Page 18 - Living Epistles

answer your prayer, you must first rid yourself of all hindrances."

On the following Sunday, I preached on the theme, "Removal of All
Hindrances." At that very time many people were criticizing the wife of one of
my co-workers, who was a sister among us. After the meeting she stood at the
door. When I entered the meeting to deliver the message, I looked at her and
inwardly criticized her, considering others' criticism of her to be true. When
I left the meeting hall after delivering the message, I greeted her. Later, when
I again supplicated God for printing expenses, saying that I had removed all
hindrances, God said to me, "What is the message which you have delivered?
You have criticized that sister; that is a hindrance to prayer, a hindrance which
you ought to deal with. You must go to her and confess your guilt." I replied,
"It is not necessary to confess to others sins that are in the mind." God
answered, "Yes, that is right, but your condition is different."

Afterward, when I considered confessing to her and came face to face with the
issue, I hesitated five times. Even though I wished to do it, I was concerned
that she, who had always greatly admired me, would then despise me. I said
to God, "If you order me to do anything else, I will do it, but I am unwilling to
confess to her." I continued to ask God for the printing expenses, but He
would not listen to my reasoning. Rather, He insisted on my confessing. The
sixth time, through the Lord's grace, I confessed to her. With tears we both
confessed our faults and then forgave each other. We were filled with joy and
thereafter loved each other all the more in the Lord.

Shortly after this, the postman delivered a letter containing fifteen U.S.
dollars. The letter read, "I like to distribute gospel tracts and feel constrained
to assist you in the matter of printing gospel tracts. Please accept my gift." As
soon as all hindrances were removed, God answered my prayer. Thank the
Lord! This was my first experience of God's answering my prayer in the matter
of printing. We were then handing out more than a thousand tracts daily. Two
or three million copies were printed and distributed annually to supply the
churches in various places. In the few years after the publication work was
begun, God always answered my prayers and supplied all our needs.

The Lord also wanted me to publish the magazine The Present Testimony and
to give it out free of charge. At that time all spiritual periodicals throughout
China were for sale; only what I published was free. The editing room where
I wrote the manuscripts was a small cubicle. When the manuscripts were
completed, they were sent to the press. When there were no funds available,