Can We Welcome the Second Coming of Jesus Christ If We Only Wait for His Revelations? (Part 1)

By Wang Qiang

In 1989, I believed in the Lord Jesus with my wife. At that time, I was in my 30s and willingly spent and sacrificed for the Lord. Our pastor and elder thought I was a promising young man, so they thought highly of me. Before long, I became a good preacher and often preached the gospel with the pastor here and there, contacting many church leaders.

How to Seek God’s Will as Christians When Choosing a Spouse?

Hello, Brothers and Sisters of Find the Shepherd!

I’m old enough now to look for a partner in life. My parents are anxious about my marriage prospects, and my relatives and friends also often ask me about this, which makes me feel I’m under much pressure. When it comes to looking for a spouse, my unbelieving friends all want to choose those who are “tall, rich and handsome” or “fair-skinned, rich and beautiful,” yet I have no idea what kind of people we Christians should choose. Looking forward to your reply.

Sincerely yours,

Xiangzhi

3 Principles of Loving Your Brothers and Sisters in Christ

By Yinzi

The Bible says, “But the end of all things is at hand: be you therefore sober, and watch to prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

How Do You Have a Relationship With God? 4 Ways

By Jin Qiu

Brothers and Sisters of Find the Shepherd:

I’m a Christian. Since I believed in the Lord, I have been enjoying the Lord’s grace and blessings, but recently I couldn’t feel the Lord’s presence. I didn’t feel enlightened when reading the Bible nor moved through prayer.

How Should We Explain Revelation 22:18–19

By Chiheng

Editor’s Note: A good friend of Christian Xu Min sends her a book—she feels spiritually freed after reading it, and it seems to her like a book of God’s utterance. However, her pastor says that according to a prophecy in Revelation 22:18–19, no one can add anything to or remove anything from the Bible, so God couldn’t possibly speak aside from through the Bible.

If We Just Wait for the Lord to Descend With Clouds, Will We Really Be Able to Meet Him?

By Chang Xin

My uncle has believed in the Lord for many years, and he is a preacher of our church. Since I was young, I have liked to listen to his preachings. He often talked to us about the scriptures about the Lord descending with the clouds and told us that in the last days the Lord Jesus would come upon a cloud to take us up into the kingdom of heaven.

3 Biblical Stories Teach You How to Pray According to God’s Will

By Xuesong

Praying is a way for Christians to commune with God and obtain enlightenment from Him, and is an essential practice in our daily life. Since praying is so important to us Christians, how should we pray in accordance with the Lord’s will so that He will hear? This is an issue that every Christian is concerned about. Now let’s find out the answer from three biblical stories.

How Not to Be Constrained in Gatherings

By Arong

In the past, I often actively fellowshiped about my experience and knowledge of God’s words at meetings. But my emotions often swung because of my brothers’ and sisters’ different reactions. Whenever I saw them attentively listening to my fellowshiping and frequently nodding their approval, I would feel elated, whereas when I saw they didn’t respond to my fellowshiping, my heart would sink. However, I didn’t notice these revelations until one meeting.

Behold, the Lord Jesus Has Returned Upon a Cloud

By Rayson, Kenya

Throughout our lives we will miss out on many things, such as a delicious meal, a date, a good job, an object of our affection, and so on. If we miss out on these things, we can get other things to replace them, but if we miss the last train to the kingdom of heaven, we will be left with eternal regrets. As a Christian, I was very lucky to have caught the last train for the kingdom of heaven.

How Should Christians Handle Biblical Prophecies in Order to Welcome the Lord’s Return?

By Qianhe

Prophecies are about things that haven’t happened yet, that God has already told us about. Some of them are signs that He gave to prophets so that they would write about them, such as in the books of Isaiah and Daniel. Some of them were told to people directly by God in the flesh, like the Lord Jesus’ prophecies about the last days.

A Christian’s Understanding: Only God Can Save the Youngsters Who Are Squandering Their Youth

By Jin Ming

At 5:30 in the morning, my husband, who works as a taxi driver, came back home after the shift as usual. Noticing our daughter cooking in the kitchen, he smiled and said, “My baby girl is making breakfast today?” “Yeah. Mom isn’t feeling well, so it’s my responsibility to cook for you,” answered my daughter with an elfish smile.

The Song of Life in Tortures

Gao Jing    Henan Province

In 1999, I was fortunate to accept Almighty God’s end-time work. Through reading God’s word, I felt God’s holy, honorable, and righteous disposition, and knew that all these words are the expression of God’s life being. I had inexpressible moving in my heart. For the first time I felt the security and joy in the bottom of my heart brought by the working of the Holy Spirit. Since then, I desired more and more to gain these truths.

A Christian’s Testimony of How to Save a Marriage on the Brink of Divorce

By Jiamei

Her Husband’s Online Entanglement Raises a Red Flag

“Uncle, none of that online chatting stuff is real. There are lots of people now using that to cheat people, how could there be anyone there that really wants to meet you?”

A New Starting Point in Life: Saying Farewell to Exchanging Life for Money

By Zhao Zhen, United States

Recently, I saw online a couple of phrases that are very popular nowadays: “Live for money, die for money, run after money all your life; lose because of money, be duped because of money, live your life and die for money” and “Look to make money in all things and make your wad of banknotes thicker.” In today’s money-focused society, to have more banknotes is the goal pursued by people nowadays, and “Money is first,” “Money makes the world go round,” and “Money isn’t everything, but without it, you can do nothing,” have even more so become the guiding lights along our paths through life. We do not question these statements and we do not moneygive them up. And of course, I was no exception!

My Heart Has Stopped Wandering

by Novo    Philippines

My name is Novo, I am a Filipino. Since I was little, I believed in God with my mother. I went to church with my brothers and sisters to listen to sermons. Even though I had believed in the Lord for many years, I felt that I was like an unbeliever. Within my heart, I would think about how to earn more money and live a better life all day long. Furthermore, I would frequently go out and drink with friends.

Almighty God Rescued Me from the Desperate Situations

Wang Cheng    Hebei Province

When I believed in Jesus, I was persecuted by the CCP government. It often obstructed and suppressed me on the “charge” of “believing in Jesus,” and asked the village cadres to go to my home at intervals to investigate me on believing in God.

Awakening in the Tribulation of Persecution

Chaotuo    Henan Province

Since I was very young, my parents had often been publicly criticized on the stage, paraded through the streets, and so on because of believing in Jesus. I passed my childhood in the cold eyes and mockeries of the people in the village. In my childhood memories, the brothers and sisters who came to my home were all very kindhearted and genial. I never understood why such good people should be publicly criticized and paraded. In 2001, when I was twenty years old, my whole family accepted the end-time work of Almighty God. Later, I also personally experienced a nightmarish arrest and cruel tortures because of believing in God. Then I finally found the answer and solved the puzzle I had in my mind for years….

Parable of Jesus—Meaning of the Parable of New Cloth on Old Garment

By Yaning

One day, after a meeting, a sister asked me, “Brother, the Lord Jesus said, ‘No man puts a piece of a new garment on an old; if otherwise, then both the new makes a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agrees not with the old’ (Luke 5:36). Do you know what this parable means? What does the Lord want to tell us through it?”

Inspiration From Three Sentences Spoken During Temptation of Jesus

By Zhang Yue

It was a fine day today. In the morning, a ray of sunshine touched upon my face through the window and I was in a pretty good mood. Then I took up the Bible and turned to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 4 verses 1-11: “Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

How Great Is the Power of Prayer? How Can We Gain It?

By Cindy, United States

First, the power of prayer is so great.

Jehovah God said, “Then shall you call on Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you” (Jeremiah 29:12). God straightforwardly told us that as long as we genuinely call out and pray to Him, He will accomplish everything we ask for. Indeed, the Bible records many stories in which situations take a turn for the better and problems are solved through the power of prayer. For example, when God gave a revelation to Noah and let him make an ark, though he had never seen what an ark looked like, through sincerely praying to God, he miraculously built a big ark under God’s guidance and enlightenment, and when the world was destroyed by flood his family of eight survived. When Joshua led the people of Israel to attack Jericho, it was through praying that they finally won the victory. It was also through praying that the people of Nineveh gained God’s mercy and weren’t destroyed by God, able to go on living. When Esther and her Israeli compatriots fasted and prayed for three days and nights, Jehovah God heard their prayers and helped them be spared a catastrophe. From all this, we can see how great the power of prayer is. When we sincerely offer up prayers to God and look up to Him with our hearts, something marvelous and unexpected will happen—the power of prayer is indeed that great and prayer is extremely important. All this gives us a message: As Christians, regardless of whether it is in our life or work or when we encounter other things, as long as we sincerely pray to God and learn to rely on God, God will surely listen to our prayers and solve the difficulties we face, thus allowing us to feel His real existence.

Second, how can we gain the power of prayer?

Now we know that the power of prayer is so great and that God is a help to us at all times. So, how should we pray to God to obtain the power of prayer?

God’s words say, “Prayer is one of the ways in which man cooperates with God, it is a means by which man calls upon God, and it is the process by which man is touched by God’s Spirit. … Being someone who believes in God, the more you pray, the more you are touched by God. Such people have greater resolution and are more able to receive the latest enlightenment from God.” “But the effect to be achieved by prayer is no simple matter. Prayer is not a case of going through the formalities, or following procedure, or reciting the words of God, which is to say, prayer does not mean parroting words and copying others. In prayer, you must give your heart to God, sharing the words in your heart with God so that you may be touched by God. If your prayers are to be effective, then they must be based on your reading of God’s words. Only by praying amid God’s words will you be able to receive more enlightenment and illumination. A true prayer is shown by having a heart that yearns for the requirements made by God, and being willing to fulfill these requirements; you will be able to hate all that God hates, upon the basis of which you will have knowledge, and will know and be clear about the truths explained by God. Having the resolution, and faith, and knowledge, and a path by which to practice after praying—only this is truly praying, and only prayer such as this can be effective.”

God’s words tell us that prayer is a kind of exchange between us humans and God, and that it is one of the ways for us to be touched by God’s Spirit. First, we must pray with a true heart and speak to God from the heart. Only in this way will God listen to us and will we be able to obtain the power of prayer. Second, prayers must be based on the foundation of God’s words. Only by seeking God’s will according to His words can we receive His enlightenment and see His wondrous deeds. What’s more, we should have true faith in God, and believe that God rules over everything and that nothing is impossible for God. Only by meeting these three conditions can our prayers be heard by God, and only then can we gain the enlightenment and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and have faith, strength, and a way of practice in facing everything. However, if we treat praying as rules to be followed, just moving our lips without a true heart, if we, feeling that praying is holding us up, say a few prayers carelessly or sometimes simply don’t pray but rely on our minds to work or live or deal with other things, if we do this for a while, then because of lacking true communion with God, our connections to God will be severed, we will have no relationship with God, and we will live under Satan’s domain. As a result, whenever things crop up, we will become muddled; we will feel empty every day. All of this is the consequence of not gaining God’s guidance. Actually, God is always beside us, caring for us. He has unreservedly told us how to pray to attain His approval. As long as we act according to God’s instructions, we will be able to build a normal relationship with God and earn His guidance.

For instance, when Joshua met difficulties, God used words to personally tell him how to cooperate with Him to get through the difficulties. Joshua acted according to the requirements of God’s words, and he genuinely prayed to and relied on God, believing that God could accomplish everything. Finally, God saw the faith and obedience of him and the other Israelites, and allowed them to conquer Jericho without losing a solider and defeat the enemy easily. We can see from this that as long as we sincerely pray to God with an honest attitude, telling God of our deficiencies and difficulties, God will grant us faith and strength, and guide us forward. Just as the Lord Jesus said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).

Third, what should we pray about to attain God’s praise?

Prayer is really so important for us Christians. So, what should we pray about to gain God’s approval? Let’s read a passage from God’s words, “And what about the content of prayers? You should pray, step-by-step, in accordance with your true state and that which is to be done by the Holy Spirit, and you should commune with God in keeping with God’s will and His requirements of man. … You should say: ‘O God! I wish to fulfill my duty. In order that You may be glorified in us, and may enjoy the testimony in us, this group of people, I can but devote my entire being to You. I beg You to work within us, so that I can truly love and satisfy You, and make You the objective that I pursue.’ When you are possessed of this burden, God will surely make you perfect; you should not only pray for the sake of yourself, but also for the sake of doing the will of God, and for the sake of loving Him. Such is the truest kind of prayer.”

We realize from God’s words that not all of our prayers will be heard by God, and that if their content is after God’s will and is something to be made perfect by God, then God will fulfill our prayers. For example, if we have the prayers for God’s gospel to spread to the entire universe, the prayers for more people to return before God, the prayers for us to have a true knowledge of God through His words, the prayers for us to cast off the bonds of our corrupt dispositions soon, and the prayers for our shortcomings and deficiencies, all these prayers will be approved by God. If we often pray about such things, we will obtain faith and power from God so that we will develop hearts of obedience and love for God, and be willing to dedicate our whole being to God’s work. This is the result gained from prayer. Take when we spread the gospel for example. If we have no idea how to discern whether someone can be preached, we can pray like this: “O God! When spreading the gospel, I see that I lack so much of the truth. I don’t know how to discern people, not knowing who meets the conditions for being preached to. I wish to entrust my difficulty to You and I’m willing to seek You. May You enlighten and guide me, so that I can understand this aspect of the truth and bring more people who conform with Your intentions before You.” When we practice saying such prayers of seeking and of longing and God sees that we have an attitude of seeking, God will enlighten us in what we ask, and meanwhile the Holy Spirit will work on us, guide us into the relevant truth and to find the root of this problem and the path to resolve it. Thus, it will be solved and we will have more faith and strength to spread God’s gospel.

However, if our prayers are making demands of God and unreasonably asking God for His grace and blessings, or if in our hearts we are reluctant to pray to God but follow the rules and give some empty praises, such prayers are not in accordance with God’s will. Therefore, God won’t listen to us and our faith and strength won’t increase after praying. It can be seen that what we should pray and supplicate to God for is extremely crucial and important.