How are man and God connected? How can you know God? How does He work on man? It’s by using His words, through which He reveals His intentions, guides you to the path you should take, tests you, and tells you all His requirements and standards for you. Without even realizing it, people understand all aspects of the truth in God’s words: the principles behind how to deal with people and handle matters, how to treat their brothers and sisters, church work, and their duty, how to experience trials, how to be loyal to God, how to renounce, how to treat the world of nonbelievers, and so on. All of this is in God’s word, and He has told mankind. But to what extent does man ultimately experience it? People can see God in His words, and come face to face with Him. Someone might ask: “Where is the God you believe in?” Those who haven’t experienced it can’t work it out: “Yes, where is God? He’s never appeared to me. He’s always said to be in the third heaven, but I’ve never seen Him. I don’t know how big or how tall God really is, or how almighty and omniscient.” Those with experience would say: “Those things aren’t important. I encountered God’s words since the very first day I believed in Him. Now I’ve believed in Him for twenty or thirty years, and in His words I see His disposition and essence, and I have some understanding and knowledge of Him. After experiencing His words all these years, if one day God came to me and spoke with me, engaged with me, I would be able to confirm that He is the God who had expressed those words, He is the One I believe in, without a doubt! No matter what He looks like, as long as His words and these are of the same source, then He is the God I believe in, God from heaven, the One who has sovereignty over my fate, and all things. It is Him.” At this time, would there still be a need for God to speak to you from heaven? (No need.) It’s that no matter what form or image God takes, you don’t have to see it. There’s no need. You won’t have that curiosity. But why? After these years of experience, in contact with God, while you can’t say that you know Him, or are too familiar, at the very least you’re no longer a stranger to Him through His words and your experience of them and His work. He is with you, guiding your life, sovereign over your every day and your fate. He understands your joy, sorrow, anger, and happiness all too well, and you know His. You no longer misunderstand Him or complain about Him, and His place in your heart is such that you could even say He is enthroned there, and reigns as King, able to control your whole being. What does it mean to “reign as King”? It means that you use God’s words to solve whatever happens, and His words are the master of your heart. You are no longer the master. Your knowledge and learning, the books you’ve read, the experiences and events of your life—all these cannot lead you. God’s words will guide you in everything, they’ll become your life’s guidebook, revealed and lived out every day in your actual life. This is the way you will have the truth realities. At that time, if someone asks you again, “Since you believe in God, do you know Him?” You would say: “I know God a little. I dare not use words to describe how mighty and wise He is, nor dare define Him, but at least I know that God is unfathomable, so wise and wonderful, and loves mankind so much. God’s love is so great, so true, and His disposition so righteous!” Isn’t this little bit of knowledge more valuable than people’s illusory and opaque notions and imaginings? (Yes, it is.) So, where do these valuable things come from? They come from experiencing God’s words. That is, after being provided with God’s words all these years, they take root in you and sprout, blossom, and bear fruit, and you have lived out the reality of His words. How do you achieve this effect while living out God’s words? (By experiencing, little by little, God’s arrangements of people, events, and things.) It comes from experience, namely constantly confirming God’s words during this period, confirming that every one of God’s sentences is the truth, and what you need in your life. At that time, if someone says, “The God you believe in is not God, He doesn’t exist, He can’t be seen,” you will say: “It’s not for one person to decide God’s existence and sovereignty. It’s God who decides, it’s the fact of God’s existence and sovereignty over all things that decides, it’s my actual experience of God’s work these years that decides, it’s all the testimonies of experiencing God’s work that decide. This is proof.” This is testifying to God. If someone again said, “Where is God?” how would you reply? (In the heart of every person who believes in Him.) God already lives in people’s hearts, but He is also within and among all things, around us. This is God’s existence. You can’t deny it, and what you experience is more real than what you see. Even if you saw God, would you recognize Him? (No, I wouldn’t.) If God’s spiritual body descended among people and said, “I am God,” you’d be startled and say, “You’re God? How come I don’t recognize You? I don’t accept a God like You!” Actually, you’d be afraid. Why would you have this kind of reaction? Because you don’t know God, so you have this kind of attitude and behavior toward Him.

What is the most important thing to pay attention to when believing in God? You could say that experiencing His words is most important. In the process of experiencing God’s words, whichever wrong states people have, states of resistance to God or rebelliousness, or whichever fallacious views, these must all be turned around and resolved with the truth. In this way your internal state will gradually improve, your relationship with God will become increasingly normal, and you will feel God’s existence. If your relationship with God isn’t normal, you won’t feel God’s existence. Isn’t there truth in all of this? There is truth in it all. If people believe in God like they’re living in a vacuum, in contact with nothing, seeing nothing, knowing nothing, disregarding the outside world, just like those Taoist monks and nuns who practice ascetic cultivation, then it’s not the right way. If people can observe, comprehend, and experience, then they’ll be able to see God’s actions in many things. But there are currently some matters that are too profound and out of reach for most people, so you shouldn’t give up on what’s close by in search of what’s far away. Just concentrate on God’s words and learn how to measure yourself against them. What is meant by measuring yourself against them? It’s seeing whether you have any of the various states exposed in God’s words, which state you’re in, what God’s words refer to, and which human states He’s speaking about. These must all be examined and understood clearly. Sometimes people will hear God’s words once, but they go in one ear and out the other and they think, “God’s words are not directed at me. I don’t have this state. He’s talking about other people.” This is the wrong way to understand them, and shows that you still don’t understand His words, that they still haven’t had an effect on you, and that you haven’t digested them. Gain experience until the day comes that you hear God’s words exposing people and you’ll say, “God is speaking about me.” This is measuring yourself against God’s words. But this is just the beginning, it’s just the start of entering into God’s words—you might not know what this state He speaks of actually is. So you must undergo a period of seeking what the truth is in what God says, what His requirements are, and what the path He gives mankind is. This involves details; it’s not like you can just examine and dissect an outward state and be done with it. What is God’s aim in dissecting people’s state and having them examine it? It’s to make them turn around. God says this is a wrong state, and if you’re living in this kind of state, or have this kind of view, then you can resist God. This is rebellion, displeases God, and is a corrupt disposition which belongs to Satan and doesn’t align with the truth; you must change course. While changing course, you must understand what God’s requirements are, that there is truth in these requirements, and you must understand God’s intention and contemplate, “What does God require in this matter? How do I change course, free myself from and resolve this kind of state?” This involves seeking the truth. It’s not enough just to measure yourself against God’s words—in addition to this, you still need to understand the truth and be able to know yourself. Then you’ll feel that God’s requirements for mankind are great, and be able to praise Him from your heart: “God is so wise, scrutinizing man’s innermost heart! God exposed my state, which I didn’t even know I had, but God knows everything!” Is that it? It’s nowhere near enough, and not what God requires. He requires you to let go of those negative, wrong states, which stem from corrupt dispositions and, once you’ve resolved them, to practice according to the truth. As your understanding of the truth gradually deepens, your internal state will completely change and you will let go of your former view on things, see that it’s fallacious, know where the error lies and what its essence is, and thence be able to resolve it. When you can totally let go of worldly things and satanic views then, even though you might feel hollowed out inside, the truths you have understood will begin to occupy your heart. What the correct view God wants you to have is, what He wants you to possess, which views are right to have and which are wrong—there’s a process for understanding these things which requires you to constantly seek the truth and go deeper into it, and when you’ve truly understood the truth, your heart will be thoroughly fulfilled and assured. It’s not easy for someone to believe and accept the truth. People all have active thoughts, they all have thoughts and ideas and corrupt dispositions, and will always study and analyze whether God’s words are right or wrong when they have nothing to do. If they were to meet a person who understands the truth and shares their experiential testimony, they would gain some benefit and edification; but if they were to encounter someone who spoke absurdities and absurd views, they would be swayed by them. This is a normal state. But, after experiencing enough, one day they’ll completely acknowledge that God’s words are the truth and realize where they’ve gone wrong. But can realizing it mean they’re able to put the truth into practice? (No, they can’t.) They’re still unwilling, thinking to themselves, “Just deny myself like that?” They still want to continue scrutinizing things, and no matter what they think in their hearts, their rebelliousness and corrupt disposition are always there. It’s not that easy for them to accept the truth; they cannot so simply or purely directly accept it as the truth. Even if they clearly know it’s the truth, they still can’t put it into practice quickly and absolutely. This confirms the fact that within man are corrupt dispositions, and a satanic essence. The purpose of God’s work and expression of the truth is to resolve man’s corrupt disposition, to dig out the corruption, resolve it, and cleanse it bit by bit. A person’s views will gradually accord with God’s, and what they do will align with the truth. In whichever aspect you accord with God, you won’t misunderstand Him in that aspect. Wherever you have misunderstandings about God, that is where you should seek the truth, and use it to resolve the misunderstanding. You must not always insist on your view, always thinking that your misunderstanding is correct and sensible, that it holds up and makes sense wherever it is applied. This is ridiculous. People have corrupt dispositions—it’s normal for them to be a little arrogant; they can change as long as they accept the truth. It’s dangerous if they are absurd and hold incorrect views on things, and it won’t be easy for them to accept the truth, and they will often misunderstand it. These sorts of people are most likely to have notions about and be antagonistic toward God; they are the type who belong to Satan. Regarding misunderstanding God, if someone doesn’t seek the truth, they will think what God does is wrong. If they always “litigate” against God in this way, competing and fighting with Him, fighting and competing, then ultimately it will end in failure, and they will be totally humiliated. The truth and God will always emerge victorious. If you’re able to maintain a submissive heart, and seek and accept the truth in your contention and fighting with God, only then can your heart be turned around, and eventually you’ll have to submit before the word of God. Experiencing this process is the process of God saving and obtaining man, and those who would rather die than accept the truth will be revealed and eliminated. If you can accept the truth, and submit before God, then you are someone who submits to God, can achieve compatibility with Him, and will never again rebel against or resist Him. No matter how many years someone’s believed in God, as long as they can accept the truth and succeed in submitting to Him, then ultimately they can all obtain a change in their life disposition. Let Me give you an example. Say you study botany or agriculture, and you sow ten fruit tree seeds in the earth. From what you’ve learned, you know that these ten seeds can grow ten trees. This is a conclusion based on scientific foundations and theory, and you adhere to this conclusion. So when God says that ten seeds can grow eleven trees, you won’t believe it: “Is that possible? How can ten seeds grow eleven trees?” In fact, there’s one hidden seed that you didn’t see. What is the basis for sticking to your own view? It’s the scientific evidence and knowledge you’ve learned—these things control your thinking, and you can’t see beyond that scope. If you take that as your standard, then you’re not taking God’s words as your standard—and that is human rebellion. You’d think, “I have a foundation, so how can You say that my conclusion is not the truth? What You said is baseless, so how can You say that Your words are the truth? They’re totally without foundation! How many people proved it? Who proved it? Who saw it? Where are the facts?” You deny God’s words before you’ve seen the facts, always appending a question mark to His words, always denying Him, always feeling, “What God said is wrong; my conclusion is the right one, because it’s been proved. I’m an academic in this field, a professional, so my conclusion should be marked correct.” You equate ten seeds with growing ten trees, so you don’t believe God when He says that eleven trees will grow. But if the end result and fact is that eleven trees grow, will you be convinced? (Yes, I will.) Will you be completely convinced? How come? (I saw the facts.) When you see the facts, you’ll begin to reject the knowledge you’ve acquired and your own conclusion, and there’ll probably be a struggle in your heart: “How could I be wrong? Could science actually be mistaken?” In this process, people will study and analyze whether God’s words are right or wrong, and compare them: “Which is correct, God’s words or scientific arguments? Who is more likely to be right?” The facts are right there, but people still can’t completely accept them, and must wait several years more before they can be fully convinced by what God has done and truly accept it. God doesn’t speak or act without foundation; the process of His actions allows you to experience and learn for yourself, until you see what the results are. What do you gain from this process? It allows you to have a genuine affirmation of God’s actions. He doesn’t let you baselessly say, “You are God, You are great and noble, wise and wonderful.” He doesn’t let you testify to Him like that; instead, He uses these facts to let you experience and see for yourself. God won’t tell you it’s wrong that ten seeds will grow ten trees. He won’t refute or argue with you, but use facts to prove the point, and let you see it for yourself. Maybe God told you this when you were twenty, but He didn’t say “I am the truth, and you must listen to Me.” God didn’t say that; He just did it, and you see the results when you’re thirty. That’s how long it took. Did God argue with you during this time? (No, He didn’t.) So, who was arguing? It’s people who argue with God, and always think, “God is wrong. What He says and does is unscientific and unreasonable.” People love arguing with God, but He just stays silent and continues to act. Ten years later you’ll discover a fact and be scared: “Oh, it turns out my point of view was wrong!” By the time you admit you were wrong, the conclusion of that matter has actually already taken shape, but can you accept it? You are only accepting a phenomenon, but in your heart you still don’t really know what’s going on. How many more years’ experience do you need? It might take another decade of experiencing it for yourself before you can confirm that the conclusion of what God did in this matter was correct, and that God is the truth and right, while you are wrong. By the time you’re forty you’ll be completely convinced, and say, “God is the truth, He really is God, and what He does is so wonderful and real! God is so wise!” You deny yourself. Look, how many years’ experience did it take? (Twenty years.) And what has God done in these twenty years? He didn’t use formulae to tell you, like explaining what Newton’s laws are all about—He used facts to make you see some things, and enlightened and guided you to understand them through phenomena and events happening around you. You’ll gain a little understanding after three or five years and say, “I was wrong, but was I completely wrong?” Experience more and God will lay out some facts for you, and when you’re forty—so after another decade—you’ll admit you were wrong. This is how God works, these are the things He does. Through what process can you recognize that you are wrong, and God is right? It’s through the process of encountering facts, and under God’s enlightenment and guidance that you’ll come to have this realization. It is such a process; God doesn’t just give you a conclusion and make you believe it without foundation. If God forced you to understand, would that be okay? If God forcibly controlled you to make you understand, you would, and you’d know anyway that God was right. But God’s intention is not to turn people into robots. That’s not what He wants. He wants people to understand the truth, make their own choices, and be able to submit to Him. But achieving this result takes time.

Have you experienced that God’s work is practical by now? (Yes, I have.) It’s so practical. The practicality of God’s work is opposite to man’s imaginary, vague views, so you need to consider those things inside you which are imaginary, or empty and impractical, or have no basis in God’s word. It’s right for you to just refute all of these. It’s definitely right and you have to experience in this way. How many things has God—the Creator of all things—created? How wise must He be? If you think that you’ll be able to thoroughly experience and fathom this in three or five years, it’s impossible. You won’t be able to fathom it with even a lifetime of experience. So you must be down-to-earth as you experience God’s words; start small, beginning from the details, and seek the truth principles. When faced with something you cannot fathom, learn to quiet yourself before God and seek the truth, without being anxious or impatient. How can one be quiet before God? Your heart must pray to and fellowship with Him and, if you cannot become quiet, then you can read and ponder God’s words, or sing hymns of God’s words. This will all help achieve the result of being quiet before God. A person’s heart will become quiet when it returns before God; they’ll feel like doing things or running around outside is pointless, with nothing to be gained. As long as they’re quiet before God—whether reading His words, fellowshipping on the truth, or singing hymns in praise of God—then their spirit will gain something and be enlightened, and their heart will feel nourished and fulfilled. Gradually, you’ll see God’s work clearly, be able to submit to Him, and gain the truth and life. If people want to gain the truth and gain God, then they must make sacrifices, endure much suffering, and spend time and energy experiencing God’s work over many years. Only then can they gain the truth and life, and all of God’s salvation.

October 11, 2017