Question and Answer Session - Concerning the Christian Life


	Message Five: Question and Answer Session - Concerning the Christian Life Question: How does Satan attack us, and how should we respond? Is it really true that "all the enemy can do is just release the flow"? Also, what if we make a mistake that seem too serious for us to go on? Answer: In principle, the work of the evil one comes from two directions. Firstly, Satan's work is through corruption. Secondly, his work is through suffering and persecution. When Satan first comes to a person he tries to corrupt and ruin the person. If this doesn't work, he persecutes that person and makes the person suffer. Even though we are in the Lord's recovery, we can still be tempted by Satan and fall into corruption. However, we usually are rescued very easily because our conscience is sensitive to corruption. When we touch something corrupting, something not so pure and holy, our conscience reacts very strongly. In principle, this strategy of Satan doesn't accomplish too much in the church life. Therefore, Satan does a lot to bother us, frustrate us, persecute us, and cause us to suffer. Suffering can produce two results, based on how we handle it. Suffering can break us, which is the positive result. Suffering can also harden us, which is the negative result. The same suffering or difficulty can produce a brokenness in one person and a hardening in another. Some people go through a suffering, and become so broken and tender. Another person goes through the same suffering and becomes hard. Sometimes a brother may speak about his sufferings, and on one hand you realize the work of the Lord is there, yet you also have the feeling that this person has become hard. He is not broken. For example, there was one brother in mainland China who went through severe sufferings under the Communists. Yet all of these sufferings made him a hard person. Eventually he joined in with the Communists to persecute the churches in China. Then there was another brother who cooperated with the Communists from the beginning to investigate and persecute the saints. Yet eventually he received some light from the Lord on his person. Out of his realization concerning his failure, he became tender, soft, and broken. Eventually he himself was persecuted and put in prison for the Lord's sake. This teaches us not to trust in what we see. We see things today, but we never know how they will turn out. We must learn to trust the Lord. He knows everything. Whether the suffering we go through eventually releases the flow of life or not is based on whether we become hardened or broken. What determines whether we become hardened or broken? It is determined by finding the Lord in the midst of our suffering. When we are going through something difficult, do we see the Lord's hand? Do we know how to find the Lord and cooperate with Him as we go through the situation? If we don't, then even though we may say that the Lord is involved, in actuality the suffering will harden us. Whether or not the flow of life is released is based on how we take the suffering. Even when we are under the enemy's attack, if we experience the Lord in our suffering we will become soft, tender, and broken. This will help release the flow of life. There was also the question, "What if we make a mistake that seems too serious for us to go on?" Suppose Satan tempts us into making a serious mistake. Is any mistake too large? The answer is no. There is no mistake that is too large or too serious. There is not one sin that the Lord cannot forgive. There is not one failure that He cannot restore us from. Many times a sister will fellowship in tears that she cannot go on with the Lord. She feels that she is no longer qualified to meet with the saints ever again, because she made a big mistake. Such a sister needs to hear, "Whatever you have done, dear sister, it is over. Just take the precious blood of Jesus. Come back to the church life." There is no mistake that is too big or too serious. If you have made a serious mistake, simply take the Lord's precious blood and pursue Him again with all the saints. Question: Should we sometimes fast when we pray? Answer: Fasting has value, but it shouldn't be taken as a ritual. The reason we fast is because we are so burdened or concerned about something that we no longer have any appetite. Many times this is not only physical but psychological. For example, if our loved one is dying, would we still desire food? We would have no appetite for food. In such a situation we may still eat something for our health and for our body's sake. But we are not eating for the sake of food. That is to fast. Even we may eat something, but because we are so burdened, we are actually fasting. It is not healthy to have been in the church life for many years without fasting. This indicates we have never been overly burdened for a person or a situation. Every once in a while, something should burden us to the degree that we fast as we pray. Question: What is the secret to an enlarged heart? Answer: There really is no secret. However, there are some helpful practices. For example, learn to "swallow" things. The more you learn to swallow things, the more your heart will be enlarged. If you are misunderstood or wrongfully accused, try to swallow it rather than getting upset. Realize that things can be seen from many different angles. Try to find reasons and excuses for others, but don't try to find them for yourself. This will enlarge your heart. Question: How should a sister decide whether to serve the Lord full-time? Answer: If the Lord leads you to serve full-time, this is very good. You should also fellowship with the elders in your locality. To be full-time means that all your time is used for the Lord. There are two different kinds of full-timers. One serves full-time as a learner, the other serves full-time as a commitment. In principle, you first serve full-time as a learner. You give yourself simply to learn. This is why Brother Lee encouraged all the college students to spend two years to read the Life-studies, read the Word, get into the truth, and preach the gospel. After this they can decide to get a job or continue serving. There are many among us who were full-time for two years. They knew it was not something life-long. They desired to spend two years to be in the Word and in the truth. This is very healthy. To be full-time as a matter of commitment requires the Lord's calling. The Lord must really call you. Then after you have the Lord's calling, there should also be some manifestation of your operation. When you desire to be full-time as a learner, you are not concerned about your operation. You are simply learning for two years. But when you desire to serve full-time as a commitment, it is crucial to ask whether you have an operation. Can you operate and function as a full-timer? If you can't, then to serve full-time will probably frustrate you. You won't even know what to do with all your time. Operation is a crucial matter. To serve full-time as a commitment, your operation needs to be manifested. To purchase the book Sisters' Messages