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!