(1) First, examine the circumstances that give rise to negativity: What activities cause it, what constraints lead to it, and what the resulting consequences are;

(2) It is necessary to understand the essence and origin of negativity, and to know the disposition to which it is related. Only by seeing the root problem can one truly know oneself;

(3) When faced with negativity, one should do the work of learning to know themselves. It is necessary to know the truths with which one must be equipped in order to eradicate the problem of negativity at its root;

(4) When one exists within a satanic disposition, negativity may arise at any time, thereby leading to rebellion and resistance against God. In all matters, one must seek the truth in order to rectify negativity.

Relevant Words of God:

Deep down, people harbor a few bad states—negativity, weakness, and depression or fragility; or a persistent base intent; or always being in the thrall of worrying about prestige, selfish desires, and their own benefits; or they think themselves of poor caliber and are in possession of certain negative states. When you live constantly within these states, it is very difficult for you to gain the work of the Holy Spirit. If you have difficulty gaining the Holy Spirit’s work, you will contain very few positive things within you, and it will be hard for you to gain the truth. People always rely on their willpower to exercise restraint, holding back in this way and that, but they still cannot free themselves from those negative or adverse states. Part of this is due to human reasons; people cannot find a path of practice that suits them. Another reason—and this, too, is a major one—is that people always fall into these negative, sinking, degenerate states, and the Holy Spirit does not work. Even if He occasionally gives them enlightenment, He does not do major work in them. Thus, it takes people great effort to take action, and it is difficult for them to see and understand anything. It is hard for you to obtain enlightenment and illumination, and very hard to have light, because too many negative and adverse things have occupied all the space within you. If one cannot be enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and is unable to gain the work of the Holy Spirit, then one cannot leave these states or transform these negative states; the Holy Spirit does not work, and you cannot find a path forward. For both these reasons, it is difficult for you to attain a positive, normal state. Even though you can endure a lot and work hard at fulfilling your duties, and even though you have expended great effort and are able to abandon your home and occupation, and completely let go of everything, your inner state has still not actually changed. Too many entanglements still hold you captive from practicing the truth and from entering truth reality. Various things fill the space within you: Personal notions, imaginings, knowledge, and philosophies for living, as well as negative things, selfish desires and self-interests, concerns about prestige, and disputes with others. People have nothing positive within them. Their heads are full of negative and adverse thoughts; this is a fact that no one can deny. Their hearts have been filled and occupied by satanic things. If you do not eradicate these things, if you cannot free yourself of these states, if you cannot transform into the genuine likeness of a child—innocent, lively, guileless, authentic, and pure—and come into God’s presence, and if you do not come before Him, then it will be very difficult for you to gain the truth.

—“Give Your True Heart to God, and You Can Obtain the Truth” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

Everyone has times when they are passive, be they often or rare, serious or minor, be there an explicit fact that makes them passive, or not an explicit fact, but merely a few thoughts, ideas, opinions, imaginings and notions that plunge them into passivity. Whatever the case, whatever the situation or their state, as long as people live in a corrupt disposition, there will be times when they are plunged into certain passive states. Of course, if people have stature and pursue the truth, their passive state will be short-lived, and will gradually wane as their stature grows and they pursue the truth. If people do not pursue the truth, their passive states, passive moods, and passive thoughts and attitudes will grow ever more profuse, and there will be an increasing build-up and backlog of them. So it is very important to solve passivity. How you approach it is very important, too. No matter what, your approach to passivity should not involve passive methods, or a mood of resistance and confrontation; instead, you should deal with it by seeking the truth. The more certain areas are able to plunge you into passivity, and the more areas or matters arouse disobedience, dissatisfaction, grievances, and so on toward God, and lead you to raise a clamor against Him, the more you should come before God and search for the truth. If you are plunged into passivity because of a single thing, a single sentence, or a single idea or opinion, this proves that your knowledge of this matter is deviant, that you have notions, and imaginings, and that your view of this matter is surely incompatible with the truth. Such times require you to face the matter correctly, to strive to turn it around as early and promptly as possible, to not allow yourself to be hobbled and misled by these notions, and plunged into a state of disobedience, dissatisfaction, and grievances toward God. It is crucial that passivity be solved promptly and thoroughly. Of course, regardless of the means or method, the best approach is simply to seek the truth, read more of God’s words, and come before God to seek the enlightenment of God; at times, you may not be able to turn your views and ideas around immediately, but at the very least you will know you’re wrong, and that these thoughts of yours are deviant. The minimum effect that will be achieved is that these wrong views and ideas will not impact your devotion to performing your duty, will not affect your relationship with God, and will not stop you coming before God to pray and open your heart to Him; at the very least, these are the effects that need to be achieved. If you are plunged into passivity, and into a mood or state of disobedience, dissatisfaction, and grievances toward God, and no matter how you fellowship with others or try to ignore this, you do not wish to read the words of God or come before God to pray, then the problem will become a serious one. You say, “I did not delay in doing my duty, and I did so with a true heart, I would be devoted to the very end.” Is this statement true? If you have unresolved passivity, will it recede by itself? Can passivity disappear by itself? If you do not promptly search for the truth as a way of solving this passivity, it will keep developing, and can only become increasingly serious. Its consequences can only become more and more grave, it will not develop in a positive direction, but in a malignant one. And so, when passivity appears, you must seek the truth and resolve it as soon as possible. This issue is critical.

—The Word, Vol. 5. Identifying False Leaders (17)

People will have been through many states before God judges and chastises them. For instance, there is a negative state often seen in people: They are negative when others perform their duties more productively than they; they are negative when others’ families are more united than theirs; they are negative when others’ conditions are better than theirs, or they are of higher caliber; and they are negative when made to wake a bit early, when their duties are tiring, and even when they are not. No matter what happens, they are negative. If these people put forth a special effort in seeking, and are particularly able to pay a price, and if they have some caliber and are able to do some degree of practical work, then the notions of others might cause them to say of these people, “It’s a shame that those people are always negative. Shouldn’t God show them a little partiality by not making them negative, and allow them to emerge from their negativity? How come God isn’t doing His work?” What does God do to such people? What is His attitude toward them? He does not discipline them, nor does He deal with them or prune them; He simply shelves them off to one side. What does this mean? It means that if you are always negative and never satisfied with anything God does, He will toss you somewhere and make you wait. The Holy Spirit does not do useless work. Some people say, “If God won’t do it, it means He isn’t loving!” That is not how God’s love is expressed. Negativity means there is a problem within people: They cannot accept the truth, and are constantly dissatisfied with all God does; moreover, they do not in the least seek the truth or put it into practice. Why would God remain responsive to such people? Are they not deaf to reason? What is God’s attitude toward those who are deaf to reason? He casts them aside and ignores them. You may act as you like, and you may believe if you wish to do so; if you believe and seek, you may obtain. God treats every person fairly. If your attitude is unaccepting of the truth and not one of submission, and if you do not conform to God’s requirements, then believe what you will; also, if you would rather leave, you may do so at once. If you do not wish to do your duty, then, whatever you do, do not make a disgraceful scene or put on airs, but leave at once, off to wherever you like. God does not urge such people to stay. That is His attitude. If you—who are clearly a created being—never wish to act like one, and instead always want to be an archangel, then can God pay attention to you? If you—who are clearly an ordinary person—always wish for special, preferential treatment, and to be a person of status and standing who excels over others in all things, then you are being unreasonable and lack sense. How does God see people who lack sense? What is His assessment of them? Such people are deaf to reason!

—“Only by Resolving One’s Notions Can One Enter the Right Track of Believing in God (3)” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

The work that God performs in people is primarily to allow them to gain the truth; having you pursue life is for the sake of perfecting you, and this is all to make you suitable for God’s use. All you are pursuing now is hearing mysteries, listening to God’s words, feasting your eyes, and looking around to see if there is some novelty or trend, and thereby satisfying your curiosity. If this is the intention in your heart, then there is no way for you to meet God’s requirements. Those who do not pursue the truth cannot follow until the very end. Right now, it is not that God is not doing something, but rather that people are not cooperating with Him, because they are tired of His work. They only want to hear words that He speaks to bestow blessings, and they are unwilling to hear the words of His judgment and chastisement. What is the reason for this? The reason is that people’s desires to gain blessings have not been fulfilled and they therefore have become negative and weak. It is not that God purposely does not allow people to follow Him, nor is it that He is purposely delivering blows to mankind. People are negative and weak only because their intentions are improper. God is the God that gives man life, and He cannot bring man into death. People’s negativity, weaknesses, and backsliding are all caused by their own doing.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Maintain Your Devotion to God

Whether big or small matters come to pass, you are always negative and weak, and you bear no witness. What a person should do or cooperate with, you fail to, proving that neither God nor the truth is in your heart. Let us ignore, for the moment, how the work of the Holy Spirit moves people. By mere dint of their years of experience of God’s work, having heard so many truths, and with a bit of conscience and willed restraint, they should be able to meet the lowest standard, and not be as numb and weak as they are now. It is an incredible thing. It is clear you muddled through these last few years—had you not, why would you be as numb and sluggish as you are? The truth is that you have delimited yourself, thinking “I’m not okay—I’m too corrupt. That’s how it is, and I’ll just have to live with it!” You have not yet put effort into your pursuit, and you say, “That is my challenge. You may as well just send me home!” What is that but nonsense? It is simply avoiding and shirking responsibility! If you have a bit of conscience and reason, you should properly complete what you ought to do and your mission; being a deserter is a terrible thing and a betrayal of God. Pursuing the truth requires a firm will, and people who are too negative or weak will accomplish nothing. They will not be able to believe in God unto the end, and, if they wish to obtain the truth and achieve a change of disposition, they have less hope still. Only those who are resolved and pursue the truth can obtain it and be perfected by God.

—“Confused People Cannot Be Saved” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

People can refrain from becoming negative when they encounter difficulties or when they are pruned and dealt with, or when they fail and fall. What is the primary reason for this? It is that they are able to accept the truth. In being able to accept the truth, they stop being negative. If they do not accept the truth and they always harbor difficulties within themselves, and are always incapable of resolving them, they will always be negative; this has to do with their understanding of the truth. For some people who have become negative, when you fellowship with them, they say, “Don’t fellowship with me; I understand everything.” Do they really understand everything? If they did understand everything, would they still be negative? What does this understanding they mention entail? It is that they understand doctrines and they understand literal meanings. In actual fact, they do not understand the truth. Why are they able to accept doctrines, when they do not understand the truth? (They don’t experience God’s words; they don’t contemplate them, nor do they seek the truth; they don’t check their corrupt dispositions against it.) That is exactly what is going on. They do not take those doctrines that they understand and put them into practice or use them; they merely talk and preach about them to other people, and then they stop there. They themselves do not accept the truth, and in this way, they are unable to resolve their negative states, their weakness, their rebelliousness, their misconceptions, and their complaints. So, then, what is the best way to resolve the problems of being negative and regressing and abandoning themselves to despair? (Accepting the truth.) It is accepting the truth based on your understanding of it, and then entering truth reality. This is easily said, but upon entering it, difficulties are encountered, and this makes entry difficult. You must therefore genuinely understand what the truth is. If you always think you understand, but you are unable to resolve your difficulties, then this proves that you have not understood the truth. On the basis of the doctrines you understand, if you regard them as the truth and measure yourself against them, and practice them, then your difficulties will be resolved; it will not be a problem even when you are negative or weak, and you will not despair or come to a standstill. This is precisely the way of resolving negativity.

—“People Can Only Truly Be Happy by Being Honest” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

Passivity is something that is very difficult to avoid. Anyone can be passive. For some people it lasts a long time, for others, a short time. Some can speak of why they are passive, and some can’t, the reason being too minor, not worth mentioning, and yet still able to plunge them into passivity. Tiny, inconsequential things can make people passive and keep them down for two days, unable to eat, moping about, impervious to persuasion—in a word, unhappy. How can such matters be solved? If something is truly minor and inconsequential, and it is neither the case that you wish to speak of it, nor that others wish to know, then you should dispel it by yourself, and not go around spreading it to other people. When people can’t get to the bottom of something, they should at least make sure they don’t go around spreading it to other people. As long as you have a heart that fears God and you acknowledge that you are a follower of God, you must not deliberately do anything disruptive or that causes interruptions. This is one thing you must guarantee. If you have normal humanity and sense, you must not do this—unless, that is, you are psychotic, or have been possessed by a demon, and can’t help yourself; when the demon directs you to speak, you must speak, there’s nothing you can do, this is done by the evil spirit. As long as you have normal humanity, you should guarantee that you will do this. And even though you are passive, you should still have a little conscience, you should do your best, you should do as much as you can, as much as you are willing; only people with such a mentality can be considered to have conscience, and even though there is passivity within you, God will not split hairs or take it further. If you are willing to speak to others, and people are able to help you, that’s best; if you don’t wish to tell anyone else, then slowly deal with it by yourself. Communicate and search for an answer with God, and slowly change. If you are beset by very serious and major things that make you passive—if, for example, you feel that there is no hope for you after being replaced, or you are severely pruned and dealt with and have the sense that you have been cursed and condemned, or else a serious incident occurs in your family, and your family members and loved ones die, are taken by God, and these things plunge you into passivity, and you have certain misconceptions about God, and passivity, and feel aggrieved—then what should you do in such circumstances? This can be solved, too. Find a few people with stature and fellowship with them, telling them what’s in your heart. Even more important is to come before God and truthfully communicate and inform Him of all this passivity, weakness, and things you don’t understand and that are insurmountable—don’t hide them. There are some things that stick in your throat, that are unutterable to you: Do not speak of them to others, do not disrupt and harm others, but come before God to tell God. Why should you tell God? Certain words of passivity and weakness can hobble people. You must speak of them to God. Some people say, “If I tell God, will God not condemn me?” Have you not done many things that resist and are condemned by God? Does He care about this one thing? He does not. So God knows what you’re thinking, whether you speak of it or not. If you have nowhere to speak of it, or can’t find a suitable person of stature to tell, you’d best come before God and tell Him truthfully. You can tell God of your weaknesses, disobedience, and even your grievances. Even if you just want to let off a little steam, that’s fine too—God does not condemn this. Why is this not condemned by God? God knows people’s stature. He knows it even if you don’t tell Him. When you tell God, on the one hand this is an opportunity for you to obey God, a chance for you to lay yourself bare to God. On the other hand, it also indicates an attitude of obedience toward God. At the very least, you are showing God that your heart is open to Him; it’s just that you are weak, and are of insufficient stature to overcome this matter. That’s all it is. You have no intention of disobeying, your attitude is one of obedience; it’s just that your stature is too small, and this matter is too much for you to bear. When you completely open up and express yourself to God, though there is weakness and grievances in what you say—and, in particular, much that is passive and negative—there is one thing that is right. What is it? You admit that you are corrupt, you acknowledge that you are a creature of God, you do not deny the identity of God—the Creator, and that the relationship between you and God is that of created being and the Creator. When you entrust to God the things that are most difficult to overcome, the things that are most likely to make you weak, and tell God of everything that’s in your heart, then this shows the attitude you have. Some people say, “Telling God doesn’t solve my passivity, I still can’t overcome it.” Don’t worry—as time passes, God will make you stronger gradually, and no longer as weak as you were at the start. However weak and passive you are, however aggrieved and negative you’re feeling, tell it to God. Don’t treat God like a stranger; you can hide it from anyone, but don’t hide it from God, for God is the only One you can depend on, He is the only One who can save you. Only if people come before God will these things be solved. Relying on others is of no use. And so, when people encounter that which is most likely to make them weak and passive, the wisest of all are those who can come before God and rely on God. It is only the foolish who keep themselves farthest from God and hide themselves most from Him when major, crucial events arise and their need to confide in Him is greatest, brooding about these things in their hearts. And what happens as they keep brooding about them? These grievances become opposition, and opposition becomes resistance and a clamor against Him. These people become incompatible with God, and their relationship with God is completely broken. But when you encounter such weakness and passivity, you choose to still come before God, you accept God’s sovereignty over you, you accept His orchestrations and arrangements, yours is an attitude of obedience, and when God sees your sincerity and when He sees your weakness, He knows how to guide you, how to bring you out of weakness and passivity. And so, under God’s guidance, these things become triflingly easy; without you even realizing it, God helps you dispel them, you unconsciously find a way out, and unconsciously grow stronger, and are no longer weak. When you look back, you wonder how your weakness at that time could have been so childish. But that’s just how childish people are. Without God’s support, they will never be able to change from childishness and stupidity to maturity. Only when, in the course of experiencing these childish things, people gradually accept and submit to God’s sovereignty, and actively face these matters head on, searching for principle and the will of God—rather than it being the case that the more they encounter such things, the more they stray from God, the more they hide from God, and the more they resist and oppose God, and they neither say anything to God nor read His words, none of this being their state—only then will people become increasingly mature, and become more and more grown up.

—The Word, Vol. 5. Identifying False Leaders (17)

One state people often have is that they either only want to be blessed and receive the crown, or else—having experienced a few instances of failure—think it’s over for them, and that this was also determined by God. Both are wrong. If you can turn around in time, if you can change your mind, put aside the evil committed by your hands, return before God, confess and repent to God, acknowledge that your actions and the path you walk are wrong, admit your own failures, and practice according to the path indicated to you by God, without giving up no matter how tainted you are, then you’re doing the right thing. In the course of experiencing changes in their disposition and being saved, people will encounter many difficulties. They include being unable to submit to the situations laid forth by God, people’s own various thoughts, perspectives, imaginings, corrupt dispositions, knowledge, and gifts, or else their personal problems or faults. You must battle all manner of difficulties. And once you have overcome these myriad difficulties and states, when the battle in your heart has ended, you will possess the truth reality, you will have been unshackled, and thus will have been set free. One problem people often encounter during this process is that, prior to having identified problems in themselves, they think they’re better than everyone else, and will be blessed even if no one else is, just like Paul. When they discover problems, they think themselves nothing, that it’s all over for them. There are always two extremes. You must overcome these extremes: When you encounter a difficulty, even if you have already realized that this problem is utterly intractable, and will be extremely hard to fix, you are still able to properly face it, gnawing on it bit-by-bit, like ants eating a bone, and you turn this state around, come before God, and ask that God help you solve it; you must repent before God. Repenting is proof that you have a heart that accepts the truth and an attitude of obedience, which means there is hope. And if, in the midst of this, any difficulties appear, don’t be afraid. Hurry before God to pray; God is secretly watching and waiting for you, and as long as you do not depart from the setting, stream, and scope of His management work, there is hope, and you must not give up. If this is the normal outpouring of a corrupt disposition, then as long as you are willing to maintain your pursuit and make entry, a day will come when these problems are solved. You must have faith in this. God is the truth—need you fear that this little problem of yours cannot be solved? This can all be solved, so why be negative? God has not forsaken you, so why give up on yourself? You should not give up. In order to not be negative, and approach the problem in the correct way, people must be aware of certain normal laws for life entry, of its certain normal outpourings and manifestations, they should see their occasional negativity, weakness, and confusion as very normal, and be able to approach such things correctly. Sometimes the outpouring of their corrupt disposition is quite serious, and quite loathsome. In particular, there are times when people clearly know that they are being disciplined by God, in which case don’t be afraid: As long as God is disciplining you, as long as He is still caring for and protecting you, and is still working in you, and is always with you, this proves that God has not forsaken you. Even when there are times that you feel God has left you, and that you have been plunged into darkness, do not be afraid: As long as you are still living and not in hell, you still have a chance. But if you are like Paul, who ultimately testified that for him to live is Christ, it’s all over for you. What is the chance you have? It is that you are able to come before God, you can still pray to God and seek answers from Him, saying “O God! Would that You allow me to understand this aspect of the path of practice, and this aspect of the truth.” As long as you are thus qualified, you have hope of salvation, and will make it to the very end. Are these words clear enough? Are you still liable to be negative? When people understand God’s will, their path is a broad one. If they do not understand His will, it is narrow, there is darkness in their hearts, and they have no path to tread. Those who do not understand the truth are as follows: They are narrow-minded, they always split hairs, and they always complain about and misinterpret God—with the result that the further they walk, the more their path disappears. In fact, people don’t understand God. If God treated people as in their imagination, it would have long been over for the human race.

—“How to Discern the Nature Essence of Paul” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

The people God saves are those who have been corrupted by Satan and thus came to have corrupt dispositions. They are not perfect people without the slightest blemish, nor are they people who live in a vacuum. For some, as soon as their corruption is revealed, they think, “Yet again, I’ve resisted God; I’ve believed in Him for so many years, but I still haven’t changed. God surely doesn’t want me anymore!” What sort of attitude is this? They have given up on themselves and think that God does not want them anymore. Is this not a case of misunderstanding God? When you are so negative, it is easiest for Satan to find chinks in your armor, and once it has succeeded, the consequences are unimaginable. Therefore, no matter how much difficulty you are in or how negative you are feeling, you must never give up! While people’s lives are developing and while they are being saved, they sometimes take the wrong path or go astray. They exhibit some immature states and behavior in their life for a while, or sometimes grow weak and negative, say the wrong things, slip and fall, or suffer a failure. From God’s point of view, such things are all normal, and He would not make a fuss over them. Seeing how profoundly corrupted they are, that they will never be able to satisfy God, brings pain to some people’s hearts, and people who are capable of such remorse are often the objects of God’s salvation. Those who do not feel they need salvation, who think they are already perfect, are not the ones who will be saved by God. Why am I telling you this? What I mean is that you must have faith: “Despite the fact that I am now weak, and that I have fallen down and failed, one day I will grow, one day I shall be able to satisfy God, understand the truth, and be saved.” You must have this faith. No matter what setbacks, difficulties, or failures and falls, you must not be negative; you must know what kind of people are saved by God. In addition, if you feel that you are unfit for salvation by God, if you occasionally have a state in which you feel you are loathsome or displeasing to God, or if there was a time in the past when you were wholly unapproved of or rejected by God, do not worry. You now know this, and so it is not too late; as long as you repent, God shall give you your chance at salvation.

—“Entry Into Life Is Most Important to Faith in God” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

The Holy Spirit has a path to walk in each person, and gives each person the opportunity to be perfected. Through your negativity you are made to know your own corruption, and then by throwing off negativity you will find a path to practice; these are all ways in which you are perfected. Further, through the continuous guidance and illumination of some positive things inside of you, you will proactively fulfill your function, grow in insight and gain discernment. When your conditions are good, you are especially willing to read the word of God, and especially willing to pray to God, and can relate the sermons you hear to your own state. At such times God enlightens and illuminates you within, making you realize some things of the positive aspect. This is how you are perfected in the positive aspect. In negative states, you are weak and passive; you feel that you do not have God in your heart, yet God illuminates you, helping you find a path to practice. Coming out of this is attainment of perfection in the negative aspect. God can perfect man in both positive and negative aspects. It depends on whether you are able to experience, and on whether you pursue being perfected by God. If you truly seek being perfected by God, then the negative cannot make you suffer loss, but can bring you things that are more real, and can make you more able to know that which is lacking within you, more able to grasp your real state, and see that man has nothing, and is nothing; if you do not experience trials, you do not know, and will always feel that you are above others and better than everyone else. Through all this you will see that all that came before was done by God and protected by God. Entry into trials leaves you without love or faith, you lack prayer and are unable to sing hymns, and without realizing it, in the midst of this you come to know yourself.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Those Who Focus on Practice Can Be Perfected

Do not be a passive follower of God, and do not pursue that which makes you curious. Through being neither cold nor hot you will ruin yourself and delay your life. You must rid yourself of such passivity and inactivity, and become adept at pursuing positive things and overcoming your own weaknesses, so that you may gain the truth and live out the truth. There is nothing fearful about your weaknesses, and your shortcomings are not your biggest problem. Your biggest problem, and your greatest shortcoming, is your being neither hot nor cold and your lack of desire to seek the truth. The biggest problem with all of you is a cowardly mentality whereby you are happy with things as they are, and just passively wait. This is your greatest obstacle, and the greatest enemy to your pursuit of the truth.

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

If your heart truly is at peace before God, you will not be disturbed by anything going on in the outside world, or occupied by any person, event, or thing. If you have entry into this, then those negative states and all negative things—human notions, philosophies for living, abnormal relationships between people, and ideas and thoughts, and so forth—will naturally disappear. Because you are always pondering God’s words, and your heart is always drawing close to God and always being occupied with the current words of God, those negative things will fall away from you without you realizing it. When new and positive things occupy you, negative old things will have no place, so do not pay attention to those negative things. You need not make an effort to control them. You should focus on being at peace before God, eat, drink, and enjoy God’s words as much as you can, sing hymns in praise of God as much as you can, and let God have a chance to work on you, because God now wants to perfect humanity personally, and He wants to gain your heart; His Spirit moves your heart and if, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you come to live in God’s presence, you will satisfy God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. On Quieting Your Heart Before God

Now, you must pay no mind to negative things. First, put aside and disregard anything that makes you feel negative. When you are handling affairs, do so with a heart that searches and feels its way forward, a heart that submits to God. Whenever you discover a weakness within you but do not let it control you, and despite it, perform the functions that you ought to, you have made a positive step forward. For example, you older brothers and sisters have religious notions, yet you are able to pray, submit, eat and drink of the word of God, and sing hymns…. This is to say, you should devote yourselves with all the strength you can muster to whatever you are able to do, whatever functions you are able to perform. Do not wait passively. Being able to satisfy God in your performance of your duty is the first step. Then, once you are able to understand the truth and attain entry into the reality of God’s words, you will have been perfected by Him.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. On Everyone Performing Their Function

Some people, despite being in the midst of negativity, can still maintain an attitude of “being faithful till the end, no matter what the outcome,” when performing their duties. I say that this is change, yet you yourselves are unable to recognize it. Actually, if you examine yourself carefully, you will see that a part of your corrupt disposition has already changed; however, when you are constantly measuring yourself against the highest of standards, not only will you not be able to meet them, but you will even negate any changes you have already made within yourself. This is where people go astray. If you are truly someone who can tell right from wrong, then there is no harm in making yourself aware of the changes that have occurred within you; not only can you see them, but you can, moreover, find a path to practice going forward. When that happens, you will see that as long as you are hard-working, you still have hope; you will see that you are not irredeemable. Right now I tell you this: Those who can correctly view their problems have hope; they can come out from negativity.

You give up on the truth because you think you are already beyond saving, so you end up abandoning even the most fundamental truths. Perhaps it is not that you cannot put the truth into practice, but that you have discarded opportunities to do so. If you give up on the truth, can you still change? If you give up on the truth, where is the meaning in your belief in God? As has already been said, “Regardless of when it is done, seeking a change in disposition is never wrong.” Have you forgotten these words? Nevertheless, you feel that you are without hope. If you have lost your positive pursuits, will negative things not emerge? How, then, will you be able to refrain from being negative? Thus, I still say to you: You must view yourself correctly, and not give up on the truth.

—“View Yourself Correctly and Do Not Give Up on the Truth” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days