Release of the Spirit - Ch. 6: Brokenness and Discipline

In this chapter Watchman Nee underscores the thoroughness of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives. Although the crisis of consecrating or surrendering oneself wholly to God is important, consecration is never a substitute for the follow-up work that He will do from then on.

"Consecration is merely an expression of our willingness to be in the hands of God...It is like entering the gate...It takes consecration plus the discipline of the Holy Spirit to make us vessels fit for the Master's use."

Nee goes on to point out that although our consecration is according to our limited spiritual understanding, the Spirit of God deals with us according to His perfect light, so His dealings with us transcend our consecration. In other words, even though our consecration to Him is weak, He takes it very seriously and does His perfect work with our imperfect understanding.

"Since the Holy Spirit works according to the light of God, His discipline is thorough and complete. We often wonder at things which befall us, yet if left to ourselves we may be mistaken in our very best choice. The discipline He orders transcends our understanding. How often we are caught unprepared and conclude that such a drastic thing is not what we need. Many times His discipline descends upon us suddenly without our having prior notice! We may insist that we are living in 'the light' but the Holy Spirit is dealing with us according to God's light..."

God's way of dealing with our soulish strength (the outward man) is through difficult outward circumstances. He wants the inner man (spirit) to be strong but His way of strengthening the inner man is to weaken the outer man (soul). Many believers struggle on their own trying to make things work without success until a moment comes in which, in desperation, he gives himself as fully as he knows how into the hands of God. "...Herein lies the importance of consecration: it allows the Holy Spirit to work without restriction."

Nee continues by saying that God will not leave one area untouched. "You may even be ignorant of your affinity for a certain thing, but He knows and will deal with it most thoroughly ...Sometimes He will deal with you through others, arranging for you to be with someone whom you are angry with, or whom you despise or are jealous of; very often it is through those who you love."

He will deal with our thought life..."We feign to be wiser than others. Then it is that the Lord allows us to crash into a wall and hit the dust - all to show us that we dare not use our thoughts inordinately..."

He deals with our emotions..."Some people are extremely emotional. When they are elated, they cannot contain themselves; when they are depressed, they cannot be comforted...(God) places them in situations where they dare to be too happy when elated, nor too sad when depressed. They can only depend on the grace of God and live by His mercy..."

And He deals with the will..."the greatest and most prevalent difficulty is with the will...We may be able to mouth the words, 'Not my will but Thine be done,' but how often do we really allow the Lord to take over when things happen?...Only after being dealt with by God do we really see how hard we are and how ready we are to have our own opinion. God must deal with us to make our wills tender and docile. Strong-willed people are convinced that their feelings, ways and judgments are always right. God will allow us to make mistake after mistake until we realize that this will be our pattern for the future...We truly need the grace of the Lord."

Nee finishes this chapter by suggesting that we can know when the power of the outer man is beginning to be destroyed: "...when you dare no longer to trust yourself." To this I want to add that this should not be confused with unhealthy self-hatred. Some people don't trust themselves because of unhealed issues in their lives; some may be naturally reticent and less assertive in their personality, or silent in giving opinions. This doesn't mean that such people don't have strong opinions. The most silent person can have strong opinions burning in himself and even be ignorant of his own condition; but the Lord knows and deals with all that is hidden in His time. (I speak from experience.)

Lord, we praise You that You know us and love us enough to weaken our natural life so that we may live by the spirit. Thank You that, just as a good and loving parent disciplines his child in love because he knows the child will eventually be happier and fruitful as a result, so You care enough to allow us to suffer a little now for great abundance later on! We love you and we love Your ways...