This is my best praise songs, When I was singing this hymn, I felt that God is all in my life, I don't want to stay away, escape from and disobey God, I'm willing to enter the kingdom of heaven and never separate with God ……
Here, God appears as a parent of Adam and Eve. While God does this, man does not see how lofty God is; he does not see God’s paramount supremacy, His mysteriousness, and especially not His wrath or majesty. All he sees is God’s humbleness, His affection, His concern for man and His responsibility and care toward him. The attitude and way in which God treated Adam and Eve is akin to how human parents show concern for their own children. It’s also like how human parents love, look after, and care for their own sons and daughters—real, visible, and tangible. Instead of putting Himself in a high and mighty position, God personally used skins to make clothing for man.
“For Adam and Eve, the Lord God made coats of skins, and clothed them.”
What we can see from this image is that God appears in the role
of the parent of Adam and Eve.
Ah … ah … ah … ah …
I
God made Adam and Eve, taking them as His companions.
As their only family, He looked after their life,
as well as took care of all, all their basic necessities.
God appears in the role of the parent, the parent of Adam and Eve.
God made Adam and Eve, taking them as His companions.
As their only family, He looked after their life,
as well as took care of all, all their basic necessities.
God appears in the role of the parent, the parent of Adam and Eve,
as the parent of Adam and Eve.
In this work God does, in this work God does,
man is unable to see how lofty God is, or His paramount supremacy.
Nor can they see Him shrouded in mystery, or His wrath and majesty.
Everything they can see is the love of God and His humility.
And they see His concern for man as well as His duty and care toward man.
Something we have always discussed in previous communions is the paths walked by Peter and Paul. It is said that Peter paid attention to knowing himself and God, and was someone God approved, while Paul only paid attention to his work, reputation and status, and was someone God despised. I have always been afraid of walking Paul’s path, which is why I normally often read God’s words about Peter’s experiences to see how he came to know God. After living like this for a while, I felt I had become more obedient than before, my desire for reputation and status had dimmed, and that I had gotten to know myself a little. At this time, I believed that even though I was not completely on Peter’s path, it could be said that I had touched the edge of it, and at least it meant I was not heading down Paul’s path. However, I would be shamed by the revelations of God’s word.
One morning, when I was practicing spiritual devotions, I saw the following words of God: “Peter’s work was the performance of the duty of a creature of God. He did not work in the role of an apostle, but during the course of his pursuit of a love of God. The course of Paul’s work also contained his personal pursuit…. There were no personal experiences in his work—it was all for its own sake, and not carried out amid the pursuit of change. Everything in his work was a transaction, it contained none of the duty or submission of a creature of God. During the course of his work, there occurred no change in Paul’s old disposition. His work was merely of service to others, and was incapable of bringing about changes in his disposition. … Peter was different: He was someone who had undergone pruning, and had undergone dealing and refinement. The aim and motivation of the work of Peter were fundamentally different to those of Paul. Although Peter did not do a large amount of work, his disposition underwent many changes, and what he sought was the truth, and real change. His work was not carried out simply for the sake of the work itself” (“Success or Failure Depends on the Path That Man Walks” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words touched my soul and I fell silent: Peter was someone who fulfilled his duty as a created creature. He worked through his process of seeking to love God as opposed to his role as an apostle. But was I someone fulfilling his duty as a created creature or just doing my job as a worker? At this time, I thought back to various situations of the past: When the church had a lot of work to take care of, other brothers and sisters would say: You are truly burdened with God’s work. I would then blurt out: We leaders have no choice but to deal with it. Sometimes, at host families or in front of co-workers, I would want to be considerate to my physical body and relax myself, but then I would think: No, I’m a leader, I must live out a normal humanity and not be debaucherous. When I didn’t feel like eating and drinking the words of God, I would also think: As a leader, if I don’t eat and drink God’s words, then how would I be able to resolve other people’s problems? Sometimes I would go with a co-worker to the host family she was staying with, and when I saw that the way the host sister treated me was not as enthusiastic as she treated her, I would get upset: You might not know who I am, but I am her leader. Sometimes, for whatever reason, I would not feel like communicating to host brothers and sisters, but then I would think: As a leader, how would I be seen by people if I come but don’t communicate to them? Since I am a leader I should have to communicate to host families. … These various behaviors made me see: I was working because of status. Whether it was communicating to people, attending meetings, or handling general affairs, it was all only because I was a leader that I felt obligated to fulfill a bit of my duty and do a bit of work. I was not fulfilling my duty as a created creature, and moreover was not working through my process of loving God like Peter had. If things were to continue as before, when the day comes that I am dismissed and replaced, I perhaps would not keep fulfilling my duty the way I do now. It was only then that I saw that I was not a person who practiced the truth or was considerate to God’s will. Instead, I was a despicable villain who only worked for reputation and status. It is impossible to have loyalty toward God working the way that I had because it was merely perfunctory. I was not willingly practicing the truth and being considerate to God’s will, because “it was all for its own sake, and not carried out amid the pursuit of change.” How could such service possibly satisfy God’s will? Paul was working in his position as an apostle; his work was full of transactions. I was working and expending in my position as a leader. How are such intentions and purposes for believing in God any different to Paul’s?
Utterances ofAlmighty God-Only by Experiencing Refinement Can Man Truly Love God
How should man love God during refinement? Having experienced refinement, during refinement people are able to truly praise God and to see just how much they are lacking. The greater your refinement, the more you are able to renounce the flesh; the greater their refinement, the more people’s love for God. This is what you should understand. Why must people be refined? What effect does it aim to achieve? What is the significance of God’s work of refinement in man? If you truly seek God, then having experienced His refinement to a certain point you will feel that it is so good, and that it is of the utmost necessity. How should man love God during refinement? By using the resolve to love God to accept His refinement: During refinement you are tormented inside, as if a knife were being twisted in your heart, yet you are willing to satisfy God using your heart, which loves Him, and you are unwilling to care for the flesh. This is what is meant by practicing the love of God. You hurt inside, and your suffering has reached a certain point, yet you are still willing to come before God and pray, saying: “O God! I cannot leave You. Although there is darkness within me, I wish to satisfy You; You know my heart, and I would that You invest more of Your love within me.” This is practice during refinement. If you use the love of God as the foundation, refinement can bring you closer to God and make you more intimate with God. Since you believe in God, you must hand over your heart before God. If you offer up and lay your heart before God, then during refinement it will be impossible for you to deny God, or leave God. In this way your relationship with God will become ever closer, and ever more normal, and your communion with God will become ever more frequent. If you always practice in this way, then you will spend more time in God’s light, and more time under the guidance of His words, there will also be more and more changes in your disposition, and your knowledge will increase day by day. When the day comes and God’s trials suddenly befall you, you will not only be able to stand by God’s side, but will also be able to bear testimony to God. At that time, you will be like Job, and Peter. Having borne testimony to God you will truly love Him, and will gladly lay down your life for Him; you will be God’s witness, and one who is beloved by God. Love that has experienced refinement is strong, and not weak. Regardless of when or how God subjects you to His trials, you are able to care not whether you live or die, to gladly cast aside everything for God, and to happily endure anything for God—and thus your love will be pure, and your faith real. Only then will you be someone who is truly loved by God, and who has truly been made perfect by God.
