31. The Principles of Resolving Negativity
1. You must approach all problems according to God’s words and the truth, recognize that everything God does is for the salvation and love of man, and be able to deny yourself and forsake the flesh;
2. You must recognize the essence and root of negativity. Being negative is to reject and oppose the truth, and to be negative and complain is to defy God and betray God;
3. You must pray to God and seek to grasp God’s will so as to know God’s work, understand God’s will and requirements, and to leave negativity behind;
4. It is too dangerous to live in satanic dispositions, as you will be capable of being negative and defying God at any moment. You must seek the truth so that the positive and right reality of the truth can hold sway.
Relevant Words of God:
God perfects man in various ways, and it is possible in all matters for you to be perfected as a result. Not only can you be perfected in terms of the positive, but also of the negative, thereby enriching you. …
… If you wish to be perfected by God, you must learn to experience all things and be enlightened in all that you face. Whenever you are faced with something, be it good or bad, you should benefit from it and it should not cause you to become passive. No matter what, you should be able to consider it by standing on the side of God, and not analyze or study it from the perspective of man (this is a deviation in your experience). If this is the manner of your experience, then your heart will be taken over by the burdens for your life; you will live constantly in the light of God’s countenance and will not easily deviate in your practice. Such kind of man has great prospects.
from “Promises to Those Who Have Been Perfected” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
If a person always has this vision within them, they will feel internally clear and at ease; they will be certain of these matters. You will say: “God is not harming me and He’s not deliberately making me into a joke or humiliating me. Although He speaks somewhat harshly and it strikes to the heart, it is for my own sake. Although He speaks that harshly, He is still saving me, and He is still considerate of my weaknesses. He is not punishing me with the facts. I believe that God is salvation.” If you truly have this vision, you won’t get to the point of fleeing. In your conscience, you may feel you are wrong, you may feel condemnation, that you should not treat God that way. You think of all the grace you have gained, all the words you have heard—could you listen to them in vain? No matter who runs away, you can’t. Other people don’t believe, but you must. Other people abandon God, but you must uphold God and bear witness to Him. Others slander God, but you cannot. No matter how unkind God is to you, you still must treat Him right. You should repay His love and you must have a conscience, because God is innocent. His coming to earth from heaven to work amongst mankind was already a great humiliation. He is holy without the slightest filth. Coming to a land of filth—how much humiliation has He endured? Working in you is for your sake. If you are conscienceless in your treatment of Him, it would be better to die an early death!
from “The Significance of Saving the Descendants of Moab” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
If you truly love God, and do not satisfy the flesh, then you’ll see that everything God does is so right, and so good, and that His curse of your rebelliousness and judgment of your unrighteousness is justified. There will be times when God chastens and disciplines you, and raises up an environment to temper you, forcing you to come before Him—and you will always feel that what God is doing is wonderful. Thus you will feel as if there isn’t much pain, and that God is so lovely. If you pander to the weaknesses of the flesh, and say that God goes too far, then you’ll always feel in pain, and will always be depressed, and you will be unclear about all of the work of God, and it will seem as if God is not sympathetic to man’s weakness at all, and unaware of man’s difficulties. And thus you will feel miserable and alone, as if you have suffered great injustice, and at this time you will begin to complain. The more you pander to the weaknesses of the flesh in this way, the more you will feel that God goes too far, until it gets so bad that you deny the work of God, and begin to oppose God, and become full of disobedience. Thus, you must rebel against the flesh, and not pander to it: Your husband, wife, children, prospects, marriage, family—none of them matter! You need to have this resolve: “In my heart there is only God, and I must try my best to satisfy God, and not satisfy the flesh.” If you are always possessed of such resolve, then when you put the truth into practice, and put yourself aside, you will be able to do so with but a little effort.
from “Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
You all have the following state: lazy, unmotivated, unwilling to pay a price, or passively waiting. Some people even make complaints; they don’t understand the aims and significance of God’s work, and it’s hard for them to pursue the truth. Such people detest the truth, and will ultimately be eliminated. None among them can be made perfect, and none will be spared. If people don’t have a little resolve to resist the influence of Satan, there’s nothing that can be done for them!
from “Practice (7)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
People’s inner views, their extravagant desires are actually not catering to God’s intention, and there is essentially no substance of submission. This also touches on that saying: One hundred percent of what’s inside human nature is betrayal. So in dissecting this or that event of yours, in dissecting this issue, that thought, or that reaction, whether you confront it in a negative way, or you complain, whether you are indifferent or silent and speechless, there is resistance in all of this. It is all betrayal. Is this dissection correct? Were I not to dissect this, there would be some people who feel: I can be considered to be a good person. If I had encountered this thing a few years ago, I would certainly have complained, and possibly retreated, but now I do not complain. You do not complain, but do you have understanding? Does your little bit of understanding constitute true understanding? Is there truth in it? Is your understanding in keeping with God’s intention? Does it meet God’s approval? Do you have the substance of submitting to God? Are you willing and ready to submit to God? If not, then you are definitely conflicting with God. It may be that your mood now is good, and you feel not bad, or because at the moment you are being put to use. If one day you are sent home, and when you are in the darkness of a downcast mood however, what is inside of you will be revealed. There are some people of lower stature, with a shorter duration of experience who would turn around and run, returning to the world. In fact, in the final analysis, whatever reaction you have, you are refusing the environments that God has arranged for you. The nature of people to betray God is revealed everywhere. If this were not dissected, people would not know themselves deeply enough. When people encounter anything, they all betray God and do not submit to Him. The reaction of some of you is unwillingness, or an air of complaint, negative and down, and you say: Inside, man does not like truth, and this dislike is none other than betrayal. It is still not enough if you only speak in this way, and you have not dissected to the depths of substance. You say that not loving truth is betrayal, but in fact, this is not so simple. How have you dissected it? You do not understand yourselves. You may not know what is that situation you have, and can’t differentiate right from wrong, if it is betrayal or not, and you do not know clearly yourselves whether you have submitted or not. You are not able to thoroughly dissect your own natures.
from “How to Satisfy God in the Midst of Trials” in Records of Christ’s Talks
You must enter in from the positive side. If you wait passively, it is still negative. You must be proactive in cooperating with Me; be diligent and never lazy. Always be in fellowship with Me and have deeper intimacy with Me. If you do not understand, do not be impatient for quick results. It’s not that I won’t tell you; I want to see if you rely on Me when you are in My presence and whether you depend on Me with confidence. You must always remain close to Me and place all matters in My hands. Do not go back in vain. After unknowingly being close to Me for a period of time, My intentions shall be revealed to you. If you grasp them, then you will truly be face-to-face with Me, and you will have truly found My face. You will be quite clear and steady within and you will have something to rely on, and you will also have power as well as confidence. You will also have a path forward and everything will come easy to you.
from Utterances and Testimonies of Christ in the Beginning
The Holy Spirit has a path to walk in each person, and gives each person chances to be perfected. Through your negativity you are made to know your own corruption, and then through throwing off negativity you will find a path to practice, and this is the perfection of you. Further, through the continuous guidance and illumination of some positive things inside of you, you will proactively fulfill your function and grow in insight and gain discernment. When your conditions are good, you are especially willing to read the word of God, and especially willing to pray to God, and can relate the sermons you hear to your own states. At such times God enlightens and illuminates you within, making you realize some things of the positive aspect. This is perfection of you in the positive aspect. In negative states, you are weak and negative, and feel that you don’t have God, yet God illuminates you, helping you find a path to practice. Coming out of this is attainment of perfection in the negative aspect. God can perfect man in both positive and negative aspects. It depends on whether you are able to experience, and on whether you pursue being perfected by God. If you truly seek being perfected by God, then the negative cannot make you suffer loss, but can bring you things that are more real, and can make you more able to know that which is lacking within you, more able to come to grips with your real states, and see that man has nothing, and is nothing; if you do not experience trials, you do not know, and will always feel that you are above others and better than everyone else. Through all this you will see that all that came before was done by God and protected by God. Entry into trials leaves you without love or faith, you lack prayer, and are unable to sing hymns—and, without realizing it, in the midst of this you come to know yourself. God has many means of perfecting man. He employs all manner of environments to deal with the corrupt disposition of man, and uses various things to lay man bare; in one regard He deals with man, in another He lays man bare, and in another He reveals man, digging out and revealing the “mysteries” in the depths of man’s heart, and showing man his nature by revealing many of his states. God perfects man through many methods—through revelation, dealing, refinement, and chastisement—so that man may know that God is practical.
from “Only Those Who Focus on Practice Can Be Perfected” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
Your many experiences of failure, of weakness, and times of negativity could be said to be God’s trials of you. This is because everything comes from God, all things and events are in His hands. Whether you fail or whether you are weak and you stumble all rests on God and is within His grasp. From God’s side, this is a trial of you, and if you cannot recognize that, it will become temptation. There are two kinds of states that people should recognize: One comes from the Holy Spirit, and the other likely comes from Satan. One state is that the Holy Spirit illuminates you and allows you to know yourself, to detest and regret yourself and to be able to have genuine love for God, to set your heart on satisfying Him. The other state is that you know yourself, but you are negative and weak. It could be said that that is God’s refinement. It could also be said that it is Satan’s temptation. If you recognize that this is God’s salvation of you and that you are now incredibly in His debt, and if from now on you try to repay Him and no longer fall into such depravity, if you put your effort into eating and drinking His words, and if you always consider yourself to be lacking, and have a heart of longing, then this is God’s trial. After the suffering has ended and you are once again moving forward, God will still lead, illuminate, enlighten, and nourish you. But if you don’t recognize it and you are negative, simply abandoning yourself to despair, if you think this way, then Satan’s temptation has come upon you. When Job underwent trials, God and Satan were betting with each other, and God allowed Satan to afflict Job, to test him. Even though it was God testing Job, it was actually Satan that came upon him. For Satan, it was tempting Job, but Job was on God’s side and if that hadn’t been the case, he would have fallen into temptation.
from “Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
Do not be a passive follower of God, and do not pursue that which is curious. Through being neither cold nor hot you will forfeit yourself and delay your life. You must rid yourself of such passivity and inactivity, and become adept at pursuing positive things and overcoming your own weaknesses, so that you may gain the truth and live out the truth. There’s nothing fearful about your weaknesses, and your shortcomings are not your biggest problem. Your biggest problem, and your greatest shortcoming, is your being neither hot nor cold and your lack of desire to seek the truth. The biggest problem with all of you is a cowardly mentality whereby you are happy with things as they are, and await passively. This is your greatest obstacle, and the greatest enemy to your pursuit of the truth.
from “The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
Nowadays you must not pay attention to the negative things. You must first put aside and disregard each and every thing that can make you feel negative. When you are handling affairs you must maintain a heart of seeking and groping, and you must maintain a heart of obedience to God. Whenever you discover any weakness within yourselves, but you are not subject to its control and you perform the function that you ought to, this is a positive move forward. For example: Older brothers and sisters have religious notions, but you are able to pray, and you are able to submit yourselves, eat and drink the word of God, and sing hymns…. In a word, whatever you are able to do, whatever function you are able to perform, make full use of it with all the strength you can muster. Do not wait passively. Being able to perform your duty to the satisfaction of God is the first step. Then when you are able to understand the truth and enter into the reality of the word of God, you will have been perfected by God.
from “On Everyone Performing Their Function” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
If your heart truly is quiet before God you won’t be bothered by anything going on in the world outside, and no person, event, or thing will occupy you. If you have entry into this, then those negative states or all negative things, such as human conceptions, philosophy of life, abnormal relationships with people, and thoughts in your heart will naturally disappear. Because you are always pondering God’s words, and your heart is always drawing close to God and occupied by the current words of God, those negative things are unconsciously stripped off. When positive new things occupy you, negative old things will have no place, so don’t pay attention to those negative things. You needn’t make efforts trying to control them. Pay attention to being quiet before God, eat and drink more of God’s words and enjoy them, sing more hymns praising God, and let God have a chance to work on you, because God at present wants to personally perfect people, and He wants to gain your heart; His Spirit moves your heart, and if you live before God following the guidance of the Holy Spirit you will satisfy God.
from “On Quieting Your Heart Before God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
from: Practice and Exercises for Principled Behavior
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