Words of Almighty God of the Last Days

Within God’s words are the truths that man needs to possess, things that are the most beneficial and helpful to mankind, the tonic and sustenance that your body needs, things that help man restore his normal humanity, and the truths that man should be equipped with. The more you practice God’s word, the more quickly your life will blossom, and the clearer the truth will become. As you grow in stature, you will see things of the spiritual realm more clearly, and the more strength you will have to triumph over Satan. Much of the truth that you do not understand will be made clear when you practice the word of God. Most people are satisfied to merely understand the text of God’s word and focus on equipping themselves with doctrines rather than on deepening their experience in practice, but is that not the way of the Pharisees? Can they gain the reality of the phrase, “The word of God is life” by doing this? A person’s life cannot grow simply by reading God’s word, but only when the word of God is put into practice. If it is your belief that to understand God’s word is all that is needed to have life and stature, then your understanding is flawed. Truly understanding God’s word occurs when you practice the truth, and you must understand that “only by practicing the truth can it ever be understood.” Today, after reading the word of God, you can merely say that you know God’s word, but you cannot say that you understand it. Some say that the only way to practice the truth is to understand it first, but this is only partially correct, and is certainly not entirely accurate. Before you have knowledge of a truth, you have not experienced that truth. Feeling that you understand something you hear in a sermon is not truly understanding—this is just taking possession of the literal words of the truth, and it is not the same as understanding the true meaning therein. Just having a superficial knowledge of the truth does not mean that you actually understand it or have knowledge about 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 then can you grasp the hidden parts of it. Deepening your experience is the only way to grasp the connotations, and to understand the essence of the truth. Therefore, you can go everywhere with the truth, but if there is no truth in you, then do not think of trying to convince even your family members, much less religious people. Without the truth you are like fluttering snowflakes, but with the truth you can be happy and free, and none can attack you. No matter how strong a theory is, it cannot overcome the truth. With the truth, the world itself can be swayed and mountains and seas moved, whereas a lack of the truth can lead to strong city walls being reduced to rubble by maggots. This is an obvious fact.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Once You Understand the Truth, You Should Put It Into Practice

God’s work and word are meant to cause a change in your disposition; His goal is not merely to make you understand or know His work and word. That is not enough. A person who has the comprehension ability should have no difficulty in understanding the word of God, because most of God’s word is expressed in human language, and He speaks very plainly. For instance, they are perfectly 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, the words that God is saying in the present stage are especially clear and transparent, and God is pointing out many things that people have not considered, as well as all manner of human states. His words are all-encompassing, and as clear as the light of a full moon. So now, people understand many issues, but there is still something missing—people putting His word into practice. People must experience all aspects of the truth in detail, and explore and seek it out in greater detail, rather than simply waiting to absorb whatever is made available to them; otherwise they become little more than parasites. They know God’s word, yet do not put it into practice. This kind of person does not love the truth and will ultimately be eliminated. To be like a Peter of the 1990s, this means that each one of you should practice the word of God, have true entry in your experiences and gain even more and even greater enlightenment in your cooperation with God, which will be of ever increasing assistance to your own life. If you have read a lot of God’s word but only understand the meaning of the words and lack direct knowledge of God’s word through your practical experiences, then you will not know God’s word. As far as you are concerned, God’s word is not life, but just lifeless words. And if you only live in observance of lifeless words, then you cannot grasp the essence of God’s word, nor will you understand His intentions. Only when you experience His word in your actual experiences will the spiritual meaning of God’s word open itself to you, and it is only through experience that you can grasp the spiritual meaning of many truths and unlock the mysteries of God’s word. If you do not put it into practice, then no matter how clear His word, all that you have grasped are empty words and doctrines, which have become religious regulations to you. Is this not 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 is the process of you experiencing His word as well as being gained by Him, or to put it more clearly, to believe in God is to have the knowledge and understanding of His word and to experience and live out His word; such is the reality behind your belief in God. If you believe in God and hope for eternal life without seeking to practice the word of God and enter into the truth reality, then you are foolish. This would be like going to a feast and only looking at the food and learning the delicious things by heart without actually tasting any of it, it would be like not eating or drinking anything there. Would such a person not be a fool?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Once You Understand the Truth, You Should Put It Into Practice

In every age of God’s work, He bestows some words upon people and tells them of some truths. These truths serve as the way people should adhere to, the way they should follow, the way that enables them to fear God and shun evil, and the way that people should put into practice and adhere to in their lives and over the course of their life journeys. It is for these reasons that God expresses these utterances to humanity. These words that come from God should be adhered to by people, and to adhere to them is to receive life. If a person does not adhere to them, does not put them into practice, and does not live out God’s words in their life, then this person is not putting the truth into practice. Furthermore, if people are not putting the truth into practice, then they are not fearing God and shunning evil, nor can they satisfy God. People who are incapable of satisfying God cannot receive His praise, and such people have no outcome.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. How to Know God’s Disposition and the Results His Work Shall Achieve

What is the most important reality for those who believe in God? It is practicing the truth. What is the most important part of practicing the truth? Is it not that one must first have a grasp of the principles? What, then, are principles? They are the practical side of the truth, the standard that can guarantee results. Principles are as simple as this. When taken literally, you think that every sentence of God’s words is the truth, but you don’t know how to practice the truth, it is because you don’t understand the principles of the truth. You think that God’s words are totally correct, that they are the truth, but you don’t know what the practical side of the truth is, or the states that it targets, what the principles are here, and what the path to practice is—you cannot grasp or understand this. It proves that you only understand doctrine and not the truth. If you can truly sense that you only understand doctrine, then what should you do? You must seek the truth. First, get an accurate feel for the practical side of truth, see which aspects of the reality stand out the most, and how you should practice in order to enter this reality. By seeking and probing in this way you will find the path. Once you have a hold of the principles and are living out this reality, you will have gained the truth, which is the achievement that comes from pursuing the truth. If you can grasp the principles of many truths and put some of them into practice, then you have the truth reality, and you have gained the life. No matter what aspect of the truth you seek, once you have grasped where the reality of the truth in God’s words lies and what His requirements are, once you truly understand, and can pay the price and put it into practice, then you have gained this truth. While you are gaining this truth, your corrupt disposition will be resolved little by little, and this truth will work its way inside you. If you can put the reality of the truth into practice, and perform your duty and every action and comport yourself according to the principles of practice of this truth, then doesn’t that mean you have changed? What kind of person have you become? You have become someone who has the truth reality.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three

There must be principles to the practice of the truth. If one cannot find the principles of practice, then they are just following regulations, and this practice lacks the necessary detail of acting according to the principles. Many people only uphold the regulations of the words and doctrines, and have no principles to their practice. This falls short of the standards for practicing the truth. Everyone in religion acts according to their own notions and imaginings and thinks that this is practicing the truth. They may preach about love, for instance, or about humility, but all they are doing is parroting nice-sounding words. Their practice has no principles, and they cannot grasp the most fundamental things. How can one enter the truth reality if they practice in this way? The truth is God’s word; reality is lived out by man. It is not until someone can practice the truth and live out God’s words that they possess the truth reality. Through practice and experience of God’s words, people gain the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and true knowledge of God’s words. Only then do they understand the truth. People who really understand the truth are able to determine the principles of practice. When you have gotten a grasp on the principles of practice, your speech and actions will have principles, and your performance of your duty will be in line with the truth principles. This is what it is to practice the truth; this is what it is to have the truth reality. It is not until you live out the truth reality that you are practicing the truth, and if you do not live out the truth reality, then you are not practicing the truth. Practicing the truth is not a matter of just adhering to regulations, as people imagine it to be, and one must not practice however they would like to practice. God looks at whether you really understand the truth in the course of practicing and experiencing His words, and at whether your speech and actions have the truth principles. If you understand the truth and can put it into practice, you will have life entry. Whatever experiences and knowledge you have of God’s words, whatever appreciation you have, these things are all directly related to your life entry.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. What It Is to Practice the Truth

Practicing the truth is not about saying empty words or shouting slogans. Rather it is about how, no matter what people encounter in life, as long as it involves the principles of human conduct, their perspectives on things, or the matter of performing their duties, they are faced with making a choice, and they should seek the truth, search for a basis and principles in God’s words, and then find a path of practice. Those who can practice in this way are people who pursue the truth. To be able to pursue the truth in this way no matter how great the difficulties one encounters is to walk the path of Peter, the path of pursuing the truth. For example: What principle should be followed when it comes to interacting with others? Perhaps your original viewpoint is that “Harmony is a treasure; forbearance is brilliance,” and that you should keep on everyone’s good side, avoid causing others to lose face, and offend no one, thereby achieving good relations with others. Constricted by this viewpoint, you keep silent when you witness others doing bad things or violating the principles. You would rather that the work of the church suffers losses than offend anyone. You seek to stay on everyone’s good side, no matter who they are. You think only about human sentiments and saving face when you speak, and you always speak nice-sounding words to please others. Even if you discover that someone has problems, you choose to tolerate them, and just talk about them behind their back, but to their face you keep the peace and maintain your relationship. What do you think of such conduct? Is it not that of a people pleaser? Is it not pretty slippery? It violates the principles of human conduct. Is it not lowly to conduct yourself in such a manner? Those who act like this are not good people, this is not a noble way to conduct oneself. No matter how much you have suffered, and no matter how many prices you have paid, if you conduct yourself without principles, then you have failed in this respect, and your conduct will not be recognized, remembered, or accepted before God. Having realized this problem, do you feel distressed? (Yes.) What does this distress prove? It proves that you still love the truth, and that you have a heart that loves the truth and a will to love the truth. It proves that your conscience still has awareness, and that your conscience is not thoroughly dead. No matter how deeply you are corrupted, or how many corrupt dispositions you have, in your humanity, you still have an essence which loves the truth and positive things. So long as you have awareness, and know what problems exist with regard to your humanity, dispositions, the performance of your duty, and how you treat God, and you even have awareness when your words and actions touch on views, stances, and attitudes, and can realize that your views are wrong, that they are not in line with the truth or God’s intentions, but it is not easy to let go of them, and you want to practice the truth but are unable to do so, and your heart is struggling, in pain, and tormented, and you feel indebted—this is one manifestation of a humanity which loves positive things. This is the awareness of conscience. If your humanity has the awareness of conscience, and there is a part of it which loves the truth and positive things, you will have these feelings. Having these feelings proves that you have the ability to distinguish between positive things and negative things, and that you do not have a neglectful or indifferent attitude toward these things; you are not numb or lacking in awareness, rather, you have awareness. And because you have awareness, you possess the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, and between positive things and negative things. If you have awareness and this ability, then won’t it be easy for you to hate these negative things, these wrong views, and corrupt dispositions? It will be relatively easy. If you understand the truth, then you will certainly be able to hate negative things and things of the flesh, because you possess the minimum and most basic of things: the awareness of conscience. Having the awareness of conscience is so valuable, as is having the ability to differentiate between what is true and false, and having a sense of justice when it comes to loving positive things. These three things are the most desirable and valuable things in normal humanity. If you possess these three things, then you will certainly be able to practice the truth. Even if you only have one or two of these things, you will still be able to practice some of the truth. Let us take a look at the awareness of conscience. For example, if you encounter an evil person disturbing and disrupting the church’s work, will you be able to discern it? Are you able to pick out obvious evil deeds? Of course you can. Evil people do bad things, and good people do good things; the average person can tell the difference with one glance. If you possess the awareness of conscience, won’t you have feelings and views? If you have views and feelings, then you possess one of the most basic conditions for practicing the truth. If you can tell and feel that this person is doing evil, and you can discern it and then expose that person, and enable God’s chosen people to discern this matter, won’t the problem be resolved? Is this not practicing the truth and holding to the principles? What methods are used to practice the truth here? (Exposing, reporting, and stopping the evildoing.) Correct. Acting in this way is practicing the truth, and by doing this, you will have fulfilled your responsibilities. If you can act according to the truth principles that you understand when you encounter situations like this, this is practicing the truth, this is doing things with principles.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. To Perform One’s Duty Well, One Must at Least Be Possessed of a Conscience and Reason

When all is said and done, what is the standard for practicing the truth? How does one measure whether you are practicing the truth or not? When all is said and done, are you one who listens to and accepts the word of God—how does God look at this? God looks at the following: While professing belief in God and listening to sermons, have you taken your incorrect inner state, your rebellion against God, and all the different forms of your corrupt disposition, and replaced them with the truth? Have you changed? Have you only changed in your outward behavior and actions, or has your life disposition undergone a change? God measures you on the basis of these considerations. Having listened to sermons for so many years, and eaten and drunk of God’s word for so many years, are the changes within you superficial or are they of a fundamental nature? Have you changed in your disposition? Has your rebelliousness against God lessened? When confronted with an issue and your rebelliousness is revealed, are you capable of self-reflection? Are you capable of showing submission to God? Has your attitude toward your duty and the commission God has entrusted to you undergone any change? Has your loyalty grown? Do you still have impurities within you? The intents, ambitions, appetites, and plans that you harbor as an individual—have these things been cleansed away during the period you have been listening to sermons? All these are standards of evaluation. In addition to the above, how many of your notions and misconceptions about God have been eliminated? Are you still holding onto those vague notions, imaginings, and conclusions from before? Do you still harbor grievance, resistance, or negative emotions toward trials and refinements? If these negative elements have still not been truly addressed, and if you have still not undergone any real change, this goes to corroborate one fact—that you are not a person who practices the truth.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Practicing the Truth and Submitting to God Can One Achieve a Change in Disposition

In following God, many people are able to cast aside their families and careers and perform their duties, and therefore they believe they are practicing the truth. However, they are never able to offer true experiential testimony. What is going on here, exactly? To measure them by man’s notions, they seem to be practicing the truth, yet God does not recognize what they are doing as practicing the truth. If the things you do have personal motives behind them and are adulterated, then you are liable to deviate from principles, and cannot be said to be practicing the truth; this is just a type of conduct. Strictly speaking, this type of conduct of yours will probably be condemned by God; it will not be approved of or commemorated by Him. To go on dissecting this to its essence and root, you are someone who does evil, and these outward behaviors of yours constitute opposition to God. From the outside, you are not disrupting or disturbing anything and you have not done real damage. It appears to be logical and reasonable, yet within, there are human contaminants and intents, and its essence is that of doing evil and resisting God. Therefore, you should determine whether there has been a change in your disposition and whether you are putting the truth into practice using God’s words, and by looking at the motives behind your own actions. It does not depend on whether your actions conform to the human imaginings and human thoughts, or whether they are suited to your taste; such things are not important. Rather, it depends on God saying whether or not you align with His intentions, whether or not your actions possess the truth reality, and whether or not they meet His requirements and standards. Only measuring yourself against God’s requirements is accurate. Transformation in disposition and putting the truth into practice are not as simple and easy as people imagine. Do you understand this now? Do you have any experience with this? When it comes to a problem’s essence, you might not understand it; your entry has been overly superficial. You run about all day long, from dawn until dusk, rising early and going to bed late, yet you have not achieved transformation in your life disposition, and you cannot grasp what dispositional transformation is. This means your entry is too shallow, does it not? Regardless of how long you have believed in God, you might not sense the essence and deep things to do with transformation in disposition. Can it be said that your disposition has changed? How do you know whether God approves of you or not? At the very least, you will feel exceptionally steadfast regarding everything that you do, and you will feel the Holy Spirit guiding and enlightening you and working in you while you are performing your duties, doing any work in God’s house, or in general. Your conduct will fit hand-in-hand with God’s words, and once you have gained a certain degree of experience, you will feel that how you acted in the past was relatively suitable. If, however, after gaining experience for a period of time, you feel that some of the things you did in the past were not suitable, and you are dissatisfied with them, and feel that they were not in accordance with the truth, then this proves that everything you did was done in resistance to God. It is evidence that your service was full of rebelliousness, resistance, and human ways of acting, and that you have utterly failed to achieve changes in disposition.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. What Should Be Known About Transforming One’s Disposition

Most people do not have their hearts set on the truth in their belief in God. Where are their hearts? Their hearts are always set on external matters, always getting tied in knots about matters of vanity and pride, of what is right and what is wrong. They do not know which things relate to the truth and which do not, and they think, “So long as I’m doing things in God’s house, running about and enduring hardship to perform my duty, then I’m practicing the truth.” This is incorrect. Is one practicing the truth by doing things for God’s house, running about and enduring hardship? Is there any basis for saying so? Enduring hardship while doing things and practicing the truth are two different things. If you do not know what the truth is, how could you practice it? Is that not absurd? You are acting according to human notions and imaginings, you are in a confused state, doing things according to your own ideas. Your heart is confused, without any goals, direction, or principles. You are just doing things, and enduring hardship while you’re doing them—how is that related to practicing the truth? If people do not understand the truth, no matter what they do, and no matter what hardships they endure, they are far from practicing the truth. People always do things according to their own will, and just to get things done; they do not consider at all whether their actions are in accordance with the truth principles or not. If you do not know whether what you are doing is in accordance with the truth, then you are certainly not practicing the truth. Some may say, “I’m doing things for the church. Isn’t that practicing the truth?” That is simply wrong. Does doing things for the church mean that someone is practicing the truth? Not necessarily—that can only be determined by seeing if there are principles to that person’s actions or not. If there are no principles to what somebody is doing, then no matter who they are doing it for, they are not practicing the truth. Even if they do something good, it must be done in accordance with the truth principles in order to qualify as practicing the truth. If they violate the principles, then whatever good they do is merely good behavior and falls short of practicing the truth.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. What It Is to Practice the Truth

Some muddleheaded people have not the slightest understanding of the truth. They regard merely performing their duty as practicing the truth. They think that simply by performing their duty, they are practicing the truth. If you ask such a person, “Can you practice the truth?” then they will answer, “Am I not practicing the truth by doing my duty?” Are they correct? Those are the words of a muddleheaded person. To perform your duty, at the very least, you must put all your heart, mind, and strength into it in order to effectively practice the truth. To effectively practice the truth, you must act according to principles. If you perform your duty in a perfunctory way it has no real effect. You cannot call this practicing the truth, it is nothing but laboring. You are clearly only laboring, this is different from practicing the truth. Laboring is simply doing the things that please you according to your own will, while disregarding everything that you do not enjoy doing. Regardless of the difficulties you encounter, you never seek the truth principles. Outwardly, it may look like you are performing your duty, but it is all just laboring. Anyone who does not perform their duty by acting in accordance with the truth principles is accomplishing nothing but laboring. In God’s family, many people attempt to perform their duty by relying on human notions and imaginings. They toil for years with nothing to show for it, they cannot practice the truth or act according to principles in performing their duty. Therefore, if people often act according to their own will and perform their duties according to their own will, even though they are not doing evil, neither is this considered practicing the truth. In the end, their years of work do not lead them to understand anything of the truth, and they have no experiential testimonies that they can share. Why is this so? It is because the intentions which lead these people to perform their duty are not correct. The reason they perform their duty is definitely in order to receive blessings, they want to make a deal with God. They do not perform their duty simply for the sake of gaining the truth. They perform their duty because they have no other choice. For this reason, they are always confused and going through the motions in a perfunctory manner. They do not seek the truth, and so it is all just laboring. No matter how many duties they perform, their actions have no real effect. It is different for those who have the fear of God in their hearts. They are constantly contemplating how to act in accordance with the intentions of God and how to act for the benefit of God’s family and His chosen people. They are always thinking deeply about principles and results. They are always striving to practice the truth and demonstrate submission to God. This is the correct attitude of the heart. These are the people who seek truth and love positive things. This kind of person, when performing their duties, is accepted by God and receives His approval.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only in the Frequent Reading of God’s Words and Contemplation of the Truth Is There a Way Ahead

People always draw a clear line between doing things and practicing the truth, viewing doing things as simple and practicing the truth as abstract and difficult. This is wrong. In fact, when people do things, they should practice the truth. If doing things is disconnected from practicing the truth, then there is no life entry. Practicing the truth is the most realistic issue, and real life cannot be separated from practicing the truth. If one does not practice the truth, then they are not a sincere believer in God; they are a disbeliever, a nonbeliever outside of God’s words. Those who sincerely believe in God are all people who love the truth, who can accept the truth, and who can pray to God and rely on God when practicing the truth. Especially when they encounter difficulties in doing their duty, they can seek the truth principles to resolve problems. This is the key to fulfilling one’s duty. If, when doing your duty, your heart is not focused on practicing the truth or considering how to practice the truth according to principles, but instead is preoccupied with matters of the flesh, always thinking about eating, drinking, and having fun, then you won’t be able to do your duty well. Doing your duty in this way is perfunctory, and God will not approve of it. If someone loves the truth and believes that the most crucial aspect of doing their duty is practicing the truth, and no matter what situations arise or how many aspects of the truth are involved in their duty, they use their heart to ponder, pondering how to practice the truth in each situation, then such a person is led by the work of the Holy Spirit and is someone whom God looks upon with favor. When such a person becomes negative or weak, the Holy Spirit also takes responsibility; when they encounter temptation, God watches over and protects them; and when they violate principles, God rebukes and disciplines them. The difference between this person and others is that they love the truth, they strive for the truth, and they are especially dedicated. If you are dedicated, you can do your duty well and avoid being perfunctory; this is the most basic requirement. However, to be able to fulfill your duty with all your heart, strength, and mind, you must additionally seek the truth, resolve your corrupt dispositions, understand the truth, and reach the point where you have the strength and faith to rebel against the flesh and overcome your difficulties. If you can do this, you will be able to practice the truth and handle things according to principles. Practicing in this way is actually not difficult; it is something that people can achieve, and it is not abstract at all—it’s very practical. It simply requires that in the process of doing your duty and handling matters, you put some of your heart into it, apply your mind a bit, expend some energy, and organize your time well. All of your time, lifestyle habits, personal preferences, personal tasks, and your daily routines—what you eat and wear, your living arrangements, how you get around—should revolve around your duty and serve the purpose of helping you do your duty well. If today your duty keeps you busy, you can postpone washing clothes until you are free. When you have time, you can read God’s words, ponder them, equip yourself with them, and enrich yourself. Then, when you get busy with your duty again, you can focus on your duty and, while doing it, reflect on God’s words to resolve problems. In this way, you won’t miss out on eating and drinking God’s words one bit. Everything revolves around doing your duty well—this is called devoting all your heart. Regardless of whether your duty keeps you busy or gives you ample downtime, your daily schedule is adjusted according to your duty—this is called being dedicated. It’s not difficult at all. When you are dedicated, how could you still be perfunctory? It would be impossible for you to be perfunctory even if you wanted, because everything you do—your lifestyle habits, your private life—revolves around your duty. In this way, you become loyal to your duty and there is no chance of being perfunctory. This is because you have fully devoted your heart, everything in your life is arranged around doing your duty, and it’s arranged with particular thoughtfulness. Even if sometimes you are lacking in certain areas of professional knowledge or you are genuinely too busy, resulting in some minor issues being overlooked and some mistakes in your performance of duty, it doesn’t matter, because you have devoted all your heart and strength to doing these things and the overall results of your duty are good—that is enough. Is practicing the truth far removed from people’s daily lives? No, it’s neither disconnected nor distant; it’s integrated with life. If every morning the first thing you think about after you get up is where to go for fun, feeling that staying in one place all the time is stifling and always doing the same things is too boring, this mindset is not right. When you open your eyes in the morning, the first thing you should consider is the tasks that need to be urgently completed for your duty today, treating these tasks as your top priority. Isn’t this practicing the truth? Sometimes, when you’re dozing off absent-mindedly and suddenly remember there’s something you haven’t done, you immediately get up to take care of it before resting again. Isn’t this practicing the truth? This is practicing the truth. It’s such a simple thing, it’s not difficult at all.

—God’s Fellowship

If people believe in God but do not pursue the truth, and never focus on practicing the truth, then they could believe for ten or twenty years without experiencing any change. And in the end, they will think that that’s what faith in God is; they will think it is pretty much the same as how they were living in the secular world previously, and that being alive is meaningless. This truly shows that without the truth, life is empty. They may be able to speak some words and doctrines, but they will still feel uncomforted and uneasy. If people have some knowledge of God, know how to live a meaningful life, and can do some things to satisfy God, then they will feel that this is real life, that only by living in this way will their lives have meaning, and that they have to live this way in order to bring satisfaction to God, repay God, and feel at ease. If they can consciously satisfy God, put the truth into practice, rebel against themselves, abandon their own ideas, and be submissive and considerate toward God’s intentions—if they are able to do all these things consciously—then this is what it means to accurately put the truth into practice, and to genuinely put the truth into practice. It’s not like before, merely relying on imaginings and following regulations, and thinking that this is practicing the truth. In fact, relying on imaginings and following regulations is very tiring, not understanding the truth and doing things without principles is also very tiring, and blindly doing things without goals is even more tiring. When you understand the truth, you will not be constrained by any people, events, or things, and you will truly have freedom and release. You will act in a principled way, and be relaxed and happy, and you will not feel that this takes too much effort or causes too much suffering. If you have this kind of state, you have the truth and humanity, and you are someone whose disposition has changed.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Pursuing the Truth Can One Achieve a Change in Disposition

At the current stage, it is of vital importance to first know the truth, and then put it into practice and equip yourself further with the true meaning of the truth. You should seek to attain this. Rather than merely seeking to make others follow your words, you should cause them to follow your practice. Only in this way can you find something meaningful. No matter what befalls you, no matter whom you come across, as long as you have the truth, you will be able to stand firm. The word of God is that which brings life to man, not death. If, after reading the word of God, you do not come alive, but you are still dead, then there is something wrong with you. If after some time you have read much of God’s word and have heard many practical sermons, but you are still in a condition of death, then this is proof that you are not one who values the truth, nor are you a person who pursues the truth. If you truly sought to gain God, you would not focus on equipping yourselves with doctrines and using lofty doctrines to teach others, but would instead focus on experiencing God’s word and putting the truth into practice. Is this not what you should now be seeking to enter into?

There is limited time for God to do His work in man, so what outcome can there be if you do not cooperate with Him? Why is it that God always wants you to practice His word once you understand it? It is because God has revealed His words to you, and your next step is to actually practice them. As you practice these words, God will carry out the work of enlightenment and guidance. That is how it is to be done. … At its core, your goal is to let God’s word take effect within you. In other words, it is to have a true understanding of God’s word in your practice of it. Perhaps your ability to comprehend God’s word is poor, but when you practice the word of God, He can remedy this flaw, so not only must you know many truths, but you must also practice them. This is the greatest focus that cannot be ignored. Jesus endured many humiliations and much suffering in His thirty-three and a half years. He suffered so greatly simply because He practiced the truth, followed the will of God in all things, and only showed consideration for God’s intentions. This was suffering that He would not have undergone had He known the truth without practicing it. 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 effectiveness of God’s work on man comes from 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 such a sorrowful prayer 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.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Once You Understand the Truth, You Should Put It Into Practice

Related Hymns

Practice More Truth to Progress More in Life

Rebelling Against the Flesh Is Practicing the Truth