The book "The Discipline of Life" was bought on the official account a year ago. At that time, I was attracted by the sentence on the cover, "Joy is the main theme of all exercises." The word joy is now used The society is a bit rare and valuable. I thought that in college, I would feel the pleasant breeze blowing in the morning and look at the brightest star in the sky at night. At that time, gratitude and joy were the main themes of my life. I remembered that I used to like to practice very much, and I liked to try to understand the lessons I wanted to learn in various life experiences. At that time, practice was a required course that I longed for. In this way, this book came into my view and became one on my bookshelf.
I often pray to God to give me a new life, to make me more like Jesus, and to make my life more pleasing to God, but in fact this is a very popular thing for me. prayer. A new life and pleasing God is a very broad concept. It gave me a short-term faith but failed to bring about any further changes or gains.
Slowly I realized that it is important to think about the life God desires for us to have. Just like you need to be very clear about how to implement the first of the first principles, glorify God and enjoy Him. The faith of Christ is not just talk on paper or a kind of spiritual sustenance that the world thinks. It can be clearly put into practice and benefit people.
So why practice? What to practice? This book helped me a lot. "God desires for everyone to have a full life, which is related to supply, identity, and character."
When I thought about these three things carefully, I suddenly realized that what the world is pursuing is also These three things, but the big difference is that we as stewards use it to satisfy our needs rather than our desires. The Bible says in James, "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own lust." When lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin; when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. ’ What God allows us to practice is to joyfully possess and use these three things to live a full life.
I often share my life and life conditions with my good friend Xiao Huang. I remember that for a long time (the first half of this year) I fell into a state of pessimism, self-abasement and even a little depression. Because I don’t understand why the lessons I have practiced for a long time suddenly returned to before liberation. I don’t understand how I can be released or healed after making mistakes during the practice. I even have doubts about my faith. Then I relied on myself to solve the problem of wanting to change but falling deeper into bondage. Finally, I understood what was said in the book: ‘Will has its place, but it is not to transform the inner personality. Its function is to decide to hand over our lives to God’. Just like Xiao Huang said, "The pain caused by some experiences may last for a long time, but I always believe that God will heal me." Nine times out of ten, life will be unsatisfactory, and you must have faith when practicing, because this is not easy, and this is not something that humans can achieve. I once heard a sister share in a group that she was unwilling to ask to experience God in prayer because she was afraid that the process of experiencing God would be painful. In the first half of the year, I complained in prayer that I didn’t want to continue studying. But thanks to God’s grace and unfailing love, He made me realize once again that my life is about running towards the goal and never giving up. The process of learning and practicing is accompanied by tears and joy. These tears are precious treasures shed after life changes.