees one’s life as a rare chance to perform one’s duty as a created human being and to fulfill one’s mission, then one will necessarily have the correct outlook on life, will live a life blessed and guided by the Creator, will walk in the light of the Creator, know the Creator’s sovereignty, come under His dominion, become a witness to His miraculous deeds and to His authority”. “When your heart truly opens up to God, you will see that His heart is such an infinite world, and you will enter into a realm you have never experienced before. In this realm there is no cheating, there is no deception, there is no darkness, and no evil. There is only sincerity and faithfulness; only light and rectitude; only righteousness and kindness. It is full of love and care, full of compassion and tolerance, and through it you feel the happiness and joy of being alive. These things are what He will reveal to you when you open up your heart to God”.

God’s words dispelled our confusion and clearly showed us the path for a human life. How much wealth we will amass and what kind of status we will have in our life have long been predestined by the Creator. But Satan made use of fame, gain, and status to seduce us into opposing God for its vicious purpose of corrupting and devouring mankind. We were made to strive and struggle ceaselessly, attempting to escape from the Creator’s authority and change our fate. We did not realize that money is just as transient as fleeting clouds, which we cannot bring at birth or take at death, and status is insignificant and valueless as well. No matter how high our prestige is, we can never break free of the suffering of illness, the threat of death, as well as the consequent void and pain. What fame, gain, and status bring to us is only temporary satisfaction of fleshly desires, which is just a flash in the pan. They cannot bring us even the slightest spiritual consolation, but instead cause us intolerable emptiness and unendurable suffering.

The arrival of Almighty God is exactly an end to our wandering, painful life. He is the Creator of the heavens, earth, and all things, and also our one and only God. He is incarnated to speak among us, expressing the truth to provide us with life and to save us out of Satan’s net. Only by following His footsteps and submitting to His sovereignty and arrangement, will we not get lost in the course of our life. And only when we come before the Creator and open up our hearts to Him, commit everything of us to Him, obey His sovereignty and arrangement, and under God’s personal guidance, truly break free of Satan’s influence of darkness and walk onto the way of fearing God and shunning evil, can we be in the way for happiness. And only those who are willing to put God’s words into practice from now on will finally achieve happiness.

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Spiritual Awakening: I Finally Escaped From the Shadow of Death! – Christian Testimony

Spiritual Awakening: I Finally Escaped From the Shadow of Death! – Christian Testimony

Xinzhi

When I was young, my family was poor. My mother had mental illness, so the heavy burden of my family fell upon my father alone. He had traveled many places to seek a cure for my mother’s illness but to no avail. At that time I thought: I must study hard to be a doctor when I grow up. As science is making increasing progress, my mother’s illness can surely be cured in the future. However, it never occurred to me that not only did my mother not get cured, but my sister was also diagnosed with Hepatitis B, which, the doctor said, was an infectious disease and could cause various systemic diseases, even death. In more than one year of her hospitalization, her condition was getting worse and worse. Seeing this, I could do nothing but steal away to cry in private and say in my heart: Sister, hold on for another two years. You are sure to be cured! For science is developing so fast and the wonder drug for your disease can surely be developed. Your younger brother and I can’t live without you…. But she still left us, and my brother and I cried bitterly for her.

Later, I often felt weak and feeble, and had a temperature at a regular time every day, so I went to the hospital for an examination. The doctor told me that I had developed Hepatitis B, which was transmitted from my sister. At this bad news, my mind went blank. I had no idea how I walked home with the test sheet in my hand. After entering the room, I slumped into the sofa, weeping uncontrollably. Seeing this, my husband asked anxiously, “What’s the result? Is it serious?” “It’s Hepatitis B, the same as our sister’s,” I replied weakly in tears. “What if you and our kid are also infected?” I broke down and wailed after saying this. He said as he wiped my tears, “Don’t worry, my dear. We’ll try to find a cure for it. Hasn’t the Hepatitis B vaccine already been developed? Our kid and I can have a vaccination against it. Anyhow, we must try our best to cure it!” Hearing his words, I was a bit comforted.

One day my husband came home from work and said to me excitedly, “Good news! Another new kind of medicine has been developed. It’s said that two boxes of it can guarantee a cure. I have bought two boxes with the help of a friend. Take it and see whether it’s efficient.” I was so happy to hear that, thinking: Science today is so advanced; there must be some medicine that can cure my illness. With the two boxes of medicine taken, I went for a check-up in a hospital, only to find that it didn’t take any effect on me. I thought, “Why can’t the medicine newly developed by scientists cure my illness?” Tormented by the illness, as long as I heard of a type of newly developed medicine or any that could cure me, I would rush to buy it. After a long time of doing this, even I myself couldn’t remember how many kinds of medicine I had taken. Right then, two of my cousins got Hepatitis B, and died off afterward. Their death hit me hard and I began to fear that I would also die one day. Every time I thought of this, I would shed bitter tears. Hardly could I imagine what would become of my kid if I died.

Several years later, more and more illnesses attacked me: bone deformation resulting from rheumatism, dim sight, stiffness of legs and feet joints, and lags in response. And consequent complications, such as heart disease, diabetes, gasteremphraxis, fatty liver, and cholecystitis, all set in successively. I became so weak that even a few quick steps would make me breathe heavily. And I often caught a cold. The doctor said my immunity had decreased due to regular medication, and thus various complications were induced…. I dared not take that much medicine from then on. Right at that time, someone introduced health products to me, and I, eager to get cured, spent all my money on various health products and tonics, hoping to improve my immunity through these high-tech products. But after a period of time, they didn’t take effect, and even caused great harm to my stomach—it would ache if I ate, so that I could only drink millet gruel every day. After I had experienced that medicine and health products didn’t work on me, I began to watch TV programs and read books about scientific regimen. But after a while, my health was declining. I could do nothing but stay like a useless person. I was upset every day and sank into extreme distress. I often wondered: Science today is so advanced; isn’t there any cure for my diseases? I’m still so young; do I have to wait for death helplessly?

Right when I was cornered, Almighty God’s kingdom gospel came upon me. I accepted it and regularly attended meetings and read God’s words with brothers and sisters. During one meeting, after a sister had learned my condition, she read me two passages of God’s words: “Where did the pain of birth, death, illness and old age present throughout the life of man come from? Because of what people first had these things? Did man have these things when they were first created? They didn’t, did they? So where did these things come from? These things came after the temptation of Satan, after man’s flesh became degenerate. The pain of the flesh, the troubles and emptiness of the flesh and the extreme wretchedness of the world came from Satan’s torment of man after it had corrupted them. Man then became more and more degenerate, the illnesses of man were deepened, their suffering became more and more severe …”. “Almighty God, the Head of all things, wields His kingly power from His throne. He rules over the universe and all things and He is guiding us on the whole earth. … Praise God in the midst of illness and enjoy God in the midst of your praise. Do not lose heart in the face of illness, keep seeking and never give up, and God shall shine His light to you. How faithful was Job? Almighty God is an all-powerful physician! To dwell in sickness is to be sick, but to dwell in the spirit is to be well. If you have but one breath, God will not let you die. The life of the resurrected Christ is within us. We really lack faith in the presence of God, and may God put true faith within us. … Faith is like a single log bridge, those who cling abjectly to life will have difficulty in crossing it, but those who are ready to sacrifice themselves can pass over without worry”. Then she fellowshiped with me, “From God’s words, we can see that when man was created in the beginning, they didn’t have the suffering of illness. It was only after man’s ancestors committed sins under the temptation of Satan that man began to experience birth, aging, sickness, and death. And as man became more and more corrupt, man’s illnesses were deepened, and even kinds of strange diseases have occurred in recent years. So, all the illnesses we have come from Satan’s affliction. Nevertheless, God’s words tell us: It is God who rules over all things in the entire universe; although Satan can corrupt man, it cannot control man’s life and death. Take when Job was tempted by Satan, for example: Though his body was covered in boils, God didn’t permit Satan to take his life and it dared not overstep the mark. In the midst of his illness, Job still held onto his faith in God, and he didn’t complain to God but praised His name. In the end, God made Job emerge from his troubles and doubly blessed him. Sister, God has pointed out a path for us—have faith in God as Job, truly rely on Him, commit our illnesses into God’s hands, and let Him dominate and arrange them.” After her fellowship, I finally realized that all my illnesses arose from Satan’s affliction. So I said, “Sister, I understand what you have fellowshiped. It is Satan that has been afflicting me. What should I do now?” Then she fellowshiped much in detail about my problem. She told me to read more of God’s words, taught me how to pray to and rely on God when in difficulties, and told me not to demand God with my own motivations but to only obey His sovereignty and arrangements. Thereafter, I read God’s words every day and attended meetings on time, which especially enriched my daily life. My secret worries were much lightened and my heart was also much liberated.

Before long, the church arranged for me to take on hosting duties. I was glad to hear that and agreed without hesitation. When I first took on the duty, I even had difficulty taking vegetables upstairs. Somehow, after a period of time, my health gradually improved. I became vigorous, and it was easier for me to do the household chores than before. The steady improvement in my condition also delighted my husband and my kid. Later, I had myself examined in a hospital and the doctor told me that my Hepatitis B was gone. I could hardly believe it, so I had a second examination in another big hospital. But the result was the same. The doctor there said, “Judging by the test result, your body has produced the antibody and you won’t be infected with Hepatitis B anymore even if you contact the virus.” At the doctor’s words, I was wild with joy and lost for words. I never thought that my Hepatitis B, which hadn’t been cured by every possible means, should be cured in such a miraculous way. I couldn’t help praising God from the bottom of my heart: God, it’s You who has pitied and cured me. It’s You who has freed me from the torment of the illness. Many thanks be to You!

One day, I read the following words of God: “From when man first had social sciences, the mind of man was occupied by science and knowledge. Then science and knowledge became tools for the ruling of mankind, and there was no longer sufficient room for man to worship God, and no more favorable conditions for the worship of God. The position of God sunk ever lower in the heart of man. A world in man’s heart with no place for God is dark, empty without hope”. I suddenly saw the light. In the past, I used to believe that highly developed science and technology were able to solve all man’s difficulties. When I fell ill, I thought that science would develop effective medicine which could definitely cure my illness. Consequently, when I heard there were newly produced drugs, I rushed to buy them, when I heard that health products were good, I bought them without delay, and when I heard of scientific regimen on TV, I studied it immediately. In the end, a great deal of money and effort had been wasted, and my condition got worse and worse—I just awaited death. Through God’s words and my own experiences, I was completely clear that science is not the truth, much less can it save man. Because of my blind faith in science, I strayed ever further from God and lived more painfully and helplessly. Later I read these words of God: “Whenever Satan corrupts man or engages in unbridled harm, God does not stand idly by, neither does He brush aside or turn a blind eye to those He has chosen. … as man grows up, Satan’s gaze is fixed on every one of them, like a tiger eyeing its prey. … In the process of growing up, you may encounter many things that are not to your liking, encounter illnesses and frustrations. But as you walk this road, your life and your future are strictly under God’s care. God gives you a genuine guarantee to last all your life, for He is right there beside you, guarding you and looking after you”. Only then did I understand that God has been right there beside me ever since I was born. I had suffered from serious diseases, but God didn’t allow Satan to take me captive. My illness is in God’s hands, so is my life. Satan had covetously eyed me and afflicted me with illness, but without the permission of God, death would not come upon me. It is God who has been guarding and keeping me all the time. With gratitude, I went before God and prayed, “God, it’s Your great love that has saved me! When Satan used science to afflict and deceive me, I tasted the bitter fruit of believing in science. But when I struggled hard on the edge of death, it was Your loving hand that led me to return before You, and Your words gave me confidence and power. What was more unexpected was that You had removed my illness before I knew it. How wondrous and almighty You are! Thanks be to You for Your great love and mercy for me. May all the glory be to Almighty God!”

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I Saw the Mighty Power of God’s Word in Spiritual Warfare II

I Saw the Mighty Power of God’s Word in Spiritual Warfare II

However, Satan was not willing to be defeated. It employed new tricks. One night less than a month later, knowing that I was still believing in God, my daughter said to me impatiently, “Mom, stop believing in God! I’m going to take the college entrance examination. If you insist on your belief in God, my school will not allow me to take the test. You should think of me. Don’t be too selfish.” Hearing these words, I thought: It is for your sake that I’ve made compromises and lived together with your father for all these years. Since I believed in God, I have been less depressed and distressed than I was before, and my mental outlook has been improved a lot. Don’t you see that? Then, I said to my daughter in a mild tone, “Haven’t you noticed that I’ve been in excellent spirits every day since I believed in God? I’ve come a long way to find the true God. Why don’t you understand me?” Seeing that I didn’t listen to her, my daughter walked off in a huff without another word. I hastened to ask, “It’s already dark out. Where are you going?” She didn’t respond and continued her way. At that time, my cousin was also there. She rushed to drag her back, but my daughter just wouldn’t come back no matter how hard she tried. After my daughter left, my heart was in turmoil: The day is dark already. Now the school is on summer vacation, she cannot go back there. And we have no relatives nearby. Where could she have gone? My cousin and I called her repeatedly, but she never answered the phone. We went out to look for her but to no avail. It was past ten o’clock at night. I send texts to her, but she didn’t reply. I was so agitated that I walked back and forth across the house, with my heart in my mouth. My cousin cried from worry, saying, “Sister, what if your daughter has any kind of accident?” Hearing this, I was even more anxious: Yes! She is a young girl aged about 18. How am I supposed to live if she meets with some accident? The more I thought, the more afraid I became. I waited in suspense for my daughter to reply to my texts. It was not until five minutes after midnight that I finally received her reply. I opened the text, only to see the following words: “I’m not going back until you promise what I told you.” Looking at her text, I was worried and fearful. So, I responded in a negotiating tone, “You may come back now. I’ll consider what you said and answer you later.” An hour later, however, my daughter replied, “If you do not agree to my request and persist in your belief, I’ll break up with you and put it in writing that I’ll never have contact with you for the rest of my life.” I was dumbfounded at my daughter’s text. What’s going on? I’m just believing in God; I’m not doing anything wrong. Yet my daughter is actually going to break up with me. It breaks my heart. She is my only child, my lifeblood. I’ve paid a great price for her during all these years. I never imagined that she could be so heartless to me because of my belief in God. At that moment, I wanted to cry but no tears came. Then I thought: I might as well not believe. Believing in God is too difficult. I put my hope completely on my daughter. I can’t lose her. My heart ached increasingly as I thought about it. I felt as if the sky were falling. I knelt down and cried out to God, “Oh God! What should I do? Please help me. My daughter is going to break up with me because of my faith. I’m afraid of losing my only daughter, and I don’t want to leave You. Oh God, I don’t know how to choose. I’m unable to overcome it. I really have no way out. God, what should I do?” Just when I was praying, I remembered God’s words: “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men”. Through God’s words I suddenly saw the light. Oh! Am I not falling into Satan’s scheme? Is it not another spiritual war? I should stand witness for God and never make concessions to Satan. With God’s word supporting me, I had the courage inside to go to war with Satan. So, I sent a text to my daughter, “In any case, I cannot agree to your request.” Then I felt much more grounded inside my heart, and was no longer as worried as before.

Half an hour later, my daughter texted me again, saying, “Well, I’ll go to die.” I was shocked, thinking: Oh, she has actually said something like this. Maybe I should tell her that I’ll stop believing. Then she will not go to die, and I will not be refined as such. I picked up my phone and wanted to contact my daughter. Just at this moment, I recalled the happy time when I gathered with my brothers and sisters with my heart at ease and peaceful. If I didn’t believe in God, however, I would simply return to the dark and painful life I had lived in the past. Holding the phone, I thought of my daughter and the church life alternately, wavering back and forth inside. Should I compromise with my daughter? Feeling helpless, I put down my phone and prayed to God, “Oh God! What shall I do? Please help me …” At this point, I thought of God’s words: “The heart and spirit of man are held in the hand of God, and all the life of man is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear according to God’s thoughts. This is how God rules over all things”. Yes, whether my daughter will end her life tonight is in God’s hands. It’s not up to her. Man’s life is controlled by God. The heart and spirit of my daughter are also controlled by God. Her thoughts will shift according to God’s thoughts. Is she not trying to persuade me out of my belief in God by threatening me with death? Under the guidance of God’s words, I had confidence again. So, I replied to my daughter, “I’ll insist on believing in God.” After a while, she sent a text back, saying, “I’m going to die!” This time I realized it was Satan’s sinister plot. It threatened me with the death of my daughter over and over again. It was too despicable! Being much calmer than I had been, I reminded myself that I should never fall for Satan’s tricks again. My daughter’s life was in God’s hands. It was not decided by Satan, let alone any man. When my thoughts went there, I replied to my daughter, “Do as you please.” Then, I said a prayer to God, “Oh God! I will entrust my daughter to You. Whether she will die or not is in Your hands. Without Your permission, she will not die even if she wants to. I’m willing to obey Your plans.” After I had prayed, my heart was at ease. It was two o’clock in the morning. I lay in bed and fell asleep unconsciously. After dawn, I was still a little worried when I thought back to what had happened last night. I stood on the street for a while, and didn’t hear any bad news. Then, my heart settled.

One day, a week later, my phone rang. I was extremely excited when I saw it was my daughter calling. I picked up my phone immediately and said, “Hello!” “Mom, happy birthday!” I was pleasantly surprised, and said in tears, “Oh, today is my birthday! I forgot it myself.” My daughter also said she had bought a present for me. Hearing this, I kept giving thanks to God in my heart. When the call ended, I came before God at once and sincerely offered up a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God.

Since then, my daughter has never again prevented me from believing in God. Besides, her career prospects were not affected at all, and she instead found a satisfactory job. She even encouraged me, saying, “Mom, I find that you have really changed since you believed in God. You are not the same as before. Just be a good believer in God, as long as you feel good.” My daughter’s attitude has changed. I know this is all God’s deeds. God used the real environments to let me see Satan’s meanness and evilness. It employs all sorts of methods to deceive and swallow man, trying to make all of them turn into its funerary objects. Through this experience, I have also realized that if we can rely on and look up to God and make God’s word have dominion with us, Satan will withdraw. It will forever be defeated in God’s hands. I have truly appreciated the power of God’s word and seen how difficult it is for God to save man. After experiencing this spiritual war, I have seen that God is right beside me helping and guiding me constantly. Thanks be to God! All the glory goes to God!

The End.

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Take a Firm Stance in Welcoming the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

Xiewen

In our daily life, we often see that when faced with something, the ambivalent people are obsessed with right and wrong and torn between two possibilities without taking a firm stance, and afterward, they will be very bothered and regret what they have done. Today, in the important matter of welcoming the second coming of Jesus Christ, many believers also hesitate at the crossroads, following the herd without taking a firm stance. If this goes on, what then will be the consequences? Let’s read a story:

In ancient times, there was a man in the State of Qi. One day, he went to sell a donkey with his son. After going out, he asked his son to ride on the donkey while he walked and led it. On the way they met a man, and the man sneered, “What an unfilial boy! Your father is an old man, but you let him walk and you are riding on the donkey!” Upon hearing this, the boy immediately got down from the donkey and asked his father to ride, and he walked. After a short while, they met another man, and the man said, “What a cruel old man! You yourself are riding on the donkey but let your poor little boy follow as best he can on his own legs.” At his words, they dared not ride the donkey anymore, so they walked and led it. Before they hadn’t gone far, they met another man, and he said, “What a pair of fools! They trudge along the road when they might be riding!” After hearing this, they two immediately mounted the donkey. However, they hadn’t gone far when they met another man, and the man said, “They are so cruel-hearted. Both of them are riding on the little donkey. You see, the donkey is dead tired!” Hearing this, the father and son hurriedly dismounted the donkey, and discussed what they should do. Then they said, “We’d better carry the donkey.” Again, they hadn’t gone far when they met a crowd of people, and these people all said, “How stupid they are! They are carrying their donkey rather than riding on it.” At the moment, the father and son got stumped, “The donkey cannot be ridden: when one of us rode on it, we were criticized by others; when both of us rode on it, we were blamed. When we carried it, they said us to be stupid.” It happened that they saw a well at the side of the road, so they threw the donkey into it for fear of being judged by others.

This story is short, but it is thought-provoking. The father and son were unable to think for themselves, had no discernment, and were afraid of others’ criticisms, so they complied with the opinions of various kinds of people and brought a lot of troubles on themselves. In the end, they threw their donkey away alive instead of selling it. They completely lost their donkey because of their vanity and self-respect. This reminds me of a fact: Today there are many people who have heard the news that the Lord Jesus has returned to flesh and does His work in China, and they have even heard the word of the truth and read the personal utterance of God. They think that they are in accordance with what the Bible prophesied and acknowledge in their heart that they are from God, but they believe the words of their pastors and elders and reject God’s salvation in the last days because of having no place for God in their heart and adoring and looking up to man. There are many, too, who cannot maintain a firm stance after hearing the rumors of the outside world formed on mistaken premises, and they eventually follow the crowd and shut the door on God. Don’t these people who have no discernment and stance reject God’s salvation for fear of being ridiculed and slandered? This is the same as what happened in the Age of Grace. At that time, the Lord Jesus came to the world to spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and He bestowed upon man abundant grace, healed the sick, cast out demons, and performed many deeds of God, such as the great miracles of “feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fish,” “resurrecting Lazarus,” and so on. The people knew that all that the Lord Jesus did was unattainable by an ordinary prophet, and they all agreed and admitted in their heart that the deeds of the Lord Jesus were extraordinary. However, when the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees attacked, condemned, and slandered the Lord Jesus, and judged that He performed miracles and cast out devils by the prince of the devils, many muddled people had no discernment, so some of them, because of admiring the leaders, others, for fear of being persecuted, and still others, because of following the general trend, denied all that the Lord Jesus had done, and followed the Pharisees to reject and resist Him and even nail Him to the cross. As a result, they were condemned by the Lord Jesus and the nation of Israel was subjected to destruction. These were the consequences of their lacking discernment and having no stance and following the herd in dealing with the great matter of the Lord’s coming. In the last days, God has been incarnated again to speak utterances among man. He has carried out a stage of work to judge and purify man upon the foundation of the work of the Age of Grace, expressing the words of life to supply man. In order to free us humans completely from sin and make man holy, now the words spoken by God in the new age are already made public to the whole world on the Internet, and the work of God in the new age is testified through various means, including a great variety of books, movies, hymns, and dances, so that all those who truly yearn for the appearance of God can receive the rich supply of life prepared for us by God, live under the personal guidance of God, and enjoy a life on earth akin to heaven. But those muddled believers, who follow what others said and have no discernment and stance, believe all kinds of rumors of the outside world and are subjected to various kinds of restraints. They dare not accept God’s work in the last days for the sake of safeguarding their own interests, and hence are classified as ones standing on the side of the evil one, and they will ultimately live in the disaster that has scarcely been seen through the ages. This is determined entirely by the righteous disposition of God. Therefore, as Christians who have been longing desperately for the Lord to come, how should we treat the great matter pertaining to our end and destination? Should we follow the herd and gain nothing like the father and son who were on their way to sell the donkey or be the wise virgins who take a firm stance and go out to meet the Bridegroom when hearing the news of His coming? To welcome the second coming of Jesus Christ, we must actively seek the truth and gain discernment, and be able to hear and recognize God’s voice. Only in this way can we witness the appearance of the Lord.

God says: “If, in the pursuit of God, man does not have his own position to stand by, and does not know what truth he should hold to, then it means that he has no foundation, and so it is not easy for him to stand firm. Today, there are so many who do not understand the truth, who cannot distinguish between good and evil or tell what to love or hate. Such people can hardly stand firm. … Those who do not understand the truth always follow others: If people say that this is the work of the Holy Spirit, then you, too, say it is the work of the Holy Spirit; if people say it is the work of an evil spirit, then you, too, become doubtful, or also say it is the work of an evil spirit. You always parrot the words of others, and are incapable of distinguishing anything by yourself, nor are you able to think for yourself. This is someone without a position, who is unable to differentiate…. It is actually the work of the Holy Spirit, but you say it is the work of man; have you not become one of those who blaspheme against the work of the Holy Spirit? In this, have you not opposed God because you cannot differentiate?” (“Only Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God”). From God’s words we see that if a believer in God does not have his own position to stand by, he will be a failure in his belief in God, for he can follow others to do evil and resist God. So we should draw a lesson from the failure of the Jews who blindly adored and followed the religious officials and the Pharisees. We should not parrot the words of others and follow the herd, but should stand our ground, seek the truth and rely on God, and be able to discern what is the true way.

God says: “Distinguishing between the true way and the false way requires several aspects of basic knowledge, the most fundamental of which is to tell whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit. For the substance of man’s belief in God is the belief in the Spirit of God. Even his belief in God incarnate is because this flesh is the embodiment of the Spirit of God, which means that such belief is still the belief in the Spirit. There are differences between the Spirit and the flesh, but because this flesh comes from the Spirit, and is the Word become flesh, thus what man believes in is still the inherent substance of God. And so, in distinguishing whether or not it is the true way, above all you must look at whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit, after which you must look at whether or not there is the truth in this way. This truth is the life disposition of normal humanity, which is to say, that which was required of man when God created him in the beginning, namely, all of normal humanity (including human sense, insight, wisdom, and the basic knowledge of being man). That is, you need to look at whether or not this way takes man into a life of normal humanity, whether or not the truth that is spoken of is required according to the reality of normal humanity, whether or not this truth is practical and real, and whether or not it is most timely. If there is truth, then it is able to take man into normal and real experiences; man, furthermore, becomes ever more normal, man’s human sense becomes ever more complete, man’s life in the flesh and the spiritual life become ever more orderly, and man’s emotions become ever more normal. This is the second principle. There is one other principle, which is whether or not man has an increasing knowledge of God, whether or not experiencing such work and truth can inspire a love of God in him, and bring him ever closer to God. In this can be measured whether or not it is the true way. Most fundamental is whether this way is realistic rather than supernatural, and whether or not it is able to provide the life of man. If it conforms to these principles, the conclusion can be drawn that this way is the true way. … If you grasp these several key principles, then whatever happens you will not be deceived” (“Only Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God”).

From these words of God we see that it requires principles to distinguish what is the true way. It requires us to tell whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit in this way, whether or not there is the expression of the truth in it, whether or not it can make our conscience and sense become ever more normal, and whether or not we can obtain a knowledge of God in experiencing such work and truth. If there’s the work of the Holy Spirit, we will become ever more normal, will have an increasing knowledge of our corrupt satanic disposition and substance, and will be increasingly transformed in our corrupt disposition. At the same time, we will understand more and more truths and grow in life, have a deeper knowledge of God, recover our reason and conscience, and come ever closer to God. If there are these results of the Holy Spirit’s work following, this way is undoubtedly the true way. For example, in the Age of Grace, the truths expressed by the Lord Jesus could supply what His followers needed in life, so when the disciples spread the gospel, they didn’t revile in return when reviled or strike back when struck. They were full of faith, love, tolerance, and patience, and could endure the ridicule and slander of various kinds of people to carry out God’s will and cooperate with God in preaching the gospel to save man. Judging from the humanity they lived out, their sense and conscience as well as their knowledge of God, they were the very ones who followed God’s work. Today, The second coming of Jesus Christ has expressed all the truths that enable man to know God and be saved, including the inner truths of the three stages of God’s work, the mystery of God’s incarnation, the significance of God’s names, God’s disposition, and what God has and is. Meanwhile, He has also revealed the truths and mysteries concerning our substance corrupted by Satan, the true condition and root of our corruption by Satan, the end and the destination of us humans, and so on. Through experiencing God’s words of judgment, we can gain some knowledge of our satanic nature and corrupt disposition of arrogance and conceitedness, treachery and craftiness as well as selfishness and baseness, and we can also obtain a knowledge of God’s righteous and unoffendable disposition, so that we will have a heart that fears God and be gradually transformed in our corrupt disposition, and eventually we will be completely set free from sin and made clean. All these can fully prove that the work of God is the true way. Although condemned by the religious world and suppressed and in danger of being captured by the CCP government, the believers in God, under the guidance of the work of the Holy Spirit, have spread God’s gospel of the kingdom to all the nations by their faith and love toward God, and have established many churches in dozens of countries and regions, which is completely the result of the Holy Spirit’s work. I believe that from this the wise virgins will be able to hear the voice of God, welcome the bridegroom and feast with Him!

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