The Principles of Upholding a Normal Relationship With God

4. The Principles of Upholding a Normal Relationship With God

1. You must first of all give your heart to God and allow God to take charge, frequently have real prayer and association with God, and obtain the guidance of the work of the Holy Spirit;

2. You must frequently eat and drink of God’s words, fellowship the truth, practice the truth and fulfill your duty in order to repay God’s love;

3. In all things, you must harbor right intentions, accept God’s scrutiny, put the interests of God’s family first. You must not make plans for yourself, and you must obey God’s arrangements;

4. You must seek the truth in all things, seek to love God in your heart and practice loving God, and allow God to take charge and hold power in all things.

Relevant Words of God:

People believe in God, love God, and satisfy God by touching the Spirit of God with their heart, thereby obtaining His satisfaction; when engaging with God’s words with their heart, they are therefore moved by the Spirit of God. If you wish to achieve a proper spiritual life and establish a proper relationship with God, you must first give your heart to Him, and quiet your heart before Him. Only after you have poured your whole heart into God can you gradually develop a proper spiritual life. If people do not give their heart to God in their belief in Him, if their heart is not in Him and they do not treat His burden as their own, then everything they do is cheating God, and it is all the behavior of religious people—this cannot receive God’s praise. God cannot get anything from this kind of person; this kind of person can only serve as a foil to God’s work, like a decoration in the house of God, taking up space, and is a good-for-nothing—God does not use this kind of person. … If your heart can be poured into God and keep quiet before Him, then you will have the opportunity and the qualifications to be used by the Holy Spirit, to receive the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, and even more, you will have the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to make up for your shortcomings. When you give your heart to God, you can enter more deeply into the positive aspect and be on a higher plane of insight; in the negative aspect, you will have more understanding of your own faults and shortcomings, you will be more eager to seek to satisfy God’s will, and you will not be passive, and will actively enter in. This will mean that you are a correct person. …

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If you want to have a proper relationship with God, your heart must turn to God.… When one does not give his heart to God, his spirit becomes obtuse, it becomes numb and unconscious. This kind of person will never understand God’s words and will never have a proper relationship with God; this kind of person will never change their disposition. … When you are able to give your heart to God, you will be able to perceive every subtle moving within your spirit, and you will know every enlightenment and illumination received from God. Hold onto this, and you will gradually enter into the path of being perfected by the Holy Spirit. The quieter your heart can be before God, the more sensitive and delicate your spirit will be, and the more your spirit will be able to perceive the moving of the Holy Spirit, and then your relationship with God will become more and more proper.

from “Establishing a Proper Relationship With God Is Very Important” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

First begin with the matter of prayer. Be single-minded, and pray at a fixed time. No matter how pressed for time, or how busy, or what comes upon you, pray every day as normal, and eat and drink God’s words as normal. As long as you eat and drink God’s words, no matter what your surroundings are, your spirit is especially pleased, nor are you bothered by the people, events, or things around you. When you normally contemplate God in your heart, what goes on outside cannot bother you. This is what it means to have stature. Begin from prayer first: Praying at peace before God is most fruitful. After that, eat and drink the words of God, and ponder God’s words and try to obtain the light, find the path to practice, know what the aims of God’s utterances are, and understand without deviation. Ordinarily, draw close to God normally in your heart, contemplate God’s love, and ponder the words of God, without being disturbed by external things. When your heart is at peace to a degree that you are able to muse, so that, within yourself, you contemplate God’s love and truly draw near to God regardless of what environment you are in, and you have ultimately reached the point where you give praise in your heart, and it is even better than praying, then in this you will be possessed of a certain stature. If you are able to achieve the states described above, then this will prove that your heart is truly at peace before God. This is the first step; it is a basic exercise. Only after they are able to be at peace before God can people be touched by the Holy Spirit, and enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit, only then are they able to truly commune with God, and able to grasp God’s will and the guidance of the Holy Spirit—and in this, they will have entered onto the right track in their spiritual lives.

from “On Quieting Your Heart Before God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Only by coming to know God and satisfy Him on the foundation of eating and drinking His words can one gradually establish a proper relationship with Him. Eating and drinking His words and putting them into practice is the best cooperation with God, and it is the practice that best bears witness as one of His people. … To achieve a proper spiritual life, first eat and drink God’s words and put them into practice; and on this foundation establish a proper relationship between man and God.

from “Those Whose Disposition Has Changed Are Those Who Have Entered Into the Reality of God’s Words” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Going forward, talking about the word of God is the principle by which you speak. When you come together, you should fellowship about the word of God and use that as your topic; talk about what you know of the word of God, how you put His word into practice, and how the Holy Spirit works. If you fellowship about the word of God, the Holy Spirit will illuminate you. Man too must cooperate if this is to become a world of the word of God. If you do not enter into this, God cannot do His work. If you do not talk about His word, He cannot illuminate you. Whenever you are free, talk about the word of God. Do not talk idly! Let your life be filled with the word of God; then you are a devout believer. Even if your fellowship is superficial, that is all right. Without the superficial, there would be no depth. There is a process that must be undergone. Through your exercise, you gain insight into the illumination of the Holy Spirit upon you, and how to effectively eat and drink of the word of God. After a period of such exploration, you will enter into the reality of the word of God. Only if you have the resolution to cooperate will you receive the work of the Holy Spirit.

from “The Age of Kingdom Is the Age of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

You have found many manifestations of Satan in yourself, and in your past actions, there are many things that have run counter to God’s current requirements. Are you able to forsake them now? Attain a normal relationship with God, do according to God’s intentions, become a new person and have a new life, don’t look back at past transgressions, don’t be overly remorseful, be able to stand up and cooperate with God, and fulfill the duties that you should perform. This way, your relationship with God will be normal.

from “How Is Your Relationship With God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Establishing a normal relationship with God is entirely attained through quieting your heart in God’s presence. A normal relationship with God means being able to not doubt or deny any of God’s work and submit to it, and furthermore it means having the right intentions in the presence of God, not thinking of yourself, always having the interests of God’s family as the most important thing no matter what you are doing, accepting God’s observation, and submitting to God’s arrangements. You are able to quiet your heart in God’s presence whenever you do anything; even if you do not understand God’s will, you must still fulfill your duties and responsibilities to the best of your ability. It is not too late to wait for God’s will to be revealed to you and then put this into practice. When your relationship with God has become normal, then you will also have a normal relationship with people. Everything is established on the foundation of God’s words. Through eating and drinking the words of God, practice in accordance with God’s requirements, put your viewpoints right, and do not do things that resist God or disturb the church. Do not do things that do not benefit the lives of the brothers and sisters, do not say things that do not contribute to other people, do not do shameful things. Be just and honorable when doing all things and make them presentable before God. Even though the flesh is weak sometimes, you are able to attach the highest importance to benefiting God’s family, not covet your own benefits, and carry out righteousness. If you can practice in this way, your relationship with God will be normal.

Whenever you do anything, you must examine whether your motivations are right. If you are able to act according to the requirements of God, then your relationship with God is normal. This is the minimum criterion. If, when you examine your motivations, there emerge those that are incorrect, and if you are able to turn your back on them and act according to the words of God, then you will become someone who is right before God, which will show that your relationship with God is normal, and that all that you do is for the sake of God, and not for yourself. Whenever you do or say anything, you must put your heart right, be righteous, and not be led by your emotions, or act according to your own will. These are the principles by which believers in God conduct themselves. … people are able to have God in their hearts, not seek personal benefits, not think about their personal future (referring to thinking of the flesh), but rather they bear the burden of entering life, do their best to pursue truth, and submit to God’s work. This way, the objectives you seek are correct, and your relationship with God is normal.

from “How Is Your Relationship With God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Over the course of a day, how many hours do you spend truly in front of God? How much of your day is given to God? How much is given to the flesh? If your heart is always facing Him, this is the first step on the right track toward being perfected by God. You can devote your heart and body and all of your genuine love to God, place them before Him, be completely obedient toward Him, and be absolutely considerate to His will. Not for the flesh, not for family, and not for your personal desires, but for the interests of God’s household. In everything you can take God’s word as the principle, as the foundation. That way, your intentions and your perspectives will all be in the right place, and you will be someone who gains God’s praise before Him.

from “People Who Can Be Absolutely Obedient Toward God’s Practicality Are Those Who Truly Love God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

In believing in God, your intentions and viewpoints must be put right; you must have a correct understanding and correct treatment of the words of God, God’s work, the environments arranged by God, the man testified by God, and of the practical God. You must not practice according to your personal thoughts, or make your own little plans. You must be able to seek truth in everything and stand in your place as a creation of God and submit to all of God’s work. If you want to pursue being perfected by God and enter into the right track of life, then your heart must always live in God’s presence, not be dissolute, not follow Satan, not leave Satan any opportunities to do its work, and not let Satan use you. You must completely give yourself to God and let God rule over you.

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… No matter what you do, consider: What will God think if I do this? How will it affect the brothers and sisters? Examine your intentions in your prayer, fellowship, speech, work, and contact with people, and examine whether your relationship with God is normal or not. If you are unable to distinguish your intentions and thoughts, then you have no discrimination, which proves that you understand too little about truth. Have a clear understanding of everything that God does, see things according to God’s word and see things by standing on the side of God. This way your viewpoints will be correct. Therefore, to build a good relationship with God is a top priority for anyone believing in God; everyone should treat it as the most important task and as their major life event. Everything you do should be weighed against whether or not you have a normal relationship with God.

from “How Is Your Relationship With God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Today, you must set on the right track since you believe in the practical God. Having faith in God, you should not solely seek blessings, but seek to love God and know God. Through His enlightenment and your own pursuit, you can eat and drink His word, develop a true understanding of God, and have a true love of God that comes from your heart. In other words, your love for God is most genuine, such that none can destroy or stand in the way of your love for Him. Then you are on the right track of faith in God. It proves that you belong to God, for your heart has been taken possession of by God and you can then be possessed by nothing else. Owing to your experience, the price you paid, and the work of God, you are able to develop an unbidden love for God. Then you are freed from the influence of Satan and live in the light of God’s word. Only when you have broken free from the influence of darkness can you be deemed to have gained God. In your belief of God, you must seek this goal. This is the duty of each of you.

from “You Ought to Live for the Truth Since You Believe in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh