This Is How I Welcomed the Lord

Xiyue, Japan

When I was six years old my mother believed in the Lord Jesus, and she would often bring me to church gatherings. I slowly became aware of the fact that man was created by God, that if we are in trouble we should pray to God and rely on God, and that we should thank God for everything. My mother told me: “God loves people, so long as we pray to God and entrust Him with what’s on our mind and truly rely on Him, then He will solve our problems and bestow us with bountiful grace. As long as we truly believe in the Lord then He will come in the future to receive us into the kingdom of heaven!” Listening to mother’s words, my heart felt at peace and free from anxiety, I felt like I had something to rely on, and I firmly believed that one day the Lord Jesus would return to bring us into the kingdom of heaven. I looked forward to and dreamed of the arrival of this day.

Who Is the Obstacle on the Road to the Heavenly Kingdom?

By Meng’ai, Malaysia

The year my husband died, I was deep in despair, and on top of that I had the added burden of raising my children. Hardship had suddenly befallen my life, but I had the love of the Lord with me all along, and with the help of my brothers and sisters I got through this difficult time. To recompense the love of the Lord, I continued to make donations and serve the church, and have been doing so for over thirty years. In this time, I have experienced the thriving of the church and seen the glorious occasion of the spread of the gospel of the Lord Jesus. I’ve also witnessed desolation and helplessness in the church. I thought back to when the Holy Spirit first began to do the great work in the church, when we experienced enjoyment and gained much from listening to the pastor’s preaching. There was mutual love among the brothers and sisters just as if we were all one family, and everyone was united in spreading the gospel and bearing witness to the Lord. Later, without knowing what had happened, there was no longer any light in what the pastor preached. It was like everything was just the same old story repeated again and again, and the believers simply could not get anything to nourish them. Their faith and love gradually waned, and there were fewer and fewer people coming to gatherings. Those of us who participated in service were also just going through the motions. We all acted according to the wishes of the people in the ministry and not at all in the service of God, but rather we just exerted ourselves in front of other people and tried to win their admiration. I knew that this kind of service was not in line with God’s will, and so it was very painful for me. I also felt helpless, with no idea how to walk the path ahead of me. I hoped all the more for the Lord to return as soon as possible, so that all these problems would be solved.

Competing in This Way, I Benefit Tremendously

By Ma Xin, China

Since my husband was not engaged in honest work, frequently drank alcohol and showed no concern for family matters, I would often sink into bitterness and pain. At a time when I did not have the strength to struggle on, a relative delivered Almighty God’s kingdom gospel to me. Through reading God’s word, I understood: God expresses the truth and does the judgment work of the last days in order to save the human race from the hands of Satan. He instructs man to understand, obey and return to Him so that he can receive His protection and care. As a result, I gladly accepted the work of Almighty God of the last days and quickly started my church life. However, right as I found something I could depend my life upon and felt a sense of joy and cheer, Satan’s temptations pounced on me like a wild beast rushed after its prey and a spiritual war erupted …

A Battle

By Zhang Hui, China

My name is Zhang Hui, and in 1993 my entire family came to believe in the Lord Jesus. I was an enthusiastic seeker, so I quickly became a preacher. I would often travel around to different churches to work and preach. After a few years, I quit my job and began to serve the Lord full time. However, for some unknown reason, my brothers’ and sisters’ faith and love gradually cooled, and jealousy and strife grew between co-workers. I also felt that my spirit was withering, and I had nothing left to preach on. In 2005, my wife got cancer, and she died soon after that. This was a huge blow for me and I became even weaker. One day, I went to stay at my cousin’s house and met two sisters there, who preached Almighty God’s gospel of the kingdom. Over several days of fellowship and debate, I came to truly believe that the Lord Jesus had returned, that He is Almighty God in the flesh. Through reading Almighty God’s words, my thirsty heart was watered and supplied, and I savored the sweetness of the Holy Spirit’s work, understanding many truths and mysteries I had never understood before. However, just as I was immersed in the joy of reunion with the Lord, the temptations and attacks of Satan were creeping ever-closer to me …

Breaking Free From the Rumor Trap

By Xiaoyun, China

I used to be a female army officer. One day in 1999, a Korean pastor preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus to me. Because of my earnest pursuit, I soon became the focus of the pastor’s training and his right-hand man. The summer of 2000, the pastor came to Yunnan on a short summer missionary trip with more than a dozen college students from the Korean Gospel Church. Unexpectedly this alarmed the CCP government. We were arrested whilst having a meeting at the pastor’s home and then brought to Yunnan Province Public Security Department for trial. The Korean university students were deported the same night and the Korean pastor was also expelled. The church suffered persecution by the CCP and many believers were cowardly and did not dare believe. A proportion of believers were also forced to go to the Three-Self Church and this was how the church was broken up by the CCP. I was one of the main co-workers in the church and the persecution by the CCP this time also caused me to lose my job.

“Pigeon” Mail

Su Jie, China

One day in 1999, after the meeting had ended, the pastor said to me, “Su Jie, here is a letter for you.” As soon as I saw it, I knew that it came from the church I established in Shandong. I took the letter and on the way home, I thought as I walked: This letter is so thick, could it be that they have encountered some difficulties? …

Breaking Through Satan’s Tight Encirclement

Zhao Gang, China

It was bitterly cold this past November in Northeast China, none of the snow that fell to the ground melted away, and many people who walked outside were so cold that they stuffed their hands into their armpits and walked along cautiously, bodies bent over. The other day in the early morning the winds were blowing from the northwest, when I, my brother-in-law and his wife and about a dozen brothers and sisters were sitting in my home on the warm kang (a heatable brick bed). Everyone had a copy of the Bible beside them and in their hands everyone was holding a copy of the book Judgment Begins With the House of God. Two sisters from The Church of Almighty God were fellowshiping on the truth concerning God’s three stages of work. The two sisters were drawing pictures of the three stages of work as they fellowshiped: “God’s work for the salvation of mankind can be divided into three stages, from the Age of Law to the Age of Grace and then to the Age of Kingdom. Each stage of work is newer and more improved and also more profound than the previous stage. The work done in the last days is the final stage of work, in which God expresses words to judge and cleanse man….” We nodded our heads as we listened, and our minds felt especially clear: Who would’ve thought that God’s management plan for the salvation of mankind would have so many mysteries! Besides God Himself, who else could speak of the mysteries of these three stages of God’s work so clearly? This truly is the work of God! We fellowshiped into the evening of the following day, and our whole group expressed a willingness to seek out and look into Almighty God’s work of the last days.

I Welcomed the Return of the Lord

By Qingxin, Myanmar

My parents are both Christians and from an early age I started going with them to church to attend services. At the age of 12 I attended a grand Christian camp in Myanmar, and while I was there a pastor told me: “The only way to avoid death and enter the kingdom of heaven is to be baptized.” And so in order to enter the kingdom of heaven I decided to get baptized while I was at the camp. From that time on, I became a genuine Christian.

God’s Word Is My Strength

By Jingnian, Canada

I have followed my family’s belief in the Lord since I was a child, and often read the Bible and attended meetings. After I got married, I passed the gospel of the Lord Jesus on to my mother-in-law, and after my mother-in-law began believing in the Lord, she no longer lost her temper when things happened or acted entirely on her own whims in the things she did, and the relationships in our family began to improve. My husband saw the change in his mother, so he also began believing in the Lord in 2015, and went to church with me every week. When I saw that my family was at peace after accepting the Lord’s gospel, I knew that this was the Lord’s grace, and I thanked the Lord from the bottom of my heart.

Resolving Persistent Concerns

By Max, USA

I was born in the USA in 1994 and my mom and dad were both Chinese. My mother was a typical successful career woman and was very independent and capable. I loved my mom very much. When I started second grade, my parents brought me back to China so I could learn Chinese, and I also began to learn about the Lord Jesus at that time. I remember it was one day in 2004, I got out of class and went home to discover that we had a guest. My mom introduced him as a pastor who had come from America. I was really happy, because I knew that my mom had already believed in the Lord Jesus for a while. On that same day, this American pastor told me some stories about the Lord Jesus. Shortly after, I was led to the bathroom, and without even waiting for my response, the pastor dunked my head into the bath with a splash. In an instant I was again pulled out of the water by the pastor.

The Tabernacle of God Is With Men

By Chen Bo, China

Editors’ Note: Many brothers and sisters long for the day when they can be raised up into heaven and can meet the Lord, and this is the greatest dream of everyone who believes in the Lord. But it is prophesied in Revelation: “The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them….” This passage of scripture says that the kingdom of God will come on earth, so will we go up to heaven in the future, or will we be reunited with the Lord on earth? We trust you would all like to know the answer to this question. Today, we recommend a sister’s experiences for you to read, and we believe that, when you have finished reading it, you will all reap the harvest.

A Different Kind of Love

By Chengxin, Brazil

By a chance opportunity in 2011, I came to Brazil from China. When I had just arrived, my eyes were overflowing with fresh and new experiences, curiosity, and I had a beautiful feeling about the future. But after a short time, this fresh and new feeling was quickly replaced by the loneliness and pain of finding myself in a far-off foreign land. Every day I went back home all alone, ate by myself, looking at the walls around me every day without anyone even to talk to, and I felt especially lonely in my heart, often crying all alone. When I felt the most pain and helpless, the Lord Jesus brought me into a gathering by means of a friend. Through reading the word of the Lord, singing hymns, and praying in gatherings, my lonely heart received the consolation of the Lord. I learned from the Bible that the heavens and earth and all things were created by God, and man too is God’s creation. The Lord Jesus was crucified for the redemption of mankind, and it was the Lord Jesus who redeemed us from sin, and He is the only Redeemer of mankind. In the face of the Lord’s salvation, which is greater than all else, I felt deeply moved and resolved to follow the Lord for the rest of my life. Because of this I was baptized on Thanksgiving to become a Christian not just in name but in reality. Because I liked singing songs, especially those in praise of God, after I was baptized I took the initiative to join the choir and work as part of it. Through God’s guidance and blessings, I lived in peace and happiness. Every time I went to a gathering or praised God in worship, I felt suffused with energy.

Almighty God Led Me Onto the Path of Obtaining Cleansing

By Gangqiang, USA

In 2007, I came to Singapore by myself to work to make a living. All year round, the climate in Singapore is very hot, so every day I would sweat profusely when I was working. It was so rough that I suffered an unspeakable amount, and on top of that it was an unfamiliar life without any relatives or friends, so I thought it to be boring and tedious. One day in August, I received a gospel leaflet on my way home from work which read: “But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you” (1Pe 5:10). I felt warmth in my heart on reading these words. After that I followed a brother into the church. The enthusiastic reception from the brothers and sisters, asking after my well-being, made me feel the warmth of my family which I hadn’t had in a long time. My eyes suddenly filled with hot tears, and I had a sensation as if I had come home. From that time, every Sunday the church became the place where I had to be.

I Am Following the Footsteps of the Lamb

By Shen Ai, Singapore

When I was 18 years old my mother got ill, and so she started believing in the Lord Jesus. At the time, I knew the Lord Jesus’ name but didn’t understand anything about faith in the Lord. It was quite a coincidence that I later went to work for a company where most of the employees were Christians. Through interacting with them, I saw how they treated people with love and patience, and I came to believe that Christians were a pretty good bunch of people. During that period, there was a colleague who often told me the story about how the Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross in order to redeem mankind. I gradually developed an interest in faith in the Lord, and started going with my colleagues to their church to worship. The first time I entered the church and heard hymns praising God being sung I was unexpectedly moved to tears by the Lord’s love. I prayed to the Lord like this: “Oh, Lord Jesus! Thank You for picking me out of the vast ocean of humanity to become one of Your daughters. I wish to follow You forever….” During that period, whenever I met some difficulties in my daily life, or was mocked by my friends and relatives because of my faith in the Lord, as long as I came in front of the Lord and prayed, my spirit would find immense release. I felt that the Lord Jesus was my only reliance in life and that I would never leave the Lord’s side. At that time my favorite hymn was: “Rock, rock, Jesus Christ! Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, only You are the Savior. You are the Mediator, You are the Son of God, You are the Lamb. You are the way and the truth, You are the life, You are the light, You are the rock, the fortress, the city of refuge and the shield. We belong to You; we will never be shaken from generation to generation.” And this is how I relied on the Lord’s great power and motivation gained from the guidance of the Lord’s words to get through all the difficulties and troubles of life.

A Wandering Heart Comes Home

By Novo, Philippines

My name is Novo, and I’m Filipino. I have followed my mom in her belief in God since I was little, and would go listen to sermons at church together with my siblings. Although I had believed in the Lord for many years, I felt that I had not changed, and that I was the same as an unbeliever, in my heart thinking all day about how to make more money, and about how to spend my days in comfort and enjoy the good life. Furthermore, I also often went drinking with my friends, and the moment I had any spare cash I’d go gambling. I knew that doing these things was at odds with the Lord’s will, I would often pray to the Lord and confess my sins, and I would make firm my resolution to Him that I would give up these bad habits and never sin again from that day on. But with the cajoling and enticement of my friends, I simply couldn’t control myself. And so it was that I became more and more degenerate, my heart got farther and farther away from God, there was no longer any sincerity when I prayed to the Lord, and every week I would just say a few simple prayers, and do it in a slipshod way. Sometimes I would even feel such despair, as I knew that when the Lord returned He would judge each and every person based on their actions and behavior, and then decide for each person whether they would go up to heaven or down to hell. I felt I was so degenerate that God would not forgive me again. Afterward, I married and had kids. All I thought about was my wife and my children. When it came to my faith, I pushed it to the back of my mind. In order to provide a better future for my children and to achieve my desires to become rich, I decided to go work abroad. And so I came to Taiwan. After I found a job and made some money, I’d still not changed the way I used to live my life, and in my leisure time I would go with my workmates to drink and sing karaoke, living a life of revelry; I’d long since put my belief in God to the back of my mind.

The Awakening of a Deceived Spirit

By Yuanzhi, Brazil

I was born in a small city in Northern China. In 2010, I followed my relatives to Brazil. In Brazil, I got acquainted with a Christian friend. He brought me to church to listen to sermons. But though I went three times, I never absorbed it. Afterward, because my job was keeping me busy, I didn’t go to church again until one day in June, 2015, when my friend brought me to church once more. This time, through what brothers and sisters shared, I had some understanding that the Lord Jesus is the Redeemer. Especially, when I first read Genesis, I understood that man was actually created by God and that God had created all things, and I felt that the Creator is truly wondrous. In school, the textbooks had taught me that man evolved from apes and monkeys and all the things in the world were formed naturally. Suddenly, I felt that, for more than twenty years, I had been deceived. Only after reading the Bible did I completely awaken. From that point on, I believed in the Lord Jesus.

The Road to Purification

By Christopher, Philippines

My name is Christopher and I am a pastor from a family church in the Philippines. In 1987, I was baptized and returned to the Lord Jesus. By the Lord’s grace, in 1996 I became a pastor of the local church. At that time, apart from preaching in many places around the Philippines, I also preached in places like Hong Kong and Malaysia. Because of the work and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I felt that I had inexhaustible energy in my work for the Lord and an unceasing flow of words in my sermons. I would often go to support brothers and sisters when they were negative and weak. Sometimes members of their family who did not believe in the Lord were unfriendly toward me, yet I could be tolerant and patient and not lose faith in the Lord and I believed that the Lord could change them. So I felt like I had changed a great deal since believing in the Lord. However, since 2011, I have not felt the work of the Holy Spirit as strongly as before. Slowly, I have had no new enlightenment for my sermons and have not had the strength to break free from living in sin. I could not help getting angry at my wife and daughter and teaching them a lesson through my temper when I saw that they were not doing as I desired. I knew that this was not in keeping with the will of the Lord, but often I could not help myself. I felt particularly distressed about this. In order to free myself from a life of sin and confession, I put more effort into reading the Bible, fasting and praying, and found spiritual pastors everywhere to seek and explore this together. But all of my efforts were useless and made no difference to me living in sin and to the darkness in my soul.

31. The Principles of Resolving Negativity

31. The Principles of Resolving Negativity

1. You must approach all problems according to God’s words and the truth, recognize that everything God does is for the salvation and love of man, and be able to deny yourself and forsake the flesh;

2. You must recognize the essence and root of negativity. Being negative is to reject and oppose the truth, and to be negative and complain is to defy God and betray God;

3. You must pray to God and seek to grasp God’s will so as to know God’s work, understand God’s will and requirements, and to leave negativity behind;

4. It is too dangerous to live in satanic dispositions, as you will be capable of being negative and defying God at any moment. You must seek the truth so that the positive and right reality of the truth can hold sway.

Relevant Words of God:

God perfects man in various ways, and it is possible in all matters for you to be perfected as a result. Not only can you be perfected in terms of the positive, but also of the negative, thereby enriching you. …

… If you wish to be perfected by God, you must learn to experience all things and be enlightened in all that you face. Whenever you are faced with something, be it good or bad, you should benefit from it and it should not cause you to become passive. No matter what, you should be able to consider it by standing on the side of God, and not analyze or study it from the perspective of man (this is a deviation in your experience). If this is the manner of your experience, then your heart will be taken over by the burdens for your life; you will live constantly in the light of God’s countenance and will not easily deviate in your practice. Such kind of man has great prospects.

from “Promises to Those Who Have Been Perfected” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

If a person always has this vision within them, they will feel internally clear and at ease; they will be certain of these matters. You will say: “God is not harming me and He’s not deliberately making me into a joke or humiliating me. Although He speaks somewhat harshly and it strikes to the heart, it is for my own sake. Although He speaks that harshly, He is still saving me, and He is still considerate of my weaknesses. He is not punishing me with the facts. I believe that God is salvation.” If you truly have this vision, you won’t get to the point of fleeing. In your conscience, you may feel you are wrong, you may feel condemnation, that you should not treat God that way. You think of all the grace you have gained, all the words you have heard—could you listen to them in vain? No matter who runs away, you can’t. Other people don’t believe, but you must. Other people abandon God, but you must uphold God and bear witness to Him. Others slander God, but you cannot. No matter how unkind God is to you, you still must treat Him right. You should repay His love and you must have a conscience, because God is innocent. His coming to earth from heaven to work amongst mankind was already a great humiliation. He is holy without the slightest filth. Coming to a land of filth—how much humiliation has He endured? Working in you is for your sake. If you are conscienceless in your treatment of Him, it would be better to die an early death!

from “The Significance of Saving the Descendants of Moab” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

If you truly love God, and do not satisfy the flesh, then you’ll see that everything God does is so right, and so good, and that His curse of your rebelliousness and judgment of your unrighteousness is justified. There will be times when God chastens and disciplines you, and raises up an environment to temper you, forcing you to come before Him—and you will always feel that what God is doing is wonderful. Thus you will feel as if there isn’t much pain, and that God is so lovely. If you pander to the weaknesses of the flesh, and say that God goes too far, then you’ll always feel in pain, and will always be depressed, and you will be unclear about all of the work of God, and it will seem as if God is not sympathetic to man’s weakness at all, and unaware of man’s difficulties. And thus you will feel miserable and alone, as if you have suffered great injustice, and at this time you will begin to complain. The more you pander to the weaknesses of the flesh in this way, the more you will feel that God goes too far, until it gets so bad that you deny the work of God, and begin to oppose God, and become full of disobedience. Thus, you must rebel against the flesh, and not pander to it: Your husband, wife, children, prospects, marriage, family—none of them matter! You need to have this resolve: “In my heart there is only God, and I must try my best to satisfy God, and not satisfy the flesh.” If you are always possessed of such resolve, then when you put the truth into practice, and put yourself aside, you will be able to do so with but a little effort.

from “Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

You all have the following state: lazy, unmotivated, unwilling to pay a price, or passively waiting. Some people even make complaints; they don’t understand the aims and significance of God’s work, and it’s hard for them to pursue the truth. Such people detest the truth, and will ultimately be eliminated. None among them can be made perfect, and none will be spared. If people don’t have a little resolve to resist the influence of Satan, there’s nothing that can be done for them!

from “Practice (7)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

People’s inner views, their extravagant desires are actually not catering to God’s intention, and there is essentially no substance of submission. This also touches on that saying: One hundred percent of what’s inside human nature is betrayal. So in dissecting this or that event of yours, in dissecting this issue, that thought, or that reaction, whether you confront it in a negative way, or you complain, whether you are indifferent or silent and speechless, there is resistance in all of this. It is all betrayal. Is this dissection correct? Were I not to dissect this, there would be some people who feel: I can be considered to be a good person. If I had encountered this thing a few years ago, I would certainly have complained, and possibly retreated, but now I do not complain. You do not complain, but do you have understanding? Does your little bit of understanding constitute true understanding? Is there truth in it? Is your understanding in keeping with God’s intention? Does it meet God’s approval? Do you have the substance of submitting to God? Are you willing and ready to submit to God? If not, then you are definitely conflicting with God. It may be that your mood now is good, and you feel not bad, or because at the moment you are being put to use. If one day you are sent home, and when you are in the darkness of a downcast mood however, what is inside of you will be revealed. There are some people of lower stature, with a shorter duration of experience who would turn around and run, returning to the world. In fact, in the final analysis, whatever reaction you have, you are refusing the environments that God has arranged for you. The nature of people to betray God is revealed everywhere. If this were not dissected, people would not know themselves deeply enough. When people encounter anything, they all betray God and do not submit to Him. The reaction of some of you is unwillingness, or an air of complaint, negative and down, and you say: Inside, man does not like truth, and this dislike is none other than betrayal. It is still not enough if you only speak in this way, and you have not dissected to the depths of substance. You say that not loving truth is betrayal, but in fact, this is not so simple. How have you dissected it? You do not understand yourselves. You may not know what is that situation you have, and can’t differentiate right from wrong, if it is betrayal or not, and you do not know clearly yourselves whether you have submitted or not. You are not able to thoroughly dissect your own natures.

from “How to Satisfy God in the Midst of Trials” in Records of Christ’s Talks

You must enter in from the positive side. If you wait passively, it is still negative. You must be proactive in cooperating with Me; be diligent and never lazy. Always be in fellowship with Me and have deeper intimacy with Me. If you do not understand, do not be impatient for quick results. It’s not that I won’t tell you; I want to see if you rely on Me when you are in My presence and whether you depend on Me with confidence. You must always remain close to Me and place all matters in My hands. Do not go back in vain. After unknowingly being close to Me for a period of time, My intentions shall be revealed to you. If you grasp them, then you will truly be face-to-face with Me, and you will have truly found My face. You will be quite clear and steady within and you will have something to rely on, and you will also have power as well as confidence. You will also have a path forward and everything will come easy to you.

from Utterances and Testimonies of Christ in the Beginning

The Holy Spirit has a path to walk in each person, and gives each person chances to be perfected. Through your negativity you are made to know your own corruption, and then through throwing off negativity you will find a path to practice, and this is the perfection of you. Further, through the continuous guidance and illumination of some positive things inside of you, you will proactively fulfill your function and grow in insight and gain discernment. When your conditions are good, you are especially willing to read the word of God, and especially willing to pray to God, and can relate the sermons you hear to your own states. At such times God enlightens and illuminates you within, making you realize some things of the positive aspect. This is perfection of you in the positive aspect. In negative states, you are weak and negative, and feel that you don’t have God, yet God illuminates you, helping you find a path to practice. Coming out of this is attainment of perfection in the negative aspect. God can perfect man in both positive and negative aspects. It depends on whether you are able to experience, and on whether you pursue being perfected by God. If you truly seek being perfected by God, then the negative cannot make you suffer loss, but can bring you things that are more real, and can make you more able to know that which is lacking within you, more able to come to grips with your real states, and see that man has nothing, and is nothing; if you do not experience trials, you do not know, and will always feel that you are above others and better than everyone else. Through all this you will see that all that came before was done by God and protected by God. Entry into trials leaves you without love or faith, you lack prayer, and are unable to sing hymns—and, without realizing it, in the midst of this you come to know yourself. God has many means of perfecting man. He employs all manner of environments to deal with the corrupt disposition of man, and uses various things to lay man bare; in one regard He deals with man, in another He lays man bare, and in another He reveals man, digging out and revealing the “mysteries” in the depths of man’s heart, and showing man his nature by revealing many of his states. God perfects man through many methods—through revelation, dealing, refinement, and chastisement—so that man may know that God is practical.

from “Only Those Who Focus on Practice Can Be Perfected” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Your many experiences of failure, of weakness, and times of negativity could be said to be God’s trials of you. This is because everything comes from God, all things and events are in His hands. Whether you fail or whether you are weak and you stumble all rests on God and is within His grasp. From God’s side, this is a trial of you, and if you cannot recognize that, it will become temptation. There are two kinds of states that people should recognize: One comes from the Holy Spirit, and the other likely comes from Satan. One state is that the Holy Spirit illuminates you and allows you to know yourself, to detest and regret yourself and to be able to have genuine love for God, to set your heart on satisfying Him. The other state is that you know yourself, but you are negative and weak. It could be said that that is God’s refinement. It could also be said that it is Satan’s temptation. If you recognize that this is God’s salvation of you and that you are now incredibly in His debt, and if from now on you try to repay Him and no longer fall into such depravity, if you put your effort into eating and drinking His words, and if you always consider yourself to be lacking, and have a heart of longing, then this is God’s trial. After the suffering has ended and you are once again moving forward, God will still lead, illuminate, enlighten, and nourish you. But if you don’t recognize it and you are negative, simply abandoning yourself to despair, if you think this way, then Satan’s temptation has come upon you. When Job underwent trials, God and Satan were betting with each other, and God allowed Satan to afflict Job, to test him. Even though it was God testing Job, it was actually Satan that came upon him. For Satan, it was tempting Job, but Job was on God’s side and if that hadn’t been the case, he would have fallen into temptation.

from “Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Do not be a passive follower of God, and do not pursue that which is curious. Through being neither cold nor hot you will forfeit yourself and delay your life. You must rid yourself of such passivity and inactivity, and become adept at pursuing positive things and overcoming your own weaknesses, so that you may gain the truth and live out the truth. There’s nothing fearful about your weaknesses, and your shortcomings are not your biggest problem. Your biggest problem, and your greatest shortcoming, is your being neither hot nor cold and your lack of desire to seek the truth. The biggest problem with all of you is a cowardly mentality whereby you are happy with things as they are, and await passively. This is your greatest obstacle, and the greatest enemy to your pursuit of the truth.

from “The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Nowadays you must not pay attention to the negative things. You must first put aside and disregard each and every thing that can make you feel negative. When you are handling affairs you must maintain a heart of seeking and groping, and you must maintain a heart of obedience to God. Whenever you discover any weakness within yourselves, but you are not subject to its control and you perform the function that you ought to, this is a positive move forward. For example: Older brothers and sisters have religious notions, but you are able to pray, and you are able to submit yourselves, eat and drink the word of God, and sing hymns…. In a word, whatever you are able to do, whatever function you are able to perform, make full use of it with all the strength you can muster. Do not wait passively. Being able to perform your duty to the satisfaction of God is the first step. Then when you are able to understand the truth and enter into the reality of the word of God, you will have been perfected by God.

from “On Everyone Performing Their Function” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

If your heart truly is quiet before God you won’t be bothered by anything going on in the world outside, and no person, event, or thing will occupy you. If you have entry into this, then those negative states or all negative things, such as human conceptions, philosophy of life, abnormal relationships with people, and thoughts in your heart will naturally disappear. Because you are always pondering God’s words, and your heart is always drawing close to God and occupied by the current words of God, those negative things are unconsciously stripped off. When positive new things occupy you, negative old things will have no place, so don’t pay attention to those negative things. You needn’t make efforts trying to control them. Pay attention to being quiet before God, eat and drink more of God’s words and enjoy them, sing more hymns praising God, and let God have a chance to work on you, because God at present wants to personally perfect people, and He wants to gain your heart; His Spirit moves your heart, and if you live before God following the guidance of the Holy Spirit you will satisfy God.

from “On Quieting Your Heart Before God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

from: Practice and Exercises for Principled Behavior

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