When equipping yourself for life, you must focus on eating and drinking God’s words, you must be able to talk of knowledge of God, of your views on human life, and, in particular, of your knowledge of the work done by God during the last days. Since you pursue life, you must equip yourself with these things. When you eat and drink the words of God, you must measure the reality of your own state against them. That is, when you discover your shortcomings in the course of your real experience, you must be capable of finding a path to practice, of turning your back on your incorrect motivations and notions. If you always strive for these things and pour your heart into achieving them, then you will have a path to follow, you will not feel empty, and thus you will be able to maintain a normal state. Only then will you be someone who carries a burden in your own life, who has faith. Why is it that some people, after reading God’s words, are unable to put them into practice? Is it not because they cannot grasp the most crucial things? Is it not because they do not take life seriously? The reason that they cannot grasp the crucial things and have no path to practice is that when they read God’s words, they are unable to relate their own states to them, nor can they master their own states. Some people say: “I read God’s words and relate my state to them, and I know that I am corrupt and of poor caliber, but I am incapable of satisfying God’s will.” You have only seen the very surface; there are many real things that you do not know: how to put aside the enjoyments of the flesh, how to put aside self-righteousness, how to change yourself, how to enter into these things, how to improve your caliber, and from which aspect to begin. You only grasp a few things on the surface, and all that you know is that you are indeed very corrupt. When you meet your brothers and sisters, you talk about how corrupt you are, and it seems that you know yourself and carry a great burden for your life. In fact, your corrupt disposition has not changed, which proves you have not found the path to practice. If you are leading a church, you must be able to grasp the states of the brothers and sisters and point them out. Will it do just to say: “You people are disobedient and backward!”? No, you must speak specifically of how their disobedience and backwardness are manifested. You must speak of their disobedient states, their disobedient behaviors, and their satanic dispositions, and you must speak of these things in such a way that they are utterly convinced of the truth in your words. Use facts and examples to make your points, and say exactly how they can break away from rebellious behavior, and point out the path to practice—this is how to convince people. Only those who do so are capable of leading others; only they possess the reality of truth.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Practice (7)