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.

Release of the Spirit - Ch. 8: What Impression do We Give?

In chapter 8 Watchman Nee teaches that what most impacts others about us is that which emanates or comes forth from within us: "What others sense in us is our most outstanding feature. If our mind has never been dealt with and is undisciplined, naturally we shall use our mind to contact people, and they will be struck by its forcefulness...Whatever our strongest characteristic is, it will stand out and impress others. We may be able to control our speech or action, but we are unable to restrain that which expresses our nature."

Nee illustrates this with the story of Elisha and how the Shunammite woman perceived that he was a holy man of God without hearing him preach or perform any miracles. He merely entered her house and ate with her and her husband.

He goes on to say that even though we may be good at giving spiritual teaching and preaching, if our natural life (strong points of our nature) haven't been dealt with by the Spirit, there is no spiritual impartation for the hearers. God will go to great lengths to break us in the area of our strength, and it can take years for His truth to become alive and real (though we may have heard it long before that).

This realization of what He is doing comes through His discipline as we have seen, and also through enlightenment when His light breaks through and we "see" as He sees. "The flesh, as we know, lives hidden in darkness...Once His light reveals the flesh to us we tremble, not daring to move...Pride seen in the light of revelation differs completely from the pride that we talk glibly about...Whatever is revealed 'in the light' is slain by it...light both reveals and slays.

"In that hour of unveiling, even noble deeds performed in His name and in love to Him will somehow lose their luster...What you considered as wholly for God now appears to be riddled with self. Self seems to permeate every vestige of your being, robbing God of glory."

How well I (Nita) remember such a time in my own life as a young servant of the Lord when I was around 30 years old. I was zealous for Him and wholehearted in wanting to serve Him fully. And yet at a critical point in my walk with Him as I sought His face during a 3-day fast, He wonderfully shed His light on me and showed me in an instant how I was filled with desire for glory and praise from humans in the ministry. Though I had not seen it before this, when the light came, I knew instantly that He was correct, and deep repentance was my response. And with the repentance and forgiveness came a sense that I was not to finish the 3 days of fasting (I was halfway through it), because He had accomplished what He wanted to do. The experience also affected how I walked out my service for Him after that because I had a holy fear of what I had seen in myself.

"At first He alone knows us, for we are always bare and naked before Him. But once God has disclosed to us the thoughts and intents of our heart, we are then laid bare before ourselves. How shall we ever lift up our head again?...Though we used to think we were better than others, now we know what we really are...

Chapter 8 concludes with Nee's contrasting between God's discipline and His enlightenment. His discipline is a slower process, repeated over and over again until the issue is finally dealt with. Enlightenment happens very quickly. God uses both to break the outward shell of our natural strengths. Most often His discipline comes to us through humans. Unfortunately, many of God's people don't recognize what God is doing through the hand of humans, and we can prolong the process by not recognizing the good hand of God in it (Psalm 66:10-12).

"When the (human) spirit is released, it supplies the needs of the world. No work is more important or thorough than this, and nothing can take its place. The Lord is not so much concerned with your teachings or sermons as He is with the impression you give...Do you impress people with yourself or with the Lord? Do you let people touch your teaching or your Lord?...Do not forget that every contact you make with another, there is something that comes out of you. It is either yourself or God flowing forth..."

Praise You, Lord, for Your loving and faithful and relentless work in our lives. Continue Your dealings with us so that what comes out from us to others is the pure life of Jesus...Amen.

Release of the Spirit - Ch. 7: Dividing and Revelation

In chapter 7 Watchman Nee deals with the importance of having a pure spirit; he emphasizes that purity of spirit is the greatest need in the servant of God: "...the first requirement in God's work is a pure, not a powerful spirit. Those who neglect this, though their work may be done in power, will find it destroyed due to the lack of purity. Though they may truly possess the power of God, yet because their spirit is mixed, they are destroying what they build."

When Nee speaks of mixture, he's referring to the mingling of the person's spirit and soul, so that when he or she ministers, what comes forth is a mixture of the person's cleverness or willfulness along with the gospel that he/she is presenting. I can remember specific instances as a young missionary in which I shared truth with others but it came forth from my soulish powers. In one particular experience, I was sharing truth with a small group; although what I shared was true and good, I sensed the soulish strength of will imposing the truth on my hearers. Later I repented and asked their forgiveness for speaking with mixture in my spirit. Nee says it well: "We are doing the will of God because it happens to coincide with ours. In standing firm for God we are merely expressing our strong personality."

In order to accomplish this purifying work, the Lord must deal with our strong points. This is painful for us because it is in these very points that we are gifted and feel most confident in. But without His touching these natural strengths, we can easily do His work without Him in the energy of the flesh. (Prov. 3:5 contrasts leaning on the natural life with trusting in the Lord.)

God's primary instrument for the dividing of the soul life from the spirit life is the Word of God (Heb. 4:12). God's Word is both living and operative: "'living' refers to its nature, while 'operative' applies to its ability to fulfill the work on man." It is able to discern our innermost thoughts and motives. "You thought you loved sinners while preaching the gospel, but now the light has come, and you discover that your preaching stems mainly from your love of action, your delight in speaking, your natural inclination...Once you assumed that your thoughts and intents were of the Lord, but in this piercing light you know they are entirely of yourself...This unveiling of the real nature of things enlightens us to the true knowledge of what is of ourselves and what is of the Lord, how much is from the soul and how much is from the spirit.

"Deliverance comes from the light of God...So it is that even our denial of the outward man and our determination to reject it will not help...How foolish to imagine that we could expose our sin! Only in His light shall we 'see' and be exposed. It must be His work by the Spirit, not our efforts of the soul..." The soul cannot deal with the soul. Often when we hear truth such as this, we set out to cure ourselves by means of our soulish powers. If we are strong-willed, we determine to take control; if we are strong in our emotions, we feel that we can cure the problem with feeling a certain way; if we are strongly intellectual, we try to reason ourselves out of being ruled by our outward man. Only God by His Spirit with His Word can expose and deal exactly with the soul life; but we must desire Him to do it and ask for His help.

In the context of what Nee is teaching, he points out that we need "revelation" to be able to see ourselves as God sees us; in other words, we should be able to see what is soulish and what is of the spirit in ourselves. "Revelation enables us to see what God sees...Whenever you are enabled to discern the thoughts and intents of your heart, you can be sure your soul and spirit are being divided." Once you have revelation of this, you begin to have an inner knowing, and "on subsequent occasions, whenever it expresses itself we will instantly regret it and judge it...We will henceforth live before the Lord with our spirit released...the Word of God is effective, for it enlightens you to the casting off of the outward man."

I'll close this with the prayer that Nee suggests for one who reaches the point of wanting the light of God to shine and expose the truth of his/her condition:

"O God, I am absolutely unreliable. I do not know whom I am accusing, nor what sin I am confessing. Only in Thy light am I able to know..."

Come, Holy Spirit, and do the work that only You can do, for the sake of Jesus...thank You for Your faithfulness to do this!

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...