Eastern Lightning | Stop Being Loyal to Riches, I Live For God（2)

By Zhenglu, United States

I had to work for six days a week because of the needs of work. So I appointed Sundays for the meetings. But sometimes on Sunday I would do some extra work for making money, which caused me to miss the gatherings. Knowing this, brothers and sisters fellowshiped with me about the importance of attending gatherings. I pondered this and thought what they said was true indeed: My understanding of God’s word is, after all, limited when I read at home on my own. But when I had meetings with brothers and sisters together, it was different. Everyone shared his own knowledge and in this way I did understand more. By comparison, to attend gathering is still more beneficial to me. But then I thought: Attending gatherings is important; yet earning money is also very important.… Indeed, every time after gathering, I did get some understanding of God’s word and felt bright in my heart, this simply cannot be obtained in exchange for my money, no matter how much I earn. In this way, I kept turning this over in my mind and did not know how to choose. Just as I was worried, I came before God and prayed to Him, “O God! I feel as if I were standing at the crossroad, not knowing how to choose between attending gatherings and making money. May You guide and enlighten me to understand Your will and choose according to Your will.”

Shortly after, I saw the following passage of God’s word in a meeting, “As members of the human race and devout Christians, it is the responsibility and obligation of us all to offer up our mind and body for the fulfillment of God’s commission, for our entire being came from God, and it exists thanks to the sovereignty of God. If our minds and bodies are not for God’s commission and not for the righteous cause of mankind, then our souls will be unworthy of those who were martyred for God’s commission, much more unworthy of God, who has provided us with everything” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind”). This passage of God’s word touched me a lot. I felt I was in debt to God, realizing that the purpose of God creating me is not to make me spend so much of my time working hard for money, but to make me come before God, experience His work, seek truth, break free from the affliction and trickery of Satan, and live out a true life. But now all my mind and being is centered in earning money. I am indeed unworthy of God’s salvation for me and I have disappointed God’s intention. Then I said to brothers and sisters, “Today after seeing this passage of God’s word, I think I should choose to gather. God said, ‘it is the responsibility and obligation of us all to offer up our mind and body for the fulfillment of God’s commission …’ Now, not only haven’t I devoted myself to God, I cannot even attend meetings regularly; then how can I say that I am a believer in God? Am not I a person who only confesses my belief in God with my mouth but has no practical action? God’s requirement of me is so minuscule yet I cannot even satisfy it; am I not indebted to God?” Then I looked at these brothers and sisters around me, thinking: They are all performing their respective duties and doing their best for God’s work, but I cannot even carry out such a bit of duty. Am I not too conscienceless? Thinking of this, I prayed to God silently in my heart: “O God! I am a creation and as a creation, I should carry out my duty. Before, I lived only for my family and money. But now, since I’ve believed in You, I must have a heart of fearing God, and so I must take practical actions and perform my duty.”

Since then, when someone came to offer me a chance to earn some money on Sunday, I would refuse all. No matter how busy I was, I would guarantee my attending the gatherings with brothers and sisters on Sunday. Ordinarily, I would read God’s word at home whenever I could and try my best to perform my duty in the Church. Through eating and drinking God’s word, I had some understanding of the authority of God, His requirements of us, and that we ought to perform our duty as a creation. Thus I would like to perform some of my duty to reply God’s love as well. Sometimes at meetings, when seeing any brothers and sisters had some difficulties, if I had some experience of such things, I would just share it with them, making them understand God’s intention and able to actively pursue the truth. When seeing that my fellowship was able to bring some help to them, I was so delighted. I never thought my everyday life could be so enriching and so meaningful, this could not be acquired in exchange for any money. After that, from my heart, I didn’t want to eat, drink, and have fun with those fair-weather friends any longer. Thanks for God’s salvation. Ultimately, I got rid of that life of emptiness and perplexity.

One day, I heard the hymn “God Is Seeking Your Heart and Your Spirit” during a gathering. Hearing every word of it, I felt deeply moved, with tears dropping down in spite of myself. Especially, when I heard the words in this hymn: “He is watching by your side, waiting for you to turn back. He is waiting for the day your memory suddenly recovers: becoming conscious of the fact that you came from God, somehow and somewhere once lost, falling unconscious on the roadside, and then, unknowingly having a father. You further realize that the Almighty has been watching there, awaiting your return all along” (“The Sighing of the Almighty”). I came to feel the expectations God has for us. He is expecting that one day, our heart can awaken and thus we can return to the family of God. At that moment, I felt I was just like a child having wandered for years. And God is, like our parents, waiting and expecting me to return home one day. Now my heart was somewhat awaken, and I’ve recognized God and found my way home. Thinking back to my past life, apart from tiring myself out chasing after money, I totally indulged in eating, drinking, and having fun, just like a beast. Now I came to realize that only by coming before God and worshiping Him can we have the true happiness and joy. I thank Almighty God for saving me from the bottom of my heart.

Early this year, the Church arranged for me to spare half a day to temporarily cooperate one duty. I really wanted to perform it well. So, I prayed to God: “O God! No matter what comes upon us in our daily life, it is all arranged by You. O God! I have to run my car in the morning, but I do not want to delay my duty because of earning money. May You guide me to come back on time, and thus not to delay it.” After praying, I felt very assured in my heart, just thinking: No matter how many passengers I’m able to take, I will return home when it’s time to go. In the beginning, the places where the people I took wanted to go were quite a distance away. Then I found that I didn’t have much time left, and wanted to hurry home. I had unexpectedly encountered another two passengers, who were going in the same direction as I was. After driving them home, I was not far from my own. In this way, I earned more money during half of that day than I always did in one day. I knew that all this was God’s arrangement. I felt very happy, not because of the money I had earned that day but because that I felt God is beside me, guiding my everyday life. Through this experience, I felt even more that only when we can submit to the authority and arrangement of God and live under His leadership and guidance can we achieve true happiness.

I remembered God’s words, “Only when people actually reach this point do they realize that the first thing one must understand, when one sets foot on this earth, is where human beings come from, why people are alive, who dictates human fate, who provides for and has sovereignty over human existence. These are the true assets in life, the essential basis for human survival, not learning how to provide for one’s family or how to achieve fame and wealth, not learning how to stand out from the crowd or how to live a more affluent life, much less learning how to excel and to compete successfully against others. Though the various survival skills that people spend their lives mastering can offer an abundance of material comforts, they never bring one’s heart true peace and consolation, but instead make people constantly lose their direction, have difficulty controlling themselves, miss every opportunity to learn the meaning of life; and they create an undercurrent of trouble about how to properly face death. In this way, people’s lives are ruined. The Creator treats everyone fairly, giving everyone a lifetime’s worth of opportunities to experience and know His sovereignty, yet it is only when death draws near, when the specter of death hangs over one, that one begins to see the light—and then it is too late” (“God Himself, the Unique III”).

Only then did I have some understanding of these words: What we should know the most in our life-time is the aspect of truth that each of us is from God and it is God that rules over our fate. We ought to come before God and submit to the authority and arrangement of Him. Only in this way can we live a meaningful life. But Satan planted its poisons such as “Man’s fate is controlled by his own hands” and “Create a ‘beautiful home’ with our own two hands” within us, making us live by these things and work hard for a better life with our own two hands. As a result, we live in the deception and affliction of it, gradually drift further and further away from God, living in misery. In the past, I thought that the fleshly enjoyments, others’ praises, and physical riches were able to bring me the spiritual satisfaction. But the fact had done the exact opposite; when I got them, I felt even more empty and more perplexed, not knowing what it is exactly that people are living for. But now after I believed in God, I understand that although money is able to bring us the fleshly enjoyments and others’ praises, these things cannot fill the emptiness in our hearts. What we really need in the depths of our soul is God, His salvation, and the supply of life from Him. Anything else cannot replace God’s place in our hearts or the truth and life God bestows on us. Only by practicing according to God’s words can we live in light. Thank God for saving me, and making me have the opportunity to come before Him and know the Creator. I feel that this is what I ought to pursue in my whole life.

Now, I have believed in Almighty God for three years, and I’ve got a vivid sense of the happiness and joy in God’s family. I often attend the gatherings and read God’s word with brothers and sisters. Each of us is experiencing God’s work full of faith, and enjoying all the riches God has bestowed upon us, we feel inexpressibly happy in our hearts. I know that all of this is because of God’s deed. I thank God from my heart, because it is God’s loving hand that has led me all the time, making me come before Him and thus live a happy life.

Source The Internet

    Almighty God, Christ of the last days, is the returned Lord Jesus. Eastern Lightning, The Church of Almighty God was founded by God personally and is formed by all those who truly follow Almighty God. Only by following Almighty God's work in the last days can we be purified and brought into the wonderful destination. Dear brothers and sisters, have you followed God's footsteps?