God's word | The Path … (8)

    When God comes to the earth to mingle with mankind, to live with them, it is not just for one or two days. Maybe in all this time people have more or less known God, and maybe they have gained significant insights of serving God, and are very seasoned in their belief in God. Whatever the case is, people pretty much understand God’s disposition, and the expressions of all sorts of human dispositions are really varied. The way I see it, people’s various expressions are adequate for God to use as specimens, and their mental activities are adequate for Him to reference. Maybe this is one aspect in which mankind cooperates with God, it is mankind’s unwitting cooperation with God, so that this performance directed by God is colorful and lifelike, very vivid. I am saying these things to My brothers and sisters as the general director of this play—every single one of us can speak to our thoughts and feelings after acting this out, and chat about how each of us experiences our lives within this play. We may as well have an entirely new kind of symposium to open up our hearts and talk about our performing arts, see how God guides each individual so that in the next rendition we are able to express a higher level of our art and each play out our own role to the greatest extent possible, not disappointing God. I hope that My brothers and sisters can take this seriously—no one can overlook it because playing a part well isn’t something that can be achieved in one or two days. It requires that we experience life and go deeper into our real lives over the long term, and have practical experience of various types of lives. Only then can we go up on stage. I am full of hope for My brothers and sisters, and I believe that you are not disheartened or discouraged, and no matter what God does, you are like a pot of fire—you are never tepid and you can persist until the end, until God’s work is fully revealed, and until the play that God directs comes to its final conclusion. I have no other requirements of you. All I hope for is that you can continue to hold on, that you are not anxious for results, that you cooperate with Me so that the work that I should do is done well, and that no one creates interruptions or disturbances. When this portion of the work is completed, God will reveal everything to you. After My work has been completed, I will present your credit in front of God to give account to Him. Isn’t that better? We can help each other achieve our own aims. Isn’t this a perfect solution for everyone? This is a difficult time that requires you to pay a price. Because I am currently the director, I hope that none of you are irritated. This is the work that I am doing. Perhaps there will be one day when I switch to a more appropriate “work unit” and I no longer make things difficult for you. I will show to you whatever you are willing to see, and I will also fulfill you in whatever you are willing to hear. But not now—this is the work for today and I cannot give free rein to your characters and allow you to do whatever you want to. That way, My work would not be easy to do. To be honest, that wouldn’t bear any fruit and it wouldn’t be beneficial for you. So now you need to “suffer hardships,” and when the day comes that this stage of My work has been completed I will be free. I will not bear such a heavy burden, and I will accede to whatever you ask from Me; as long as it is beneficial for your lives I will fulfill your requests. I have now taken up a heavy responsibility. I cannot go against the commands of God the Father, and I cannot disrupt the plans for My work. I cannot manage My personal affairs through My business affairs. I hope you can all understand and forgive Me because everything that I do is according to the intention of God the Father. I do whatever He has Me do no matter what He wants, and I am not willing to provoke His anger or His wrath. I only do what I should do. So on behalf of God the Father, I advise you to endure a little while longer. No one need worry. After I have completed what I need to do, you can do whatever you want and see whatever you like, but I must complete the work that I need to.

    In this stage of work great faith and great love are required of us. We may stumble from the slightest carelessness because this stage of work is different from all the previous ones. What God is perfecting is mankind’s faith—one cannot see or touch it. What God does is convert words to faith, to love, and to life. People must reach a point where they have endured hundreds of refinements and possess faith greater than Job’s. They need to endure incredible suffering and all kinds of torture without departing from God at any time. When they are obedient until the death, and have great faith in God, then this stage of God’s work is complete. It is this work that I have taken on, so I hope that My brothers and sisters are able to understand My difficulties and don’t have any other requirements of Me. This is God the Father’s requirement of Me and I cannot escape from this reality. I must do the work that I should do. All I hope is that you are not irrational, that you gain more insights and do not look at issues too simply. Your thinking is too childish, too naive. God’s work isn’t as simple as you might imagine, that He just does whatever He wants to do. If that were the case His plan would be ruined. Wouldn’t you say so? I am doing the work of God. I’m not just doing odd jobs for people, doing whatever I feel like doing and personally arranging whether or not I do something. It’s not that simple right now. I have been sent by the Father to act as the director—do you think that I arranged and chose this Myself? People’s thinking always interrupts the work of God. So, after I work for a period of time, there are many requests from people that I have not been able to fulfill and people have all changed their minds about Me. You should all be clear about these ideas you have—I have no need to point each of them out individually. I can do nothing but explain the work I do; My feelings aren’t hurt by this at all. Once you’ve understood that, you can see it however you like. I won’t raise any objections because this is how God works. I’m not obliged to explain all of it. I have just come to complete the work of words, to work and perform at the direction of words. I don’t need to say much about the rest of it, and I’m not able to do anything else. I have explained everything I have to say. Whatever you think of it is fine, and it doesn’t matter to Me. But I would still like to remind you that God’s work is not as simple as you imagine it to be. The less in line it is with people’s notions the deeper the significance is, and the more in line it is with people’s notions, the less valuable it is, and without actual significance. Consider these words carefully—I only say this one thing about that, and you yourselves can analyze the rest. I will not do any explaining.

    People imagine that God does things in a certain way, but over this last year or so, has what we have seen and experienced of God’s work really been according to human notions? From the creation of the world until now, not a single person has been able to put their finger on the stages or the rules of God’s work. If they could, why is it that those religious leaders don’t recognize that God is currently working this way? Why is it that so few people understand the reality of today? From this we can see that no one understands God’s work—people can only do things according to the guidance of His Spirit, but they cannot just rigidly apply rules to His work. If you take the image and the work of Jesus and compare it with God’s current work, it is just like the Jewish people holding Jesus up to the idea of[a] Jehovah. Isn’t this suffering a loss? Even Jesus didn’t know what God’s work in the last days would be; all He knew was that what He needed to complete was the work of being crucified, so how could others know? How could they know what work God is going to do in the future? How could God disclose His plan to human beings, who have been occupied by Satan? Isn’t that foolish? What God allows you to know and to understand is His will. He does not allow you to consider His future work. All we need to do is believe in God and do things according to His guidance, handle actual difficulties practically, not make things difficult for God or cause trouble for Him. We should just go do what we ought to do—as long as we can be within God’s present work that’s enough! This is the path that I am guiding you on. We should continue forward, and God will not mistreat a single one of us. In this last year of your marvelous experiences you have gained a great many things; I believe that you will not take it so hard. The path that I’m leading you on is My work, My responsibility, and it was ordained by God long ago so that we would be predestined to come this far, until today—that we have been able to do this is our great blessing, and although it has not been a smooth path, our friendship is everlasting, and it will be passed down through the ages. Whether they were cheers and laughter or sadness and tears, they all make up our beautiful memories! Maybe you should know that I do not have many days for My work. I have so many work projects, and I cannot accompany you often. I hope you can understand Me—because our original friendship is still the same. Maybe one day I will once again appear in front of you, and I hope that you don’t make things difficult for Me. After all, I am different from you. I travel all around for My work, and I don’t live My life just lollygagging in hotels. Regardless of how you are, I just do what I should do. I hope that the things we shared in the past may become the flower of our friendship.

    It can be said that this path was opened up by Me, and whether bitter or sweet, I have led the way. That we have been able to continue to the present day has all been due to God’s grace. There may be some who thank Me, and there may be some who complain against Me, but none of that is important. All I want to see is that what should be achieved in this group of people has been achieved. This should be celebrated. So, I do not bear a grudge against those who complain against Me; all I want is to complete My work as quickly as possible so that God’s heart may be at rest soon. At that time I will not bear any heavy burden, and there will be no worries in God’s heart. Are you willing to cooperate in a better way? Isn’t doing God’s work well a better aim for our struggles? It can really be said that we have undergone innumerable hardships and experienced all the joys and sorrows over this period of time, and overall, the performance of every single person has been almost passable. Perhaps in the future there will be more pleasant work that is required of you, but don’t linger on thoughts of Me; just do what you should. What I need to do is almost there, and I hope that you will be loyal at all times and that you will not be nostalgic regarding My work. You should know that I have come only to complete one stage of work, certainly not to do all of God’s work. This is something that you need to understand. Don’t have any other opinions about it. God’s work requires more avenues in order to be complete; you cannot always rely on Me. Perhaps you saw long ago that what I am doing is just one portion of the work; it does not represent Jehovah or Jesus. God’s work is divided into many stages, so don’t be too rigid. While I’m working you must listen to Me. God’s work has been different in every single age; it doesn’t remain the same, and it’s not just the same old song being sung. There is His work which is suitable in every stage and it changes with the ages. So since you have been born into this age, you must eat and drink of God’s words and read His words. The day may come when My work changes and you must continue on according to what you should do. There can be no errors in God’s work. No matter how the outside world changes, God cannot be wrong and His work cannot be wrong. It is merely that sometimes God’s old work passes away and His new work begins; however, it cannot be said that because the new work has come the old work is wrong. That is a fallacy! God’s work cannot be said to be right or wrong, it can only be said to be earlier or later. This is the guide for people’s belief in God and it absolutely cannot be ignored.

from The books of Eastern Lightning The Word Appears in the Flesh

    Footnotes:

    a. The original text omits “the idea of.”