How to Experience Trials and Tribulations (I)

Bible Verses for Reference:

“And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on My name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people: and they shall say, Jehovah is my God” (Zechariah 13:9).

“The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but Jehovah tries the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3).

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Relevant Words of God:

Do not be discouraged, do not be weak, I will reveal to you. The road to the kingdom is not that smooth, nothing is that simple! You want blessings to come easy, right? Today everyone will have bitter trials to face, otherwise the loving heart you have for Me will not grow stronger and you will not have true love for Me. Even if it is just minor circumstances, everyone must get through them, it’s just that they differ to some degree. The circumstance is one of My blessings, how many often kneel before Me to ask for My blessing? Silly children! You always feel that a few lucky words count as My blessing, yet don’t feel that bitterness is one of My blessings. Those who share in My bitterness shall certainly share My sweet. That is My promise and My blessing to you.

from “Chapter 41” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Just how much do you love God today? And just how much do you know of all that God has done in you? These are the things you should learn. When God arrives on earth, all that He has done in man and allowed man to see are so that man will love Him and truly know Him. That man is able to suffer for God and has been able to come this far is, in one regard, because of the love of God, and in another regard, is because of God’s salvation; moreover, it is because of the work of judgment and chastisement that God has carried out in man. If you are without the judgment, chastisement, and trials of God, and if God has not made you suffer, then, to be honest, you do not truly love God. The greater God’s work in man, and the greater man’s suffering, the more it is able to show just how meaningful God’s work is, and the more that man’s heart is able to truly love God. How do you learn how to love God? Without torment and refinement, without painful trials—and if, furthermore, all that God gave man were grace, love, and mercy—would you be able to attain the true love of God? On one hand, during God’s trials man comes to know his deficiencies, and sees that he is insignificant, contemptible, and lowly, that he has nothing, and is nothing; on the other hand, during His trials God creates different environments for man that make man more able to experience the loveliness of God. Although the pain is great, and sometimes insurmountable—and it even reaches the level of crushing grief—having experienced it, man sees how lovely is God’s work in him, and only upon this foundation is there born in man the true love of God. Today man sees that with the grace, love, and mercy of God alone, he is incapable of truly knowing himself, much less is he able to know the essence of man. Only through both the refinement and judgment of God, only during such refinement can man know his deficiencies, and know that he has nothing. Thus, man’s love of God is built upon the foundation of the refinement and judgment of God. If you only enjoy the grace of God, with a peaceful family life or material blessings, then you have not gained God, and your belief in God has failed. God has already carried out one stage of the work of grace in the flesh, and has already bestowed material blessings upon man—but man cannot be made perfect with grace, love, and mercy alone. In man’s experiences he encounters some of God’s love, and sees the love and mercy of God, yet having experienced for a period of time, he sees that God’s grace and His love and mercy are incapable of making man perfect, and incapable of revealing that which is corrupt within man, nor are they able to rid man of his corrupt disposition, or make perfect his love and faith. God’s work of grace was the work of one period, and man cannot rely on enjoying the grace of God in order to know God.

from “Only by Experiencing Painful Trials Can You Know the Loveliness of God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

When God works to refine man, man suffers. The greater his refinement, the greater his love of God, and the more of God’s might is revealed in him. The less man’s refinement, the less his love of God, and the less God’s might is revealed in him. The greater his refinement and pain and the more his torment, the deeper his true love of God will be, the more genuine his faith in God will be, and the deeper his knowledge of God will be. In your experiences you will see that those who suffer great refinement and pain, and much dealing and discipline have a deep love of God, and a more profound and penetrating knowledge of God. Those who have not experienced being dealt with have but a superficial knowledge, and can only say: “God is so good, He bestows grace upon people so that they can enjoy Him.” If people have experienced being dealt with and disciplined, then they are able to speak the true knowledge of God. So the more wondrous God’s work in man is, the more valuable and significant it is. The more impenetrable it is to you and the more incompatible it is with your notions, the more God’s work is able to conquer you, gain you, and make you perfect. The significance of God’s work is so great! If He did not refine man in this way, if He did not work according to this method, then God’s work would be ineffectual and without significance. This is the reason behind the extraordinary significance of His selection of a group of people during the last days. It was said before that God would select and gain this group. The greater the work He carries out within you, the deeper and purer your love for God. The greater the work of God, the more man is able to get a taste of His wisdom and the deeper is man’s knowledge of Him. … The work done by God is unfathomable; it is too much at odds with your notions, and the more irreconcilable it is with your notions, the more it shows that God’s work is meaningful; were it compatible with your notions, then it would be meaningless. Today, you feel that God’s work is too wondrous, and the more wondrous it is, the more you feel that God is unfathomable, and you see how great God’s deeds are. If He only did some superficial, perfunctory work to conquer man and then that was it, then man would be incapable of beholding the significance of God’s work. Although you are receiving a little refinement now, it is of great benefit to the growth of your life—and so such hardship is of the utmost necessity to you.

from “Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Relevant Fellowship:

What kinds of suffering are there? A relative dies, so you suffer; your body gets sick, so you suffer; you get divorced and your family breaks up, so you suffer; you’re separated from your wife and children and your family is ruined, so you suffer; you live in poverty and financial distress, so you suffer; you are rejected and condemned by other people, so you suffer. These are some things that cause suffering, but which ones don’t benefit people at all and are just suffering, through and through? And which ones cause suffering to the body and heart, but which are beneficial to one’s life progression and, once the suffering is over, one’s heart finds comfort and enjoyment? Are you able to tell the difference? What can this kind of suffering bring to people once the suffering is over? Some suffering can bring destruction and some suffering can bring loss, but there is some suffering that can bring life, that can bring perfection, and that can bring hope and blessings. So do you choose to suffer? (Yes.) And what kind of suffering do you choose? (The suffering that brings life.) Most people aren’t worthy of that suffering that allows life to grow and which perfects people, and it doesn’t come to people unless God has especially graced them; it doesn’t come just because someone wants it. As to what kind of suffering we should suffer, we can now make the correct choice and face it correctly. Whichever kind of suffering has meaning, whichever kind of suffering can bring us a true destination and a true life, whichever kind of suffering can allow us to become a testimony, earn God’s praise and allow us to live a life of value, then that is the kind of suffering we should choose. When we grow up, we must face everything; we cannot run from things. People with immature statures always run away, saying, “Don’t let this happen to me, it really can’t happen to me.” God has made it happen to you, so can you flee from it? Face it correctly! The outlook of those who have the truth is then transformed, they rid themselves of those cramped and narrow religious conceptions and ideas, and they are able to take God’s heart as their own heart, be considerate to God’s will, face things correctly and make the right choices. Only this shows that their statures have matured.

from the fellowship from the above

Some people may not understand why they need to undergo many trials and much suffering to attain perfection. Why does a person need to go through so many trials when he is able to love God in his heart and to pursue the truth? Why does he have to go through so much suffering? They think that if man does not pursue the truth and God disciplines and punishes him, he deserves to suffer. But what is going on that the more a person loves God and pursues the truth, the more he suffers? Someone says, “This is because the more man suffers, the more his heart is able to love God; the more he would be able to see the impurities he has in his love for God, the more it reveals of him, and the more of Satan’s poison within him can be removed.” This is quite a right way to put it because the more you love God, the more He wants to cleanse you. When God cleanses you, He will put you through trials to reveal you, to reveal your rebellion and corruption within you and the resistance in the deepest recess of your soul so that you may know yourself even more deeply. The purpose of putting you through the various trials is to achieve such a result. What does this have to do with being saved and perfected? Going through trials reveals a person’s corruption and digs out the things deep in his soul that oppose and resist God. What result does this achieve? … We are a bunch of corrupted people today and are full of Satan’s poison inside us, and in our nature and substance. After a while of having believed in God, we have understood some of the truth, and we feel that we have been perfected and saved. We feel that we are clear of Satan’s poison and have nothing but positive things inside us. We feel that we have obtained life. If God does not perfect us, if He does not carry out the work of perfection, we would believe that we are good. What is the final outcome then? We would have ruined ourselves with our thoughts. If we receive God’s perfection, He would give us many trials. What would happen to us when these trials come upon us? We had once thought that we were good, but it is revealed in the end that that is not the case. We still have rebellion and resistance in us. We still have betrayal, and we can still distance ourselves from God and judge Him. We still have conceptions and complaints about Him. You will be shocked by yourself when you see these. You would say, “I thought that I was sanctified and saved. How could there be so much corruption deep within my soul? Oh, I would be in trouble if it weren’t for God’s trials. I thought that I was good. Wouldn’t I have ruined myself then? Oh, God’s trials are wonderful.” You would discover that there are still things in your blood and your bones that go against God as well as Satan’s poison through one trial after another. You would start to awaken after that and stop believing your own lies and being deceived by your own feelings. You would start to believe God’s word and that you are completely capable of betraying God. You would start off anew and begin again in your pursuit of truths and of knowing God. You see, this is the result that God achieves in using trials to perfect man. God reveals all the rebellion, corruption and resistance deep within your soul, and you would then know whether you have been saved. The more you are revealed, the deeper and clearer your knowledge about your own corrupt essence. When God reveals all these to you, you would know all the corruption that is in you. Once you have cleansed the corruption through pursuing the truth and obtaining the work of the Holy Spirit, you would be perfected, wouldn’t you? Removing the diseases you couldn’t see as well as the corrupt essence, the root of Satan’s corruption and poison in you is the work that God does to perfect man. Therefore, the more a person loves God and pursues God’s perfection, the more suffering he goes through, the deeper he is cleansed, and the more completely he is saved. When his corruption is completely removed, he would be truly sanctified inside. There would be none of Satan’s poison in him. Truth and God’s word fills the person completely. This is the process of God’s perfection of man. Therefore, a man who loves God will undergo much suffering from many trials. The more trials a person goes through, the more he is able to be perfected and cleansed by God, the result of which is that man conforms even more to His will. It is therefore very necessary for man to suffer many trials in order to be perfected by God. Such a suffering holds so much value and significance! If you do not pursue the truth and loving God, He will not carry out such deeper cleansing in you, and you will never reach true sanctification and conform to His will. You have merely been saved but are not fit for use by God because there is still much corruption and Satan’s poison in you. You would stage a rebellion like Satan did if God were to put you in important position, and you would lead others to do the same. If you are perfected by God, however, you will never betray Him no matter what He wants you to do. You will submit to and satisfy God in whatever He does and will never betray Him. Such a person is one who is completely gained by God. Therefore, a person who is perfected by God will eventually inherit His promises and blessings, because he is qualified to. You now understand it, right? Man must go through much suffering in order to be perfected because he is to be cleansed more deeply and to be perfected and gained fully.

from “Experiencing the Suffering of Trial Is the Most Beneficial to Man’s Life” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life II