Hymns of God’s Words | "Job's Attitude Toward God's Blessings"

Hymns of God’s Words | "Job's Attitude Toward God's Blessings"

I

Job believed in his heart that all he possessed

was bestowed by God and not by his own hand.

He did not see blessings as things to take advantage of,

but held onto the way that he should keep

as his guide to living.

Job never reveled or wildly delighted

because of the blessings God bestowed,

nor ignored God’s way or forgot the grace of God

because of blessings he often enjoyed.

How Can We Gain the Power of Prayer?

By Cindy, United States

    The Bible records many stories in which situations take a turn for the better and problems are solved through the power of prayer. So, how can we gain the power of prayer? What should we pray for? Please read the article “The Power of Prayer,” which answers these questions.

God’s Grace Frees Her From Her Painful Marriage (Part 1)

By A’Jiao, Hong Kong

     Jiao sat by the window looking at the divorce certificate in her hands with a sense of relief. Because of God’s grace and salvation, Jiao was finally free from her painful marriage. She gazed at the street outside the window, and everything that had happened between her and her ex-husband passed through her mind …

Finding Happiness

     Jiao was just the same as so many other girls. When she was a teenager, she dreamed of growing up and finding a husband who would love her dearly. Especially when she read romance novels or watched screen idols on TV, and she saw the endless love between the main male and female characters, she would take the ideas of “love is supreme,” and “growing old together, hand-in-hand” as the ideals for her own future marriage, and she yearned to have a grand love. Only then, she thought, would her life not be lived in vain.

The Light of Life Shining in the Devil’s Dark Den

Lin Ying    Shandong Province

　　My name is Lin Ying. I’m a Christian in the Church of Almighty God. Before I believed in Almighty God, I always tried to work with my own ability for a better life. But things ran counter to my wish; I got into trouble and was frustrated everywhere. Having fully experienced life’s hardships, I felt exhausted mentally and physically and felt extremely miserable. Just when I was distressed and helpless, a sister preached Almighty God’s end-time gospel to me. I read God’s words, “When you feel tired and when you slightly feel a sense of desolation of this world, do not feel perplexed and do not weep. Almighty God, the Watcher, is ready to embrace your coming at any time.” (from “The Sighs of the Almighty” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) I couldn’t help shedding tears. The motherly words of Almighty God greatly comforted me. I felt that I, like an orphan wandering for years, returned to the bosom of my family and was no longer lonely and helpless. From then on, I thirstily read God’s word every day. Through having meetings and fellowshipping with the brothers and sisters in the Church of Almighty God, I saw that they were so kind and honest. There was no jealousy, dispute, or intrigue among them. No matter who met any difficulty, others would sincerely fellowship about the truth and help him solve it, without making bargains or seeking rewards. What they lived out was God’s love. There, I received the release and happiness that I had never had. I deeply felt that the Church of Almighty God is a holy pure land and became certain that Almighty God is the only true God who can save men from the abyss of misery. Just when I was enjoying God’s love, the CCP government arrested and persecuted me illegally, breaking my joyful and pleasant life.

　　It was deep in the night on August 12, 2003. I had been asleep. Suddenly, I was woken up by a violent knocking on the door and heard someone shouting, “Open the door! Open the door! We’re the police!” Before I could put on some clothes, I heard some thumping sounds and the door was suddenly kicked open. Six extremely ferocious policemen broke in. I asked them in a panic, “What do you want?” The head of the vicious policemen shouted, “Don’t play dumb!” And then he waved his hand and roared, “Search carefully!” Several policemen began to ransack boxes and chests here and there like bandits. Immediately, the pots and pans, clothes, quilts, foodstuffs, and so on were thrown all over the floor. It was a complete mess in the house. After searching my house, the vicious policemen pushed and pulled me into a police car. They also took away my newly-purchased CD player worth 240 yuan, 80 yuan in cash, and a bucket of books of God’s word. I had never imagined that the scene which I only saw on TV actually happened to me then. I was very scared and my heart was thumping, so I prayed to God unceasingly. Suddenly I remembered Almighty God’s words, “Do not fear this or that. No matter how many difficulties and dangers there are, you should be stable before me and not be hindered by anything, letting my will be carried out smoothly. … Remove your fear. With me as your rear guard, who can block the way? Remember! Remember!” (from “The Tenth Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words gave me great comfort, making my heart gradually calm down. I realized this: The One I believe in is the Ruler who created the heavens and the earth and all things. All things and all matters are in God’s hand, and satan and the devils are all under God’s feet. As long as I truly rely on God, satan can do nothing to me. Now is the crucial moment God is waging a war against satan, is the time God needs me to stand testimony, and is the time for me to experience God’s word and gain the truth. I must stand the ground and practice according to God’s word and never give in to satan!

The Word of the Spirit of God "In Your Faith in God You Should Obey God"

Almighty God says, "Key to obeying God is appreciating the new light, and being able to accept it and put it into practice. Only this is true obedience. … Not being satisfied with living amid God’s graces, actively thirsting for the truth, and searching for the truth, and pursuing being gained by God—this is what it means to consciously obey God; this is precisely the kind of faith that God wants."

Recommended reading：Signs of the End Times

Questions and Answers on God’s Work of Judgment in the Last Days(2)

Question 2: The Lord Jesus was crucified as a sin offering to redeem mankind. We have accepted the Lord, and obtained salvation through His grace. Why do we still have to accept Almighty God’s work of judgment and purification in the last days?

Answer: In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus did the work of redemption. It was not God’s work of judgment in the last days to thoroughly save mankind. What the work of redemption achieved was that the Lord Jesus served as the sin offering for us all, and that He redeemed us from the clutches of Satan, made us repent our sins, and accept God’s salvation. He qualified us to go before God and enjoy God’s grace and blessing. That was the real significance of the work of redemption. But many people don’t understand. They always think the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption granted complete salvation to all mankind, and allowed us entry into the kingdom of heaven. That notion comes entirely from man’s imagination. We were given redemption by the Lord Jesus, that much is true, but did that change our sinful natures? Does the fact that God forgave our sins mean we’ve truly been holy? Then why do we still sin so frequently? Can those who sin so frequently ever really be approved by the Lord? Not many people have considered this problem, and we’ve never seen anyone truly understand this problem. The Lord Jesus redeemed us from a state of sin. Our sins were forgiven, we were granted salvation by grace, this is a fact. But, as we believe in the Lord and follow the Lord, we also often betray the Lord’s teachings, and give in to our fleshly desires to sin. We do things like lie, commit fraud, deceive, engage in intrigue, seek fame and fortune, we give in to vanity, lust for wealth, and follow evil worldly trends… In times of bitterness and trial, we often misunderstand and blame God, or even leave and betray God. When God’s work doesn’t accord with the notions of man, we carelessly judge and condemn God. At the same time we follow God, we worship and follow men. We live in a cycle of sinning and repenting, that’s hard to escape. We can’t free ourselves from the binds and control of our satanic nature, this is a fact. And although the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption is done, and our sins are forgiven, and we are no longer cursed for violating God’s laws, and can come before God to pray to Him and enjoy the entirety of God’s grace, that does not mean God’s work of saving mankind is over, because the sinful nature inside us still remains. We are still compelled by our satanic nature to oppose and betray God. And without knowing God, we will never fear God and distance ourselves from evil, even less can we reach a state of complete obedience to God, the compatibility with God and sanctity. We haven’t been truly gained by God. We all know, God is holy, and righteous. If people are unsanctified, they can’t see the Lord. God won’t allow the impure or corrupt into His kingdom. This is decided by God’s righteous disposition. So, in the last days, God has, according to His management plan to save mankind, carried out His work of judgment and chastisement, to remove the shackles and restraints of sin from the corrupt mankind and the root causes of sinning and help mankind completely escape the influence of Satan, be saved by God, and enter God’s kingdom. Let’s look at two more passages from Almighty God.

Questions and Answers on the Conditions for Entering the Kingdom of Heaven(7)

Question 7: Today we believe in the Lord Jesus; we suffer and sacrifice to spread the Lord’s name, forsaking everything else. We are doing the heavenly Father’s will. This means we have already been made holy. When the Lord arrives, He will definitely rapture us into the kingdom of heaven.

Answer: As for how we can enter the heavenly kingdom: The Lord Jesus said, “Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mat 7:21). Although people sacrifice to spread the Lord’s name, forsaking all else, you cannot deny that they also sin quite a lot. The fact that they sin means that they belong to Satan and are still corrupt. They are still able to resist and betray God; this means they have not truly been cleansed. If they were kings, they would set up their own kingdoms in opposition to God. This is enough to prove that they haven’t truly been cleansed and made holy. How can people that resist God this way be qualified to enter the heavenly kingdom? Sacrificing for the Lord, spreading the gospel, establishing the church, supporting the faithful, etc, these are all very good behaviors. If people practice these behaviors out of love, if they truly are sacrificing for God, if they want to obey and satisfy God, if they do not seek to make a deal with God, then these behaviors are truly good; God will remember these behaviors and bless these people. If they are doing it in an attempt to make a deal with God, if they seek to satisfy their fleshly desires, if they're doing it to enter the heavenly kingdom and be rewarded, then these behaviors are just attempts to trick God; these people are resisting God! Therefore, is the fact that you practice these behaviors evidence that you are implementing the heavenly father’s will? Does it mean you’re holy? Definitely not! Their good behaviors will still be matched with their sinful natures. They are only doing those things because they want to make a deal with God. This proves that men are too adulterous. How can people like this truly love God and obey God? Men are subject to and controlled by their sinful natures. When God does and says this that are not in line with their own conceptions, they judge Him, denounce and condemn God. When God puts them through trials, they misunderstand, hate and betray God.Men can believe in God while exalting and following other men at the same time. They listen to other men before they listen to God. People who serve God can often act on their own conceptions, exalt themselves, bear witness to themselves and take God as their enemies. Men are controlled by their sinful nature. As soon as they gain power, they will establish their own kingdoms, with God as their enemy. This is just like what the rabbis, scribes and Pharisees did; when Lord Jesus came to do His works, they fanatically condemned and resisting Him in order to protect their own positions. As a result, Lord Jesus’s grace never came to the Jews. Were they not establishing their own kingdoms in opposition to God? Therefore, if their sinful nature has not been resolved, even people who look like they’re laboring and behaving well have not had their satanic natures cleansed. Therefore, how can these people really implement God’s will, regardless of how much they suffer or what works they do? Those that implement God’s will are undoubtedly also those that obey God. They are definitely of the same mind as God. They surely will not rebel against or resist God. These people are the ones who are qualified to enter the heavenly kingdom and receive God’s promise.

from the movie script of Stinging Memories

Christian song | We Are the Most Blessed

I

It's all God's grace

that we can see God's loveliness,

that today we seek to love Him,

that we wish to accept

the training of the kingdom

of our time.

This is all God's grace,

and with this He lifts us up.

And when I think of this,

I feel God's loveliness.

God truly loves us, or else

we would not feel the way we do.

It shows we are blessed

more than the saints,

more than the rest.

So God always says

people of the last age are blessed.

How to Achieve a Change in Life Disposition

…………

The Path to a Change in Life Disposition

To achieve a change in life disposition, one must experience God’s judgment and chastisement, pruning and dealing, and trials of many kinds. This is the path to a change in life disposition. God’s judgment and chastisement is mostly about experiencing and receiving God’s judgment and chastisement from God’s words, this is the most crucial experience in submitting to the work of God. The experience of God’s judgment and chastisement is a result which must be achieved through the work of the Holy Spirit. We have seen most people read the word of God, eat and drink the word of God, but they have not experienced God’s judgment and chastisement. They have only seen in the word of God the revelation and the judgment of people’s rebelliousness and corruption. They have not personally felt the individual judgment and chastisement of themselves by God, this illustrates that these people have not experienced the judgment and chastisement of God. When some people see that the words of God’s judgment and chastisement are quite strict, they avoid and get out of them. When some people see the words of God’s judgment and chastisement, they think that they are talking about other people, that these words are not directed toward themselves, so they think nothing of it. Anyone who is in this state has not experienced God’s judgment and chastisement. So, God’s work does not have much of an effect on those people who have not experienced God’s judgment and chastisement in eating and drinking the word of God. We have seen that people in the Age of Grace all read the Bible and understood much of the writing contained within it. However, they did not feel the judgment and chastisement of God in their hearts and, at that time, God did not express words of the judgment and chastisement, so no matter how long people believed, they were not seen to have a change in life disposition. If people do not feel that God’s judgment and chastisement is directed toward themselves when they eat and drink the word of God in the Age of Kingdom or if they feel even less that God’s judgment and chastisement has a real effect on their hearts, then their experience of God’s work will not have much meaning. So, the entry into experiencing God’s judgment and chastisement is a crucial issue. So, how does one enter? You must do so through prayer. You pray before God: “God, I am willing to accept Your judgment and chastisement. May Your judgment and chastisement have an effect on my heart.” Afterward you will probably have the work of the Holy Spirit. When you read the words of the judgment and chastisement, you will feel that they are judgment and chastisement of you, that they are directed toward you. It will feel as if your heart has been stabbed and you will feel that “these words are so true, they are judging me, these words chastise me.” You will only truly experience God’s judgment and chastisement when you have this feeling. Most people, when seeing that the words of God are too strict, just like a two-edged sword, do not dare to face them but choose to avoid them. The result is that God’s judgment and chastisement seems to have nothing to do with them and, because of this, their corruption and nature will not change. Therefore, the experience of God’s judgment and chastisement lies in a person’s pursuit and acceptance. If you do not choose acceptance there is no way for this judgment and chastisement to happen to you. That is to say, a person must personally experience God’s judgment and chastisement—in your heart you truly feel that you have received God’s judgment and chastisement and you experience much suffering and refinement from the words of judgment and chastisement, and in the end, this makes you recognize your satanic nature, recognize the hatefulness of your satanic nature and recognize that Satan is the essence of your corruption. If you have no experience of God’s judgment and chastisement, then you must have not suffered too much from God’s words. If you have not suffered very much, then you definitely will not recognize your nature and the essence of your corruption and if you do not recognize this, how can you bring about change? So it can be said that experiencing God’s judgment and chastisement is dependent on a person’s pursuit. If people do not have this experience and do not suffer much from God’s words, changes in life disposition are not possible, this is a key experience. The most important thing in the submission to God’s work is to experience God’s judgment and chastisement and this depends on a person’s pursuit. If people do not pursue, they will not be able to receive the judgment and chastisement. After people are corrupted by Satan, they all think that they are good people, that they are much better than others, that they are after God’s heart, that they can be saved by God and they even consider themselves loved by God and to be God’s favorite. These people do not recognize the essence of their corruption. So the first experience is the experience of God’s judgment and chastisement. If people do not truly experience this in God’s work, this is the greatest mistake and is also the greatest loss. The second is to experience God’s pruning and dealing. Some of God’s words are specifically about the pruning of people and dealing with people’s corrupt condition. If people truly experience these words, they will feel that all of these words are dealing with themselves and are directed toward their own condition. They will see that their condition is too corrupt and that God’s dealing is right and entirely appropriate and proper. Of course, when people receive God’s pruning and dealing, their heart will suffer somewhat, they will despise their own corruption and repent, pray before God and weep. If people are not able to submit to and accept God’s words, the pruning and dealing cannot achieve any effect. They must seek the pruning and dealing of God. They must obtain the work of the Holy Spirit through prayer, so that they may feel that God’s pruning and dealing is directed toward them, is directed toward their situation yesterday or the day before. And they may feel as if God is speaking to them in person. If they have this experience, then that is to truly experience God’s judgment and chastisement and truly experience God’s pruning and dealing. Ordinary people do not have this true experience but there are some people who can feel it. You see, there are some people who after reading God’s words say to others, “this is about me,” they say this to others in public. Why do they feel that God is talking about them? Where does this feeling come from? This is the work of the Holy Spirit. The enlightenment of the Holy Spirit makes them feel that God is talking about them. They see that they have those corruptions and rebelliousness mentioned and that these words are pruning and dealing with them. This is a true entry and a true experience. If some people, no matter what aspect of the word of God they read, whether it is the words of judgment and chastisement or the words of pruning and dealing, feel that the words of God are never directed toward them, that they have nothing to do with them and the words are directed toward others, then this kind of person does not have the work of the Holy Spirit with them. In experiencing the work of God, one must also experience God’s discipline and punishment, this is also a necessary experience. Some of God’s discipline is carried out through words and sometimes God uses the environment or people, events and objects around us to discipline and punish us. If you truly have the work of the Holy Spirit, your heart will be very clear about it, you will say: God is disciplining me through this environment, this is God punishing me. If people have this kind of experience—they of course have to suffer a lot—and they can feel God’s discipline and God’s punishment, this is an effect of the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it can be said that, whoever seeks the truth and seeks to change their disposition must have this kind of experience. If a person does not have this kind of experience, their corrupt disposition will not change. There is also another experience which is the most formidable. It is the experience of God’s trials of many kinds. If a person does not experience God’s trials of many kinds, their life disposition will definitely not change. Experienced people will definitely know about these trials of many kinds while inexperienced people will definitely not know them. The trials of many kinds are not a sort of trial. In the initial stage of God’s work, most people underwent the trial of the service-doers, the trial of death and the refinement of the times of chastisement. However, after experiencing these trials were they able to achieve a change in life disposition? Impossible. They experienced some changes but did not achieve a change in life disposition. To achieve a change in life disposition, they must experience God’s trials of many kinds. So, in God’s work, those who experience God’s trials of many kinds are the most blessed. Only in this kind of person can a real change in life disposition be seen. Some people often ask: “What trials are included in the trials of many kinds? What kind of occurrence constitutes a trial?” Put it this way, anything which makes you suffer and which refines you has the nature of a trial or refinement. If you are a person who pursues the truth, anything which makes you especially suffer or refines you and is a kind of experience which you endure without collapsing and which makes you stronger afterward is a trial. For example, sometimes you may find that you cannot feel God for a while, that when you pray you cannot sense the presence of God either, and in your heart, no matter how you pray to be close to God, you cannot feel God. Will people suffer when they are in this situation? Of course they will suffer, no one could bear this. If a person cannot feel God, his first reaction is: “Oh, God does not want me, God has eliminated me, I’m finished! What sins have I committed? Why has God forsaken me?” If he is able to pursue the truth, he will undergo a period of refinement and endure much suffering. In his heart he will say: “This is no good. Even though I cannot feel God I must still have faith, even though I cannot feel God I will still pursue the truth, I cannot leave God.” He will still keep his faith, this is the expression of a person who pursues the truth. If a person who does not pursue the truth cannot feel God, he will think: “Why can’t I feel God at the moment? Is it because my faith was misplaced? Well, if there is no God then I will not believe,” and he will return to the world. This kind of person will thus be eliminated, this is not a test of him but is a way to expose him, to expose his evil heart of disbelief and eliminate him. However, the more people who pursue the truth fail to feel God, the more worried they will become. The more worried they become, they more they will pray to God, the more they will reflect on themselves, the more they admit their transgressions to God, the more they admit their corruption and in their heart they will do their utmost to call for and want God. This kind of desire will become more and more intense with the passing of time. They will feel that they cannot go on living without God, that life without God has no meaning and is empty. They will think: “This is no good, I must go on pursuing the truth, I must go on reading God’s words….” This is a person who truly wants God. If he encounters this kind of situation and it does not make him collapse, but on the contrary, it makes him stronger, this is a kind of test. It is like when a young child is living with his parents. Sometimes the parents want to test whether or not the child can be independent, to see if he can be apart from them. So they suddenly hide themselves. When the child cannot see his parents he becomes worried, cries and looks for them. The parents, when seeing the child crying most miserably, suddenly appear before him again. At this time the child thinks: Oh, my parents are great, they are truly worthy of my love! And immediately he throws himself into their arms. This is similar to how God sometimes tests people. God conceals Himself so that people cannot feel Him. However, if a person truly pursues the truth, no matter how long this kind of trial lasts, he will still want God, still pursue the truth and still read Gods words, he will not leave God. This is one kind of trial. There are also times when some people will suddenly feel as if they were about to die, that they don’t have long to live. They have a kind of premonition that something special is going to happen. After they have this kind of premonition, they will suffer inside and be very worried: “What will it be like if I really die? If I really die, have I received salvation or not? After I die where will I go? I have not gained God, nor obtained the truth, if I really die will I not miss the opportunity to be made perfect through God’s work?” This trial of death is quite painful, upon encountering this trial one will probably feel like he is about to die. What would a person who pursues the truth think? He would think: “I am about to die, that is no good; since I am about to die I even more have to do my duty properly, I must satisfy God for once, and even if I die I will not complain. I was created by God, and should offer my loyalty to God. I must live for God when alive. If I am about to die I must do well my duty so that my life is not wasted.” You see, this trial of death has this kind of effect on people. Is this not a kind of purification? It is indeed a kind of purification, it can change people. It is a result that people will obtain after experiencing the trials of many kinds. Many times when this kind of trial happens, you will feel in your heart as if it is really happening to you. This is your refinement, the refinement of your heart. At last, once it has had a certain effect, the feeling of this trial will go away. There are many trials like this, they probably occur once every 8 or 10 days. Sometimes they involve the word of God. God will have you read a sentence and you will feel that it is testing you. This one sentence will cause you to suffer for five, six, seven or eight days. After you have suffered, you will think: “Why is God judging me like this? These words are directed toward me. Is it possible that I am really about to be punished? Is it possible that I am really about to go to perdition or destruction? Then what should I do? How should I practice?” In the end, you will still choose to satisfy God and submit to God. You must be refined so that you can achieve the following result: You will have a heart to satisfy God, you are willing to best fulfill your duty as a created being, you are willing to give your loyalty until the end, you are willing to repent, you are able to despise yourself and curse yourself and you are able to praise God and you feel that God is righteous and so lovable. When refinement produces such a result, does it not mean that you have been purified? This is indeed the process by which a person is purified. So the trials of many kinds are of great benefit to a person! I have seen God’s words which talk of Peter facing hundreds of trials in the last 7 years. In the beginning, I did not understand, I thought: “Facing hundreds of trials in 7 years, wow, that is one trial every few days. What kind of trial did he receive once every few days?” Later, with experience, I understood. I also experienced some trials, so I knew that these trials were of great benefit to a person. In short, whether you experience God’s judgment and chastisement, experience God’s pruning and dealing, experience God’s discipline and punishment, or experience God’s many kinds of trials, these are all the process by which God purifies a person, they are the process by which God saves or transforms a person and are of great benefit for a person’s change of disposition. If you are a person who pursues the truth, you will long for this kind of experience. You will be willing to receive God’s judgment and chastisement, be willing to receive some pruning and dealing, and be even more willing to receive discipline and punishment. You will also feel that God is lovable and righteous while living with God’s many kinds of trials and feel that this is God’s exaltation and grace. Now, when experiencing God’s work, the more suffering you receive from God’s words, the more blessed you are. If a person does not receive any suffering from God’s words, there are problems with his method of faith, practice, pursuit and resolution. Strictly speaking, anyone who does not suffer from God’s words is not truly experiencing God’s work. If you read a lot of God’s words or if you read God’s words for several years and you do not feel that you have suffered very much, it could be said that this is the greatest loss! If you have not suffered, you have definitely been too selective when reading God’s words. You have tried to choose some words to read which do not cause suffering. This is of no benefit to your growth in life or your change in disposition. This is the truth. At the beginning when I read God’s words in experiencing the trial of the service-doers, I thought: Wow, why are these words so harsh, these words are so piercing to the heart. After one glance I do not want to read anymore. At that time I was also like this. However, as time passed, I discovered that the work of the Holy Spirit did not leave me and it was impossible to not suffer, I wanted to avoid it but could not. After I experienced it for a time, I felt better, the state inside me changed. At this time I realized: Wow, it is good to suffer in reading God’s words. The more I feel judgment and chastisement from the words, the more I should read them carefully and attentively, the more I should write them down in my notebook. This is what I felt later, it wasn’t like this at the start. Therefore, any of you who fears suffering while reading God’s words, should go back and read God’s words carefully. You should truly submit to God’s words, and should be able to truly satisfy God in God’s words. Reading God’s words this way is guaranteed to make your life grow and bring you a change in life disposition. If you read God’s words in the way that people eat food, choosing delicious food and food which suits their own taste as much as possible, then it will not be of any benefit. Reading the word of God in this way is not truly experiencing God’s work. This is the truth. A change in life disposition depends on experiencing God’s work. The most important thing is to receive God’s judgment and chastisement, to receive God’s pruning and dealing, to receive God’s discipline and even punishment and even more so to receive God’s trials and refinement of many kinds. If you do not experience enough of these four kinds of suffering, your life disposition will definitely not change very much. Achieving a change in disposition is dependent on experiencing God’s work and much pain. If a person merely continually reads God’s words while he lives in tranquility and peace without experiencing any suffering at all, he will not be able to achieve this result. So, you must understand the true path of achieving a change in life disposition, it is obtained by truly receiving God’s judgment and chastisement, by truly receiving God’s pruning and dealing, by receiving God’s discipline and punishment and finally by experiencing God’s many kinds of trials. This is the only way to truly receive this blessing of a change in life disposition. So, I’m afraid that anyone who does not suffer through God’s words, especially those words of judgment and chastisement, pruning and dealing, discipline and even punishment will not receive life and will be even less able to achieve a change in life disposition.

From Classic Selections From Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life

God redeemed mankind in the Age of Grace, so why does He still need to do His work of judgment in the last days?

Bible Verses for Reference:

“You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy”(Lev 11:45).

“Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb 12:14).

“And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (Jhn 12:47-48).

Relevant Words of God:

At the time Jesus’ work was the redemption of all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer a sinner, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins: Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III (Part One)

These several fellowships have had a great impact on every single person. As of now, people can finally really feel the true existence of God and that God is actually very close to them. Although people have believed in God for many years, they have never truly understood His thoughts and ideas as they do now, neither have they truly experienced His practical deeds as they do now. Whether it’s knowledge or actual practice, most people have learned something new and achieved a higher understanding, and they have realized the error in their own past pursuits, realized the superficiality of their experience and that too much is not in line with God’s will, and realized that what man most lacks is knowledge of God’s disposition. This knowledge on the part of people is a type of emotional knowledge; to rise to the level of rational knowledge requires a gradual deepening and strengthening through their experiences. Before man truly understands God, subjectively it could be said that they do believe in the existence of God in their hearts, but they have no real understanding of specific questions such as what kind of God He actually is, what His will is, what His disposition is, and what His real attitude toward mankind is. This greatly compromises people’s faith in God—their faith simply cannot achieve purity or perfection. Even if you are face to face with God’s word, or feel that you have encountered God through your experiences, it still cannot be said that you completely understand Him. Because you don’t know God’s thoughts, or what He loves and what He hates, what makes Him angry and what brings Him joy, you do not have a true understanding of Him. Your faith is built on a foundation of vagueness and imagination, based on your subjective desires. It is still far from an authentic belief, and you are still far from being a true follower. Explanations of the examples from these Bible stories have allowed humans to know God’s heart, what He was thinking at every step in His work and why He did this work, what His original intention and His plan were when He did it, how He achieved His ideas, and how He prepared for and developed His plan. Through these stories, we can gain a detailed, specific understanding of God’s every specific intention and every real thought during His six thousand years of management work, and His attitude toward humans at different times and in different eras. Understanding what God was thinking, what His attitude was, and the disposition He revealed as He faced every situation, can help every person more deeply realize His true existence, and more deeply feel His realness and authenticity. My goal in telling these stories is not so that people can understand biblical history, nor is it to help them become familiar with the books of the Bible or the people in it, and it’s especially not to help people understand the background of what God did during the Age of Law. It is to help people understand God’s will, His disposition, and every little part of Him, and gain a more authentic and more accurate understanding and knowledge of God. This way, people’s hearts can, little by little, open up to God, become close to God, and they can better understand Him, His disposition, His essence, and better know the true God Himself.

The Testimony of a Christian | God Protected Our Family Through a Disaster

Wang Lan, Beijing

August 6, 2012

　　On July 21, 2012, the biggest flood in sixty years ripped through our village. The disaster fell from heaven, the floodwater mixed mud and stones and ravaged the whole village. Most of the houses were destroyed by the water and the mudslides.

　　After five o’clock that afternoon, the rain was coming down very heavily. There were floodwaters and big stones coming down from above our house, and the floodwaters were huge in front and behind our house. They washed away my daughter’s chicken run with thousands of chickens, they washed away the pig pens, and the pigs too. The water was about to rush over our home. We had a 94 year old and a ten-month-old baby. We were frantic. As I was carrying the 94 year old and the baby up into the higher building, water was starting to come into the lower one. The rain kept coming down. The water rose up toward the higher building as we watched. I was beside myself. I quickly called the village cadre, he said I should run up the mountain, and that they were also having a hard enough time getting themselves out, it was every man for himself. In my panic, I thought of God’s words, “The disaster is brought down by Me and of course orchestrated by Me” (“You Ought to Do Enough Good Deeds to Prepare for Your Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Believing in God means relying on God, you can’t rely on people, so I stood in the doorway crying and called out a loud plea to God: “Oh God, save us! Oh God, save us!” The whole family got down on our knees and prayed: “Oh God, if we die in this disaster it is by Your righteousness, because we are too rebellious. If we escape this disaster it is by Your grace. We will begin again, and will be considerate of Your will, do our duties and spread the gospel.” It got dark and we didn’t dare go out. The whole family sat together sharing with each other God’s grasp of the fate of all humanity, how if God has a person die, there’s nowhere a person can go to hide, they will not pass out of God’s hands, and we were not afraid of death.

(1) - The Chinese Communist Party's Strategy of Coercing Christians by Threatening Their Families

Feeling after reading:  ❄🌼❄🌼❄🌼❄🌼

The Chinese Communist Party proclaims that there is religious freedom in China. But is it the truth? In China, the CCP arrests the Christians in secret, tortures them and use various methods to force them to betray God and reject God. In this movie, the sister prayed to God again and again while suffering. Under the enlightenment and guidance of God's word, she didn't leave or betray God despite the helllike tortures, and at last she stood the testimony by relying on God.It shows us the authority of God's word and God's wonderful deeds, moreover, we see truly that God is the strongest support and help of us.

In order to coerce Christians to sell out the church, betray God and ruin their chances of being saved by God, the Chinese Communist Party unscrupulously threatens the family members of Christians and they use the family emotions of Christians to coerce them to betray God. Can the schemes of the Chinese Communist Party prevail? In this battle between good and evil, how will the Christians rely on God to overcome Satan's temptations and stand firm and bear witness for God?

The Church of Almighty God | The Testimony of a Christian | An Arrogant Believer’s Process of Transformation

hang Yitao    Henan Province

　“God, Your work is so practical, so full of righteousness and holiness. You have been patiently working for so long, all for us. In the past, I believed in God but I didn’t have a human manner. I disobeyed You and hurt Your heart without knowing. I am full of shame and regret and am indebted to You. Only now do I realize this. … Without Your harsh judgment, I wouldn’t have today, and facing Your genuine love I am grateful and indebted to You. It was Your work that saved me and caused my disposition to change. Without sorrow and pain, my heart is full of happiness” (“Oh God, the Love You Have Given Me Is Too Great” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). Every time I sing this song, I think of God’s salvation for me through all these years, and I am full of gratitude for Him. It was God’s judgment and chastisement that changed me. It made me—an arrogant, ambitious, rebellious son—appear a bit more like a human being. I sincerely give thanks for God’s salvation of me!

　I was born in the countryside. Because my family was poor and my parents were honest, they were often cheated. From the time I was little people looked down on me, and being beaten and bullied became a common occurrence. This frequently made me sad to the point of tears. I put everything I had into my studies so that I would no longer have to lead that type of life, so that in the future I could have a position as a government official, be someone in charge, and everyone would look up to me. But as soon as I finished middle school and I was preparing for the high school entrance examination, the Cultural Revolution started. The Red Guards revolted, workers went on strike, students walked out. Every day was caught up in the revolution. It was pandemonium, the people were in a panic, and the college entrance examination system was banned. So, I lost the opportunity to test into a school. I was devastated—I felt as terrible as if I had become seriously ill. Later, I thought: Even though I can’t test into school or become a government official, I’ll work hard to earn money. As long as I have money people will think highly of me. From then on, I was looking everywhere for ways to make money. Since my family was poor, I didn’t have any funding to start doing business. Through relatives and friends, I managed to borrow 500 yuan to start a shop selling braised pork. At that time meat was only seventy cents a pound, but after buying the equipment I needed, what was left from that 500 yuan just wasn’t enough. Every time I had some income it went straight into funding the business. As soon as I earned any money I would repay my debt. I endured many hardships so that I would be able to lead a better life than others. From morning till late, I had no free time. After several years of hard work, my skills became more and more refined, and my business was booming more and more. My family quickly became more well-off, and many people looked at me with envy.

The Church of Almighty God| Almighty God's Word "Those Who Believe in God Should Submit to Him" | The Church of Almighty God

　　Almighty God says, "The key to submission to God is the capacity to receive the newest light, accept it and put into practice; that is true submission. If one does not have such will to thirst for God, one cannot attain submission to God in his heart; instead one will resist God due to his satisfaction with his current status. One cannot submit to God because one is preoccupied by what one originally has, which has molded various conceptions within, leading to different imaginations of God. These have become images of God in human mind. Therefore, one believes in one’s own conceptions, one’s own imagined standard. If you measure the God who performs actual work today with your own imaginary God, then your faith comes from Satan; such faith is colored by your personal preference, and God does not want such faith. One who believes in God in this manner will not receive commendation from God, no matter how senior he is, how much he has spent, even if he has exerted his entire life to do God’s work, to the point of martyrdom. God only gives him a little grace for his temporary enjoyment. Such people simply cannot practice the truth and the Holy Spirit will not work in them; God will eliminate such people one by one. No matter whether one is old or young, if one believes in and yet will not submit to God, or has a wrong motive, then he is a person who resists and causes disruption. Doubtlessly such people are targets of elimination. For those who do not submit to God at all, but only acknowledge the name of God and feel a bit the kindness and loveliness of God, yet who cannot follow the footsteps of the Holy Spirit nor submit to the present work and word of the Holy Spirit, they live in God’s grace but cannot be gained and perfected by God. God’s perfection of man is through man’s submission, through man’s eating and drinking and enjoying the word of God, and through painful refinements in his life. Only through such faith can one be transformed in his disposition, and gain true knowledge of God. One is not satisfied with just living in the grace of God, but takes the initiative to thirst after and seek the truth, working toward being gained by God; this is conscious submission, which is the faith God truly wants."

The Church of Almighty God| Be Faithful to The End - "I Wish to See the Day God Gains Glory" (Official Music Video)

I Wish to See the Day God Gains Glory

I

Today I suffer for God; tomorrow I will inherit God’s blessings.

To see the day God gains glory, I’m willing to give up my youth and offer up my whole life.

Ah! God’s love has enchanted my heart,

and I can never leave You again.

I’m willing to drink up the bitter cup, and exchange my whole life for sufferings.

I don’t complain about wrongs or humiliations. I’m willing to repay God’s grace all my life.

II

I will offer the sweetest to God, and leave the bitterest to myself.

I will firmly stand God’s testimony, and never again yield to Satan.

Ah! Head can be cut off and blood can be shed, but the integrity of God’s people can’t be lost.

God’s charge is on my mind. I resolve to shame the old Satan.

Let tears flow in my heart; I’d rather endure great humiliations

than bring worries to God.

The Church of Almighty God| God's Word Leads Man to Live a New Life | "Our Church Life Is So Lovely" (Official Music Video)

Our Church Life Is So Lovely

Almighty God incarnate, we sing loud praises to You.

You bring us into the kingdom life.

We kingdom people are at Your rich banquet,

enjoying Your words, being cleansed of our corruption.

Your word leads us and we follow You closely.

It’s God’s grace that our satanic disposition is shaken off.

We enjoy God’s word and live a new life before Him.

Care for God’s heart, truly love Him, thank and praise Him.

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