People are filled with all kinds of notions and imaginings about God’s work. What we fellowshipped on just now concerns people’s notions about the days of God’s work. In addition to these notions, there is another kind of notion and imagining. It is that whenever people encounter some real difficulties, they often hope in their subjective will that they’ll get a flash of inspiration from God and then have a brainwave, without them needing to eat and drink God’s words, equip themselves with the truth, or grasp the truth principles at ordinary times, and that God can help them to resolve whatever issues they come up against in their everyday lives, no matter how big or small. People’s comprehension and understanding of God’s work is extremely fanciful and hollow, and people are also full of notions and imaginings about God’s methods of saving man. People do not want to seek various truths in God’s work and deal with every matter in a practical way according to the truth principles. Instead, they hope that whenever they encounter any kind of issue, God will give them light and revelations, just as He gave revelations to the prophets, so that no matter what befalls them in their real lives, they will have wisdom and ability, and ways to deal with all kinds of issues, without them needing to pray to God and seek the truth, or eat and drink God’s words, as though they were living in a magical world. According to people’s imaginings, they think that once they start believing in God they will become smart and clever. Some even think that once they start believing in God they will become beautiful, and no longer have any of the difficulties and problems of the flesh, or the impediment of corrupt dispositions, or any real difficulties in their daily lives. They believe that as long as they have the will to satisfy God, He will give them strength and create good and superior circumstances for them, make all of this a reality, and make all their aspirations and wishes come true, and that, especially when they encounter things that are beyond what their caliber and instincts can achieve, God will even more so lend a helping hand so that they can cleverly or easily do the things they want to do. There are also some people that have poor caliber and a lack of skills in every kind of profession who think that God only has to work a miracle or wonder and their caliber will suddenly become good, and they will suddenly become smart. They also believe that nothing is difficult for God to achieve, and that God can help them accomplish things which they cannot accomplish themselves, and help them resolve the difficult problems that they cannot overcome themselves and that are beyond their abilities. In sum, in God’s work, people have many notions and imaginings. In one respect, they are full of various imaginings about the duration of God’s work, and have also performed various actions and paid various prices in this regard. At the same time, people are also full of all kinds of notions and imaginings about the various difficulties and problems they encounter, and even about their own corrupt dispositions. Most of these notions and imaginings are hollow, fanciful, and unrealistic, and even more so, they surpass people’s caliber and minds, and go beyond the scope of their instincts. People often hope that God will not act based on their actual difficulties, or based on their caliber, mind, and instincts, and that He will instead enable them to surpass all of this, and surpass their normal humanity and their caliber and instincts to do certain things. People are full of notions and imaginings about God’s work, and the content of their imaginings is extremely supernatural. These notions and imaginings are completely contradictory and hostile to the truths expressed by God. People don’t think to themselves: If God does these supernatural things, why does He still speak so many words and provide so many truths to people? There would be no need for Him to do that. The reason why God’s work is so practical is that God hopes to provide all of His words and truths to people and to work them into people, so that they can live by these words and these truths. His intention is not to enable people to surpass normal humanity or their instincts, but to enable them, on the basis of normal humanity, to hold to the truth principles, and to hold to the duties and commissions that He has given them. However, people’s notions and imaginings are exactly the opposite of God’s work, and they are not in line with the way God works at all. God wants to work in a practical way, whereas people’s imaginings about God’s work are concerned with supernatural things, hollow, and unrealistic. Of course, some people hope that God will employ some even more special methods to give them revelations, provide for them, support and help them, and even change them and enable them to be saved. For example, whenever some people encounter an issue, oftentimes they don’t look within God’s words for answers or paths of practice, but instead kneel down, close their eyes, and pray. They don’t seek the truth about the problem when they pray, and then find the corresponding words of God to resolve it. Instead, they hope that God can tell them what to do in their hearts; or enlighten them with a sentence, an idea, or an image; or enable them to gain some light and give them some motivation—they want to understand the truth in this manner. Of course, there are some people who take a more extreme approach, which is that, whenever they encounter a problem, they hope that God can reveal to them a passage of His words in a dream, telling them whether they should do such and such a thing and how to do it, or whether they should go to such and such a place, or whether they should preach the gospel to So-and-so. Some people, when faced with great difficulties, hope to receive a dream or to get the answer in a dream, and even hope to analyze and interpret their dream with their brothers and sisters or the church leaders, thinking, “What is the meaning of this dream that God gave me? What does He want me to do? Is He telling me to go or not?” They believe that God’s work is to give revelations to people, lead people, and provide for people using these special means, and thus enable them to be saved. Is this not a notion and imagining? (Yes, it is.) There are other people who, when a problem befalls them, and they don’t know what to do and don’t get answers from God when they pray, resort to making decisions by flipping a coin. For example, when it comes to going someplace to preach the gospel, they pray to God about whether they should go or not and don’t get an answer, and what do they do then? They just flip a coin to decide whether to go or not. They think that if it lands heads up, it proves that God wants them to go, whereas if it lands tails up, it proves that God doesn’t want them to go. They throw the coin three times and it lands heads up once and tails up twice, so they conclude, “It’s two to one, which means God doesn’t want me to go,” and they don’t go. They even feel quite at ease about not going, thinking that it’s God’s wish, and telling themselves, “I must follow God’s guidance. This is God’s decision, not mine. I should submit to God’s guidance and not go.” So should they actually go or not? Can seeking out God’s intentions in this way get an accurate answer? The answer absolutely cannot be accurate. When faced with such a situation, you should make a decision based on the principles and whether the circumstances allow it—only this method is correct. Preaching the gospel is your duty, your task, and the work that you should do today, so you should go—it is only right that you go. However, people often don’t comprehend or handle such matters based on these realities. Instead, they often approach them based on some notions and imaginings, and judge them using some unusual means and methods, and ultimately make some absurd and distorted decisions. Isn’t this caused by their notions and imaginings? (Yes.) Within God’s work, when God does not provide clear words that tell people how each thing should be done or what principles to abide by in dealing with each type of issue, people need to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit and follow the guidance that God provides to them within real circumstances. Of course, they also need to discuss or pray and seek together with their brothers and sisters, and ultimately decide how to deal with the issue at hand based on the actual situation. However, in God’s work, when God has clear words and clear instructions that tell people the principles of practice for various matters, these previously adopted formalities can be done away with, and people no longer need to abide by them. If they do continue to abide by them, it will just delay things. For example, suppose that, whenever something comes up and it’s necessary to go and act, people still get on their knees and pray, asking, “God, should I go or not? If You don’t want me to go, just create some circumstance to obstruct me, or if You want me to go, just make everything go smoothly for me.” This is rigidly adhering to formalities and it is not what God requires of people. When God has clear words regarding His requirements and criteria, people no longer need to go through any formalities of seeking, praying, probing, and so on. Instead, in one regard, they should act according to the actual situation and real circumstances, and in another regard, above all they should act according to the truth principles—this is correct. Each day, handle things in the proper order, do whatever you should be doing, and do not do the things you shouldn’t be doing; deal with whatever is urgent and needs dealing with, put on hold whatever can be left aside for the time being, and attend first to the urgent matters. Are these not principles? (Yes, they are.) They are indeed principles. You must remember this: When you pray to God and seek to grasp His intentions, you must do so based on His words; in special situations, namely when there are no clear words from God providing instruction, you should nevertheless know that He has clear words and principles of practice for all types of matters, and in such cases, you should act in accordance with the various truth principles that God admonished people with in the past. However, in their minds people have developed many notions and imaginings about God’s work that are ridiculous, bizarre, and concerned with supernatural things, which turn God’s words and the various truth principles into decorations and hollow doctrines, and make it so that they cannot be people’s criteria for handling things or paths of practice when problems befall them. This is a lamentable thing, and it is entirely caused by the fact that people have developed a great many notions and imaginings about God’s work.

People have some other ridiculous, bizarre, and strange notions and imaginings about God’s work that permeate their everyday lives. Say, for example, that just when someone is about to do the task that they most ought to be doing, something happens that they think wasn’t supposed to happen, such as them having their cell phone stolen while they are on the way to do the task, or their car breaking down or them having a fall on the way there, or something else goes wrong. What does this mean? Does it mean that God is obstructing them from doing this task? Does it mean that doing this task is not in line with God’s intentions? Does it mean that this task shouldn’t be done? Should it be understood and comprehended this way? (No, it shouldn’t.) If this is the most important thing you should do right now in the performance of your duty, and you go and do it, then even if you encounter some setbacks and difficulties along the way, or even things that people think aren’t supposed to happen, it cannot be said that this duty you are performing and this job you are doing displease God, or that God is obstructing you from doing these things—that is a human notion and imagining. If God wants to obstruct you, He won’t use those methods. Instead, He will directly set up a circumstance so that you naturally don’t have to go and do that task. That is, God will make it very clear in your mind that there is something more important that you ought to do today, and consequently that task will have to be pushed down to second or third on your list, and left to do later. No matter how you make your calculations, you will find that it will not be possible to accomplish that task today based on the actual situation. This is God obstructing you. But, no matter what you think, and no matter what setbacks or difficulties arise in the process of carrying out that task, in any case, if that task ought to be done today, then you should go and do it. If God obstructs you, He will use the most suitable and fitting means to make you naturally give up on that task—this is the way that God works. The way that God works is to let people do what they ought to do within the scope of the instincts of humanity. In one regard, this is the attitude that people should have. In another regard, there is also the factor of objective circumstances—if the circumstances permit the task to be done, then it ought to be done; if the circumstances don’t permit it, then people should wait a while to do it. What is the purpose of waiting? It is to wait for the right time and circumstances that God arranges. If the circumstances are constantly unsuitable and things keep going wrong while you’re trying to perform this task, then you shouldn’t do it. Have you understood? (Yes.) In people’s everyday lives, there is no need for them to try and grasp what they’re feeling in their spirits when they perform tasks, regardless of what kind of tasks they are, whether they’re big or small matters, or whether they’re personal affairs or church affairs. If you feel low in spirit today and, in your heart, you don’t want to do a task, then ask the others who are going to perform it with you if they feel low in spirit. If the others don’t feel low in spirit, and they are willing in their hearts to do the task, and yet you conclude that it isn’t supposed to be done based on your own feelings, aren’t you being a little bit too subjective about it? (Yes.) Therefore, whenever people perform a task, they must at least understand that they shouldn’t try and grasp their feelings or act based on their feelings. Say, for example, that you have to perform some task, and you feel a little nervous, your eye keeps twitching, and your ears are buzzing, and you say, “My right eyelid is twitching, does that spell bad news? Am I supposed to perform this task?” Someone then says, “Twitching on the left eye forecasts fortune but twitching on the right eye forecasts disaster,” and after hearing this, you do not dare go and do the task. No matter which one of your eyes twitches, if this is a task that was previously agreed upon, and all the factors needed to do this task are in place, and the time and place are right, then you must go and do it. If you decide not to go just because one person says that twitching on your right eye forecasts disaster, is that appropriate? (No, it isn’t.) Why isn’t it appropriate? If it is your responsibility and your duty, and today the objective circumstances and all the conditions permit it to be done, and moreover, the task needs to be done urgently, then you should go and do it. So what if your right eyelid twitches? It may be that some minor issues arise and things don’t go too smoothly, but the task gets done nevertheless. Only if God obstructs it and the circumstances don’t permit it, may you then not go and do the task. Someone says, “Something must be wrong for your right eye to twitch,” but somebody else says, “This is a task that was previously agreed upon, so we should go and do it.” In the end, you all set off to do it anyway, but the car unexpectedly breaks down halfway there. Tell Me, if someone’s right eye twitches as the group is setting out, should they go in that case? I want to see if you actually understand the truth or not. What do you think, would it be correct to go and do this task? (Yes, it would.) That is for sure. You cannot judge whether you should go or not based on whether your right or left eyelid twitches. First of all, going to do this task is correct. So why did the car break down on the way there? Was that permitted by God? It’s hard to explain, is it not? (The car breaking down on the way there might have been caused by human negligence, such as if the car hadn’t been inspected beforehand to see whether there were any problems with it.) That’s one possible reason. If we rule out that reason, is it normal for a car to break down mid-journey? (Yes.) If you buy a second-hand Chinese car that wasn’t very good quality to start with, and you don’t maintain it or fix it up properly and just keep driving it, the car will break down mid-journey. If the car breaks down mid-journey, does that mean the task definitely can’t be accomplished? (Not necessarily.) The car breaks down and it takes one or two hours to fix it. When you arrive at the destination, the brothers and sisters there say, “It’s fortunate you’ve come at this time. The surveillance agents have only just left. If you had come two hours earlier, you would definitely have been caught by the great red dragon. That was a close call!” You see, a bad thing turned out to be a good thing. Was it right to go and do the task? (Yes.) Was there God’s good intention in the car’s breakdown? (Yes.) So was your twitching right eyelid a sign of misfortune or good fortune? (Neither.) Nothing came to pass as a result of it. If we cut off the story at the point when the car broke down, then the claim that “twitching on the right eye forecasts disaster” would seem to be pretty accurate. The car breaking down was a mishap, was it not? But looking at the final outcome, the car breaking down turned out to be a good thing. If the car hadn’t broken down, you would all have gotten into trouble once you reached the destination—not only would you have failed to accomplish the task, but you would also have been arrested. As it turned out, though, the car broke down en route and took two hours to fix, so by the time you got there, the danger had just passed and you were in the clear. This was God protecting you! Think about it, if viewed from the perspective of the car breaking down, it seems as if God was obstructing you from going, but actually you only found out what had happened after the car got fixed and you arrived without any further incident. How do you view the principles and methods of God’s actions during this whole process? What kind of understanding should people have of God’s work? Review these things; there are truths that can be sought here, and I will see whether you are able to seek them or not. (God, my understanding is that no matter whether good or bad things befall people, there is God’s good intention in this.) This is one aspect. (There is another aspect, which is that God’s work is not supernatural or fanciful, but very practical.) Yes, that’s a good understanding. God’s work is practical, and it is not fanciful or supernatural; anyone with normal humanity can feel it and come to know it through experience, and it is also something that people are capable of comprehending. Isn’t this the understanding that people should have regarding God’s work? (Yes.) In addition to this understanding, what else should people understand? They should understand that God holds sovereignty over everything. In God’s work, every specific thing that He does enables people to see that His actions are extremely practical. At the beginning, when your group was setting out, some of you discussed whether to go or not. God did not obstruct you; He didn’t make you feel nauseous, or vomit, or have diarrhea. He neither obstructed you, nor urged you to go. Is this not very practical? He allowed the group to talk it over together. Some people said that their right eyelid was twitching, while others said they felt uncomfortable inside, but regardless of whether you relied on your feelings and mood, or on imaginings concerned with supernatural things, ultimately you should go where you were supposed to, and God didn’t obstruct you in any way. Isn’t it very practical for God to work in this way? (Yes.) God’s actions aren’t the slightest bit hollow; all kinds of human manifestations are allowed, which even include some people’s eyelids twitching. Tell Me, can God stop or control people’s eyelids twitching? Wouldn’t it have been so easy for God to control this? But did He do that? (No.) God didn’t do that. He didn’t intervene, He gave you freedom. Your eyelid twitched as it would, but in the end, the group set off nonetheless—all of this was so practical. But there was trouble at the destination, and God didn’t get rid of this danger just because you were headed there. God didn’t do that, and the trouble still occurred as it was supposed to. Yet God did a clever thing: He made your car break down halfway there, so that by the time the car was fixed and you all arrived at the destination, the danger had passed. This was God protecting you. You see, because of this time lag, He cleverly enabled you to avoid the danger. Everything God does is so practical, isn’t it? (Yes.) So this shows you, in a very practical way, that what God does is not hollow or supernatural at all, and that the occurrence of each thing is natural and inevitable, but therein lies God’s almightiness. Throughout the entire event, no matter what people’s imaginings were, no matter what their difficulties, weaknesses, and problems were, no matter whether the viewpoints they discussed together were right or wrong, none of this affected what ultimately happened, nor did it affect the inevitable outcome of the event. Every single thing that was supposed to happen did happen, the trouble that was supposed to occur did occur, the car that was supposed to break down did break down, and people’s viewpoints were also laid bare, but the final outcome of the event still happened according to the way that God had set out, and according to what God preordained and how God exercised sovereignty over the event. This is God’s almightiness, is it not? (Yes.) All of this happened so practically and normally, just like everything that happens to people each day in their everyday lives; it happened naturally and it wasn’t supernatural, fanciful, or hollow. Therefore, in this matter people should understand that God’s work is practical and that He holds sovereignty over everything. How should people practice? First of all, they must understand what principles they should abide by no matter what befalls them. If they only go by human feelings, that is unreliable. They should not go by supernatural feelings, or make wild guesses based on hollow imaginings. Instead, they should go and do what they ought to do based on the actual circumstances and the duties they ought to do. In addition, the important thing is that they go and do what they ought to do based on the truth principles. Is this not then much easier? (Yes.) Therefore, no matter what problems you encounter, and no matter what stage God’s work has reached, you don’t need to go by your feelings, you don’t need to check whether a date is auspicious or not, and of course you especially don’t need to look at any astronomical phenomena or listen to any prophecies—just do what you ought to do. Some people like to look at astronomical phenomena or check whether dates are auspicious or not, saying, “Tomorrow is not a good date, will everything go awry if I go out? Will the great red dragon be conducting arrests? How come there was a crow calling by the door when I got up early and went outside this morning? I heard that some people saw a black cat when they went out last night. These are all ominous signs! What should I do? Is some danger about to occur?” If you have normal humanity and normal human thinking, you should be able to judge what kinds of circumstances are dangerous and what kinds of circumstances are relatively safe, and know how to approach and deal with them according to the actual situation—you don’t need to look at those other things. As for what you ought to do and ought not to do every day, in one respect, there are clear words of God that serve as the truth principles, and in another respect, you have normal humanity, conscience and reason, and as long as you do what you ought to do every day based on the arrangement of the actual circumstances and the direction they provide, and according to the actual needs of normal humanity and your own responsibilities and obligations, then that’s fine. If people approach their everyday lives like this, won’t things be much simpler? (Yes.)