In the Bible, Paul said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day” (2 Timothy 4:7–8). Encouraged by this verse, I set everything aside to expend myself for the Lord, toiled and labored, and experienced many persecutions and tribulations; even when I was imprisoned for several years, I didn’t deny the Lord’s name nor betray the Lord. So, I always believed that I was doing the will of the heavenly Father and the Lord would take me to the kingdom of heaven as He comes.
Recently, sister Chengxin returned home after she was finished spreading the gospel in other places. She fellowshipped with me what doing the will of the heavenly Father really is, so that I could realize my previous understanding was my own imagination and conception, entirely not based on the word of the Lord. Sister Chengxin said, “Many people think that all those who can labor hard for the Lord, abandon everything to expend themselves, and have some outward good behaviors are doing the will of the heavenly Father. Are man’s imaginations and notions in line with the Lord’s will? Let’s see what the Lord Jesus said, ‘Not every one that said to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? and in Your name have cast out devils? and in Your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity’ (Matthew 7:21–23). We can see from the words of the Lord Jesus that when the Lord returns, there will be many people who preach and work in the name of the Lord who will not only not gain His praise, but will instead be identified as evildoers by the Lord. This shows that making sacrifices, expending yourself and working hard in His name does not mean that you are doing the will of the heavenly Father. We can all see the following fact. After believing in the Lord, many people are able to preach and work in His name, carry the cross and suffer, and even go to prison and be martyred. All this represents is that they have some faith in the Lord, some enthusiasm for Him. But it cannot be denied that while people are working hard they still frequently rebel against God, resist Him, and do things according to their own will and their own preferences. They do not focus on carrying out the Lord’s words or holding His commandments. Some even lust for fame and status; they exalt and bear witness to themselves, or even form their own faction or establish their own little kingdom. There are also a number of people who don’t work and suffer in order to love and satisfy God, but for the sake of being rewarded, being crowned. That is why after they’ve done some work and endured some suffering, they try to capitalize on their past and flaunt their seniority. They audaciously demand the blessings of the kingdom of heaven from God. These facts demonstrate that there are many who are able to make sacrifices, expend themselves, and work hard in the name of the Lord, but this does not prove that they do God’s will, and it particularly does not prove that they are praised by God, or that they are worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven and receiving rewards. Since their internal satanic natures have not been resolved and they have not been able to cast off the binds of sin, even while they are working they do evil and resist God, and are even in direct opposition to God. How can they be called someone who does God’s will?
So then what really is doing God’s will? The Lord Jesus said: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:37–39). It can be seen that doing God’s will mainly refers to being able to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. No matter how much work we do for God or how much we suffer for God, we don’t have our own ambitions, desires and mixtures but intend to obey and satisfy God. In order to do God’s will, we willingly expend everything for God without asking anything in return. Even if faced with trials and tribulations, we don’t complain against God nor betray God, but can obey God’s arrangement and orchestration. Just like Abraham, Job and Peter, when they encountered God’s trials, they could absolutely obey God without any complaints, able to stand resounding testimonies for God. Only this is doing God’s will!”
Only after hearing the fellowship of sister Chengxin, did I realize that doing God’s will refers to practicing God’s words and abiding by God’s commandments; no matter what God speaks and works, we can all obey and practice, accept God’s commission, bear the witness for God, and no longer disobey nor resist God. Thinking back to these years of believing in the Lord, I could labor for the Lord and set everything aside to expend myself for the Lord, but all this was to receive the blessings and rewards from God, not at all to practice God’s words nor love or satisfy God. It turns out that I was not doing God’s will at all. If I want to achieve doing God’s will, I have to practice according to God’s words!
