The Lord’s Burden Is Light, Then Why Is My Life So Tiring?

The Lord’s Burden Is Light, Then Why Is My Life So Tiring?

Hello, Brothers and Sisters of Loving Stage!

Now I have a difficulty and I’d like to seek your advice. I’m tightly bound to my family and can never let my children go, which causes me to lead a very tiring life. My eldest daughter-in-law has just given birth to a baby and I need to look after her. My younger son is old enough, but he hasn’t started a family. Moreover, we borrowed money and bought an apartment for him and now we have to repay the bank loan every month. Having these things on my mind all day long, I often cannot quiet my heart to read the Bible or pray. Even though I have prayed to the Lord, I receive no release in the spirit. Every evening when I come back home, I feel extremely exhausted both physically and mentally. Sometimes I’m so tired that I suffer a headache and even feel that my life has no meaning. The Lord once said: “Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. … For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). I believe that the word of the Lord is faithful. And I also want to act in accordance with His word, put aside these worries and troubles, and live a free and liberated life. How come I can’t put it into practice but even live more and more tiredly?

Baijie

Hello, Sister Baijie!

We quite understand your situation, for each of us once had different sufferings. Before we can live by the Lord’s word, it can be said that we are all bound and troubled by the family entanglements. It is like a net enmeshing us so that our hearts are always occupied and controlled by it. It is really miserable. The Lord Jesus said: “Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. … For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). We believe that the Lord’s word is faithful, but why can’t we gain true release even though we have prayed to God and relied on Him? To answer this question, let’s read a passage of word.

This is what a book says: “Though man allows God to look within his heart, this does not mean that he is capable of obeying the orchestrations and arrangements of God, nor that he has left his fate and prospects and his all under the control of God. Thus, regardless of the oaths you make to God or your attitude toward Him, in God’s eyes your heart is still closed to Him, for you only allow God to look upon your heart but do not permit Him to control it. In other words, you have not given your heart to God at all, and only speak nice-sounding words for God to hear…. Which is to say, God has the right to observe, but He does not have the right to control. In the subjective consciousness of man, man does not want or intend to leave himself to the mercy of God. Not only has man closed himself off to God, but there are even people who think of ways to wrap up their hearts, using smooth talk and flattery to create a false impression and gain the trust of God, and concealing their true face out of sight from God. Their aim in not allowing God to see is to not allow God to perceive how they really are. They do not want to give their hearts to God, but to keep them for themselves. The subtext of this is that what man does and what he wants is all planned, calculated, and decided by man himself; he does not require the participation or intervention of God, much less does he need the orchestrations and arrangements of God. Thus, whether in regard to the commands of God, His commission, or the requirements that God makes of man, man’s decisions are based on his own intentions and interests, on his own state and circumstances at the time. Man always uses the knowledge and insights that he is familiar with, and his own intellect, to judge and select the path he should take, and does not allow the interference or control of God. This is the heart of man that God sees” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II”).

These words are very true. Though we pray to God, we never really intend to leave our life under His control. Instead, we want to rely on our own abilities to arrange and plan for our children’s life. We always try to plan and decide everything by ourselves, and often expect that the course of events will conform to our thoughts and imaginations. However, only God can rule the fate of each and every one of us, because only He is possessed of such power and authority. We are just creations and have no authority or power to control the fate of ourselves or others. So we naturally feel distressed, worried, and lost when we don’t attain our goals after putting in a lot of effort or the results of things are not in line with our notions and imaginations.

In fact, if we really want to entrust our difficulties to God, we must truly give our hearts to God, accept and obey His sovereignty and arrangement over our life and fate.

Here we’d like to share a passage of word with you. We think it gives us a path of practice. It says: “When confronting real-life problems, how should you know and understand God’s authority and His sovereignty? When you do not know how to understand, handle, and experience these problems, what attitude should you adopt to show your intention, your desire, and your reality of submitting to God’s sovereignty and arrangements? First you must learn to wait; then you must learn to seek; then you must learn to submit. ‘Waiting’ means waiting for the time of God, awaiting the people, events, and things that He has arranged for you, waiting for His will to gradually reveal itself to you. ‘Seeking’ means observing and understanding God’s thoughtful intentions for you through the people, events, and things that He has laid out, understanding the truth through them, understanding what humans must accomplish and the ways they must keep, understanding what results God means to achieve in humans and what accomplishments He means to attain in them. ‘Submitting,’ of course, refers to accepting the people, events, and things that God has orchestrated, accepting His sovereignty and, through it, coming to know how the Creator dictates man’s fate, how He supplies man with His life, how He works the truth into man. All things under God’s arrangements and sovereignty obey natural laws, and if you resolve to let God arrange and dictate everything for you, you should learn to wait, you should learn to seek, you should learn to submit. This is the attitude that every person who wants to submit to God’s authority must take, the basic quality that every person who wants to accept God’s sovereignty and arrangements must possess. To hold such an attitude, to possess such a quality, you must work harder; and only thus can you enter into the true reality” (“God Himself, the Unique III”).

As a created being, we should learn to wait, seek, and submit through the people, events, and things we encounter every day. This is the behavioral principle of us Christians, and it is also most able to illustrate whether we have true obedience and reverence for God. In the process of practice, we’ll have some knowledge of how God rules over and supplies all things, and see that the more the people, events, and things we encounter are incompatible with our conceptions, the more it contains God’s good purpose. It is through these people, events, and things that God wants to test our faith in Him and see whether we have His place in our hearts. He wants to test whether we can willfully do what we like and whether we try to change the life and even the fate of our family and ourselves with our own two hands. And the result of the test is: When the course of events is disagreeable to us, we’ll live in pain and distress, feeling that our life is full of untoward things and disappointments, and even live in silent resistance and complaint toward the Lord. Outwardly, we say nothing, while in our hearts, we misunderstand the Lord and complain why He doesn’t bless us so that we can live easily and comfortably since we have believed in Him. Little do we know that it is not that the Lord doesn’t bless us. Actually, it is because we don’t believe in or submit to God’s sovereignty that we can’t give our prospect and fate to God or submit to His orchestrations and arrangements. If we have no true faith in the Lord, then we cannot sincerely come before God, much less can we receive the comfort and satisfaction that comes from having God with us. When we find that we indeed have failed to practice truth to satisfy God, it will impel us to examine our relationship with God and inspire us to seek God’s will and practice truth. Today you wrote to us to pour out your distress of living in pain and confusion and actively seek God’s will. We believe that under the guidance of God and His words, and through our communication, you’ll have a deeper understanding of God, see how God rules over our destiny and supplies our needs, and how He reveals to us the pain caused by us changing our fate with our own hands, and see it is all because we don’t like the truth and don’t give our hearts to God. After realizing these, you will understand God’s earnest intention in His arranging such an environment for you, and also find a proper way of practice. If you, when fulfilling your responsibility and obligation as a mother, can let God lead your everyday life, and learn to let nature take its course and act according to God’s word, He will surely help you out of troubles and worries. May God lead you and enable you to receive release and freedom soon and live in His light. Amen!

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Have Your Spiritual Eyes Opened?

Wenli

Everyone has a pair of eyes, and every animal has a pair of eyes, which are given by God at the beginning of creation. That is absolutely fair. People have the same eyes with the same functions. But eyes have a variety of uses and can catch different things. With the eyes, some look for the light, and some give in to vanity, some look for the road to riches, thinking of nothing but money, some demonstrate themselves to others, some express the friendship and love, some see the merits of others to make up for their own shortcomings, some focus on the demerits of others with haughty eyes, but achieve nothing, some observe every word and deed of others carefully, and some try to see themselves whether the heart is in the right place; By the eyes, doctors treat patients, scientists create inventions, the kind people look at the road in order not to walk on the wrong way, and the thieves target others’ money and look for a chance to reap without sowing like parasites. By the eyes, some become knowledgeable and versatile, some are totally illiterate, some read those works of famous people, the heresies and fallacies of Satan, while some read the words of God in order to understand the truth and obtain life. Why do people have different lives? Everybody owns a pair of eyes; why do the eyes play different roles? And why do people have rather different fates?

It’s said that eyes are the windows to the soul. The eyes and soul are connected closely and the inner world of a person can be seen from his eyes. Through one’s eyes, we can know what he clings to and what he pursues, which represents his nature and substance and determines his fate and destination. It makes me think of my own life….

My eyes were clear and transparent in my childhood. As I grew older and time passed, they turned dim and cloud over, losing the brightness of times past. And my inner world also became complicated and changeable. Someone preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus to me, but my heart was hardened, for the temptations of the dazzling world attracted my attention. I was obsessed with money, mansion, cars and beauty and coveted the world with all my heart. Afterward, I read the words of the Lord Jesus, “And if your right eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:29). The words of the Lord opened my deceived eyes. I saw clearly that I was seduced and deceived by the dazzling world so that I lived in the sin of gorging myself on the enjoyment of the flesh, neither realized that man should believe in and worship God in his life nor know the existence of the truth and light. Then I prayed to God to repent my sins and accepted His redemption willingly.

Gradually, I realized that man committed sins and enjoyed the pleasure of sin, not only because man’s naked eyes were deceived but the eyes of heart were blinded by the evil tendencies of this world, which made people stray away from God and betray Him. It was the same with the circumstance that Adam and Eve succumbing to snake’s temptation ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan said, “… in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Our ancestors betrayed the words of God and listened to Satan to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Although man’s eyes were opened and he had a sense of shame, he lost the eternal life from then on.

One day, someone testified the work of Almighty God in the last days, saying that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus’ return, who has expressed all the truth of saving man and unfolded the work of judgment and chastisement. The words of Almighty God judge and reveal the reality of man’s corruption and substance of man’s nature. I saw that the word of Almighty God is full of authority and power and fully convinced me so that I couldn’t put it down. The more I read it, the more I was enlightened.

Soon, the upper-level co-worker in my former church came to my home. He used the biblical knowledge to bind me, saying, “Don’t easily listen to others, lest you be deceived! I have greater knowledge of the Bible and my eyes are bright! I will not be tricked easily! ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever’ (Hebrew 13:8). We can gain eternal life by believing in the name of the Lord Jesus, which is recorded clearly in the Bible.” At that moment, I just prayed to God in my heart continually, and I recalled the words of God, “God’s wisdom, God’s wondrousness, God’s righteousness, and God’s majesty shall never change. His substance and what He has and is shall never change. His work, however, is always progressing forward, always going deeper, for God is always new and never old” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words lit up the eyes of my heart. Jehovah, Jesus and Almighty God are God’s names respectively in the Age of Law, the Age of Grace and the Age of Kingdom and they are all the same God and the same Spirit. God takes different names in different ages based on the differences in His work. However, whether God appears to the mankind as a spiritual body or by becoming flesh, the authority and the power of His words, the righteous disposition of God, His holy essence and what God has and is shall never change. After God created the world using the words, He issued laws to lead man’s life on earth in the Age of Law so that man could see Jehovah God’s wrath and imprecation. In the Age of Grace, from the Lord Jesus’ words that condemned and cursed the Pharisees, it can be seen that God’s name changed, yet His righteous and majestic disposition didn’t change even though the incarnate Lord Jesus was filled with mercy and lovingkindness. In the last days, Almighty God judges and purifies man with words, and His righteous disposition is much more unoffendable. So Almighty God is the Almighty who is, who was and who is to come. God’s words made me have discernment and no longer fall into the temptation and deception of the former co-worker.

In the whole religious community, who is not expecting the return of the Lord Jesus with great anxiety? Why are many people shut out from the gate of the kingdom and unable to see anything? Why are they even unaware of them being eliminated? Why do people not open their spiritual eyes to have a look when the Savior returns? Almighty God says, “I admonish you this: Many of My words have already opened to those who believe in Me. Those who admire the beauty in the kingdom but are shut out from the gate of the kingdom, have already been eliminated” (“Words Toward the Old and the Young” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). I was overwhelmed with emotion. It turned out that the words of Almighty God are bestowed to those wise virgins who are watching and waiting and can recognize the voice of God. Those foolish virgins who only dream of being raptured into the kingdom of heaven rather than focus on seeking the voice of God, will be forsaken and eliminated by God’s work, mourning and grinding their teeth amidst the disaster that has scarcely been seen through the ages!

I read God’s words day after day. Once the spiritual eyes are opened, I can see everything. Aged and dim naked eyes can’t affect the experience of the heart. I see that God reveals the mysteries of the heaven, the world and the spiritual realm and all of these are the manifestations of the omnipotence and wisdom of the Creator. Today I have seen the countenance of the Creator, and that is the faithful depiction of the face of the Son of man recorded in Revelation. Ah, I have seen Him, and I am to see Him again!

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Spiritual Food of Life

Spiritual Food of Life

There is such a group of people in our lives. They all dip their heads concentrating on the phone in cars and on the road and even keep the phone in their hands when having meals or going to the restroom…. Such a group of people are called “phubbers.” Obviously, phone is a convenient means of communication, which appears to narrow the distance between people. But most of the time, people are prone to smile at the cold mobile phone screens yet forget to greet people around them. As time passes, they become more and more indifferent to each other and their hearts become more and more distant. Unknowingly, phone has become “the third person” between lovers, family, and friends. People turn to the internet to get what they can’t get in their real life, and are more inclined to live in such a virtual world, as if only in this way could the emptiness in their hearts be filled.

At one time, I also lived my life in that way: spending every day playing phone, reading novels, hitting the internet cafe, and playing computer games. These things were addictive like drugs, making me unable to extricate myself from this virtual world. Every time I went out of the internet cafe, excitement and pleasure games brought to me were gone, leaving me inexplicable emptiness only. Though I didn’t want to live such a life, I couldn’t break free from it, stuck in such a vicious cycle.

Later, I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days and read these words of God, “From when man first had social sciences, the mind of man was occupied by science and knowledge. Then science and knowledge became tools for the ruling of mankind, and there was no longer sufficient room for man to worship God, and no more favorable conditions for the worship of God. The position of God sunk ever lower in the heart of man. A world in man’s heart with no place for God is dark, empty without hope. And so arose many social scientists, historians, and politicians to express theories of social science, the theory of human evolution, and other theories that contravene the truth that God created man, to fill the heart and mind of man. And in this way, those who believe that God created everything become ever fewer, and those who believe in the theory of evolution become ever greater in number. More and more people treat records of the work of God and His words during the Old Testament age as myth. In their hearts, people become indifferent to the dignity and greatness of God, to the tenet that God exists and holds dominion over all things. The survival of mankind and the fate of countries and nations are no longer important to them. Man lives in a hollow world only concerned with eating, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure. … Few people take it upon themselves to seek out where God does His work today, and to look for how He presides over and arranges the destination of man. And in this way, human civilization unconsciously becomes ever more incapable of meeting the wishes of man, and there are even many people who feel that, living in such a world, they are less happy than people who have gone. Even people of countries that used to be highly civilized air such grievances. … Man, after all, is man. The position and life of God cannot be replaced by any man. Mankind does not just require a fair society in which everyone is well-fed and is equal and free, but the salvation of God and His provision of life to them. Only in this way can the needs, yearning to explore, and spiritual emptiness of man be resolved.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) From Almighty God’s words, I came to understand that the emptiness in man’s heart is actually because man’s heart has no place for God and is taken captive by Satan. They are fooled by Satan and lose their direction, and believe no more that God is the Ruler of mankind. Therefore, they all prefer to living in such a virtual world to fill the void in their heart. Although man hates this fallen life from the bottom of their heart, they have no idea how to rid themselves of the empty feeling. Because man, after all, is man; only God can be the life of man, only God is the truth, and only accepting God’s salvation and God’s supply for man is the way to remove the feeling of emptiness.

Sharing a fantastic praise dance: If I Were Not Saved by God

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How Can Christians Gain The Eternal Blessings?

How Can Christians Gain The Eternal Blessings?

In the past, I always thought that as long as believers in God could hold fast to external good deeds, spend for the Lord zealously, and suffer and pay the price to preach and work everywhere for the Lord, they would bring joy to the Lord and gain the eternal blessings when the Lord came.

One day, I came across a story in the Bible: “Jesus entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was encumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42). When I repeatedly contemplated the exchange between the Lord Jesus and Martha, I realized that what I held to were just my conceptions and imaginations. I actually had no knowledge of what kind of people the Lord liked and approved of. From these passages of scripture, I saw: When Martha received the Lord Jesus into her house, she thought according to her notions and imaginations that she would bring joy to the Lord and obtain the blessings if she made her room clean and tidy, was dressed neatly, and busied herself enthusiastically serving the Lord. However, the Lord did not approve of what Martha did. Instead, He commended Mary who listened to His sermons quietly, saying that she had received the blessings. From this, I deeply felt that the Lord approved not of man’s passion and external good deeds, but commended those like Mary who listened to His words quietly, and focused on understanding His will and practicing according to His teachings, and that only such people could gain God’s blessings and promises in the end.

Contemplating the Lord’s words, I gradually had some understanding of God’s will to save mankind. I saw that God appeared and worked among mankind not for enjoying our warm hospitality or asking for our flatteries and outward sacrifices. Instead, He came to express the truth and wanted us to know His righteous disposition and His beauty and goodness from His words and work, and practice according to His words, so that we would revere God, obey God, love God, and become ones who were of one mind with God. Therefore, only if we focus on listening to God’s voice and practicing God’s words can we understand the truth, serve in harmony with God’s will, and ultimately be worthy to inherit God’s beautiful promises. Just as the Lord Jesus said: “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).

I couldn’t help remembering when the Lord Jesus was doing His work, those who were simple and loved the truth did not cling to their notions and conceptions but focused on listening to the Lord’s words, so they finally beheld the appearance of God from the Lord’s words. They felt that the Lord’s words contained power and authority, could supply man with life, and could not be expressed by any man. Therefore, they believed that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah who was to come, and then they followed God’s footsteps and received the Lord’s blessings. For example, after Peter had listened to the Lord’s preachings for a while, he was enlightened by the Holy Spirit, recognizing that the Lord Jesus was the Son of the living God. Then he said to the Lord Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). For another example, Nathanael let go of his conceptions and imaginations and followed the Lord Jesus after hearing that the Lord Jesus had already known him when he was under the fig tree. … All these people followed God’s footsteps and beheld God’s appearance because of listening to the Lord’s words, and they finally received the great blessings of the Lord. On the other hand, those priests, scribes, and Pharisees who served Jehovah God in the temple traveled far and wide to preach gospel and suffered a lot, but they did not pay attention to listening to the Lord’s words and did not recognize the Lord. They had clearly witnessed that the words and work of the Lord Jesus shocked all of Judea and were from God, but they did not accept any truth expressed by the Lord. Moreover, they held on to the laws of the Old Testament and did their utmost to search for handles against the Lord Jesus, and condemned the Lord on the excuse that He did not observe the Sabbath and was not called the Messiah. In the end, they nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross, committing a heinous crime. This proves that if believers in God only pay attention to outward suffering and sacrifice, do not pay attention to listening to God’s words, they will possibly become ones detested and rejected and condemned by God at any time.

Now, various disasters have occurred frequently, and four blood moons have appeared. The prophecies concerning the return of the Lord have been fulfilled. How should we practice in order to welcome the second coming of the Lord and receive the eternal blessings? I remembered it was said in Revelation: “And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches” (Revelation 2:29). “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). These verses show that if we want to obtain the eternal blessings, we must seek out the words of the Holy Spirit to the churches, that is, listen to the voice of the Bridegroom; and only by doing so can we be the wise virgins and behold the appearance of the Lord, and have the opportunity to be approved by the Lord.

While thinking of this, I felt brightened within. Then I thought of the words of the Lord Jesus: “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). I was even more assured that the Lord would still express a lot of truth and reveal all the mysteries when He came again in the last days. So we should put aside our conceptions and imaginations, focus on listening to God’s voice like Mary, and follow the Lamb’s footsteps. Only in this way can we possibly receive the truth, the way, and the life expressed by the Lord in the last days, and thus gain the eternal blessings of the kingdom of heaven. Now, on the internet, only the Church of Almighty God is openly testifying that the Lord has returned. We can only discern whether Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus by hearing if the voice of Almighty God is truly that of God.

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Why Does God Mourn For Mankind?

Why Does God Mourn For Mankind?

Han Xue

Ever since I believed in the Lord Jesus, I had enjoyed much grace from Him, often living in the peace and joy bestowed by Him. However, I always felt distressed in my heart whenever I saw the Bible say, “And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). I called to mind: When the Lord incarnate came to work, He, having no place to lay His head, was born in a manger. Since the three wise men came to meet Herod the king, He had been hunted closely by the rulers, living a life on the run. When He started to work and preach, what He faced were still man’s sneers and slanders, along with the government’s persecution and the religious Pharisees’ resistance and condemnation. The Lord Jesus was forced to drift about with nowhere to lay His head, and in the end, was even cruelly nailed onto the cross. Thus, my heart frequently ached for the Lord Jesus’ sufferings which I believed were the worst for Him. Only after I read God’s words did I know there was a world of difference between my imagination and God’s true thoughts.

God’s word says, “There are some people who often sympathize with Christ’s plight because there is a verse in the Bible that says: ‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head.’ When people hear this, they take it to heart and believe that this is the greatest suffering that God endures, and the greatest suffering that Christ endures. Now, looking at it from the perspective of the facts, is that the case? God does not believe that these difficulties are suffering. He has never cried out against injustice for the difficulties of the flesh, and He has never made humans repay or reward Him with anything. However, when He witnesses mankind’s everything, the corrupt lives and the evil of corrupt humans, when He witnesses that mankind is in Satan’s grasp and imprisoned by Satan and cannot escape, that people living in sin do not know what the truth is—He cannot bear all of these sins. His loathing of humans increases by the day, but He has to endure all of this. This is God’s great suffering. God cannot fully express even His voice or His emotions among His followers, and no one among His followers can truly understand His suffering. No one even tries to understand or to comfort His heart—His heart endures this suffering day after day, year after year, time and time again. What do you see in all of this? God doesn’t require anything from humans in return for what He has given, but because of God’s essence, He absolutely cannot tolerate mankind’s evil, corruption, and sin, but feels extreme loathing and hatred, which leads to God’s heart and His flesh enduring unending suffering. Could you see all of this? Most likely, none of you could see this, because none of you can truly understand God.”

Every word of God struck my heart. Although I had believed in the Lord for many years, never had I ever known God’s heart. Today when God is incarnated to speak to us personally, then I come to realize that the true suffering of God is not that of the flesh, about which He never makes any complaint. All His sufferings are for the sake of us. When He sees us living in sins, unable to extricate ourselves from them and incapable of distinguishing that which is positive and negative, what He likes and what He loathes…, these are what make God suffer most.

In face of each of God’s heartfelt words, I perceived that God is great and holy, while we human beings are so insignificant that we just see the part that our mind can reach. Yet, what God reveals is determined by His substance. Regardless of His care for us human beings, or His mercy or hate, these are all perfect manifestations of God’s disposition and contain God’s love for us humans. God says, “The pleasure of God is due to the existence and emergence of righteousness and light; because of the destruction of darkness and evil. He takes pleasure because He has brought the light and a good life to mankind; His pleasure is one of righteousness, a symbol of the existence of all that is positive and, most of all, a symbol of auspiciousness. The anger of God is due to the existence of injustice and the disturbance it causes that are harming His mankind; because of the existence of evil and darkness, the existence of things that drive out the truth, and even more so because of the existence of things that oppose what is good and beautiful. His anger is a symbol that all things negative no longer exist and, moreover, is a symbol of His holiness. His sorrow is due to mankind, for whom He has hopes but who has fallen into darkness, because the work He does on man does not reach His expectations, and because the mankind He loves cannot all live in the light. He feels sorrow for the innocent mankind, for the honest but ignorant man, and for the good but ambivalent man. His sorrow is a symbol of His goodness and of His mercy, a symbol of beauty and of kindness. His happiness, of course, comes from defeating His enemies and gaining the good faith of man. Moreover, it comes from the expulsion and destruction of all enemy forces and mankind receiving a good and peaceful life. The happiness of God is unlike the joy of man; rather, it is the feeling of receiving pleasant fruits, a feeling even greater than joy. His happiness is a symbol of mankind breaking free of suffering and entering a world of light.”

Through God’s word, I sincerely felt God’s greatness and His true love for us mankind. Whatever He does is for the sake of us, and every part of His emotions centers around us, representing His love for us. In retrospect, after God created man, He used skins to make clothing for them with His own hands; what God revealed then was that He treated them as His family as well as His children, and took care of every detail of their lives. When the Israelites lived under the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, God used Moses to guide them out of Egypt step by step and then into the good land of Canaan. When we mankind lived in sins, God came personally as flesh and was willing to be crucified as our mankind’s sin offerings. Today, in order to thoroughly save us man out of Satan’s camp, God is incarnated again and comes into the tiger’s den—China which is under the reign of atheism and regards God as the enemy. God incarnate is confronted with swords and spears, as well as those believers of the religious world who claim to believe in Him yet refuse His salvation again and again, but He never complains in the slightest. During the course, no man understands His heart, nor appreciates His sorrow and pain, but instead misunderstands, complains against Him and has numerous notions about His work, but God has always been enduring all these silently, waiting for someday when we mankind will awaken and comprehend His thoughtful kind intention.

The more I ponder over God’s words, the more I feel myself so fortunate to hear His personal utterances and hear Him express His heart’s voice, which is truly the exaltation of God. Had God not personally become flesh, I would never be aware that the God I believe in is so great and holy and that His love for us is so selfless, much less would I find myself so small. It is God incarnate that grants me the opportunity to know God and to understand the heart’s voice of God, and even more, an opportunity to open my heart to God and appreciate His heart. Today, if we want to know God, the only path is through God’s own utterances and through experiencing His work. Only then can we know God and finally become confidants of God. At this moment, I cannot help remembering the Hymn of God’s word “God’s Love and Essence Has Always Been Selfless”: “God always gives His best side and the best things to mankind while quietly bearing all the suffering Himself. God never openly discloses these sufferings. Instead, He endures them and waits in silence. God’s endurance is not cold, numb, or helpless, nor is it a sign of weakness, but it is that God’s love and essence has always been selfless. This is a natural revelation of His essence and disposition, and a genuine embodiment of God’s identity as the true Creator” (Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs).

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Life Could Be So Beautiful

Life Could Be So Beautiful

Chenyu

What Course of Life to Take

Everyone is going forward along the predestined course of life. No one can go back to the past or see into the future. Even so, many still enjoy and never tire of exploring and planning their lives.

I have a friend. She had made plans for her future in her youth: getting into an elite university, opening her own grand hotel after graduation, achieving a great career. … She regarded realizing these ideals as her life goals. However, the first step in her life journey was an agonized failure. She only entered a second rate university after repeating two years of school. After entering university, she studied very hard, hoping that after graduation, she could start her career in a big city. But she didn’t do the trick and could only live and work in a third-tier city. Later, she persistently tried to establish a business, but all of her attempts came to nothing. … At last, she suffered a nervous breakdown, unable to fall asleep at nights. She was wrapped in depression, heavy of heart all day, and always complained about the bitterness of life.

My friend’s experiences made me ask myself: What is my ideal of life? What is my goal in life? What will my life course be like? I was not as much a utilitarian as my friend, but after seeking for a long time, I found no answer, and my mind still wandered. Looking around, some people devoted themselves to study, some chased their beloved arts. … I began to imitate them. I started to learn foreign languages, read various books, and seek the way of success. However, none of these things aroused my interest, so I failed to find my goal in life. I felt that the more I tried, the more confused I became. But I still told myself: Life without a goal would be totally meaningless. So, day after day I thought and thought, looking for the answers. But I never succeeded. Consequently, I began to complain: Why can I never find my course of life?

Thought-provoking Words

One day, in a book my friend gave me, I saw these words: “… that nothing happens at random, that these things’ ramifications, and their inevitability, cannot be shifted by human will. Every happening conveys an admonition from the Creator to mankind, and it also sends the message that human beings cannot control their own fates; at the same time every event is a rebuttal to humanity’s wild, futile ambition and desire to take its fate into its own hands. They are like powerful slaps about humanity’s ears one after another, forcing people to reconsider who, in the end, governs and controls their fate. And as their ambitions and desires are repeatedly thwarted and shattered, humans naturally arrive at an unconscious acceptance of what fate has in store, an acceptance of reality, of the will of Heaven and the Creator’s sovereignty. From these daily vicissitudes to the fates of entire human lives, there is nothing that does not reveal the Creator’s plans and His sovereignty; there is nothing that does not send the message that ‘the Creator’s authority cannot be exceeded,’ that does not convey the eternal truth that ‘the Creator’s authority is supreme.’”

“Because people do not recognize God’s orchestrations and God’s sovereignty, they always face fate defiantly, with a rebellious attitude, and always want to cast off God’s authority and sovereignty and the things fate has in store, hoping in vain to change their current circumstances and alter their fate. But they can never succeed; they are thwarted at every turn. This struggle, which takes place deep in one’s soul, is painful; the pain is unforgettable; and all the while one is frittering away one’s life. What is the cause of this pain? Is it because of God’s sovereignty, or because a person was born unlucky? Obviously neither is true. At bottom, it is because of the paths people take, the ways people choose to live their lives” (from “God Himself, the Unique III”).

It’s Never Too Late to Apprehend Happiness

As a popular saying goes: One proper word can wake up the dreamers. Pondering these thought-provoking words, I suddenly understood: Our specialties, likes, and what we will undergo in our lives have long been arranged by God. It turns out that God is the general director of our life course. Because we don’t know God’s sovereignty, we always want to take our life path according to our imaginations and dictate our own fate, and are not willing to obey God’s arrangements. Then, what we have brought for ourselves will only be endless pain. Haven’t I and my friend been like this? What she pursued was utilitarian and material, and what I pursued was also to be looked up to by others through my own efforts and find the so-called self-value. In a word, both of us wanted to oppose God’s sovereignty and change our own fate. We had wracked our brains to copy the lives of so-called successful men, thinking that only living such a life could be called success. However, as we were treading in others’ steps, we gradually realized that other people’s lives didn’t suit us. The time flew, and the prime of the years slipped by. In my backward glance, I suddenly realized that I had already let slip the chance to experience my own lives. Once again, I entered into a state of bewilderment after I had sought yet attained nothing. Living in misery, I didn’t know the way ahead, as if I was lost in a desert. I saw the mirage of an oasis again and again, but till my stock of energy was exhausted, I still couldn’t find any way out. Thus loneliness, emptiness, and melancholy piled up in the depths of my souls.

Now, I finally had some comprehension: If we don’t know God’s sovereignty or submit to it, attempt to surpass the fate predestined by God, then the only result for us is failure. My precious time was wasted and lost, and I regretted it. This kind of struggle deep in the soul was unbearable and distressful. Why not try my best to change myself and give all my life to God before it’s too late? Only by doing this can I begin my first step on the road to a free and happy life.

Life Like a Starry Sky

From then on, I gradually learned to obey God’s orchestrations. Without superior ability, I did what I could, like writing and dancing. Though it didn’t make me stand out from others, I saw that I was making progress. Without pretty face or fine figure, I could not capture more people’s hearts, but I gradually understood that it was God’s great protection for me. Because in this evil and licentious age, if I had a beautiful appearance and was coquettish, I would certainly fall into the temptation of Satan, lost in licentiousness and unable to extricate myself from it. Without the chance to chase fame and gain, I could believe in God attentively. Although I did not make a rise in life, I learned from God’s words the mysteries of life and understood that only by practicing and experiencing God’s words, can man be free from the bondage of sin and live out the manner of a true person who has truth and humanity, and can man’s heart and spirit receive freedom, relief, certainty, and peace from God…. In this way, I accepted the environment no matter how it changed, actively submitted to God’s guidance, and experienced the life course predestined for me by God. So, I lived a comfortable and happy life. As I continuously practiced and experienced God’s words—when I encountered difficulties, I often sought and prayed to God, looked up to and depended on Him; and I conducted myself according to His requirements—my corrupted disposition was gradually changed. Now, I have gone through most of my life; when I look back to these years after I came before God, I no longer feel empty and painful. I have walked the right way of life of fearing God and shunning evil, and feel free and joyful to live by truth before God.

Our lives are like the stars in the vast cosmos. If we devoutly live by the course predestined by God, submit to His guidance, and appreciate His deeds, then we will find that a life with God’s presence and blessings is indeed like the stars in the sky, peaceful, orderly, beautiful, and tranquil….

Recommended:
The Secret of Happy Life
A Symphony of My Fate
The Secret of Happiness: Learn to Accept Our Own Flaw

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