Archives for 11 月 2023
Bible Verse–James 1:12
Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him.
Bible Verse–Proverbs 21:21
He that follows after righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and honor.
Bible Verse–John 17:3
And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Bible Verse–Luke 12:15
And he said to them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.
Bible Verse–Matthew 16:26
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Bible Verses–John 11:25–26
Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Believe you this?
I Saw God’s Almightiness and Sovereignty in a Fire
By Jizhen
One day in late October of 2014, at past 3 p.m., my husband ran home in a great fluster. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he said breathlessly, “A large fire has broken out in the north fields. It’s going to spread to our house. There is no time to remove other things. Take out our ID cards, residence booklet, and all the other papers, and put them in a safe place quickly.” With that, he hurried to run out. I followed him out and looked toward the north, where there had already existed a sheet of flame. Fanned by a wind, the fire was roaring with thick smoke billowing up. I was quite terrified by the scene. The northwesterly wind of force 5-6 blowing strongly, flames were leaping around. I saw that the fierce fire was less than 200 meters away from my house. Considering that my house of thatch and wood, without courtyard walls, would be soon ablaze once it caught fire, I thought of my books of God’s word then. I knew that these books are more important than my life to me. Where should I put them? I fluttered about with anxiety, just like a cat on a hot tin roof. What should I do? I suddenly remembered God. Then I called out to God earnestly, “O God! The fields behind my house are on fire. It is about to spread to my house. I must keep the books of Your word safe. Where should I put them? Please guide and help me. God!” After the prayer, I suddenly thought of my vegetable cellar, which was more than three meters deep. Very excited, I thanked God for His guidance and leadership. I hurriedly put in a bucket my books of God’s word, residence booklet, and all the other papers, and let the bucket down with a rope into the vegetable cellar. Following this, I breathed a sigh of relief and kept thanking God. I personally experienced that I was so small and helpless in the face of disaster, and that only God is my reliance.
At that point, all men in our village went to the fields to fight the fire, and women were busying themselves moving things out of their houses, screaming and yelling. At the edge of our village, there were two excavators of our village that were digging ditches. Looking toward the north, I saw the fierce fire rapidly coming toward my house with the northwesterly wind of force 5-6. Besides, the fire was just sixty or seventy meters away from my house. At that time, knowing that there was nothing I could do, I knelt down and prayed to God, “O God! Whether or not my house will be burnt is arranged by Your hands. I’m willing to obey You. No matter how badly my house is burnt, I will not resent You.” After praying, I saw that the fire was about to spread to my house. Just then, a miraculous thing happened. The wind instantly veered to the south-west. In consequence, the fire spread to another place. I saw God’s sovereignty and wonderful deeds with my own eyes. At that moment, I thought of God’s words, “The disaster originates with Me and is of course orchestrated by Me” (“Prepare Sufficient Good Deeds for Your Destination”). “Man’s heart and spirit are held in the hand of God, everything of his life is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts. Such is the way in which God presides over all things” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life”). At that time, I practically experienced that everything, dead or alive, is in God’s hand and will shift according to His thoughts. Especially I tasted that when I truly called upon God in a crisis, He listened to my prayers, removed my difficulties and anxieties, and rescued me from danger. Through this experience, I truly felt that God is right by my side. Just as God says, “Until, one day, you will feel that the Creator is no longer a riddle, that the Creator has never been hidden from you, that the Creator has never concealed His face from you, that the Creator is not at all far from you, that the Creator is no longer the One that you constantly long for in your thoughts but that you cannot reach with your feelings, that He is really and truly standing guard to your left and right, supplying your life, and controlling your destiny. He is not on the remote horizon, nor has He secreted Himself high up in the clouds. He is right by your side, presiding over your all, He is everything that you have, and He is the only thing you have” (“Knowing God Is the Path to Fearing God and Shunning Evil”). Before the fact, I saw God’s realness and almightiness. Furthermore, I genuinely experienced that God is by our side, and that He is the God who listens to our prayers. This is like Job who only heard about God before he underwent trials, but he saw God after his great trials. Though this environment I encountered can’t be compared with Job’s trials, it made me practically see God, and see that the Creator is so real and almighty. At that time, I was so excited that I didn’t know what to say but only kept thanking God.
The fire burnt up over 70 acres of cornstalks of our village. Without God’s protection, my house would have been the first to be burnt. It was because of God’s protection that the wind shifted. Through the fire, I have gained a deeper understanding of God’s almightiness and sovereignty and wonderful deed. Thank God! All the glory be to God!
Bible Verse–Matthew 10:39
He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for My sake shall find it.
Bible Verse–John 6:51
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
I Have a New Knowledge of “The Canaanite Woman’s Faith”
Matthew 15:22-28 record: “And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried to him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, you son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and sought him, saying, Send her away; for she cries after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith: be it to you even as you will. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”
Whenever reading this part of the scriptures, I thought: At first, the Lord Jesus treated the Canaanite woman with indifference and likened her to a dog. Then why did He change His attitude toward her just because of her words: “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27)? Is it because the Canaanite woman believed that the Lord had the power to cast out the demon from her daughter and save her? Or is it because she could accept the Lord Jesus likening her to a dog? Upon pondering these verses, I felt that there were some mysteries here, yet I couldn’t figure it out.
One afternoon, I was reading the Bible at home and contemplating those scriptures, when a rat-a-tat interrupted my train of thought. It was Sister Huihui, a friend of mine, who came to visit me. In chatting with her, I poured out my confusion. Then she said smilingly, “Thank God! Recently, I’ve been reading a book. And the words in it just can resolve your problem. I’d like to share with you.”
“Really? Then what are we waiting for?” said I.
Huihui took out a book from her handbag and read a passage of words for me, “Why did the Lord Jesus praise the faith of this person? It was not because she was willing to be a dog, nor was it because she was willing to eat bread crumbs. This is all secondary. What was it that the Lord Jesus praised her for? It was that she didn’t care whether the Lord Jesus saw her as a dog, as a person, or as the devil Satan. She didn’t care what He saw her as. The most important point was that she regarded the Lord Jesus as God, and that she affirmed the Lord Jesus to be the Lord, and to be God. This is a truth and a fact that is eternally unchanging. The Lord Jesus was God, was the Lord, was the One affirmed as such in her heart, and that was enough. Irrespective of whether the Lord Jesus saved her or didn’t save her, whether He saw her as someone to eat with together at table, or as a disciple, or a follower, or whether He saw her as a lapdog or guard dog, it was all fine, she didn’t care. In any case, it was enough for her to acknowledge that the Lord Jesus was the Lord of her heart; this was her greatest faith” (“Man is the Greatest Beneficiary of God’s Management Plan”).
She then continued, “The Canaanite woman was very rational in front of the Lord. Because of her true faith in the Lord, she believed that the Lord had the power to heal her daughter. What’s more, no matter what kind of attitude the Lord Jesus had toward her— granting her request or not, or ignoring her or likening her to a dog, she believed the substance of the Lord was God without doubt, and never had any complaint or resentment. Since she regarded the Lord Jesus as her Lord and her God, she didn’t care whether the Lord saw her as a dog or a person but had particular faith in Him all the time. Even when the Lord Jesus likened her to a dog in front of His disciples, she could put her own image aside and cared not how others viewed her. It can be seen that she wasn’t in the least restrained by any man, thing, or object, and was able to stand firm in her position as a created creature and honor God as the greatest in her heart. Consequently, the Lord graced her and fulfilled her wish.
“Compared with the Canaanite woman, what was the attitude those chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees who served Jehovah in the temple held toward the Lord Jesus and His new work? They had never sought or investigated whether the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah they had been waiting for, but tried every excuse to resist and condemn the Lord Jesus when His work did not conform to their notions and imaginations. It is obvious that when facing God’s appearance and work, instead of seeking humbly as a created being, they acted irreverently toward God’s work and even arrogantly and stiffly judged that God should not work this way or that way. In name they believed in God, while in substance they denied that the identity of the incarnate Lord Jesus was God Himself. Compared with the Pharisees, the Canaanite woman was just a gentile. She neither had a high position nor possessed great Bible knowledge or theological theories, but her godliness and reason surpassed those of the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees who had served God for years. This is why her faith was praised by the Lord Jesus. Therefore, the Canaanite woman’s attitude of piety toward the Lord, her faith in the Lord and her reason should all be emulated by us.”
What she said reminded me of my own conduct when following the Lord. I couldn’t compare with the Canaanite woman! And then, I said in shame: “Thinking back on my years spent following the Lord Jesus, I’ve read the Lord’s words in the Bible many times before. Even though I keep these words constantly in my mouth and verbally acknowledge that God is the truth, the way, and the life, I’ve never practiced them in real life. When I was preaching in the pulpit after being elected as a leader, seeing the believers gazing at me with admiration, I was full of joy. Instead of giving glory to God rationally, I rose above myself and enjoyed people’s worship and admiration. I thought I was full of faith in God for I have spent a lot and paid much price for the Lord actively. However, when some adverse things came upon my family or there was a conflict between me and the co-workers, I would lose my faith in the Lord and become depressed. When the Lord provided me with grace, I filled my mouth with happy thanksgivings and praises and my faith in God also increased; while when I encountered some illness or disasters, I blamed God for not blessing me, and even misunderstood and doubted God. Regarding the reason and faith in God, there is indeed a world of difference between me and the Canaanite woman. After hearing your fellowship about the Canaanite woman’s faith, I feel that I really ought to learn from her and transform my view about belief in God. No matter how God treats us, we should keep to our place as a creation and learn to obey God’s arrangements. We should never deny God’s word when His work is not in accordance with our conceptions. And we shouldn’t doubt God’s identity and position no matter what attitude He holds toward us.”
Huihui said sincerely: “Yes. No matter whether it is sense, insight, faith before God, or attitude of piety, we are quite poor, which requires us to pursue the truth and correct our viewpoints and attitudes in our belief in God. Only in this way will our sense and insight gradually return to normal. Just as the words in this book say: ‘The goal of people’s pursuit of the truth is to obey God. Irrespective of what God does, what form He appears in or what method He uses to speak to you, the position God has in your heart cannot change, your reverence for God cannot change, the distance between you and God cannot change and your true faith in God cannot change; in your heart, God’s essence and His position cannot change’ (“Man is the Greatest Beneficiary of God’s Management Plan”). If we can act in compliance with these words, our hearts will beget true obedience and fear of God little by little. Then regardless of what trial we may encounter, we will be able to stand in our place as a creation of God to worship Him, properly experience the work of God, and practice God’s word.”
At her words, I said happily: “Today, I have a new knowledge of the Canaanite woman’s faith from our communication. I come to understand that since we’ve believed in God, we should have reason in front of God and submit to God no matter how He works. This is what a creation and a believer in God must practice and achieve. Thank the Lord for guiding me to resolve the puzzlement which has disturbed me for many years. Today I’ve really reaped great benefits!”
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