From the creation up until today He only does that work during the last days. Only during the last days was God incarnated to do such large-scale work. Though He endures hardships that people would find difficult to endure, though He as a great God has the humility to become an ordinary man, no aspect of His work has been delayed, and His plan is not thrown into confusion in the least. He is doing the work according to His original plan. One of the purposes of this incarnation is to conquer people. Another is to perfect the people He loves. He desires to see with His own eyes the people He perfects, and He wants to see for Himself how the people He perfects bear witness for Him. It is not one person who is perfected, and it is not two. It is however, a group of very few people. This group of people come from various countries of the world, and from various of the world’s nationalities. The purpose of doing this much work is to gain this group of people, to gain the witness this group of people bear for Him, and to obtain the glory He gets through this group of people. He does not do work that has no significance, nor does He do work that has no value. It can be said that, in doing so much work, God’s aim is to perfect all those whom He wishes to perfect. In what spare time He has outside of this, He will eliminate those who are evil. Know that He does not do this great work because of those who are evil; on the contrary, He gives His all because of that tiny number of people who are to be perfected by Him. The work He does, the words He speaks, the mysteries He reveals, and His judgment and chastisement are all for the sake of that tiny number of people. He did not become flesh because of those who are evil, much less do they incite great wrath in Him. He speaks truth, and talks of entry, because of those who are to be perfected, He became flesh because of them, and it is because of them that He bestows His promises and blessings. The truth, entry, and life in humanity of which He speaks are not for the sake of those who are evil. He wants to avoid speaking to those who are evil, and wishes to bestow all truths upon those who are to be perfected. Yet His work requires that, for the moment, those who are evil be allowed to enjoy some of His riches. Those who do not carry out truth, who do not satisfy God, and who interrupt His work are all evil. They cannot be perfected, and are loathed and rejected by God. Conversely, the people who put truth into practice and can satisfy God and who expend their entire selves in God’s work are the people who are to be perfected by God. The ones whom God wishes to complete are none other than this group of people, and the work that God does is for the sake of these people. The truth of which He speaks is directed toward the people who are willing to put it into practice. He does not speak to the people who do not put truth into practice. The increase of insight and growth of discernment that He speaks of are aimed at the people who can carry out truth. When He speaks of those who are to be perfected He is talking of these people. The work of the Holy Spirit is directed toward the people who can practice truth. Things like owning wisdom and having humanity are directed toward the people who are willing to put truth into practice. Those who do not carry out truth may hear many truths and may comprehend many truths, but because they are among the evil persons, the truth that they understand only becomes doctrines and words, and has no significance for their change of disposition or for their lives. None of them is loyal to God; they are all people who see God but cannot obtain Him, and are all condemned by God.
The Holy Spirit has a path to walk in each person, and gives each person chances to be perfected. Through your negativity you are made to know your own corruption, and then through throwing off negativity you will find a path to practice, and this is the perfection of you. Further, through the continuous guidance and illumination of some positive things inside of you, you will proactively fulfill your function and grow in insight and gain discernment. When your conditions are good, you are especially willing to read the word of God, and especially willing to pray to God, and can relate the sermons you hear to your own states. At such times God enlightens and illuminates you within, making you realize some things of the positive aspect. This is perfection of you in the positive aspect. In negative states, you are weak and negative, and feel that you don’t have God, yet God illuminates you, helping you find a path to practice. Coming out of this is attainment of perfection in the negative aspect. God can perfect man in both positive and negative aspects. It depends on whether you are able to experience, and on whether you pursue being perfected by God. If you truly seek being perfected by God, then the negative cannot make you suffer loss, but can bring you things that are more real, and can make you more able to know that which is lacking within you, more able to come to grips with your real states, and see that man has nothing, and is nothing; if you do not experience trials, you do not know, and will always feel that you are above others and better than everyone else. Through all this you will see that all that came before was done by God and protected by God. Entry into trials leaves you without love or faith, you lack prayer, and are unable to sing hymns—and, without realizing it, in the midst of this you come to know yourself. God has many means of perfecting man. He employs all manner of environments to deal with the corrupt disposition of man, and uses various things to lay man bare; in one regard He deals with man, in another He lays man bare, and in another He reveals man, digging out and revealing the “mysteries” in the depths of man’s heart, and showing man his nature by revealing many of his states. God perfects man through many methods—through revelation, dealing, refinement, and chastisement—so that man may know that God is practical.
What is it that you seek now? Maybe it is to be perfected by God, to know God, to obtain God, or it is the style of a nineties Peter, or to have the faith greater than that of Job. You may seek a lot, whether seeking to be called righteous by God and arrive in front of the throne of God, or to be able to manifest God on earth and bear strong and resounding witness for God. Regardless of what you seek, overall, it is for the sake of God’s management plan. No matter if you seek to be a righteous person, or you seek the style of Peter, or the faith of Job, or to be perfected by God, whatever you seek, in summation, it is all the work of God. In other words, regardless of what you seek, it is all for the sake of being perfected by God, it is all for the sake of experiencing God’s word, to satisfy God’s heart; it is all for the sake of discovering the loveliness of God, it is all for searching out a path to practice in real experience with the aim of being able to throw off your own rebellious disposition, achieving a normal state within yourself, being able to completely conform to God’s will, to become a correct person, and to have a correct motive in everything you do. The reason for you experiencing all of these things is to arrive at knowing God and achieving growth of life. Though what you experience is God’s word, and what you experience are actual events, the people, matters, and things in your surroundings, ultimately you are able to know God and to be perfected by God. To seek to walk the path of a righteous person or seek to put God’s word into practice, these are the runway. Knowing God and being perfected by God are the destination. Whether you seek now perfection by God, or to bear witness for God, on the whole, it is ultimately in order to know God; it is in order that the work He does in you is not in vain, so that finally you come to know the reality of God, to know His greatness, more so to know God’s humbleness and hiddenness, and to know the much work that God does in you. God has humbled Himself to a certain level, to do His work in these filthy and corrupt people, and to perfect this group of people. God not only became flesh to live and eat among people, to shepherd people, to provide what people need. More important is that He does His huge work of salvation and conquest upon these unbearably corrupt people. He came to the heart of the great red dragon to work these most corrupt of people, so that all people may be changed and made new. The immense hardship that God endures is not only the hardship that the God incarnate endures, but mainly it is that God’s Spirit suffers extreme humiliation—He humbles and hides Himself so much that He becomes an ordinary person. God was incarnated and took the form of flesh so that people see that He has a normal human life, and that He has the normal human needs. This is enough to prove that God has humbled Himself to a certain level. The Spirit of God is realized in the flesh. His Spirit is so high and great, yet He takes the form of a common human, of a negligible human to do the work of His Spirit. The caliber, insight, sense, humanity, and lives of each of you show that you are really unworthy to accept God’s work of this kind. You are really unworthy to let God endure such hardship for your sake. God is so great. He is so supreme, and people are so mean and lowly, yet He still works upon them. He not only was incarnated to provide for people, to speak to people, He even lives together with people. God is so humble, so lovable. If as soon as God’s love is mentioned, as soon as God’s grace is mentioned, you shed tears as you utter great praise, if you arrive at this state, then you have true knowledge of God.
There is a deviation in people’s seeking nowadays; they only seek to love God and to satisfy God, but they do not have any knowledge of God, and have neglected the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and illumination within them. They do not have true knowledge of God as the foundation. In this way they lose energy as their experience progresses. All of those who seek to have true knowledge of God, the sort of person who in the past was not in good states, who tended toward negativity and weakness, who often shed tears, fell into discouragement, and became disappointed; such people are now in increasingly better states as they have more experience. After an experience of being dealt with and broken, or going through an episode of being refined, they have made great progress. Such states are not seen to befall them again, their dispositions have changed, and God’s love is being lived out in them. There is a rule to God’s perfection of people, which is that He enlightens you by using a desirable part of you so that you have a path to practice and can separate yourself from all negative states, helping your spirit attain release, and making you more able to love Him. In this way you are able to throw off the corrupt disposition of Satan. You are artless and open, willing to know yourself, and willing to put truth into practice. God sees that you are willing to know yourself and are willing to put truth into practice, so when you are weak and negative, He enlightens you doubly, helping you know yourself more, be more willing to repent for yourself, and be more able to practice the things that you should practice. Only in this way is your heart peaceful and at ease. A person who ordinarily pays attention to knowing God, who pays attention to knowing himself, who pays attention to his own practice will be able to frequently receive God’s work, to frequently receive guidance and enlightenment from God. Even though in a negative state, he is able to turn around immediately, whether due to the action of conscience or due to enlightenment from God’s word. The change of a person’s disposition is achieved always when he knows his own actual state and knows the disposition and work of God. A person who is willing to know himself and is willing to open himself up will be able to carry out truth. This kind of person is a person who is loyal to God, and a person who is loyal to God has understanding of God, whether it is deep or shallow, meager or plentiful. This is God’s righteousness, and it is something that people attain, it is their own gain. A person who has knowledge of God is one who has a basis, who has vision. This kind of person is certain about God’s flesh, is certain about God’s word, and is certain about God’s work. Regardless of how God works or speaks, or how other people cause disturbance, he can stand his ground, and stand witness for God. The more a person is this way the more he can carry out the truth that he understands. Because he is always practicing God’s word, he obtains more understanding of God, and possesses the resolution to forever stand witness for God.
To have discernment, to have submission, and to have the ability to see into things so that you are keen in spirit means you have God’s words illuminating and enlightening you inside as soon as you encounter something. This is being keen in spirit. Everything that God does is for the sake of helping revive people’s spirits. Why does God always say people are numb and dull-witted? It is because people’s spirits have died, and they have become numb to such an extent that they are completely unconscious of things of the spirit. God’s work is to make people’s lives progress and it is to help people’s spirits come alive, so that they can see into things of the spirit, and are always able to love God, to satisfy God. Arrival at this place shows that a person’s spirit has been revived, and the next time he encounters something, he can react right away. He is responsive to sermons, and reacts quickly to situations. This is what achieving keenness of spirit is. There are many people who have a quick reaction to an external event, but as soon as entry into reality or the detailed things in spirit are mentioned, they become numb and dull-witted. They understand something only if it is staring them in the face. All these are signs of being spiritually numb and dull-witted, of having little experience of things of the spirit. Some people are keen of spirit and have discernment. As soon as they hear of something directed toward their states they lose no time in writing it down. They apply it to their subsequent experience, and to changing themselves. This is a person who is keen in spirit. And why is he able to react so quickly? Because he focuses on these aspects in daily life, and as soon as one of these aspects is mentioned, it happens to match his internal condition, and he is able to receive it immediately. It is similar to giving food to a hungry person; they are able to eat right away. If you give food to someone who is not hungry, they are not so quick to react. You often pray to God, and then you are able to react immediately when you encounter something: what God requires in this matter, and how you should act. God guided you on this matter last time; when you encounter this same sort of thing today you know how to enter this situation, to satisfy the heart of God. If you always practice in this way and always experience in this way, at some point you will become masterful at it. When reading God’s word you know to what sort of person God is referring, you know what sort of conditions of the spirit He is talking about, and you are able to grasp the key point and put it into practice; this shows you are able to experience. Why are some people lacking in this respect? It is because they don’t put much effort into the aspect of practice. Though they are willing to put truth into practice, they do not have true insight into the details of service, into the details of truth in their life. They get confused when something happens. In this way, you may be led astray when a false prophet or a false apostle comes along. It is not acceptable to ignore discernment. You must always pay attention to things of the spirit: how God works, what God speaks, what His demands on people are, with what sort of people you should come in contact, and what sort of people you should shun. You must put emphasis on these things when eating and drinking God’s word and during experience. If you always experience things in this way, you will thoroughly understand many things, and will have discernment also. What is discipline by the Holy Spirit, what is blame born of human intent, what is guidance from the Holy Spirit, what is arrangement of an environment, what is God’s words enlightening within, if you are not clear about these things, you will have no discernment. You should know what comes from the Holy Spirit, what is rebellious disposition, how to obey God’s word, and how to throw off one’s own rebelliousness; you should understand the details of all of these truths, so that when something happens, you have an appropriate truth with which to compare it, have suitable visions as the foundation, have principles in every matter and are able to act according to the truth. Then your life will be full of God’s enlightenment, full of God’s blessings. God will not mistreat any person who sincerely seeks Him. He will not mistreat any person who lives Him out and bears witness for Him, and He will not curse any person who is able to sincerely thirst for truth. If, while you are eating and drinking the words of God, you can pay attention to your own true condition, pay attention to your own practice, and pay attention to your own understanding, then, when you meet a problem, you will receive enlightenment and will gain practical understanding. Then you will have a path of practice and will have discernment for everything. A person who has truth is unlikely to be deceived, and is unlikely to behave disruptively or act excessively. Because of truth he is protected, and also because of truth he obtains more understanding. Because of truth he has more paths to practice, gets more opportunities for the Holy Spirit to work in him, and more opportunities to be perfected.
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