What is the path through which God perfects man? Which aspects are included? Are you willing to be perfected by God? Are you willing to accept the judgment and chastisement of God? What do you know of these questions? If you cannot speak of such knowledge, then this shows that you still know not of God’s work and have not been enlightened at all by the Holy Spirit. Such kind of man cannot be perfected. They can only receive a small amount of grace to enjoy briefly and it cannot be maintained in the long term. If one merely enjoys God’s grace, he cannot be perfected by God. Some may be satisfied with the peace and enjoyment of the flesh, a life of ease without adversity or misfortune, living in peace with their family without fights or quarrels. They may even believe this to be the blessing of God, but in truth, it is merely the grace of God. You cannot be satisfied merely with enjoying the grace of God. This kind of thinking is too vulgar. Even if you read the word of God daily, pray every day, and your spirit feels particular enjoyment and peace, yet in the end you cannot speak of any knowledge of God and His work or have no experience with such, and no matter how much of God’s word you have eaten and drunk, if you merely feel peace and enjoyment in your spirit and that the word of God is sweet beyond compare, as if you cannot enjoy it enough, but you have no real experience with and no reality of the word of God, then what can you receive from such manner of faith in God? If you cannot live out the essence of God’s word, your eating and drinking and prayers are entirely concerned with religion. Then such kind of man cannot be perfected and cannot be gained by God. All those gained by God are those who pursue the truth. What God gains is not man’s flesh nor his possessions, but the part within him that belongs to God. That is why I say that God perfects not the flesh of man but his heart, so that the heart of man may be gained by God. In other words, the essence of saying that God perfects man is that God perfects the heart of man so that it may turn to God and love Him.
The flesh of man is mortal. It serves no purpose for God to gain the flesh of man, for it is that which inevitably decays. It cannot receive the inheritance of God or His blessings. If God only gains the flesh of man and keeps man’s flesh in this stream, man would be in this stream in name, but man’s heart would belong to Satan. Then not only would man be unable to become the expression of God, he would instead become His burden. Thus God’s choosing men would become meaningless. Those who will be perfected by God are those who will receive God’s blessings and His inheritance. That is, they take in what God has and is, so that it becomes what they have within; they have all the words of God wrought into them; whatever the being of God, you are able to take it all in exactly as is, thereby living out the truth. This is the kind of man perfected by God and gained by God. Only such kind of man is eligible to inherit these blessings bestowed by God:
1. Receiving the whole of God’s love.
2. Acting in accordance with the will of God in all things.
3. Receiving the guidance of God, living under the light of God, and being enlightened by
God.
4. Living out the image loved by God on earth; loving God truly as Peter did, crucified for
God and worthy to die in recompense for God’s love; having the same glory as Peter.
5. Being beloved, respected, and admired by all on earth.
6. Overcoming all the bondage of death and Hades, giving no opportunity for Satan’s work,
being possessed by God, living within a fresh and lively spirit, and having no feeling of weariness.
7. Having an unspeakable sense of elation and excitement at all times throughout life, as if
he has seen the coming of the day of God’s glory.
8. Receiving glory with God, and having a countenance similar to God’s beloved saints.
9. Becoming that which God loves on earth, that is, the beloved son of God.
10. Changing form and ascending with God to the third heaven, transcending the flesh.
Only those able to inherit the blessings of God are those perfected by God and gained by God. Have you gained anything? To what extent has God perfected you? God does not perfect man at random. There are conditions and apparent results that can be seen by man. It is not as man believes, that as long as he has faith in God, he can be perfected and gained by God, and can receive on earth the blessings and inheritance of God. Such matters are exceedingly difficult, and much more so when it comes to the changing of form. At present, that which you should primarily seek is to be perfected by God in all things, and to be perfected by God through all people, matters, and things that you are faced with, so that more of what God is will be incorporated into you. You must first receive the inheritance of God on earth before you are eligible to inherit more and greater blessings from God. All such things are that which you should seek and which you should first understand. The more you seek to be perfected by God in all things, the more you will be able to see the hand of God in all things, thereby actively seeking to enter into the being of God’s word and the reality of His word through different perspectives and in different matters. You cannot be content with such negative states as merely not committing sins, or having no conceptions, no philosophy of life, and no human will. God perfects man in various ways, and it is possible in all matters for you to be perfected as a result. Not only can you be perfected in terms of the positive, but also of the negative, thereby enriching you. Every day there are opportunities to be perfected and time to be gained by God. After a period of such experience, you will be greatly changed. You will now naturally be able to gain insight into many things that you previously did not understand; without needing others to teach you, unknowingly, you will be enlightened by God, so that you have enlightenment in all things and all your experiences go into detail. God will guide you so that you veer not to either side. Then you will be set upon the path to perfection by Him.
Being perfected by God cannot be confined to perfection by eating and drinking God’s word. This manner of experience is too one-sided and does not encompass enough; it only restricts man to a very small scope. In this case, man lacks much needed spiritual nourishment. If you wish to be perfected by God, you must learn to experience all things and be enlightened in all that you face. Whenever you are faced with something, be it good or bad, you should benefit from it and it should not cause you to become passive. No matter what, you should be able to consider it by standing on the side of God, and not analyze or study it from the perspective of man (this is a deviation in your experience). If this is the manner of your experience, then your heart will be taken over by the burdens for your life; you will live constantly in the light of God’s countenance and will not easily deviate in your practice. Such kind of man has great prospects. There are so many opportunities to be perfected by God. It all rests on whether you are ones who truly love God and whether you have the resolution to be perfected by God, be gained by God, and receive His blessings and inheritance. It will not do for you to only have resolution. You must have much knowledge, otherwise you will always deviate in your practice. God is willing to perfect each and every one of you. As it stands now, though most have already accepted the work of God for much time, they have limited themselves to merely basking in the grace of God and are only willing to receive some comfort of the flesh from Him. They are unwilling to receive more and higher revelations, showing that the heart of man is still always on the outside. Though the work of man, his service, and his heart of love for God have fewer impurities, as far as the essence of man within and his unenlightened thinking are concerned, man still constantly seeks the peace and enjoyment of the flesh, and cares not what the conditions for and purposes of God perfecting man are. So the lives of most are still vulgar and decadent, without the slightest bit of change. They simply do not regard faith in God as a matter of importance. Rather, it is as if they just have faith for the sake of another, acting without earnestness or dedication, and getting by with the bare minimum, adrift in a purposeless existence. Few are those who seek to enter into the word of God in all things, gaining more enriching things, becoming ones of greater wealth in the house of God this day, and receiving more of God’s blessings. If you seek to be perfected by God in all things and are able to inherit the promises of God on earth; if you seek to be enlightened by God in all things and do not let the years slip idly by, this is the ideal path to actively enter in. Only in this way are you worthy and eligible to be perfected by God. Are you truly one who seeks to be perfected by God? Are you truly one who is earnest in all things? Do you have the same spirit of love for God as Peter? Do you have the will to love God as Jesus did? You have had faith in Jesus for many years; have you seen how it is that Jesus loved God? Is it truly Jesus that you believe in? You believe in the practical God of this day; have you seen how the practical God in the flesh loves the God in heaven? You have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; that is because the crucifixion of Jesus to redeem mankind and the miracles He performed are generally accepted truths. However, your faith comes not from knowledge and true understanding of Jesus Christ. You believe only in the name of Jesus but have no faith in His Spirit, for you show no regard for how Jesus loved God. Your faith in God is too juvenile. Though you have had faith in Jesus for many years, you know not how to love God. Does this not make you the world’s greatest fool? This shows that for years you have eaten the food of the Lord Jesus Christ in vain. Not only do I dislike such kind of man, I trust that so too does the Lord Jesus Christ, whom you worship. How can such kind of man be perfected? Are you not red-faced? Do you not feel ashamed? Do you still have the gall to face your Lord Jesus Christ? Do you all understand the meaning of My words?
from The Word Appears in the Flesh
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