Editor’s Note: It’s written in Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.” To believers in God, attending meetings is very important and we must keep it. But some people can’t attend meetings normally because they are busy with their work and family. And thus they gradually become more and more distant from God. Actually, it is caused because we do not understand the importance of attending meetings. Why is attending meetings important? The following content will tell you the two reasons why attending meetings is very important.
We should know that attending meetings is an important practice in believing in and worshiping God. This is because we read and fellowship about God’s words in the meetings. Only if we read more of God’s words in the meetings can we understand the truth and God’s intentions and requirements more quickly. So, when encountering things, we can often practice according to God’s words and we can enter into the reality of the truth and attain God’s approval. Therefore, whether we can persist in attending meetings is critical for us to be approved by God. True believers in God should often come before God, attend meetings and read God’s words more. If we follow God in a muddled way, busy with our work and family and not paying attention to attending meetings, and do not often read God’s words, much less practice God’s words, how can we attain God’s approval?
God says, “You will only gain from your faith in God if you approach it as the greatest thing in your life, more important than even food, clothes, or anything else! If you only believe when you have the time, and are incapable of devoting your entire attention to your faith, and if you are always mired in confusion, then you will gain nothing.”
From these words we can see that as believers in God, we should prioritize believing in and worshiping God. Otherwise, we will be eliminated if we believe in God willfully. So, maintaining normal relationships with God, attending gatherings, making prayers and communicating the truth is what every believer in God should practice and is the responsibility a created being should fulfill. If we are only satisfied with acknowledging God with our mouths and believing in Him in our hearts; and treat belief in God as spiritual sustenance, not paying attention to gathering and communicating the truth, then we will have no relationship with God. In God’s eyes, we are not different from unbelievers. Unbelievers do not love the truth, attend meetings, or pursue to gain the life which is from God, but are engaged in earning money and satisfying their own flesh. As they have no relationships with God, God will surely not approve them. If we are occupied by fleshly things and take no heed to gatherings and worshiping God, won’t we be the same as unbelievers? So, even if we believe in God to the end, we won’t be approved by God or gain the truth and the life, and our ends will definitely be the same as those of the unbelievers, being detested, rejected and eliminated by God. Therefore, whether we can persist in attending gatherings directly relates to whether we can gain the truth and God’s approval.
God says, “Again I say to you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the middle of them” (Matthew 18:19–20).
“The Holy Spirit not only works in certain people who are used by God, but, furthermore, in the church. He could be working in anyone. He may work in you during the present time, and you will experience this work. During the next period, He may work in someone else, in which case you must haste to follow; the more closely you follow the present light, the more your life can grow. No matter what manner of person someone is, if the Holy Spirit works in them, then you must follow. Take in their experiences through your own, and you will receive even higher things. In so doing you will progress more quickly. This is the path of perfection for man and the means by which life grows.”
We can see from God’s words that the church is the site where the Holy Spirit works. As long as brothers and sisters attend gatherings, reading and fellowshiping about God’s words, the Holy Spirit will work and our life will gradually grow. As the caliber, living environments and backgrounds of every brother and sister are different, plus they have different experiences of God’s work, they have different understanding and knowledge of God’s words. So, through communicating the truth with brothers and sisters in the gatherings, we can draw on each other’s strengths to make up for our own deficiencies and we will gain more light. If we have anything we don’t understand when reading God’s words or come up with some difficulties in life, when brothers and sisters pray to God with one heart and one mind and seek the truth to solve them together, the Holy Spirit will work among us and lead us to find the way of practice and thus our life growth will be faster.
It can be seen that attending meetings is an important way for our lives to grow. No matter how busy we are, we should make the time to attend meetings. If we do not often attend meetings or seek and fellowship about the truth with brothers and sisters but only occasionally pray and read God’s words perfunctorily, we will not easily gain the work of the Holy Spirit and our life will stand still.
From the above fellowship, we understand the importance of attending meetings. What’s more, we should know that wealth, fame, fortune, status, etc. are Satan’s temptations. After we are corrupted by Satan, those satanic poisons such as “Man will do anything to get rich,” “A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies,” and “Money isn’t everything, but without it, you can do nothing,” have deeply rooted in our hearts, so that we love wealth, fame, fortune and status. We are not hesitant to pay any price for the sake of wealth, fame and fortune. Through our desires, Satan has us entangled in wealth, fame, fortune and flesh, disturbing and destroying our normal relationship with God, so that we will stray far from God and betray God and thoroughly be captured by Satan in the end. This is Satan’s cunning scheme and evil intention. If we can’t see through Satan’s cunning scheme, bustling about earning money every day, safeguarding our families and maintaining our complicated interpersonal relationships but paying no heed to attending meetings, we are living under Satan’s power. Not only will our hearts become darker and darker and emptier and emptier, but also we will eventually stray far from God and betray God and go back to the world, losing the chance to gain the truth and salvation. So, we should often attend meetings and communicate the truth with the brothers and sisters more. Only in this way can we understand more truths, otherwise, we will stray from God farther and farther and be devoured by Satan in the end.
Editor’s Note: After reading this article, I think you now understand the importance of attending meetings. If this article has been helpful to you, please share it with others so that they too may understand the importance of attending meetings and pay attention to it. If you have any further confusion or questions, please feel free to contact us using the online chat buttons at the bottom. We are online 24 hours a day ready to answer your questions.