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2. God Uses His Words to Establish a Covenant With Man Gen 9:11–13 And I will establish My covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. The authority of the Creator is ever shown forth and exerted amongst all creatures, and He not only rules the fate of all things, but also rules mankind, the special creature which He created with His own hands, and which is possessed of a different life structure and exists in a different life form. After making all things, the Creator did not cease to express His authority and power; for Him, the authority with which He held sovereignty over all things and the fate of the whole of mankind, formally began only once mankind was truly born from His hand. He intended to manage mankind, and rule mankind, He intended to save mankind, intended to truly gain mankind, to gain a mankind that could govern all things, and He intended to make such a mankind live under His authority, and know His authority, and obey His authority. Thus, God began to officially express His authority among man using His words, and began to use His authority to realize His words. Of course, God’s authority was shown forth in all places during this process; I have merely picked out some specific, well-known examples from which you may understand and know the uniqueness of God, and understand and know the unique authority of God. There is a similarity between the passage in Genesis 9:11–13 and the passages above concerning the record of God’s creation of the world, yet there is also a difference. What is the similarity? The similarity lies in God’s use of words to do that which He intended, and the difference is that this passage is God’s discourse with man, in which He established a covenant with man, and told man of that which was contained within the covenant. This exertion of God’s authority was achieved during His dialogue with man, which is to say that, prior to the creation of mankind, God’s words were instructions, and orders, which were issued to the creatures that He intended to create. But now there was someone to hear the words of God, and so His words were both a dialogue with man, and also an exhortation and admonishment to man, and moreover, were commandments delivered to all things that bore His authority. What action of God is recorded in this passage? It records the covenant that God established with man after His destruction of the world with a flood, it tells man that God would not wreak such destruction upon the world again, and that, to this end, God created a sign—and what was this sign? In the Scriptures it is said that “I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth.” These are the original words spoken by the Creator to mankind. As He said these words, a rainbow appeared before the eyes of man, where it has remained until today. Everyone has seen such a rainbow, and when you see it, do you know how it appears? Science is incapable of proving it, or of locating its source, or identifying its whereabouts. That is because the rainbow is a sign of the covenant established between the Creator and man; it requires no scientific basis, it was not made by man, nor is man capable of altering it. It is a continuation of the Creator’s authority after He spoke His words. The Creator used His own particular method to abide by His covenant with man and His promise, and so His use of the rainbow as a sign of the covenant that He had established is a heavenly edict and law that shall remain forever unchanged, whether in regard to the Creator or the created mankind. Yet this immutable law is, it must be said, another true manifestation of the Creator’s authority following His creation of all things, and it must be said that the authority and power of the Creator are limitless; His use of the rainbow as a sign is a continuation and extension of the Creator’s authority. This was another act performed by God using His words, and was a sign of the covenant that God had established with man using words. He told man of that which He resolved to bring about, and with what manner it would be fulfilled and achieved, and in this way the matter was fulfilled according to the words from God’s mouth. Only God is possessed of such power, and today, several thousand years after He spoke these words, man can still look upon the rainbow spoken from the mouth of God. Because of those words uttered by God, this thing has remained unaltered and unchanged right up until today. None can remove this rainbow, none can change its laws, and it exists solely for the words of God. This is precisely the authority of God. “God is as good as His word, and His word shall be accomplished, and that which is accomplished lasts forever.” Such words are clearly manifested here, and it is a clear sign and characteristic of the authority and power of God. Such a sign or characteristic is not possessed by or seen in any of the created beings, nor is it seen in any of the non-created beings. It belongs only to the unique God, and distinguishes the identity and substance possessed only by the Creator from that of the creatures….

By Wang Hao These verses are to be found within the Bible: “At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and His disciples were an hungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, Behold, Your disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath day” (Matthew 12:1–2). Whenever I read these two verses, I can’t help but think: “The Sabbath was a holy day prescribed by Jehovah God for the Israelites. Everyone stopped their work on this day and went to the temple to worship Jehovah God. But when the Lord Jesus came, He worked on the Sabbath, so why didn’t He lead His disciples to keep the Sabbath? What was His thinking behind this?” These questions had always bugged me. The Lord Jesus Did Not Keep the Sabbath Later, only after I read a passage on a gospel website did I suddenly see the light. It turned out that there was meaning behind the Lord Jesus’ decision to work on the Sabbath. This is what that passage said: “When the Lord Jesus came, He used His practical actions to communicate to people: God had departed the Age of Law and had begun new work, and this new work did not require observation of the Sabbath; when God came out from the confines of the Sabbath day, this was just a foretaste of His new work, and His truly great work was continuing to play out. When the Lord Jesus began His work, He had already left behind the shackles of the Age of Law, and had broken through the regulations and principles from that age. In Him, there was no trace of anything related to the law; He had cast it off entirely and no longer observed it, and He no longer required mankind to observe it. So here you see that the Lord Jesus went through the corn fields on the Sabbath; the Lord did not rest, but was outside working. This action of His was a shock to people’s conceptions and communicated to them that He no longer lived under the law, and that He had left the confines of the Sabbath and appeared in front of mankind and in their midst in a new image, with a new way of working. This action of His told people that He had brought with Him new work that began with going out from the law and going out of the Sabbath. When God carried out His new work, He no longer clung to the past, and He was no longer concerned about the regulations of the Age of Law. Neither was He affected by His work in the previous age, but He worked as usual on the Sabbath and when His disciples were hungry, they could pick ears of corn to eat. This was all very normal in God’s eyes. God could have a new beginning for much of the work that He wants to do and the things that He wants to say. Once He has a new start, He neither mentions His previous work again nor continues it. For God has His principles in His work. When He wants to begin new work, it is when He wants to bring mankind into a new stage of His work, and when His work has entered a higher phase. If people continue to act according to the old sayings or regulations or continue to hold fast to them, He will not commemorate or praise this. This is because He has already brought new work, and has entered a new phase of His work. When He initiates new work, He appears to mankind with a completely new image, from a completely new angle, and in a completely new way so that people can see different aspects of His disposition and what He has and is. This is one of His goals in His new work. God does not hold on to the old or take the beaten path; when He works and speaks it’s not as prohibitive as people imagine. In God, all is free and liberated, and there is no prohibitiveness, no constraints—what He brings to mankind is all freedom and liberation. He is a living God, a God who genuinely, truly exists. He is not a puppet or a clay sculpture, and He is totally different from the idols that people enshrine and worship. He is living and vibrant and what His words and work bring to humans is all life and light, all freedom and liberation, because He holds the truth, the life, and the way—He is not constrained by anything in any of His work. No matter what people say and no matter how they see or assess His new work, He will carry out His work without reservation. … No matter which new stage of His work He is carrying out, it must be developed and expanded in mankind’s midst, and it must be carried out unhindered in the entire universe until His great work has been completed. This is God’s almightiness and wisdom, and His authority and power. Thus, the Lord Jesus could openly go out and work on the Sabbath because in His heart there were no rules, and there was no knowledge or doctrine that originated from mankind. What He had was God’s new work and His way, and His work was the way to free mankind, to release them, to allow them to exist in the light, and to allow them to live. … God has principles in His words and work, but there are no prohibitions, because God Himself is the truth, the way, and the life” (“God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Himself Ⅲ”). From this passage, I came to understand that God’s work is without rules, and nor does it suffer any constraints. After a stage of God’s work achieves results with man, God then…

By Xun Qiu Every Christian knows that believing in God requires a normal spiritual life, namely spiritual devotion. It is the foundation of establishing a proper relationship with God and the way of practice that is absolutely necessary in the growth of our spiritual life. Then, how should we practice spiritual devotion to achieve good results? Today, let’s communicate this aspect of the truth together. 1. We should focus on quieting our hearts before God in our spiritual devotions, which is the precondition for obtaining the work of the Holy Spirit. Many of us can regularly practice spiritual devotion every day but we often can’t quiet our hearts during that time, for sometimes we are preoccupied with some family matters or work stuff, or are anxious to deal with these problems quickly. As a result, our spiritual devotions are just abiding by a rule, because our bodies are here while our hearts are elsewhere. The Lord Jesus said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). This is God’s requirement of us. Obtaining the work of the Holy Spirit and achieving good results in spiritual devotions require worshiping God with an honest heart. During our spiritual devotions, if we are distracted by outward matters, such as our work or lives, and thus we go through the motions and wait for the end of spiritual devotions, then we can only understand the literal meaning of God’s words and gain no enlightenment. In this case, after spiritual devotions, we won’t feel enriched at all. Spiritual devotions like this won’t produce any results. God’s words say, “Every one of you must take time away from every person, matter, and object for your personal spiritual devotionals, where you will be able to bring peace to your heart and quiet yourself before God. You should have your own individual devotional notes where you can record your knowledge of God’s word and how your spirit has been moved, regardless of whether what you write down is profound or superficial. Quiet your heart before God with intention. If you can dedicate one or two hours to a true spiritual life during the day, then your life that day will feel enriched and your heart will be bright and clear. If you live this kind of spiritual life on a daily basis, then you will be able to give your heart to God more and more, your spirit will become stronger and stronger, your condition will become better and better, you will become more capable of walking the path led by the Holy Spirit, and God will bestow more and more blessings upon you.” From these words we know that if we want to achieve good results in spiritual devotions and gain the work of the Holy Spirit, we should spend one or two hours a day in practicing putting away family or work matters with intention, quieting our hearts before God and praying for Him to lead us to understand His words in a quiet place. Only in this way can we be able to pour our whole hearts into God’s words. When God sees our hearts of seeking the truth, He will enlighten and guide us. This way, not only will we be able to have some understanding of God’s will, we will also come to know our own shortcomings and deficiencies. In addition, we should take our devotional notes every day, recording at any time how our spirits have been enlightened, so that we can read and ponder over these notes at ordinary times. By practicing quieting our hearts before God like this every day, we will be spiritually keen and be able to seek God more when encountering matters. This being so, we will grow closer and closer to God and our life will grow quickly. 2. We should not read God’s words in an aimless way; we should read God’s words pertaining to our practical difficulties and shortcomings. Spiritual devotion should focus on solving practical problems and difficulties. Only thus can we be able to better understand God’s will and requirements and bring God’s words into real life to solve our practical problems. Only spiritual devotion that achieves such a result is true spiritual devotion. However, most of the time, we just keep to the outward practices in our spiritual devotions. When we open up the word of God but have no idea what to read, we just aimlessly flick through the book and read what we see. As a result, because we read God’s words without any objectives and don’t seek the truths after that, our problems still remain as before. This kind of spiritual devotion won’t achieve any results. God’s words say, “When you eat and drink the words of God, you must measure your own real state against them. That is, after you discover the shortcomings in yourself during your real experiences, you must be capable of finding a path to practice, and turning your back on your incorrect motivations and notions. If you always try hard in this and you always pour your heart into these things, you will have a path to follow, you will not feel empty, and thus you will be able to maintain a proper state. Only then will you be someone who carries a burden in your own life, and only then will you be someone who has faith.” From these words, we can see that we should purposefully read God’s words, that is, consciously find and read some relevant parts of God’s words according to our practical states and difficulties. God’s words will reveal our wrong motivations and notions and point out to us the right path of practice. Then we should put aside our own incorrect motivations and opinions and act based on God’s requirements. By doing so, our problems will be solved, our states will be more and more normal and we will become clearer about God’s will. This…

By Piao Zhenhui, South Korea Confusion: Seeking the Footsteps of the Lord In 2008, I received the Lord’s gospel spread by Aunt Hao. After that, I often went to church with her. From the Bible, I learned that it was God who created the heavens and the earth and all things, and human beings as well, and that after mankind became corrupt, the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross as a sin offering to redeem mankind. I was deeply moved by the great love of the Lord, so I pursued enthusiastically in accordance with God’s words, being honest, tolerant, and magnanimous. I had also been very keen on participating in all kinds of church activities. At that time, I had a strong faith in the Lord: Wherever I went, I would first find a church to worship the Lord; and whatever I did, I would always take the Lord Jesus as my reliance. I had also been expecting the day that I could welcome the return of the Lord. But a few years later, I found that whichever church I went to, the priests’ sermons there were old and boring, having no new light. In addition, my church friends paid little attention to practicing the Lord’s words. They even had no heart of reverence for the Lord when gathering. Some of them came to find a partner, and some to sell things; they were always competing over status and wealth, and their words and behaviors didn’t befit saintly propriety at all. The priest, however, turned a blind eye to such matters and even gave them free reign. What made me even more pained was that I was increasingly unable to keep the commandments of the Lord. When praying, I couldn’t feel the Lord’s presence, and I was continuously committing and confessing sins every day. Every time after I confessed to the priest, he would tell me to recite the rosary, saying that in this way my sins would be spared by the Lord. But after I did that, I still couldn’t rid myself of the bondage of sins. So I couldn’t help but feel a little worried: I always commit and confess sins; will the Lord Jesus forgive such a sinner like me? Could I still have a chance to welcome the return of the Lord? In 2013, I came to South Korea. In hope of finding my original heart of loving the Lord, I visited several churches here, and wanted to know how the faith of the believers in South Korea was and whether their churches were more thriving than those in China. However, every time I went to a church with joy, I came back with disappointment. I found the priests and believers here behaved the same way as those in China did; they all lived in sins and couldn’t keep the teachings of the Lord. I felt so depressed and gradually was unwilling to go to church. However, whenever I saw disasters occurring one after another all over the world from the news report, I would think: “The prophecies of the return of the Lord have basically come true, and the Lord might have come back already, but where is He?” I constantly prayed to the Lord in my heart: “Oh, Lord, where are You? How can I find You?” Discussion: The Reasons for the Desolation of the Church I will never forget one day in March of 2018. That day, when visiting one of my workmates, I got acquainted with her younger brother, Brother Zhang. He is also a believer of the Lord, and we were actually baptized in the same church. This made me feel a sort of closeness to him. In our conversation, when we talked about the widespread desolation of the church at present, Brother Zhang said, “The reason why the church is desolate nowadays, on the one hand, is that the priests and bishops no longer obey the way of the Lord and practice His words, or lead the believers to keep the commandments of the Lord; instead, they always exalt themselves and bear witness to themselves, and make people keep the instructions and rules summarized by them. The church was originally a place where people worshiped God, but because people don’t possess a heart of reverence and don’t respect God above all others, the church has become a religious venue, losing the work of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, it is because God has begun a new work and the work of the Holy Spirit has turned to it. Just as when the Lord Jesus launched the work of redemption in the Age of Grace, the temple was no longer upheld by the Holy Spirit, so it became a place for doing business. Those who accepted and followed the Lord Jesus all kept pace with the footsteps of the Lamb, obtained the work of the Holy Spirit and enjoyed the watering and supply of the wellspring of living water of God. And those who failed to follow the work of the Lord Jesus, however, lost the work of the Holy Spirit and fell into darkness and desolation. From these facts we can see that when the church gets desolate, we should seek God’s will and consider whether God has launched a new work in other places, and whether we should get out of the church and seek the work of the Holy Spirit. Just as Amos 4:7-8 in the Old Testament says: ‘I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. People staggered from town to town for water. but did not get enough to drink.’ From the scripture we can see: When our church has no ‘rain,’ that is, has no work of the Holy Spirit, there is a church out there with ‘rain.’ Therefore, on the matter of the…

By She Qi, China Marriage is a major thing in everyone’s life, so how can we choose a right life partner in a way that will ensure happiness? What are your criteria for selecting a spouse? These days, more and more women want to marry someone tall, rich and handsome, and more and more men want to marry a beautiful woman. People think that as long as they have money and are able to enjoy a lavish material life, they’ll be happy. But is that kind of perspective on marriage accurate? What really is true happiness? Here Qiao Yin and Qi Zheng, a couple worthy of our admiration, break down what happiness really is. Qiao Yin met Qi Zheng during her first year in college. He came from a humble family, and over the first year they knew each other, she found him to be a truly kind man. They fell in love. Qiao Yin told him that she was a Christian and she shared God’s gospel of the last days with him. Qi Zheng joyfully accepted the work of God. The two of them frequently attended gatherings and read God’s words together—they talked about everything. Every day she spent with Qi Zheng was a very happy day, and she frequently gave thanks to God from the heart for having met him. Could These Feelings Be Wrong? Once word spread of their relationship, Qiao Yin’s family was very opposed to it and did their utmost to break them up, and even her roommates didn’t think much of their prospects. Qiao Yin didn’t care about others’ opposition; she was determined to stay with Qi Zheng. Realizing that she really was set on spending her life with him, the people around her gave her “kind” words of advice. “Look, your family conditions are not bad and you’re good-looking. Why would you date someone who’s poor? Have you thought about what life will be like from here on out? The way our society is now, after you graduate you won’t be able to get a good job unless you can pull some strings. How could someone without any money or influence have useful connections? If you stay with him, I guarantee you won’t have an easy life. I have a friend who’s tall, rich, and handsome—I’ll introduce you. As long as you’re willing to break up with Qi Zheng you two definitely stand a chance.” “Isn’t finding a good partner a woman’s lifelong wish? Just look at what a house and a car cost today. If you’re with someone who has nothing but the shirt on his back, you’re going to have to struggle for years and years to get those things. And then when you have a kid it’ll be even harder!” “You need to be realistic. Qi Zheng really does have feelings for you, but can the feelings between you now pay the bills? Can he provide you with a comfortable life? You know what they say—love can’t make you happy if your pantry is bare. While you’re still young, find someone with family money.” Qiao Yin heard lots of things like this, and while on the surface she appeared to reject all of it and she refused to break up with Qi Zheng, a seed of doubt was planted in her heart. And she saw that her roommates Yaoyao and Xiaowen had each gone through several boyfriends since starting college, each richer and more charismatic than the last. They went on dates to fancy restaurants, and even when it wasn’t a special occasion their boyfriends would send them big bouquets of blue roses or even cellphones, name-brand purses, and other luxury products. Sometimes they’d even pick them up and drop them off in a car. It was really romantic and impressive. This particularly gave Qiao Yin an odd feeling of envy as well as jealousy. Before she knew it, Qiao Yin started feeling dissatisfied with Qi Zheng. Even though he was very kind and was really devoted to her, he was too down-to-earth and frugal in his day-to-day life. They only ever went on inexpensive dates, going to free parks and getting snacks from roadside stalls. There weren’t any lavish gifts or high-class restaurants—she’d never experienced those things. When she took him out to have dinner with friends he was always on a lower rung than her friends’ boyfriends. Mulling over all of these things, Qiao Yin felt more and more discontent. During that time her friends were all talking about how their boyfriends had promised to buy them a house and a car after getting married, and what really stuck out for her was that her cousin had a boyfriend who already owned two homes. She felt really upset every time her family compared her cousin’s boyfriend to Qi Zheng. After that, Qiao Yin kept trying to suss out how much savings Qi Zheng’s parents had and if they’d be able to buy them a house and car if they got married. Every time she brought this up, she put him in a really awkward position; he’d explain in a quiet voice explain that his parents didn’t have any money, then go on in a louder voice to say that in the future he’d work hard to earn money. Every time she heard him say this Qiao Yin felt an inexplicable rage and often wouldn’t even acknowledge him. She’d throw a fit for at least a few hours, sometimes for a day or two. The things those closer to her had been saying were always in mind, and she started to think that if she could find a guy from a well-off family, she’d have a much more comfortable life, but if she married someone poor and started with nothing, wouldn’t that be a loss? At some point things their once-happy love affair became very complicated, and conflicts ensued. Every time Qiao Yin got upset over nothing, Qi Zheng was incredibly patient with her and tried to think…

Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. – John 20:29 Reflection： In the past, when I saw this verse, I only thought these were the Lord’s words to Thomas. But several days ago, I saw a passage on the Internet, which made me realize that Thomas represents a type of person and the words spoken by the Lord are also a caution and a warning for us. Share this passage with you: “Thomas represents a type of person who believes in God yet doubts God. They are of a suspicious nature, have sinister hearts, are treacherous, and do not believe in the things that God can complete. They do not believe in God’s omnipotence and His rule, and they don’t believe in God incarnate. However, the Lord Jesus’ resurrection was a slap in the face to them, and it also provided them with an opportunity to discover their own doubt, to recognize their own doubt, and to acknowledge their own treachery, thus truly believing in the existence and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. What happened with Thomas was a warning and a caution for later generations so that more people could warn themselves not to be doubting like Thomas, and if they were, they would sink into the darkness. If you follow God, but just like Thomas, you always want to touch the Lord’s rib and feel His nail marks to confirm, to verify, to speculate on whether or not God exists, God will forsake you. So, the Lord Jesus requires people to not be like Thomas, only believing what they can see with their own eyes, but to be a pure, honest person, to not harbor doubts toward God, but only believe in and follow Him. This type of person is blessed. This is a very small requirement the Lord Jesus has for people, and a warning for His followers.” After reading these words, I understand the reason why the people such as Thomas have failed. It is because that their hearts are too deceitful. They always assess the authenticity and reason of things with their own eyes, clinging to the view “seeing is believing,” and do not have the eagerness to seek the truth, this kind of people finally are ruined by their deceitfulness. Now we all yearn for the second coming of Jesus, but many people believe that the Jesus who does not ride upon a white cloud is a false Christ. No matter who testify that the Lord has returned, they do not believe and cling to their own conceptions and only believe when they see the Lord come openly on clouds with their own eyes. Don’t they have the same viewpoint as Thomas? If we hear someone preaches the Lord has come, we don’t put aside our imaginations and conceptions, or follow the masses, waiting and seeing, or hesitate to seek and investigate the true way, we are surely unable to see the Lord’s appearance, thus we’ll lose the opportunity to gain salvation and enter the kingdom of heaven. The Lord said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” These words are just the Lord’s reminders of us so that we won’t follow in the footsteps of those who had failed.   » Read more in these articles: • 3 Truths About the Resurrection of Jesus Christ We Should Know • Lessons From the Lord Jesus’ Appearance to Thomas the Apostle Peace be with you all! Dear brothers and sisters, if you have any understanding or enlightenment from God, you’re welcome to share with us.1. Via the online chat window at the bottom right corner of the screen.2. Send an email to info@testifygod.org.We sincerely hope we’ll grow spiritually through sharing with each other.