4 Ways to Quiet Your Heart Before God

4 Ways to Quiet Your Heart Before God

By Liujing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Learn Forgiveness: A Surprising Gain Brought by a Hard Knot – Spiritual Awakening

👓The Perspective of ChristianLearn Forgiveness: A Surprising Gain Brought by a Hard Knot – Spiritual Awakening

Qin Ya and Xiaorui have been close friends since high school. Qin Ya’s family lives in favorable conditions and she is the only daughter. Growing up in her parents’ tender love, Qin Ya has formed a domineering and open character, yet she treated Xiaorui wholeheartedly. During the three years in high school, they studied together, had meals together, went shopping together, and played together. Feeling happy, they laughed with each other; feeling sad, they cried with each other. And in the holidays, Qin Ya would invite Xiaorui to live in her house. They were just like peas and carrots. After high school, even though they weren’t at the same college, their friendship had never been affected. They chatted on QQ every day and hung out together during the holidays. Qin Ya treasured their friendship very much, and she believed that such friendship would never change in their whole life.

When Qin Ya and Xiaorui were about to graduate from college, they decided to apply to university, for they didn’t resign themselves to be associates. In order to achieve this goal, registered to attend test-preparation courses for university admission, and then moved to the student dormitory as the remedial school was far from their homes. Unexpectedly, something that Qin Ya had never thought about happened since then …

After living in the dormitory for a month, Qin Ya sensed that the relationship between her and Xiaorui was undergoing a subtle change. She found that Xiaorui treated other roommates better, which made her rather unhappy. Then she asked Xiaorui why she no longer treated her well as before, and told Xiaorui if it was because she had done something wrong, she would correct it. But Xiaorui said Qin Ya had thought too much, and that in her heart, Qin Ya was the most important person and also her best friend. Qin Ya was convinced, thinking maybe it was only that Xiaorui had paid much attention to studying and making friends with her new roommates and thus neglected her feelings.

However, what happened next proved that their friendship was indeed in trouble. Qin Ya noticed that Xiaorui had never told anyone that they were bosom friends; on the way to the canteen, Xiaorui always walked with other girls; when the roommates wanted to eat something but couldn’t be bothered to buy, Xiaorui would voluntarily go to buy it for them. What’s more, Xiaorui often bought snacks for them with her own money, and spoke what was in her heart to them instead of to Qin Ya, treating Qin Ya in a cold and indifferent manner. All of this made Qin Ya very distressed. Recalling every moment they spent together, Qin Ya couldn’t figure out what she had done wrong that reduced their friendship to such condition.

One day, Qin Ya learned on the phone that her mother had a little accident when driving. She was very anxious, and told Xiaorui this thing. But Xiaorui behaved as though she didn’t hear that. When Qin Ya just turned her back, she heard Xiaorui saying to another classmate happily, “I’ve figured out this problem!” Qin Ya was badly hurt, and she simply couldn’t accept it. Besides, Xiaorui felt the dormitory was too noisy and she couldn’t focus on study. So she applied to the teacher for a vacant dormitory. Qin Ya asked Xiaorui if she could move in with her, yet Xiaorui refused her politely. Later, however, Xiaorui invited a girl of another major to live with her.

Thinking of what had happened between her and Xiaorui, Qin Ya felt very distressed. She couldn’t understand why Xiaorui cared more about the roommates she had just met than about her, who had been her friend for five years. Filled with distress, anger, and loneliness, she said to Xiaorui angrily, “Since I’m no longer important to you, we should make a clean break.” Xiaorui stalled her off with an evasive answer, yet after that she still treated Qin Ya with a lukewarm attitude. At that time, a desire of revenge stole over Qin Ya. At that time, a desire of revenge stole over Qin Ya. She wanted to post on her WeChat Moments what Xiaorui had done to her, enabling those around them to know what kind of person Xiaorui was, so as to make her lose all her reputation. But on the other hand, her rationality told her she shouldn’t do that.

Troubled and tormented by this matter, Qin Ya found it impossible for her to concentrate on study. After getting home on weekend, Qin Ya poured out all her sadness and confusion to her mother. Then her mother played her the musical Xiaozhen’s Story. Xiaozhen treated her friends with a true heart, only to be repaid with their betrayal because of money and interests. Watching the musical, Qin Ya felt it was like the story about her and Xiaorui. In the past five years, she had regarded Xiaorui as her best friend, giving her all her true heart. She had never expected that Xiaorui would ignore the friendship they had built for five years after going to the remedial school. Qin Ya couldn’t understand why the sincerity and affection between them were so fragile and vulnerable.

Then her mother told her, “We humans all have been corrupted by Satan. Through instilling into us the poisons like, ‘Everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost,’ Satan made us become selfish and self-interested. As a result, we all live for our own benefit without exception. Our interpersonal relationships are also established on the basis of interests and there is no true affection at all. Even the relationship of best friends will easily change when money, fame, fortune, status, or future prospect are concerned. What happened between you and Xiaorui is just a typical example. When you two are attending courses before transferring to a university, there are many subjects you haven’t encountered. She will naturally communicate more with other students who can help her and neglect you. Consequently, the relationship between you two becomes ever more estranged. Then how about you yourself? Your desire for revenge also comes from your selfish nature. You think Xiaorui no longer treats you well like before and your feelings are hurt. To alleviate your pain, you choose to ignore your friendship. You see, both you and Xiaorui have been corrupted by Satan, so you are no better than she. Actually, there is no true love among people, and only God loves man most. Only when you come before God, accept His word as your life, distinguish people and situations by God’s word, and treat people according to God’s requirement, can you let go of your hatred and get rid of such suffering like Xiaozhen, who finally received the true comfort and happiness after returning before God.” Qin Ya felt her mother’s fellowship quite reasonable. Then she returned to the remedial school with the book of God’s word.

But when meeting Xiaorui at school, Qin Ya still felt it hard to calm down and still had the desire to take revenge on her. Then she recalled her mother’s words: “Only God can help you out of the suffering and hatred.” So she prayed to God silently in her heart, “Oh God, I’m so distressed. Every time I see Xiaorui, I get so angry and want to get back at her. I don’t know what to do. May You lead me to put this matter aside.”

One night, Qin Ya saw these words: “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus said to him, I say not to you, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-22).

“The purpose achieved by the number in this expression is to allow people to understand the Lord Jesus’ intention at the time that He said this. His intention was that people should forgive others—not once or twice, and not even seven times, but seventy times seven. What kind of idea is this ‘seventy times seven’? It is to get people to make forgiveness their own responsibility, something they must learn, and a way they must keep. Even though this was just an expression, it served as a crucial point. It helped people deeply appreciate what He meant and find the proper ways of practice and the principles and standards in practice. This expression helped people understand clearly and gave them an accurate concept that they should learn forgiveness—to forgive without conditions and without limitations, but with an attitude of tolerance and understanding for others” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III”). Qin Ya was strongly shocked by the words of God. Even though she didn’t quite understand these words, she knew that learning forgiveness was God’s requirement of mankind. She felt it was a great spirit that one could come out of hatred and learn to forgive. Qin Ya came to know how she should treat Xiaorui. And she even felt that the hatred and suffering in her heart were relieved little by little. Gradually, Qin Ya found God’s words were exactly the direction she was moving in as well as the principle of her conduct, and that she was too much in need of God’s words.

After a period of time, Qin Ya got in touch with the Church of Almighty God and began to live the church life. In the church, she found that brothers and sisters didn’t need to cautiously maintain the relationship with each other by means of human effort. Instead, they all pursued to establish a normal relationship with God, pursued to be innocent, candid and honest, and loved one anther according to the requirement of God’s word. In her association with brothers and sisters, Qin Ya felt especially released and free without any depression or pain. She enjoyed such kind of life very much.

Later Qin Ya read a passage of God’s word: “Among all the people, matters, and things you can sense in this world, only God’s selflessness is real and concrete, because only God’s love for you is unconditional and unblemished. Apart from God, anyone else’s so-called unselfishness is all fake, superficial, disingenuous; it has a purpose, certain intentions, carries a tradeoff, and cannot stand to be tested. You could even say that it is filthy, contemptible” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself I”). After reading these words, Qin Ya came to understand that only God’s love for man is selfless and unadulterated, that man is so selfish that they have no true love for others but all take advantage of and cheat each other. She thought: The problem that God’s word has revealed exists in all men. But these days, I always measured Xiaorui against God’s words and have never examined myself. Reflecting on myself, isn’t my kindness to her impure and built on the basis of tradeoff?

Then Qin Ya recalled: Before, no matter what I said or did, Xiaorui never opposed me but agreed with me all the time, which greatly satisfied my haughty and arrogant nature; while nowadays she no longer treats me that way. I feel distressed and even want to get back at her. This is not only because I have lost our friendship, but even more because I think she makes me lose my dignity and face and hurts my vanity. In addition, that I want to live with her is also in order to get her help in case I encounter any problems. … Aren’t these the intentions hidden in me when I associate with her? Turns out my doing the good things for her is also for the sake of my own interest. Then how is this any different from her shunning me for the sake of advantage? Like Xiaorui, I’m also a corrupt person. She is selfish, and so am I. Then what qualifies me to hate her? At this thought, the distress and hatred inside Qin Ya completely vanished. And she felt relieved and joyful deep in her heart.

After putting aside the hatred, Qin Ya appreciated that indeed only God’s word could change people. She couldn’t imagine how long such suffering and resentment would still haunt her without God’s word. More importantly, because of this matter, Qin Ya had accepted God’s work of the last days and received God’s salvation, which is something she has never dreamed of. This surprising gain is so precious!

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