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.

Read More

At the Critical Moment, God Demonstrates His Mighty Power – A Christian Testimony

At the Critical Moment, God Demonstrates His Mighty Power – A Christian Testimony

Chengjing

I’m a Christian, who deals in breakfast. I built a cooking range in the backyard. At 5 p.m. on Sept. 24, 2016, I was busy getting ready to fry small fish. I poured about fifteen kilos of cooking oil into the wok of 70cm diameter, turned on the blower and then hastened to prepare other things. After a short while, I suddenly heard a bang from the backyard. Realizing something was wrong with the wok of oil, I rushed to the backyard and saw it on a roaring fire, with flames shooting into the ceiling. Immediately, there was thick black clouds of smoke billowing out from it. Oil buckets and water pipes near it were ignited by splashed flames. The light bulb hanging from the ceiling was on fire as well, and the fire was climbing along the electric wire with a “sputtering” sound. And a great cloud of smoke was flying up the ceiling. … At the scene, I was dumbfounded trembling in legs traitorously. I hurried to call my husband, but he said to me, “As long as you’re all right, nothing is serious. My leaders are in the hospital for an examination now. I’m tied up. Call the fire brigade quickly. …” Before he finished, I flung the phone on the ground angrily. At that moment, my tears instantly rolling down, I felt when the disaster befell me, even my closest relative couldn’t help me. Having no choice, I quickly picked up my phone and called the fire brigade, only to find it broken and unresponsive. I thought to myself: What should I do? Even if they arrive here, it will be at least half an hour later. Then it will be too late. Faced with the emergency, I burned with anxiety and thought: I have to put out the fire quickly. Otherwise, it will spread to the whole building. The consequence will be disastrous.

Seeing that the fire was burning increasingly strong and was going to spread to the other houses along the electric wire, I hastily carried a stool and wanted to turn off the switch. But the fire was so strong that I couldn’t approach it. Seeing that the fire would come to the second floor soon, I thought in my heart: There is a gas pipe by it. If the gas explodes, that will involve human life. I didn’t dare to think further. Watching the roaring fire, I felt as if the death was to come upon me in a second. Dread, helplessness and anxiety occupied my heart with bad thoughts passing through my mind continuously. I thought, “This day next year will probably be my death day. If I die, how shall my child live? …” Then tears burst out of my eyes.

At that time, I heard someone shouting at the gate, “Her house is on fire! Call the fire brigade, now.” Another one said fiercely, “My son is to get married the day after tomorrow. My balcony is filled with fireworks and firecrackers. If something terrible happens, they should take the responsibility. …” Without going outside, I knew there were many people gathering at the gate. I thought: Anyway, I can’t get others into trouble. I have to think quickly and put out the fire to minimize the losses. Then I saw a water tank on a roof and hurriedly ran to the roof. Out of nervousness and fear, I suddenly knelt on the step with trembling before mounting two steps. At that moment, God’s words popped into my mind, “… that everything man possesses comes from the Creator and will return to Him some day not far in the future; such a person understands that the Creator arranges man’s birth and has sovereignty over man’s death, and that both life and death are predestined by the Creator’s authority”. God’s words woke me up all at once: Yes, my life and everything come from God. My life and death are ruled by His hands. Why can’t I defer to the authority and sovereignty of the Creator? Ever since I believed in God, I have been busy making money every day, and I have never been truly considerate of His intentions or fulfilled my duty of a creation well. If my life ends in this way, won’t I miss God’s salvation? Thinking of this, I realized that how precious life is. Kneeling on the step, I prayed to God, “O Almighty God! You are righteous and holy. You control all things in the universe. The calamity has befallen me. I’m willing to hand over everything to You and obey Your arrangement.” When I prayed to God with complete sincerity thus, I found that the “sputtering” sound fell and the smoke almost disappeared. Furthermore, my legs had strength again. I sped down the step and saw: The wok of oil was no longer on fire; the flames spreading to the second floor were out; the air conditioner upstairs was still smoking but seemed not to be dangerous; the gas pipe stood just a few steps away from the flames, blackened but safe. I took a deep breath and kept thanking God for His wonderful deed in my heart.

I saw the backyard in a complete mess. I could hardly imagine that the fire, which was roaring just now, was out silently in this way. It was really God’s authority and great power. I remembered these words of God, “Man was created by God, and it is perfectly justified that God rules and arranges everything of man; this is the responsibility of God …”. God’s motherly words comforted my heart. I couldn’t help but pray to Him in tears, “Oh Almighty God! Thanks be to You. You can’t bear to allow me to live under the bondage of money, and to be fooled to death by Satan. You bestowed Your salvation upon me in time, so that I can see clearly money is so insignificant and powerless in the face of disaster. It cannot save my life, but only make me more degenerate, further away from You. Also it can only afflict me, and finally makes me go to hell. O God, I see the authority of Your word and Your almightiness and sovereignty. At that critical moment, no one could save me. It was You who cared and protected me. Thank and praise You for Your mighty power!”

The fire thoroughly awakened my numb heart. From now on, I’m willing to do my best to pursue the truth. No matter how busy I am, I must diligently arm myself with the truth and put them into practice in order to satisfy God. Because I have truly experienced that His word has authority and power and is the supply of my life. He is my only reliance and redemption. I can’t leave Him.

Read More

God Creates the Miracle of Life

God Creates the Miracle of Life

Li Qi

I had gone through an unhappy marriage and I started a new family in 2007. After marriage, due to my physical unfitness, I had habitual abortion. In 2011, I was over the child-bearing age, but luckily, I was pregnant once again. To give birth to the baby smoothly, I strictly followed the doctor’s advice to have tonics and take rest; I had examinations and injections of tocolytic agents regularly in the hospital, in fear of an unexpected miscarriage. However, more than six months later, amniotic fluid breaking, I delivered a premature baby with the weight of 1.8kg. The doctor diagnosed my son’s illness as a congenital biliary atresia, which might take his life at all times. Hearing that news, I felt as if the sky had fallen and I couldn’t help but drop tears unceasingly, thinking: It is not easy for me to bear this child. How come he has a congenital disease? No! I must try my best to cure him. Nowadays, science is so developed. Besides, it has been publicized in the newspaper and on TV that any disease can be cured. I’m assured that science will cure my son’s disease.

After my son was born, the doctor placed him in the incubator, injecting him with the imported nutraceutical on time every day, monitoring his heart around the clock and specially assigning persons to take care of him. However, having stayed in the incubator for twenty-three days, he only gained 200g. I was burning with anxiety. Seeing that my child felt too unwell to fall asleep, he breathed a shallow breath, cried with his face getting purple, and his navel swelled up, I was heartbroken, with tears wetting my face every day. I thought: So many days have passed and we have used almost all leading medicines and remedies; how can they be ineffective? The modern medical science is so advanced now, but why can it not alleviate my son’s pain? Is the medical skill not up to the mark or the equipment not advanced in this hospital? Perhaps those are better in a large-scale hospital.

So, after discussion, my husband and I decided to transfer our son to a provincial hospital. Regardless of my rather frail body, I was discharged from the hospital quickly and on the very day, we left for the provincial capital. In the provincial hospital, my child was sent to the incubator again, and took blood test every day. After several twists and turns, the results of inspection were the same as before, and the doctor gave the same medical treatments. After nine days, my son’s illness didn’t take a favorable turn, but was aggravated owing to being drawn too much blood for tests. His cries became weaker and weaker, his navel got more and more swollen, his weight decreased, and he sucked the breast with difficulties. Observing this situation, the doctor was afraid that my child would die in the hospital, so he said to us, “You’d better go home. I’m incapable of curing your child. There’s no use in continuing healing him.” Hearing the specialist’s words, my husband and I were agonized. I thought: Will my kid’s life end that way? Isn’t it said that all the disease can be cured by modern science? Why can’t it cure my son? I still didn’t give up, then I cried and pleaded with the doctor, “Please seek other ways to save my child. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, I’m willing to do no matter how much it costs.” But he shook his head resignedly. My husband also advised me, “Since the specialist can’t cure our son’s disease, now we can only wait for his good fortune.” We had no alternative but to take our child back home.

On the second day after we returned home, my aunt (my father’s sister) came to visit my child and me. She testified about God’s gospel to me. And then she picked up a book and read a passage of God’s words to me, “From the moment you come crying into this world, you begin to perform your duty. You assume your role in the plan of God and in the ordination of God. You begin the journey of life. Whatever your background and whatever the journey ahead of you, none can escape the orchestration and arrangement that Heaven has in store, and none are in control of their destiny, for only He who rules over all things is capable of such work.” After reading these words, my aunt fellowshiped, “God is the Creator and the source of life for all things. He presides over everything of man. So everyone’s fate is in control of His hand and cannot be governed or decided by anyone. Your son’s disease cannot be cured in this hospital, nor in that hospital. You can hand the child to God, pray to Him, depend on and look up to Him more often. Whether he is well or not, let God control and decide. We just submit to His sovereignty and arrangement. …” Hearing her words, I gasped and thought: I have never heard about such words. They are reasonable. I thought back to the past. After I had a pregnancy, I started having injections, taking medicine and having health care for the safe birth of my child. Beyond my expectation, I had a premature delivery and my child had a congenital disease. We transferred him from a general hospital to a large-scale one, but both of them couldn’t cure him of disease. It cost a lot of money, but his disease turned no better. It seemed that science cannot take charge of man’s fate, much less change one’s fate. Is my child indeed in charge of God? My son’s disease, congenital disease couldn’t be cured even in the largest hospital in the provincial capital. Is God able to? My aunt seemed to read my thought and said to me, “God’s authority and power cannot be fathomed by man. If you experience practically, you can see God’s wondrous deeds.” Hearing what she said, I wanted to have a try. Maybe, if I believed in God, there would be a little hope for my son’s disease. Thereupon, I began to follow my aunt to believe in God. Whenever I had time, I would read God’s words. The brothers and sisters often had gatherings at my home and fellowshiped with me. And I often committed my son’s disease into God’s hands and allowed Him to control and arrange.

One evening, my son felt unwell again and cried very bitterly with sweat all over, his navel swelling badly. Seeing his agony, I began to worry again: He is so small and thin and doesn’t want feeding. If this continues, how can he bear? I’d better let my husband take him to the hospital again. Perhaps there’ll be a gleam of hope. I told my thought to my husband. He took a look at our child and said dejectedly, “Our son has a congenital disease. The best expert has refused to treat him. Even if we go to the hospital, what problems can be solved?” Then I thought what he said was reasonable. Even the expert in the provincial hospital couldn’t cure him. Science can’t save my child. What should I do? One day, I saw two passages of God’s words, “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.” “Mankind merely uses scientific knowledge that the naked eye can see and the brain can comprehend to anesthetize his heart. … Regardless of whether you are able to recognize the deed of God, and irrespective of whether you believe in the existence of God, there is no doubt that your fate lies within the ordination of God, and there is no doubt that God will always hold sovereignty over all things. His existence and authority are not predicated upon whether or not they can be recognized and comprehended by man. Only He knows man’s past, present and future, and only He can determine the fate of mankind.” At this time, I understood: Originally, I had been esteeming science and relying on it, and I had thought science was all-purpose, could solve people’s various difficulties and cure people’s all kinds of diseases. Before the birth of my child, I tried to prevent a miscarriage with scientific methods for my child to be born smoothly. However, unexpectedly, my son was delivered prematurely with a congenital disease. During the treatment, I, again, put all of my hope on science, believing that, in modern times, science was well-developed, and with advanced apparatus and equipment, imported medicine as well as the treatment of the specialists, my son would recover from his disease. As a consequence, we spent lots of energy and money, but all hardly helped. It turned out that science is not all-purpose, and it cannot rule over man’s fate, much less change man’s foreordination. I was deceived by science, believing it in the depth of my heart, but not admitting God’s sovereignty, not believing man’s fate is in the hand of God. Hence, as soon as I had difficulties, I would think of science and intended to alter my child’s fate by it. It could be seen that what I believed and depended on in my heart was science, and I wasn’t a true believer in God! From then on, I am determined to rely on and look unto God genuinely, and allow God to reign over, dominate and arrange my son’s fate. No matter whether my son would die or survive, I would obey Him and have no complaints.

Four months later, the symptom of my son showed little improvement, his face yellow and thin, and his breath feeble. I planned in my heart again: My son is always suffering so much and has not improved a bit. Should I find a better hospital? Thinking of these, I was anxious and uneasy. In pain, I came before God and cried to Him, “Oh, God! My son hasn’t had a better turn for so long a time. I don’t know whether I shall go to the hospital. Oh, God! I would like to depend on You! May You lead me to understand Your will.” After prayer, I saw two passages of God’s words, “Almighty God is an all-powerful physician! … Faith is like a single log bridge….” “People’s faith is required for when something cannot be seen by the naked eye, and your faith is required for when you cannot let go of your own notions. When you are not clear on God’s work, what is required is your faith and that you take a firm stance and stand witness. … If you have lost hope in God, how will you be able to experience Him? Therefore, only when you have faith and you do not harbor doubts toward God, only when you have true faith in Him no matter what He does will He enlighten and illuminate you in your experiences, and only then will you be able to see His actions. … What does faith refer to? Faith is the genuine belief and the sincere heart that humans should possess when they cannot see or touch something, when God’s work is not in line with human notions, when it is beyond human reach. This is the faith that I speak of.” Having read these words, I recalled: Before I believed in God, I only believed science. Consequently, seeking medical advice had no result. Today, I have believed in God, but I have suspicion in my heart. I still want to depend on science. Neither do I believe in God’s sovereignty, nor do I believe that man’s life is in God’s hand. Feeling uncertain about God, I will not see His actions. Only by genuinely believing in God can I see His wondrous deeds. Therefore, every day I, by prayer, put my son’s disease in God’s hands and left it at the mercy of Him.

When I truly committed my son to God’s hands, after a short period of time, he had unconsciously a little ruddy complexion, and didn’t cry bitterly as before. Seeing he was on the mend, my husband took him to the hospital to check. After the checkup, the doctor made certain that my son had gotten over the disease and said, “It’s really a miracle!” At that moment, I dared not believe my son’s disease was gone miraculously and he could grow up like other normal children. I was so excited that tears swarmed to my eyes. I said to my husband gladly, “Thank God! Thank God! God is indeed marvelous!” Watching our son, my husband nodded happily and gaily.

Through this matter, I have personally experienced and seen: God, using His extraordinary authority and power, created the miracle of life. These years, whenever I see my son grow up healthily and happily, I will think of God’s salvation and can’t help sighing from the bottom of my heart: Science simply can’t change man’s fate. Only God is the source of man’s life. The life and death of each person are determined by God.

Read More

What Is the True Way to Prepare Oil for Second Coming of Jesus?

What Is the True Way to Prepare Oil for Second Coming of Jesus?

Tong Tong

The Jesus Christ said: “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened to ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go you rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut” (Matthew 25:1-10). Two thousand years ago, the Jesus Christ once told us a very vivid parable about who can enter the kingdom of heaven. He said that only the wise virgins can welcome the bridegroom, and the foolish virgins who haven’t taken oil with them cannot. When I read this parable, I was determined to be a wise virgin to welcome the Lord’s return, and feast with Him.

In the few decades of faith in the Lord, I have always been yearning for the Lord to welcome me to the heavenly home and deliver me from this hard and sinful place, so that I will receive His beautiful promise. I often worked hard at reading the Bible and prayed to the Lord earnestly; I looked for the famous preachers who knew the Bible well and listened to them expounding the Bible; I tolerated the ridicule and sarcasm of the worldly people; when sickness or adverse things came upon me, I tried to keep myself from following Satan and complaining, for I believed that “he who endures to the end will be saved.” I thought my doing so was preparing oil. However, all these I did never brought any comfort to my heart, and I felt far away from the Lord. I was unable to feel the presence of the Lord even though I often prayed to Him.

Was my preparing oil this way not in accordance with the Lord’s will? I fell into confusion. One day, I heard a brother’s sermon, and he said: “In the Age of Grace the Jesus Christ mentioned the wise virgins. What is this mystery? Why is it said that they are the wise virgins? It is primarily because they can recognize God’s voice. As soon as they listen, they realize, ‘I felt this man’s words are God’s words, are God’s voice. There’s no way that a person could speak these words; this is the voice of God. So I believe in Him. He is Christ, that is, God has become flesh.’ You see, such is their wisdom. How are the foolish people so foolish? They think, “Isn’t this a man? Isn’t this Jesus of Nazareth? Isn’t this just an ordinary person? How can He be God? We won’t believe in Him, and we only believe in the God in heaven.’ Look, doesn’t it show that they do not have spiritual understanding? Yet they believe that their words are right and very reasonable. The result is that God allows these ‘smart’ people to fall prey to their own crafty schemes” (Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (IX)). His fellowships resolved my confusion. I understood that preparing oil means to be able to listen out for God’s voice, understand God’s words, and accept the truth and submit to God. Only those who can do so are wise virgins.

I was reminded of the fisherman Peter. After hearing the gospel of the kingdom of heaven preached by the Jesus Christ, he realized that what the Jesus Christ had spoken was the mystery about the kingdom of heaven, and that the Jesus Christ was sent by God, so he followed Him. While staying with the Jesus Christ, Peter saw that His words could not have been spoken by man, and that the work He did could not have been done by man. From the Lord’s speech and behavior, Peter recognized that He was the Son of the living God. I also thought of the woman of Samaria. When she heard the Lord Jesus say the inmost secrets of her heart, she recognized the Lord, for she knew that only God can know man’s innermost secrets. So she left her water pot and went to tell the people: “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:29). Facing the appearance of God, the disciples and followers of the Lord Jesus could understand that the words He had spoken were the truth and were from God, which could not have been spoken by man. And after hearing God’s voice, they could accept, submit to and follow the Lord. That’s how they prepared oil.

In contrast, those foolish virgins didn’t have a seeking and yearning heart, and they neither sought nor investigated the truth expressed by Christ to see if it was the voice of God. On the contrary, they always defined God’s work by their notions, treated the incarnate Jesus Christ as an ordinary person, and said that the utterance of God was actually the word of man. As a result, they were rejected by God and lost His salvation. Just like the Pharisees at that time, they didn’t listen carefully to the Lord’s words, blindly judged God to be a man by their conceptions, and even fanatically condemned that the Lord spoke words of blasphemy. Eventually, they were cursed and punished by God because of defying the new work of the Lord.

Then I read these words of the Lord: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (John 16:12-13). “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps” (Matthew 25: 6-7). The scriptures show us that in the future God will come again to speak many more words and tell us the future work of Him. So, when the Lord comes again, I should be a wise virgin. If someone preaches the message on the Lord’s return, I should be watchful to listen to the voice of God, and pray to the Lord more to receive His guidance. I believe that the Lord will guide me to welcome His coming, for the Lord promised: “And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened” (Luke 11:9-10). “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Thanks be to the Lord! May the Lord’s kingdom come soon. Hope we can be the wise virgins and welcome the return of the Jesus Christ.

Read More

A Trader’s Regret

A Trader’s Regret

Xingwu

I once heard a thought-provoking story:

A trader who had been away from home for many years decided to return home, and he would walk through a vast desert on the way. With the gold coins earned through years of hard work and enough food and water, he set out on the journey happily. However, soon the blistering heat of the desert was unbearable for him. He must lighten the load so as to walk out of the desert as soon as possible. He was hesitant to make a choice among the coins, food and water. Thinking that he had spent most of his life accumulating the wealth, he was too loath to throw a single coin away. Hence, he discarded most of the food and water and was on his way again.

He had not walked far when there was little food and water left. Just then, he heard the sound of camel bells: A camel caravan was coming towards him. The trader was overjoyed and hurriedly went forward seeking for help.Unexpectedly, after learning the trader’s situation, the caravan asked him for a large sum of gold coins in exchange for food and water. The trader, hungry and thirsty, touched his money bag and said to himself: “To exchange the gold coins for food and water can support me to walk out of the desert as quickly as possible. But, if so, little of my wealth will remain.” Finally, the trader gritted his teeth and said: “I won’t buy your food and water. As long as I hold on a little longer, I can walk out of the desert.” The members of the caravan all laughed at him: “What a miser! He prefers money to life!” Yet the trader ignored their derision and resumed his journey.

Without water, the trader could scarcely move his dragging limbs and flaked out before he got much farther. He touched his gold coins and thought: How I wish these gold coins could be drunk as water! Just at this moment, another caravan passed by. The trader begged them for water, but they also asked him to trade many gold coins for food and water. Still, he was too stubborn to do that. Then he picked himself up with difficulty and stumbled forward. The people of the caravan shouted behind him: “Which is more important, coins or life?” However, the trader was indifferent to their words.

The following day, the trader trudged to the edge of the desert, and he even dimly saw the smoke from the village in the distance. Nevertheless, he had already been exhausted. Eventually, he toppled down. Before he died, he sighed: “If I had given up my gold coins earlier, I would not be dying now. It’s late, too late …”

At this point of the story, many of us may feel sorry for the trader’s greed and ignorance. However, we might as well put ourselves in his shoes and reflect upon ourselves, or pay attention to the people around us. Are we not the same as him most of the time? Being beguiled by Satan, so many people bustle about struggling for fame and fortune with every effort all their lives. Not content with living comfortably, some people try their best to obtain better material enjoyments throughout their lives and are unwilling to give up their pursuit even when they are full of illnesses. Not satisfied with being rich only, some fight for status to stand out and be distinguished. Some spend their lifetime striving for fame and profit, and when they fall ill lying in bed they still worry about their gains and losses. Tempted by fame and fortune, people expose various follies, which forces us to reflect: Does man live only for fame and fortune? What exactly is the value of man’s existence? Almighty God says: “People spend their lives chasing after money and fame; they clutch at these straws, thinking they are their only means of support, as if by having them they could keep on living, could exempt themselves from death. But only when they are close to dying do they realize how distant these things are from them, how weak they are in the face of death, how easily they shatter, how lonely and helpless they are, with nowhere to turn. They realize that life cannot be bought with money or fame, that no matter how wealthy a person is, no matter how lofty his or her position is, all people are equally poor and inconsequential in the face of death. They realize that money cannot buy life, that fame cannot erase death, that neither money nor fame can lengthen a person’s life by a single minute, a single second.” “The Creator treats everyone fairly, giving everyone a lifetime’s worth of opportunities to experience and know His sovereignty, yet it is only when death draws near, when the specter of death hangs over one, that one begins to see the light—and then it is too late” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh).

God’s words warn every one of us that fame and money cannot bring man life because they are the tools used by Satan to deceive and harm man. If man becomes obsessed with them, they will only stray further and further from God. Without God’s care and protection, mankind will be fooled by Satan like a plaything in its hands, blinded by fame and fortune and incapable of distinguishing between good and evil. People spend a lifetime’s worth of energy pursuing fame and gain. What’s more, when faced with the threats of disaster, disease, and death, they still think how to preserve their hard-earned money and fame, just like the trader in the desert. They do not awaken until the last minute of their lives. But it is too late to regret then. In fact, man was created by God personally, so his life and fate are controlled by God’s hands. It is God’s will that man should worship Him, obey His sovereignty and arrangement, and commit everything to Him, so God will protect man from Satan’s test. Only by living before God and obtaining the truth as life can man live out a most meaningful life.

During the last days, Almighty God bestows upon mankind all the truth of pursuing salvation and gaining eternal life. If man is able to not be restrained by fame, money and position and come before God to receive His salvation, he will obtain God’s guidance and blessings and live out the value a created being is supposed to. As God’s word says: “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” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Read More