Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3149

3149 "Be not only hearers, but also doers of My word...."

June 5, 1944: Book 41

An essential difference exists between those who are united with Me in living faith and the formal believers, who certainly also belong to My church according to the word but not in their spirit, for they do not know what the connection between their spirit and My spirit is all about. They live in the belief that they are fulfilling their duty when they hear My word, yet they have not yet tried to live out My word in such a way that it results in a spiritual bond with Me. Their will is not strong enough to be active themselves and hearing My word alone does not bring about this connection with Me. The sign that they have allowed My word to have an effect on their heart must be an act of love, and with this act of love they also draw Me Myself to themselves, and only then is their faith alive.... But people can profess the church and yet their faith is dead if it is not followed by works. And these also only hear My word, which is directly conveyed to earth, with their ears and do not allow themselves to take it to heart. They only want to receive My word where it is offered to them from time immemorial. They do not fully accept it if it is conveyed to them in any other way because they have not yet penetrated the essence of the word, because they do not know that it is only the result of a living faith, of an intimate bond with Me. And they cannot receive this knowledge through external mediation of the word but through life according to the word, which can indeed be offered to them everywhere but which first has to gain life through the will of the person himself. The formal believers lack this knowledge and they will not accept it from the hand of someone who is effectively outside their church either; but they will also never muster the extraordinary strength to stand firm in the forthcoming battle of faith, they will lack the strength which the living word provides them with.... the strength to persevere which only arises from the living bond with Me. And the formal believer will never stand in convinced faith but only call the traditional faith his own, the faith which he has adopted through teachings and which he does not want to give up due to tradition, but without being able to stand up for it deep in his heart, because this is the privilege of those who hear My word within themselves, audibly or mentally through their will to be active accordingly. "Be not only hearers but also doers of My word...." I must repeatedly call out this to everyone, for it depends on it whether your faith is alive or merely a dead form which will not suffice in the days of battle against Me. And therefore let My word have an effect on you, ponder it in your heart and act accordingly so that it will be a blessing for you, so that your spirit will awaken and impel you to ever more eager activity, from which you will then gain the strength to hear Me Myself in you and to persevere until the end....

amen

Translated by Doris Boekers