God’s work and word are meant to cause a change in your disposition; His goal is not merely to make you gain understanding or knowledge and have that be enough. Someone with comprehension ability should encounter no difficulties when it comes to the words of God, because most of God’s words are expressed in the language of humanity, and He speaks with extreme clarity. For instance, they are capable of learning what it is that God wants them to understand and practice; this is something that a normal person who has the comprehension ability should be able to do. In particular, God’s words today are even more clear and transparent; God has pointed out many things that people have not considered, as well as all kinds of states that people have. His words are all-encompassing, and as clear as the light of a full moon. So now, people are clear about and understand many issues, all that remains is for them to put His words into practice. All aspects of the truth must be experienced by people in detail. People have to explore and seek more specifically, and not just continue to wait and have things handed to them. If people carry on in that way, they will become freeloaders. Those who know God’s word but don’t practice it are people who do not love the truth, and they will ultimately be eliminated. Asking you to create the Peter style of the 1990s means that each one of you should practice the word of God, have true entry in your experiences, and cooperate with God to gain even more and even greater enlightenment, which will be more beneficial to your own life. If you have read a lot of God’s words but only understand the literal meaning and do not try to experience God’s words through real encounters, then you will not know God’s words, and for you, God’s words will not be life, but just dead words. And if you only hold to dead words, then you cannot grasp the essence of God’s words, nor will you know His intentions. Only when you experience His words in your actual experiences will the spiritual meaning of God’s words open itself to you. It is only through experience that you can grasp the spiritual meaning of many truths and unlock the mysteries of God’s words. If you do not put God’s words into practice, then no matter how clearly God speaks, all that you have in your hands are empty words and doctrines, which become your religious regulations. Is this not exactly what the Pharisees did? If you practice and experience God’s word, it becomes practical to you; if you do not seek to practice it, then God’s word to you is little more than the legend of the third heaven. In fact, the process of believing in God for you is the process of experiencing His words and of being gained by Him. To put it a bit more clearly, to believe in God is to come to know and understand His words, and to experience and live out His words; this is the reality of your belief in God. If you believe in God just hoping for eternal life, without pursuing practicing God’s words and entering into the truth reality, then you’re all fools. This would be like going to a feast and only looking at the delicious dishes and making a mental note of them, without actually tasting any of them, or eating or drinking any of them. Would such a person not be a fool?

Within God’s words are the truths people need to possess, things that are the most beneficial and helpful to people. They are the tonic and sustenance your bodies need, things that help people restore their normal humanity, and the truths people should be equipped with. The more you practice God’s words, the more quickly your life will grow; the more you practice God’s words, the clearer the truth will become to you. As your stature grows, you will see things of the spiritual realm more clearly, and you will have more strength to triumph over Satan. Much of the truth that you do not understand will be made clear when you practice God’s words. Most people are satisfied with merely understanding the literal aspect of God’s words, and focus on equipping themselves with doctrines rather than on experiencing and going deeper in practice—is that not the way of the Pharisees? Can one gain the reality of the phrase “having God’s words as one’s life” by doing this? People’s life can only grow by practicing God’s words; it doesn’t grow simply from reading them. If you believe that as long as you understand God’s words you will have life and stature, then your understanding is skewed. Truly understanding God’s words is achieved when you practice the truth; you must understand that “only by practicing the truth can it ever be understood.” Today, after reading the words of God, you can merely say that you are aware of God’s words, but you cannot say that you understand them. Some say that one must first understand the truth before they can practice it, but this is only partially correct, not entirely accurate. Before you have knowledge of a certain truth, that’s when you have not experienced that truth. Feeling that you understand that truth when you hear about it in a sermon is not truly understanding it—this is just taking possession of the literal aspect of that truth, without understanding the true meaning therein. Just knowing the surface layer of the truth does not mean that you actually understand the truth or have knowledge of it; the true meaning of the truth comes from having experienced it. Therefore, only when you experience the truth can you understand it, and only through experience can you grasp the hidden parts of it. Deepening your experience is the only way to grasp the connotations of the truth, and to understand the essence of the truth. Therefore, only when you have the truth are you able to range freely throughout the world. If you do not have the truth, never mind getting a lot of religious people to defer to you—even your family members will not defer to you. Without the truth you’re like a drifting snowflake, but with the truth you can be happy and free, and no one can attack you. No matter how strong some theory is, it cannot overcome the truth. With the truth, you can turn heaven and earth upside down and move mountains and seas; without the truth, even maggots could break through your city. This is an obvious fact.

Today, it is critical that after you come to know of the truth, you put it into practice and equip yourself with the true meaning of more truths. This is what you should truly attain to. Rather than merely seeking to make others obey your words, you should get them to obey your practice. This is what’s truly meaningful. No matter what happens to you, no matter whom you come across, you will only be able to stand firm if you have the truth. All of God’s words are meant to make people come alive, not to make them die. If, after reading God’s words, you do not come alive, but remain dead, then there is something wrong with you. If after some time you have read many of God’s words and have heard many sermons that have reality, but your deadened condition still has not changed, then this proves that you are not someone who cherishes the truth, nor are you someone who pursues the truth. If you truly had the heart to pursue gaining God, you would not focus on equipping yourselves with doctrines and lecturing others with lofty doctrines, but would instead focus on experiencing God’s words and putting the truth into practice. Is this not what you should now be seeking to enter into?

There is a time limit to the work God does on man—what results can there be if you do not cooperate with Him? Why is it that God always asks you to practice His words once you understand them? This demonstrates that once God reveals His words to you, the next step is for you to practice them. As you practice these words, God performs a further step of work, enlightening and guiding you. Things are accomplished in this manner. All of God’s words help people grow in life; there’s no element within them that causes people to deviate, nor any part that causes people to become negative. You say you have read God’s words and practiced them, but you still have not received any work from the Holy Spirit. Your words could fool only a child. Other people may not know if your intentions are right, but do you think it’s possible that God would not know? Why do others receive the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit from practicing God’s words? Why don’t you receive the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit when you practice His words? Could God have fleshly feelings? If your intentions are truly right and you are cooperative, then God’s Spirit will be with you. Some people always want to plant their own flag, but why does God not let them rise up and lead the church? Some people merely perform their function and do their duties, and before they know it, they have been found worthy by God. How can that be? God scrutinizes the innermost heart of man, and people who pursue the truth must do so with right intentions. People who do not have right intentions surely cannot stand firm. The most basic thing you should pursue is letting God’s word take effect in you—in other words, having a true understanding of God’s word in your practice of it. Perhaps your ability to comprehend God’s word is poor, but through your practice of His word, He can remedy this deficiency, so not only must you know many truths, but even more so you must practice them. This is the most crucial thing, and it cannot be ignored. Jesus endured many humiliations and much suffering in His thirty-three and a half years. He suffered so much simply because He practiced the truth, followed the will of God in all things, and only showed consideration for God’s intentions. If He had only known the truth without practicing it, He wouldn’t have undergone this suffering. If Jesus had followed the teachings of the Jews and followed the Pharisees, then He would not have suffered. You can learn from Jesus’ deeds that the effects of God’s work on man are achieved through man’s cooperation, and this is something you must recognize. Would Jesus have suffered as He did on the cross if He had not practiced the truth? Could He have prayed with such sorrow if He had not acted in accordance with God’s desires? Therefore, you should suffer for the sake of practicing the truth; this is the kind of suffering a person should undergo.