Though some young people believe in God, it is very hard for them to rid themselves of the bad habit of liking to play computer games. What kinds of things do computer games tend to involve? They contain a great deal of violence. Gaming—that is the realm of the devil. For most, after playing these games for a long time, they cannot do any real work anymore; they no longer want to go to school, or work, or think of their futures, much less do they give thought to their lives. What things are the hearts of young people in society now filled with? Apart from eating, drinking, and having fun, their hearts are filled with playing games. Everything they say and think is absurd and inhuman. One cannot even use the words “dirty” or “evil” anymore to describe the things they think about; they are not things that those with normal humanity ought to have, they are all absurd, inhuman things. If you speak about matters or topics to do with normal humanity, they cannot bear to hear about it; they are neither interested nor willing to listen, and they will even feel antipathy toward you. They do not share a common language or common topics with normal people. All their topics concern eating, drinking, and having fun. Their hearts are filled with worldly trends. What future prospects do they have? Do they have futures? (No, these people will go to waste.) “Waste” is a very appropriate word. What does this mean? Can they engage in the activities in which normal humanity should engage? (No.) These people put no effort into their studies, and if one were to have them work hard at their jobs, would they be willing to? (No.) What would they think? They would think, “What’s the point in working? This work is so tiring. What can I gain by it? Nothing except being tired and in pain. Playing games is so much more fun, relaxing, and enjoyable! When I’m in front of a computer, and live in a virtual world, I have everything.” If you made them work from nine to five, getting to work on time and working fixed hours, how would they feel about that? Would they be willing to stick to that schedule and be bound in this way? (No.) When people are constantly playing games and wasting time on the computer, after a while their will disappears and they become decadent. Nonbelievers enjoy following trends and they like fashions, especially young people, and the majority of them do not attend to their proper jobs or walk the right path; their parents are unable to manage them, their teachers can do nothing with them, and there is nothing any country’s education system can do about this trend. Devils and Satan do things in order to tempt people and bring them to depravity. Those who live in the virtual world have no interest whatsoever in anything to do with the life of normal humanity; they are just not in the mood to work or study. Their only concern is playing games, as though they are being enticed by something. Scientists have claimed that as soon as people who play games get into character in a game, their brains start to secrete something that makes them excited and even somewhat delusional, and they then become addicted to playing games and are always thinking about playing them. Whenever they get bored or are in the midst of doing some proper work, they want to play games instead, and gradually, gaming becomes their whole life. Playing games is like taking a kind of drug: Once someone becomes addicted to it, it becomes hard to quit and hard to get away from—it ruins them. Whether young or old, once people pick up this bad habit, they have a hard time giving it up. Some children stay up and play games all night long, night after night, and their parents are neither able to control nor watch them, so the kids end up gaming themselves to death in front of the computer. How did they die? Scientific evidence says that their brain was damaged—they played themselves to death. Would you say that gaming is something that normal people should do? If it were needed for people’s normal humanity—if it were the right path—then why are people unable to quit doing it? How can they be captivated by it to such a degree? One thing this proves is that gaming is not a good path. Spending all day lost in the internet, surfing online for this and that, looking at unhealthy things, and playing games—playing at such things all day can only make people degrade themselves with meaningless things, and hurt and harm people. None of these are right paths. These days teenagers, young people, and even the middle-aged and elderly are all playing videogames. There are more and more people playing them. Though most people are aware that this is not a good thing, they cannot help themselves. This gaming is doing harm to the younger generations, and it has harmed a great many people. And how do games come about? Do they not come from Satan? There are some absurd types who say, “Videogames are a symbol of modern scientific advancement—they’re scientific achievements.” And what of this explanation? It is disgusting! Gaming is not a good path, and it is not the right one! This gaming is not simply a matter of following social trends, even nonbelievers say that gaming kills your sense of purpose. If you cannot quit something as simple as this, if you cannot control yourself in this regard, then you are in danger. Nowadays, it is common for people to play videogames and do drugs, regardless of whether they are young or old, and the whole world is like this. No matter how long you have believed in God, if you cannot even keep something like playing videogames under control, then one day, when you feel that believing in God is pointless, boring, and dull, will you not begin to do drugs and experiment with all kinds of stimulants like nonbelievers do? This is incredibly dangerous! You may believe in God, but you have no foundation and you have not gained the truth, so you are still completely in danger of betraying Him. You may very well fall down in the face of anything that befalls you. There are so many temptations in this evil world, and Satan uses all manner of ways to seduce those who believe in God but do not pursue the truth. If you do not regularly eat and drink God’s words and your heart and mind are often blank, then you are very much in danger. Is your heart blank most of the time? Young people are blank much of the time! It is very dangerous to leave this problem unsolved. Since you believe in God, you should read more of His words, and when you are able to accept some of the truth, it will be a turning point, and you will be able to escape this dangerous time and stand firm in the church.

More and more young people are joining God’s house and quite a few of them are in their twenties. They are in the prime of life, they have not yet determined their life goals, they have no aspirations, and they do not yet understand what life is. And what is manifested in these people? I have two expressions for you: youthful hubris and undiscerning. And why do I say that? Let us first discuss what is meant by “youthful hubris.” Can you explain what “youthful hubris” is? What sort of disposition is it? What sort of manifestations does it have? (It is when people think that whatever they like is the best, that whatever they imagine is correct, and aren’t willing to listen to anyone.) In a word, this kind of disposition is “arrogant.” This is the typical disposition of people in this age group. No matter what their living environment or background is like, or what generation they are from, everyone in this age group possesses the hubris of youth. And why do I say this? It is not that I am biased against them or think little of them, rather it is that people in this age group harbor a kind of disposition, it is an extremely arrogant, frivolous, and prideful disposition. Since they do not have a lot of worldly experience and they understand so little of life, the moment they encounter some things in the world or in life, they think, “I understand, I’ve figured it out, I know everything now! I can understand what older people are saying and keep up with what’s popular in society. Look how fast cell phones are developing now and how complex all of their features are. I know it all, not like you older folks who don’t understand anything.” When an older person comes to them for help with something, they will even say, “When people become old, they’re useless. They can’t even use a computer, what’s the point of them even living?” What is this? This is a manifestation of the hubris of youth. Young people have better memories and accept new ideas faster, and whenever they learn something new, they look down on older people. This is a corrupt disposition. And is this kind of disposition the disposition of normal humanity? Would it be considered a manifestation of normal humanity? (It wouldn’t.) That is why it is called youthful hubris. Why then is it called “hubris” and not “arrogance”? Because it is a disposition unique to young people—they learn one small thing and they become smug, they do not know their place in the universe, and they treat the thing that they have learned as capital. People are all like this when they are young, until they grow a little older, understand a bit more, and experience more of life’s ups and downs. Then they become more mature and stabler, and prefer to comport themselves in a humbler way—they do not make a big deal of it when they learn to do something, and they do not become upset when they cannot do something. Young people are incredibly conceited: Whenever they learn to do something they have to show it off, and they feel smug. Sometimes, when they get excited, they begin to feel that they have surpassed everybody else, that the world is not big enough for them, and they wish that they could live on another planet instead. This is hubris. Youthful hubris is primarily marked by an ignorance of one’s place in the universe and of what people need and what path they should follow in life, what conditions are dangerous to live in, and what they should be doing. It is as people often say: “They’re undiscerning, and they don’t know about life.” People in this age group have this disposition of hubris, so they reveal these things. There are young people who think that everyone is beneath them, and when you say something that they do not like, they will simply ignore you. It is hard for parents to figure out what young people are thinking—one wrong word and they throw a tantrum and go off in a huff. It is difficult to communicate with them. Why is it that parents these days find it hard to manage and educate their children? It is not because the parents are poorly educated and do not understand the minds of young people, it is that the thinking of young people has become abnormal. Young people all love worldly trends, and they are held captive by them; they are all Satan’s sacrificial victims, they are becoming depraved too fast, and it is hard for them to wake up to this. That is why it is not easy being a parent—some parents even go out of their way to learn child psychology in order to educate their children. Many children nowadays are suffering from strange diseases like autism and depression, making them hard to manage. People do not have a path or a clear explanation for these problems, and intellectuals in schools and society have invented phrases like “rebellious mentality” or “rebellious phase.” Why did these terms not exist in earlier generations? Science today has advanced far, and all kinds of odd phrases have come about; this mankind is becoming more and more depraved, and the things of normal humanity are dwindling—is this not brought about by the evil trends of society? (It is.) And so, the reason why you young people are able to sit here now, with a sincere desire to hear Me speak, listening to Me fellowship like this, is not because any of you are great, and willing to choose the path of pursuing the truth—it is because of the grace of God, it is because God has not given you over to the world or to Satan. You see those young people in society who do not believe in God no matter who tries to persuade them to. It would be no use even if I spoke to them. Is that just a matter of youthful hubris? What kind of people are they? If they do not possess conscience or reason, then they are nothing but beasts and devils! If you speak to them with human words, will they be able to understand? It is no longer an issue of them being difficult to communicate with, it is that they absolutely refuse to listen. It is by God’s grace and protection that you are able to accept His work now, to understand His words, and to have an interest in the path of the truth! And so, you must cherish this chance to do your duty, and strive to firmly plant a foundation in your belief in God during this time. Then you will be secure, and you will not be easily swept away by these evil trends. As soon as people are caught by these evil trends, they are easily swept away by them, and when you are swept away by them again, will God want you? No, He will not! He has already given you a chance, and God absolutely will not want you anymore. When God does not want you, you will be in danger, and you will be capable of anything.

Now that we’ve discussed the “hubris of youth,” let us talk about “undiscerning.” “Undiscerning” is a somewhat formal term. Go ahead and explain what it means literally. (It’s when a person can’t tell good from bad, and they think that what they consider to be good will always be good, and that what they consider to be bad will always be bad, and no matter how things are explained to them, they won’t listen.) (It’s when someone doesn’t know right from wrong, and lacks discernment.) That’s more or less its literal meaning—not being able to tell right from wrong, and not knowing which things are positive and which are negative. Because of their youthful hubris, nothing that people say gets through to them, they think: “Whatever anyone else says is wrong, and what I say is right. No one should try to tell me how things are, I won’t listen to them. I’m going to be really stubborn, and I’ll keep being stubborn and insist on my ideas, even when I’m wrong.” This is the kind of disposition they have—they are undiscerning. On the surface, they can spout doctrine after doctrine, and they can talk about them more clearly and comprehensibly than anyone else, so why is it that they always become muddled and confused when it comes time to act? They know full well what is right, but they just won’t listen—they do as they like, and act however they please. This is capriciousness, and it is absurd. People who follow the trends of the world are pretty absurd. They are into parkour and bungee jumping, and they like finding excitement in all kinds of extreme sports. Is this not absurd? Are you all into parkour as well? (I was.) And why did you like it? Did you not know that parkour is dangerous? Did you not know that you’re risking your life when you do parkour? People are not spiders or geckos. If they climb a wall, they’re sure to fall. Humans do not have that ability, and it is not something possessed by those with normal humanity. How could you like it? It is because these things can give people a kind of visual and emotional stimulation, that is why people want to do parkour. What is it that governs this thinking? Does it come from “Spider-Man”? Is there not a mentality and a desire deep within man that wants to save the world, to be a superhero? There are flying heroes in lots of films and TV shows who fly about and flit from rooftop to rooftop, and people really admire them. That is how these things are planted in young people’s minds. And how are they able to be poisoned like this? This has to do with people’s preferences and pursuits. Every person wants to be a hero, to be a superman, to have special powers, so they worship Satan. Tell Me, do normal people like these absurd things? Do normal people possess these special powers? Certainly not. Were all these things not made up and imagined by people? If these strange things actually existed, would those who had them not be possessed by evil spirits? Was there parkour in the time of Adam and Eve? Is there anything about parkour written in the Bible? (No.) Parkour is the product of the wicked, modern society; it is one of the ways that Satan misleads and corrupts people. Satan takes advantage of young people’s proclivity for the bizarre and the exciting, and concocts, dreams up, and plays out some stories. This is how it misleads these undiscerning teenagers, leading them to pursue the weird and thrilling special powers of Satan. Is it not poisoning people? These things become poison the moment they enter people’s minds. And if you cannot recognize this poison, you cannot completely renounce it, and you will never be rid of its influence, disturbance, and control. Can this poison be removed easily? (Not easily.) How can this problem be solved? Some people are loath to let go of these things. They think these things are nice and not poisons, and they can’t let go of them when they think like this. Therefore, to keep yourself from falling for Satan’s temptations, you must do your utmost to keep away from that which can corrode your heart and poison you while your stature is still small, because you lack discernment, and you are still silly and full of hubris. You have not equipped yourself with enough positive things, and you do not possess any of the truth reality. To speak in the words of faith, you have no life and no stature. What you have is only a bit of readiness, a willingness to believe in God. You think that believing in God is good, that it is the right path to walk and the way to be a good person, yet you ponder: “I’m not a bad person among nonbelievers, I like parkour but I haven’t done anything wrong, I’m still a good person.” Does this accord with the truth? Do you think that you do not have a corrupt disposition just because you have not done anything wrong? You live within evil trends, that is enough to show that your heart is filled with evil things.

Tell Me, is a person influenced much by their environment? You are doing your duty in the church now, that is the environment that you are in; you are with your brothers and sisters every day and surrounded by people who believe in God, and you are steadfast in your belief in God too. If you were placed among nonbelievers, if you were made to stay among them, would you still have God in your heart? If you were in contact with them or lived among them, would you not follow trends just like they do? Some say, “It’s fine, I have God looking after me and protecting me, so I would never walk down that path.” Do you dare to make that pledge? So long as you love and pursue these things, you are capable of willfully following trends. Even though you will know that it is wrong in your heart, you will just casually say to yourself, “Forgive me, God, this was wrong of me.” Over time, you will stop feeling guilty or anything else at all, and you will ponder: “Where is God, anyway? Why have I not seen Him?” You will constantly doubt God, and the faith that you once had will disappear, bit by bit. By the time your heart thoroughly denies God, you will no longer want to follow Him or do anything to do with your duty, and you will even regret that you chose to perform a duty in the first place. Why are people able to change so easily? In truth, it isn’t that you changed—it is that you never had the truth reality in the first place. Though, on the surface, you believe in God and do your duty, the worldly and satanic thoughts, views, ways of interacting with people, and corrupt disposition within you have never been cleared out, and you are still filled with satanic things. You still live by those things, that is why you are still small in stature. You are still in a dangerous stage; you are not yet secure or safe. So long as you have a satanic disposition, you will continue to resist and betray God. To resolve this problem, you must first understand which things are evil and of Satan, how they are harmful, why Satan does these things, what kinds of poison people suffer when they accept them, and what those people will become, as well as what kind of person God asks people to be, what things are of normal humanity, what things are positive, and what things are negative. You will only have a path if you have discernment and are able to see these things clearly. Moreover, on the positive side, you must also perform your duty proactively while offering up your sincerity and loyalty. Do not be slippery or slack off, do not approach your duty or that which God has entrusted to you from the perspective of nonbelievers or with the philosophies of Satan. You must eat and drink more of God’s words, seek to understand all aspects of the truth, and clearly understand the significance of performing a duty, and then practice and enter into all aspects of the truth while doing your duty, and gradually come to know God, His work, and His disposition. In this way, without you knowing it, your inner state will change, there will be more positive and active things within you, and fewer negative and passive things, and your ability to discern things will become stronger than before. When you grow to this extent in stature, you will have discernment of all kinds of people, events, and things in this world, and you will be able to see through to the essence of problems. Were you to see a film made by nonbelievers, you would be able to perceive what poisons people might suffer from after watching it, as well as what Satan intends to instill and plant in people through these means and trends, and what it intends to erode in people. You will gradually be able to see through to these things. You will not be poisoned after watching the film, and you will have discernment of it—that is when you will truly have stature.

After watching a few superhero and fantasy movies, some young people are infected with a desire—they wish that they could have extraordinary abilities like the main characters. Are they not poisoned like this? Could you be harmed by that poison if you did not watch those films? You could not. What do I mean by this? It is that you live in an evil society, so when you are small in stature and lack discernment, you can be dominated by things that belong to evil trends because you encountered them first, and you will treat them as positive things, and as normal and proper things. This is one way that Satan poisons people. Tell Me, is Satan not evil? Satan has so many ways to corrupt people! It may be said that anybody who has seen these kinds of movies has this sort of desire. There was one kid who saw a fantasy film and would run around his yard riding a broomstick whenever he had some spare time. At first, he could not fly however he tried, and then one day he really began to fly. He did not fly on his own, it was an outside force that was making him fly. After he started flying, he could not help but let out the same strange scream as the character did in the movie; a kind of spirit had entered into him. Is riding a broomstick part of normal human life? You can ride a horse or a donkey, why do you have to ride a broomstick and fly? Is this something that is possible? You can tell right away that it is not something that normal people do. Broomsticks cannot fly, they can only fly with the help of evil spirits, so it is the work of Satan and evil spirits. Satan and evil spirits do astonishing, strange, and ridiculous things that normal people do not do. Do you have a little discernment of the things that Satan does? What sort of attitude should you have toward those things? Should you not renounce them? You should reflect on yourself when you have time, checking to see what bizarre things remain in your mind. Why do you have many strange things in your mind? Because people of your generation have been poisoned so much—you all want to flit from rooftop to rooftop, to be Spider-Man or Batman, and to become a superior being. This is not what people with normal humanity should have or possess. If you insist on seeking things that are not needed by those with normal humanity, and if you work persistently to try and experience them, you may attract the work of evil spirits. People are in trouble when they become possessed by evil spirits, they are taken captive by Satan, and then they are in danger. How can this problem be solved? People should regularly call upon God. They must not fall into temptation or be misled by Satan. In this evil age where demons and unclean spirits swarm and run rampant, if you can pray for God’s grace and protection to always be with you, and ask Him to look after you and protect you, so that your heart does not stray from Him, and you are able to worship God with honesty and with your heart, is this not the right path? (It is.) And are you willing to walk this path? Are you willing to live always under God’s care and protection, and under His discipline, or do you want to live within your own free world? If God disciplines you, it may at times make you suffer a little physically. Are you willing to undergo that? (Yes.) You say that you are willing now, but you may start grumbling when you are faced with the reality of it. It is not enough to be willing to suffer, you must also have the will to strive toward the truth. You can only stand firm when you understand the truth. It is concerning that young people are so unsteady, that they do not attend to their proper duties or have the proper things in mind, and that they are not willing to read God’s words or to strive toward the truth—this is dangerous. It is hard to say whether their outcome will be life or death. There are some young people today that have listened to sermons for several years; they have begun to take an interest in the truth, and they are willing to take notes when they listen to sermons. They feel a kind of hunger and thirst for righteousness, and they are able to understand the truth. This means that they already have a foundation, and so long as the truth takes root in their hearts, they will be much more secure. If they keep striving toward the truth, this will guarantee that they are able to understand the truth, enter into the truth reality, and achieve salvation.

Do you know what the greatest wisdom is? Based on your current stature, do you know what you should focus on in your faith, and what the greatest wisdom is in terms of how you should pursue and practice? Some people do not appear to be very skilled on the outside, and they are silent and reserved all the time. They do not speak much, but they have in their hearts a great wisdom that others do not. Most people cannot see it, and even when they can, they will not think of it as wisdom. They will think that it is unnecessary and that it has no value. Can you think of what this greatest wisdom of theirs is? (Having a heart that is always quiet before God, always praying to God, and always drawing near to Him.) You have touched a little on the right answer. What is the purpose of drawing close to God? (To seek God’s intentions.) What is the point of seeking God’s intentions? Is it to rely on Him? (Yes.) The point is to rely on God. If you rely on God in everything, God will enlighten you, lead you, and guide you. You will not have to feel your way in the dark like a blind man, and you can simply act according to God’s words. Is that not far easier? You will not need to bumble about anymore, you can just do as God indicates. This is easy and quick, and it does not require you to exhaust yourself by taking roundabout paths. God has spoken His words very clearly, so you don’t need to worry about deciding how you ought to act. Is this not wisdom? Do you understand now? Let Me tell you: The greatest wisdom is to look to God and rely on God in all things. This is not recognized by ordinary people. People all think that attending more gatherings, listening to more sermons, fellowshipping more with their brothers and sisters, forsaking more, suffering more, and paying more of a price will earn them God’s approval and salvation. They think practicing this way is the greatest wisdom, but they neglect the biggest matter: looking to God and relying on God. They regard petty human cleverness as wisdom, and ignore the ultimate effect that their actions are supposed to achieve. This is a mistake. Regardless of how much truth one understands, how many duties one has performed, how much one has experienced while performing those duties, how great or small one’s stature is, or what sort of environment one is in, what one cannot do without is that one must look to God and rely on Him in everything one does. This is the greatest sort of wisdom. Why do I say this is the greatest wisdom? Even if one has come to understand some truths, will it do if one does not rely on God? Some people have believed in God for many years, and they have experienced several trials, have some practical experience, understand some truth, and have some practical knowledge of the truth, but they do not know to rely on God, nor do they understand how to look to and rely on Him. Do such people possess wisdom? They are the most foolish of people, and are the sort who think themselves clever; they do not fear God and shun evil. Some people say, “I understand many truths and possess the truth realities. It’s okay just to do things in a principled manner. I am loyal to God, and I know how to get close to Him. Isn’t it enough that I practice the truth when things befall me? There isn’t any need to pray to God or look to God.” Practicing the truth is correct, but there are many times and situations wherein people do not know what truth and what truth principles are being touched upon. All those with practical experience know this. For example, when you encounter some issue, you might not know what truth this issue touches on, or how the truth relevant to this issue should be practiced or applied. What should you do at times like these? No matter how much practical experience you have, you cannot understand the truth principles in all situations. No matter how long you have believed in God, how many things you have experienced, and how much pruning or disciplining you have experienced, even if you understand the truth, do you dare to say that you are the truth? Do you dare to say that you are the source of the truth? Some people say, “I know by heart all those well-known utterances and passages in the book, The Word Appears in the Flesh; I don’t need to rely on God or look to Him. When the time comes, I’ll do just fine by relying on these words of God.” The words you have memorized are static, yet the environments you encounter—as well as your states—are dynamic. You are able to spout words and doctrines, but can do nothing with them when something happens to you, which proves that you do not understand the truth. No matter how good you are at reciting words and doctrines, this does not mean that you understand the truth, much less that you are able to practice the truth. Thus, there is a very important lesson to be learned here. And what is this lesson? It is that people need to look to God in all things, and that by doing so, they can achieve a reliance on God. Only by relying on God will they have a path to follow and the work of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you can do something correctly and without violating the truth, but if you do not rely on God, then your actions are but good deeds of man, and cannot satisfy God. Because people have such a shallow comprehension of the truth, they are likely to follow regulations and cling obstinately to words and doctrines by using that same truth when facing various situations. It is possible that they may complete many matters in general conformity with the truth principles, but God’s guidance cannot be seen in this, nor can the work of the Holy Spirit. There is a serious problem here, which is that people do many things in dependence on their experience and the regulations they have understood, and on certain human imaginings. It is hard to achieve true prayer to God and to truly look to God and rely on Him in all that they do. Even if one understands the intentions of God, it is hard to achieve the effect of acting as guided by God, and according to the truth principles. For this reason, I say that the greatest wisdom is to look to God and rely on Him in all things.

How can people practice looking to God and relying on God in all things? Some people say, “I am young, my stature is small, and I have believed in God for a short time. I don’t know how to practice looking to God and relying on God when something happens.” Is this a problem? There are many difficulties in believing in God, and you need to go through many tribulations, trials, and pains. All these things require looking to God and relying on God to get through the difficult times. If you cannot practice looking to God and relying on God, you won’t be able to get through difficulties, and you won’t be able to follow God. Looking to God and relying on God is not an empty doctrine, nor is it a mantra for believing in God. Rather, it is a key truth, a truth you must possess to believe in and follow God. Some people say, “Looking to God and relying on God only applies when a major event happens. For example, you only need to look to God and rely on God when faced with tribulations, trials, arrest, and persecution, or when you encounter difficulties in your duties, or when you are pruned. There is no need to look to God and rely on God for the trivial matters of personal life, because God doesn’t care about them.” Is this statement right? It is definitely not right. There is a deviation here. It is necessary to look to God in major matters, but can you handle the trivial things and small matters in life without principles? In matters such as dressing and eating, can you act without principles? Certainly not. What about in your dealings with people and matters? Certainly not. Even in daily life and trivial matters, you must at least have principles to be able to live out a human likeness. Problems involving principles are problems involving the truth. Can people solve them by themselves? Of course not. So, you have to look to God and rely on God. Only when you gain God’s enlightenment and understand the truth can these trivial problems be solved. If you don’t look to God and rely on God, do you think these issues involving principles can be resolved? Certainly not easily. It can be said that in all things that people can’t see clearly and that require people to seek the truth, they must look to God and rely on God. No matter how big or small, any problem that needs to be solved with the truth requires looking to God and relying on God. This is a necessity. Even if people understand the truth and can solve problems on their own, these understandings and solutions are limited and superficial. If people don’t look to God and rely on God, their entry can never be very deep. For example, if you are sick today, and it affects the performance of your duty, you need to pray on this matter and say, “God, I don’t feel well today, I can’t eat, and this is affecting the performance of my duty. I have to examine myself. What is the real reason I am sick? Am I being disciplined by God for not being loyal in my duty? God, I ask You to enlighten and guide me.” You must cry out like this. This is looking to God. However, when you look to God, you cannot simply follow formalities and abide by regulations. If you don’t seek the truth to resolve problems, you will delay things. After you pray to God and look to God, you should still live your life as you ought to, without delaying the duty that is yours to perform. If you are sick, you should see a doctor, and this is proper. At the same time, you must pray, reflect on yourself, and seek the truth to resolve the problem. Only practicing like this is completely appropriate. For certain things, if people know how to do them properly, then they should do them. This is how people should cooperate. However, whether the desired effect and goal can be fully achieved in these matters depends on looking to God and relying on God. In problems that people can’t see clearly and can’t handle well by themselves, they must all the more look to God and seek the truth to solve them. The ability to do this is what people with normal humanity should possess. There are many lessons to be learned in looking to God. In the process of looking to God, you may receive the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and you will have a way, or if God’s word comes upon you, you will know how to cooperate, or perhaps God will arrange some situations for you to learn lessons, in which there are God’s goodwill. In the process of looking to God, you will see God’s guidance and leadership, and these will help you learn many lessons and gain a better understanding of God. This is the effect achieved by looking to God. Therefore, looking to God is a lesson that those who follow God must often learn, and it is something they will never finish experiencing in a lifetime. There are many people whose experience is too shallow and cannot see God’s actions, so they think, “There are many small things that I can do myself and in which I don’t need to look to God.” This is wrong. Some small things lead to big things, and God’s intentions are hidden in some small things. Many people ignore the small things, and as a result, they find themselves having major setbacks due to small matters. Those who truly have God-fearing hearts, in both big and small matters, will look to God, pray to God, entrust everything to God, and then see how God leads and guides them. Once you have such experience, you will be able to look to God in all things, and the more you experience this, the more you will feel that looking to God in all things is very practical. When you look to God on a matter, it is possible that God will not give you a feeling, clear meaning, or much less, clear instructions, but He will make you understand an idea with an exact relevance to the matter, and this is God guiding you using a different method and giving you a way. If you can sense and understand this, you will benefit. You may not understand anything in the moment, but you must continue to pray and look to God. There is nothing wrong with this, and sooner or later you will be enlightened. Practicing this way does not mean abiding by regulations. Instead, it is meeting the needs of the spirit, and it is how people should practice. You may not receive enlightenment and guidance every time you pray to God and look to God, but people must practice this way, and if they want to understand the truth, they need to practice this way. This is the normal state of life and spirit, and only in this way can people maintain a normal relationship with God, so that their hearts are close to God. It can therefore be said that looking to God is the normal interaction with God in people’s hearts. Regardless of whether you can receive God’s enlightenment and guidance, you should pray to God and look to God in all things. This is also the necessary path to living before God. When people believe in God and follow God, they should have the state of mind of always looking to God. This is the state of mind that people with normal humanity should possess. Sometimes, looking to God does not mean asking God to do something using specific words, or asking Him for specific guidance or protection. Rather, it is that when people encounter some issue, they are able to call on Him sincerely. So, what is God doing there when people call on Him? When someone’s heart stirs and they have this thought: “Oh God, I can’t do this myself, I don’t know how to do it, and I feel weak and negative…,” when this thought arises in them, does God not know about it? When this thought arises in people, are their hearts sincere? When they call on God sincerely in this way, does God assent to help them? Despite the fact that they may not have spoken a word, they show sincerity, and so God assents to help them. When someone encounters an especially thorny difficulty, when they have no one to turn to, and when they feel particularly helpless, they put their only hope in God. What are their prayers like? What is their state of mind? Are they sincere? Is there any adulteration at that time? It is only when you trust God as though He were the last straw that you clutch onto, hoping that He will help you, that your heart is sincere. Though you may not have said much, your heart has already stirred. That is, you give your sincere heart to God, and God listens. When God listens, He sees your difficulties, and He will enlighten you, guide you, and help you. When is man’s heart at its most sincere? It is most sincere when man looks to God when there is no way out. The most important thing to possess in looking to God is a sincere heart. You must be in a state of truly needing God. That is to say, people’s hearts must at least be sincere, not perfunctory; they should not move only their mouths and not their hearts. If you muddle through the act of speaking to God, but your heart isn’t moved, and what you mean is, “I have made my own plans already, and God, I’m just notifying You. I will go through with them regardless of whether or not You agree. I’m just going through the motions,” then this means trouble. You are deceiving and toying with God, and this is also an expression of irreverence for God. How will God treat you after this? God will ignore you and put you aside, and you will be completely humiliated. If you don’t actively seek God and don’t make an effort in the truth, you will be eliminated.

Most people who believe in God are in this state. Most of the time, they live in an unthinking, unconscious condition, and when nothing out of the ordinary has happened, when they are not in any great difficulty, they do not know to pray to God or rely on Him; they do not seek the truth in the face of regular problems, but live by their own knowledge, doctrines, and inclinations. They are well aware that the right thing to do is to rely on God, but most of the time they rely on themselves and the beneficial conditions and environments around them, as well as on any people, events, and things that are to their advantage. This is what people are best at. What they are worst at is relying on God and looking to Him, because they feel looking to God to be too much of a bother, that no matter how they pray to God, they will still receive no enlightenment, illumination, or immediate answer; so they figure they’ll save themselves the trouble and go and find a person to fix the problem. Thus, in this aspect of their lessons, people perform the worst, and their entry into it is the shallowest. If you do not learn how to look to and rely on God, you will never see God work in you, guide you, or enlighten you. If you cannot see these things, then questions such as “whether God exists and whether He guides everything in the life of mankind” will, in the depths of your heart, end with a question mark rather than a period or an exclamation point. “Does God guide everything in the life of mankind?” “Does God scrutinize the depths of man’s heart?” If that is how you think, you’re in trouble. For what reason do you make these into questions? If you do not truly rely on or look to God, you will not be able to give rise to genuine faith in Him. If you cannot give rise to genuine faith in Him, then for you, those question marks will forever be there, accompanying everything God does, and there will be no periods. When you are not busy, ask yourself: “‘I believe that God is the Sovereign of all things’—is that followed by a question mark, a period, or an exclamation point?” When you ponder on this, you will not be able to say exactly which state you are in for some time. After you’ve gained some experience, you will be able to see things clearly and say with certainty: “God is indeed the Sovereign of all things!!!” This will be followed by three exclamation points, and it will be because you truly have knowledge of God’s sovereignty, without any doubts. Which of these states are you in? Looking at your current states and statures, it is clear that there are mostly question marks, and there are quite a lot of them. This signifies that you don’t understand any of the truth, and that there are still doubts in your heart. When people have a lot of doubts about God, they are already on the brink of danger. They have the potential to fall and betray God at any time. And why do I say that people are small in stature? On what basis is the size of a person’s stature determined? It is determined by how much true faith in God you possess and how much real knowledge you have. And how much do you have? Have you examined these things before? There are many young people who have come to believe in God through their parents. They have learned some doctrines about belief in God from their parents, and they think that believing in God is a good thing, that it is a positive thing, but they have yet to really understand, or experience and verify the truths that believers in God ought to understand. Therefore, they have so many question marks and notions. Most of the words that come from their mouths are not affirmations or exclamations, they are questions. This is because they have too many deficiencies, and cannot see through to things, and it is hard to say whether they will be able to stand firm. It is normal for you to have many question marks in your 20s and 30s, but after you have performed your duty for some time, how many of these question marks will you be able to get rid of? Will you be able to change these question marks into exclamation points? This will depend on your experience. Is this important or not? (It’s important.) This is so important! What did I just say is the greatest wisdom? (To look to God and to rely on Him in all things.) When they hear this, some people say: “That answer is too simple and too common. It is a worn-out saying, and nobody says it nowadays.” Looking to God may sound like an obvious way of practicing, but it is a lesson that every follower of God should study and enter into during their lifetime. Did Job look to God when he was in his 70s? (Yes.) And how did he look to God? What were the specific manifestations of him looking to God? When his possessions and his children were taken from him, how did he look to God? He prayed in his heart, and he did some things externally, and what is written in the Bible about it? (“Then Job … rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped” (Job 1:20).) He dropped to the ground and worshiped. That is a manifestation of looking to God! This was incredibly devout. Is this something that you could do? (We are not able to do it yet.) Then are you willing to do it? (Yes.) If one can rise to the level of Job, fear God and shun evil, and become a blameless person, then they are perfect! But while you are doing your duty, you must have the will to endure hardship. You must keep striving toward the truth. Once you can understand the truth and handle matters according to the principles, you will have fulfilled God’s requirements. You just have to remember this.

January 1, 2015