Some people cannot forsake the world. They already have enough to get by, but they want to earn more and enjoy more. They should be content with the clothes on their back and the food on their plate. With disasters looming, how much is enough to earn? But they can’t cast it away, so they pray, “God, I now see that my heart is very covetous of wealth. Others are all able to forsake everything and be content with clothes on their back and the food on their plate. Why can’t I be content? Why do I still cling to wealth in my heart? Please God, I ask You to save me! I don’t care if You discipline me or if You use some other method, it’s all okay, just so long as I am able to rely on You to forsake everything and follow You. I will fulfill my duties for You. In order for You to obtain glory, I will perform my duties well. This is my wish.” Think about this prayer. Is this kind of person not opening up their heart to God? Some people do not want to find a partner, but the temptations of Satan always come. These temptations finally affect them, so they will say, “Oh, this is getting the better of me, I must pray to God.” When they pray like this, God will act, and make them see clearly the true condition of man’s corruption. They will not be able to find any love for man, and they will let it go. Whatever things man cannot accomplish must be entrusted to God. If man is able to rely on God and look to God, then in the end these things will be accomplished. That which cannot be done by man can be done by God, for God is the almighty God. So is this not truly praying to God and communing with God? Some people cannot see clearly how pastors and elders can be hypocrites, “Why can’t I see through to this? I feel like they are very good and very devout, I’d better pray about this to God, and tell God how I feel.” So they say, “God, I’ve read Your words that reveal the Pharisees, but I cannot see through them clearly. On the outside they seem very devout, why can’t I see their essential hypocrisy? Especially their essential hatred of the truth, I can’t see through to that. So, in my heart I have always looked up to them and I always wanted to ask them if I came across problems. I also feel this is incorrect, but why can’t I let it go? Why is it that I can’t see through them, why am I unable to see through to their inner nature and forsake them in my heart?” If you pray this way for a time, one day God will make it so that you see things clearly. God will bring insight to you, and all of a sudden it will be revealed to you through some of His words, and you will see clearly the essence of the Pharisees. After you see this, you will feel disgust and loathing, and henceforth you will no longer worship them. Is this not the result achieved through the work of the Holy Spirit? When it comes to reaching a communion with God and establishing a normal relationship with God, who would be able to only rely on themselves to accomplish all that they want to pursue, that they want to obtain, that they want to renounce and that they want to forsake? Take casting away one’s wealth for example; that’s not something easy to do, for who doesn’t have a little bit of greed? There is some greed in each of our hearts. So how can we find a way to renounce it? Through prayer, through relying on God! In many things we should be able to pray to God, entrust ourselves to God, ask God to work and lead us and plead to God to save us. Without us knowing it, our corruption will be cleansed, our problems will be solved, and we will be able to let go of those things we are unable to do or that we once could not let go of. All of this can be accomplished. Isn’t this being perfected by God? If someone has very little faith in God, there will be many things that they cannot rely on God for. They won’t look up to God, but instead will always rely on other people, they will always seek out pastors and elders, and they will always seek out brothers and sisters to fellowship with. Will they be able to solve their problems? No. They do not rely on God. They do not look up to God. This illustrates that they have very little faith in God. They have no knowledge of God! This is like holding out a bowl made of gold and begging for something to eat! The God we believe in is almighty. By relying on God, all of our problems and difficulties can be solved. Some people ask, “What if I get cancer? How do I pray to God then? Didn’t you say that God is almighty? There’s not a doctor on the planet that can cure cancer, so can God cure it?” Are you asking if God can cure it? He can. If He can cure it, then why isn’t it enough for some people who get cancer to pray? Why do they have to die? How can this be explained? Isn’t this a real problem? So how can we explain this question? Actually, we must first recognize that there’s nothing God can’t do. God is almighty. Man was created by God, and so was the heaven and earth and all things. So, treating some minor illness of man is no problem at all! Did you ever see the Lord Jesus using a surgical knife when He was treating the sick? Did He use medicine? Did He give shots? None of these are useful. So how did the Lord Jesus treat people? He asked if you have faith. If you truly have faith, if you could grab onto the Lord’s clothes, there would be power rising from the body of the Lord, and your sickness would be cured. The most important thing is whether or not you have faith.
Nowadays there are some things we plead to God for that He doesn’t do. Why is that? Perhaps our prayers don’t conform to God’s intention, so God does not do it. Why is that? God won’t do things that don’t conform to His intentions. Some people ask, “If you plead to God for Him to find a cure for cancer, why doesn’t that conform to His intentions?” You have to pray to God, “Why do I have cancer?” Did you ask God? Don’t you have to first answer this question? “Why did I get cancer? If getting cancer is God’s way of punishing me, if He wants me to die, then I will submit, I will die, I will not treat my illness. If getting cancer is God’s way of refining me and cleansing me, then I hope that the will of God will be accomplished, I will submit to this.” Is submitting in this way good or bad? This conforms to the intention of God. So, when you pray to God, say, “Dear God, if You want me to die I will submit, I will die, and I guarantee I will have no complaints.” God will reply, “Why do you have no complaints? I want you to die and you still have no complaints? Why? Are you boasting? Explain yourself to Me.” To which you say, “First, man was created by You; second, I have sinned, I have done many things that do not conform to Your intentions, and I should receive punishment for this. By Your law, if man commits sin in rebellion to You they ought to die, this is the law of heaven and the principle of the earth, so I ought to die.” What do you think of this prayer? Is it obedient? How did the Lord Jesus pray before He was nailed to the cross? Did He know that He would die when nailed to the cross? How did the Lord Jesus pray? “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Look at these words in the prayer of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus submitted unconditionally to God. Whenever man unconditionally submits himself to the point of death, the intention of God will be satisfied. At the time God may possibly change His mind and say, “I was trying you. I didn’t mean to kill you, I meant to put you through trials and perfect you until you are cleansed, this is the resolution I want in your heart. Now I can see this resolution, so this sickness is no longer needed, I will get rid of it.” And without knowing what happened, you’ll think to yourself, “I don’t seem to feel anything anymore, as if my illness is gone. Oh, now I understand the intention of God, this is the cleansing of love, it was to cleanse me. God loves me very much. Really, I do not deserve to live, I ought to die, but God still has let me go on living, I must thank God!” What do you think about this prayer? Should we submit to God in this way? We should. Whenever you submit in this way, you won’t carry any extravagant desires in your heart. If your prayer is, “Oh God! You must save me, You must save me! Please don’t let me live with this sickness! I beg You to get rid of this illness, to get rid of this cup of suffering as soon as possible! Are You willing to look on as I suffer? Do You take delight and pleasure in watching me suffer?” This is no good, these are rebellious words, there is no obedience in them, and they are expressing nothing but extravagant desire! God will loathe these words the moment He hears them, and He will turn His ears away, “I ought to refine this man, it looks as though it really is not enough to have this illness be mild, I must make it more serious.” In response to this, some people might say, “Some people pray in this way, and they really die in the end.” What do you think of this? Is God not listening to people’s prayers? What is going on here? God is the Lord that created all things, and man is one of these things He created, so shouldn’t creations obey the Lord that created them? If the Creator wants one to die, then they ought to die. They must submit to their death, they cannot resist or rebel as they go to their death, they must obediently go to their death, for death too is an enjoyment. Isn’t this how obedience should be? If, after you finish praying to God you still hope to live, then your prayer was a lie, you were deceiving God, you were not willing and ready to submit yourself. It is not okay to tell lies, and if you are really telling lies then you truly ought to die. If you say sincerely, “Even if I die I will have no complaints, I will wait for death.” Then you wait but death does not come, so you say, “I haven’t died, but I have already bought my coffin, I have registered at the crematorium, I registered my name beforehand, can’t you see that I am truly ready to die?” It’s these actions that tell the truth, isn’t that so? Do people who believe in God still fear death? Some people say they don’t fear death. How should you treat the life and death of people? How should you feel about parting forever? Let nature take its course, obey the intentions of God, if you are meant to die then you ought to die. Obeying unto death—this shows that you are truly cleansed. If you are truly cleansed, even your death will be pure. To have a normal relationship with God is to have unconditional obedience, to be able to obey unto death, to love God with all your heart and submit to God’s plan in everything. If God wants to take our lives, then we shall die; if God wants us to move to another place to live our lives, then we shall move and thank God; if God does not want us to live, if He feels we don’t deserve to live, then God shall eliminate us, and we shall obey. This is how we ought to obey. If someone asks you, “You have established a normal relationship with God, you always pray this way, so what will be your end?” Answer, “I don’t know. I submit to the orchestration and planning of God, I don’t have my own requirements or extravagant desires.” If we were to be cleansed to this degree, wouldn’t there be a change in our worldview and our view on life? There would be a complete change, we would obey God in everything, and there would be no complaints. If God wants us to die, there will be no complaints. If many difficult hardships are suffered, there will be no complaints, just obedience to God. If we are able to truly submit ourselves to God, if we unconditionally obey God, won’t our lives be much simpler? Would our lives need to be so tiresome? There would be nothing to weigh us down. If our lives reached that degree, we could understand our lives, and our understanding would be complete.
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