First, “the one who gave birth and nurture is better than the one who only gave birth, and the one who taught is better than the one who only nurtured.” You must know that just accepting the Creator who gave birth to us from the Spirit will not necessarily allow you and me to experience the value of salvation in person after accepting the Lord Jesus. After being hurt by others, you can forgive or accept yourself and the other party from your heart, and pray for both parties. But the Creator who gives birth to us from His Spirit and who nurtures and teaches or disciplines us each time we did wrong against His will can make you and I realize from our heart that our God is alive in the present time with us. He often observes us in our hearts and teaches us to understand the preciousness of salvation. To stop us from returning to our sins, He will teach us and let us know how deeply He loves us. Since God loves us as a sinner, we are also loving Him in response to His love, so we are willing to give up self-centeredness and abandon those bad habits, or to love those who offended or hurt us. Before I repented, I only knew that after accepting the Lord Jesus, I would go to heaven after death. However, I never knew how much the Lord Jesus loves a sinner like me, nor would I put the knowledge of the hope of eternal life deep in my mind and into my heart, hoping one day to return to the Heavenly home to see the Lord’s face. Not to mention, when I take my last breath on Earth, it will make me not afraid, and I will relieve that finally be able to return to my heavenly home. Son, will you miss going to your heavenly home? Dad often didn’t listen to the words of the Holy Spirit and did what I thought was right in my way, but the result was that I was farther and farther away from the Heavenly Father. So, I was often disciplined by God. Among the children of God, I am the weakest and most shameless in the end. Even so, I am longing to return to heaven to see the Creator who loves me and disciplines me! This does not mean that I want to leave you and your mom on Earth and go to heaven to be happy. Dad loves you and mom. I don’t know why, but even if I get knocked down by chance, the Lord disciplined me. Then, I returned to Him with godly guilt, knelt down and confessed my sins, and begged the Lord to forgive me. The peace of forgiveness that came from God always reminds me of my hometown in heaven. When I think about it, I hope to touch the soil and buildings on the ground in heaven with my own hands, want to see the characters in the Bible in person, and I hope to see the Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus with my own eyes. Job 19:25-27, which has touched my heart even now, is where Job said:

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God,
I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another…”

All people in the world have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. If everything that I did on earth, I can revisit them with the Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus. If the Father can let me know what truly happened in those times, and let me know why He is creating people like me, it will make me feel that my life is not in vain. I started to believe in my heart that my Redeemer is alive, and I started to miss the kingdom of the children of God who slept on earth and are still alive in heaven. I can live on earth every day and still miss the day when I go back to heaven and see for myself. They all started a few years ago that I truly repented, was forgiven by God, and found that He still loved and disciplined me. Then, eternity was starting to sprout in my heart. Zechariah, who was filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied a passage like this:

“to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

Therefore, I am sharing the gospel of repentance and salvation, and it is for the children of God, and it is also for those who did not believe that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit said to me one time,

“The hope of salvation lies in repentance. It is the same as taking a shower every day in life and washing away the dust accumulated on the body every day. No one will say that I had a shower once a few years ago, and I don’t need to have a shower again anymore.”

Son, don’t believe those kinds of false and absurd teachings. Those teachings that said once you are saved, you will never need to ask for forgiveness from your sins. Those teachings can’t make the hope of eternal life grow in your heart.

Second, the children of God can pour out their hearts to Him and ask why to God for themselves. Why do I encounter difficulties or suffering? The LORD who created the heavens and the earth, can answer or not answer us. Since we don’t understand, why not ask ourselves? If I didn’t relive the pruning of the branches because of what the Holy Spirit showed me in my heart. Then, I curiously asked the Lord if He let the thorns nailed to my feet and woke me up from the intoxication of dissatisfaction, I would be wasting after God’s painstaking care for me. It will be impossible to remind me again that the LORD who created the heaven, the earth, and the human soul sees your heart and my heart. As long as you and I don’t impute what we see as the consequences of sin to others who suffer, I’m talking about all people in the world, not just Christians.

And finally, third, son, learn how to discern the voices that come out of your heart, those that come from the Holy Spirit, and those that come from the evil one disguised as an angel of light. I only know the voice of the Holy Spirit, it won’t make me complacent or self-righteous, after listening to those voices, it won’t make me always remember the dark side of others, won’t let me be hypocritical, won’t let me tell lies, not feeling sorry at all, thinking that if I didn’t say it, anyone had evidence to say that I was lying as if my conscience was lost. I won’t be attracted to think about other things when I kneel down to pray and read the Bible. After reading God’s words, I can’t even remember the scriptures I just read. Will remember those things that can show off in front of others and elevate my social status. If something like this happens to you in the future, you can kneel down and pray to the Lord sincerely, and ask the Lord, “My Lord, why do I have such a situation?” As long as we are not rejected fully by the Lord and we are not afraid, our Lord Jesus has His way through Holy Spirit to let us know what is going on in our life. Hebrews 12:6-8, 10-11 records:

“FOR WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLES, AND HE PUNISHES EVERY SON WHOM HE ACCEPTS.
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
…
For they (earthly father) disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

When the Lord changed even my heart, let me know that He is the true and living God, and made me a child of Him, what else can I unable to let go? What can I do if I cannot even let go? I cannot change back to my old self anymore because the living God will love and discipline me. Also, I don’t like my old self anymore. Son, this is my experience after repentance and rebirth.

If you ask me, what is love? It is love to protect and sympathize. It is also love to punish and discipline.

Thank you, Son of God, my Lord Jesus, that in this world you would come to find me in the crowd! Let me know You, speak to me through the Holy Spirit, nurture and discipline me, let me know that You love me, and let me know that You are alive today. Yes, my Lord, you are alive, forever alive, and you don’t need me to say anything for you, just tell the truth plainly about what you have done for me. This is a believable statement. May the true God of heaven and earth, my Savior, Jesus Christ, pray that in every event of my life, all readers will only see that You are alive, may all the Glory be to Christ, Amen!

Well, in the next article, I can resume my experience of rebirth after repentance.

Next: The Lord’s Anointing is in My Heart – One Thought Repent Longing to Heaven(4)

Table Of Contents

Prevoius: What is LOVE? (1 of 2)

My son, in this article, I want to write down one thing, let you know “what is LOVE?”, and also how the Evil One pretends to be an angel of light. When I listen to those thoughts, I want to share with you what will be my spiritual situation.

In the company I work for, there is a senior director who likes to argue and turns things upside down. Something wrong he or his team did, he can say, “I don’t know. Why didn’t you inform me earlier?” Once, the CTO and I had to have a meeting with him to discuss something. As a subordinate, I just treated myself as an observer and didn’t think I would have anything to say. But the more I listened, the more I realized that the director could put the Annual Information Security Training every employee must do, saying that no one informed him and his subordinates. They were not being trained to follow those policies. There are such people in the world, but hearing about them is not as shocking as experiencing it in person. Not only was I shocked, but I also felt disgusted with this kind of person from the bottom of my heart. Later, during the meeting, the more I listened, the angrier I became, so I began to use his way to treat him. Because I hated his attitude, I confronted him mercilessly and said:

“You didn’t provide me training to do what you want, I just follow company policy.”

In the end, he and his boss were speechless and could only follow the company’s information security policy. After the meeting, in retrospect, I felt that I was a little aggressive and didn’t leave room for the director. But at that time, a voice appeared in my heart and said to me:

“Well done!”

I thought it was the Holy Spirit who said it to me, so I no longer questioned my unreserved attitude. Also, I had a little thought that what I had done, even the Holy Spirit agreed that it was right. After that, this incident often reappeared in my mind, making me feel a little complacent. Son, but don’t forget that the words of the Holy Spirit will never contradict the words of God in the Bible. Colossians 4:5-6 tells us:

“Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.
Your speech must always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”

So the voice that said to me, “Well done!” was not from God. You can interpret those voices are the result of my self-righteous thoughts. Also, you can treat those voices as the evil ones pretending to be an angel of light, just to make me think I am right. Even though those voices go against God’s will, they still make me feel good about myself. Make me have no remorse and think I am standing in justice, but I am far from God’s will.

After this incident, I found that I often had other people’s wrongdoing come to my mind. Even when I knelt down to read the Bible and pray, I was often attracted by the various thoughts that came to my mind. Son, this is a proof of what God said in Genesis 4:7 is correct:

“If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Although I had this kind of experience before, this time it was only after the following event that I came to my senses.

That Saturday afternoon, I was in the backyard trimming the trees between my neighbor and my house, and then I remembered that my neighbor had done something that took me a while to deal with. At that time, I remembered she often said that she did not want the trees between our houses to be trimmed too low, which would affect her privacy from her house. For some reason, at that moment in my heart, an idea appeared, which meant this:

“You got me into trouble for a while without consulting me first, and you didn’t want me to trim the trees low. I just want to trim down the trees on my side! To express my dissatisfaction!”

At that time, I just felt that this idea was not wrong, so I agreed with it. As a result, when I was intoxicated with expressing my dissatisfaction and cutting branches, a piece of the branch I was cutting was impaled into the shoe on my left foot and woke me up immediately from my “revenge”. I pulled out the branch, only to find that there were some needle-like thorns on the branch. One of the sharp thorns pierced the surface of the shoe and inserted about half an inch into my foot. The moment it was pulled out, crimson blood flowed out of the shoe hole. I hurried back to the garage and took off my left shoe and sock. Only then did I see that the wound was bleeding from a major artery in the middle of the foot. To stop the bleeding, I pressed my index finger on the artery. Two fist-sized bloodstains were on the ground before the wound stopped bleeding. After the bleeding was stopped, I saw the small needle-like wound, in the middle of the artery. The width of the artery was less than one-tenths of an inch. Why was it so coincidental? I don’t know why but I had a strange feeling in my heart as if I saw in my heart that I was indulging in venting my dissatisfaction when I was pruning, and then the branch was so cleverly nailed to my shoe, which woke me up. Just by curiosity, I asked God in my heart, “Lord, was that you?”

Then, a small voice sounded from nowhere inside my heart:

“And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accordance with his will, will receive many blows,”

Son, who likes to be disciplined for doing wrong? And I asked myself, was this just a coincidence and not a discipline from God? At that time, the tiny voice in my heart reappeared, saying:

“Even your hair has been counted.”

It was only then that my heart woke up. Since my hair has also been counted by the Lord, and the Heavenly Father had answered me twice by the Holy Spirit. My little injury was not a coincidence!

For some reason, it only lasted until Sunday morning, when I knelt down and prayed and read the Bible, I remembered that I had not confessed to the Lord for what happened yesterday. So I asked the Lord to forgive me. Because when I knelt down, the wound on my left foot was still painful, so when I worshipped God at home, I hesitated whether I could still kneel and worship God.

When I asked the Lord in my heart, a tiny voice appeared, saying:

“You can. Don’t be afraid.”

So I knelt down and worshipped God in faith. Gradually, I couldn’t feel the pain in my feet. In the beginning, it could be explained as numbness caused by the lack of blood circulation. Later, I even stood up and didn’t feel hurt anymore. At that time, I was full of thanks to God! After I finally finished worshipping God, my tears flowed down quietly when you and your mom were not around. Although I was disciplined by God, the pain of the wound disappeared less than a day after I admitted my mistake. This is just an isolated example and cannot be generalized, but it is an iron-clad fact that my wound will no longer be painful in less than a day.

My son, you need to keep a few things in mind…

What is LOVE? (2 of 2)

Table Of Contents

One Thought Repent Longing to Heaven (3)

第一，「生不如養，養不如教」，你要知道只是接受從靈生我們的創造主，未必會讓你我在接受主耶穌以後，親身體驗救恩的可貴性，也不會讓你被別人傷害以後，可以從心裏原諒或接受自己與對方，為雙方祈禱。但是一個從靈生我們，也每天在我們身上養育和管教我們的神，卻可以讓你我從心體會神是永活的神，祂常常在我們心中察看我們，教導我們去明白救恩的可貴，更會為了讓我們不再在罪中，教訓我們，讓我們知道祂愛我們有多深，可以因為神既然愛我這罪人，我也要愛祂，才會願意去放棄自我中心，捨棄那些壞習慣，或者去愛那些得罪或傷害我們的人。我悔改以前只知道接受主後，死後會上天堂，但卻從不親身體會主耶穌有多麼愛我這樣的罪人，也不會將頭腦上有永生盼望的知識，落實在心底裏，盼望將來返天家見主面。更加不用說，我在世上呼吸最後一口氣的時候，會讓我不恐懼，有終於可以回天家的思念。兒子，你會想念返天家嗎？爸爸常常不聽聖靈的說話，自以為對的便去做，結果卻是離開天父越來越遠，所以常常被神管教我。我在神的兒女中，是最末後最軟弱最沒有臉面的，但我盼望能早一點回天家，見那愛我也常常管教我的神啊！這不是我想拋下你們在地上，自己去天家逍遙快活的意思，爸爸愛你和媽媽，但不知為何，就算偶然被打倒了，主責備管教我，內疚回到祂面前跪下認罪，求主饒恕。從神而來的平安，總是不時的令我想起那個在天上的家鄉，想到那裏，親手觸摸那裏地上的泥土和牆壁，親眼看見聖經裏的人物，更加希望親眼見天父和主耶穌一面。約伯記19:25-27節，一直到現在也是深深的觸動我心靈的，約伯在那裏說：

「我知道我的救贖主活着，末了必站立在地上。
我這皮肉滅絕之後，我必在肉體之外得見神。
我自己要見他，親眼要看他，並不像外人。…」

世人都犯了罪，虧缺了神的榮耀，若果每一件事情，都可以與天父和主耶穌重溫一次，讓我知道我那些時候究竟真正在發生甚麼，讓我知道天父為何創造像我這樣的人，我便感覺不枉此生了。會從心裏相信我的救贖主是活著的，會想念那個在地上睡了卻仍是活著在天上那神的兒女的國度，能夠天天在地上活著卻仍然想念回去親身看看的曰子，卻只有在數年以前，我真心悔改，被神赦免，發現祂仍然愛我管教我以後，真正的在心裏發芽落實了。撒迦利亞曾被聖靈充滿，預言其中的一段是這樣的：

「叫他的百姓因罪得赦，就知道救恩；因我們神憐憫的心腸，叫清晨的陽光從高天臨到我們，要照亮坐在黑暗中死蔭裏的人，把我們的腳引到平安的路上。」

所以爸爸是傳悔改得救的福音，對神的兒女也好，不信主耶穌是神的兒子的人也是一樣。聖靈曾對我說：

「得救的盼望，在乎悔改，好像人生每一天都需要洗澡，將每一天所積累貼在身上的塵埃，沖洗乾淨一樣，那有人會說，我幾年前已經清洗過一次，以後也不需要再沖涼洗淨了。」

兒子，不要相信那種虛假荒謬的言語，那些一次得救便可以永遠也不用認罪悔改的教導，是不能將永生的盼望，結結實實的在你心裏發芽生長的。

第二，神的兒女，是可以自己求問神，向祂傾心吐意，為甚麼自己會遇到困難或受苦的，創造天地的神，可以回答或不回應我們，既然自己不明白，為何不問呢？若然我不因聖靈在我心裏重溫當時修剪樹枝的情景，好奇心去問主，是否祂讓那尖刺釘在我的腳上，將我從那沉醉在不滿當中驚醒過來，我便浪費了神對我的苦心了，也不可能再次提醒我，創造天地和人類靈魂的神，是看見你我的內心的。只要你我不將自己認為受苦是犯罪的後果的意思，加在其他受苦的人身上便可以了，我所說的是世上所有人，不只是基督徒。

最後第三，兒子，你要學習怎樣辨別從心裏出來的聲音，那些是從聖靈而來，那些是那惡者扮作光明的天使而來的。我只知道從聖靈而來的聲音，不會讓我沾沾自喜，自以為公義，聽從那聲音以後，不會讓我常常記念別人的惡，不會讓我假善，不會讓我說謊話以後，一點自責也沒有，以為自己不說，有誰人有証據可以說我在說謊，就像良心喪盡了一樣。更不會在我跪下禱告和讀聖經的時候，被吸引去想其他的事情，讀完神的話以後，連自己剛剛曾讀過的經文也記不起，腦海裏是一片空白，或者只會記得那些可以在別人面前炫耀，抬高自己社會地位的事情。若果你以後有這樣的情況出現，你可以誠心跪下向主禱告，問主：「主啊，我為向會有這樣的情況？」只要我們不是被主棄絕的，也不懼怕，主是有辨法藉著聖靈提醒你的。希伯來書12:6-8,10-11節記載：

「因為主所愛的，他必管教， 又鞭打凡所收納的兒子。
你們所忍受的，是神管教你們，待你們如同待兒子。焉有兒子不被父親管教的呢？
管教原是眾子所共受的；你們若不受管教，就是私子，不是兒子了。
…
生身的父都是暫隨己意管教我們；惟有萬靈的父管教我們，是要我們得益處，使我們在他的聖潔上有分。
凡管教的事，當時不覺得快樂，反覺得愁苦；後來卻為那經練過的人結出平安的果子，就是義。」

當主連我的心靈都改變了，讓我知道祂是永活的真神，讓我變成了屬於祂的兒女，還有什麽放不下的呢? 放不下又能如何呢? 我也變不成原來的自己了，因為永活的神是會憐愛管教我的。而且，我也不喜歡原來的自己了。這便是爸爸，悔改重生之後的體會。

若你問我，愛是甚麼？保護憐憫是愛，責打管教也是愛。

謝謝祢，神的兒子，我的主耶穌，在這個世界裏，祢會在人羣裏來尋找我！讓我認識祢，籍著聖靈親自對我講說話，養育管教我，讓我知道祢愛我，讓我知道祢今天仍然活著。是的，祢仍然活著，永遠活著，不用人為祢多說甚麼，只要人照實述説祢為我們所做的事情，便可以了。這話是可信的， 願創造天地的真神，我的救主耶穌基督，祈願在我記下一生中的每一件事情裏，所有讀者都只是看到祢是活著的，願祢得着當得的榮耀，阿們！

好了，在下一篇文章，可以重新接續我悔改以後，重生的經歷了。

主的恩膏在心裏 – 一念悔改盼天家（四)

目錄

愛是甚麼？(上)