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.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Promises to Those Who Have Been Perfected