How to Eat and Drink and Experience the Words of God
Today we are communicating about how to eat and drink the words of God. First we need to be clear on the significance of eating and drinking the words of God. Our belief in God is mainly a pursuit of the truth, and only by pursuing the truth are we able to be saved. Pursuing the truth involves the issue of eating and drinking the words of God, because only God’s word is the truth, and all the truth that God expresses is concealed within God’s words.
If we truly understand the significance of eating and drinking the words of God, we will be willing to put in a great amount of effort into eating and drinking God’s words, and we will be willing to do our utmost to pursue and obtain the truth in God’s words. Pursuing the truth is mainly done by eating and drinking the words of God, experiencing the words of God, and understanding the words of God. This must be clearly understood. If eating and drinking God’s words did not achieve results, then people would not be able to understand the truth. If you did not get good results in eating and drinking God’s words, and you didn’t understand the truth, then how could you put God’s words into practice? There are many people who only understand a little of the doctrine in some of the passages of God’s words. They are only able to say some general, shallow things about God’s words and they are unable to clearly understand the reality of the words. Afterward, they merely practice that particular aspect of the doctrine and only follow the letter of God’s words mechanically. They put it into practice for a period of time and then feel that their spirit is willing but their flesh is weak, and that they aren’t getting results. Consequently, they don’t put it all into practice and they give up. So, you see that if there are no results attained in eating and drinking the words of God, it’s not possible to produce results in putting God’s words into practice and experiencing God’s words. Therefore, it is crucial to attain results in eating and drinking the words of God. God’s words are mostly words of judging and chastising corrupt mankind and are mainly to reveal mankind’s corrupt substance. Most of His words are regarding this aspect. Regardless of what aspect God speaks about, it is all done for the purpose of obtaining a result. So, in eating and drinking the words of God, one must first be clear on what results are to be achieved through God’s words. How does one become clear about the results God’s words are to achieve? When you have read a sentence of God’s words, you must first think about the purpose for God speaking these words and what results God is trying to achieve. You must first ponder this question. This sentence certainly contains truth. Where is the truth in this sentence? Why does God want us to understand this aspect of the truth? What results does He want to attain through letting us understand this aspect of truth? Only by contemplating in this way can you deeply enter into the substance of God’s words, grasp the intentions in God’s words, and understand the purpose of God speaking them and the results to be achieved. Every sentence of God’s words contains the will of God and in it is hidden the truth that all people need to obtain. If people truly understand the truth from God’s words, understand the will of God, and see God’s requirements, then it will be easy for this sentence of God’s words to obtain results in people. Therefore, reading the words of God is key! The first step in believing in God is reading His words. The key to whether or not a person who believes in God is able to get on the right track, obtain the truth, and be saved lies in how this person reads God’s words and whether or not this person knows the proper way to read God’s words. If this person has good inner qualities, has the ability to comprehend the word of God, knows how to pursue the illumination of the Holy Spirit while pondering God’s words, is serious with God’s words, pursues the truth, and frequently fellowships with experienced people, then this kind of person is able to attain an understanding of the truth in God’s words. If a person understands the truth through God’s words, then when they experience and practice God’s words, they will have a path forward, and will not merely mechanically follow the rules. If they are unable to understand the truth from God’s words, then they will be unable to experience God’s words. Do you think they could experience them and put them into practice? … If you do not know how to eat and drink the words of God, you will not be able to write a true understanding, experience or testimony. You must learn to eat and drink the words of God; true experiences and testimonies about believing in God are the results obtained through eating and drinking the words of God. Only if you are able to understand the truth through eating and drinking the words of God will you be able to obtain the truth. If you are never able to understand the truth through eating and drinking the words of God, then you will be unable to obtain the truth.
Therefore, from now on, you must put great effort into God’s words. Don’t just shallowly read each sentence of God’s words, but reach down deep, diligently reach for God’s will, and reach for the substance of truth. Only in this manner can you attain an understanding of the truth. Of course, there is much truth concealed in the words of God, but regardless of which aspect of truth it is you can’t completely understand it by reading it a few times. Each time you read it, you will enter a little deeper into it, obtain a little illumination and gain some new understanding. After experiencing it for some time you will be able to understand the substance of truth. Therefore, no one is able to be completely clear on the truth in God’s words after reading God’s words once. If someone says they can, they are bragging. It’s not possible. Absolutely no one is able to. I experience God’s words little by little. I am not able to immediately have a deep understanding after reading just once. That absolutely does not happen. Therefore, you shouldn’t be delusional and say: “If I put in a little effort into reading God’s words, I will obtain this truth after a few days of reading.” No matter how hard you try this way won’t work, because you experience it little by little. If you just obtain some light and remove the literal meaning, and then reach deeply into some real stuff, then this harvest is already sufficient. If you put the true things you reaped into practice, then it will be easy to experience and enter into the truth. After gaining some experience, then reach again to a deeper level, and you will grasp deeper things. Slowly, you will touch the substance of truth. I will give you an example of how to be an honest person. God said “You need to be honest.” I will tell you a way to pursue this truth. God said you need to be honest, but you don’t clearly see the significance in being honest. You merely know that God said “You need to be honest; I say unto you again you need to be honest.” You realize that being honest is God’s special request, so being an honest person must be extremely important. God requests that we be honest people, and this is linked to God’s work. God’s work is to change people and save people, so what is the difference between someone who is honest and someone who is saved? What is the difference between honest people and those who God ultimately obtains? Without a doubt, the people whom God saves and obtains are honest people. Is this the right way to think about it? After making this connection, you still need to ponder what the standards of an honest person are, but this also involves truths about being an honest person. People will all think: Honest people certainly don’t lie. So the first standard is to not lie, just as God’s words say that there are no lies to be found in the mouths of those made the first fruits by God, and there are no lies in the words of the overcomers who are saved by God. So it’s certain that to be an honest person there cannot be lies in your mouth, there can be no lies at all. This is an absolute standard. But is being an honest person merely a case of adhering to this standard? Of course not. Sometimes the lips do not speak lies, but the heart is still able to lie to God. Does this indicate an honest person? It certainly doesn’t. So we can confirm the second standard of an honest person: It is that there is no deceit in their heart. So speaking no lies and having no deceit in the heart are the standards of an honest person? At first you will probably not think about this too much, and most people are only able to think this far. After thinking this far, and after experiencing it for a few days, you might discover a question: “Ah, I’ve discovered that sometimes when I pray in God’s presence, my heart is not open. My heart is not open and it is a little bit false and deceiving. My heart must communicate purely and openly with God, I must purely and openly pray to God. Surely this is also involved in being an honest person.” There you are, you have discovered another question. The heart must be pure and open, it must be pure and open to God. Being an honest person is no longer a two-fold question, is it? You now realize that being an honest person is not that simple! Having a heart that is not deceitful is not easy to attain; not telling lies is also not easy to achieve; having a pure and open heart to God is also not easy to achieve. In addition, what kind of person can an honest person be contrasted with? An honest person can be contrasted with a crafty person. We frequently find mention of the manifestations of crafty people in God’s words. So in order to be an honest person, we must first find the various manifestations of a crafty person. If we try to be honest people, yet still have manifestations of a crafty person within, then this proves that we are still not honest people. So we need to on the negative side find the various manifestations of a crafty person, and on the positive side maintain the several standards of an honest person. In this manner, we can experience being an honest person and advance deeper. Only by experiencing this way are we able to truly enter onto the right track of becoming an honest person; only by experiencing this way are we able to understand what an honest person is, what they possess, and what a crafty person possesses. After you experience being an honest person for a period of time, you will come to understand the truth of being an honest person better and better, and you will feel that being an honest person is like being a real person. Look, you have now deepened your understanding of what an honest person is. You have seen that only an honest person has the semblance of a real person and has a normal humanity; that only honest people are able to live a true life and are in conformance with God’s will. In experiencing to this point, and understanding to this level, you will have a basic understanding of the truth of an honest person. But if you reach even deeper for experience, you will be able to speak deeper words about how being an honest person is extremely significant, and much more than that. This is all based on the truth of being an honest person. By reading God’s words, experiencing God’s words, and putting God’s words into practice, you will ultimately attain an understanding of the truth of being an honest person, and you will grasp God’s intention of demanding people to be honest. In this way, after we experience the truth of being an honest person, we will slowly achieve the standards of being an honest person. One day we will feel that we truly have the semblance of an honest person, and have reached the standards of an honest person. We will think: “Wow, we truly are new people, new people that God has made, people that God has perfected through His words.” At that time, we will think: “We are certainly in the ‘likeness of man,’ but are completely different people than our previous selves,” and you will feel that with your belief in God and experiences up to the present, you have already received a great salvation and have become a real person—a new person who God has perfected through His words. Is this not attaining God’s salvation? Experiencing God’s words is done like this, and in the end, you attain this good result. The truth of becoming an honest person begins with eating and drinking the words of God and ends with completely entering the experience of being an honest person and reaching the standards of an honest person. That is, the process in which we understand God’s words, experience God’s words, and enter into the truth is also the process in which we believe in God and attain salvation. This is an example about how we eat and drink the words of God about being an honest person, how we experience entering these words, and ultimately attain the results of understanding the truth of being an honest person and having the true understanding of an honest person. Other aspects of God’s words should also be experienced in this way, which is eating and drinking in this way, entering in this way, practicing this way, and ultimately being able to attain results. What do you say—is eating and drinking the words of God and experiencing God’s words easy? Is it as simple as people think it is? Don’t view it as such a simple matter, thinking that if you can use your mind to think it through then you have obtained it and there is nothing more about it. That is wrong. Reading God’s words is not like reading a novel where understanding it superficially is enough. Rather, you have to truly enter in and obtain truth and perfection, you must attain results and ultimately bring the words to life. Only this is considered fulfilling the demands of God’s words. Therefore, don’t take reading God’s words so simplistically. Reading God’s words is only the beginning of entering—it is only the starting point, and it leads to obtaining God’s words and living God’s words. You could say that this is the first step of a long journey. Now you should have a new understanding of eating and drinking the words of God. That is, God’s words are not just for us to consider with our minds, but rather we should understand the truth in God’s words, the intentions of God, the demands of God, and ultimately completely experience and enter into them and attain good results. This is truly accepting God’s words and experiencing God’s work of words. Only by eating and drinking the words of God this way can we truly experience the work of God.
Standards for Measuring Whether or Not People Have Reality of the Truth
Next, we will discuss the manifestations of truly entering into reality. This issue is crucial! If you have believed in God for several years and do not manifest these aspects, then that means you have not truly entered into the reality of God’s words. The first manifestation is that you are able to receive God’s judgment and chastisement and attain an understanding of your own corrupt essence. This is the true manifestation of entering the reality of God’s words. The second manifestation is that, since you have an understanding of the corrupt essence of mankind and of Satan’s ugliness, you are able to despise Satan, despise the great red dragon, thoroughly forsake the great red dragon, and expend your entire energy for God. The third is that you are able to fulfill the duties you should fulfill in God’s family, you do not fulfill your duties perfunctorily, you are able to forsake the flesh and satisfy God’s demands. This is the third reality and is quite crucial. The fourth is being able to stand witness to satisfy God in the face of trials and Satan’s temptations. This is one aspect of reality. The fifth is being able to maintain the truth and not forsake its principles with regard to questions about truth. This is the fifth reality. The sixth is being able to consciously put the truth into practice, seek the truth in everything, practice according to God’s demands and live out God’s words after coming to some understanding of the truth. The seventh is being able to worship God regularly because you have a true understanding of God, and being able to praise the righteousness of God in all situations that you encounter while submitting to the arrangements of God. This is the seventh reality. Regardless of which aspects of these seven realities you have entered into, it proves that you are possessed of reality. If you don’t have one of them, or don’t live them to any degree, then you do not have any reality. Measuring whether or not people have reality is done according to these seven standards.
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