There are many people who feel like they are lacking after they do their duty, and that they do not possess the truth reality, so they always require themselves to listen to more sermons, and leaders and workers to hold more gatherings, as if only that will be able to give them life entry and life growth. If they go a period of time without attending a gathering or a sermon, they feel like their hearts are empty and desolate, as though they have nothing. In their hearts, it is as if only daily gatherings and daily sermons will give them life entry, or enable them to grow into spiritual maturity. In reality, this kind of thinking is entirely incorrect. Those who believe in and follow God must do their duty—only then can they gain life experience. If you say you sincerely believe in God, but you do not want to do your duty, then where is the sincerity in your belief in God? Those who sincerely do their duty are those who have faith. Only those who have faith dare to dedicate their lives to God, and are willing to discard everything to expend for God. People like this experience the work of the Holy Spirit as they do their duty; they are enlightened, led, and disciplined by the Holy Spirit. All this produces life experience. So, life entry begins by formally doing one’s duty.

If people are apathetic about doing their duty, or are always muddleheaded, what kind of attitude do you think this is? Is it not just going through the motions? Is that the attitude you have toward your duty? Is this a problem of caliber or one of disposition? You should all be clear on this. Why are people just perfunctory when they do their duty? Why are they not loyal when they do things for God? Do they even possess reason or conscience? If you are truly possessed of conscience and reason, then when you do things, you will put a little more heart into them, as well as a little more kindness, responsibility, and consideration, and you will be able to put forth more effort. When you can put forth more effort, the results of the duties that you perform will improve. Your results will be better, and this will satisfy both other people and God. You have to put your heart into it! You can’t be absent-minded, as if you were working in the secular world and just made money based on the time you’d spent. If you have that kind of attitude, you’re in trouble. You can’t possibly perform your duty well. What kind of humanity is this? Do people without conscience have humanity? They don’t. If you say that you have humanity, and want to put the truth into practice and perform your duty well, then you should put more effort into your duty, and put your heart into it more. You say that you have a conscience, but you never put your heart into your duty. Is your conscience taking effect? You must put your heart in the right place. You should think about these things often—you must understand them all. Simply going through the motions when performing your duty is a major taboo. If you are always going through the motions while performing your duty, then you have no way of performing your duty to an acceptable standard. If you want to perform your duty with loyalty, you must first fix your problem of going through the motions. You should take steps to rectify the situation as soon as you notice it. If you are muddleheaded, are never able to notice problems, always just go through the motions, and do things in a perfunctory fashion, then you will have no way of doing your duty well. Therefore, you must always put your heart into your duty. This opportunity was very difficult for people to come by! When God gives them a chance, yet they do not grasp it, then that opportunity is lost—and even if, later on, they wish to find such an opportunity, it might not come up again. God’s work waits for no one, and neither do chances to perform one’s duty. Some people say, “I didn’t perform my duty well before, but now I still want to perform it. I should just get back on the horse.” It is wonderful to have resolve like this, but you must be clear about how to perform your duty well, and you must strive toward the truth. Only those who understand the truth can perform their duty well. Those who do not understand the truth are unqualified even to labor. The more clear you are on the truth, the more effective you will become in your duty. If you can see this matter for what it is, then you will strive toward the truth, and you have a hope of performing your duty well. There are not many opportunities currently to perform a duty, so you must take hold of them when you can. It is precisely when faced with a duty that you must exert yourself; that is when you must offer yourself up, expend yourself for God, and when you are required to pay the price. Do not hold anything back, harbor any schemes, leave any leeway, or give yourself a way out. If you leave any leeway, are calculating, or are wily and treacherous, then you are bound to do a poor job. Suppose you say, “No one saw me acting in a slick way. How cool!” What kind of thinking is this? Do you think you have pulled the wool over people’s eyes, and over God’s, too? In actual fact, though, does God know what you have done or not? He knows. In fact, anyone who interacts with you for a while will learn of your corruption and vileness, and though they may not say so outright, they will have their assessments of you in their hearts. There have been many people who were revealed and eliminated because so many others came to understand them. Once everyone saw through to their essence, they exposed those people for who they were and kicked them out. So, whether they pursue the truth or not, people should do their duty well to the best of their ability; they should employ their conscience in doing practical things. You may have defects, but if you can be effective in performing your duty, you will not be eliminated. If you are always thinking that you are fine, that you are sure not to be eliminated, if you still do not reflect or try to know yourself, and you ignore your proper tasks, if you are always perfunctory, then when God’s chosen people really do lose their tolerance with you, they will expose you for who you are, and in all likelihood, you will be eliminated. That’s because everyone has seen through you and you have lost your dignity and integrity. If no one trusts you, could God trust you? God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart: He absolutely could not trust such a person. If someone is an unreliable person, do not, under any circumstances, entrust them with a task. If you do not know what a person is like, or have just heard other people say this person is fine at what they do, but in your heart you are not one hundred percent sure, then all you can do is give them a small task to handle first—nothing important. If they do alright with a few small tasks, then you can give them a normal one. And only if they are successful with that task should you give them an important one to handle. If they mess up the normal task, then this person is not reliable. No matter whether a task is large or small, it cannot be entrusted to them. If you notice a person who is kind and responsible, has never just gone through the motions, who treats the tasks others have entrusted to them as their own, puts consideration into every aspect of the task, thinks of your needs, considers every angle, is very thorough and handles things in just the right way, making you particularly satisfied with their work—then, this is the sort of person who is trustworthy. Trustworthy people are people who have humanity, and people who have humanity are possessed of conscience and reason, and it should be very easy for them to perform their duty well, because they treat their duty as their obligation. People without conscience or reason are bound to perform their duty poorly, and they have no sense of responsibility toward their duty no matter what it is. Others always have to worry over them, supervise them, and ask about their progress; if not, things could go awry while performing their duty, and things could go wrong while performing a task, which would be more trouble than it’s worth. In short, people always need to examine themselves when performing their duties, “Have I adequately fulfilled this duty? Did I put my heart into it? Or did I just muddle through it?” If you are always perfunctory, you’re in danger. At the very least, it means you have no credibility, and that people cannot trust you. More seriously, if you always just go through the motions when doing your duty, and if you always deceive God, then you are in great danger! What are the consequences of being knowingly deceitful? Everyone can see that you are knowingly transgressing, that you are living according to nothing but your own corrupt disposition, that you are nothing but perfunctory, that you do not practice the truth at all—which means you are devoid of humanity! If this is manifested in you throughout, if you avoid major mistakes but are unceasing in the minor ones, and unrepentant from start to finish, then you are an evil person, a disbeliever, and should be cleared out. Such consequences are heinous—you are completely revealed and eliminated as a disbeliever and evil person.

Any duty you perform involves life entry. Whether your duty is rather regular or erratic, dull or lively, you must always attain life entry. The duties some people perform are rather monotonous; they do the same thing every day. However, when performing them, the states these people reveal are not all that homogenous. Sometimes, when in a good mood, people are a bit more diligent and do a better job. Other times, due to some unknown influence, their corrupt satanic dispositions stir up mischief in them, causing them to have improper views and be in bad states and bad moods; this results in them performing their duties in a perfunctory manner. People’s internal states are constantly changing; they can change at any place and any time. No matter how your state changes, it is always wrong to act based on your mood. Say you do a bit better when you are in a good mood, and a bit worse when you are in a bad mood—is this a principled way of doing things? Will this allow you to perform your duty to an acceptable standard? No matter what their mood, people must know to pray before God and seek the truth; only in this way can they refrain from being constrained and swayed to and fro by their moods. When performing your duty, you should always examine yourself to see if you are doing things according to principle, if your performance of your duty is up to standard, whether or not you are simply doing it in a perfunctory manner, whether you have tried to shirk your responsibilities, and whether there are any problems with your attitude and the way you think. Once you have self-reflected and these things become clear to you, you will have an easier time fulfilling your duty. No matter what you encounter while performing your duty—negativity and weakness, or being in a bad mood after being pruned—you should treat it properly, and you must also seek the truth and understand God’s intentions. By doing these things, you will have a path to practice. If you wish to do a good job in performing your duty, then you must not be affected by your mood. No matter how negative or weak you are feeling, you should practice the truth in everything you do, with absolute strictness, and sticking to the principles. If you do this, then not only will other people approve of you, but God will like you, too. As such, you will be a person who is responsible and who shoulders a burden; you will be a genuinely good person who actually performs your duties up to standard and who fully lives out the likeness of a genuine person. Such people are purified and achieve real transformation when performing their duties, and they can be said to be honest in God’s eyes. Only honest people can persevere with practicing the truth and succeed in acting with principle, and can perform their duties up to standard. People who act with principle perform their duties meticulously when they are in a good mood; they do not work in a perfunctory manner, they are not arrogant and they do not show themselves off to make others think highly of them. When they are in a bad mood, they can complete their everyday tasks just as earnestly and responsibly, and even if they encounter something that is detrimental to the performance of their duties, or that puts a bit of pressure on them or causes a disturbance while they perform their duties, they are still able to quiet their hearts before God and pray, saying, “No matter how big a problem I come up against—even if the sky comes tumbling down—as long as I am alive, I am determined to do my best to fulfill my duty. Every day I live is a day in which I must perform my duty well, so that I am worthy of this duty bestowed upon me by God, as well as this breath He has put in my body. Regardless of how much difficulty I might be in, I will set it all aside, for fulfilling my duty is of the utmost importance!” Those who are not affected by any person, event, thing, or environment, who are not constrained by any mood or external situation, and who put their duties and the commissions with which God has entrusted them first and foremost—they are the people who are loyal to God and who genuinely submit to Him. People like this have attained life entry and have entered the truth reality. This is one of the most genuine and practical expressions of living out the truth. Would living this way put a person at ease? Would you need to worry about how God sees you? How would you say you need to act in order to feel at ease? (Do not let yourself be constrained by any person, event, or thing, and put your duty first. This is the only way you can avoid letting God down.) Correct, this is the secret to being at ease. Have you all mastered this secret? If someone has a bad attitude when speaking to you, and intends to push you aside or deliberately find fault with you, you will feel unhappy, as if a knife had been twisted into you. You will not want to eat, and your sleep will be affected. At any rate, you will be in a bad mood, and your heart will be pained. At this point, what will you do? You might say, “Today I’m in a bad mood, so I’ll put my duty off for a couple days,” or “I’ll still do my duty, but it’s fine if I do it half-heartedly and just go through the motions. Everyone has times when things don’t go the way they want, so if I’m in a bad mood, God won’t ask too much of me, will He? I’ll just put off my duty for a little while today. It’s fine, I’ll do a good job tomorrow. God has been doing His work for six thousand years, so will He really care if I delay it by one day?” What kind of person allows small things to affect their mood, and then necessarily lets it affect their duty? Is this not a childish, unpromising temperament? When anything befalls them, they get into a huff, are completely unreasonable, do not do their duty, have no resolve, and forget their vows. What kind of problem is this? Is it not a problem of willfulness? There may be some people who do not usually behave like this, but when they are in a bad mood they give up on their responsibilities. Things like this happen too often. There are some people who, when they are in a bad mood, receive a little outside influence, so they have no energy while doing their duty, and cannot get their head back in the game. What should be done when this happens? Do these problems not need to be solved? Some people say, “They can’t be solved. In a little while, I still don’t want to do it, and I’ll just go with the flow. In any event, I’m in a bad mood and I don’t want anyone to talk to me. Just let me be unhappy for a bit.” Although they are still here doing their duty, they are only present in body, not mind. It is uncertain where their hearts have wandered off to. They are not responsible in their duty, they put forth no effort, and they are weak. However, when their mood improves, they start to get enthusiastic again; they are able to bear hardship and suffer exhaustion again, and they do not fuss over what they eat. Is this all not a bit abnormal? Why are people influenced by so many different feelings and circumstances? Have you ever searched for the reason? Are you not often troubled by these things? Do you not often get stuck in these states? Is this not the problem you all face? (It is.) If these problems are not solved, then people will never mature; they will always be children. For example, if someone says something without thinking of your feelings, something that is partially directed at you, or if they speak obliquely about you, then you will feel a little uncomfortable. If you talk to someone and they don’t pay attention to you, or they don’t have a nice expression on their face, you will be uncomfortable. If you have a day where your duty does not go as you wish, you will be uncomfortable. If you have a nightmare that seems like a bad omen, you will be uncomfortable. If you hear bad news about your family, you will be uncomfortable, you will be in a bad mood, and you will be unable to get your energy up. If you see someone else doing their duty well, and they receive praise and are promoted to be a leader, it will also make you uncomfortable, and affect your mood…. All these things which are able to influence you, both big and small, can trap you in negativity, make you depressed, and influence your ability to do your duty. What problem do people who behave like this have? (Their dispositions are unstable.) An unstable disposition is one aspect of it. Their humanity is immature and childish, and they have no insight. As far as their life entry goes, they always suffer the constraints of all kinds of people, events, and things, so it is not easy for them to practice the truth. If they cannot put the truth into practice, then they cannot enter into the truth reality, and if they cannot enter into the truth reality, then they will not have life entry. Is that not how it is? What causes them to be constrained by people, events, and things? It is because they do not understand the truth, because they cannot distinguish between what is true and what is false, and because they cannot distinguish who is right and who is wrong. This results in them not knowing how to practice, with no room to advance or retreat. That is the consequence. Most new believers are in this state. When they understand the truth, can see things clearly, and can distinguish between people, this problem will naturally resolve itself. However, those who do not love the truth do not seek the truth when things befall them. This kind of person will forever be unable to cast off the constraints of all kinds of people, events, and things. What kinds of states do people who often suffer the constraints of people, events, and things manifest? They easily become negative, and when they suffer setbacks or encounter difficulties, they stumble. These things influence their mood and their ability to do their duty. Those who do not understand the truth are easily constrained by all kinds of people, events, and things. Their life entry is very slow, and no matter how many years they have believed, they have no visible progress. They have not changed at all, and are more or less the same as the nonbelievers. This is all the result of not pursuing the truth. That is the reason. In a word, no matter how many years you have believed in God, no matter your caliber or your age, so long as you do not love the truth or seek the truth in all things, then you will be easily constrained by all kinds of people, events, and things. You will not know how to act appropriately, nor will you know how to practice the truth or be in accordance with the principles. Even if you act according to the notions of men and do not do bad things, you will still not know whether you are in accordance with the intentions of God. No matter how many years this kind of person has believed, they will not be able to talk about their experiential testimonies, because they do not understand how to experience the work of God, nor do they understand the truth in the slightest. People who do not pursue the truth are like this; no matter how long they have believed in God, they have no testimony to talk about. Their stature is too small, and they do not have the truth reality.

Right now, people are active in doing their duty. They also have the determination to do their duty, to expend themselves for God and forsake things for Him, and to offer themselves up to Him. There are even some people who have sworn many times that they would offer their entire lives up to God, and would expend themselves for Him. They possess all these things, but have no life entry. If a person does not have life entry, then with all sorts of complicated people, events, and things, it will be quite difficult for them to keep things together or address the issue. They cannot find a direction, nor can they find a path, and they often feel that they cannot cast off their negative state. They are entangled, constrained, controlled, and bound by all kinds of people, events, and things, and they do not know the most correct way to practice. Now, I will tell you a principle of practice: No matter what befalls you, whether it is a test or a trial, or you are being pruned, and no matter how people treat you, you should first set these things aside and come before God in diligent prayer, seeking the truth and adjusting your state. This ought to be resolved first. You should say, “No matter how big this matter is, even if the sky itself comes falling down, I must do my duty well. As long as I have breath, I will not give up on my duty.” So how do you do your duty well? You cannot just go through the motions, or be physically present but let your mind wander—you must focus your heart and mind on your duty. No matter how big the matters that befall you, you must first set them aside and come before God to seek how to do your duty well, so that it satisfies God. You should try to think, “With this thing I have encountered today, how will I do my duty well? Before, I acted perfunctorily, so today I must change my method and strive to do my duty well, so that no one has anything to nitpick. The key is that I must not let God down. I must put His heart at ease, so that when He sees me do my duty, He will know that I am not only obedient and submissive, but also loyal.” If you put this into practice and put forth effort in this direction, then nothing can delay you in doing your duty, or impact the effectiveness of your duty. As you continually pray, seek the truth, and try to figure out God’s words, you will be able to easily understand and resolve emotional matters of the flesh; but a person cannot do so unless they accept the truth. As long as you understand the truth, any problem can be solved. The gloom, low spirits, worries, misgivings, and negativity of your heart can all be completely solved. Your mood will slowly improve, and you will be completely liberated. If you truly have real difficulties, then you must learn to seek the truth and submit. When a person is confronted with these kinds of things, it is a test of their stature and reveals who they are, to see whether they can put the truth into practice.

In order to do your duty to an acceptable standard, you must first have the proper mentality. When your corrupt disposition is revealed, you must also adjust your own state. When you are able to treat your duty correctly, when you have shaken off the constraints and influences of all kinds of people, events, and things, when you can completely submit to God, then you will be able to do your duty well. The secret to doing this is to always put your duty and responsibilities first. In the process of doing your duty, you must always examine yourself: “Do I have a perfunctory attitude toward doing my duty? What things disturb me and cause me to be perfunctory in doing my duty? Am I doing my duty with all my heart and strength? Will acting this way enable God to trust me? Has my heart been completely submissive toward God? Is doing my duty this way in accordance with principles? Will doing my duty this way achieve the best results?” You should often reflect on these questions. When you discover problems, you should actively seek the truth, and find the relevant words of God to solve them. Thus, you will be able to do your duty well, and you will have peace and joy in your heart. If problems frequently arise as you do your duty, most of them come from problems with your intentions—they are the problems of a corrupt disposition. When a person’s corrupt disposition is revealed, they will have problems in their heart and their state will be abnormal, which will directly influence their ability to do their duty. Problems that influence one’s ability to do their duty are big, serious problems; they can directly influence their relationship with God. For example, some people develop notions and misunderstandings about God when disasters befall their families. Some people become negative when they bear hardships in their duties, no one sees it or praises them. Some people do not do their duty well, always being perfunctory, and they complain against God when they are pruned. Some people are unwilling to do their duty because they are always considering an escape route. These problems all directly influence a normal relationship with God. These are all problems of a corrupt disposition. They all stem from the fact that people do not know God, that they always scheme for and consider themselves, which prevents them from being considerate of God’s intentions or submitting to God’s plans. This produces all kinds of negative emotions. This is just how people who do not pursue the truth are. When little problems come upon them, they become negative and weak, they vent frustration over doing their duty, they rebel against and resist God, and they want to give up on their responsibilities and betray God. All these things are the various consequences produced by the constraints of a corrupt disposition. A person who loves the truth is able to set aside their own life, future, and destiny, and they only want to pursue and obtain the truth. They think that there is not enough time, they fear that they will be unable to do their duty well, and that they will not be able to be perfected, so they are able to cast everything aside. Their mentality is just to turn to and submit to God. They are undaunted by any difficulties, and if they feel negative or weak, they resolve it naturally by reading a few passages from the words of God. People who do not pursue the truth are troubled, and no matter how you fellowship about the truth with them, they are unable to fully resolve their problems. Even if they momentarily come around and are able to accept the truth, they will nevertheless go back on it later, so it is very difficult to handle this kind of person. It is not that they do not understand anything of the truth, it is that they do not treasure or accept the truth in their heart. In the end, this leads to them being unable to set aside their own will, selfishness, future, destiny, and destination, which then always arise to disturb them. If a person is able to accept the truth, then as they understand the truth, all those things that belong to a corrupt disposition will naturally disappear, and they will have life entry and stature; they will no longer be an ignorant child. When a person has stature, they will grow more and more able to understand things, more and more able to discern between all kinds of people, and they will not be constrained by any person, event, or thing. They will not be influenced by anything anyone says or does. They will not be subject to interference from the evil forces of Satan, or be misled or disturbed by false leaders and antichrists. If this happens, will a person’s stature not gradually grow? The more a person understands the truth, the faster their life will progress, and it will be easy for them to successfully do their duty and enter into the truth reality. When you have life entry and your life is gradually growing, your state will become increasingly normal. The people, events, and things that were once able to disturb and constrain you will no longer be a problem for you. You will have no more difficulties in doing your duty, and your relationship with God will become increasingly normal. When you know how to rely on God, when you know how to seek God’s intentions, when you know your own place, when you know what you should and should not do, and which matters do and do not require you to take responsibility, will your state not become increasingly normal? Living like this will not make you tired, will it? Not only will you not be tired, you will feel especially relaxed and happy. Will your heart not be filled with light as a result? Your mentality will be normal, the revelations of your corrupt disposition will decrease, and you will be able to live in the presence of God, to live out normal humanity. When people see your mental outlook, they will think that there has been a great change in you. They will be willing to fellowship with you, will feel peace and joy in their hearts, and will also be benefited. As your stature grows, your speech and actions will become more proper and principled. When you see people who are weak and negative, you will be able to give them substantial help—not constraining or lecturing them, but rather using your own real experiences to help and benefit them. This way, you will not just be exerting yourself in the house of God, you will be a useful person, able to take responsibility on yourself, and able to do more meaningful things in the house of God. Is this not the kind of person God likes? If you are a person God likes, will everyone not also like you? (They will.) Why is God pleased by this kind of person? Because they are able to do practical things before Him, they are not prone to flattery, they deal in practical matters, and they are able to help and lead others by speaking about their true experiences. They are able to help others solve any problem, and when there are difficulties in the work of the church, they are able to lead the way forward, actively solving problems. This is what it means to loyally do their duty. They are able to help their brothers and sisters solve their problems, which proves that they have life entry. The fact that they can do so many practical things proves that they practice the truth, and that they live in the presence of God. Because they have the truth reality, they are also able to lead others to enter into the truth reality. If you do not possess the truth reality or have true experiences, then can you lead others into the presence of God? If you do not live in the presence of God yourself, then you cannot lead others into His presence. If you just exert yourself as you do your duty, without seeking the truth principles at all, and are unwilling to satisfy God, then you are not living in the presence of God. Are those who do not live in the presence of God able to accept His scrutiny? Are they able to withstand God’s tests? Are they able to stand firm in the midst of trials? (No, they are not able to.) Can this kind of person bear testimony to God? Can they testify of Him? (No, they cannot.) What kind of person is unable to testify of God? Are they someone who truly believes in God? At the very least, they have not yet entered into the truth reality of God’s words, and they still exist outside God’s words. Someone who has believed in God for many years without any life entry, who cannot speak about their experiential testimony, much less testify of God, who cannot successfully spread the gospel to anyone—they are unworthy to be called a witness of God. So, someone who is of immature stature and has no life entry can never testify of God. The unspoken implication is that this kind of person does not live in the presence of God. If you do not live in the presence of God, do not have life entry, and are not a witness of God, then will He acknowledge you as one of His followers? He will not. God has given you an opportunity to do your duty, and you are willing to do it, but through your behavior He has seen that you cannot testify of Him, even after believing in Him for so long. Not only do you not have true experiential knowledge, you also live according to your notions and imaginings, you have no truth reality, and you do not live in the presence of God. If He gives you a trial, you cannot endure it; if He prunes you, you cannot bear it; if He judges and chastises you, then you give up on your responsibilities and get into a bad mood, and He will think: “This person is like a tiger no one dares to touch! Wherever I go to do My work or speak, this kind of person is unworthy to follow, unworthy to be with Me.” Why would He say this? Because this kind of person does not understand the truth, they do not have a pure comprehension, they do not have true experiences, and they do not understand God’s intentions. If they do not understand God’s intentions, can they be compatible with Him? If they do not understand His intentions, can they comprehend them? Can they accept the truth? It is hard to say, and these are all unknown quantities. So, if this kind of person were with God, then they would have misgivings about Him in everything, and they would not comprehend Him, which would then give rise to all kinds of misunderstandings, complaints, and judgments about God at every turn. In the end, this would give rise to betrayal. Could God want someone who betrays Him? Could God allow them to become His follower? He could not. If you want God to approve you as one of His followers, then you must first focus on life entry. You must start by understanding yourself, being able to cast off your corrupt disposition, achieving the ability to hold to your duty, and fulfilling your duty according to God’s requirements—that is first. Focusing on life entry is for the sake of doing your duty well, which is what this is all fundamentally about. You should start pursuing life entry from doing your duty, and from life entry, you should understand and obtain the truth one drop at a time, until you reach a point where you have stature, where your life gradually grows and you have real experiences with the truth. Then you should master all kinds of principles of practice, so that you are able to do your duty without being constrained or disturbed by any person, event, or thing. In this way, you will gradually live in God’s presence. You will not be disturbed by any kind of person, event, or thing, and you will have experience with the truth. As your experience becomes more abundant, you will be more able to testify of God, and as you are more able to testify of God, you will gradually become a useful person. When you become a useful person, you will be able to do your duty to an acceptable standard in the house of God, you will be able to stand in the place of a created being and submit to God’s arrangements and orchestrations, and you will be able to stand firm. Only this kind of person is an acceptable created being who has God’s approval. Then you will be worthy of all God has given you.

What is the key to entering into the truth reality? You must learn how to practice the truth and how to handle matters in a principled way. What use is it to always swear oaths and express your will? If you always swear oaths and express your will, but are still unable to practice the truth, then it is of no use at all. The most crucial, most real thing is to achieve life entry in the process of doing your duty, through seeking the truth to resolve the various problems which appear as you do your duty, and to reverse your mistaken attitudes toward your duty. What does it mean to have life entry? Having life entry means that you have experience with and knowledge of the truth, and are able to practice it correctly. Do you all have life entry right now? Are you able to testify of God? Are you not still stuck on doctrine the majority of the time? Are you not stopping at the doctrine, without really having knowledge of or experience with the truth? If you cannot attain true experiences and knowledge of the truth, then you cannot testify of God. The majority of the time your knowledge is perceptual. You are ambivalent, feeling as if one thing and another are both right; when God says one thing, it’s as if it’s the truth to you, and when He says something else, it’s also the truth. You feel as if all the words of God are the truth, and you say amen to them and praise them, but you cannot hold yourself up to them for comparison. When you do things, you are still confused, and you do not know which truths to use to solve your problems. Are the majority of you not in this state? Although you understand much and can speak much about doctrine, you cannot use it in your real lives. You still do not know how to practice the truth, nor do you know how to apply God’s words in your real lives, and no matter what befalls you, you do not know how to seek the truth to resolve your problems. This is because your stature is too small. When you know how to experience, practice, and apply God’s words in your real lives, and when you know how to seek the truth to solve problems after something befalls you, then your lives will grow. Knowing how to practice the truth is a sign that your life is growing. Someday, when you are able to solve problems with the truth, when you have some knowledge of God, when you can, through sharing your true knowledge of God, testify of His work, His holy and righteous disposition, and His almightiness and wisdom, then you will be able to truly testify of God, and you will be qualified to be used by God. If you understand a lot and are able to talk about doctrine all day long, but you cannot resolve anything related to your own problems or do not know how to solve them, then that proves that the things you understand are not the truth, they are just the words and doctrines. Even if you speak some doctrine very practically, in reality, this is just perceptual knowledge, which has not yet achieved rationality. Although people are edified after listening to you, having the same feelings as you, and your knowledge is even able to achieve some results on them, you are not able to speak on it too clearly, nor are you able to totally solve problems. This proves that the doctrines you have talked about are merely perceptual knowledge. You cannot say that they are the truth reality, much less that you have entered into the truth reality. Now how do you resolve the problem of talking about the words and doctrines? It requires you to reflect on the various kinds of corruption that are revealed in you as you do your duty, to reflect on the origins of every problem you encounter, and then to seek the truth, and to use God’s words to thoroughly resolve the corrupt disposition you have revealed. Whether what is revealed in you is arrogance and self-righteousness or twistedness and deceitfulness, whether selfishness and despicableness or perfunctoriness and lying to God, you must reflect on these corrupt dispositions until you see them clearly. This way, you will know what problems exist as you do your duty, and how far away you are from achieving salvation. Only when you can clearly see your own corrupt disposition will you be able to know where the difficulties and obstacles in doing your duty lie. Only then will you be able to resolve problems at their source. For example, say you do not take responsibility for doing your duty, instead always acting perfunctorily, causing losses in your work, but you care about your face, so you are unwilling to openly fellowship about your state and difficulties, or to practice self-dissection and self-knowledge, instead always looking for excuses to deal with things perfunctorily. How should you solve this problem? You must pray to God and self-reflect, saying: “Oh God, if I speak like that, it is only to protect my own face. It’s my corrupt disposition talking. I should not speak like that. I must open myself up, lay myself bare, and speak the true thoughts of my heart out loud. I would rather suffer shame and loss of face than satisfy my own vanity. I only want to satisfy God.” This way, by rebelling against yourself and speaking the true thoughts of your heart out loud, you are practicing being an honest person, and moreover, you are not acting according to your own will or protecting your own face. You are able to put God’s words into practice, to practice the truth according to the intentions of God, to earnestly fulfill your duty, and to completely fulfill your responsibilities. Thus, not only are you practicing the truth and doing your duty well, you are also upholding the interests of the house of God, and God’s heart is satisfied. This is a just and honorable way to live, worthy to be brought before both God and men. This is so wonderful! Practicing this way is a bit difficult, but if your efforts and practice are aimed in this direction, then even if you fail a time or two, you will certainly be successful. And what does success mean to you? It means that when you practice the truth, you are able to take this step that frees you from the bonds of Satan, a step that allows you to rebel against yourself. It means that you are able to put aside vanity and prestige, to stop seeking your own profit, and to stop doing selfish and despicable things. When you put this into practice, you show people that you are someone who loves the truth, who yearns for the truth, someone who yearns for justice and light. This is the result you achieve by practicing the truth. At the same time, you also bring shame upon Satan. Satan corrupted you, it made you look out for yourself, it made you selfish, it made you think of your own prestige. But now, these satanic things can no longer bind you, you have broken free of them, you are no longer controlled by vanity, prestige, or your own personal interests, and you practice the truth, so Satan is utterly humiliated, and there is nothing it can do. Then are you not victorious? When you are victorious, do you not stand firm in your testimony to God? Do you not fight the good fight? When you have fought the good fight, you have peace and joy, and a sense of ease in your heart. If you often have a sense of accusation in your life, if your heart can find no rest, if you are without peace or joy, and are often beset by worry and anxiety about all kinds of things, what does this demonstrate? Merely that you do not practice the truth, do not stand firm in your testimony to God. When you live amid the disposition of Satan, you are liable to often fail to practice the truth, to betray the truth, to be selfish and vile; you only uphold your image, your name and status, and your interests. Always living for yourself brings you great pain. You have so many selfish desires, entanglements, fetters, misgivings, and vexations that you do not have the least peace or joy. To live for the sake of corrupted flesh is to suffer excessively. Those who pursue the truth are different. The more they understand the truth, the more free and liberated they become; the more they practice the truth, the more they have peace and joy. When they obtain the truth, they will live completely in the light, enjoy God’s blessings, and have no pain at all.

Right now, in which state do you all mostly live? Do you live in a positive state or a negative state most of the time? (We live in a negative state most of the time.) For someone who always lives in a negative state to persist in doing their duty without giving up on their responsibilities is not a simple thing! You all are often passive, but you do not know how to resolve this. Sometimes, it takes a great deal of effort for you to resolve your passive states, and when things do not go your way, you once again become passive. You always roll around in your passivity, and you could not stand even if you wanted to; you cannot do any duty well, and you are so incompetent that no one can help you. Is living like this not tiring? (It is.) Then how do you fully deal with the problem of passivity? You absolutely must understand some of the truth. The amount of doctrine you can speak about will not solve your problems. Once a person truly understands the truth, and once they are able to solve any passivity or difficulties they encounter, it will then not be so taxing for them to perform their duty. Only by obtaining the truth can someone be free and liberated. Right now, the thing you all lack most is the truth, but obtaining the truth is not something that can be done overnight. You must have a true knowledge of the work of God, and be able to clearly see people’s corrupt dispositions. This requires time, and you must seek the truth in order to understand it. You can all feel the pain of living in a corrupt disposition, you have a deep understanding of it. Have you experienced the peace and happiness that are produced in your heart after you understand the truth, when you are able to practice the truth and observe the truth principles? Do you have many such experiences? If these experiences are truly abundant, that means you completely possess the truth reality. You will have the feeling of living in the light and in God’s presence. If you occasionally enjoy a little of God’s enlightenment, you will be very pleased. If you occasionally rely on God instead of people, and God gives you a little light, a way forward that you had not thought of, and the matter is dealt with, you will be very pleased. It is not enough to frequently have these little experiences; you must still continue to put effort toward the truth. On one hand, you must understand the truth about visions, have a perfectly clear understanding of the work of God, and truly have a knowledge of the disposition of God. This way, when you again encounter difficulties as you do your duty, at the very least it will not give rise to notions, nor will it give rise to rebelliousness. This is one aspect of things. Additionally, you must put forth effort toward life entry. The truths which must be practiced and entered into must be summarized, like coming to know yourself, being an honest person, learning to submit to God, how to rely on God, how to loyally do your duty, how to discern between all kinds of people, how you should treat Satan, what wisdom you ought to possess, etc. Only by experiencing and entering into these different aspects of the truth can you fear God and shun evil, and become a perfect person. So how many aspects of the truth reality have you entered into now? Which aspects of the truth reality have you not yet entered into? You must keep track of this score in your heart. When you have entered into many truths related to practice, then your life will have already grown, and you will truly have stature. When your stature has grown to a certain level, then you will be able to enter onto the road of being perfected by God, and you will have true stature. This is not a matter which can be rushed—you cannot eat an elephant in a single bite. Right now, what is the most crucial and important thing you need to resolve? It is that you must do your duty well, and have life entry as you do your duty. This is the key. You cannot merely expend effort—you must put your heart into it. God does not want you to sell out your labor as you do the duty of a created being, rather He wants you to offer Him your sincerity. As you do your duty, you must have life entry. Only once you have life entry will you have life, only when you have life can you grow, and only those who have life have the truth.

August 10, 2015