Introduction

Micah, though a short book, belongs to the Minor Prophets, yet its impact is considerable. The prophet Micah foretold a significant event in the Bible: the Messiah's descent to Bethlehem, His birth there. Two famous passages in Micah are worth remembering.

What does God require of us? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. This is the first. The second is to ascend the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. Both phrases are from Micah. Judging by the book's length, he is a minor prophet; but considering its content, I believe it surpasses even the major prophets.

The Most Common Phenomenon of This Generation is Unanswered Prayer

Have you noticed that the most common phenomenon of this generation is unanswered prayer? If you are new to the faith and among us, you might not perceive this. Many prayers among us seem effective. Prayer is good, but even for longtime believers, many prayers are ineffective. One needs to ponder this carefully. The most common phenomenon of this generation is unanswered prayer.

Over the past years, my journey of faith has been a roller coaster. Why? Because I often witnessed phenomena where God did not seem to hear our prayers. Very many prayers were not heard. In past churches, I often wondered, is God indeed a God who hears prayers? Many prayers went unanswered, leaving me perplexed. The Bible depicts God as a God who hears prayers, but reality often suggests otherwise. The minor prophet Micah provides the answer: Why does God not listen to our pleas? Today, we will examine this chapter to understand why God does not hear our cries.

On the path of faith, I've observed many pleading: Lord, please heal so-and-so. Have you noticed that God does not heed such prayers? Some pray: Lord, heal me! Lord, I beg you! Lord, I kneel before you, I vow to you. Many such efforts are fruitless. Later, I researched this issue: How can we ensure that God hears our prayers? Do you know? If not, you must know today. How can we ensure that God listens to our prayers? God's people must act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God.

God’s People Must Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with Their God

I gradually observed a phenomenon in the church: Christians are more selfish than Buddhists. I have too many opinions about Christians. The Christian conversion process is peculiar. They rarely speak of acting justly, loving mercy, walking humbly with their God. They ask: In what year were you saved? I was saved in 2012. And you? 2014, so you are two years behind me. They count well.

What exactly is being saved? Some people hardly resemble saved individuals. They are more worldly than Buddhists, who at least have a Zen-like detachment. Christians lack a Christ-like character. Indeed! That ingrained attitude… Thus, I advise: Never do business with Christians, never invest in Christians, and never hire Christian employees. Do you know why?

I once hired Christian employees. What a costly mistake! They carry much baggage, being lazy, presuming they are saved and can go to heaven, grumbling about doing extra work. One rarely sees the image of Christ in them, but many demonic traits – lazy, dim-witted, and excessively religious.

One brother among us habitually interjected Thank God into his speech, regardless of whether it was warranted. He thanked God for trivialities. I wondered, what is there to thank God for? I couldn't fathom the relevance of thanking God there. It was disconcerting. How could one converse?

I thank God for raising and choosing me in this era, establishing a church where everyone bears God’s image, but without that religious affectation. I truly dislike religious affectation, even when typing. Sister this, Sister that. Are such titles indispensable? Can one not simply use their names? Sister Mary, Brother John. Heavens! It makes my hair stand on end.

If you forego calling someone brother or sister, can you act justly? Can you show mercy? Can you walk humbly with your God? We should not focus only on outward appearances. All these outward trappings feel tiring. Let's start anew, removing all the oddities. Can we be practical?

Chinese Mingding Destiny is a theology keen on solving problems. The foremost issue to address is why God does not hear our prayers. If all we engage in is vanity, how can God possibly hear our prayers? This is a seminal truth, to be etched in our hearts.

What does God require of us? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Never assume that recruiting a few more sisters makes you spiritual. Never presume that merely saying thank God suffices. A heap of religious affectation profits nothing.

I detest such things – inaction cloaked in a plethora of hollow terms. We interpret spiritual matters with spiritual words, and with deeper insight than those who engage in hollow shows and a deluge of terms. When it comes to practical action and resolving people's problems, we are more tangible than many worldly pursuits. This is what God desires of us.

For instance, a pastor of a church hears of someone falling ill, and everyone says, Oh yeah, I will pray for you. The next time he sees him, he asks, Did you pray for me?. Later that person dies, without receiving that prayer. People then say, Oh, I was just about to pray for him when he died. No need to pray now.utter nonsense!

Anyone can type a message in a group chat, which requires no sacrifice. My approach is more practical, but many do not appreciate it. Brother be at peace, sister be at peace - enough of that. You arrive at church, troubled, struggling to find work, your mind racing with problems. Then the pastor says, Tell the person on your left, Jesus loves you, and I love you too. I say, enough! After all that, it achieves nothing.

A sister suffered from urinary incontinence. The pastor accompanied her to Korea, but she returned still incontinent. For over a decade, her incontinence was ignored. You leak, I preach. I pray to my God. One might send a message saying, Sister, I will pray for you, but a decade of prayer yields no results.

Another instance: The pastor prayed for his mother's insomnia for seven years. Her medication dosage quadrupled! Is that not strange? Recently, some churches began Q&A sessions, which were quite interesting. Someone asked about healing and deliverance. The pastor responded, I'm an academic. I rarely engage in healing and deliverance. However, I can explain your problem using scripture. Would you like that? I find it inadequate.

There are other laughable situations. A sister joined us. I asked, Your church does healing and deliverance. Why are you here? She replied, Pastor, you don't know. I asked, Don't know what? Isn't your church hosting a healing and deliverance conference? She said, Teacher, our church's conference is for outsiders. Those within can't receive deliverance there.

It struck me as an outreach event. How were you lured in? It's remarkable you could persist, given how bizarre it is – caring for sick outsiders, neglecting sick insiders. If one's own child is sick, one cannot pray; yet one can pray for sick outsiders?

What if the pastor is sick? If the pastor is sick and prays, will it be effective? A pastor sick with affliction prays, May God have mercy on me, that I may live my entire life in God’s will.” I say this not to criticize others but as a reminder to myself. God’s people must act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God. May all my prayers be heard by God, may the God I serve in spirit remember me, and may I be a faithful and good servant.

I thank God for persevering until today, though I know not whether I have done well. I wonder how many marks I will receive from the Lord Jesus - passing at 60? Or 61? Or 59? Still hovering near the passing mark? But I earnestly desire to see the problems of our brothers and sisters resolved. I feel a real sense of helplessness.

These words are not solely for my ears, but also for the brothers and sisters here. If your prayers are unanswered, must we not question? What happened? Each brother and sister should use God’s hearing of prayers as a criterion to judge: Are we God’s people? Are we meeting God’s requirements? Does God require us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God? Do we possess such a heart?

Once, a brother remarked wittily, Teacher, I often forget to call people. Of the people he was designated to shepherd, none thrived under his care. He had a knack for smothering them spiritually. He was certainly gifted at religious affectation, saying, I saw Jesus. I saw Jesus standing next to you, he said to someone with depression.

The depressed individual thought, If Jesus were beside me, would I be depressed? I've suffered depression for years! You say Jesus is standing next to me? Be gone! The person's face changed. He engages in such things.

He even managed to deceive several sisters among us, who were single then. So-and-so is a prophet among us! He constantly sees visions! Through such visions, he hoodwinked the sisters. But had anyone received healing or deliverance through him? It seemed not.

Once, I was truly enraged. He was still among us then. His ninety-year-old grandmother had been in pain for two years, with no one to care for her. Initially, his grandmother was in our church, but somehow they had lured her away. His grandmother asked, May I call Pastor Liu? He then called to say, Teacher, my grandmother asks if she can contact you. I asked his grandmother, What's wrong? She was in pain all over. I asked, How long? Two years.

You weren't aware your grandmother was in pain for two years? You had no mercy for your grandmother? Whom could you have mercy on? I then asked him, Why do you always forget to call? But you call your girlfriend every day, don't you? Of course, he wouldn't forget that. Today, I tell you, the prayers of such individuals cannot be answered. When calamity strikes them, God will not hear their cries, because they do not know what God requires.

Israel's Leaders Detest Good, Love Evil

Listen, you leaders of Jacob, rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice? You who hate good and love evil, who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones, who eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pot, like a stew in a cauldron. Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done. (Micah 3:1-4)

At times, I do not understand. God, I say, when such people are in calamity, you merely hide your face from them. Why not escalate it? My heavens! I think God is far too gracious. He hides his face from them when they cry out. Why? Because they detest good and love evil, tearing flesh from bones, stripping skin from people. They will squeeze out every drop of your blood. Are you a vampire? Stripping skin from people, gnawing away the last bit of flesh from their bones.

Who are these people? The leaders of Israel. What do officials love most? Since they are judges, they love it when Neighbor A sues Neighbor B, then the case lands before the official. That's excellent! They collect from both sides. When there is a trial, the official is overjoyed, and you don't even need to say anything. The money comes without a word. The plaintiff eats the defendant, and the defendant eats the plaintiff – a complete win-win after they eat defendant eating plaintiff this how it works.

The minds of Israel's leaders are consumed with money. The officials in Micah's time were utterly corrupt. Corruption is not exclusive to us Chinese -- it's a universal trait. What percentage of the GDP does the American legal industry account for? Research it! The high-tech industry sustains a vast number of lawyers, who are constantly awaiting lawsuits. What kind of lawsuits? If you steal my intellectual property, I sue you for infringement and demand a billion, five billion, ten billion. It's incredibly lucrative.

What kinds of cases do Israel’s leaders judge? Who killed whom? Whose ox gored whom to death? Which old woman fell on the road and who helped her? Telecom scams? Economic cases? I tell you, officials love handling economic cases. If one tycoon sues another, would it be deemed fair if they were not drained of their every last drop of blood, or their last morsel of flesh? Such is the nature of this world.

People have thoroughly investigated these matters. Where is the time to listen to God’s prayers? Where is the time to pray to God? Where is the time to listen to Micah speaking? What time have I to listen to you, Micah? I have so many cases, so much money to collect. I count money until my hands are sore. What will I do with all this money? How do you think today’s Jewish capital is? Same as before. Do you think today’s Jewish capital is good? Jewish capital is very greedy; more suffering is to come.

These people, having acquired money, want to earn more, all scraped from the common people. When I was young, someone told me, Young Liu, to become wealthy, scrape from the masses. Think about it - if each of the 1.4 billion people contributes 1 yuan, that's 1.4 billion yuan, If they contributes 10 yuan, you get 14 billion yuan.

You must know how formidable the telecommunications industry is. They are fleecing everyone. People are paying for their phones every day, constantly giving them money. They are truly powerful. So, those selling water and telecommunications services are all successful, providing a service and that's OK. But if you strip the common people bare, leaving them with no flesh on their bones, aren't you driving them to their deaths? Thus, the leaders of Israel confuse good and evil, consumed by avarice.

The Prophets of Israel Seek Payment and Silver

Are such things prevalent today? Suppose someone among us has a father who falls ill, and his aunt is the village prophetess. Later, his aunt prays for his father and snaps her fingers, making the gesture of receiving money. We are unaware of this; if we knew, would we also charge? Why do I know this?

He asked: Teacher, do you charge for praying for my father? I replied: I have never charged for it. My aunt always charges. My goodness, your aunt doesn't even spare your father. Many village prophets serve in this way, and I am impressed. The spring river warms, and the duck is the first to know. Whether it's the village prophet or the duck prophet, they all know about money.

Concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, when they have something to bite with their teeth, they cry, “Peace!” And whoever does not put something into their mouths, they declare war against him. Therefore you shall have night without vision, and darkness without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them. The seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners shall be disgraced. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God. (Micah 3:5-7)

When the rulers of Israel suffer calamity, God does not answer them. The prophets who mislead God's people, God does not answer them either. Initially, when God used these prophets, He did answer them. They had visions and received revelations from God. But later, they used these things as tools to make money. Isn't that terrible? This is corrupting the word of God for profit, a very wicked thing. Micah repeats this twice.

Hear now, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know justice? You who hate good and love evil, who tear the skin from my people, and their flesh from their bones (Micah 3:9)

Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster shall come upon us.” (Micah 3:11)

What kind of era is this? Later, I discovered that it is the same today, whether pastors or prophets, many times they seek payment and silver. Alas, I am moved to reflect: today, in the church, should we not examine our hearts, brothers and sisters? When we see brothers and sisters encounter misfortune, do we have a heart of compassion, a heart that seeks God's justice, and are we willing to tell them the truth? If God does not listen to the prayers of one of His people, there must be a reason, isn't there?

You might say, I am neither a prophet nor a ruler. But it is not that simple. If you become a ruler and turn bad, you will be the same as them. If you become a prophet, you will also be the same as them. Because what you have inside is similar to what they have.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us examine ourselves anew. May God remember us and have mercy on us, so that we may live in God's will all our lives, and that we may please God all our lives. Is it good to please God? It is so good. Avoiding one disaster is like earning a lot of money, as one disaster can wipe out all your wealth.

In a person's life, being deceived once sets you back to the liberation, being deceived twice sets you back to the creation. Similarly, encountering disaster once sets you back to the liberation, encountering disaster twice sets you back to the creation. Can brothers and sisters awaken to this? What does God require of His people? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. You say: I am already very good. No. There is another saying: In the last days, God's people will ascend the mountain of the Lord and enter the temple of the God of Jacob. You are still halfway up the mountain; you are still a short distance from the temple of God.

They Build Zion with Bloodshed and Jerusalem with Iniquity

They build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. (Micah 3:10)

With what are we building the church? If we build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity, is such a way of building the church life-threatening? I know an old pastor who is very lovable, to the extent that if he can't manage something, he simply says, May God have mercy.

There is a pastor who is quite interesting. He is interesting in that his way of building the church is quite peculiar. He specifically brings those who corrupt the church into the church. You ask: How do you know? Because a couple I know were lured there by him. Later, this pastor developed severe depression.

What do you think about a pastor developing severe depression? Isn't that a disaster? Alas, it's hard work. Later, I met him, and another pastor beside him told me while we were having tea: Alas, the depression is very serious and difficult. I said: I am quite skilled in ministering to those with depression. Greet him and see if I can minister to him. He said: Oh, no, no, no, let's not poke that hornet's nest.

How great is our ability to build God's church? If we build the church according to God's will, the church will be full of power and ability, which is God's great power, greater than a nuclear power plant. If you don't manage the nuclear power plant well, you will have a nuclear leak like Chernobyl. Messing around with a nuclear power plant is not a joke. What if there's a leak or an explosion? Any of these are disasters.

To all who listen to my Bible study, if you are a pastor, or a shepherd, or you are leading a small group that listens to my Bible study, today I give you a reminder: The work we are doing today, building God's glorious church, is extraordinary, and the eternal God we serve is extraordinary. Do not offer strange fire, for that fire will come out and kill you. It is not like a nuclear power plant, which makes no distinction between you and me. When a nuclear power plant explodes, it wipes everything out in one go. Witnessing to God's glorious church is not a joke; God's fire will come out specifically to burn those who offer strange fire.

We must never build the temple with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity, nor can we always be saying peace, when there is no peace at all. Being a Christian is a high-risk profession, and being a pastor of a church is a high-risk profession. Never offend God.

Some brothers and sisters are difficult to minister to because after believing in the Lord for twenty or thirty years, they are full of murky things that cannot be removed. If you drop a drop of excrement into a bowl of porridge, how do you clean the bowl of porridge? Especially after stirring it, with you in me and me in you, excrement mixed with porridge and porridge mixed with excrement, how do you manage it? It fills the mind, and one drop is enough; it's too difficult.

Recently, we invented something for telling the truth, which is very good. I said: Alas, how you love the world so much. Their eyes would immediately fall and they would say: How you undermine my faith! Alas, I have undermined your faith. Now I have learned to be good, I am smart, I look for high technology. You draw a card. Oh, you still have the Tower of Babel inside. You draw again. Oh, you love the world very much. You draw once more. Oh, if you draw this card today, God will not listen to your prayer. If they draw They build the city with blood and establish Jerusalem with iniquity, wouldn't that be troublesome?

I am moved to say that this card-drawing is too good; it has helped me a lot. Some time ago, there were a bit too many negative things in our cards, like regretting setting up Saul as king or something like that. I told my colleagues: Let's clean up this data. Let's have fewer negative things. Why is the probability of drawing them so high? After cleaning them up, the negative ones drawn are still quite numerous, and quite accurate.

We must never build the temple with blood and build Jerusalem with iniquity. What does that mean? Zion, Jerusalem, and the temple all refer to the church. Let us, brothers and sisters, make up our minds, and let the small shepherds among us make up our minds with me: We can shed tears, we can sweat, we can bleed, but let us build God's glorious church with our hearts and sincerity.

According to God's word and God's revelation, when we see the disaster, we don't have to go back to the liberation or back to the creation. Let us embark on this path of grace and build God's glorious church. Before us is full of joy, full of glorious hope, full of God's grace, and He is constantly bestowing His revelation and grace in our midst. May God's discipline not leave us, and may God's grace not leave us. How wonderful.

They Still Think God Is Among Them, Thinking No Disaster Will Come Upon Them

The prophet Micah looked ahead and saw the disaster that the Israelites would experience a hundred years later. They would drink their own urine and eat their own excrement. Fortunately, they did not eat other people's excrement. Not only is there excrement in their heads, but also in their mouths. May God have mercy and kill their taste cells; it's too pitiful.

The prophet Micah saw this disaster coming. There were many other prophets there too. When you read the Books of Kings and Chronicles, many other prophets liked to say peace. In that era, there were many prophets who said peace, but they were all false prophets. Disaster would certainly come.

We have not lived long enough. If we live long enough, we will see that God is a God of recompense. If you carry the glorious hope of eternity and do what is right in God's eyes, God will recompense us with grace and love. If we do what is evil in God's eyes, God will recompense us with wrath. It is better for a person not to believe in the Lord, but if they believe in the Lord, they must know God's requirements: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

These people say: Is not the Lord among us? Hey, Micah, when did God speak through you? Don't say that. The people standing around are really confused. The people around them see that our economy is so good now, we are in the years of Hezekiah. When Hezekiah was about to die, God gave him fifteen more years of life.

You are still proclaiming this and that, what, are you not satisfied? Do you have any complaints to appeal? First, grab you back and let you appeal and proclaim disaster. At that time, everyone was doing quite well, but they could not see the evil in people's hearts.

Oh, I tell you, it is not easy to be a prophet. Would people not beat him up? On the way home from work, riding a bicycle, a person would come out of the woods behind him and hit him on the back of the head with a stick. Fortunately, God's hand was there to protect him. Then those people would say, Is not God among us? God is among us; disaster will not come upon us. Today I ask you: How many brothers and sisters have pastors who say this? They all say this, peace, joy, and happiness.

Today's Christians travel and play, which are simply key components of their annual plans, and they still wear a religious façade. When disaster comes, God does not listen to their pleas, God does not answer their pleas. If the core interests of Christians are not God, when disaster strikes, God turns His face away and does not listen. Is it their own fault? It is their own fault. I really hope that brothers and sisters can be outstanding Christians.

The Temple They Build Is Also a Heap of Ruins

Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the house as the bare hills of the forest. (Micah 3:12)

What do you think about building the temple on the top of a tree? Not to mention building the temple on the treetop, even if a monkey climbs back and forth on the treetop, the tree will shake violently. Do you want your temple to be built on the treetop? Then it sways back and forth, and you have to ride a roller coaster in such a temple. Such a temple is a heap of ruins.

In the past years, when I read the Bible, I was deeply moved. Not just today, but even when I read it before, I knew how important it is to build God's glorious church. Is God's temple built on the rock or on the treetop? Of course, it is built on the rock.

If it is built on the treetop, you might as well build it on the beam of a flashlight. Click, you turn on the flashlight and shine out a beam of light. You build the temple on top of it, and then you say, I go up to worship God, I enter the temple. You turn off the flashlight and it all falls down. Is this a comedian, is this temple like this? It is not like this.

If we measure the church by the example of Jesus Christ, it will be troublesome. Of course, this is not my job, and I will not hunt down heresies, I will only hunt down the authentic. I only want to understand what God's word says, and I only want to understand what God's temple should be built like. There are a million wrong ways, and I don't have time to play around with them, and I won't argue with others, I only argue one thing, what kind of temple should God's temple be?

May God reveal to us and continue to build His glorious temple, constantly moving forward. Let us know God more and more, and let us build the church on this rock, so that nothing can shake God's temple. Let us worship our God in spirit and truth. Does everyone know what it means to build on the rock? It means to hear God's word and then do it.

Be a Prophet Who Tells the Truth

But truly I am full of power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. (Micah 3:8)

A prophet has a very important office, to declare to the house of Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. Let's not go outside to say this in this era, let's just say it inside the church. Let the people outside the church be homosexual if they want to be homosexual, let them be happy, it has nothing to do with us. It doesn't matter to us whether people want to manage the country this way or manage the country that way. But as for us, we are God's prophets, and we speak to Jacob and Israel. What does that mean? It means we speak to God's people.

Today there is another kind of prophet who is particularly interesting. Today, this prophet does not build the church well, but is always engaged in politics. Which king was not established by God? Which country's rulers were not established by God? They were all established by God. Therefore, we will not touch those things today. We will only touch the sins in the church, the chaos in the church, and the transgressions in the church. The most deadly thing is spiritual adultery.

Everyone should be careful; the appearance of religion is useless. There is no use in shouting a few more Hallelujahs, and there is no use in shouting a few more Peace and Thank you Lord. Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God in a real way. When you see brothers and sisters living in pain, are you willing to pay the price to pray? When we see brothers and sisters living in disaster, are we willing to pull them out of sin through God's power? Be a prophet who tells the truth, may God bless everyone.