Brother Fang is a Christian from a southeastern coastal city who works in an office. After becoming a believer, he has gone through many prayers and reflections on his faith.
American TV shows opened his heart, tears in his sleep soothed his troubled heart
Fang was brought to church by his friend. He received his first Bible as a welcome gift, and it felt like a book of myths to him at the time.
For a while, Fang had been watching an American TV series called "The Bible," which took its story from the heart of the Bible. It was this TV series that gradually opened Fang's closed heart and led him to attend Bible classes at a church near his home.
Expected the church to be more accessible and focus on individual discipleship
At first, Fang learned about the Christian faith systematically in the church. But as he began to feel the rigidity of the church system, he began to work on his personal spiritual growth, spending more time in devotion. He describes his practice this way, "It is not to talk big, but to practice small things, to be the subtle influence where I can, by making changes myself."
Fang therefore believes that churches need to be more accessible so that people can reach them easily. At the same time, the focus of church development should not only be on growing the size of the church, but also on growing the spiritual lives of individual believers. Fang hopes that when the church provides spiritual guidance, it can pay more attention to the differences of individuals in their understanding, views, situations, etc. so that the church can build a dynamic relationship with these believers.
Prayer is like an umbilical cord and the hand of God
Over the years, Fang has developed a very regular prayer life. Every morning before he goes to work, every day at lunchtime, and every night before he goes to bed.
He learned about prayer from watching Western movies and TV shows, where a prayer is said before meals and the main character prays when he gets into trouble.
After Fang became a Christian and received discipleship training from the church, he understood the importance of prayer. But he soon found that praying made him feel very uncomfortable; when he sat and talked with his eyes closed, he felt rejection throughout his whole body. He said, "People are self-centered and only do what they want, but unfortunately, prayer is not one of those things. But our faith tells us to let go of our control and surrender to the Lord."
Fang also emphasized that he is self-centered and a rational person, but he also knows the importance of prayer, "Prayer is like an umbilical cord. Your life is nourished by prayer; and without prayer, your life withers away. Because of pride, people are always in an unstable state, so it is important to be in constant prayer. Continuous prayer is like the Lord's hands that keep us from falling; when we are stable, our hearts are soothed. Prayer also helps to build a stronger foundation in one's faith; one's spiritual life would be much stronger and grow faster."
Fang confesses, "After coming to faith, I feel the most obvious difference is that being a Christian allows you to grow."
Fang is a well-read person who likes to think, and he has spent time studying Buddhism, Taoism, and other religions. He believes that the main ideas of these religions, which have much in common with the Christian faith, also teach their followers to do good. However, from his personal experience, Christianity gives you the ability to grow, while the other religions do not. They can be called some of the most profound philosophical thoughts of mankind, but they cannot help the lives of their followers grow because they have no channel for prayer, and their followers can only try to think through the teachings until they understand them, which is very difficult. Whereas the Christian faith is very simple, believers can pray directly to God and have an immediate connection with Him.
- Translated by Joyce Leung
