Follow the Lamb’s Footsteps, Regain the Work of the Holy Spirit

Follow the Lamb’s Footsteps, Regain the Work of the Holy Spirit

May 20, 2018

By Qiuhai, Malaysia

Following the Lord Jesus

I had believed in the Lord for 23 years. In the very beginning, when my wife preached the Lord Jesus’ gospel to me, I didn’t accept it for fear that my parents would be against me, because they all worshiped idols. By chance I went to a church, and when I heard a pastor read the Lord Jesus’ word “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6), instantly I was filled with peace and joy. In the past, when my wife told me that the souls of the believers in the Lord Jesus would be received to the heavenly kingdom, I didn’t believe; not until that day did I know it was true. On that day, I made a determined prayer and believed in the Lord Jesus.

Later on, pastors told us: “As long as we truly believe in the Lord and never depart at any time, we will enjoy the eternal life from the Lord in the end. Faith in the Lord is a relationship between the Lord and oneself; besides believing the redemption of the Lord in our heart, we also need to work hard for the Lord and spread the gospel more, and don’t commit sins. In this way, when the Lord comes, we will be raptured to the kingdom of heaven.” So, whenever I had time, I would attend the small group meetings, study the Bible together with pastors, make prayers, and so on.

In 2009, I retired. After that, I began to lead the worship, take the holy communion, and serve in the church. I also actively visited the weak brothers and sisters, feeling that I had unfailing strength all over. At the same time, I reminded myself within: I can never commit sins; only in this way can I be approved by the Lord and meet the Lord in heavenly kingdom someday. What a great joy it will be!

Calling on the Lord in the Desolation

Several years later, the pastor of our church left because he disagreed with the pastors of the head church. The preacher began to take charge of our church; at every meeting he just read some verses and believers couldn’t feel any new light. Gradually, fewer and fewer believers attended meetings. When I went to visit them, they were neither hot nor cold. Some believers spoke dirty words like unbelievers, without any decencies of Christians. And even the preacher said that we should be of one mind and have tolerance for and patience with each other, but he was often arbitrary and repugnant. I was very puzzled: Why was the church in such a condition? Some believers even had believed in the Lord for more than ten years, but they had little change in life.

Afterward, my mood was also affected, and when I was in a bad mood, I would scold my children and quarrel with my wife bitterly. I was in agony, so I sought a pastor, and he told me that if I single-mindedly made a declaration to the Lord with the words of David in the Psalm, I would be touched by the Lord. After that, I often prayed according to the words of David in the middle of the night, but I still couldn’t feel the power of the Holy Spirit. So long as encountering something untoward, I would lose my temper with my children and quarrel with my wife. When I thought that more and more believers had departed from the church and that all brothers and sisters in the church still committed sins, I felt weaker and weaker, and in helplessness, I prayed to the Lord many times: “O Lord, what’s wrong with our church? Why is it that we still live in sins and can’t practice the truth? Lord, if we go on like this, can we meet You? Can we still enter the heavenly kingdom? How should we walk the way to the kingdom of heaven?”

In early 2017, I had nothing to do, so I began to learn to use the Facebook. In late September, I got acquainted with Sister Xi’nuo on FB; we shared our experiences of believing in the Lord and some other things in our life with each other, and we also often discussed Bible verses together. Though I had never met her before, I felt she was very sincere and kind. Seeing that I desired to understand the Bible, Sister Xi’nuo introduced Sister Liuxin to me. I thought: Now, in our church, nobody can speak out the light of truth. Maybe some overseas pastors and preachers can have some new enlightenments. Therefore, I happily agreed.

Seeking the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven

In October, 2017, during the meeting, Sister Liuxin asked us what we cared about most in believing in the Lord. I said: “Entering the heavenly kingdom, of course.” Then she sent me several verses, “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. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21–23). She asked me: “Brother, do you know who are the people that call the Lord in these verses?” “They should be those who don’t believe in God.” I replied. Sister Liuxin said: “Actually, those who call the Lord are all believers in the Lord. The believers in the Lord have two kinds of outcome. Those who do the will of the heavenly Father can enter the kingdom of heaven. For some believers, they recognize the Lord’s name, but don’t follow the Lord’s word; they lust for the secular world, are arrogant and conceited, and raise envy and strife. What they do has no difference from those unbelievers. Though they pray in the Lord’s name, they rarely practice God’s word. Are they following the will of God? Those who truly follow the will of God are those who can listen to God’s word and obey God’s work, who can put God’s word into practice after hearing it, and who have true obedience to God and can fear God and shun evil. If people believe in the Lord but don’t practice His word, aren’t they the evildoers in the eyes of God? Can God bring such people into the kingdom of heaven?” After hearing the sister’s fellowship, I was a little upset: According to the Lord’s requirements, I am also not following the will of God. Can’t I also enter the heavenly kingdom? If so, won’t my over twenty years of faith in the Lord be in vain?

Because Sister Xi’nuo would go to work, our gathering had to come to an end. At that time, my wife was cooking, and after she heard our fellowship, she said to me: “Their sermons are higher than those of the pastors and elders in our church. What they said is so good and enlightening.” I also said excitedly: “Yes! We are all believers in the Lord, while their acceptance is very pure. Such gatherings are really too beneficial to us.”

Finding Out the Root of Sin

Thank the Lord! Two days later, we were all online again. Sister Liuxin said: “Brother, last time we fellowshiped that only those who do the will of the heavenly Father can enter into the kingdom of heaven; then, how shall we enter into the kingdom of heaven? The Bible says, ‘For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication’ (1 Thessalonians 4:3). ‘Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord’ (Hebrew 12:14). God’s will is that we should be holy. Then have we been cleansed?” “No,” I said, “the Lord taught us to love others as ourselves, but I can’t control myself and often quarrel with my wife. Facing the condition of the church, though I pray to the Lord, I still have no faith. Not merely I but many brothers and sisters and even the preacher in our church all live in the condition of sinning and confessing.” The sister said: “As a matter of fact, from the Age of Law until today, few people could keep God’s word and get rid of the bondage of sin. And even Paul said, ‘For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not’ (Romans 7:18).” I said: “Pastors tell us that as long as we have faith in the Lord, the Lord will pardon our sins.”

Then the sister sent me a passage of God’s word, “A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance.”

The sister fellowshiped: “After we humans were corrupted by Satan, we have had the nature of resisting God. In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus did a stage of work of redemption. So long as we believe in the Lord and accept His grace, our sins will be forgiven. However, we haven’t gotten rid of the bondage of sin. For example, though we believe in the Lord, we can still pursue the social trends, lust for our flesh, and enjoy the pleasure of sin; we work hard for the Lord not in order to follow the will of God, but to gain God’s blessings and exchange the grace of the kingdom of heaven; when we have contact with others, we can often expose our naturalness, reveal our arrogant and conceited corrupt disposition, and have no tolerance for and patience with people, and can’t live out any likeness of Christians. You say, can sinners like us enter the kingdom of heaven? So, working hard can’t make us enter the kingdom of heaven; only by casting off our corrupt disposition to be cleansed and changed can we gain the approval of God. Now, God has come to do a stage of work of purifying people, that is, the work of judgment by the word; only through experiencing the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, can our corrupt disposition be cleansed and can we attain God’s salvation and enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The sister’s fellowship made me feel quite fresh. I thought: Though I worked for the Lord and had many good deeds outwardly, I would blame the Lord when encountering difficulties, and I always quarreled with my family and couldn’t practice the Lord’s word when I was with them. It turns out that I have the sinful nature. I also understood: We can’t enter the heavenly kingdom only by believing in and following God in a blind way. For God is righteous and holy, He doesn’t allow filthy people to enter His kingdom. So, we need to accept God’s judgment work of the last days, and only in this way can we have a chance to be cleansed and changed, can we be saved and enter the heavenly kingdom.

Judgment Has Begun in the House of God

One day, in the meeting, Sister Liuxin fellowshiped with us: “Revelation prophesies that in the last days the seven seals will be loosed and the book will be opened, and that the book can only be opened by God. In fact, the Lord Jesus has already come back; He has been incarnated as the Son of man and has appeared among mankind to work for more than twenty years. The Lord has opened the book personally and revealed the mysteries in the Bible. In the last days, God has expressed millions of words and done the work of judgment beginning at the house of God. People from various denominations and sects both at home and abroad return before God one after another when they hear the voice of God, they are those who are raptured before the throne of God.” Then the sister fellowshiped with us about God’s six-thousand-year management plan, how human beings have developed up until today, what kind of person God praises, what kind of person God condemns and eliminates, and all other aspects of truth.

At that time, I was extremely excited in my heart. I said to my wife: “The Lord Jesus has come back. But we are still watching and waiting, praying with fasting to ask the Lord to help us revive the church; we are really too foolish and ignorant. It is so lucky that we can be chosen by God and keep up with the footsteps of God. Otherwise, we are still living the life of sinning in the morning and confessing at night.” My wife also said excitedly: “Thanks be to the Lord!” Meanwhile, I finally understood why our churches have no work of the Holy Spirit so that believers are all passive and weak. It turns out that the Holy Spirit’s work has moved on. Only those who accept God’s work of the last days can gain the watering of the God’s living water of life. No wonder the sister’s fellowship is that enlightening.

Subsequently, Sister Liuxin sent us another passage of God’s word, “In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God.”

The sister fellowshiped: “According to the need of us corrupt mankind as well as targeting our satanic nature of resisting God, God does the judgment and purification work. He judges our inner unrighteousness and rebelliousness through judgment, exposure, admonishment, and exhortation of His word and other methods, so that we can know God’s righteous disposition tolerating no offense and have some true knowledge of our own evil and ugly satanic features. When seeing that we are deeply corrupted by Satan, we will produce a determination to hate ourselves and betray our flesh. Then, we can accept God’s words and practice according to them; at this time our life disposition will change subsequently. In this way, we can get rid of the bondage of sin and be cleansed. Just as I believed in the Lord, I was often arbitrary in doing things, had strong personal ideas, and never accepted right advices from brothers and sisters, always being self-centered. After I accepted God’s new work, under the judgment and revelation of God’s word, I came to see that I was too arrogant: Dominated by the idea of ‘I’m the boss,’ I treated all others with contempt and had no place for God in my heart, regarding my own opinions as the truths. All my deeds were all ruled by my satanic corrupt disposition. Not until then did I see that I was deeply corrupted by Satan, completely without any human likeness. At this time, I produced a determination of hating myself and betraying my flesh. After that, I could consciously practice the truth and put myself down. When encountering something, I would discuss with brothers and sisters, and as long as their words were right, I could accept and obey. When I revealed arrogant disposition, I could also accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s word and reflect on and know myself according to God’s word; then, I lived by God’s word, practiced the truth and betrayed my flesh. Gradually, my corrupt disposition changed somewhat; I was not as insolent and when I encountered something, I could quiet before God to seek the truth. After having experienced God’s work, I truly tasted: God’s judgment and chastisement is precisely the salvation and love. Only through the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, can we achieve obeying and fearing God, living in the light of God.”

Thinking about the sister’s fellowship, I sighed: I have believed in the Lord over 20 years, but in regard to the verse “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17), I don’t know what it means. How will God do the judgment work? Why does God want to do the judgment work? Nobody can explain it clearly. Pastors and elders just told me perfunctorily: This is God’s work, and we have no qualification to research. So never mind it. We just need to be obedient and submissive and attend gatherings. Through today’s fellowship, I come to know that judgment is the only way for us to be cleansed and the only means to bring us to heavenly kingdom. Except for this, there is none other way.

My Whole Family Have Attended the Feast of the Lamb

After that, the sister fellowshiped and shared with us according to our time every day. Each gathering made me feel brightened and also resolved my confusions and questions of believing in God. I saw that God’s word is really the truth, the way, and the life, and can give me the ways of practice. Later on, I preached the gospel to my family. In the past, my wife was passive and weak and was unwilling to attend gatherings. After she accepted God’s new work, she has great faith and every day she will wait for the sister ahead of time online. My wife and I attend gatherings every day and never feel the time is long.

Thank God! Now nine members of my family all have kept up with the footsteps of the Lamb and attended the feast of the Lamb. We often watch the movies of God’s family together, fellowship and share with each other, and happily enjoy God’s love. Thanks be to God. It is God’s selection and predestination that lets us enjoy God’s endlessly abundant supply in God’s family. All the glory be to the supreme Almighty God!

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?