The first step of the Holy Spirit’s path in man is, before anything else, to draw man’s heart away from people, events, and things and into the words of God, causing man’s heart to believe that the words of God are beyond all doubt, and completely true. If you believe in God, you must believe in His words; if, after many years of faith in God, you remain unaware of the path taken by the Holy Spirit, are you really a believer? To achieve a normal human life—a normal human life that has a normal relationship with God—you must first believe in His words. If you have not achieved the first step of the Holy Spirit’s work in people, then you have no foundation. If even the very least of principles is beyond you, how will you walk the path ahead? Setting foot upon the right track by which God perfects man means entering upon the right track of the Holy Spirit’s current work; it means setting foot upon the path taken by the Holy Spirit. Right now, the path taken by the Holy Spirit is the current words of God. As such, if people are to set foot upon the path of the Holy Spirit, they must obey, and eat and drink, the current words of God incarnate. The work He does is the work of words; everything begins from His words, and all is built upon His words, upon His current words. Whether being certain about the incarnate God, or knowing the incarnate God, each requires spending more effort on His words. If not, people can accomplish nothing and will be left with nothing. Only by building upon the foundation of eating and drinking God’s words, and thereby coming to know Him and to satisfy Him, can people gradually build a normal relationship with God. For man, there is no better cooperation with God than eating and drinking His words and putting them into practice. Through such practice they are best able to stand firm in their testimony of God’s people. When people understand and are able to obey the essence of God’s current words, they live on the path of being guided by the Holy Spirit, and have set foot on the right track of God’s perfection of man. Previously, people could gain God’s work simply by seeking God’s grace, or by seeking peace and joy, but things are different now. Without the words of the incarnate God, without the reality of His words, people cannot gain God’s approval and will all be eliminated by God. To achieve a normal spiritual life, people should first eat and drink God’s words and put them into practice, and then, upon this foundation, establish a normal relationship with God. How do you cooperate? How do you stand firm in the testimony of God’s people? How do you build a normal relationship with God?

How to see if you have a normal relationship with God in your daily life:

1. Do you believe God’s own testimony?

2. Do you believe in your heart that God’s words are true and infallible?

3. Are you someone who puts His words into practice?

4. Are you faithful to His commission? What do you do in order to be faithful to His commission?

5. Is everything that you do for the sake of satisfying God and being faithful to Him?

By means of the items listed above, you may take stock of whether you have a normal relationship with God in the present stage.

If you are able to accept God’s commission, to accept His promise, and to follow the path of the Holy Spirit, then you are following God’s will. Inside, is the path of the Holy Spirit clear to you? Right now, do you act in accordance with the path of the Holy Spirit? Does your heart draw close to God? Do you wish to keep pace with the newest light of the Holy Spirit? Do you wish to be gained by God? Do you wish to become a manifestation of God’s glory on earth? Do you have the resolution to attain what God requires of you? If, when the words of God are spoken, there is, within you, the resolution to cooperate, and the resolution to satisfy God—if this is your mentality—it means that God’s words have borne fruit in your heart. If you lack such resolution, if you have no goals that you pursue, it means that your heart has not been moved by God.

Once people have officially entered the training of the kingdom, the demands that God makes of them rise to a higher level. In what respect can these higher demands be seen? Before, it was said that people did not have life. Today, they seek life, they seek to become God’s people, to be gained by God, to be perfected by God. Is this not a higher level? In fact, the demands God makes of people are simpler than they used to be. People are not required to be service-doers, or to die—all that is required of them is to become the people of God. Is that not simpler? All you have to do is offer up your heart to God and submit to His guidance, and everything will come to fruition. Why do you feel this is so difficult? Entry into life spoken of today is clearer than before. In the past, people were confused and did not know what the reality of the truth was. In fact, all who react when they hear the words of God, who are enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and who, before God, receive His perfection and are changed in disposition—all such people have life. God wants living beings, not dead things; if you are dead, you do not have life, and God will not speak to you, much less will He raise you up as one of His people. Since you have been lifted up by God, and have received such a great blessing from Him, this shows that you are all people with life, and people with life come from God.

In the pursuit of change in one’s life disposition, the path of practice is simple. If, in your practical experience, you are able to follow the current words of the Holy Spirit and experience God’s work, then your disposition is capable of change. If you follow whatever the Holy Spirit says, and seek whatever the Holy Spirit says, then you are someone who obeys Him, and there will be a change in your disposition. People’s dispositions change with the current words of the Holy Spirit; if you always cling to your old experiences and rules of the past, then your disposition cannot change. If the Holy Spirit’s words of today ask that all people enter into a life of normal humanity but you remain fixated on external things, and are confused about reality and do not take it seriously, then you are someone who has failed to keep up with the work of the Holy Spirit, someone who has not entered upon the path of the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Whether or not your disposition can change depends upon whether or not you keep up with the Holy Spirit’s current words and whether or not you have true knowledge. This is unlike what you understood before. The change in your disposition that you understood before was that you, who are quick to judge, have ceased to speak thoughtlessly through God’s discipline; but that is just one aspect of the change. Right now, the most critical point is following the guidance of the Holy Spirit: Follow whatever God says, and obey whatever He says. People cannot change their own disposition; they must undergo the judgment and chastisement, and suffering and refinement, of God’s words, or being dealt with, disciplined, and pruned by His words. Only then can they achieve obedience and faithfulness to God, and no longer be perfunctory toward Him. It is under the refinement of God’s words that people’s dispositions change. Only through the exposure, judgment, discipline, and dealing of His words will they no longer dare to act rashly but instead will become steady and composed. The most important point is that they are able to submit to God’s current words, and to His work, even if it is not in line with human notions, they are able to put these notions aside and willingly submit. In the past, talk of changes in disposition mainly referred to being able to forsake oneself, to allowing the flesh to suffer, disciplining one’s body, and ridding oneself of fleshly preferences—which is one kind of change in disposition. Today, everyone knows that the real expression of change in disposition is obeying the current words of God and truly knowing His new work. In this way, people’s prior understanding of God, which was colored by their own notions, can be expunged, and they can attain true knowledge of and obedience to God—only this is a genuine expression of a change in disposition.

People’s pursuit of entry into life is based upon the words of God. Previously, it was said that everything is accomplished because of His words, but no one saw this fact. If you enter into experiencing the current step, all will be clear to you, and you will be building a good foundation for future trials. Whatever God says, focus only on entry into His words. When God says He will begin to chastise people, accept His chastisement. When God asks people to die, accept that trial. If you are always living within His newest utterances, God’s words will perfect you in the end. The more you enter into God’s words, the more quickly you will be perfected. Why, in fellowship after fellowship, do I ask you to know and enter into God’s words? Only when you pursue and experience in God’s words, and enter into the reality of His words, does the Holy Spirit have the opportunity to work in you. Therefore, you are all participants in every method by which God works, and whatever the degree of your suffering, in the end you will all receive a “souvenir.” In order to attain your final perfection, you must enter into all of God’s words. The Holy Spirit’s perfection of people is not unilateral; He requires people’s cooperation, He needs everyone to consciously cooperate with Him. Whatever God says, focus only on entry into His words—this will be more beneficial to your life. Everything is for the sake of achieving a change in your disposition. When you enter into God’s words, your heart will be moved by Him, and you will be capable of knowing everything that God wishes to achieve in this step of His work, and you will have the resolution to achieve it. During the time of chastisement, there were those who believed that this was a method of work, and did not believe in God’s words. As a result, they did not undergo refinement, and emerged from the time of chastisement without gaining or understanding anything. There were some who truly entered into these words without a shred of doubt, who said that the words of God are the infallible truth and that humanity should be chastised. They struggled therein for a period of time, letting go of their future and their destiny, and when they emerged, their dispositions had undergone some change, and they had gained a deeper understanding of God. Those who emerged from chastisement all felt the loveliness of God and realized that this step of work embodied God’s great love descending into them, that it was the conquest and salvation of God’s love. They also said that God’s thoughts are always good, and that everything God does in man comes from love, not hate. Those who did not believe in God’s words, who did not look to His words, did not undergo refinement during the time of chastisement, and as a result, the Holy Spirit was not with them, and they gained nothing. For those who entered the time of chastisement, although they did undergo refinement, the Holy Spirit was working hidden inside them, and their life disposition was changed as a result. Some seemed, to all outward appearances, very positive, filled with good cheer all day, but they did not enter into the state of the refinement of God’s words and so did not change at all, which was the consequence of not believing in God’s words. If you do not believe in God’s words, then the Holy Spirit will not work in you. God appears to all those who believe in His words, and those who believe in and accept His words will be able to gain His love!

Enter into the state referred to in God’s words, focus on positive entry, and find what should be put into practice—only thus will there be a change in your disposition, only through this path can you be perfected by God, and only people who have been perfected by God in this way can be in line with His will. To receive new light, you must live within His words. Being moved by the Holy Spirit but a single time will not do at all—you must go deeper. For those who have been moved but once, their inner zeal is aroused, and they wish to seek, but this cannot last long; they must be constantly moved by the Holy Spirit. Many times in the past, I have mentioned My hope that God’s Spirit may move people’s spirits, so that they may pursue changes in their life disposition, and while seeking to be moved by God, that they may understand their own inadequacies, and in the process of experiencing His words may cast off the impurities in themselves (self-righteousness, arrogance, notions, and so on). Do not think that merely being proactive in receiving new light will do—you must also cast off all that is negative. On the one hand, you need to enter from a positive aspect, and on the other hand, you need to rid yourself of all that is impure from a negative aspect. You must constantly examine yourself to see which impurities still exist within you. Humanity’s religious notions, intentions, hopes, self-righteousness, and arrogance are all unclean things. Look within yourself, and place everything side by side with all of God’s words of revelation, to see which religious notions you have. Only when you truly recognize them can you cast them off. Some people say: “It is enough now simply to follow the light of the present work of the Holy Spirit. There’s no need to bother with anything else.” But then, when your religious notions arise, how will you get rid of them? Do you think following God’s words today is a simple thing to do? If you are someone of religion, disruptions can arise from your religious notions and the traditional theological theories in your heart, and when these things arise, it interferes with your acceptance of new things. These are all real problems. If you only pursue the current words of the Holy Spirit, you cannot fulfill God’s will. At the same time as you pursue the present light of the Holy Spirit, you should recognize which notions and intentions you harbor, and what human self-righteousness you have, and which behaviors are disobedient to God. And after you have recognized all of these things, you must cast them off. Having you forsake your previous actions and behaviors is all for the sake of allowing you to follow the words that the Holy Spirit speaks today. A change in disposition, on the one hand, is achieved through God’s words, and on the other hand, it requires cooperation on the part of humanity. There is God’s work and then there is human practice, and both are indispensable.

In your future path of service, how can you fulfill God’s will? One crucial point is to pursue entry into life, pursue a change in disposition, and pursue deeper entry into the truth—this is the path to achieving being perfected and being gained by God. You are all recipients of God’s commission, but what kind of commission? This relates to the next step of work; the next step of work will be greater work that is carried out throughout the entire universe, so today, you should pursue changes in your life disposition, that in the future you may truly become the proof of God gaining glory through His work, making you into exemplars for His future work. Today’s pursuit is entirely for the sake of laying the foundation for future work, so that you may be used by God and can bear witness to Him. If you make this the goal of your pursuit, you will be able to gain the presence of the Holy Spirit. The higher you set the goal of your pursuit, the more you can be perfected. The more you pursue the truth, the more the Holy Spirit works. The more energy you put into your pursuit, the more you will gain. The Holy Spirit perfects people according to their inner state. Some people say that they are not willing to be used by God or perfected by Him, that they just want their flesh to remain safe and not suffer any misfortune. Some people are unwilling to enter into the kingdom yet willing to descend into the bottomless pit. In that case, God will also grant your wish. Whatever you pursue, God will make it happen. So what are you pursuing at present? Is it being perfected? Are your present actions and behaviors for the sake of being perfected by God and being gained by Him? You must constantly measure yourself thus in your daily life. If you put all your heart into the pursuit of a single goal, God will assuredly perfect you. Such is the path of the Holy Spirit. The path on which the Holy Spirit guides people is attained by means of their pursuit. The more you thirst to be perfected and gained by God, the more the Holy Spirit will work within you. The more you fail to seek, and the more negative and retrogressive you are, the more you deprive the Holy Spirit of opportunities to work; as time goes on, the Holy Spirit will abandon you. Do you wish to be perfected by God? Do you wish to be gained by God? Do you wish to be used by God? You should pursue doing everything for the sake of being perfected, gained, and used by God, so that all things in the universe can see God’s actions manifested in you. You are the master among all things, and in the midst of all that there is, you will let God enjoy testimony and glorification through you—this is proof that you are the most blessed of all generations!