Let us first have a word of prayer.
Lord, we thank You once again for the opportunity to gather in Your presence. We look to You that You would continue to bestow Your mercy upon us, so that through Your work we may see Your working hand.
We pray that those who are willing to choose You would find a way to follow after You, so that You may accomplish that glorious, eternal will which You determined before the foundation of the world.
The ability of man to do or speak for You is so very limited. We look to You to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, to personally speak to each one of us. Speak very clearly and evidently within each one of us. Lead us in this following hour. We pray in the Lord Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.
We thank the Lord that we are able to meet here again. Yesterday, we looked a little into the plan of redemption that God has.
In God’s plan of redemption, we have come into contact with a very high point, even though we dare not say that it is the highest point. Brothers and sisters, I believe you are able to grasp the fact that, in the design and plan of God, He has restored us back unto His original purpose.
That purpose is for man to rule over all the earth and to be a manifestation throughout the universe. Even a step further, not only are we to rule over all the earth, but also over all the universe.
But in our fellowship at this time, we are focused on this aspect of ruling over all the earth.
We thank our God. He used His own blood to purchase us from every nation, tongue, tribe, and people so that we can belong to Him.
At the very end, the goal is for us to reign for Him.
Therefore, we are able to see that the salvation of God is not merely for us to receive grace for pardon, or merely to be saved. Justification and sanctification are part of this, but they are not the end.
After God has allowed us to enjoy all of His grace, He will continue to lead us into the very end of His purpose. That is for us to reign with Him.
When we see that God has prepared grace for salvation, we see that God spoke through the Holy Spirit and the prophets. Especially in Hebrews 2, we see the Lord, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, leading many sons into glory.
Our brothers have mentioned that God foreknew us and that He will bring us into glory. Where is that glory manifested? That glory is manifested in the fact that we will reign with Him.
Through the grace of redemption from God, we receive the life of His Son. Through this life, God continues to exercise us, teaching us to be kings. The life of the Son of God is a life that reigns.
Not only is it a risen life, and not only is it the power that has destroyed the power of death, but this life is also a life of reigning. This life reigns over all.
God wills for His Son to reign over all. In salvation, God has granted His Son to us. Many times, we only notice the fact that Christ is our life. Very seldom do we take note of this point: this life is a life that reigns.
This life that reigns will lead us to the fact that we will reign. But before we reign, we have the lineage—the blood of a king—yet we may not be seated on the throne.
Through this life, God works upon us so that not only do we have the reality of this life, but we come even to the point that we will be seated on the throne.
Therefore, when we preach the gospel, brothers and sisters, we must realize this secret. We are not merely using words to convince others to believe in Him. It is through the will of God that we share life with life.
Since it is life sharing life, the life that we preach is a life that reigns. Therefore, we also preach this reigning life.
But then where is the problem? What kind of story does this reigning life tell?
I want first to use the passage which the Christians used last evening. Let us try to remember it. If you cannot recite it confidently, then you can turn to it. But let us try together.
The passage is Galatians 2:20.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me:
and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith,
the faith which is in the Son of God,
Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
Thank the Lord that our brothers and sisters are able to place the Word of God in our hearts.
We also want to turn to Philippians 2, beginning with verse 12.
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
for it is God Who worketh in you both to will and to work, for His good pleasure.
Another passage is Colossians 3:15.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also ye were called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Let us turn to another passage, 1 John 2:24-27. Our brother has also mentioned this in the message.
Let that therefore abide in you, which ye heard from the beginning.
If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father.
And this is the promise which He promised us, even the life eternal.These things have I written unto you concerning them that would lead you astray.
And as for you, the anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you;
but as His anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie,
and even as it taught you, ye abide in Him.
When God created man, He had a very glorious purpose. After man fell and departed from the arrangement of God, God did not forsake His will. He gave us the grace of redemption, and His grace of redemption meets our exact needs.
Brothers and sisters, pay attention to those words: “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” We all remember those words.
Perhaps before yesterday, we had not fully grasped what that death means. Through our fellowship yesterday, we gained a firmer grasp of what death includes.
Death is more than physical death—the condition in which we cannot move, breathe, eat, or drink, and in which we return from dust to dust. That is our general concept of death.
But when the Lord proclaimed, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” it concerned the entire makeup of man. Death includes the death of the spirit, the death of the soul, and, of course, the death of the body.
Normally, we focus only on the death of the body. We may come somewhat to the edge of the death of the soul, and lightly we know about the death of the spirit. But in general, our focus remains on the death of the body.
When God gives us His salvation, we also often focus on the same thing: that we would not perish and would not have eternal death. But we may not firmly grasp that eternal death includes the death of the spirit, the soul, and the body.
But praise and thank God: when God prepares His salvation, it is according to our practical needs. Not only does He save our body; He also saves our spirit and our soul.
The salvation of our spirit and the salvation of our body are accomplished in a moment. But the salvation of our soul is something upon which God works throughout all the days of our life.
Sometimes we become confused. God has already finished two very important components for us in a moment. Why is there one part that is not finished for us right away?
If God were to save our spirit, soul, and body in an instant, we would not suffer so much, and He would not need to go through so much trouble. God is absolutely able to do so. But God is able, and yet He is not willing to do so.
Then we have to take note of why. If we do not take note of the design of His eternal will, or of His purpose in creation, then of course we will be confused.
But if we take note of the fact that redemption brings us back to the original purpose of God, then we will know why.
God wants to restore fellowship with us in an instant. When we are raised from the dead, that will be accomplished in a moment. But when God leaves this matter of reigning with Him for us to learn, then we know there must be a reason behind it.
Brothers and sisters, just take a look at ourselves. Are we able to reign? Are we worthy to reign?
When we are on the throne, there will be many people who come to us. Even if they ask a very simple question, that question is enough: “Why are you able to reign and I cannot? Why are you on the throne and I am not? You and I are not much different. The fact is that you believed in the Lord and I did not.”
Especially those who have some religious background may ask, “Why is it that you are on the throne and I am not?” Brothers and sisters, this question is in our minds, but it is also our spiritual reality.
Yesterday we mentioned that reigning is not for us to rule over others. It is for us to provide for others and to take care of their difficulties and burdens.
If someone comes to you with a burden and you do not take care of it, saying, “I am sorry. I cannot help you today. Go home first, and I will help you tomorrow,” then that is not reigning.
Even the rulers of this world dare not say it so plainly. If we are to reign with Christ, then we cannot utter those words.
The Lord’s words to the church in Ephesus in Revelation are that we must remember from where we have fallen, repent, and do the first works.
What does it mean to remember from where we have fallen? We must pay attention to where we have fallen, because that is where we must stand. We have to pay attention to where we have lost, and then return to the place where we lost.
When we take note of those words, we realize why the Lord does not accomplish the salvation of our soul for us in a moment. The fallen soul is the very focus of our entire fall.
Our soul, being the focal point of the fall, is also the obstacle that prevents us from manifesting the glory and authority of the Lord.
Man’s fall was due to eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You may ask, “Is that fruit so powerful? By taking one simple bite, were we all finished?”
Brothers and sisters, the food itself was nothing great. The issue was this: God clearly said that man could not eat of that fruit, yet man wanted to eat it.
Let me use a simple example. You are driving, there is a red light, and you do not care for it. You drive through it. The policeman sees you and gives you a ticket.
Not only do you have to go to court, but you have to pay a penalty or attend a class. You may say, “I do not want to pay the penalty, and I do not need to go to your class, because I know all the rules.”
Brothers and sisters, the matter is not whether you know the rules. You have done something: you have undermined authority.
You may say, “What is so great about a red light? I can put many red lights in my house.” But no matter how many red lights you have in your house, you do not need to pay attention to them.
But you must pay attention to the red light of the traffic signal, because there is authority behind that red light. If you run that red light, you have broken authority.
Man’s fall was not because that bite of fruit was, in itself, such a great thing. It was the motive and the action of eating the fruit that were the great matter, because there we broke authority.
“The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” God established authority there, and we cannot undermine it. Man’s fall was due to that disobedience.
Now God’s restoration is according to this principle: where you have lost, where you have fallen, that is where you must return. Where you have fallen, that is where you are to stand and rise again.
That is the reason why the salvation of our soul takes such a long period of time. It is for our exercise and for us to learn well. This is where our problem lies, and God wants us to learn what we have undermined.
Even when we observe children as they grow, we see the same thing. If we cannot see it in our own children, surely we see it in the children of others. We can see natural rebellion.
We may know many things, but knowing is one matter; being able to fulfill the requirement is another. That is the very weakest point of man, which created the fall in the past and still creates the problem of our not being able to follow the Lord.
Therefore, in the salvation plan of God, He leaves this portion of salvation for us to be exercised and to learn well. God deals with the fall of man’s soul and takes care of it so that we may be brought into glory without blemish.
Throughout all the days of our life, God lets us exercise in this matter of having life reign within us.
When the Lord appears in glory and we are all brought before Him, we know that we must face the judgment seat of Christ.
You may ask, “We have already gone through the exercise of having life within us on earth. Then, when we see the Lord, why do we still have to go through judgment?”
The Lord shows us that after we are raptured, the first thing we face is the judgment seat of Christ. What is there to judge at that time? It concerns the lessons we have learned while we still live and the matter of having life reign.
Perhaps some children of the Lord still have lessons that they did not learn well. Perhaps other brothers and sisters have even more lessons that they did not realize they had not learned.
Therefore, even before the judgment seat of Christ, there are still things that the Lord must deal with. We must still go through refining by fire, so that only what is of Christ remains.
The judgment seat of Christ is like fire. If we are gold, silver, and precious stones, they will remain. If we are wood, hay, and stubble, then they will be burned up.
After that burning, after the result of that judgment, what remains is what we bring before Christ. But who among us can say that all that remains after the fire is Christ? Even Paul dared not say that. As for us, are we able to say that?
When we understand the eternal will of God, we see that the maturity of the church opens the way for the kingdom.
When the kingdom appears, we discover this fact: those who are able to reign with the Lord are only a portion in the church. Only the overcomers will reign with the Lord.
Then what happens to those who are not able to reign with the Lord? They are not qualified to reign in the kingdom.
You may question whether, if they cannot reign, the purpose for which God created man in the beginning has vanished. Brothers and sisters, we do not need to worry for God. We must worry only for ourselves: are we able to fulfill the requirement of the Lord?
God has spent so much time and energy to come alongside us so that we may fulfill His purpose of reigning with Him.
The kingdom is only one thousand years. If you are able to reign with the Lord, then you reign for those thousand years, and it is finished. Even if we reign with the Lord in the kingdom, that alone is still not enough to fulfill God’s ultimate purpose.
At the end of the kingdom, if God’s purpose had not gone further, there would still be a breach in the purpose of His creation of man. But brothers and sisters, we need not worry.
When we read the last chapter of Revelation, we see that all those who are in Christ, all those who have a desire before God, will reign with Christ.
Not only for one thousand years. When the thousand years have passed, how long will we reign? Forever.
When we read Revelation 22, we see the completion of what God shows us in Genesis 1.
In the grace of redemption of God, and in the salvation of our soul, we can see how much work God has done and how much patience God has manifested. He accompanies us through all the hardship of our days, through the kingdom, and then we shall reign with the Lord forever.
Brothers and sisters, we can see how solemn this area of salvation is. Why does God arrange it in this way?
We may still ask, “God, why can You not save our soul just as You save our spirit and our body in a moment? Then there would be no trouble for either You or me.”
Of course, if God wanted to do so, He could do so. But then we would not become perfect. When the Lord appears in glory, we would not be able to appear in glory with Him.
“When He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him.” If the salvation of the soul were not accomplished in this way, then this purpose of God would not be complete.
Therefore, in our daily living, God exercises us to have this life reign within us. The salvation of our soul is our personal history. It is our story.
It is our experience of the Lord exalting us from dust and bringing us into His glory.
Then we must ask: when God leads us to exercise in this way, what are these exercises about?
Man fell because of disobedience. Therefore, God uses the matter of obedience to bring us back.
We know that we are saved by grace because we believe in the Lord. But what is the actual experience when we come to believe in the Lord? When we believe in the Lord, it is to obey the Lord.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
You may say, “That is how I am saved.” Yes, that is our experience. But why do you have confidence that the words of God are trustworthy? Because you accept His authority. You confess His authority.
You say, “God, You have used Your authority to say this, and we accept Your authority. You say for us to believe in Your Son; therefore, we believe in Your Son.”
When we return to God, it is also through obedience. You may say that we do not begin with obedience, but with faith. But in the reality of faith, faith is acceptance, and that acceptance is based upon our obedience to authority.
By the will of God, determined in His authority, we accept our portion. We are saved.
The growth of life is also under this same principle. In practical situations, we must learn what it means for life to reign.
We say that we live according to the guidance and government of that life. What is that all about?
Many times we encounter new believers who ask, “Now we already believe in the Lord. We are saved. What more do we need to do so that the Christian life may be more full?”
This is a very natural question. Before I believed in the Lord, this was how I lived. Now I believe in the Lord, and I cannot go back to my old life. Then how do I enter into this new life?
This is a difficult question to answer. If we answer according to the hope of the one asking, they hope that we will give them a list of all the steps they should take.
They expect us to say, “Take your pen and paper. I will tell you one thing, and you write it down.” After all the steps are written down one by one, they think this is how they should return and live.
We might tell them what they can do and what they cannot do. According to man, this is the simplest way.
But in salvation, God does not allow us to live by such a list. If we do that, it brings us back under law. It brings us from the salvation and redemption of the new covenant back to the law of the old covenant.
The Christian life is not lived out in that way. Then how do we live? We must return to the Word of God.
We read Philippians 2: God works in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
How do we live? God leads us from within. He tells us from within what we ought to do and what we need to will.
It is God who works in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure. When God does this, it is for us to accomplish His good will.
Then the passage tells us to work out our salvation. In translation, this can give us some difficulty, because we may not grasp the true meaning.
But brothers and sisters, we can see clearly that it means we must live out the grace of His salvation.
How does He work within you? How does He work within? Then that is how you obey. The result of your obedience is that which completes the good pleasure of God.
Brothers and sisters, this is the secret of the Christian life.
Using the words of Romans 5, it is to learn to have life reign within us. When we learn to reign in life today, then on that day we shall be seated on the throne with the Lord.
This exercise of learning to reign continues throughout all the days of our life.
You may find this difficult and ask, “How do I know that God is at work within me?” Brothers and sisters, we need not worry. When God does something, He does it completely. There is nothing He leaves behind for us to worry about or arrange for Him.
You may say, “Brother Wong, you are making this more and more profound, and we are getting more confused.” Brothers and sisters, no. There is no confusion.
When we read the Word of God, we are very clear. If the Word of God were confusing, then not only would I be making you confused, but even the speaker would be confused.
But thank God. When He works within us, He lets us know how He is doing His work within us.
When God leads us to live in His presence, our brother mentioned two things. One is that God uses external circumstances to bring us into His desire.
Each one of us has a Bible and has the Word. God has already spoken to us what He wants to say. We should do according to the Word of God.
But we may say, “There are so many contents and details in the Bible. Are we able to memorize the entire Bible? It is difficult enough for us to memorize one verse.”
Brothers and sisters, God does not act in this way. God uses His Word externally to enlighten us, but He also recognizes our shortcomings. It is not possible for us to retain every part of the Word of God at every moment.
Yet God does one thing within us: He has given us the grace of the teaching of the anointing.
What is the teaching of the anointing? We will not go too deeply into it, but let us mention its function.
The teaching of the anointing is not dependent upon whether you can memorize all the Word of God. When you encounter something in your daily living, when you encounter people, matters, or events, the anointing tells you God’s intention.
What God tells you is according to His desire and His spoken Word. This is the teaching of the anointing.
God proclaimed this long ago through Jeremiah and Ezekiel. He said, “I will make a new covenant.”
There is a very important detail in this new covenant: in those days, you do not need another man to teach you or encourage you. You will know.
You may ask, “How is it possible for me to know? If I know, I know; if I do not know, I do not know. If I have never encountered something before, how can I know?”
Brothers and sisters, it is not determined by yourself. God does this one thing within you, causing you to know. From the least to the greatest, they will know Him.
The teaching of the anointing is the Holy Spirit telling us what God wants. What God wants is His spoken Word in the Bible.
Perhaps we have read the Word but forgotten it. At that time, the Holy Spirit reveals the meaning and purpose of the Word of God to us. Then we know. That is the teaching of the anointing.
The Lord says that the teaching of the anointing teaches us concerning all things.
After we believe in the Lord, gradually we discover that we have changed.
Before, others may throw a sweet potato at you, and you would chase after them to beat them up. But now, when they throw the sweet potato, you pick it up and plant it at your house. Then next year, when there is a harvest, you may have many sweet potatoes.
There is a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree change. How does this change come about? Is it something that can merely be learned because others tell you how you need to react?
Others may tell you that when someone strikes your cheek, you should turn the other cheek. You can try it. But if someone strikes you strongly and then says, “I am only joking,” you may become angry. That is our natural response.
Someone may shame us or give us hardship. Are we able to swallow it? Are we able to bear it? Who taught us this? There is no such thing in our natural disposition.
After we believe in the Lord, the change may not be immediate in every matter. Yet in some matters there is an immediate change.
For example, before we believed in the Lord, many dirty words might come from our speech. But after we are saved and believe in the Lord, it seems that those things have disappeared from our lips.
It is not that our old habit can never respond in that way. Sometimes those words are about to be uttered, but we swallow them back. How do we take those words back?
Before, we used those words to make our speech stronger and more animated. But now, when those words are about to come out, something within tells us, “These words are not appropriate for you. You cannot utter these words.”
Brothers and sisters, is that not our story? It is not others stopping us. It is from within. This is the teaching of the anointing.
For the sisters, perhaps they may become angry quickly, even if they do not show it. Before we believe in the Lord, we may have all the reasons for our anger: “How can that person be so unreasonable?”
But now the question is not whether the other person is unreasonable. The question is whether we ourselves should become angry.
Brothers and sisters, you can see how this change is not external. It is from within. What is this? It is the teaching of the anointing. This is the promise of our Lord.
Where does the Christian life begin? We must pay attention to how God begins His work.
Many times, we ask, “How do I know what the will of God is? Should I do this or not? How do I know whether it is the will of God?”
How could it be that you would not know? You do not need to ask anyone else. Why do you ask another? Because you have a doubt.
Why is it that you doubt? Before, you had no doubt. But now you begin to have doubt because you feel there is something wrong. You ask, “Is it appropriate for me to do that?”
When you have to ask another, you already know. The Lord has already spoken within you. Even though you cannot make up your mind, you already know what the decision is.
Brothers and sisters, that is the teaching of the anointing.
When God leads us to exercise and learn these things, where do we begin? It is not from our mind. It is not from our analysis. It is not based upon our understanding or knowledge.
It is from our life. Then we know what it means for life to reign.
We no longer have the excuse, “I do not know what God wants.” We absolutely know what God wants. The difficulty is not that we do not know. The difficulty is whether we are willing.
Am I willing or not? Brothers and sisters, this is an issue of choice. This is the choice of who is boss.
Just as our brother put it this morning, who is boss? Who is Lord over all? The Lord has already told us what He wants. Are we to obey, or are we not to obey?
This is a matter of obedience. This is a matter of accepting authority.
Today, when we accept authority, then on that day we can manifest authority. If today we do not accept authority, then on that day there will be no authority manifested, because what we manifest will still be man himself.
After the judgment seat of Christ, if we manifest ourselves, it is nothing. But we thank our Lord that throughout our life, He allows us to learn these lessons.
These lessons of life are to allow the Lord to reign, that the Lord may be the Boss. When the Lord makes a decision concerning me, I am one who obeys. I am one who obeys authority.
Do not think that accepting authority is only some great matter far away. Yes, it is indeed a great matter, but it also concerns the smallest details of daily life.
For example, among human relationships, the closest relationship is that between husband and wife. With other people, we may keep a certain distance. But at home, in the relationship between husband and wife, perhaps we do not pay close attention to how we speak to or treat each other.
Perhaps we think that arguments between husband and wife are something we cannot live without. Brothers and sisters, no. When we learn these lessons, from the smallest things to the greatest things, all are included.
How small can these details be? We wake up early for worship on Sunday. Sometimes brothers and sisters cannot come to the worship on time.
We remind ourselves: tomorrow we come before the Lord to worship, so tonight let us rest early.
But if we did not rest on Saturday night, then it is difficult for us to rise early on Sunday. We may say, “I need my eight hours of beauty sleep.”
Brothers and sisters, if you want a full eight hours, then sleep earlier. You may say, “No, there is a premiere tonight. I have to go and see it. I have to finish the movie.”
We know that we must put the Lord in first place above everything else. Yet we may say, “If I miss this chance, I do not know when I will have another opportunity.”
If it comes again and is also on Saturday night, we will all have our reasons. But the issue is: who is our Lord? Who is our King?
Even these very minor things are lessons for us to learn.
For example, we remind younger brothers and sisters who are awaiting marriage that believers and unbelievers cannot be unequally yoked together.
You may say, “Oh, we know about that.” But when the situation comes, we forget it. Do we really not know it? Is there no struggle at all?
Yes, there are struggles. The excuse may be, “It is so hard for me to find the right one. If I miss this opportunity, who can guarantee that I will find someone I like again?”
Brothers and sisters, do we see? The Christian life is a continual lesson in which the Lord leads us for His life to reign within us.
The Lord within us makes Himself known, and we say to Him, “Lord, You are my authority. I want to accept Your authority. I am not willing now, but help me to be willing.”
Do not think that life reigning within us is only for great situations. We should not think that we learn lessons only when someone puts a sword to our neck and says, “Do you believe in the Lord? If you still believe in the Lord, I will behead you.”
Is it only in those instances that life within us will reign? Brothers and sisters, no. If we cannot let the Lord reign in small matters, then we should not have hope that the Lord will reign in great matters.
May the Lord help us.
I have gone past the time. I apologize to the brothers and sisters. If I cannot finish, I will continue tomorrow.
We will ask Brother Shang to share with us.
Thank the Lord. The teaching of the anointing is true. Each one of us seated here can bear testimony to that.
Yesterday, our brother shared a testimony concerning a sister who experienced a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree change when others threw sweet potatoes at her.
I once read in Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis about a sister who was married to an unbeliever.
He shared how this sister had believed in the Lord for many years, yet she still had a bad temper. Her husband, however, was naturally very mild-tempered.
There was a difference between the two. The sister, although she had a bad temper, had a new life within her. The husband, who was an unbeliever, though mild-tempered by nature, had never experienced an inward change.
I share this testimony because perhaps I am like that sister. I have not believed in the Lord for very long, and I still have a very bad temper. Yet within my heart, I know that I am a new man. In some things, I am able to act differently.
But I must confess that this is a long learning process. For each one of us, it is a very long learning process.
I can give an example from a couple of months ago at my work. I work in IT consulting, and much IT work has been outsourced to India.
On my team of seventeen coworkers, fifteen are in India. There were only two of us in the United States.
A couple of months ago, the other two individuals in the United States left the company. I became the only one in the United States local time. During the daytime here, the others were asleep elsewhere, and it became difficult to manage.
There is another department in our company called client integration. They work with clients to integrate programs. Because they are dealing with clients in the United States, their whole team is in the United States.
There are ten members in that group. Many times they had to help me make plans, because I could not manage all of those things on my own. They arranged many meetings for me.
But I did not have time to attend all those meetings. They compiled a record of all the meetings I missed and went to the vice president of my department.
Their claim was that I did not fulfill my responsibility. My manager did not blame me. He said, “There are ten members on that team, and you are by yourself. I can understand why you cannot make every meeting.”
But he said one thing: “If they arrange a meeting for you and you cannot make it, just reject it.”
It seemed like a simple matter, and I was not blamed. But in my heart, I could not take it. I felt that I was already working very late, calling coworkers in India and speaking with them late into the evening.
I thought, “Your responsibility is simply to arrange meetings, but you cannot use your standard for me.”
Of course, the Holy Spirit was speaking in my heart. The words came to me: when someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the left also.
Those words appeared in my heart more than once. But I bargained with the Lord. I said, “Lord, let me take care of it my way this time.”
What I did was arrange my own meeting. I invited all those who had a grievance against me.
The subject of my meeting was to ask for help so that we could have more communication between different departments. It seemed very humble in the subject line, and they were happy to attend.
But you can imagine the result of that meeting. At the beginning, I said, “I have to do overtime in the evening, and you do not. You have too many requirements for me.”
I also complained that they arranged meetings early the next morning when I was still sleeping. Of course, they had their own reasons. They said that because they dealt with clients on the East Coast, they had to meet early.
As you can imagine, the meeting did not end well. It began with our arguments, and then the departments argued with each other.
During that period, the relationship between the two departments was not very good. During that time, did the Holy Spirit remind me? The Holy Spirit reminded me again and again not to rely upon myself to take care of the issue.
But I did not follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I was even bargaining with the Holy Spirit. I said, “Lord, I still have time, so let me disobey You this time. Next time, I will obey You.”
Later, a very wonderful thing happened. Because I am in the IT field, I like small gadgets. I had a GPS, and it was very useful.
There was only one exception: in San Francisco, with all the high-rise buildings, the GPS could not find the satellite signal.
I liked this gadget very much. When I went to Yosemite for vacation, it was a great help.
But on the way back from Yosemite, I did not close the window of my vehicle, and I left the GPS in the car. The next morning, I needed to go somewhere else and could not find it.
The gadget was about the size of a baseball, so I thought it might have rolled around in the car. I searched the car, but later I realized it had been stolen.
Because I liked that gadget so much, I felt very bad. But that afternoon, suddenly the Word of God came to me.
At that time, I could not remember exactly where the verse was from, but it was something like this: we do not know when our Lord will come, because the day of the Lord will come as a thief.
When the Lord truly comes, how are we prepared?
There was one Friday evening when we were having Bible study. It was already past ten o’clock, but it was still very bright. We said, “How come the sky is so unusual? Is the Lord about to return?”
One older brother said, “The Lord is returning. It is great.” But I thought in my heart, “Lord, do not come, because I am not ready yet.”
There are many things in our daily living. It is not that the Holy Spirit does not speak to us, but many times we do not pay attention to the Holy Spirit. Many times we suppress the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
But the Holy Spirit will not let us go. There will be another circumstance through which the Holy Spirit will teach us. We thank God that He gives us these experiences and reminders.
The Lord teaches us to look at things as signs. I want to use the GPS as an example.
The GPS must find the signal from the satellites in the sky to determine its location. Then, after it receives its position from the satellites, it tells you where you should go and how you should get there.
Receiving the messages is like the teaching of the anointing—the reminder from within.
The Scriptures tell us that we must use all wisdom to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. When we have a normal relationship with God, we have the Word of God dwelling in us.
Then at all times we are able to receive the reminder, the message from the Holy Spirit, to teach us.
There is another wonderful thing concerning that GPS. On the day after I lost it, my wife received a phone call at home from the police department.
They said that they had found the one who stole the GPS. It was by the messages within the GPS that they found me.
Each time you open the GPS, it asks, “Where are you going?” The first choice is always, “Go home.” You enter your home address, and according to that address, they found me.
We thank the Lord because each one of us knows where our home address is. According to the guidance within us, we will always find the right path home.
We thank the Lord. Our brother has believed in the Lord only for a short period of time, but he has touched upon the way we need to learn before the Lord.
This time, I especially asked brothers and sisters who have not been in the Lord for a long time to share their testimony.
One reason is that we would know this is not some very high doctrine that we must attain. These lessons are very, very basic lessons.
In the salvation plan of God, this is how He reminds us, guides us, and protects us, regardless of how long we have been in the Lord.
It is according to God’s divine plan that He governs our path, so that we can clearly see that the issue and focal point of the problem is ourselves.
We look to the Lord to show us even more what it means for life to reign.
It is the exercise of our life for the Lord to manifest His authority, so that we may become those who are full of the Lord’s authority.
Then, on that day, we shall be seated on the throne of our Lord. We need not worry, and we need not be ashamed.
Lord, we thank You. Your works are wonderful. From the beginning, You have manifested Your work upon us, and indeed we must give You all our praise and thanksgiving.
You do not work according to us, but according to Your own will. According to Your arrangement, You will bring us into the completion of Your plan.
Lord, we thank Thee. May You enlighten our spiritual eyes so that we may make the right and absolute choice.
We confess that You are our Lord and our King. Lead us on this path to reign as kings.
Lord, we thank Thee. We look to Thee and pray in the Lord Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.