A Safer Subject - Part 2

The safer subject of the unstoppable, unrelenting, unfailing, never-ending love of God that I wrote about last week can only be understood in the cross of His Son, Jesus. In the sacrificial offering of Himself on our behalf, God in Christ has made clear that He is for us at whatever cost to Himself!

As C.S. Lewis says, God's love for us sinners is a much more secure ground to stand on than our love for Him which, though real, fluctuates at times; therefore we can only find our hearts anchored in peace as we contemplate His love rather than ours.

Because of our fallenness, we are severely bent towards contemplating just about everything else but His love, so it is only a mighty work of the Spirit in our lives that empowers us to look at Him. So how do we contemplate God and His love?

First, ask the Spirit of Jesus to strengthen the 'yes' in your spirit toward His love so that the proneness toward not believing His goodness and love is corrected with each 'yes.'

Then study the cross by simply taking time to read and/or listen to the portions in Scripture about Jesus' death and resurrection (the Gospels and Isaiah 53, etc.). See yourself and your sin and the sins of others against you in Him as He died. Ask the Lord to help you understand your personal role in His crucifixion and death so that you get a glimpse of Your value to Him (Rom.5:8 "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.").

And finally, learn to contemplate His love in all of life; ask the Spirit to help you see the daily little comments or incidents or events through the lens of the cross. Develop the ability to see the love and affection of the Father coming at you constantly, even in the difficulties which come sifted through His deep desire for you and for your ultimate well-being in Him.

As we think/contemplate on this "safer subject" and drink deeply of that well, the overflow of His love will spill out onto Him and others!

Grace and peace to you this week in Him!

A Safer Subject: The Unstoppable, Unrelenting, Unfailing, Never-ending Love of God

This week I want to share a short story from my life of some years ago that was a pivotal moment in my growth in understanding what God is like. While I certainly knew the love of God in my life before this, the revelation of His love for me in this particular moment hit me unlike ever before and it set me on a path that I've been on ever since.

I had gotten sick just before leaving on a flight for Mexico City, and I got worse in the following days after arriving there. One night the pain in my body reached a point where I wasn't sure if I'd make it through the night. As I lay in bed hardly able to move at all and feeling like I might die, everything became clear and black and white to me; I sensed the Lord asking me, "Nita, what is the one thing you are most sure about?" Without hesitating, I answered, "...that I love You, Lord."

I sensed that He was pleased with that answer but He responded with this: "That's good but there is something more important, and that is that I love you!" In that moment the eyes of my heart were opened to the reality that what is most trustworthy and sure is the unstoppable, unrelenting, unfailing, never-ending love of my heavenly Father.

C.S. Lewis says, "On the whole, God’s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him." The apostle John says that we love Him because He loved us first. Our love for Him is real but it is His UNSTOPPABLE, UNRELENTING, UNFAILING, NEVER-ENDING love for us upon which we must rest and build our lives or else we are left with the burden of religion.

God bless you and show you His love...next week I'll share more on this.

Release of the Spirit - Ch. 10: Two Very Different Ways

This is the final chapter of Watchman Nee's book, "The Release of the Spirit," in which he summarizes his teaching by saying that there are two very different ways of help before us:

• "There is a way that seemeth right" - this is help received from the outside, through the mind, by doctrine and its exposition.
• God's way - spirit touching spirit. "Instead of having our mentality developed or acquiring a storehouse of knowledge, it is by this means of contact that our spiritual life is built up...this alone is the way of having our spirit edified or built up."

 Nee emphasizes what he mentions in the previous chapter, which is that true edification is not a question of learning doctrine but of spirit touching spirit. Because of this, you can hear the same teaching more than once and be built up in God when it comes through a broken vessel because being edified is not mere accumulating of information but being touched by the spirit of the preacher or teacher of the Word.

Besides that, when the minister of the Word is broken, he will not only help the hearers but will himself be helped! I have experienced this over and over again while ministering to others - receiving refreshment and revelation myself.

"The question is not how powerful is the spirit but have the spirits touched each other? It is this touching of spirits which revives and builds one up. What a necessity then for the outward man (the soul life) to be broken." 

Nee raises two good questions as he concludes this book:

1. "Should we try to stop any fleshly action we recognize or must we wait passively until greater light comes from the Holy Spirit who is the Doer of the work?"  He illustrates this by saying, "I may lose my temper with people, but I keep it under control; yet this does not make me gentle. So long as the negative is struggling for recognition, I should resist it without letup. Nevertheless, I should not pretend to possess the positive." In other words, I should make the effort to contain the negative action or reaction (i.e.,fleshly anger) while praying and trusting the Spirit to do His work in me of inner transformation unto the positive virtue (i.e., gentleness). It's important to recognize that although I may succeed in controlling the outer action, that doesn't mean I possess the inner reality. "One who unwittingly possesses a counterfeit defrauds others as well as himself. As counterfeit behavior multiplies, the person himself comes to believe that such is his real self."
2. "Some are naturally endowed with such a virtue as gentleness; is there a difference between natural gentleness and the gentleness that comes through discipline (of the Spirit)?"  Nee points out that "all that is natural is independent of the spirit while all that comes through the discipline of the Holy Spirit is under the spirit's control." As Nee has said throughout this book, if the natural strengths of the soul aren't brought under the control of the spirit, then those strengths are actually a hindrance to the flow of the life of Jesus out through us to the world. This applies to natural virtues that appear very good in themselves. If they are not dealt with by God, they control us. If a person is naturally gentle and hasn't been broken, then he will not be able to lay that aside and be firm when the Lord is requiring that in a given situation.  (As a young missionary who was given the responsibility to oversee younger interns many years ago, I went through the Lord's "dealing" with some natural virtues in me that needed to be brought under His leadership and lordship. He asked me to take action contrary to what I would have naturally done, and although it was painful, it reaped a lot in me related to understanding God's ways.)

Nee gives one final admonition with which I will close: "Having stressed the importance of the outward man being broken, let us be careful lest we try to effect this artificially."

Amen! Lord, again thank You that You are so good at what You do and that You love us thoroughly and unconditionally through all of Your dealings with us. We praise You in Jesus' name!

Release of the Spirit - Ch. 9: Meekness in Brokenness

In this short chapter, Nee presents the qualities of meekness that characterize the man or woman of God who has gone through the breaking work of God.

He begins the chapter by saying that God's work is tailor-made for each of His servants. Because He knows well what our strong points are, He knows how to deal with those and at what pace. As Nee has repeated many times in this book, the goal of the Spirit is to "wound the self (soul) life", not to destroy the God-given soul but to bring it under His loving Lordship.

The affliction will vary with the person  but the result "is a producing of a broken will. We are all naturally obstinate. This stubborn will is supported by our thoughts, opinions, self-love, affection, or cleverness...a common feature marks those who have been enlightened and disciplined - they become meek...Formerly we could afford to be obstinate because we were like a house well supported by many pillars. As God removes the pillars one after another, the house is bound to collapse."

Qualities of Meekness

• Approachable - easy to talk to and a person quick to confess sin; this is because his outward shell has been broken and he is not defensive, not trying to protect his natural life.
• Sensitive - alert to his environment because his spirit is in touch with the spirit of his brothers and sisters; he can quickly discern what's going on in a situation and his spirit responds appropriately. 
• Able to discern the Body of Christ - he can touch the feelings of the church and is quick to recognize when he does something wrong to those in the church. "After our outward man is broken, we begin to live in that corporate awareness as related members of His body and are easily corrected."
• Teachable - "The greatest advantage of brokennes is...in enabling us to receive the supply of all the body. Our spirit is released and open to get spiritual help from whatever source in the body. Suppose, for example, a brother has a keen but unbroken intellect...Unless he meets one whose mind is sharper than his, he will not be helped. He will analyze the thoughts of the preacher and reject them as useless and meaningless...He is walled in by his mind...However, should the Lord come in and shatter this wall, showing him the futility of his own thoughts, he will become attentive as a child to what others may say...Whenever God's Spirit makes a move upon any brother, never again will he judge others merely by doctrine, words, or eloquence. (Nee goes on to define what it means to be taught: "It cannot mean expanded thoughts, nor improved understanding, nor greater doctrinal accumulation. It simply means that my spirit has once more contacted God's Spirit...")

Jesus, You say of Yourself that You are meek; thank You for the ministry of Your Spirit to break our outer man in order to make us more like You. We yield to Your good work! Amen.