Chapter 2
The church of Philadelphia has taken shape, and this has been entirely due to the grace and mercy of God. Love for God arises in the hearts of the myriad saints, and they tread their spiritual path without wavering. They hold fast to their belief that the one true God has become flesh, that He is the Head of the universe, who commands all things: This has the confirmation of the Holy Spirit, as immovable as the mountains! It will never change!
Oh, Almighty God! Today it is You who have opened our spiritual eyes, allowing the blind to see, the lame to walk, and lepers to be healed. It is You who have opened the window to heaven, and we have seen the mysteries of the spiritual realm. That we can be permeated by Your holy words, and be saved out of our humanity that has been corrupted by Satan: this is Your inestimably great work and Your inestimably great mercy. We are Your witnesses!
You have remained hidden, humbly and silently, for a long time. You have undergone resurrection and the suffering of crucifixion; You have known the sweet and the bitter, the joys and sorrows, of a human life as well as persecution and adversity; You have encountered and tasted the pain of the human world, and You have been forsaken by the age. God incarnate is God Himself. For the sake of God’s will, You have saved us from the dunghill, holding us up with Your right hand, and freely giving us Your grace. Sparing no pains, You have wrought Your life into us; the price You have paid with Your blood, sweat, and tears is crystallized upon the saints. We are the product of Your painstaking effort; we are the price You have paid.
Oh, Almighty God! It is because of Your lovingkindness and mercy, Your righteousness and majesty, Your holiness and humility that all peoples will bow down before You and worship You for all eternity.
Today You have made complete all churches—the church of Philadelphia—which is the fruition of Your 6,000-year management plan. The saints can humbly submit themselves in front of You, connected each to the other in spirit and following along in love. They are joined to the source of the fountain. The living water of life runs ceaselessly and washes away and purges all the mud and filthy water in the church, once again purifying Your temple. We have come to know the practical true God, walked within His words, recognized our own functions and duties, and done everything that we can to expend ourselves for the sake of the church. At every moment becoming quiet in Your presence, we must heed the work of the Holy Spirit, lest Your will be obstructed in us. Among the saints there is mutual love, and the strengths of some will compensate for the failings of others. They are able to walk in the spirit at all times, enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit. They put the truth into practice immediately upon understanding it. They keep up with the new light, and follow God’s footsteps.
Actively cooperate with God; letting Him take control is to walk with Him. All of our own ideas, notions, opinions, and secular entanglements vanish into thin air like smoke. We let God reign supreme in our spirits, walk with Him and so gain transcendence, overcoming the world, and our spirits fly free and attain release: This is the outcome when Almighty God becomes King. How can we not dance and sing in praise, offering up our praises, offering up new hymns?
There truly are many ways to praise God: calling out His name, drawing near to Him, thinking of Him, pray-reading, engaging in fellowship, contemplating and pondering, prayer, and songs of praise. In these kinds of praise there is enjoyment, and there is anointment; there is power in praise, and there is also a burden. There is faith in praise, and there is new insight.
Actively cooperate with God, coordinate in service and become one, fulfill Almighty God’s intentions, hasten to become a holy spiritual body, trample on Satan, and bring Satan’s destiny to an end. The church of Philadelphia has been raptured into God’s presence and manifests itself in the glory of God.
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