Vision
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April 10, 2011 |
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 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8)
The afflictions and trials Apostle Paul had to suffer to fulfill his duties cannot be expressed with words. Nevertheless, he kept his faith and fulfilled his duties until the last moment with joy and thanks. This is because he harbored the vision saying, "in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day…"
He wanted to share this vision and hope with everyone else proclaiming, "…and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing."
Now what should we do to accomplish the vision?
First of all, we have to seek the glory of God alone.
When working for God's kingdom, we should have nothing to do with boasting of ourselves or seeking to gain what we desire. To do so, we should let there be no pride and arrogance in our hearts. We also should spiritually arm ourselves with the Word of God. But listening to the Word and having exacting knowledge of God's Word does not necessarily mean that there is spiritual armament of our hearts. In other words, we must not only have exacting knowledge of the Word, but we must also put it into practice.
Of course, if we store the Word in our head as knowledge, we can teach the flocks and preach the message. However, it does not make souls change. Only when we act by the Word can souls change through our teaching and messages. It can lead to works of life. The end result of this spiritual changing and gaining true life is giving glory to God.
Suppose two people have spiritually armed themselves equally with God's Word. Their levels of manifestations of God's power will still be different depending on the amounts of their prayers. In particular, if you are God's worker who takes care of souls in the frontlines of spiritual warfare, you have to offer up fervent prayer to God to call down the power of the Holy Spirit at the full measure and accomplish God's works. According to the amount of your fervent prayer, the depth of understanding of the Word will be different.
If you become inspired by the Holy Spirit, you can realize and understand the depth of spiritual words. Otherwise, you have difficulties in understating the Word. It cannot be understood with a great deal of worldly knowledge and wisdom. The apostle Peter was said to have little education, but he recorded the First and Second Epistles of Peter by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He could make such a great record only because he understood the depths of the spiritual realm by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So we cannot overemphasize the significance of prayer.
Therefore, you have to be filled with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit all the time by arming yourselves with the Word and praying fervently and seek the glory of God alone in a bid to fulfill your vision.
Second, we have to possess great spiritual faith
To glorify God requires us to have great spiritual faith. This is because faith carries great significance in achieving God's works.
In leading a Christian life, we may meet with various afflictions we can overcome only by faith. But we are encouraged as recorded in 1 Peter 1:7, "so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." That is, only through passing the tests of faith, can we reveal the glory of God and be found to have praise, glory, and honor.
The history of Manmin Central Church is really characterized as 'fulfilling everything by faith from the beginning to the end.' When we opened the church, there were none of the necessary facilities in the church. I started this church with 7 US dollars and we began to receive everything we needed one by one through the prayer of faith.
When my three daughters and a young man were found dead due to carbon-monoxide gas poisoning, I committed them to God by faith. In the end, God revived them. When wicked people were about to destroy the church, when we urgently needed to relocate the church, and when severe financial crisis came, we passed all of the tests with only faith.
When I conducted the many overseas crusades, I fulfilled them only by faith. If you have the same faith as mine, you can bear great fruit and glorify God wherever you work.
How can you possess such a great faith? The answer is that God gives you such faith from above, and He gives to you to the same extent that you prepare a clean vessel of heart. You can prepare a clean vessel when you cast off every form of evil. You can make your vessel clean by obeying what the Bible tells us to do and not do, and to keep what we should keep, and cast off what must be cast off.
If you have not gotten rid of the works of the flesh that God hates that are recorded in Galatians 5:19-21, it will be impossible for faith to come down upon you from above. If you take care of souls and counsel them without faith, it is just fleshly and has no effect in prayers for the congregation. You are finally found to be faithful only in flesh. The second half of Romans 14:23 reads, "...and whatever is not from faith is sin."
When you cast away all forms of evil and abide by the commands of God, then He will give you spiritual faith from above. He will also give whatever you ask (1 John 3:21-22). Wouldn't you be happier if you entered into a dimension that guarantees the confirmation of God on the work you do?
I am earnestly urging you to make your dedications to the kingdom of God with this faith so that you will wear the crown of righteousness in the Day of glory. I pray for it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
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