Gaining knowledge of practicality and a thorough understanding of God’s work—these are both seen in His words, and it is only through these utterances that you can gain enlightenment. You therefore should do more to equip yourself with God’s words. Communicate your understanding of God’s words in fellowship, and in this way, you can enlighten others and give them a way out—this is a practical path. Before God arranges an environment for you, you each must first equip yourself with His words. This is something that everyone should do; it is an urgent priority. First, reach a point where you know how to eat and drink of God’s word. For anything that you are unable to do, search His words for a path of practice; for any issues you do not understand or any difficulties you might have, look to His words. Make God’s words your supply, and allow them to assist you in resolving your practical difficulties and problems; also allow His words to become your help in life. These things will require effort on your part. In eating and drinking of God’s word, you must achieve results; you must be able to quiet your heart before Him, and you must practice in accordance with His utterances whenever you encounter any issues. When you have not encountered any issues, you should just concern yourself with eating and drinking of His word. Sometimes you may pray and contemplate God’s love, share in fellowship your understanding of His words, and communicate about the enlightenment and illumination you experience within yourself and the reactions you have had while reading these utterances. Moreover, you can give people a way out. Only this is practical. The goal of doing this is to allow God’s words to become your practical supply.

Over the course of a day, how many hours do you spend in which you are genuinely before God? How much of your day is actually given to God? How much is given to the flesh? Having one’s heart always oriented toward God is the first step to being on the right track of being perfected by Him. If you can devote your heart, body, and all of your genuine love to God, place them before Him, be completely submissive toward Him, and be absolutely considerate of His intentions—not for the flesh, not for family, and not for your own personal desires, but for the interests of God’s household, taking God’s word as the principle and foundation in everything—then by doing so, your intentions and your perspectives will all be in the right place, and you will then be a person before God who receives His praise. The people God likes are those who are absolute toward Him; they are the ones who can be devoted solely to Him. Those whom God loathes are the ones who are half-hearted toward Him and who rebel against Him. He loathes those who believe in Him and always want to enjoy Him while yet being unable to completely expend themselves for His sake. He loathes those who say they love Him but who rebel against Him in their hearts; He loathes those who use eloquent, flowery words to engage in deception. Those who are not genuinely dedicated to God or who have not truly submitted before Him are treacherous and overly arrogant by nature. Those who cannot be genuinely submissive in front of the normal, practical God are even more arrogant, and they especially are the dutiful progeny of the archangel. People who truly expend themselves for God dedicate their entire being to Him and put themselves before Him; they can submit to all of His words and work, and are able to put His words into practice. They can accept God’s words and take them as the foundation of their existence, and they are able to search earnestly within God’s words to find out which parts to practice. Such are people who truly live before God. If you practice in this way, it will be beneficial for your life, and through the eating and drinking of His words you can meet your inner needs and inadequacies so that your life disposition is transformed, then this will satisfy God’s intentions. If you act in accordance with God’s requirements, and if you do not satisfy the flesh but instead satisfy His intentions, then in this you will have entered the reality of His words. Entering the reality of God’s words means you can perform your duty and meet the demands of God’s work. Only these sorts of practical actions can be called entering the reality of His words. If you are able to enter this reality, then you will possess the truth. This is the beginning of entering reality; you must first undertake this training, and only then will you be able to enter even deeper realities. Consider how to keep the commandments and how to be loyal in front of God; do not constantly think about when you will be able to enter the kingdom. If your disposition does not change, then whatever you think of will be useless! To enter the reality of God’s words, you must first get to where all of your ideas and thoughts are for God—this is the barest necessity.

Currently, there are many people who are in the midst of trials and do not understand God’s work, but I tell you: If you do not understand it, then you had better not make judgments about it. Perhaps there will be a day when the truth will come to light in its entirety, and then you will understand. Not making judgments would be beneficial for you, yet you cannot just wait passively. You must seek to actively enter; only then will you be one who really enters. Because of their rebelliousness, people are always developing notions about the practical God. This makes it necessary for all people to learn how to be submissive, for the practical God is an enormous trial for mankind. If you cannot stand firm, then everything is finished; if you do not have an understanding of the practicality of the practical God, then you will not be able to be perfected by God. A critical step in whether or not people can be perfected is their understanding of God’s practicality. The practicality of God incarnate come to earth is a trial for each and every person; if you are able to stand firm in this regard, then you will be someone who knows God, and you will be someone who truly loves Him. If you cannot stand firm in this regard, and you only believe in the Spirit and are incapable of believing in God’s practicality, then no matter how great your faith in God is, it will be useless. If you cannot believe in the visible God, then can you believe in God’s Spirit? Are you not just trying to fool God? You are not submissive before the visible and tangible God, so are you capable of submitting before the Spirit? The Spirit is invisible and intangible, so when you say that you submit to God’s Spirit, are you not just talking nonsense? The key to keeping the commandments is having an understanding of the practical God. Once you have an understanding of the practical God, you will be able to keep the commandments. There are two components to keeping them: One is holding onto the essence of His Spirit, and before the Spirit, being able to accept the Spirit’s examination; the other is being able to have a genuine understanding of the incarnate flesh, and achieving genuine submission. Whether before the flesh or before the Spirit, one must always harbor a heart that submits to God and fears Him. Only one such as this is qualified to be perfected. If you have an understanding of the practicality of the practical God—that is, if you have stood firm in this trial—then nothing will be too much for you.

Some people say, “The commandments are easy to keep; you just need to speak frankly and devoutly when before God, and not make any gesticulations; this is what keeping the commandments is.” Is that right? So, if you do a few things behind God’s back that are in resistance to Him, does that count as keeping the commandments? You must have a thorough understanding of what keeping the commandments involves. It relates to whether or not you have a real understanding of the practicality of God; if you have an understanding of practicality and do not stumble and fall during this trial, then you can be counted as having strong testimony. Bearing a resounding witness for God primarily relates to whether or not you have an understanding of the practical God, and to whether or not you are able to submit before this person who is not only ordinary, but normal, and submit even unto death. If, by way of this submission, you truly bear witness for God, that means you have been obtained by God. If you can submit unto death and, before Him, be free of complaints, not make judgments, not slander, not have any notions, and not have any ulterior motives, then in this way God will gain glory. Submission before a regular person who is looked down upon by man, and being able to submit unto death without any notions—this is true testimony. The reality that God requires people to enter into is that you are able to submit to His words, put them into practice, bow down in front of the practical God and know your own corruption, open up your heart in front of Him, and, ultimately, be gained by Him through these words of His. God gains glory when these utterances conquer you and make you fully submissive to Him; through this, He shames Satan and completes His work. When you do not have any notions about the practicality of God incarnate—that is, when you have stood firm in this trial—then you have borne this witness well. If there comes a day when you have a full understanding of the practical God and can submit unto death like Peter did, then you will be gained and perfected by God. Anything God does that is not in line with your notions is a trial for you. If God’s work were in line with your notions, it would not require you to suffer or be refined. It is because His work is so practical and not in line with your notions that it requires you to let go of such notions. This is why it is a trial for you. It is because of God’s practicality that all people are in the midst of trials; His work is practical, not supernatural. By fully understanding His practical words and His practical utterances without any notions, and being able to genuinely love Him as His work grows ever more practical, you will be gained by Him. The group of people whom God will gain are those who know God; that is, those who know His practicality. Furthermore, they are those who are able to submit to God’s practical work.

During God’s time in the flesh, the submission He requires of people does not involve refraining from making judgments or resisting, as they imagine; rather, He requires that people use His words as their principle to live by and the foundation of their survival, that they absolutely put the essence of His words into practice, and that they completely satisfy His intentions. One aspect of requiring people to submit to God incarnate refers to putting His words into practice, while another aspect refers to being able to submit to His normality and practicality. These must be both absolute. Those who can achieve both of these aspects are all those who harbor genuine God-loving hearts. They are all people who have been gained by God, and they all love God as they love their own lives. God incarnate bears normal and practical humanity in His work. In this way, His exterior shell of both normal and practical humanity becomes an enormous trial for people; it becomes their greatest difficulty. However, God’s normality and practicality cannot be avoided. He tried everything to find a solution, but in the end could not rid Himself of the exterior shell of His normal humanity. This was because, after all, He is God become flesh, not the God of the Spirit in heaven. He is not the God that people cannot see, but the God wearing the shell of a created being. Thus, ridding Himself of the shell of His normal humanity would by no means be easy. Therefore, no matter what, He still does the work that He wants to do from the perspective of the flesh. This work is the expression of the normal and practical God, so how could it be okay for people to not submit? What on earth can people do about the actions of God? He does whatever He wants to do; whatever He is happy with is just the way it is. If people do not submit, then what other sound plans can they have? So far, only submission has been able to save people; no one has had any other bright ideas. If God wants to test people, what can they do about it? However, all of this was not thought up by God in heaven; it was thought up by God incarnate. He wants to do this, so no person can change it. God in heaven does not interfere with what God incarnate does, so is this not even more reason why people should submit to Him? Although He is both practical and normal, He is completely the God become flesh. Based on His own ideas, He does whatever He wants to. God in heaven has handed over all tasks to Him; you must submit to whatever He does. Although He has humanity and is very normal, He has deliberately arranged all of this, so how can people glare at Him with their eyes wide with disapproval? He wants to be normal, so He is normal. He wants to live within humanity, so He lives within humanity. He wants to live within divinity, so He lives within divinity. People can see it however they want, but God will always be God and humans will always be humans. His essence cannot be denied because of some minor detail, nor can He be pushed outside of the “person” of God because of one little thing. People have the freedom of human beings, and God has the dignity of God; these do not interfere with each other. Can people not give God a little freedom? Can they not tolerate God’s being a little more casual? Do not be so strict with God! Each should have tolerance for one another; would everything not then be settled? Would any estrangement still exist? If one cannot tolerate such a trivial matter, then how can they even say anything like “A prime minister’s heart is big enough to sail a boat in”? How can they be a true man? It is not God who causes difficulty for mankind, but mankind who causes difficulty for God. They are always handling things by making mountains out of molehills. They really do make something out of nothing, and it is so unnecessary! When God works within normal and practical humanity, what He does is not the work of mankind, but the work of God. However, humans do not see the essence of His work; they always just see the exterior shell of His humanity. They have not seen such great work, yet they insist on seeing His ordinary and normal humanity, and will not let go of it. How can this be called submitting before God? God in heaven has now “turned into” God on earth, and God on earth is now God in heaven. It does not matter if Their external appearances are the same, nor does it matter just how exactly They work. In the end, He who does God’s own work is God Himself. You must submit whether you want to or not—this is not a matter in which you have a choice! God must be submitted to by humans, and humans must absolutely submit to God without the slightest bit of pretense.

The group of people whom God incarnate wants to gain today are those who align with His intentions. They need only submit to His work, and stop constantly concerning themselves with the wishes of God in heaven, living in vagueness, and making things difficult for God in the flesh. Those who are able to submit to Him are those who absolutely listen to His words and obey His arrangements. Such people pay no mind at all to what God in heaven might really be like or what kind of work God in heaven might currently be doing among mankind; they fully give their hearts to God on earth and they place their entire beings before Him. They never give any consideration to their own safety, nor do they ever make a fuss over the normality and practicality of God in the flesh. Those who submit to God in the flesh can be perfected by Him. Those who believe in God in heaven will gain nothing. This is because it is not God in heaven, but God on earth, who bestows promises and blessings upon people. People should not always honor God in heaven as great while seeing God on earth as a mere average person; this is unfair. God in heaven is great and wonderful with marvelous wisdom, yet that God in heaven does not exist at all; God on earth is very average and insignificant, and is also very normal. He does not have an extraordinary mind or perform earth-shattering acts; He simply works and speaks in a very normal and practical manner. While He does not speak through thunder or summon the wind and the rain, He truly is the incarnation of God in heaven, and He really is the God living amongst humans. People must not regard the one whom they are able to understand and who corresponds to their own imaginations as God, or honor that one as great, while seeing the one they cannot accept and absolutely cannot imagine as being lowly. All of this comes from people’s rebelliousness; it is all the source of mankind’s resistance to God.