Being perfected by God cannot be confined to perfection by eating and drinking God’s word. This manner of experience is too one-sided and does not encompass enough; it only restricts man to a very small scope. In this case, man lacks much needed spiritual nourishment. If you wish to be perfected by God, you must learn to experience all things and be enlightened in all that you face. Whenever you are faced with something, be it good or bad, you should benefit from it and it should not cause you to become passive. No matter what, you should be able to consider it by standing on the side of God, and not analyze or study it from the perspective of man (this is a deviation in your experience). If this is the manner of your experience, then your heart will be taken over by the burdens for your life; you will live constantly in the light of God’s countenance and will not easily deviate in your practice. Such kind of man has great prospects. There are so many opportunities to be perfected by God. It all rests on whether you are ones who truly love God and whether you have the resolution to be perfected by God, be gained by God, and receive His blessings and inheritance. It will not do for you to only have resolution. You must have much knowledge, otherwise you will always deviate in your practice. God is willing to perfect each and every one of you. As it stands now, though most have already accepted the work of God for much time, they have limited themselves to merely basking in the grace of God and are only willing to receive some comfort of the flesh from Him. They are unwilling to receive more and higher revelations, showing that the heart of man is still always on the outside. Though the work of man, his service, and his heart of love for God have fewer impurities, as far as the essence of man within and his unenlightened thinking are concerned, man still constantly seeks the peace and enjoyment of the flesh, and cares not what the conditions for and purposes of God perfecting man are. So the lives of most are still vulgar and decadent, without the slightest bit of change. They simply do not regard faith in God as a matter of importance. Rather, it is as if they just have faith for the sake of another, acting without earnestness or dedication, and getting by with the bare minimum, adrift in a purposeless existence. Few are those who seek to enter into the word of God in all things, gaining more enriching things, becoming ones of greater wealth in the house of God this day, and receiving more of God’s blessings. If you seek to be perfected by God in all things and are able to inherit the promises of God on earth; if you seek to be enlightened by God in all things and do not let the years slip idly by, this is the ideal path to actively enter in. Only in this way are you worthy and eligible to be perfected by God. Are you truly one who seeks to be perfected by God? Are you truly one who is earnest in all things? Do you have the same spirit of love for God as Peter? Do you have the will to love God as Jesus did? You have had faith in Jesus for many years; have you seen how it is that Jesus loved God? Is it truly Jesus that you believe in? You believe in the practical God of this day; have you seen how the practical God in the flesh loves the God in heaven? You have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; that is because the crucifixion of Jesus to redeem mankind and the miracles He performed are generally accepted truths. However, the faith of man comes not from knowledge and true understanding of Jesus Christ. You believe only in the name of Jesus but have no faith in His Spirit, for you show no regard for how Jesus loved God. Your faith in God is too juvenile. Though you have had faith in Jesus for many years, you know not how to love God. Does this not make you the world’s greatest fool? This shows that for years you have eaten the “food of the Lord Jesus Christ” in vain. Not only do I dislike such kind of man, I trust that so too does the Lord Jesus Christ, whom you worship. How can such kind of man be perfected? Are you not red-faced? Do you not feel ashamed? Do you still have the gall to face your Lord Jesus Christ? Do you all understand the meaning of My words?
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Promises to Those Who Have Been Perfected