By Chenwen, United States
Spreading the gospel is my mission.
After accepting Almighty God’s work of the last days, through gathering in fellowship and reading God’s words, I was settled on Almighty God being the returned Lord Jesus. I was anxious and wanted to bring before God my relatives and the brothers and sisters around me who had faith in the Lord as soon as possible so that they could also receive God’s work in the last days and attain God’s salvation.
God says: “Are you aware of the burden you shoulder, your commission, and your responsibility? Where is your historic sense of mission? … Have you ever thought how grieved and anxious God’s heart is? How can He bear to see the innocent mankind He created with His own hands suffering such torment? After all, mankind are the unfortunates that have been poisoned. Though they have survived to this day, who would have thought that they have long been poisoned by the evil one? Have you forgotten that you are one of the victims? Out of your love for God, are you not willing to strive to save those who have survived? Are you not willing to use all your effort to repay the God who loves mankind like His own flesh and blood?”
Every time I read this passage of God’s words, I felt a holy sense of mission in my heart. Through the words of God, I saw God’s love and concern for us humans, and at the same time I felt that God was full of hope for me: God hopes that I can stand up and cooperate with Him and bring the brothers and sisters who live in darkness and look forward to the Lord’s return back to God’s family. Now there are still many brothers and sisters who are deceived by the rumors made up by pastors, elders, and the CCP—they dare not walk away from their denominations and search for a church with the work of the Holy Spirit even if they were to die of hunger or hardship in religion. I recalled that I had also been in the same situation, and that it was God’s mercy and grace and the patient fellowship from my brothers and sisters that brought me out of the religious church where the Holy Spirit stopped working so that I could come before the throne of God and enjoy the watering and sustenance of Almighty God’s words. I should be considerate of God’s will and perform the duty of preaching the gospel well to satisfy God.
Being rejected in preaching the gospel, I felt discouraged and disappointed.
With this burden, I sifted through all my relatives and friends in my mind and then I thought of my old classmate George. I thought: “He had been my classmate for over 10 years. We grew up together and are close friends. In addition, he and his wife are both devout Christians who have abundant biblical knowledge. According to his caliber, he will certainly recognize God’s voice if I give him testimony of God’s work in the last days.”
Therefore, I called him and invited him and his wife to a teahouse to have tea, and he accepted the invitation gladly. After hanging up the phone, I was so ecstatic, it was as if I had seen the scene of them having a gathering with us with books of God’s words in their hands.
Unexpectedly, the next day when I and a sister gave them testimony of God’s work in the last days, because they were confused by the CCP’s rumors and adhered to religious conceptions, they refused to seek and investigate regardless of what we said. Finally, I could only give up.
Afterward, I thought of my colleague Lisa. She was a Catholic and was also my subordinate. Since we both believed in the Lord, we got along well with each other. I thought that she would certainly accept the gospel. Hence, I said to her directly when I saw her: “Lisa, I learned from my friend that the Lord Jesus has already returned and done a new work, and that He has revealed the mysteries of the prophecies in Revelation. Tomorrow is a day off and I will go to her house to listen to sermons to understand more. Would you like to go with me?” She agreed without saying anything else.
The next day I took Lisa to a sister’s house to listen to my brothers’ and sisters’ testimony of God’s work, and after listening Lisa expressed her willingness to investigate. However, I didn’t expect that the following day, the priest in her church would learn that she went out with me to listen to sermons to investigate God’s new work. Because of the priest’s disruptions, Lisa dared not continue to investigate. Seeing that Lisa had no mind of her own, I felt very anxious and prayed to God in tears: “Oh, God! Lisa was subjected to disruptions after only listening to sermons once. I feel very distressed when encountering this environment. Oh, God! May You help me and give me confidence. I am willing to rely on You.” After praying, I called Lisa, let go of the air of being her superior, and opened my heart to her. I tried everything I could to persuade her and finally she reluctantly agreed to continue to listen to my brothers’ and sisters’ fellowship. After our call, fearing that she would be disrupted by the priest, I went to her house to pick her up to listen to sermons. In this way I tried every effort to take Lisa out to listen to sermons again and again. But because Lisa was deceived by the priest, even though she went out to listen to sermons, the door of her heart was closed all along and she did not take anything in from what they had said. Eventually, she still chose to continue to believe in the Lord in her church.
When I thought of how I failed to convert my best classmate and my most familiar colleague, I was somewhat discouraged and lost my confidence in spreading the gospel, thinking that spreading the gospel was simply too difficult. When I was living in negativity, I prayed to God: “Almighty God! I have twice failed in spreading the gospel, which makes me feel distressed and think that spreading the gospel is too difficult. Oh God! Spreading the gospel is the mission You have given me. May You enlighten me so that I can understand Your will, won’t be passive or weak, and can have confidence to continue spreading the gospel. Amen!”
With the guidance of God’s words, I regained confidence.
After my prayer, I read these words of God: “None can fathom the almightiness of God. In China, a country that regards God as an enemy, God has never ceased His work. Instead, more people have accepted His work and word, for God does all He can to save each and every member of mankind. We trust that no country or power can stand in the way of what God wishes to achieve. Those that obstruct God’s work, resist the word of God, disturb and impair the plan of God shall ultimately be punished by God.” “It’s very simple now: Look upon Me with your heart and your spirit will immediately become strong, you will have a path to practice and I will guide your every step. My word shall be revealed to you at all times and in all places. No matter where or when, or how adverse the environment is, I will show you clearly and My heart shall be revealed to you if you look to Me with your heart; this way you will run down the road ahead and never lose your way.” These words of God gave me faith and strength: Right, God is almighty. No power can obstruct God’s work. The CCP government and religious circles have fabricated so many rumors to wildly condemn and resist Almighty God’s work, but nevertheless, the work of Almighty God is still in the process of expanding. God’s lambs will ultimately return before God. What I can do is give my true heart to God, look up to Him at all times, and spare no effort to bear testimony to His work. Then I recalled that when I first heard the gospel of Almighty God, because I was confused by rumors spread by pastors, I shunned and alienated the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God time after time. It was the brothers and sisters fellowshiping with me time and time again by relying on their faith in God that allowed me to be able to discern Satan’s rumors and eventually return before God. At the thought of this, I saw that it is not easy for God to save a man and that I should have faith to cooperate with God.
When I understood this, I was full of confidence in God. Then I prayed to God: “Oh God! I no longer want to be negative or weak. I am willing to continue to spread the gospel and bring before You those who are after Your heart. Oh God! May You guide me. Amen!”
Rising up again after failure, I saw God’s deeds.
One day, I went to another state on business with my business partner Yezi, who is also a Christian. I had known her for two or three years. In my eyes, she was a pure girl with good humanity. While in the car I prayed to God in my heart: “Oh God! I don’t know whether Yezi is Your sheep or not. I am willing to give her testimony of Your work in the last days. May You enlighten me, lead me, and give me the proper words to say.” After praying to God, I thought of the hymn of life experience “All the Way in Your Company.” Then I played this hymn for her. After hearing this song, she said: “It sounds wonderful. Where did you download it?” I seized the chance and started to talk with her about the topic of faith in God.
I asked her: “Yezi, we are both believers in God. Have you ever thought about what faith in God means?”
She answered: “Isn’t believing in God just acknowledging God and believing in Him in our hearts, praying, reading the Bible, and going to church?”
I said: “I used to think that too.” Yezi looked at me curiously, and then she said as she drove the car: “Isn’t it right?”
I replied: “Only after I read a passage of words in a book did I come to understand that believing in God is absolutely not as simple as I had thought. May I read it for you?” Yezi said gladly: “Okay, go ahead. I’m listening.”
I opened the mobile app and read this passage of God’s word: “Though many people believe in God, few understand what faith in God means, and what they must do to be after God’s heart. This is because, though people are familiar with the word ‘God’ and phrases such as ‘the work of God,’ they do not know God, much less do they know His work. No wonder, then, that all those who do not know God are possessed of a muddled belief. People do not take belief in God seriously because believing in God is too unfamiliar, too strange for them. In this way, they fall short of the demands of God. In other words, if people do not know God, do not know His work, then they are not fit for God’s use, much less can they fulfill the desire of God. ‘Belief in God’ means believing that there is a God; this is the simplest concept of faith in God. What’s more, believing that there is a God is not the same as truly believing in God; rather, it is a kind of simple faith with strong religious overtones. True faith in God means experiencing the words and work of God based on a belief that God holds sovereignty over all things. So you shall be freed of your corrupt disposition, shall fulfill the desire of God, and shall come to know God. Only through such a journey can you be said to believe in God.”
I continued to fellowship: “This passage of words has made it crystal clear as to what true faith in God is! I have believed in God for over twenty years, but I was just muddle-headed about it. I thought that believing in God was just reading the Bible, praying, going to church, working, forsaking, expending and suffering for the Lord. Yet this passage of words tells us that believing in God is not holding on to religious rituals and rules, which is completely different from the criteria for belief in God set by God. Actually, believing in God is believing in the words of God, acting in accordance with God’s words, attaining changes in disposition and having a genuine understanding of God.”
Yezi said: “Ah! So it seems we just have a confused kind of faith. These words are so good. Only when we act based on the words of God and have real knowledge of God can it be said that we are believing in God. Mm, I have never heard that before! Where do these words come from? I want to read them when I am free.”
I said happily: “That’s great! I will send you these words later.” Afterward, I invited Yezi to have online gatherings with brothers and sisters. Yezi saw that I had understood a lot of truth, so she was also willing to have gatherings with brothers and sisters.
After a while, brothers and sisters fellowshiped with Yezi about many truths regarding God’s incarnation, differentiating between the true Christ and false Christs, the relationship between the Bible and God, God’s three stages of work, the difference between God’s work and man’s work, and so on. Yezi had no problem understanding them and longed for the words of God. In the end, she accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days happily.
Through these experiences in preaching the gospel, I realized that my faith in God was too small. At the same time, I had beheld the almightiness and sovereignty of God, and experienced that in the course of preaching the gospel, we can obtain God’s blessings by relying on Him and looking up to Him. Afterward, I paid more attention to praying to God and relying on Him when I spread the gospel to other colleagues.
Thank God for His blessings. Before long, my several business partners also accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. We all have great faith in following Almighty God and are full of gratitude to Him. Now not only do we help each other at work, but we support one another on the path of believing in God and pursuing the truth. What moves me more is that we are all faithful in spreading God’s kingdom gospel. Having seen God’s blessings, I feel indescribable joy in my heart and have experienced the feeling of happiness that spreading the gospel has brought to me. Thank God! All praise and glory be to Almighty God! Amen!
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