Today, some people pursue being used by God, but after being conquered they cannot be used directly. As for the words spoken today, if, when God uses people, you are still unable to accomplish them, then you have not been made perfect. In other words, the arrival of the end of the period when man is made perfect will determine whether man will be eliminated or used by God. Those who have been conquered are nothing more than examples of passiveness and negativity; they are specimens and models, but they are nothing more than a counterpoint. Only when man has life, his disposition has changed, and he has achieved changes inside and out will he have been fully made complete. Today, which do you want, to be conquered, or to be made perfect? Which do you wish to achieve? How many of the conditions for being made perfect have you fulfilled? Which have you not fulfilled? How should you equip yourself, and how should you make up for your deficiencies? How should you enter onto the path to being made perfect? How should you completely submit? You ask to be made perfect, so do you pursue holiness? Do you pursue chastisement and judgment so that you may be protected by God? You pursue being cleansed, so are you willing to accept chastisement and judgment? You ask to know God, but do you have a knowledge of His chastisement and judgment? Today, most of the work He does on you is chastisement and judgment; what is your knowledge of this work, which has been carried out upon you? Has the chastisement and judgment that you have experienced cleansed you? Has it changed you? Has it had any effect on you? Are you weary of so much work of today—curses, judgments, and disclosures—or do you feel that they are of great benefit to you? You love God, but because of what do you love Him? Do you love God because you have only received a little grace, or do you love God after having gained peace and joy? Or do you love God after being cleansed by His chastisement and judgment? What exactly makes you love God? Which conditions did Peter fulfill in order to be made perfect? After he was made perfect, what was the crucial way in which it was expressed? Did he love the Lord Jesus because he longed for Him, or because he couldn’t see Him, or because he had been reproached? Or did he love the Lord Jesus even more because he had accepted the suffering of tribulations, and had come to know his own filth and disobedience, and had come to know the holiness of the Lord? Did his love of God become purer because of God’s chastisement and judgment, or because of something else? Which is it? You love God because of God’s grace, and because today He has given you some slight blessing. Is this true love? How should you love God? Should you accept His chastisement and judgment, and, after beholding His righteous disposition, be able to truly love Him, such that you are utterly convinced, and have a knowledge of Him? Like Peter, can you say that you cannot love God enough? Is what you pursue to be conquered after chastisement and judgment, or to be cleansed, protected and cared for after chastisement and judgment? Which of these do you pursue? Is your life a meaningful one, or is it pointless and without value? Do you want the flesh, or do you want the truth? Do you wish for judgment, or comfort? Having experienced so much of God’s work, and having beheld the holiness and righteousness of God, how should you pursue? How should you walk this path? How should you put your love of God into practice? Has God’s chastisement and judgment achieved any effect in you? Whether or not you have a knowledge of God’s chastisement and judgment depends on what you live out, and to what extent you love God! Your lips say you love God, yet what you live out is the old, corrupt disposition; you have no fear of God, much less do you have a conscience. Do such people love God? Are such people loyal to God? Are they those who accept God’s chastisement and judgment? You say you love God and believe in Him, yet you do not let go of your conceptions. In your work, entry, the words you speak, and in your life, there is no manifestation of your love of God, and there is no reverence for God. Is this someone who has gained chastisement and judgment? Could someone such as this be Peter? Do those who are like Peter only have the knowledge, but not the living out? Today, what is the condition that requires man to live out a real life? Were Peter’s prayers nothing more than words that came out of his mouth? Were they not the words from deep within his heart? Did Peter only pray, and not put the truth into practice? For whose sake is your pursuit? How should you have yourself protected and cleansed during God’s chastisement and judgment? Is God’s chastisement and judgment of no benefit to man? Is all judgment punishment? Could it be that only peace and joy, only material blessings and momentary comfort, are beneficial to the life of man? If man lives in a pleasant and comfortable environment, without a life of judgment, could he be cleansed? If man wishes to change and be cleansed, how should he accept being made perfect? Which path should you choose today?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment