5. How Must You Believe in God in Order to Be Saved and Made Perfect?

Relevant Words of God:

To be precise, taking Peter’s path in one’s faith means to walk the path of pursuing the truth, which is also the path of truly knowing oneself so as to achieve a change in disposition. Only by walking the path of Peter will one be on the path of being perfected by God. One must be clear on how, exactly, to walk Peter’s path, as well as how to put it into practice. Firstly, one must put aside one’s own intentions, improper pursuits, and even family and all things of one’s own flesh, and be wholeheartedly devoted; that is to say, one must completely devote oneself to the word of God, focus on eating and drinking God’s words, concentrate on seeking the truth and God’s desires in His words, and try to grasp God’s intentions in everything. This is the most fundamental and vital method of practice. This was how Peter practiced after seeing Jesus, and it is only by practicing in this way that one can achieve the best results. Wholehearted devotion to the word of God primarily involves seeking the truth and God’s desires within His words, focusing on grasping the intentions of God, and understanding and obtaining more truth from God’s words. When reading God’s words, Peter was not focused on understanding doctrines, much less was he focused on obtaining theological knowledge. Instead, he concentrated on understanding the truth and grasping God’s intentions, as well as achieving knowledge of God’s disposition and loveliness. Peter also attempted to know the various corrupt states of man, man’s nature essence, and man’s actual shortcomings from God’s words. Only in this way could he easily meet God’s requirements in order to satisfy Him. Peter had so many accurate practices when it came to God’s words. This was most in accordance with God’s intentions, and it was the best way a person could cooperate while experiencing God’s work. When experiencing the hundreds of trials sent by God, Peter strictly matched himself up against every word of God’s judgment and exposure of man—and every word of His requirements of man—examined himself, and strived to accurately grasp the meaning of God’s words. He earnestly pondered everything that Jesus said to him, keeping each word firmly in mind—this approach yielded very good results. By practicing in this way, he was able to know himself through God’s words, and he not only came to know the various corrupt states and shortcomings of man, but he also came to know man’s essence and nature. This is what it means to truly know oneself. From God’s words, Peter, in one regard, achieved true knowledge of himself, and in another regard, he saw the righteous disposition God expressed, what God has and is, God’s intentions for His work, and God’s requirements of mankind. From these words he truly came to know God. He came to know God’s disposition and His essence; he came to know and understand what God has and is, as well as God’s loveliness and God’s requirements for man. Although God did not speak back then as much as He does today, results in these aspects were nevertheless achieved in Peter. This was a rare and precious thing. Peter went through hundreds of trials; he did not suffer in vain. He not only came to know himself from the words and the work of God, but he also came to know God. In addition, within God’s words he especially paid attention to God’s requirements of man and the aspects in which man should satisfy God so as to be in accordance with God’s intentions, and he was able to apply great effort to these things, achieving full clarity. This was extremely beneficial with regard to his life entry. No matter which aspect of God’s words it was, so long as those words were able to serve as life and were the truth, Peter engraved them in his heart, where he would ponder and comprehend them frequently. Having heard the words of Jesus, he was able to take them to heart, which shows that he was especially focused on God’s words, and he truly achieved results in the end. That is, he was able to deftly put the words of God into practice, accurately practice the truth and act according to God’s intentions, do things entirely in accordance with God’s desires, and give up his own personal opinions and imaginings. In this way, Peter entered into the reality of God’s words. Peter’s service was in accordance with God’s intentions primarily because he had done this.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. How to Walk the Path of Peter

To seek to be made perfect by God, one must first understand what it means to be perfected by Him, as well as what conditions one must meet in order to be perfected. Once one has a grasp of such matters, then one must find a path of practice. To be perfected, one must be of a certain caliber. Many people are not innately of high enough caliber, in which case you must pay a price and work hard subjectively. The worse your caliber, the more subjective effort you must put in. The greater your understanding of God’s words and the more you put them into practice, the more quickly you can set foot upon the path of being perfected by God. Through prayer, you can be made perfect during prayer; you can also be perfected by eating and drinking the words of God, grasping their essence, and living out their reality. By experiencing God’s words on a daily basis, you should come to know what is lacking in yourself; even more so, you should recognize your fatal flaw and your weaknesses, and pray and supplicate to God. By doing so, you will gradually be made perfect. The path to perfection is: praying; eating and drinking God’s words; grasping the essence of God’s words; entering into the experience of God’s words; coming to know what is lacking in yourself; submitting to God’s work; being considerate of God’s burden and rebelling against the flesh through your God-loving heart; and joining in frequent fellowship with your brothers and sisters, which can enrich your experiences. Whether it be communal life or your personal life, and whether it be large assemblies or small ones, they can all allow you to have experiences, receive training, and enable your heart to become quiet before God and turn toward Him. All of this is part of the process of being made perfect. Experiencing the words of God, as mentioned earlier, means being able actually to personally experience them and allowing yourself to live them out—so that you will gain greater faith and love for God—and, by doing so, gradually casting off your satanic corrupt dispositions, casting off your improper intentions, and living out the likeness of a normal person. There will be more and more love for God within you—which is to say, there will be more and more parts of you that have been made perfect by God, and then the parts of you that are corrupted by Satan will grow fewer and fewer. Through your practical experiences, you will gradually set foot upon the path of perfection. Thus, if you wish to be made perfect, then it is especially important to be considerate of the intentions of God and to experience His words.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Be Considerate of God’s Intentions in Order to Attain Perfection

If you believe in God’s sovereignty, then you have to believe that the things which happen every day, be they good or bad, do not occur at random. It is not that someone is deliberately being hard on you or targeting you; this is all arranged and orchestrated by God. Why does God orchestrate all these things? It is not to expose you for who you are or to reveal and eliminate you; revealing you is not the end goal. The goal is to perfect you and save you. How does God perfect you? And how does He save you? He starts by making you aware of your own corrupt dispositions, and by making you know your nature essence, your inadequacies, and what you lack. Only by knowing these things, and having an understanding of them, can you pursue the truth and gradually cast off your corrupt dispositions. This is God providing you with an opportunity. This is God’s mercy. You should know to seize this opportunity. You should not feel resistant toward God, be defiant toward Him, or misunderstand Him. In particular, when faced with the people, events, and things that God arranges around you, do not constantly feel that they are not as you wish them to be, do not constantly wish to escape them or always complain about and misunderstand God. If you are constantly doing those things, then you are not experiencing God’s work, and it will be very difficult for you to enter the truth reality. No matter what you encounter that you cannot fully understand, or find difficult, you must learn to submit. You should first come before God and pray more. That way, before you know it, a shift will occur in your internal state, and you will be able to seek the truth to resolve the problem. As such, you will be able to experience God’s work. As this happens, the truth reality will be wrought within you, and this is how you will progress and undergo a transformation of the state of your life. Once you have undergone this change and possess this truth reality, you will have stature, and when you have stature, you will have life. If someone always lives based on satanic corrupt dispositions, then no matter how much enthusiasm or drive they have, they still cannot be considered to have stature or life. When God works in each person, no matter what His method is, what kind of people, events, and things He uses to render service to Him, or what kind of tone His words have, He only has one end goal: saving you. And how does He save you? By changing you. So how could you not suffer a bit? You are going to have to suffer a bit. This suffering can involve many things. First, people suffer when they accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s words. When God’s words are too harsh and explicit, people misunderstand God, they even develop notions, and they suffer a bit, too. Sometimes God raises up an environment around people to reveal their corruption and make them reflect on and know themselves, and they suffer a little then, too. Sometimes, when they are directly pruned and exposed, people suffer. Resolving a corrupt disposition is just like undergoing surgery—you can’t get any results without suffering. If every time you are pruned, and every time you are revealed by an environment, it stirs your heart and gives you a boost, prompting you to seek the truth and reflect on yourself, to come to know your corruption and rebelliousness, and to truly repent to God—if you experience things in this way, you will enter the truth reality, and will have stature.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. To Gain the Truth, One Must Learn Lessons From the People, Events, and Things Nearby

In his belief in God, Peter sought to satisfy God in everything, and sought to submit to all that came from God. He was able to accept chastisement and judgment, as well as refinement, tribulation, and going without in his life, not uttering a single complaint. None of this could alter his God-loving heart. Was this not the ultimate love for God? Was this not the fulfillment of the duty of a created being? Whether it be in chastisement, judgment, or tribulation, you are capable of achieving submission unto death, and this is what should be achieved by a created being, this is the purity of the love for God. If man can achieve this much, then he is a created being who is up to standard, and there is nothing which better satisfies the intentions of the Creator.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Success or Failure Depends on the Path One Walks

If people wish to become living beings and to bear witness to God, and to be found worthy by God, then they must accept God’s salvation; they must gladly submit to His judgment and chastisement and must gladly accept the pruning of God. Only then will they be able to put all of the truths required by God into practice, and only then will they receive God’s saving grace and truly become living beings.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Are You Someone Who Has Come to Life?

Those who are without the slightest submission to God, who merely acknowledge His name, and have some sense of God’s approachableness and loveliness, yet do not keep pace with the steps of the Holy Spirit, and do not submit to the present work and words of the Holy Spirit—such people live amid the grace of God, and cannot be gained or made perfect by Him. God makes people perfect through their submission, through their eating, drinking, and enjoying of God’s words, and through the suffering and refinement in their lives. Only through faith such as this can people’s dispositions change, and only then can they possess the true knowledge of God. Not being satisfied with living amid God’s grace, actively yearning for and seeking the truth, and pursuing being gained by God—this is what it means to consciously submit to God, and this is precisely the kind of faith that He wants.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. In Your Faith in God You Should Submit to God