135-B-4 Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “It Is Very Important to Establish a Normal Relationship With God” (IV)

What kind of process is it when people establish a normal relationship with God? First of all, we are certain that it is a process in which one obtains the work of the Holy Spirit. This process may continue for one, two, or three years, but once someone obtains the work of the Holy Spirit, what does this indicate? It means that henceforth they have entered into the right track of belief in God. Can these words be accepted? One comes to establish a normal relationship with God through prayer, reading God’s word and communing with God. If the relationship with God reaches a state of being normal, and if one has true communion with God, one will be able to obtain the work of the Holy Spirit. This way of obtaining the work of the Holy Spirit is not something occasional, and even more so is not a one-time thing, but happens when you frequently obtain the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit in the word of God. There is always the guidance, enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit in everything that you do, which allows you to understand and to see into how these things were arranged and dictated by God. You’ll say, “Oh, God is guiding me and is doing things for me in secret. I know that God wants to save me and that I am beloved by God.” If you discover this mystery in your experience, how great peace and joy you have! Isn’t this joy so much greater than when you come across a hundred dollars? People who have already had this feeling in their experience, raise your hands. There are several of the new believers, and these are the ones who truly believe in God.
     New believers even have this feeling, and these are people who understand the spirit! This proves that what I’m saying is believable, there are the experiences of some of the chosen people of God that can confirm it. Isn’t it the most blessed thing to have this kind of feeling? Isn’t it a greater joy than meeting the love of your life? After a person obtains the work of the Holy Spirit, he becomes interested in seeking the truth, and loses interest in the wicked objects and trends of the external world. He sees them as too vulgar and degenerate, and too wicked! It’s better to seek the truth! Because these kinds of people love the truth, their relationship with God becomes more and more normal. Remember these words, there is a force in people having a normal relationship with God, and that force is a heart that loves the truth. The more a person loves the truth, the more normal his relationship with God will be; the more a person loves the truth, his love for God will be real as well; the more a person loves the truth, his energy in carrying out the truth will be all the greater. No one will stand in his way, and he won’t be controlled by any man, thing, or object. There are some young brothers and sisters among the new converts who understand a little of the truth after coming to believe in God, and see the great value and significance of seeking the truth. They begin to cast away family life and abandon their careers, offering themselves up to God and expending wholeheartedly for the sake of God. What amount of energy is this? The great red dragon is astounded, and unbelievers find it shocking, saying, “Can belief in God really make them so vigorous? Is it more alluring than a million-dollar mansion? Is it even more alluring than a famous brand of luxury car?” Isn’t this a heart that loves the truth? With a heart that loves the truth so much, is it easy for this kind of person to attain a normal relationship with God? It’s easy. You see that some people may have committed some transgressions, and once I point out and deal with them, they will cry and feel remorseful in their heart. Immediately they will begin to change and transform, and will return to prayer in the presence of God, feeling that they owe a great deal to God. They will shed many tears about this. Why is this? Is it because weak people cry easily? Why is this? It is because of having a heart that loves the truth. If one loves the truth and what you say accords with the truth and is his true condition, he will accept it. This will make him feel remorseful and grieved, and this is controlled by a heart that loves the truth. Isn’t this the case?

For whom is it easy to establish a normal relationship with God? It is easy for a person who sincerely believes in God and loves the truth to establish a normal relationship with God, and he will attain a result in a year or two at most, just a year or two! In the first year there will still be some worldly objects that are quite attractive to him, and in the second year their appeal to him will become less and less until finally his relationship with God becomes more and more normal. In this way he will be able to quiet down before God at any time, and able to have heartfelt words of prayer with God at any time. His talk with God and true prayer will increase more and more. You see that his prayers with God are not just a performance of religious ritual, but are a matter for any place and time. When walking along the road he watches the road with his eyes while in his heart he is praying to God. If you don’t believe it when his eyes are watching the road, you can wave your hand in front of his face and he won’t see it. From the outside it looks like his eyes are watching the road, but actually in his heart he is praying to God. Some people are praying to God in their hearts when cooking, and once they enter into prayer they become entranced, with their food and vegetables becoming burnt and overdone. They forget all about it, enraptured in the spirit. Doesn’t this happen? This is when, through prayer, a person’s relationship with God becomes more and more normal. Inside, he is always sharing what is in his heart and communing with God at any time or place. Along with increasing evermore in speaking his innermost feelings to God, would you say that falsehoods in his speech would become fewer and fewer? Some people say they will. Why? Why would his falsehoods become fewer and fewer? Who can see into this matter? Falsehoods become fewer and fewer, and speech that is vulgar, useless, nonsensical, and has nothing to do with the truth and life will also become less and less. What does the attainment of this depend on? Is it restraint, or is it artificial? Who can explain this? It’s because he speaks to God more often about his innermost feelings. The more he speaks the more honest his words are, and the more he speaks the more real his words are. They are about his own actual circumstances and situation. When he prays to God with sincerity, it is with true knowledge and desire! The more these words increase, the more quickly his speech that is false, vulgar, nonsensical, long-winded, and has nothing to do with the truth will cease to be and fade away. He’ll feel that saying such things is meaningless, and if someone tries to get him to say them he won’t. You can’t get those words out of him because saying them causes him agitation in his heart. He doesn’t enjoy it and it’s painful for him. How is this result attained? Who can explain it clearly? I can’t explain it clearly. In any case, when your prayers to God become more and more regular, when you speak your innermost heart to God, you obtain the enlightenment, guidance, and touch of the Holy Spirit. Unconsciously, those words of nonsense and falsehood will be lessened. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, which causes man to attain this kind of result in an unconscious condition. You are unable to see or touch the work of the Holy Spirit, so how have you transformed? Is science able to explain this problem? No, science can’t explain it. People discover that after this kind of person believes in God for a year or two, the change becomes greater and greater; they do not understand what is going on. No good job or amount of money can attract him, nor can any mundane books or movies. How does this happen? How is he transformed? Is it through undergoing “reeducation through labor” while staying in a prison? No, it’s not. How does he change? Who can explain this matter? Is it easy to explain or not? This is a change brought about unconsciously through offering genuine prayer to God. God perfects man and transforms man, and it is attained through man’s communion with God in prayer. Is this not the case? The issues I just mentioned can all prove these words. For example, when someone does something wrong, it reveals his corrupt disposition. Brothers and sisters then feel ill at ease and bring it up and communicate it to him, but he doesn’t accept it, saying, “I refuse! I have a hundred statements to refute you, so I refuse!” Finally, brothers and sisters can’t convince him, and there’s nothing that can be done. “Alright, let it be that way, then. I can’t explain it clearly, as my experience is too shallow. Go pray about this matter, for by praying to God you will understand it thoroughly. No matter how much people tell you, it’s useless.” Once he hears this, he doesn’t utter a word. After a couple days have passed, he will come to these brothers and sisters, sniveling, and what will he say? “I was wrong, I was too arrogant!” “How were you wrong? You weren’t wrong, what you said was good. How is it that you were wrong? How could you be wrong having as much reason as you do?” “Don’t say that, the more you say that the harder it is for me to handle!” What is the matter here? Who can explain this? “I can’t solve this problem of yours, so pray to God.” With just these words you get him to pray to God, and when he comes into the presence of God he will become more honest. Could you be so arrogant toward God? Could you be arguing with God? People who sincerely want God become weak as soon as they are in the presence of God. They do not fear, but their conscience suffers blame and accusation! At that time one feels he is not human, but is purely Satan. Arguing with wide eyes, rejecting the truth with wide eyes, disobeying God—if this isn’t Satan, or a scoundrel, then what is it? Once you come into the presence of God it becomes clear, and you will understand everything. So, no matter how great a person’s difficulties and corruption are revealed to be, man cannot solve them. So go pray in the presence of God. Once you pray, you will be rebuked in conscience, and you will conscientiously accept your responsibilities. Tell me, is it important to establish a normal relationship with God? It is so important. There are many problems that people cannot solve, and no leaders and workers can solve these problems. Once you come into the presence of God, you understand, it becomes clear and distinct in your heart. This is the result reached through prayer to God, becoming intimately close to God, and the work of the Holy Spirit. God has a way, for God is almighty. You must see this!

You see that when you are praying, no matter what you say, are you able to hear of the Holy Spirit sending forth His voice? You can’t hear that at all, but if you commune with God as you wish, and say some heartfelt words, why will you change in your heart? How will your mentality be any different? What is going on here? Have you seen God? On the surface you haven’t seen anything, praying with your eyes closed, but how has the change happened? Why do you blame yourself for it? Why do you begin to feel remorse? Why do you hate yourself? Some even come to curse themselves, or hit themselves on the face, and what is going on here? It is the Holy Spirit at work! “Even though I pray with my eyes closed and do not see God, I can still feel the work of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit has achieved its result, causing me to bow down in the presence of God and begin to feel remorse for what I’ve done, to detest myself, to curse myself, and even to slap myself on the face.” This is the result that is reached by establishing a normal relationship with God. What can be relied on to resolve man’s corruption? What can be depended on to cleanse man’s satanic disposition? Is it clear now? Is it solved by reading the word of God yourself, or by relying on praying for the work of Holy Spirit? You must rely on the work of the Holy Spirit. There are many people who say, “Why do we need to establish a normal relationship with God?” After we communicate these words, are you able to understand? Why do we need to establish a normal relationship with God? What’s the importance of this? What kind of problems can it solve? Can you explain it now? Some people say they can. Then tell me, in what aspects can establishing a normal relationship with God bring about results? To use human speech to describe it, what benefits and advantages can be obtained? Every time you pray you don’t get even a penny, and have you seen any money from it? Do you get a car when you’re done praying? Do you get a house? You don’t get anything! Do you hear God speaking or see the face of God? There is none of this. But what do you receive? To be perfectly honest, what do you actually receive? What we receive is life, it’s the truth, and the result we achieve is obeying God and worship of God. So, how much money can you give in exchange for this kind of life and this kind of obedience? Can you exchange a car for it? Or a grand mansion? Some people throw away their careers and the world in order to obtain this truth and life. So, how does one go about beginning to obtain this truth and life? Establishing a normal relationship with God! Once this normal relationship with God has begun to be established, our connection with God has been founded, and then we can pray to God anytime and anywhere, and be intimately close to God. At that time, God will have become our God. God is the source of life for all things. God will then have begun to reveal the providence of life to us, and God’s abundance, promise, and blessings will be bestowed on us in an unending flow. These spiritual fortunes are what we attain through having established a normal relationship with God, and this is the significance of establishing a normal relationship with God. Do you understand? If someone should ask, “Why do we need to establish a normal relationship with God in our belief in Him?” Is it now understood how we should answer this in order to explain it? Do you think it is important after all to establish a normal relationship with God? Everyone says it is. The word of God says, “It Is Very Important to Establish a Normal Relationship With God.” You must now understand what the words “it is very important” mean! After a person establishes a normal relationship with God, once he sees the deeds of God, enjoys the perfection of the work of the Holy Spirit, and especially when he sees his own point of view has changed and he has some knowledge of God, he will feel the significance of living like this. This is the result achieved by establishing a normal relationship with God, and it’s the initial result. After one reaches this initial result, he will feel that praying to God is replete with significance! Communing with God is extremely important! Corrupt men all communicate with other people, with Satan, or with evil spirits. They just do not commune with God, and this is a sign of corruption. As for people who receive salvation, they become intimately close with God, and the only thing they place importance on is communion with God. Their intimacy with other people fades away, and their relationship with others becomes normal. As people commune with God, and do so more and more often, these people unconsciously enter into a path to be perfected by God. Is this not the case?