Testify God

Do you know the true meaning of the prophecy in Revelation “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock”? Read this article to get the answer and find the way to welcome the Lord.

Job cursed the day of his birth in trials. Wasn’t he complaining of God that He had sent him to the world? Why did job curse the day he was born? And why did God still commend Job?

Not everyone can enter God’s kingdom, so do you know the requirements to enter the kingdom of God? Read now to learn more.

By Ranjana, India My Church Was Becoming Increasingly Desolate I am an Indian Christian. In 2007, I began to believe in the Lord because of an illness, and afterward, my condition gradually improved. In order to repay the Lord’s love, I started spreading the gospel to people around me. Several years later, locally, a church was established and I took on various aspects of the church’s ministerial work with our pastor. At that time, the pastor also opened up a drug rehabilitation center and preached the gospel to drug addicts, many of whom believed in the Lord and went to the church. Gradually, the pastor spent much of his time in the drug rehabilitation center and didn’t focus on shepherding the brothers and sisters or resolving their states. Later on, I discovered that the pastor had already been in charge of all the money of the drug rehabilitation center and that he hadn’t kept any accounts, causing brothers and sisters to argue about this and to be suspicious with each other. From then on, our church gradually fell into desolation. The pastor focused only on preaching about donation; his sermons were always the same old staff that lacked illumination, and could not move brothers and sisters; he just read some verses and talked about his own literal interpretations and paid no attention to preaching the Lord’s word, so brothers and sisters couldn’t get sustenance and fewer and fewer of them were coming to gatherings. He had no choice but to invite pastors from other churches to preach sermons, but they too preached on the same old things and spoke of theological theory, and thus many brothers and sisters still did not attend gatherings. Not only that, the pastor participated in political activities and ran for office and even lent the church’s money to the believers to earn interest. As a result, when the church demanded repayment of debts from the believers who failed to pay back the money, they even didn’t go to the church because of their inability to pay debts. Faced with this kind of situation in the church, I prayed and fasted but it was to no avail. Seeing that the church was becoming increasingly desolate, I had no desire to go there. I simply stayed at home where I prayed and read the scriptures by myself. My faith was gradually whittled away and later I began to be busy with my work. My Elder Sister’s Changes Got Me to Reflect on My Actions At the end of 2017, I saw that my elder sister attended online gatherings, and although sometimes I heard her fellowshiping with her brothers and sisters, I had no inclination to ask what she had fellowshiped about because I had become so busy with my work. One day, when I saw my elder sister attending a meeting and fellowshiping with her brothers and sisters, I suddenly felt unease and couldn’t help but recall the story of Martha and Mary. I thought to myself, “My sister often quiets before God like Mary did, attend gatherings and read God’s words every day, while I’m caught up in various affairs, busy with doing things instead of paying attention to listening to God’s words like Martha. So how could I gain God’s approval?” Thinking of this made me very upset. I told myself that I could no longer go on like this—I had to attend gatherings. One day, I asked my elder sister to drive me to the church but she said to me, “Don’t go to the church. There are too many arguments and suspicions between brothers and sisters. Our church has already become desolate and is without the work of the Holy Spirit.” Hearing this, I didn’t agree with her. I felt confused and thought, “Why did my sister tell me not to go to the church? Our church is indeed desolate now, but the closer to this time the more we should keep going to the church. Generally speaking, believers in the Lord always encourage people to go to church, but why did she say that we don’t need to go there after she has had online meetings with several believers? Have they told some message to her?” I couldn’t help remembering some verses, “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Why if they shall say to you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not” (Matthew 24:24–26). The scriptures said false Christs would appear in the last days to deceive people. My sister hadn’t gone to the church for gatherings, so was she deceived? Thinking this, I felt a little worried about her. But due to her bad temper, I didn’t dare talk with her about that and I planned to secretly observe her in the following days. After some time, I found that my sister had changed a great deal. In the past, she had no idea how to pray, was uninterested in God’s words, and was preoccupied with her business. But after attending online gatherings, she wasn’t so busy with her business as before but took her belief in God to heart, came to know how to pray and enjoy communicating God’s words, and even discussed the Bible with me. Seeing her changes, my worry melted away. I felt that there must be something different about her meetings, so I thought, “Maybe I should go to listen?” Remembering the scriptures related to the wise virgins and foolish virgins, I began to think: Once I was a church leader, but I was never like my sister, who was so desirous to have meetings and fellowship and who had the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Although I persisted in reading the Bible, I didn’t gain any enlightenment and illumination. If I continued like this,…

I Was Physically and Mentally Exhausted Preparing for the Exam “Class, exams are around the corner. Seize the time to review. …” The countdown to the exam had begun. All of my classmates buried their heads in their books preparing for the exam. I couldn’t help but feel nervous in this atmosphere. My grades hadn’t been very good, and the grade for this exam was directly related to whether I could enter a good university, and whether I could find a good job, so I was very stressed out and wanted to quickly review for the exam. However, as the vice-president of the student council, I was in charge of many events. After I finished everything in school, it would already be 6 p.m., and I still had to look after my grandmother after that. I would only reach home around 10 p.m. In order to have more time to review, I stayed up until 2 to 3 a.m. and I still had to wake up at 6 a.m. for school. Because of overworking, I couldn’t focus during class and would often doze off. But I didn’t really have any other choice, since no pain, no gain. The only way for me to get good grades was to do all that I could to review for the exam. Time flew, the exam was getting closer and closer, I also picked up my pace. Because of the pressure from the exam, and burning the midnight oil, I wasn’t able to have meals regularly and sleep well, thus my eyelids swelled, I also started to experience headache, dizziness, absent-mindedness. I dozed off in class, I became hot-tempered, and I was very exhausted. I was also very irritated because I felt that preparing for exam was really so tiring and unbearable. Sometimes I really wanted to just give up and not sit for the exam. But I wasn’t resigned, so I had to grit my teeth and bear it. Gradually, I didn’t attend gatherings regularly. For the one-hour gathering on Saturday, I would go offline early. I also sent a message to the sister that I had to review for the exam and couldn’t guarantee that I could attend every gathering. After the sister learned about my situation, she replied, “Gathering is the path to maintain a normal relationship with God. Only after we have a normal relationship with God, can we gain God’s care and protection, can we be led by God in our studies and life. We have to know that God controls everything, rules and arranges everything in our life. When we encounter difficulties, we should come before God and pray; seek the truth we have to practice. Only in this way can we gain God’s blessings.” She also sent me some God’s words, but I didn’t read them because I was too busy. Afterward, my mother called me, she also reminded me that I should pray and draw close to God facing difficulties, and that I should have faith in God. Thinking of the sister’s and my mom’s exhortations, I was willing to entrust the exam to God. However, when I realized that my classmates had almost finished reviewing, but I still had a lot to review, my heart was in a turmoil, and I was flustered. I thought, “My classmates have already finished reviewing, but I still have so much to work on. What should I do? If I can’t finish reviewing, I surely won’t get good grades. No, I can’t let that happen! I must memorize the materials. Only in this way can I feel secure during the exam.” Then, I began again to live the life of burning the midnight oil. When I Relied on God, Everything Became So Easy One day, I felt like I was going to collapse, so I called my mom, “Mom, my exams are coming up, but I still have a lot more to review. History is the subject that I’m most afraid of, and it is also the toughest one. I have to stay up late every night to review for it, and I will have headache the next day. I’m so depressed….” After hearing what I said, my mom, in sorrow, asked me if I had prayed to God. At that moment, I felt guilty because I forgot to pray to God under the exam pressure. Then, she sent me a passage of God’s words, “Since the creation of the world I have begun to predestine and select this group of people, namely, you today. Your temperament, caliber, appearance, stature, family in which you were born, your job and your marriage, the entirety of you, even the color of your hair and your skin, and the time of your birth were all arranged by My hands. Even the things you do and the people you meet every single day are arranged by My hands, not to mention the fact that bringing you into My presence today is actually My arrangement. Do not throw yourself into disorder; you should proceed calmly.” She fellowshiped, “From God’s words we can see that since the day we arrive in this world, God has already arranged our fates. God has the final say on how our future will be and what kind of work we will do. God is the Creator, the arrangement God has made for us is the most suitable for us. We should believe in God’s sovereignty, learn to rely on God and submit to God. All we need is to do the things we should do, and that’s enough. If we practice in this way, our heart will also be at ease and very calm.” After reading God’s words and hearing my mom’s fellowship, I realized that although I believe in God, I had no true knowledge of God’s sovereignty. I had always believed that a good diploma would get me a good job and a good future. So I relied on my own efforts and seized every minute…

We always encounter trials and tribulations in life. How can we overcome them? From this reflection on a story, you’ll reap an unexpected harvest.