It can be seen from experience that one of the most important issues is quieting one’s heart before God. This is an issue that concerns people’s spiritual life, and their growth in their lives. Only if your heart is at peace before God will your pursuit of the truth and of changes in your disposition bear fruit. Because you come before God bearing a burden, and because you always feel that you are lacking in so many ways, that there are many truths that you need to know, much reality that you need to experience, and that you should give every care to God’s will—these things are always on your mind. It is as if they are pressing down on you with a force that leaves you unable to breathe, and thus you feel heavy of heart (though you are not in a negative state). Only people such as this are qualified to accept the enlightenment of God’s words and to be moved by the Spirit of God. It is because of their burden, because they are heavy of heart, and, it can be said, because of the price they have paid and the torment they have suffered before God, that they receive His enlightenment and illumination. For God does not give anyone special treatment. He is always fair in His treatment of people, but He also does not give to people arbitrarily or unconditionally. This is one aspect of His righteous disposition. In real life, most people have yet to attain this realm. At the very least, their heart has yet to completely turn to God, and thus there has still not been any great change in their life disposition. This is because they only live in God’s grace and have yet to gain the work of the Holy Spirit. The criteria that people must meet in order to be made use of by God are as follows: Their heart turns to God, they carry the burden of the words of God, they have a heart of yearning, and they have the resolve to seek the truth. Only people such as this can gain the work of the Holy Spirit and they frequently gain enlightenment and illumination. The people God makes use of appear from the outside to be irrational and to not have normal relationships with others, though they speak with propriety, do not speak carelessly, and can always keep a quiet heart before God. This is exactly the kind of person who is sufficient to be used by the Holy Spirit. This “irrational” person God speaks of seems not to have normal relationships with others, and they do not give due regard to outward love or outward practices, but when they communicate spiritual matters they are able to open their heart and selflessly provide others with the illumination and enlightenment they have acquired from their actual experience before God. This is how they express their love for God and satisfy God’s will. When others are all slandering and ridiculing them, they are able to avoid being controlled by outside people, matters, or things, and can still be quiet before God. Such a person seems to have their own unique insights. Regardless of what other people do, their heart never leaves God. When others are chatting cheerfully and humorously, their heart still remains before God, contemplating God’s word or praying in silence to the God in their heart, seeking God’s intentions. They never attach importance to maintaining normal relationships with other people. Such a person seems to have no philosophy for living. On the outside, this person is lively, lovable, and innocent, but also possesses a sense of calmness. This is the likeness of the kind of person God makes use of. Things like the philosophy for living or “normal reason” simply do not work in this type of person; this is a type of person who has devoted their whole heart to God’s word, and seems to only have God in their heart. This is the type of person that God refers to as a person “without reason,” and it is precisely this kind of person that is used by God. The mark of a person who is being made use of by God is: No matter when or where, their heart is always before God, and no matter how dissolute others may be, how much they indulge their lust and their flesh, still the heart of this person never leaves God, and they do not follow the crowd. Only this type of person is suited for God’s use, and only this type of person is perfected by the Holy Spirit. If you are unable to attain these things, then you are not qualified to be gained by God and to be perfected by the Holy Spirit.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. It Is Very Important to Establish a Normal Relationship With God