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CONTENTS
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FOR the reader to properly
appreciate these lessons, perhaps a few preparatory statements will be helpful.
Firstly, we must become accustomed to the terminology which Watchman Nee uses.
He has chosen to call man’s spirit the inner man; he calls man’s soul the outer
man and for the body he uses the term, the outermost man. In the
diagram we have pictured this. It will also help to realize that in
designing man originally, God intended for man’s spirit to be his home or
dwelling place. So the Holy Spirit making a union with the human spirit was to
govern the soul, and the spirit and soul would use the body as the means of
expression.
Secondly, when Watchman Nee
speaks of destroying the soul, it may seem he is using too strong a word as
though to imply annihilation. Actually the whole substance of his message
clearly points out that the soul, instead of functioning independently, must
become the organ or vessel for the spirit. So it is the independent action of
the soul that must be destroyed. T. Austin-Sparks has wisely pointed out:
“We must be careful that, in
recognizing the fact that the soul has been seduced, led captive, darkened and
poisoned with a self-interest, we do not regard it as something to be
annihilated and destroyed in this life. This would be asceticism, a form of
Buddhism. The result of any such behavior is usually only another form of
soulishness in an exaggerated degree; perhaps occultism. Our whole human nature
is in our souls, and if nature is suppressed in one direction she will take
revenge in another. This is just what is the trouble with a great many people
if only they knew it. There is a difference between a life of suppression and a
life of service. Submission, subjection and servanthood in Christ’s case, as to
the Father, was not a life of soul-destruction, but of rest and delight.
Slavery in its bad sense is the lot of those who live wholly in their own
souls. We need to revise our ideas about service, for it is becoming more and
more common to think that service is bondage and slavery; when really it is a
Divine thing. Spirituality is not a life of suppression. That is negative.
Spirituality is positive; it is a new and extra life, not the old one striving
to get the mastery of itself.” *
Thirdly, we must see how the soul
has to be smitten a fatal blow by the death of Christ as to its self-strength
and government. As with Jacob’s thigh, after God had touched it, he went to the
end of his life with a limp. This would illustrate clearly that forever there
must be registered in the soul the fact that it cannot and must not act out
from itself as the source. Again T. Austin-Sparks writes:
“As an instrument the soul has to
be won, mastered and ruled in relation to the higher and different ways of God.
It is spoken of so frequently in the Scriptures as being something over which
we have to gain and exercise authority. For instance:
“By your patience possess your
souls” (Luke 21:19).
“Since you have purified your
souls in obeying the truth” (1 Pet. 1:22).
“Receiving the end of your faith
- the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet. 1:9).” *
Finally, in these lessons we must
see why Watchman Nee insists that the soul (outer man) be broken, be mastered
and be renewed for the spirit to use. T. Austin-Sparks has said:
“Whether we are able yet to
accept it or not, the fact is that if we are going on with God fully, all the
soul’s energies and abilities for knowing, understanding, sensing and doing
will come to an end, and we shall - on that side - stand bewildered, dazed,
numbed and impotent. Then, only a new, other, and Divine understanding,
constraint, and energy will send us forward or keep us going. At such times we
shall have to say to our souls, “My soul, wait silently for God
alone” (Ps. 62:5); and “My soul, come with me to follow the Lord.” But
what joy and strength there is when, the soul having been constrained to yield
to the spirit, the higher wisdom and glory is perceived in its vindication.
Then it is that “My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in
God my Savior” (Luke 1:46). The spirit HAS, the soul DOES - note the
tenses.” *
“So that unto fullness of joy the
soul is essential, and it MUST be brought through the darkness and death of its
own ability to learn the higher and deeper realities for which the spirit is
the first organ and faculty.” *
As we approach the end of these
lessons we shall have found the secret of fruitful living unto HIM. Do not fall
into the snare, as so many have, of trying to suppress your soul or of
despising it; but be strong in spirit, so that your soul may be won, saved and
made to serve His fullest joy. The Lord Jesus has planned that we should find
rest unto our souls, and this, He says, comes by way of His yoke - the symbol
of union and service. We shall then appreciate how the soul finds its greatest
value in service, not in ruling. True, until broken, the soul wants to be
master. Through the Cross it can become a very useful servant.
* Quotes from: “WHAT IS MAN” by
T. Austin-Sparks
- This Internet
edition of Watchman Nee’s classic “The Release of the Spirit” has
been very slightly adapted for a new generation of readers. This is mainly
noticeable in the Bible version used. Whereas Watchman Nee used more than
one Bible translation for his quotations, though mostly the KJV, in this
edition the NKJV is used throughout. (NKJV-copyright © 1982 by
Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)
The Importance of Brokenness
ANYONE who serves God will
discover sooner or later that the great hindrance to his work is not others but
himself. He will discover that his outward man and his inward man are not in
harmony, for both are tending toward opposite directions. He will also sense
the inability of his outward man to submit to the spirit’s control, thus
rendering him incapable of obeying God’s highest commands. He will quickly
detect that the greatest difficulty lies in his outward man, for it hinders him
from using his spirit.
Many of God’s servants are not
able to do even the most elementary works. Ordinarily they should be enabled by
the exercise of their spirit to know God’s Word, to discern the spiritual
condition of another, to send forth God’s messages under anointing and to
receive God’s revelations. Yet due to the distractions of the outward man,
their spirit does not seem to function properly. It is basically because their
outward man has never been dealt with. For this reason revival, zeal, pleading
and activity are but a waste of time. As we shall see, there is just one basic
dealing which can enable man to be useful before God: brokenness.
The Inward Man and the Outward
Man
Notice how the Bible divides man
into two parts: “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward
man” (Rom. 7:22). Our inward man delights in the Law of God. “To be
strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16).
And Paul also tells us, “Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the
inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16).
When God comes to indwell us, by
His Spirit, life and power, He comes into our spirit which we are calling the
inward man. Outside of this inward man is the soul wherein function our
thoughts, emotions and will. The outermost man is our physical body. Thus we
will speak of the inward man as the spirit, the outer man as the soul and the
outermost man as the body. We must never forget that our inward man is the
human spirit where God dwells, where His Spirit mingles with our spirit. Just
as we are dressed in clothes, so our inward man “wears” an outward man: the
spirit “wears” the soul. And similarly the spirit and soul “wear” the body. It
is quite evident that men are generally more conscious of the outer and
outermost man, and they hardly recognize or understand their spirit at all.
We must know that he who can work
for God is the one whose inward man can be released. The basic difficulty of a
servant of God lies in the failure of the inward man to break through the
outward man. Therefore we must recognize before God that the first difficulty
to our work is not in others but in ourselves. Our spirit seems to be wrapped
in a covering so that it cannot easily break forth. If we have never learned how
to release our inward man by breaking through the outward man, we are not able
to serve. Nothing can so hinder us as this outward man. Whether our works are
fruitful or not depends upon whether our outward man has been broken by the
Lord so that the inward man can pass through that brokenness and come forth.
This is the basic problem. The Lord wants to break our outward man in order
that the inward man may have a way out. When the inward man is released, both
unbelievers and Christians will be blessed.
Nature Has its Way of Breaking
The Lord Jesus tells us in John
12, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone;
but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Life is in the grain of wheat, but
there is a shell, a very hard shell on the outside. As long as that shell is
not split open, the wheat cannot grow. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the
ground and dies...” What is this death? It is the cracking open of the shell
through the working together of temperature, humidity, etc., in the soil. Once
the shell is split open, the wheat begins to grow. So the question here is not
whether there is life within, but whether the outside shell is cracked open.
The Scripture continues by
saying, “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this
world will keep it for eternal life.” The Lord shows us here that the outer
shell is our own life, (our soul life) while the life within is the eternal
life which He has given to us. To allow the inner life to come forth, it is imperative
that the outward life be lost. Should the outward remain unbroken, the inward
would never be able to come forth.
It is necessary (in this writing)
that we direct ourselves to that group of people who have the
Lord’s life. Among those who possess the life of the Lord can be found two
distinct conditions: one includes those in whom life is confined, restricted,
imprisoned and unable to come forth; the other includes those in whom the Lord
has forged a way and life is thus released from them.
The question thus is not how to
obtain life, but rather how to allow this life to come forth. When we say we
need the Lord to break us, this is not merely a way of speaking, nor is it only
a doctrine. It is vital that we be broken by the Lord. It is not that the life
of the Lord cannot cover the earth, but rather that His life is imprisoned by
us. It is not that the Lord cannot bless the Church, but that the Lord’s life
is so confined within us that there is no flowing forth. If the outward man
remains unbroken, we can never be a blessing to His Church, and we cannot
expect the Word to be blessed by God through us!
The Alabaster Flask Must Be
Broken
The Bible tells of the pure
spikenard oil (Mark 14:3). If the alabaster flask is not broken, the pure
spikenard oil will not flow forth. Strange to say, many are still treasuring
the alabaster flask, thinking that its value exceeds that of the ointment. Many
think that their outward man is more precious than their inward man. This
becomes the problem in the Church. One will treasure his cleverness, thinking
he is quite important; another will treasure his own emotions, esteeming
himself as an important person; others highly regard themselves, feeling they
are better than others, their eloquence surpasses that of others, their
quickness of action and exactness of judgment are superior, and so forth.
However, we are not antique collectors; we are not vase admirers; we are those
who desire to smell only the fragrance of the ointment. Without the breaking of
the outward, the inward will not come forth. Thus individually we have no
flowing out, but even the Church does not have a living way. Why then should we
hold ourselves as so precious, if our outward contains instead
of releases the fragrance?
The Holy Spirit has not ceased
working. One event after another, one thing after another, comes to us. Each
disciplinary working of the Holy Spirit has but one purpose: to break our
outward man so that our inward man may come through. Yet here is our
difficulty: we fret over trifles, we murmur at small losses. The Lord is
preparing a way to use us, yet scarcely has His hand touched us when we feel
unhappy, even to the extent of quarreling with God and becoming negative in our
attitude. Since being saved, we have been touched many times in various ways by
the Lord, all with the purpose of breaking our outward man. Whether we are
conscious of it or not, the aim of the Lord is to destroy this outward man.
So the Treasure is in the earthen
vessel, but if the earthen vessel is not broken, who can see the Treasure
within? What is the final objective of the Lord’s working in our lives? It is
to break this earthen vessel, to break our alabaster flask, to crack open our
shell. The Lord longs to find a way to bless the world through those who belong
to Him. Brokenness is the way of blessing, the way of fragrance, the way of
fruitfulness, but it is also a path sprinkled with blood. Yes, there is blood
from many wounds. When we offer ourselves to the Lord to be at His service, we
cannot afford to be lenient, to spare ourselves. We must allow the Lord utterly
to crack our outward man, so that He may find a way for His out-working.
Each of us must find out for
himself what is the mind of the Lord in his life. It is a most lamentable fact
that many do not know what is the mind or intention of the Lord for their
lives. How much they need for the Lord to open their eyes, to see that
everything which comes into their lives can be meaningful. The Lord has not
wasted even one thing. To understand the Lord’s purpose, is to see very clearly
that He is aiming at a single objective the destroying or breaking of the
outward man.
However, too many, even before
the Lord raises a hand, are already upset. Oh, we must realize that all the
experiences, troubles and trials which the Lord sends us are for our highest
good. We cannot expect the Lord to give better things, for these are His best.
Should one approach the Lord and pray, saying, “Oh, Lord, please, let me choose
the best?” I believe the Lord would tell him, “What I have given you is the
best; your daily trials are for your greatest profit.” So the motive behind all
the orderings of God is to destroy our outward man. Once this occurs and the
spirit can come forth, we begin to be able to exercise our spirit.
The Timing in Our Brokenness
The Lord employs two different
ways to destroy our outward man; one is gradual, the other sudden. To some, the
Lord gives a sudden destruction followed by a gradual one. With others, the
Lord arranges that they have constant, daily trials, until one day He brings
about large scale destruction. If it is not the sudden first and then the
gradual, then it is the gradual followed by the sudden. It would seem the Lord
usually spends several years upon us before He can accomplish this work of destruction.
The timing is in His hand. We
cannot shorten the time, though we certainly can prolong it. In some lives the
Lord is able to accomplish this work after a few years of dealing; in others it
is evident that after ten or twenty years the work is still unfinished. This is
most serious! Nothing is more grievous than wasting God’s time. How often the
Church is hindered! We can preach by using our mind, we can stir others by
using our emotions, yet if we do not know how to use our spirit, then the Spirit
of God cannot touch people through us. The loss is great, should we needlessly
prolong the time.
Therefore, if we have never
before wholly and intelligently consecrated ourselves to the Lord, let us do so
now, saying: “Lord, for the future of the Church, for the future of the gospel,
for Your way, and also for my own life, I offer myself without condition,
without reservation, into Your hands. Lord, I delight to offer myself to You
and am willing to let You have Your full way through me.”
The Meaning of the Cross
Often we hear about the cross.
Perhaps we are too familiar with the term. But what is the cross after all?
When we really understand the cross we shall see it means the breaking of the
outward man. The cross reduces the outward man to death; it splits open the
human shell. The cross must destroy all that belongs to our outward man - our
opinions, our ways, our cleverness, our self-love, our all. The way is clear,
in fact, crystal clear.
As soon as our outward man is
destroyed, our spirit can easily come forth. Consider a brother as an example.
All who know him acknowledge that he has a keen mind, a forceful will, and deep
emotions. But instead of being impressed by these natural characteristics of
his soul, they realize they have met his spirit. Whenever people are
fellowshipping with him, they encounter a spirit, a clean spirit. Why? Because
all that is of his soul has been destroyed.
Take as another example, a
sister. Those who know her recognize that she is of a quick disposition - quick
in thought, quick of speech, quick to confess, quick in writing letters, and
quick to tear up what she has written. However, those who meet her do not meet
her quickness but rather her spirit. She is one who has been utterly destroyed
and has become transparent. This destruction of the outward man is such a basic
matter. We should not cling to our weak, soulish characteristics, still
emitting the same flavor even after five or ten years of the Lord’s dealing
with us. No, we must allow the Lord to forge a way in our lives.
Two Reasons for Not Being
Destroyed
Why is it that after many years
of dealing some remain the same? Some individuals have a forceful will; some
have strong emotions, others have a strong mind. Since the Lord is able to
destroy these, why is it that after many years some are still unchanged? We
believe there are two main reasons.
First, many who live in darkness,
are not seeing the hand of God. While God is working, while God is destroying,
they do not recognize it as being from Him. They are devoid of light, seeing
only men opposing them. They imagine their environment is just too difficult,
that circumstances are to blame. So they continue in darkness and despair.
May God give us a revelation to
see what is from His hand, that we may kneel down and say to Him, “It is You;
since it is You, I will accept.” At least we must recognize WHOSE hand it is
that deals with us. It is not a human hand, nor our family’s, nor the brothers’
and sisters’ in the Church, but God’s. We need to learn how to kneel down and
kiss the hand, love the hand that deals with us, even as Madame Guyon did. We
must have this light to see that whatever the Lord has done, we accept and
believe; the Lord can do no wrong.
Second, another great hindrance
to the work of destroying the outer man is self-love. We must ask God to take
away the heart of self-love. As He deals with us in response to our prayer, we
should worship and say, “Oh Lord, if this is Your hand, let me accept it from
my heart.” Let us remember that the one reason for all misunderstanding, all
fretfulness, all discontent, is that we secretly love ourselves. Thus we plan a
way whereby we can deliver ourselves. Many times problems arise due to our
seeking a way of escape - an escape from the working of the cross.
He who has ascended the cross and
refuses to drink the vinegar mingled with gall is the one who knows the Lord.
Many go up to the cross rather reluctantly, still thinking of drinking vinegar
mingled with gall to alleviate their pains. All who say, “Shall I not drink the
cup which my Father has given me?,” will not drink the cup of vinegar mingled
with gall. They can only drink of one cup, not two. Such as these are without
any self-love. Self-love is a basic difficulty. May the Lord speak to us today
that we may be able to pray: “O my God, I have seen that all things come from
You. All my ways these five years, ten years, or twenty years, are of You. You
have so worked to attain Your purpose, which is none other than that Your life
may be lived out through me. But I have been foolish. I did not see. I did many
things to deliver myself, thus delaying Your time. Today I see Your hand. I am
willing to offer myself to You. Once again I place myself in Your hands.”
Expect to See Wounds
There is no one more beautiful
than one who is broken! Stubbornness and self-love give way to beauty in one
who has been broken by God. We see Jacob in the Old Testament, how even in his
mother’s womb he struggled with his brother. He was subtle, tricky, deceitful.
Yet his life was full of sorrows and grief. He fled from home. For twenty years
he was cheated by Laban. The wife of his heart’s love, Rachel, died
prematurely. The son of his love, Joseph, was sold. Years later Benjamin was
detained in Egypt. He was successively dealt with by God, meeting misfortune
after misfortune. He was stricken by God once, twice; indeed, his whole history
could be said to be a history of being stricken by God. Finally after many such
dealings, the man Jacob was transformed in his last few years, he was quite transparent.
How dignified was his answer to Pharaoh! How beautiful was his end, when he
worshiped God on his staff! How clear were his blessings to his descendants!
After reading the last page of his history, we want to bow our heads and
worship God. Here is one who is matured, who knows God. Several decades of
dealings have resulted in Jacob’s outward man being destroyed. In his old age,
the picture is a beautiful one.
Each one of us has much of the
same Jacob nature in us. Our only hope is that the Lord may blaze a way out,
destroying the outward man to such a degree that the inward man may come out
and be seen. This is precious, and this is the way of those who serve the Lord.
Only thus can we serve; only thus can we lead men to the Lord. All else is
limited in its value. Doctrine does not have much use, nor does theology. What
is the use of mere mental knowledge of the Bible if the outward man remains
unbroken? Only the person through whom God can come forth is useful.
After our outward man has been
stricken, dealt with, and led through various trials, we have wounds upon us,
thus allowing the spirit to emerge. We are afraid to meet some brothers and
sisters whose whole being remains intact, never having been dealt with and
changed. May God have mercy upon us in showing us clearly this way and in
revealing to us that it is the only way. May He also show us that herein is
seen the purpose of all His dealings with us in these few years, say ten or
twenty. Thus, let no one despise the Lord’s dealings. May He truly reveal to us
what is meant by the destroying of the outward man. Should the outward man
remain whole, everything would be merely in our mind, utterly useless. Let us
expect the Lord to deal with us thoroughly.
Before and After Brokenness
THE breaking of the outward man
is the basic experience of all who serve God. This must be accomplished before
He can use us in an effectual way.
When one is working for God, two
possibilities may arise. First, it is possible that with the outward man
unbroken, one’s spirit may be inert and unable to function. If he is a clever
person, his mind governs his work; if he is a compassionate person, the
emotions control his actions. Such work may appear successful but cannot bring
people to God. Second, his spirit may come forth clad in his own thoughts or
emotions. The result is mixed and impure. Such work will bring men into mixed
and impure experience. These two conditions weaken our service to God.
If we desire to work effectively,
we must realize that basically “it is the Spirit who gives life.” Sooner or
later - if not on the first day of our salvation, then perhaps ten years after
- we must recognize this fact. Many have to be brought to their wits’ end to
see the emptiness of their labor before they know how useless are their many
thoughts, their varied emotions. No matter how many people you can attract with
your thoughts or emotions, the result comes to nothing. Eventually we must
confess: “It is the Spirit who gives life.” The Spirit alone makes people live.
Your best thought, your best emotion, cannot make people live. Man can be
brought into life only by the Spirit. Many serving the Lord come to see this
fact only after passing through much sorrow and many failures. Finally the
Lord’s Word becomes meaningful to them: HE WHO GIVES LIFE IS THE SPIRIT. To let
the spirit be released means that sinners may be born anew and saints may be
established. When life is communicated through the channel of the spirit, those
who receive it are born anew. When life is supplied through the spirit to
believers, it results in their being established. Without the Spirit there can
be no new birth and no establishment.
One rather remarkable thing is
that God does not mean to distinguish between His Spirit and our spirit. There
are many places in the Bible where it is impossible to determine whether the
word “spirit” indicates our human spirit or God’s Spirit. Bible translators,
from Luther down to present day scholars, who labored on the English versions,
have been unable to decide if the word “spirit,” as used in many places in the
New Testament, refers to the human spirit or to the Spirit of God.
Of the whole Bible, Romans eight
may well be the chapter where the word “spirit” is used most frequently. Who
can discern how many times the word “spirit” in this chapter, refers to the
human spirit and how many times to God’s Spirit? In various English versions,
the word “pneuma” (spirit) is sometimes written with a capital letter; other
times with a small letter. It is evident that these versions do not agree, and
no one person’s opinion is final. It is simply impossible to distinguish. When
in regeneration we receive our new spirit, we receive God’s Spirit too. The
moment our human spirit is raised from the state of death, we receive the Holy
Spirit. We often say that the Holy Spirit dwells in our spirit, but we find it
hard to discern which is the Holy Spirit and which is our own spirit. The Holy
Spirit and our spirit have become so mingled; while each is distinctive, they
are not easily distinguished.
Thus, the release of the spirit
is the release of the human spirit as well as the release of the Holy Spirit,
Who is in the spirit of man. Since the Holy Spirit and our spirit are joined
into one, they can be distinguished only in name, not in fact. And since the
release of one means the release of both, others can touch the Holy Spirit
whenever they touch our spirit. Thank God that inasmuch as you allow people to
contact your spirit, you allow them to contact God. Your spirit has brought the
Holy Spirit to man.
When the Holy Spirit is working,
He needs to be carried by the human spirit. The electricity in an electric bulb
does not travel like lightning. It must be conducted through electric wires. If
you want to use electricity, you need an electric wire to bring it to you. In
like manner, the Spirit of God employs the human spirit as His carrier, and
through it He is brought to man.
Everyone who has received grace
has the Holy Spirit dwelling in his spirit. Whether he can be used by the Lord
depends not on his spirit but rather on his outward man. The difficulty with
many is that their outward man has not been broken. There is not that
blood-marked path, those wounds or scars. So God’s Spirit is imprisoned within
man’s spirit and is not able to break forth. Sometimes our outward man is
active, but the inward man remains inactive. The outward man has gone forth,
while the inward man lags behind.
Some Practical Problems
Let us review this through some
practical problems. Take preaching, for instance. How often we can be earnestly
preaching - a well-prepared, sound message - but inwardly feel as cold as ice.
We long to stir others, yet we ourselves are unmoved. There is a lack of
harmony between the outward and the inward man. The outward man is dripping
from the heat, but the inward man is shivering with the cold. We can tell
others how great the love of the Lord is, yet we are personally untouched by
it. We can tell others how tragic is the suffering of the cross, yet upon
returning to our room we can laugh. What can we do about this? Our mind may
labor, our emotions may be energized, yet all the time one has the feeling that
the inward man is merely observing the proceedings. The outward and the inward
man are not one.
Consider another situation. The
inward man is devoured by zeal. He wants to shout, but he does not find
utterance. After speaking for a long time, he still seems to be circling
around. The more he is burdened within, the colder he becomes without. He longs
to speak, but he cannot express himself. When he meets a sinner, his inward man
feels like weeping, but he cannot shed a tear. There is a sense of urgency
within him, yet when he ascends the pulpit and tries to shout, he finds himself
lost in a maze of words. Such a situation is most trying. The root cause is the
same: the outer shell still clings to him. The outward does not obey the
dictates of the inward: inwardly crying, but outwardly unmoved; inwardly
suffering, but outwardly untouched; full thoughts within, but without, the mind
a seeming blank. The spirit has yet to find a way to pierce the shell.
Thus the breaking of the outward
man is the first lesson for everyone who would learn to serve God. He who is
truly used by God is one whose outward thought and outward emotion do not act
independently. If we have not learned this lesson, we shall find our
effectiveness greatly impaired. May God bring us to the place where the outward
man is completely broken.
When such a condition prevails,
there will be an end to outward activity with inward inertness; an end to
inward crying with outward composure; an end to an abundance of inner thoughts
for which there is no utterance. You will not be poor in thought. You need not
use twenty sentences to express what can be said in two. Your thoughts will
assist instead of hinder your spirit.
Likewise, our emotions are also a
very hard shell. Many who desire to be happy cannot express joy, or they may
wish to weep yet cannot. If the Lord has stricken our outward man either
through the discipline or the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, we are able to
express joy or sorrow as we inwardly dictate.
The release of the spirit makes
it possible for us to abide increasingly in God. We touch the spirit of
revelation in the Bible. Without effort we can use our spirit to receive divine
revelation. When we are witnessing or preaching, we send forth God’s word
through our spirit. Furthermore, we may most spontaneously contact the spirit
in others by our spirit. Whenever one speaks in our presence, we can “size him
up” - evaluate what kind of person he is, what attitude he is taking, what sort
of Christian he is, and what his need is. Our spirit can touch his spirit. And
what is wonderful, others easily contact our spirit. With some, we only meet
their thoughts, their emotions, or their will. After conversing with them for
hours, we still have not met the real person, though we may both be Christians.
The outer shell is too thick for others to touch the inner man. With the
breaking of the outward man, the spirit begins to flow and is ever open to
others.
Launching Out and Retreating
Once the outward man is broken,
man’s spirit very naturally abides in the presence of God without ceasing. Two
years after a certain brother trusted in the Lord, he read “The Practice of the
Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence. After reading it, he felt grieved at his
failure to abide unceasingly in the presence of God like Brother Lawrence. At
that time he had hourly appointments to pray with someone. Why? Well, the Bible
says, “Pray unceasingly,” so they changed it to “Pray every hour.” Every time
they heard the clock strike the hour, they would pray. They exerted their
utmost effort to retreat into God, because they felt they could not maintain
themselves in the continuous presence of God. It was as if they had slipped
away while working and thus needed to retreat quickly back to God. Or they had
projected themselves out while studying, and now they must withdraw swiftly to
God. Otherwise they would find themselves away the whole day. They prayed
often, spending whole days in prayer on the Lord’s Day and half-days on
Saturday. Thus they continued for two or three years. Nevertheless, the trouble
remained: in withdrawing they enjoyed God’s presence, but in going forth they
lost it. Of course, this is not their problem alone; such is the experience of
many Christians. It indicates we are trying to maintain God’s presence by our
memory. The sense of His presence fluctuates according to our memory. When we
remember, there is the consciousness of His presence; otherwise, there is none.
This is sheer foolishness, for God’s presence is in the spirit, not the memory.
To solve this problem, we must
first settle the question of the breaking of the outward man. Since neither our
emotion nor our thought has the same nature as God, it cannot be joined with
Him. The Gospel of John, chapter four, shows us the nature of God. God is a
Spirit. Our spirit alone is of the same nature as God; therefore, it can be
eternally united with Him. If we try to get the presence of God by directing
our thought, then when we are not concentrating, His presence seems to be lost.
Again, if we seek to use our emotion to summon the presence of God, then as
soon as our emotion relaxes, His presence seems to be gone. Sometimes we are
happy, and we take this as having the presence of God. So when happiness
ceases, the presence flees! Or we may assume that His presence is with us while
we mourn and weep. Alas, we cannot shed tears all our life. Soon our tears will
be dry, and then God’s presence disappears. Both our thoughts and our emotions
are human energies. All activity must come to an end. If we try to maintain
God’s presence with activity, then when the activity ceases, His presence ends.
Presence requires the sameness of nature. Only the inward man is of the same
nature as God. Through it alone can His presence be manifested. When the
outward man lives in activities, they can disturb the inward man. Thus the
outward man is not a helper but a disturber. When the outward man is broken,
the inward man enjoys peace before God.
Our spirit is given to us by God
to enable us to respond to Him. But the outward man is ever responding to
things on the outside, thus depriving us of the presence of God. We cannot
destroy all the things on the outside, but we can break down the outward man.
We cannot put a stop to all the things that are outside of us; these millions
and billions of things in the world are utterly beyond our control. Whenever
anything happens, our outward man will respond; thus we are not able to enjoy
God’s presence in peace. We conclude, therefore, that experiencing the presence
of God is contingent upon the breaking of our outward man.
If, through the mercy of God, our
outward man has been broken, we may be thus characterized: Yesterday we were
full of curiosity, but today it is impossible to be curious. Formerly our
emotions could be easily aroused, either stirring our love, the most delicate
emotion, or provoking our temper, the crudest. But now no matter how many things
crowd upon us, our inward man remains unmoved, the presence of God unchanged,
and our inner peace unruffled.
It becomes evident that the
breaking of the outward man is the basis for enjoying God’s presence. Brother
Lawrence was engaged in kitchen work. People were clamoring for things they
wanted. Though there was the constant clatter of dishes and utensils, his
inward man was not disturbed. He could sense God’s presence in the hustle and
bustle of a kitchen as much as in quiet prayer. Why? He was impervious to
external noises. He had learned to commune in his spirit and deny his soul.
Some feel that to have God’s
presence, their environment must be free of such distractions as the clatter of
dishes. The farther away they are from mankind, the better they will be able to
sense the presence of God. What a mistake! The trouble lies not in the dishes,
nor in other people, but in themselves. God is not going to deliver us from the
dishes; He will deliver us from our responses! No matter how noisy it is outside,
the inside does not respond. Since the Lord has broken our outward man, we
simply react as if we had not heard. Praise the Lord, we may possess very keen
hearing, but due to the work of grace in our lives, we are not at all
influenced by the things pressing on our outward man. We can be before God on
such occasions as much as when praying alone.
Once the outward man is broken,
one no longer needs to retreat Godward, for he is always in the presence of
God. Not so with one whose outward man is still intact. After running an errand
he needs to return, for he assumes he has moved away from God. Even in doing
the work of the Lord, he slips away from the One he serves. So it seems the
best thing for him is not to make any move. Nevertheless, they that know God do
not need to return, for they have never been away. They enjoy the presence of
God when they set aside a day for prayer, and they enjoy the same presence in
much the same degree, when they are busily engaged in the menial tasks of life.
Perhaps it is our common experience that in drawing near to God, we sense His
presence; while if we are engaged in some activity, in spite of our vigilance,
we feel that somehow we have drifted away. Suppose, for example, we are
preaching the gospel or trying to edify people. After a while we feel like
kneeling down to pray. But we have a sense that we must first retreat into God.
Somehow our conversation with people has led us a little away from God, so in
prayer we must first draw closer to Him. We have lost God’s presence, so now we
must have it restored to us. Or we may be occupied with some menial task such
as scrubbing the floor. Upon completing our job, we decide to pray. Once again
we feel we have taken a long trip and must return. What is the answer? The
breaking of the outward man makes such returns unnecessary. We sense the
presence of God in our conversation as much as in kneeling in prayer.
Performing our menial tasks does not draw us away from God, hence we need not
return.
Now let us consider an extreme
case to illustrate. Anger is the most violent of human feelings. But the Bible
does not forbid us to be angry, for some anger is not related to sin. “Be angry
but do not sin,” the Bible says. Nonetheless, anger is so strong it borders on
sin. We do not find, “Love but do not sin, nor “Be meek but do not sin,” in
God’s Word, because love and meekness are far removed from sin. But anger is
close to sin.
Perhaps a certain brother has
committed a serious fault. He needs to be severely reprimanded. This is no easy
matter. Rather would we exercise our feelings of mercy than bring our feelings
of anger into play, for the latter can fall into something else with the least
carelessness. Thus it is not easy to be properly angry according to the will of
God. However, one who knows the breaking of the outward man can deal severely
with another brother without his own spirit being disturbed or God’s presence
interrupted. He abides in God just as much in dealing with others as in prayer.
Thus, after he has taken his brother to task, he can pray without an endeavor
to retreat to God. We acknowledge that this is rather difficult, yet when the
outward man is broken, such can well be the case.
The Dividing of the Outward and
the Inward Man
When the outward man is broken,
outside things will be kept outside, and the inward man will live before God
continuously. The trouble with many is that their outward man and inward man
are joined together, so what influences the outward influences the inward.
Through the merciful working of God the outward man and inward man must be
separated. Then what affects the outward will not be able to reach the inward.
Though the outward man may be engaged in conversation, yet the inward man is
fellowshipping with God. The outward may be burdened with listening to the
clatter of dishes, while the inward abides in God. One is able to carry on
activities, to contact the world with the outer man, yet the inner man remains
unaffected, for he still lives before God.
Consider an example or two. A
certain brother is working on the road. If his outer and inner man have been
divided, the latter will not be disturbed by outside things. He can labor in
his outward man, while at the same time he is inwardly worshiping God. Or
consider a parent: his outward man may be laughing and playing with his little
child. Suddenly a certain spiritual need arises. He can at once meet the
situation with his inward man, for he has never been absent from the presence
of God. So it is important for us to realize that the dividing of the outward
and inward man has a most decisive effect upon one’s work and life. Only thus
is one able to labor without distraction.
We can describe believers as
either “single” or “dual” persons. With some their inner and outer man are one;
with others the two have been separated. As long as one is a “single” person,
he must summon his whole being into his work or into his prayer. In working, he
leaves God behind. In praying later, he must turn away from his work. Because
his outward man has not been broken, he is forced to launch out and retreat.
The “dual” person, on the other hand, is able to work with his outward man
while his inward man remains constantly before God. Whenever the need arises,
his inward man can break forth and manifest itself before others. He enjoys the
unbroken presence of God. Let us ask ourselves,. Am I a “single” or a “dual”
person? Whether the outward man is divided from the inward does make all the
difference.
If through the mercy of God you
have experienced this dividing, then while you are working, or outwardly
active, you know there is a man in you who remains calm. Though the outward man
is engaged in external things, these will not penetrate the inward man.
Here is the wondrous secret!
Knowing the presence of God is through the dividing of these two. Brother
Lawrence seemed to be busily occupied with kitchen work, yet within there was
another man standing before God and enjoying undisturbed communion with Him.
Such an inner division will keep our reactions free from the contamination of
flesh and blood.
In conclusion, let us remember
that the ability to use our spirit depends upon the two fold work of God: the
breaking of the outward man and the dividing of spirit and soul, i.e., the
separating of our inward man from the outward. Only after God has carried out
both of these processes in our lives are we able to exercise our spirit. THE
OUTWARD MAN IS BROKEN THROUGH THE DISCIPLINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT; IT IS DIVIDED
FROM THE INWARD MAN BY THE REVELATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Heb. 4:12).
Recognizing “the Thing in Hand”
LET me first explain our topic.
Suppose a father asks his son to do a certain thing. The son answers, “Right
now I have something in my hand; as soon as I finish it I will do what you
order.” “The thing in hand” is the thing which the son is doing prior to his
father’s orders. Immediately we recognize that we all have those “things in our
hands” which hinder us in our walk with God. It might be anything - a good,
important or seemingly necessary thing - which preoccupies us and diverts our
attention. As long as the outward man remains unbroken, we shall most likely
find our hands full of things. Our outward man has its own religious interests,
appetites, concerns and labors. So when the Spirit of God moves in our spirit,
our outward man cannot answer God’s call. Thus it is the “thing in hand” which
blocks the way to spiritual usefulness.
The Limited Strength of the
Outward Man
Our human strength is limited. If
a brother can only carry fifty pounds, and you want him to take an additional
ten, he simply could not do it. He is a limited person, unable to do unlimited
work. The fifty pounds he is already carrying is “the thing in hand.” As the
physical strength of our outermost man is limited, so it is with the strength
of our outward man.
Many, not realizing this
principle, carelessly spend the strength of their outward man. If, for example,
one lavished all his love upon his parents, he would have no strength left for
loving his brothers, not to mention others. In thus exhausting his (soul)
strength, there is nothing left to direct to others.
So it is with our mental
strength. If one’s attention is focused on a certain matter, and he exhausts
all his time in thinking about it, he will have no strength to think of other
matters. In His Word, God has explained our problem: “The law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom.
8:2). But why is this law of the Spirit of life ineffectual in certain people?
Again we read: “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in
us who... walk... according to the Spirit”(Rom. 8:4). In other words, the law
of the Spirit of life works effectively only for those who are spiritual, i.e.,
those who mind the things of the Spirit. Who are these? Those who do not mind
the things of the flesh. “Mind” can also be translated “to be intent upon, to
be attentive to.” For instance, a mother is going out and she leaves her baby
in the care of a friend. To take care of the baby means to be attentive to him.
When you are entrusted with the care of a baby, you dare not be distracted to
other things. Similarily, only those who are not intent on carnal things can be
attentive to spiritual things. Those who are intent upon spiritual things come
under the force of the law of the Holy Spirit. Our mental strength is limited.
If we exhaust it on the things of the flesh, we shall find ourselves mentally
inadequate for the things of the Spirit.
We realize, then, just as our
physical strength is limited, so it is with the soul strength of our outward
man. As long as we have “things in hand” we cannot do God’s work. According to
the number of things in hand, strength for serving God decreases or increases.
So the thing in hand indeed becomes a hindrance, and no small one.
Again, one may have many things
in hand emotionally: such as varied and conflicting likes or dislikes,
inclinations or expectations. All these pull with a magnetic attraction. With
so many things in hand, when God asks for his affection he cannot respond, for
he has already used up all his emotion. If he has exhausted a two-day supply of
emotional resources, it will be that long before he can adequately feel and
speak again. Thus when emotion is wasted on lesser things it cannot be used
unrestrictedly for God.
Then there is someone manifesting
an iron will, a strong personality whose volitional powers seem unlimited. Yet
in the things of God he seems unable to make up his mind; how often the
strongest will waver in his decisions before God. Why is this? Before we answer
let us consider another who is full of ideas. Though he never seems at a loss
in conceiving new schemes, when it comes to discerning the will of God in
spiritual things he is utterly void of light. Why is this so?
While the outward man is so
weighted down with the things in hand and is so exhausted, there is little
strength left for any spiritual exercise. It is needful, then, to see the
limited strength of the outer man. Even though it is broken there must be a
wisdom in using this strength. How necessary, then, to have “empty hands”!
The Spirit’s Use of a Broken
Outward Man
In His dealing with man, God’s
Spirit never bypasses man’s spirit. Nor can our spirit bypass the outer man.
This is a most important principle to grasp. As the Holy Spirit does not pass
over man’s spirit in His working in man, no more does our spirit ignore the
outward man and function directly. In order to touch other lives, our spirit
must pass through the outward man. Hence, when the latter’s strength is
consumed by the many things in hand, God cannot do His work through us. There
is no outlet for the human spirit nor for the Holy Spirit. The inward man
cannot come forth because he is resisted and blocked by the outward man. That
is why we have repeatedly suggested that this outward man must be broken.
The thing in hand is there before
God begins to work. It does not belong to God, nor does it need God’s order,
power, or decision to be carried out. It is not something under the hand of God
but rather an independent action.
Before your outward man is
broken, you are occupied with your own things, you walk in your own way, and
you love your own people. If God wants to use your love in loving the brethren,
He must first break your outward man. This love of yours is thereby enlarged.
The inward man must love, but he has to love through the outward man. If the
outward man is occupied with the thing in hand, the inward man is deprived of
its proper channel for loving.
Again, when the inward man needs
to use the will of the outward man, it is found to be acting independently,
already engaged by the thing in hand. To break our will, God must strike us a
heavy blow until we prostrate ourselves in the dust and say: “Lord, I dare not
think, I dare not ask, I dare not decide on my own. In each and every thing I
need You.” In our being stricken, we must learn that our will is not to act
independently. Only then is our will ready to be used by the inward man.
Without the cooperation of the
outward man, the inward man is most handicapped. Suppose a brother is going to
preach the Word. He has a burden in his spirit. However, if he fails to find
corresponding thoughts, he cannot release his burden and it will soon fade
away. Even though the burden may permeate his whole spirit, all is futile if
his mind is unable to communicate it.
We cannot save souls merely with
the burden in our spirit; this must be expressed through our mind. The burden
within must be coordinated with the mouth without. Without utterance it is
impossible to make known to others the Word of God. Man’s words are not God’s
Word, but the latter must be communicated by the former. When man has God’s
words, God can speak; when he does not, God cannot speak. The trouble today is
that our inward man is available to God, able to receive God’s burden, but our
outward man is driven by such multitudinous, confusing thoughts from morning
till night that our spirit can find no outlet.
Thus it is that God must crush
our outward man. He breaks our will by taking away the things in our will’s
“hand”, so that it cannot act independently. Not that we have no mind, but that
we do not think after the flesh, according to our wandering imaginations. Not
that we are devoid of emotion, but that all our emotions are under the control
and restraint of the inward man. This gives the inner man a will, a mind, and
emotions that are usable. God wants our spirit to use our outward man in
loving, in thinking, and in deciding. While it is not His thought to annihilate
our outward man, we must receive this basic dealing of being broken if we
aspire to effectually serve God.
Until this happens, the inward
and the outward man are at odds with each other, each acting independently of
the other. When we are broken, the outward man is brought under the control of
the inward, thus unifying our personality so that the shattered outward man may
be a channel for the inward man.
Now it must be recognized that a
unified personality may often characterize an unsaved person, but in this case
the inward man is under the control of the outward man. Though the human spirit
exists, it is so beaten by the outward man that it can at best only raise some
conscientious protests. The inward man is utterly dominated by the outward man.
However, after one is saved, it
is God’s intention that he should experience a reversal of this order. As much
as his outward man controlled the inward before his being saved, so now his
inward man should hold absolute sway over his outward man.
We can use bicycling as an
illustration. On flat ground, we pedal the bicycle and the wheels roll along
the road. But on a down slope, without pedaling, the wheels just rotate and the
road seems to urge us along. Similarly when our inward man is strong and the
outward man is broken, we “pedal” and the “wheels” roll along the road. We can
decide whether to continue or stop and how fast to go. However, if our outward
man is hard and unbroken, it will be like coasting down an incline out of
control. Should the Lord be gracious to us and level the slope by breaking the
outward man, so that he can no longer give counsel and make decisions
independently, we shall be as those who are able to properly use their spirit.
The Person Broken, Not Just
Taught
No one is equipped to work simply
because he has learned some teachings. The basic question is still: what kind
of man is he? Can one whose inner workings are wrong, but whose teaching is right,
supply the need of the Church? The basic lesson we must learn is to be
transformed into a vessel fit for the Master’s use. This can only be done by
the breaking of the outward man.
God is at work in our lives
unceasingly. Many years of sufferings, trials, hindrances - this is the hand of
God, daily seeking to carry on His work of breaking us. Don’t you see what God
is doing in this endless round of difficulties? If not, you should ask Him, “Oh
God, open my eyes that I may see Your hand.” How often the eyes of an ass are
sharper than those of a self-styled prophet.
Though the ass had already seen
the Angel of the Lord, his master had not. The ass recognized the forbidding
hand of God, but the self-styled prophet did not. We should be aware that
brokenness is God’s way in our lives. How sad that some still imagine that if
they could only absorb more teaching, accumulate more preaching material, and
assimilate more Bible exposition, they would be profitable to God. This is
absolutely wrong. God’s hand is upon you to break you - not according to your will,
but His; not according to your thoughts, but His; not
according to your decision, but His. Our difficulty is that as
God withstands us, we blame others. We react like that prophet who, blind to
God’s hand, blamed the ass for refusing to budge.
All that comes to us is ordered
by God. To a Christian, nothing is accidental. We should ask God to open our
eyes that we may see that He is striking us in all things and in all areas of
our life. One day, when by the grace of God upon us we are able to accept the
ordering of God in our environment, our spirit is released and ready to
function.
One Law Which is Unaffected by
Prayer
There is an immutable law of
God’s working in us: His specific purpose is breaking us and releasing our
spirit for free exercise. We must understand that none of our praying, pleading
or promising will affect or change this purpose. It is according to His law of
accomplishing a brokenness and release in us; all our praying will not alter this
law. If you deliberately thrust your hand into the fire, will prayer keep you
free from pain (barring a miracle)? If you do not want to be scorched, do not
thrust your hand into the fire and think that prayer will save you. God’s
dealing with us is according to His law. In order to come forth, the inward man
must pass through the outward man. Until our outward man is shattered, our
inward man simply cannot come forth. Do not disregard this law and keep praying
for blessings; such prayers are in vain. Praying can never change God’s law.
We must settle this once and for
all. The way of spiritual work lies in God’s coming out through us. This is the
only way God has ordained. To one who is unbroken, the gospel is blocked and
cannot flow out through the life. Let us bow low before God. To obey God’s law
is far better than saying many prayers. It is much better to stop praying and
confess: “God, I prostrate myself before You.” Yes, how often our prayers for
blessings are actually raising up barriers. We long for blessing, yet seem to
fail to find God’s mercy. If only we would seek for enlightenment, learn to
submit ourselves to His hand, and obey His law, we would find that the outcome
is the very blessing we long for.
How to Know Man
TO know man is vital to a worker.
When someone comes to us, we must discern his spiritual condition, his nature,
and the extent of his spiritual progress. We must determine whether he has said
what is really in his heart and how much he has left unsaid. Further, we should
perceive his characteristics - whether he is hard or humble, whether his
humility is true or false. Our effectiveness in service is closely related to
our discernment of man’s spiritual condition. If God’s Spirit enables us
through our spirit to know the condition of the person before us, we can then
impart the appropriate word.
In the Gospels we find that
whenever men came to our Lord, He always had the right word. This is a
marvelous thing. The Lord did not talk to the Samaritan woman about new birth,
nor did he tell Nicodemus of living water. The truth of the new birth was for
Nicodemus, while the truth of the living water was for the Samaritan woman. How
appropriate they were. Those who had not followed Him were invited to come; but
those who desired to follow Him were invited to bear the cross. To one who
volunteered, He spoke of counting the cost; while to one who lingered, He said,
“Let the dead bury their dead.” Our Lord’s words were most appropriate, FOR HE
KNEW ALL MEN. Our Lord knew whether they came as earnest seekers or merely to
spy on Him; and what He said to them was always right to the point. May God be
merciful to us that we also may learn of Him how to know man so that we may be
effective in dealing with people.
Without such imparted knowledge,
a brother can only handle souls by his own understanding. If he has a special
feeling on a certain day, he will speak to everybody according to that feeling,
no matter who it is that comes. If he has a favorite subject, he speaks on it
to all who come to him. How can such work be effective? No physician can use
the same prescription for all his patients. Alas, some who serve God have only
one prescription. Though they cannot first diagnose people’s sicknesses, they
are trying to cure them. In spite of their ignorance of man’s complexities and
their lack of insight into man’s spiritual condition, nonetheless they seem to
be quite ready to treat every ailment. How foolish to have only one spiritual
prescription, yet try to meet every kind of spiritual disease!
Have you imagined that it is the
dull who cannot discern, and only the clever who can? No, in this work the
clever and the dull are equally excluded. You cannot use your (independent)
mind or feeling to discern people. No matter how keen your mind, you cannot
penetrate the depth of man and reveal his condition.
After meeting a soul, each worker
must first discern what that individual’s real need is before God. Often you
cannot depend on what he says. Though he may correctly insist that he has a
“headache,” this may be only a symptom of a deeper condition whose roots are to
be found elsewhere. Just because he feels warm does not necessarily mean he has
a “high fever.” He is likely to tell you many things which have no bearing on
his case. A “sick person” seldom understands his real trouble; so he needs you
to diagnose for him and offer the means of cure. You may want him to tell you
his need, but he is prone to be mistaken. Only a trained “diagnostician” who is
skilled in recognizing spiritual ailments, can discern the “patient’s” real
need. In every diagnosis you must have certainty. One who is merely subjective
is sure to afflict people with imaginative illnesses, stubbornly insisting that
this or that is what ails them.
Sometimes we may discover that the
particular trouble is beyond our ability to help. Do not be so foolish as to
assume you can cope with every situation and help all. For those whom you can
help, you should spend and be spent. When you cannot be of help, you should
tell the Lord, “This is beyond my ability; I cannot discern this disease. I
haven’t learned this yet. O Lord, be merciful.” We should never think we can
handle all the spiritual work or try to monopolize it. Here is our chance to
see the supply of the different members of the Body. If you feel a certain
brother or sister can handle the trouble, seek him out and say, “This is beyond
my measure; perhaps this is in your jurisdiction.” In this way of working
together in the Body, we learn to act relatedly, not independently.
We must emphasize it again: every
worker must learn before the Lord how to KNOW man. How many lives are spoiled
after passing through the hands of eager brothers who have not learned, but
vainly give subjective views to meet objective needs! People should not be afflicted
with ailments that we imagine they have. Our responsibility is to discern their
true spiritual condition. If we have not first been a partaker of spiritual
understanding how can we hope to help the rest of God’s children?
We Are His Instrumentality
In diagnosing a case, a medical
doctor has recourse to many medical instruments. This is not so with us. We
have no thermometer nor X-ray, nor any other such device to help us discern
man’s spiritual condition. How, then, do we discern whether a brother is
spiritually ill or determine the nature of his trouble? It is wonderful that
God has designed us to be as “thermometers” for measuring. By His working in
our lives, He would equip us to discern what “ails” a person. As the Lord’s
spiritual “doctors” we must have a thorough inward preparation. We must be
deeply conscious of the weight of our responsibility.
Suppose the thermometer had never
been invented. The doctor would have to determine whether his patient had a
fever by the mere touch of his hand. His hand would serve as the thermometer.
How sensitive and accurate his hand would need to be! In spiritual work, this
is exactly the case.
We are the thermometers, the
instrumentalities. We must undergo thorough training and strict discipline, for
whatever is untouched in us will be left untouched in others. Moreover we
cannot help others to learn lessons which we have not learned
before God. The more thorough our training, the greater will be our usefulness
in God’s work. Correspondingly, the more we spare ourselves - our pride, our
narrowness, our happiness - the less our usefulness. If we have covered these
things in ourselves, we cannot uncover them in others. A proud person cannot
deal with another who is proud, nor can one who is narrow help another with the
same condition; a hypocrite cannot touch the hypocrisy in another, nor can one
who is loose in his life have a helpful effect on one who suffers the same
difficulty. How well we know, if such is still in our nature, we do not condemn
this particular sin; we can hardly recognize it in others. A doctor may cure
others without curing himself, but this can hardly be true in the spiritual
realm. The worker is himself first a patient; he must be healed before he can
heal others. What he has not seen he cannot show others. Where he has not
trodden he cannot lead others. What he has not learned he cannot teach others.
We must see that we are the
instrumentalities prepared by God for knowing man. Hence we must be dependable,
qualified to give an accurate diagnosis. That my feelings may be reliable, I
need to pray, “O Lord, do not let me go untouched, unbroken and unprepared.” I
must allow God to work in me what I have never dreamed of, so that I may become
a prepared vessel whom He can use. A doctor would not use a defective
thermometer. How much more serious it is for us to touch spiritual conditions
than to touch physical illnesses while we still have our own thoughts, our own
emotions and opinions, our own ways. If we still want to do this, and then
suddenly want to do that, we are yet unstable. How can we be used when we are
so undependable? We must pass through God’s dealings or our efforts are vain.
Then again, we must face this question:
Are we really conscious of the
greatness of our responsibility? God’s Spirit does not work directly in people;
He does His work through man. People’s needs are met on the one hand by the
discipline of the Holy Spirit in ordering their environment, and on the other
by the ministry of the Word. Without the supply of the ministry of the Word,
the spiritual problem of the saints cannot be solved. What responsibility has
fallen upon His workers! It is most serious. Whether or not one is usable
determines the supply of the Church.
Suppose it is characteristic of a
certain illness to reach a temperature of, say, 103°F. But unless you know the
exact temperature, your diagnosis cannot be certain. You cannot determine by
touching the patient with your hand that he has a fever of about 103°. Even so
in the spiritual, it would be too risky for us to try to help others while our
feelings and opinions are all wrong and our spiritual understanding is
inadequate. Only if we are accurate and trustworthy can the Spirit of God be
released through us.
The starting point of a spiritual
work is marked by many readjustments made before God. A thermometer is made
according to a definite standard and is carefully examined to meet rigid
specifications. If then, we are the thermometer, how strict must be the
discipline to bring us up to God’s standard of accuracy! In God’s work we are
“doctors” as well as “medical instruments.” How important it is that we pass
His test.
The Key to Perceiving the
Patient’s Spirit
In knowing a patient’s condition,
we should consider both the patient’s side and our side. If you want to know
what ails a person, you need first to recognize his most prominent feature. It
will stand out so conspicuously that, try as he may, he cannot hide it. A proud
person will reveal pride. With a sad person, a note of sadness pervades even his
laughter. Invariably, the nature of the person will cause a certain definite
impression to be felt.
There are many references in the
Bible describing different types of spirit. Some people are hasty of spirit;
others are hardened in their spirit; still others have a sorrowful spirit. We
can say one has a haughty spirit, another has a depressed spirit, and so forth.
Where do these different conditions of the spirit come from? For instance, in a
hard spirit, where does the hardness come from? In a proud spirit, what is the
source of the pride? Or in a haughty spirit, what causes the haughtiness?
Surely our human spirit in its normal state is not tinged with anything. It is
designed just to manifest the Spirit of God. How can it be, then, that the
spirit is spoken of as hard, or proud, or haughty, or unforgiving, or jealous?
The answer is this: the outward and inward man are not divided, and thus the
condition of the outward man becomes that of the inward. The spirit is hard
because it is clothed in the hardness of the outward man, or proud because it
is clothed with the pride of the outward man, or jealous because of the
jealously of the outward man. Originally the spirit is colorless, but it can be
tainted by the outward man if the latter is not broken.
Our spirit emanates from God.
Thus originally it is pure, before it is affected by the impure state of the
outward man. But it becomes proud or hard wholly because of the unbrokenness of
the outward man. How the condition of the outward man will taint the spirit so
as to come forth with the spirit! Thus to purify the spirit, one must deal not
with the spirit, but with the outward man. We must realize the trouble lies not
with the spirit but with the outward man. From the “color” of the spirit
flowing forth we can detect immediately wherein a man has not been broken. The
particular condition of the outward man stands revealed in the type of spirit
you contact.
Once we have learned to touch
man’s spirit, we know exactly what is his need. This secret of knowing man is
by touching his spirit - in sensing what it is clothed with. Let us repeat
emphatically that this is the basic principle for knowing another man: by
sensing, by tasting or drinking of his spirit. As the spirit flows forth it
reveals the nature of the outward man, for our spirit takes its color from the
outward man as it flows forth.
When one is strong in a
particular point, it is like a thing which stands out before you. Just to reach
out is to touch it. If you feel, you will know what it is. You will realize
that thing is his unbroken outward man. If you can thus sense his spirit, you
will know his condition. You will know what is revealed by him, or what he is
trying to conceal. So we say again, if you want to know man, you must know him
according to his spirit.
Our Own Preparation for Knowing
Man
Let us now consider our part in
knowing man. The disciplinary measures the Holy Spirit takes with us are
God-given lessons by which, in one thing after another, we are broken. It takes
many breakings in many areas of our lives for us to attain to a place of
usefulness. When we say we can touch another through the spirit, it doesn’t
mean that we can similarly touch all individuals, nor that we can discern
another’s spiritual condition in totality. It is simply that in the particular
thing where we have been disciplined by the Holy Spirit and broken by the Lord,
we can touch another. If in a particular thing we have not been broken by the
Lord, we can in no wise supply that need to our brother. At that very point our
spirit is insensitive and impotent.
This is an invariable spiritual
fact! Our spirit is released according to the degree of our brokenness. The one
who has accepted the most discipline is the one who can best serve. The more
one is broken, the more sensitive he is. The more loss one has suffered, the
more he has to give. Wherever we desire to save ourselves, in that very thing
we become spiritually useless. Whenever we preserve and excuse ourselves, at
that point we are deprived of spiritual sensitivity and supply. Let no one
imagine he can be effective and disregard this basic principle.
Only those who have learned can
serve. You may learn ten years’ lessons in one year or take twenty or thirty
years to learn one year’s lesson. Any delay in learning means a delay in
serving. If God has put a desire in your heart to serve Him, you should
understand what is involved. The way of service lies in brokenness, in
accepting the discipline of the Holy Spirit. The measure of your service is
determined by the degree of discipline and brokenness. Be assured that human
emotion or cleverness cannot help. How much you really possess is based upon
how much God has wrought in your life. Therefore, the more you are dealt with,
the keener is your perception of man. The more you are disciplined by the Holy
Spirit, the more readily your spirit can touch another.
It is very important to remember
that while God’s Spirit is given to the believer once for all, our spirit must
go on learning throughout life. Thus the more we learn, the more we can
discern. It is a source of grief to us that so many brothers and sisters in the
Lord do not know how to exercise spiritual discernment. Too many fail to
differentiate between what is of the Lord and what is of human nature. Only as
we have experienced the Lord’s strict dealing with us in a certain matter can
we quickly detect even the initial sprouting in others. We do not need to wait
for its fruit. We can discern long before harvest time. So our spiritual
sensitivity is gradually gained through experiencing God’s hand upon us. For
example, someone may mentally condemn pride, yes, even preach against it, yet
not sense the sinfulness of pride in his own spirit. Thus when pride appears in
his brother, his spirit is not distressed; it may even be sympathetic. Then the
day comes when God’s Spirit so works in his life that he really sees what pride
is. He is dealt with by God, and his pride is consumed. Though his preaching
against pride may sound the same as before, yet now every time a spirit of
pride appears in his brother, he senses its ugliness and is distressed. What he
has learned and seen from God enables him to sense and to be distressed.
(“Distress” most suitably describes such an inward sensitivity.) Now that he
recognizes this ailment, he can serve his brother. Once he was attacked by the
same affliction; now he is cured. (This does not imply that he should claim
complete deliverance - simply that he knows some measure of cure.) This is how
we come to spiritual knowledge.
Spiritual sensitivity comes about
only through many dealings. Are we really profited if we preserve ourselves?
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it.” We must ask the Lord not
to withdraw His hand from us. How tragic not to recognize what the Lord is
doing. We may even be unwittingly resisting His hand. The absence of spiritual
understanding is due to the lack of spiritual learning. Therefore, let us
realize that the more we are dealt with, the more we shall know men and things,
and the more we can supply others’ needs. There is no other way to enlarge the
sphere of service; we must broaden the scope of dealings.
Learning to Practice This
Once these basic lessons have
been learned, we find our spirit is released and able to pinpoint the real
condition of others. How can we put this into practice?
To touch man’s spirit we must
wait till he opens his mouth and talks. Few ever arrive at the place where they
can touch man’s spirit without first hearing what he has to say. The Word of
God says: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mat.
12:34). Whatever his real intention may be, his spirit is revealed by what his
mouth speaks. If he is haughty, a haughty spirit will manifest itself; if
hypocritical, a hypocritical spirit will be evident; or if envious, a jealous
spirit. As you listen to him speak, you can touch his spirit. Do not merely pay
attention to what he says, but especially note his spirit’s condition. We
really know man not by his words alone, but by his spirit.
On one occasion when the Lord
Jesus was traveling toward Jerusalem, two of the disciples saw that the
Samaritans did not receive Him. They questioned Him: “Lord, do you want us to
command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah
did?” (Luke 9:54). As they were speaking, their spirit was revealed. The
Lord’s reply was, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are
of” (9:55). The Lord shows us here that to listen to man’s words is to
know his spirit. As soon as the words are uttered, the spirit is revealed, “for
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
There is yet another point to
bear in mind. When you are listening to a conversation, do not allow the topic
under discussion to distract you from the spirit. Suppose two brothers are
involved in a quarrel, each one blaming the other. If this matter is brought to
you, how are you to deal with it? Although you may have no objective way of
checking the facts if only the two are present, you do know that, as soon as
they open their mouths, their spirits are revealed. Among Christians, right or
wrong is judged not only by action but also by the spirit. When a brother
starts to talk, you may sense immediately that his spirit is wrong, though you
may lack factual information in the case. One brother may complain that the
other scolded him, but immediately you sense his spirit is not right! The real
issue is with the spirit.
Before God, right or wrong is
determined not so much by the deed as by the spirit. How often in the Church a
wrong deed is accompanied by a wrong spirit. But if judgment is made solely
according to the deed, we have dragged the Church into another realm. We should
be in the realm of the spirit, not in that of mere outward action.
Once our own spirit has been
released, we can detect the condition of others’ spirits. If we contact a
spirit which is closed, we have to exercise our spirit in judging the issue and
discerning the man. May we be able to say with Paul, “Therefore, from now on,
we regard no one according to the flesh” (2 Cor. 5:16). We do not know man
according to flesh, but according to spirit. Having learned this, basic lesson,
we provide a way for God to work out His purpose.
The Church and God’s Work
IF we really understand the
nature of God’s work, we shall readily admit that the outward man is truly a
formidable hindrance. It is true to say that God is much restricted by man. The
people of God should know the ultimate purpose of the Church and also the
inter-relationships of the Church, of God’s power, and of God’s work.
God’s Manifestation and God’s
Restriction
There came a time when God
committed Himself to human form - in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Before
the Word became flesh, God’s fullness knew no bounds. However, once the
incarnation became a reality, His work and His power were limited to this
flesh. Will this Man, Christ Jesus, restrict or manifest God? We are shown by
the Bible that, far from limiting God, He has instead wonderfully manifested
God’s fullness. The fullness of God is the fullness of this flesh.
In our day God commits Himself to
the Church. His power and His work are in the Church. Just as in the Gospels we
find all God’s work given to the Son, so today God has entrusted all His works
to the Church and will not act apart from it. From the Day of Pentecost up to
the present, God’s work has been carried out through the Church. Think of the
Church’s tremendous responsibility. God’s committal to the Church is like His
committal previously to one Man, Christ - without reservation or restriction.
Thus the Church may restrict God’s work or limit His manifestation.
Jesus of Nazareth is God Himself.
His whole being from within to without is to reveal God. His emotions reflect
God’s emotions; His thoughts reveal God’s thoughts. While on this earth He could
say: “...Not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me... The Son can
do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do... For I have not spoken
on my own authority; but the Father who sent me gave me a command, what I
should say and what I should speak” (John 6:38; 5:19; 12:49). Here we see
a Man to whom God is committed. He is the Word that became flesh. He is God
becoming man. He is perfect. When the day came that God desired to distribute
His life to men, that Man could declare: The “grain of wheat falls into the
ground... if it dies... it produces much grain” (John 12:24). Thus God has
chosen the Church to be His vessel today - the vessel of His speaking, for the
manifestation of His power and of His working.
The basic teaching of the Gospels
is the presence of God in one Man, while that of the epistles is God in the
Church. May our eyes be opened to the glorious fact: God formerly dwelt in the
Man Jesus Christ, but now God is only in the Church, not in any other
organization.
When this light dawns on us, we
will spontaneously lift up our eyes to heaven saying, “Oh, God! How much we
have hindered You!” In Christ, the Almighty God was still almighty without
suffering any restriction or straitening. What God expects today is that this same
power may remain intact as He resides in the Church. He would be as free in
manifesting Himself in the Church as He was in Christ. Any restriction or
disability in the Church will invariably limit God. This is a most serious
thing; we do not mention it lightly. The hindrance in each of us constitutes a
hindrance to God.
Why is the discipline of the Holy
Spirit so important? Why is the dividing of spirit and soul so urgent? It is
because God must have a way through us. Let no one think that we are only interested
in individual spiritual experience. Our concern is God’s way and His work. Is
God free in our lives? Unless we are dealt with and broken through discipline,
we shall restrict God. Without the breaking of the outward man, the Church
cannot be a way for God.
Breaking - God’s Way of Working
Let us now proceed to consider
how the breaking of the outward man will affect our reading of God’s Word, our
being ministers of the Word, and our preaching the gospel.
(1) Reading the Bible: It
is beyond question that what we ARE determines what we get out of the Bible.
How often man in his conceit relies on his unrenewed and confused mind to read
the Bible. The fruit is nothing but his own thought. He does not touch the
spirit of the Holy Word. If we expect to meet the Lord in His Word, our
thoughts must first be broken by God. We may think highly of our cleverness,
but to God it is a great obstacle. It can never lead us into God’s thought.
There are at least two basic
requirements for reading the Bible: first, our thought must enter into the
thought of the Bible; and second, our spirit must enter into the spirit of the
Bible. You must think as the writer - whether Paul, Peter or John - when he is
writing the Word. Your thought must begin where his thought begins, and develop
as his develops. You must be able to reason as he reasons and to exhort as he
exhorts. In other words, your thought must be geared to his thought. This will
allow the Spirit to give you the precise meaning of the Word.
Think of a person coming to the
Bible with his mind already set. He reads the Bible to get support for his
preconceived doctrines. How tragic! An experienced person, after hearing such a
one speak for five or ten minutes, can discern whether the speaker is using the
Bible for his own ends or if his thought has entered into the thought of the
Bible. There is a difference in realm here. One may stand up and give a
pleasing, seemingly scriptural message, but actually his thought is
contradictory to the thought of the Bible. Or we may hear someone preach whose
thought expresses the thought of the Bible and is therefore harmonious and
united with it. Though this condition should be the norm, not all reach it. To
unite our thought with the thought of the Bible, we need to have the outward man
broken. Do not think our Bible reading is poor because of a lack of
instruction. The defect is rather in us because our thoughts have not been
subdued by God. So to be broken is to cease from our own activities and from
our subjective thinking, and to gradually begin to touch the mind of the Lord
and follow the trend of thought of the Bible. Not until the outward man is
broken, can we enter into the thought of God’s Word.
Now while this is important, we
have yet to mention the primary matter. The Bible is more than words, ideas and
thoughts. Thus the most outstanding feature of the Bible is that God’s Spirit
is released through this Book. When a writer, whether Peter, John, Matthew or
Mark, is inspired by the Holy Spirit, his renewed mind follows the inspired
thought and his spirit is released with the Holy Spirit. The world cannot
understand that there is a spirit in God’s Word, and that that spirit can be
released just as it is manifested in prophetic ministry. Today if you are
listening to a prophetic message, you will realize that there is a mystic
something other than word and thought present. This you can clearly sense, and
may well call it the spirit in God’s Word.
There is not only THOUGHT in the
Bible; the SPIRIT ITSELF comes forth. Thus, it is only when your spirit can
come out and touch the spirit of the Bible that you can understand what the
Bible says. To illustrate, let’s think of a naughty boy who deliberately breaks
a neighbor’s window. The neighbor comes out and gives him quite a tongue-lashing.
When the boy’s mother learns of the mischief, she also rebukes him severely.
But somehow there is a difference in spirit between the two scoldings. The one
is ill-tempered, given in an angry spirit; the other expresses love, hope, and
training. This is just a simple example. The Spirit who inspires the writing of
the Scriptures is the eternal Spirit, ever present in the Bible. If our outward
man has been broken, our spirit is released and can touch that Spirit who
inspires the Scriptures. Otherwise, the Bible will remain as a dead book in our
hands.
(2) Ministry of the Word: God
desires that we understand His Word, for this is the starting point of
spiritual service. He is equally anxious to put His Word as a burden in our
spirit so that we may use it to minister to the Church. In Acts 6:4 we read,
“But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the
word.” “Ministry” means serving. So the ministry of the word means serving
people with the Word of God.
In ministry what is our difficulty
that we fail to release the word within us? Often one may be heavily burdened
with a word which he feels he must communicate to the brethren. However, as he
stands to speak sentence after sentence, the inner burden remains as heavy as
ever. Even after an hour has passed, there is no sense of relief, and finally
he must leave as heavily burdened as when he came. Why? It is because his
outward man has not been broken. Instead of being a help, the soul faculties
become an obstacle to the inward man.
Yet once the outward man is
broken, utterance is no longer a problem. One can then think of appropriate
words to express his inner feeling. Through release, the inner burden is
lightened. This is the way to minister God’s Word to the Church. So we repeat:
the outward man is the greatest hindrance to the ministry of the Word.
Many have the erroneous notion
that clever people are best able to be used. How wrong! No matter how clever
you are, the outward man can never substitute for the inward man. Only after
the outward man is broken can the inward find adequate thought and appropriate
words. The shell of the outward man must be smashed by God. The more it is
shattered, the more the life in the spirit is released. As long as this shell
remains intact, the burden in the spirit cannot be released, nor can God’s life
and power flow from you to the Church. It is mostly through the ministry of the
Word that God’s life and power are supplied. Unless your inward man is
released, people can only hear your voice; they cannot touch life. You may have
a word to give, but others fail to receive; you have no means of utterance.
The difficulty is that the life
within fails to flow out. There is a word within you, but you cannot utter it.
The work of God is going on within, yet it cannot be manifested because of the
obstacle outside. God does not have a free way in you.
(3) Preaching the Gospel: There
is a common misconception that people believe the gospel because they have been
either mentally convinced of the doctrinal correctness or emotionally stirred
by its appeal. In actual fact, those who respond to the gospel for either of
these two reasons do not last long. Intellect and emotion need to be reached,
but these alone are insufficient. Mind may reach mind and emotion may reach
emotion, but salvation probes much deeper. Spirit must touch spirit. Only when
the spirit of the preacher blossoms forth and shines, do sinners fall down and
capitulate to God. This is the proper spirit necessary in preaching the gospel.
A miner greatly used by God wrote
a book called SEEN AND HEARD, in which he relates his experiences in preaching
the gospel. We were deeply touched in reading this book. Though just an
ordinary brother, neither highly educated nor especially gifted, he offered
himself wholly to the Lord and was mightily used by Him. One thing
characterized him: he was a broken man; his spirit was pure. While in a meeting
listening to a preacher, he was so burdened for souls that he asked the
preacher for permission to speak. He went to the pulpit, but no words came. His
inner man so burned with a passion for souls that his tears gushed forth in
torrents. In all, he managed to utter just a few incoherent sentences. Yet
God’s Spirit filled that meeting place; people were convicted of their sins and
their lost estate. Here was a young man who was broken - had few words, but
when his spirit came forth people were mightily moved. In reading his
autobiography, we recognize that here was one whose spirit was wholly released.
He was the instrument for saving many in his lifetime.
This is the way to preach the
gospel. Whenever you see someone who is unsaved, you sense you should give him
the gospel. You must allow your spirit to be released. To preach the gospel is
purely a matter of having the outward man broken so that the inward man can
flow forth and touch others. When your spirit touches another’s spirit, God’s
Spirit quickens that spirit which is in darkness so that one may be wonderfully
saved. However, if your spirit is bound by the outward man, God has no outlet
in you and the gospel is blocked. This is why we focus so much attention on the
dealing with the outward man. If we lack that dealing, we are powerless to win
souls, though we may have all the doctrines memorized. Salvation comes when our
spirit touches another’s spirit. Then that soul cannot but prostrate himself at
God’s feet. Oh beloved, when our spirit is truly released, souls will surely be
saved.
Once people are saved, God does
not want them to wait before dealing with sins, to wait more years before
consecration, and to wait still longer before answering the call to really
follow the Lord. As soon as people believe, they should immediately turn from
their sins, wholly consecrate themselves to the Lord, and break the power of
mammon – i.e. materialism. Their story should be like those recorded in the
Gospels and in the Acts. To restore the gospel to its glory, the Lord must have
a way in the lives of the messengers of the gospel.
In these years we have been
wholly convinced the Lord is working toward recovery. The gospel of grace and
the gospel of the kingdom must be joined together. In the Gospels, these two
are never separated. Only in later years does it seem that those who have heard
the gospel of grace know little or nothing of the gospel of the kingdom. Thus
the two have been separated. But the time is ripe for them to be united, so
that people are thoroughly saved, forsaking everything and wholly consecrating
themselves to the Lord.
Let us bow our heads before the
Lord and acknowledge that the gospel and the messengers of the gospel must be
recovered. For the gospel to enter into men we must allow God to be manifested
through us. As the effective preaching of the gospel requires more power, so
the messengers of the gospel must pay a higher price. We must put everything on
the altar. Let us pray thus: “Lord, I put my all on the altar. Find a way
through me that the Church may also find in me a way. I would not be one who
blocks You and blocks the Church.”
The Lord Jesus never restricted
God in any way. For nearly two thousand years, God has been working in the
Church towards the day when the Church will no longer restrict Him. As Christ
fully manifests God, so shall it be with the Church. Step by step God is
instructing and dealing with His children; again and again we sense His hand
upon us. So shall it be until that day when the Church is indeed the full
manifestation of God. Today let us turn to the Lord and confess: “Lord, we are
ashamed. We have delayed Your work; we have hindered Your life; we have blocked
the spread of the gospel, and we have limited Your power.” Individually in our
hearts let us commit ourselves to Him afresh, saying : “Lord, I put my all on
the altar, that You may get a way in me.” If we expect the gospel to be fully
recovered, we must thoroughly consecrate ourselves to God even like those in
the early Church. For the gospel to be recovered, consecration must be
recovered. Both must be thorough. May God have an outlet through us.
Brokenness and Discipline
FOR the outward man to be broken,
a full consecration is imperative. Yet we must understand that this crisis act
alone will not solve our whole problem in service. Consecration is merely an
expression of our willingness to be in the hands of God, and it can take place
in just a few minutes. Do not think God can FINISH His dealings with us in this
short time. As we are willing to offer ourselves completely to God, we are just
starting on the spiritual road. It is like entering the gate. After
consecration, there must be the discipline of the Holy Spirit - this is the
pathway. It takes consecration plus the discipline of the Holy Spirit to make
us vessels fit for the Master’s use. Without consecration, the Holy Spirit
encounters difficulty in disciplining us. Yet consecration cannot serve as a
substitute for His discipline.
Here then is a vital distinction:
our consecration can only be according to the measure of our spiritual insight
and understanding, but the Holy Spirit disciplines according to His own light.
We really do not know how much our consecration involves. Our light is so
limited that when it seems to us to be at its greatest, in God’s view it is
like pitch blackness. God’s requirement so far exceeds what we can possibly
consecrate - i.e. in our limited light. The discipline of the Holy Spirit, on
the other hand, is meted out to us according to our need as seen in God’s own
light. He knows our special need, and so by His Spirit He orders our
circumstances in such a way as to bring about the breaking of the outward man.
Notice how far the discipline of the Holy Spirit transcends our consecration.
Since the Holy Spirit works
according to the light of God, His discipline is thorough and complete. We
often wonder at the 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 surely such
a drastic thing is not our need. Many times His discipline descends upon us
suddenly without our having prior notice! We may insist we are living in “the
light” but the Holy Spirit is dealing with us according to God’s light. From
the time we received Him, He has been ordering our circumstances for our profit
according to His knowledge of us.
The working of the Holy Spirit in
our lives has its positive as well as its negative side - i.e. both a
constructive and a destructive phase. After we are born again, the Holy Spirit
dwells in us, but our outward man so often deprives Him of His freedom. It is
like trying to walk in a pair of ill-fitting new shoes. Because our outward and
inward man are at variance with each other, God must employ whatever means He
thinks effective in breaking down any stronghold over which our inward man has
no control.
It is not by the supply of grace
to the inward man that the Holy Spirit breaks the outward. Of course, God wants
the inward man to be strong, but His method is to utilize external means to
decrease our outward man. It would be well nigh impossible for the inward man
to accomplish this, since these two are so different in nature that they can
scarcely inflict any wound on each other. Accordingly the nature of the outward
man and that of external things are similar; thus the former can be easily
affected by the latter. External things can strike the outward man most
painfully. So it is that God uses external things in dealing with our outward
man.
You remember the Bible says that
two sparrows are sold for a copper coin (Mat. 10:29) and that five
sparrows are sold for two copper coins (Lk. 12:6). This is certainly
cheap, and the fifth sparrow is included free. However, “not one of them falls
to ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are
all numbered” (Matt. 10:29-30). Not only is every hair counted, but every
single one is also numbered. Hence we may be sure that all our circumstances
are ordered by God. Nothing is accidental.
God’s ordering is according to
His knowledge of our needs, and with a view to the shattering of our outward
man. Knowing that a certain external thing will thus affect us, He arranges for
us to encounter it once, twice, and even more. Do you not realize that all the
events of your life for the past five or ten years were ordered by God for your
education? If you murmured and complained, you grievously failed to recognize
His hand. If you thought you were just unfortunate, you were in ignorance of
the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Remember that whatever happens to us is
measured by the hand of God for our supreme good. Though probably it is not
what we would choose, God knows what is best for us. Where would we be today
had God not so disciplined us through ordering our circumstances? It is this
very thing which keeps us pure and walking in His pathway. How foolish are
those who have murmurings in their mouths and rebellion in their hearts at the
very things the Holy Spirit has measured to them for their good.
As soon as we are saved, the Holy
Spirit begins to deal out discipline; but He cannot act freely until our
consecration is complete. After one is saved but not yet consecrated, and while
he still loves himself much more than the Lord, the Holy Spirit is nonetheless
working to bring him under control and break down his outward man that He may
work unhinderedly.
Finally, there comes a time when
you realize that you cannot live BY yourself and FOR yourself. In the dim light
you have, you come to God and say: “I consecrate myself to You. Come life or
death, I have committed myself into Your hands.” This will strengthen the work
of the Holy Spirit in your life. Herein lies the importance of consecration: it
allows the Holy Spirit to work without restriction. So think it not strange
when many unexpected things befall you after your consecration.
You have told the Lord: “Lord! Do
whatever You deem best in my life.” Now that you have thus put yourself
unconditionally in His hands, the Holy Spirit can freely work in you. To
wholeheartedly decide to follow the Lord, you must pay close attention to the
disciplinary work of the Holy Spirit.
The Greatest Means of Grace
God has been bestowing His grace
upon us from the day we were saved. The ways by which we may receive grace from
God are called the “means of grace.” Prayer and listening to a message are two
examples, for through them we can draw near to God and receive grace. This
descriptive term, “the means of grace,” has been universally accepted by the
Church down through the centuries. We receive grace through meetings, through
messages, through prayers, and so forth. But surely the greatest means of grace
which we cannot afford to neglect is the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Nothing
can be compared with this means of grace - not prayer, Bible readings,
meetings, messages, meditation, or praise. Among all the God-given means of
grace, it would seem this is the most important.
Tracing this means of grace can
show us how far we have gone with the Lord. What we experience daily, at home
or school or factory or on the road, is ordered by the Holy Spirit for our
highest benefit. If we are not profited by this greatest means of grace, we
suffer terrible loss. None of the other means can replace it, precious though
they all are. Messages feed us, prayer restores us, God’s Word refreshes us,
and helping others releases our spirit. But should our outward man remain
strong, we give all who contact us the impression of being mixed and impure.
People will recognize our zeal but also our mixed motives, our love toward the
Lord but also our love for ourself. They feel we are a precious brother, yet a
difficult one, for our outward man has not been broken. Let us not forget,
though we are built up through messages, prayer, and the Bible; the greatest
means of edification is the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
Henceforth there must be on our
part a complete consecration so that we submit to what the Holy Spirit orders.
Such submission brings blessing to us. If, instead, we quarrel with God and
follow our own inclinations, we shall miss the way. Once we realize that all of
God’s orderings are for our highest profit, even things troublesome to us, and
are willing to accept these as disciplinary measures from Him, we shall see how
the Holy Spirit will make use of all things in dealing with us.
Dealings of Various Kinds
Whatever the things to which you
are bound, God will deal with them one after another. Not even such
trivialities as clothing, eating or drinking can escape the careful hand of the
Holy Spirit. He will not neglect one area in your life. You may even be
ignorant of your affinity for a certain thing, but He knows and will deal with
it most thoroughly. Until the day comes when all these things are destroyed,
you do not know perfect liberty. In these dealings you can finally recognize
the thoroughness of the Holy Spirit. Things long forgotten are brought to mind
by the Lord. God’s works are perfect, and nothing less than perfection can
satisfy Him. He cannot stop short. 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; or very often it is with those you love. Before
this you did not know how unclean and mixed you were, but afterwards you realize
how much “rubbish” there is in you. You thought you were wholly for the Lord,
but after receiving the discipline of the Holy Spirit, you begin to see how
far-reaching are the effects external things have upon you.
Then again the hand of God may
touch our thought life. We discover that our thoughts are confused,
independent, uncontrolled. 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. Once we have been enlightened in
this, we shall fear our own thoughts as fire. Just as a hand withdraws
immediately from a flame, so we shall instantly draw back when we encounter our
uncontrolled thoughts. We shall remind ourselves. “This is not what I should
think; I am afraid to pursue my own thoughts.”
Further, God will so arrange our
circumstances as to deal with our emotions. Some people are extremely
emotional. When they are elated, they cannot contain themselves; when they are
depressed, they cannot be comforted. Their whole life revolves around their
emotions, with their elation resulting in dissipation and their depression in
inactivity. How does God rectify this? He places them in situations where they
dare not be too happy when elated, nor too sad when depressed. They can only
depend upon the grace of God and live by His mercy, not by their fickle
emotions.
Although difficulties with
thoughts and emotions are quite common, the greatest and most prevalent
difficulty is with the will. Our emotions run wild because our wills have not
been dealt with. The root is in our will. The same is true with our thoughts.
We may be able to mouth the word, “Not my will, but Yours, be done,” but how
often do we really allow the Lord to take over when things happen? The less you
know yourself, the more easily you utter such words. The less you are
enlightened, the easier submission to God seems to be. He who speaks cheaply
has proved he has never paid the price.
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 their feelings, ways and judgments are
always right. Consider how Paul received this grace recorded in Philippians.
“Have no confidence in the flesh” (3:3). We must also be led by God to
such a place that we dare not trust our own judgment. God will allow us to make
mistake after mistake until we realize that this will be our pattern for the future
too. We truly need the grace of the Lord. Frequently the Lord permits us to
reap serious consequences from our own judgments.
Finally, you will be so stricken
by your failures that you will say: “I fear my own judgment as I fear hell
fire. Lord, I am prone to mistakes. Unless You are merciful to me, unless You
support me, unless You restrain me with Your hand, I will be wrong again.” This
is the beginning of the destruction of the outward man when you dare no longer
to trust yourself. Your opinions usually come easily until you have been dealt
with repeatedly by God and have suffered many failures. Then you yield and say
: “God, I dare not think, I dare not decide.” This is the discipline of the
Holy Spirit: when all kinds of things and all sorts of people are pressing from
all directions.
Do not think there will be any
slackening of this lesson! Very often the supply of the Word may be lacking or
another means of grace may be insufficient, yet this special means of grace -
the discipline of the Holy Spirit is ever with us. You may say you have no
opportunity to hear and be supplied by the Word, yet this can never be true of
the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Daily He is arranging ample opportunities
for you to learn.
Once you yield yourself to God,
this discipline will meet your need to a far greater extent than that of the
Word. It is not just for the learned, the clever, the gifted; no, it is the way
for every child of God. The supply of the Word, the grace of prayer, the
fellowship of the believers - none of these can substitute for the discipline
of the Holy Spirit. This is because you need not only to be built up; you need
also to be destroyed, to be delivered of all the many things in your life that
cannot be brought over into eternity.
The Cross in Operation
The Cross is more than a
doctrine; it must be put into practice. Do not think that the way to humility
is to be constantly reminding ourselves not to be proud. We must be stricken
again and again - even if it means twenty times - until we are surrendered and
proud no more. Let us never assume this comes about merely by following the
teaching of a certain brother. No, it is because our pride has been broken
through God’s dealing.
Through the operation of the
Cross we shall learn to depend upon the grace of God, not on our memory.
Whether we remember or not, the fact remains, He is accomplishing a work which
is dependable and lasting. Formerly, the outward and the inward man were not
able to join hands; but now the outward man waits meekly, in fear and trembling,
before God.
Everyone of us is in need of this
discipline from the Lord. As we review our past history, we cannot but see the
hand of God in dealing with the independence, pride, and selfishness of our
outward man. We discover the meaning of the things that have happened to us.
Dividing and Revelation
GOD desires not only to break
down the outward man, but also to divide it so that it may no longer be
entangled in the activities of the inward man. Or, we may simply say, God wants
to divide our spirit and soul.
A Mixed Spirit
How rare it is these days to find
a pure spirit. Usually whenever our spirit comes forth, so does our soul; they
are mixed. So 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. Let us see if we can understand how this is.
Some may think that as long as
they receive power from God, all their natural abilities will be owned of Him.
Not so! The more we know God, the more we know and love a pure spirit - a
purity which allows no mingling of the outward with the inward. One whose
outward man has not been dealt with cannot expect the power that flows from
within him to be pure. For spiritual power to be mixed as it comes from
oneself, even if the results seem good, constitutes a sin before God.
Many young brothers, knowing well
that the gospel is the power of God, still insinuate their own cleverness,
their jests, and their personal feelings into their preaching of the gospel;
thus people touch them as well as God’s power. Though they themselves may not
sense it, others who are pure in spirit will instantly detect such impurities.
How often our zeal in labor is mixed with natural pleasure. 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.
Since our greatest problem is
this impurity, God must so work in our lives that our outward man is broken and
we are refined of our impurities. While God is breaking our hard outer shell,
He is also doing the work of refining. Thus we see His twofold dealings with
us: BREAKING DOWN THE OUTWARD MAN, and DIVIDING IT FROM THE SPIRIT. The first
is done through the discipline of the Holy Spirit, while the latter is through
the Spirit’s revelation.
The Need to be Broken and Divided
The outward man needs to be broken
for the spirit to be released. But when the spirit comes forth, it must not be
shadowed by the outward man. This problem takes us further than the release of
the spirit, for it touches upon the spirit’s cleanliness or purity.
If one is not enlightened as to
the nature of the outward man, and is thus not strictly judged before God, his
outward man will automatically come out together with his spirit. While he is
ministering before God, we can tell that he himself has also come out. He may
exhibit God, but he also exhibits his unjudged self. Is it not strange that our
most prominent part, our strongest point, always touches others? Our unjudged
outward man will project his strongest point on others. This is beyond
pretension. How can you expect to become spiritual before an audience if you
are not spiritual in your room? Can you project yourself into spirituality?
However hard you may try, you stand revealed whenever you open your mouth.
If you truly desire to be
delivered, God must deal with your strong point in a basic way, not just
superficially. Only after He has broken you in this can your spirit be released
without impurities being inflicted upon others.
Impurity is the biggest problem
in the lives of God’s servants. Frequently we touch both life and death in our
brother. We find God but also self, a meek spirit but also stubbornness, the
Holy Spirit but also the flesh - all in the same person. When he stands up to
speak, he impresses others with a mixed spirit, a spirit which is not clean.
Thus, for God to use you as a minister of His Word, for you to be God’s
mouthpiece, you must seek God’s favor by praying: “O God, do a work in me, to
break, to divide, my outward man.” Otherwise, the Lord’s Name will suffer loss.
You are giving to men that which is of yourself while ministering the Word. The
Lord’s Name does not suffer because of your lack of life, but because of your
flow of impurities. The Church likewise suffers.
Now that we have considered the
discipline of the Holy Spirit, what about the revelation of the Holy Spirit?
The discipline of the Spirit may precede His revelation, or may follow. There
is no fixed order; with some He may begin with His discipline, in others with
His revelation. However, it is certain that the discipline of the Holy Spirit
exceeds His revelation. We are referring of course to the experience of God’s
children, and not to doctrine. To most, it will seem that discipline plays a
much larger part than revelation.
How the Living Word Divides
“For the word of God is living
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the
division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his
sight; but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must
give an account” (Heb. 4:12-13).
The first thing to be noticed is
that the Word of God is living. His Word is sure to be living when we see it.
For if we do not find it living; we simply have failed to see the Word. We may
have read over the words of the Bible, but if we do not touch something living,
we do not see God’s Word.
John 3:16 says: “For God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Consider how one hears such a
word; he kneels down and prays: “Lord, I thank You and praise You, for You have
loved me and saved me!” We immediately know this man has touched the Word of
God, for the Word has become living to him. Another man may sit by his side,
listening to the very same words but not actually hear the Word of God. There
is no living response from him. We can draw just one conclusion: since God’s
Word is living, he who listens and does not live, has not heard the Word of
God.
Not only is the Word of God
living; it is also operative. “Living” points to its nature, while “operative”
(powerful) applies to its ability to fulfill the work on man. God’s Word cannot
return void; it will prevail and accomplish its purpose. It is not mere word,
but word that will so operate as to produce results.
What then does God’s Word do for
us? It penetrates and divides. It is sharper than any two-edged sword. Its
sharpness is demonstrated in the “piercing even to the division of soul and
spirit, and of joints and marrow.” Note the analogy here: the two-edged sword
against joints and marrow, and the Word of God against soul and spirit. Joints
and marrow are embedded deeply in the human body. To separate the joints is to
cut across the bones; to divide the marrow is to crack the bones. The two-edged
sword is able to work thus in our mystical body. Only two things are harder to
be divided than the joints and marrow; the soul and spirit. No sword, however
sharp, can divide them. Even so we are wholly unable to distinguish between
what is soul and what is spirit. Yet the Scripture tells us how the Living Word
can do the job, for it is sharper than any two-edged sword. God’s Word is
living, operative, and able to penetrate and divide. It is the soul and spirit
of man which are thus penetrated and divided.
Perhaps someone may raise this
question: “It doesn’t seem that the Word of God has done anything special in
me. I have often heard God’s words and even received revelation, but I do not
know what piercing is, nor do I understand this dividing. As far as I can tell,
I am a stranger to both these processes.”
How does the Bible answer this
question for us? It says “piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and
of joints and marrow,” but it also goes on to say it is “a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.” “Thoughts” refers to what we deliberate in
our heart and “intents” to our motives. Thus the Word of God is able to discern
both what we think and what motivates the thinking.
Too often we can easily identify
what comes from the outward man. We quite glibly confess, “This was soulish,
for it came from self.” But we do not really “see” what the soul or self is.
Then one day God’s mercy comes to us, His light shines upon us and His voice
announces to us with severity and solemnity: “What you frequently refer to as
your self IS your self! You have talked lightly and easily about the flesh. You
must “see” how God hates this and will not allow such to continue.”
Before this “seeing” we have been
able to jokingly talk about the flesh; but once we are stricken with light, we
shall confess: “Ah, this is it! This is what I have talked about.” Thus we have
more than an intellectual dividing. It is the Word of God that comes upon us to
point out to us what we conceive and purpose in our heart. We receive a
two-fold enlightenment: how our thoughts originate from the flesh, and how our
intentions are entirely selfish.
To illustrate this let us
consider two unconverted persons. One is aware that he is a sinner. He has been
to many meetings and heard many messages on sin. Clear preaching has brought
him to acknowledge himself as a sinner. Yet when he thus refers to himself, he
can mention it laughingly, as if it does not really matter. Another hears the
same messages, and the light of God shines upon him. The Spirit so convicts him
that he prostrates himself on the ground and prays: “Oh, this is what I am - a
sinner!” Not only has he heard, by the Word of God, that he is a sinner, he has
also “seen” that this is his true condition. He condemns himself. He is
stricken to the ground. Thus enlightened, he can confess his sin and receive
the salvation of the Lord. He will henceforth never speak lightly or jokingly
of the sin he has “seen.” But the first one, who can jokingly describe himself
as a sinner, has not “seen” and hence is not saved.
How do you react to this message
today that your outward man seriously interferes with God and must be broken by
Him? If you can begin talking about it freely and easily, it surely has not
touched you. If, on the other hand, you are enlightened by it, you will say,
“Oh Lord, today I begin to know myself. Until now I have not recognized my
outward man.” And as the light of God surrounds you, uncovering your outward man,
you fall to the ground, no longer able to stand. Instantly you “see” what you
are.
Once you said you loved the Lord,
but under God’s light, you find it is not so - you really love yourself. This
light really divides you and sets you apart. You are inwardly separated, not by
your mentality, nor by mere teaching, but by God’s light. Once you said you
were zealous for the Lord, but now the light of God shows you that your zeal
was entirely stirred by your own flesh and blood. You thought you loved sinners
while preaching the gospel, but now the light has come, and you discover that
your preaching the gospel stems mainly from your love of action, your delight
in speaking, your natural inclination. The deeper this divine light shines, the
more the intent and thought of your heart is revealed. Once you assumed that
your thoughts and intents were of the Lord, but in this piercing light you know
they are entirely of yourself. Such light brings you down before God.
Too often what we supposed to be
of the Lord proves to be of ourselves. Though we had proclaimed that our
messages were given by the Lord, now the light of heaven compels us to confess
that the Lord has not spoken to us, or, if He has, how little He has said. How
much of the Lord’s work, so-called, turns out to be carnal activities! 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. How wonderful if we can announce: His light has shone;
our spirit and soul are divided, and the thoughts and intents of our heart are
discerned.
You who have experienced this
know it is beyond mere teaching. All efforts to distinguish what is of self and
what is of the Lord, to separate what things are from the outward man and what
are of the inward man - even to the extent of listing them item by item and
then memorizing them - have proved to be so much wasted effort. You continue to
behave just as usual, for you cannot thus get rid of your outward man. You may
be able to condemn the flesh, you may be proud that you can identify such and
such as belonging to the flesh, but you still are not delivered from it.
Deliverance comes from the light
of God. When that light shines, you immediately see how superficial and fleshly
has been your denial of the flesh, how natural has been your criticism of the
natural. But now the Lord has laid bare to your eyes the thoughts and intents
of your heart. You fall prostrate before Him and say: “Oh, Lord! Now I know
these things are really from my outward man. Only this light can really divide
my outward from my inner.”
So it is that even our denial of
the outward man, and our determination to reject it, will not help. Yes, even
the very confession of our sin doesn't help, and our tears of repentance need
to be washed in the blood. 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 - i.e. out of our own mind. This is God’s
only way.
This is why God says, “My Word is
living and effectual. My sword is the sharpest of all. When my Word comes to
man, it is able to divide the soul and spirit, just as a two-edged sword can
divide the joints and marrow.”
How does it divide? By revealing
the thought and intent of our heart. We do not know our own heart. Beloved,
only those who are in the light know their own heart. No one else does, not
one! Yet when God’s Word comes, we “see.” We are exposed as self-centered, seeking
only gratification, glory, pre-eminence, and prestige for self. How blessed is
that light which causes us to fall down at His feet.
What Is a Revelation?
The Scripture we have been
considering continues thus: “And there is no creature hidden from his sight;
but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an
account.” Here the Lord gives us the standard or criterion for dividing. What
constitutes a revelation by the Holy Spirit? How much must we see before it is
a revelation? Verse 13 can help us answer this. REVELATION ENABLES US TO SEE
WHAT GOD SEES. All things are naked and open before Him. Any covering is upon
our own eyes, not God’s. When God opens our eyes that we may know the intent of
our heart and the deepest thought within us in the measure that He Himself
knows us - this is revelation. As we are naked and open before Him, so are we
before ourselves as we receive revelation. This is revelation: to allow us to
see what our Lord sees.
Should God be merciful to us and
grant us even a small measure of revelation, so that we can see ourselves as we
are seen by Him, we shall immediately be smitten to the ground. We need not try
to be humble. Those who live in the light cannot be proud. It is only while
dwelling in darkness that we can be proud. Outside of God’s light, men can be
arrogant and haughty; but under the revelation of the light, they can only
prostrate themselves before Him.
As you proceed it becomes more
evident that it is extremely difficult to explain this matter of dividing the
natural from the spiritual, the outward from the inward. Only as there is
revelation, is the problem solved. Whenever you are enabled to discern the
thoughts and intents of your heart, you can be sure your soul and spirit are
being divided.
If you desire to be used by God,
sooner or later you will let the light shine upon you. You will turn to Him and
say: “Oh God, I am absolutely unreliable. I do not know whom I am accusing, nor
what sin I am confessing. Only in Your light am I able to know.” Before you
receive enlightenment, you may say you are a sinner, but you lack a sinner’s
contrition; you may think you hate yourself, but you have no real sense of
self-abhorrence; you may say you deny yourself, but the feeling of abnegation
is missing. Once the light comes, the surface scab is pulled away and the
“real” or “original” is revealed. What an unveiling to see I only love myself;
to see I am deceived, and cheating the Lord; to see I do not love Him. This
light shows you what you are and what you have been doing. Henceforth you will
have the inner knowledge of what belongs to self. Without this judgment by the
light, you cannot even imitate, but now as the light of God judges, spirit and
soul are divided: imitation is impossible.
What the Lord does is to pierce
into our inner man with a penetrating light. It may happen while we are
listening to a message, or praying by ourselves, or fellowshipping with others,
or even walking alone. This incomparable light shows us how much belongs to
ourselves. It reveals to us that scarcely anything that proceeds is from the
Lord. In conversation, in activities, in works, in zeal, in preaching, in
helping others - in every field of life how all-pervading is our self. Yet once
our hidden self is brought to light, our condemnation of the outward man will
be spontaneous. On subsequent occasions, whenever it expresses itself, we will
instantly regret it and judge it. It is only after such enlightenment that we
are able to divide the spirit and soul. We will henceforth live before the Lord
with our spirit released. It is pure now and offers no difficulty to the Lord.
Thus the dividing of spirit and
soul depends upon enlightenment; that is, we are able to see as God sees. Just
what does God see? He sees what we do not see. We are blind to what is of
ourselves, thinking it is of God while actually it is not. What we professed to
be good, by that light we now condemn. What we considered as right, we now
reject. What passed for spiritual we now recognize as soulish. And what we
thought was of God, we now know to be of self. We confess: “Lord! Now I come to
know myself. I have been blind for twenty or thirty years, and I did not
realize it. I have not seen as You have seen.”
Such a seeing delivers you from
the dead weight of self. Seeing is His dealing. The Word of God is effective,
for it enlightens you to the casting off of the outward man. It is not that
after you have heard the Word of God you gradually change yourself, as if
seeing is one step and casting off another. No enlightenment is casting off;
the two occur simultaneously. As soon as the light strikes, the flesh is dead.
No flesh can live in that light. The moment one comes into the light, he
prostrates himself. The light has dried up his flesh. Beloved, this is effectiveness.
Indeed the Word of God is living and operative. God does not speak and then
wait for you to produce. His Word is effective in your life.
May the Lord open our eyes to see
the importance of the discipline of the Holy Spirit and His revelation. These
two join hands in dealing effectively with our outward man. Let us look to God
for His grace to enable us to place ourselves under His light and to be so
enlightened as to bow before Him, acknowledging: “Lord, how foolish and blind I
have been all these years in mistaking what flows from me as coming from You.
Lord, be merciful to me!”
What Impression Do We Give?
WHETHER we can do the Lord’s work
depends not so much on OUR WORDS OR ACTIONS, but rather on what COMES FORTH
from us. We are not able to edify others if we say one thing and emit from our
lives another thing, if we act one way and live another way. What emanates from
us is an important consideration.
We often say that our impression
of a certain person is good or bad. How do we receive such an impression? It is
not just from his words, nor even from his actions. A mysterious something
expresses itself while he is speaking or acting. It is this which gives us the
impression.
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. Or if we possess an inordinate affection, if we
are overly warm or cold, others will take note of this in their impression of
us. Whatever our strongest characteristic is, it invariably 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. What we are, we cannot but
reveal.
II Kings 4 recounts how the
Shunammite received Elisha. “Now it happened one day that Elisha went to
Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some
food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some
food. And she said to her husband, Look now, I know that this is a holy man of
God, who passes by us regularly.” Note that Elisha preached no sermon, worked
no miracle. He merely dropped in and ate whenever he was passing that way. By
the way he ate, the woman recognized him as a holy man of God. This was the
impression Elisha gave to others.
We should ask ourselves, what
impression do I give to others? How often we have emphasized the need for our
outward man to be broken. If this brokenness is not accomplished, others meet
the impact of our outward man. Whenever we are in their presence they are made
uncomfortable by our self-love, or pride, or obstinacy, or cleverness, or
eloquence. Perhaps the impression we leave is a favorable one, but is God being
satisfied? Will such an impression meet the Church’s need? If God is not
satisfied, and the Church is not helped, any impression we leave is useless.
Beloved, God’s full intention
requires that our spirit is released. It is imperative for the growth of the
Church. How urgent, then, that our outward man is broken! Without this
breaking, our spirit cannot come forth, and the impression we leave with others
will not be a spiritual one.
Suppose a brother is speaking on
the Holy Spirit. Though his subject is the Holy Spirit, his words, his
attitudes, and his illustrations are full of himself. Perhaps without knowing
why, the audience inwardly suffers while listening to him. His mouth is full of
the Holy Spirit, yet the impression he leaves with his listeners is of himself.
What is the spiritual value of such empty talk? None.
Rather than stressing teaching,
let us place more emphasis on what it is that comes forth from us. God is not
watching to see if our teaching becomes deeper; He wants to lay hold of us as
individuals. If our nature is not properly dealt with, we may give forth
so-called spiritual teaching, but there is no spiritual impartation. How tragic
when we merely impress the outward man yet do not impart something of a life
impression to the inward man!
Again and again God arranges our
circumstances to break us in our strong point. You may be stricken once, twice,
but still the third blow must come. God will not let you go. He will not stay
His hand until He has broken that prominent feature in you.
What the Holy Spirit accomplishes
when we are being disciplined is totally different from what happens when we
are hearing a message. A message we hear may often remain in our mind for
several months, possibly even years, before its truth will become operative in
us. Thus the hearing often precedes the real entering into life. However,
through the disciplining of the Holy Spirit, we more quickly see the truth and
thus possess it. How strange that we grasp mere knowledge through a message
much faster than we learn reality through discipline! Once we hear, we
remember. But we may be disciplined ten times and still wonder why. The day
discipline accomplishes its purpose is the day you really “see” the truth and
enter into its reality. So the work of the Holy Spirit is to break you down on
the one hand and to build you up on the other. Thus your heart will say:
“Thanks be unto the Lord. Now I know that His disciplining hand upon me for
these past five or ten years has been just to break this strong point in me.”
The Amazing Work of Slaying
Through Enlightenment
Having considered the
disciplinary working of the Holy Spirit, now let us see how He employs another
means to deal with our outward man. Besides discipline there will be
enlightenment. Sometimes these two are used simultaneously, sometimes
alternately. At times the discipline is shown in circumstances aimed at
leveling our outstanding feature: at other times God graciously shines upon us
to enlighten us. The flesh, as we know, lives hidden in darkness. Many works of
the flesh are allowed to exist because they are not recognized by us as such.
Once His light reveals the flesh to us we tremble, not daring to move.
We have especially observed this
at times when the Church is rich in the Word of God. When the ministry of the
Word is strong and there is no lack of prophetic ministry, light breaks out
clear and strong. In such light you come to realize that even your condemnation
of your pride is itself pride. In fact your very talking against your pride is
boastful. Thus as soon as you see pride in the light, you are sure to say, “Oh,
how terrible! So this is pride - how abhorrent and unclean it is!” Pride seen
in the light of revelation differs completely from the pride talked about so
glibly. Enlightenment exposes the true condition. Immediately it dawns upon you
that you are ten thousand times worse than any of your preconceived notions of
yourself. Right then and there your pride, your self, your flesh wither away
and die with no hope of survival.
Whatever is revealed “in the
light” is slain by it. This is most marvellous. We are not first enlightened
and then, with the passage of time, gradually brought into death. Rather we
fall down instantaneously at the coming of light. As the Holy Spirit reveals,
we are dealt with. Revelation, then, includes both seeing and slaying. It is
God’s unique way of dealing. Once the uncleanness is really exposed, it cannot
remain. Therefore light both reveals and slays.
This being slain by the light is
one of the most needful Christian experiences. Paul did not rush to the
roadside and kneel down when the light shone upon him. He fell to the ground.
Though naturally capable and self confident, he reacted to the light by falling
down somewhat perplexed, yet inwardly exposed. How effectual was this light
which struck him to the ground! Let us note that this happened all at once. We
might assume that God first enlightens our understanding and then leaves us to
work it out. That is not God’s way. God always shows us how hateful and polluted
we are, and our immediate response is: “Oh, how terrible! What a wretch I am -
so unclean, so despicable!” For God to reveal our true self, is to fall down as
dead. Once a proud person has been truly enlightened, he cannot so much as make
an attempt to be proud any more. The effect of that enlightenment will have its
mark upon him all his days.
On the other hand, this time of
enlightenment is also the time for believing - not for asking, but for bowing
low. God follows the same principle in saving us as He does in working in us
afterwards. When the radiancy of the gospel shines upon us, we do not pray:
“Lord, I ask You to be my Savior.” To pray thus, even for days, would bring no
assurance of salvation. We simply say, “Lord, I receive You as my Savior.” Instantly
salvation happens! In like manner in God’s subsequent working, as soon as light
comes upon us, we should immediately prostrate ourselves under His light and
tell the Lord “Lord, I accept Your sentence. I agree with Your judgment.” This
will prepare us for more light.
In that hour of unveiling even
noble deeds, performed in His name and in love to Him, will somehow lose their
luster. In every highest purpose you will detect the meanest inclination. What
you considered as wholly for God now appears to be riddled with self. The
unpalatable truth is that self seems to permeate every vestige of your being,
robbing God of glory.
To man it has seemed there is no
depth which he cannot plumb! Yet it takes God’s revelation to expose our real
condition. God will not stop until He lays us bare that we may see ourselves.
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? Leniency
with ourselves becomes a thing of the past. Though we used to think we were
better than others, now we know what we really are, and we are ashamed to show
ourselves. We search in vain for a word adequate to describe our uncleanness
and despicableness. Our shame weighs upon us, as though we bore the shame of
the whole world. Like Job we fall before the Lord and repent of ourselves: “I
abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Surely I am beyond healing.”
Such enlightenment, such
self-abhorrence, such shame and humiliation, such repentance delivers us from
the bondage of long years. When the Lord enlightens, He delivers. Enlightenment
is deliverance, and seeing is freedom. Only thus does our flesh cease to
operate, and our outward shell is broken.
Discipline Compared with
Revelation
Let us next compare the
discipline and the revelation of the Holy Spirit. The discipline of the Holy
Spirit is usually a slower process, repeated time and again perhaps for years
before the point at issue is finally dealt with. Furthermore this discipline of
the Holy Spirit oftentimes exists without any supply of ministry. Not so with
the revelation of the Holy Spirit. This often comes swiftly, within a few days
or possibly a few minutes. Under the light of God you will see in a very little
time your true condition and how useless you are. Then, too, revelation
frequently comes through the supply of the Word. That is why the revelation of
the Holy Spirit multiplies when the Church is strong and the ministry of the
Word is rich.
However, no one should imagine
that in the absence of such rich ministry and flowing revelation he is then
free to live according to his outward man. It is important to remember that the
discipline of the Holy Spirit is still operative. Though one may be deprived of
contact with other believers for years, the presence of the Holy Spirit with
him is an assurance that he can arrive at a good spiritual state as long as he
is responsive to the Spirit’s discipline. While the weakness of the Church may
result in some members lacking the supply of the Word, yet they have only
themselves to blame if they miss the value of the Spirit’s discipline. Further,
their failure does not mean that the Holy Spirit has not or does not discipline
them. Rather, it means that the years of discipline have produced no effect.
Though the Lord has smitten once and again, yet they remained ignorant of its
meaning. Like a stubborn horse or mule void of understanding, they seem not to
fathom the Lord’s mind - even after ten years of dealing. How pitiful are such!
We can only make this conclusion; discipline is plentiful in many lives; but
recognizing the hand of the Lord in that discipline is rare indeed.
How often when the Lord deals
with us we see only the hand of man. This is entirely wrong. Like the Psalmist
our attitude should be, “I was mute, I did not open my mouth, because it was
You who did it” (Psalm 39:9). We must remember it is God who is dealing
with us, not our brother or sister or any other person.
Has the Lord for years
disciplined us, but instead of recognizing His hand, we blamed it on other
people or on fate? May we be reminded that EVERYTHING IS MEASURED BY GOD FOR
US. He has predetermined its time, its boundary, and its force, in order to
break our hard-to-deal-with outstanding feature. Oh, may we have the grace to
recognize the meaning of His hand in seeking to shatter this outward man. Until
that happens people will only meet that imperious self when they come in
contact with us. Until that breaking is effected, our spirit cannot flow forth
freely toward them.
Earnestly we pray that the Church
may know God as never before; that God’s children may be increasingly fruitful
unto Him. The Lord intends to bring us into the place where - not only our
gospel message and teaching ministry are correct - but we as well are right.
The issue is: can God be fully released through our spirit?
When the 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. What is it that
comes from you that is the final yardstick. Do you impress people with yourself
or with the Lord? Do you let people touch your teaching or your Lord? This is
really vital, for it determines the value of all your labor and work.
Beloved, be assured the Lord pays
far more attention to what comes out of your inner life than what comes out of
your mouth. Do not forget that in every contact you make with another,
something comes out of you. It is either yourself or God flowing forth, either
your outward man or the spirit. Finally, I would ask, when you stand before
people, what is it that comes forth? And lest we are too quick to give an
answer, let us remember this basic question can only be rightly answered “in
His light."
Meekness in Brokenness
GOD'S method in breaking our
outward man varies according to the target. Let us explain the target this way:
with some, it is their self-love; with others, their pride. And there are those
whose self-reliance and cleverness need to be destroyed; such will find
themselves in one predicament after another, defeated at every turn, until they
learn to say, “We live not in fleshly wisdom but in God’s grace.” Those whose
outstanding feature is subjectivity will find themselves in circumstances
peculiar to their need. Again there are those who are always bubbling over with
ideas and opinions. While the Bible affirms, “Is any matter too wonderful for
the LORD?,” some brothers maintain that nothing is too hard for them! They
boast they can do everything, yet strangely they fail in every undertaking.
Things that seemed so easy fall apart in their hands. In perplexity they ask,
“Why?” This is the way the Holy Spirit invades them to reach the necessary
target. Such illustrations show how the target of the Spirit varies with the
individual concerned.
There is also a variation in the
tempo of the Holy Spirit’s dealings. At times the blows may follow one upon
another without respite; or there may be periods of lull. But all whom the Lord
loves He scourges. Thus God’s children bear wounds inflicted by the Holy
Spirit. While the affliction may vary, the consequences are the same: the self
within is wounded. So God touches our self-love or pride or cleverness or
subjectivity, whichever constitutes His outward target. He intends by each
blast at the target to further weaken us, until the day comes when we are
crushed and pliable in His hands. Whether the dealing touches our affection or
our thoughts, the final result is producing a broken will. We are all naturally
obstinate. This stubborn will is supported by our thoughts, opinions,
self-love, affection, or cleverness. This explains the variations in the Holy
Spirit’s dealings with us. In the final analysis, God is after our will, for it
is that which represents our self.
Thus a common feature marks those
who have been enlightened and disciplined, they become meek. Meekness is the
sign of brokenness. All who are broken by God are characterized by meekness.
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. When the outside supports are demolished, self
cannot but fall.
But we must learn to recognize
true meekness. Do not be deceived into thinking that a soft-spoken voice
indicates a gentle will. Often an iron will lies hidden behind the softest
voice. Stubbornness is a matter of character, not of voice. Some who appear to
be more gentle than others are, before God, just as obstinate and selfish. For
such there can only be the severity of His dealing until they dare not act
presumptuously. God designs that seemingly outward dealings touch us to the
core; never shall we be able to raise our heads in these particular matters. It
is irrevocably settled that in these we cannot disobey the Lord; we dare not
insist upon our opinion. Fear of the hand of the Lord restrains us. It is fear
of God that makes us meek. The more we are broken through God’s dealings, the
meeker we become. To see true meekness is to behold inner brokenness.
Let us illustrate: after
contacting a certain brother, you may sense that he is truly gifted yet
nonetheless find him to be unbroken. Many are like that - gifted but unbroken.
Their unbrokenness can be easily detected. As soon as you meet them, you sense
an undertone in them, you can feel their obstinacy. Not so with one who is
broken; there is a Spirit-wrought meekness. In whatever point one has been
chastened by God, there he dare not boast. He has learned to fear God in this
and is transformed into meekness.
Please, notice how the Scripture
uses different metaphors to describe the Holy Spirit. He is like fire and like
water. Fire speaks of His power, water of His cleansing. But in reference to
His character, He is said to be like a dove, meek and gentle. The Spirit of God
will incorporate His nature in us little by little until we, too, are
characterized by the dove. Meekness, born out of the fear of God, is the Holy
Spirit’s sign for brokenness.
Considering the Qualities of
Meekness
One broken by the Spirit
naturally possesses meekness. His contacts with people are no longer marked by
that obstinacy, hardness, and sharpness which are the hallmarks of an unbroken
man. He has been brought to the place where his attitude is as meek as his
voice is gentle. The fear of God in his heart naturally finds expression in his
words and manner.
(1) Approachable
There are several qualities which
characterize a person who is meek. He is approachable - so easy to have contact
with, to talk to, and to make inquiry of. He confesses his sin readily and
sheds tears freely. How difficult it is for some to shed tears. It is not that
there is any special value in tears, yet in one whose thought, will, and
emotion have been dealt with by God, tears often denote his readiness to see
and acknowledge his fault. He is easy to talk to, for his outward shell has
been broken. Open to the opinions of others, he welcomes instructions and in
this new position can be edified in all things.
(2) Highly Sensitive
Again, one who is meek is alert
to his environment, since his spirit can easily come forth and touch the
spirits within his brethren. The slightest movement in another’s spirit does
not go unnoticed by him. Almost immediately he can detect the true significance
in a situation - whether it is right or wrong. Whatever the circumstance, his
spirit readily responds. His actions are thoughtful, nor will he
inconsiderately hurt others’ feelings.
Too often we persist in doing
things which in others’ spirits have already been condemned. Our outward man is
not broken. Others. sense it, but we do not. Consider how this may occur in
prayer meetings, when the brothers and sisters may feel repugnance toward our
prayers. Yet still we drone on and on. Others’ spirits come forth and cry out,
“Stop praying,” but we remain insensitive. There is no response to the feelings
of others. Not so with one whose outward man has been broken. Because the
Spirit has wrought a deep sensitivity he naturally touches, and can be touched
by others’ spirits. Such a one will not be dull to others’ reactions.
(3) Ready for Corporate Life
Only these broken ones know what
the Body of Christ is. Without meekness they are hardly ready for participating
in corporate life. They begin to touch the spirit of the Body, even the
feelings of other members. If one lacks this Body-feeling, he is like a false
member of the body, like an artificial hand, which may move with the body but
has no feeling. The whole Body has sensed it, except him. Nor can he meekly
receive instruction or correction. But a broken one can touch the conscience of
the Church and know the Church’s feeling, for his spirit is open to the spirit
of the Church to receive any communication therefrom.
How precious is this sensitivity!
Whenever we do anything wrong, immediately we sense it. Though we are not freed
from wrong-doing, we nevertheless possess a faculty which will quickly prick
us. Brothers and sisters know you are wrong, but even before they open their
mouth you are brought to your senses by mere contact with them. You have
touched their spirit, and this indicates to you whether they approve or disapprove.
It becomes evident that meekness, which is the fruit of brokenness, is a basic
requirement, and without it Body-life is impossible.
The Body of Christ lives the same
way as our physical body. It does not require the calling of a general council
in order to reach decisions. Nor is there need for prolonged discussions; all
the members naturally possess a common feeling and that feeling expresses the
mind of the Body. And what is more, it is also the expression of the mind of
the Head. Thus the mind of the Head is known through that of the Body. After
our outward man is broken, we begin to live in that corporate awareness as
related members of His Body and are easily corrected.
(4) Easily Edified
The greatest advantage of
brokenness, however, is not in having our wrong corrected, but rather in
enabling us to receive the supply of all. Our spirit is then released and open
to get spiritual help, whatever the source. One who is not broken can hardly be
helped. Suppose, for example, a brother has a keen but unbroken intellect. He
may come to meetings, but he is untouched. 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. Months and years may thus
pass by without his being touched. He is walled in by his mind and it would
seem he can only be helped through it. In this condition he cannot receive
spiritual edification. 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. He will no longer despise people who seem to be
below his capabilities or capacities.
In listening to a message he will
use his spirit to contact the spirit of the preacher, rather than focusing upon
the pronunciation of words or the presentation of doctrine. When the spirit of
the preacher is released with a definite word from the Lord, his spirit is
refreshed and edified. If one’s spirit is free and open, he receives help whenever
his brother’s spirit comes forth. But remember, this is not the same as being
helped doctrinally. The more a man’s spirit has been dealt with by God, the
more thoroughly the outward man is broken; accordingly the greater help he can
receive. And it is further true that whenever God’s Spirit makes a move upon
any brother, never again will he judge others merely by doctrine, words, or
eloquence. His attitude is entirely changed. It is an invariable law; the
measure of anyone being helped depends upon the condition of his spirit.
Now we must clearly understand
what is meant by being edified. 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. It does not matter through whom
the Spirit of God moves, whether in the meeting or in individual fellowship, I
am nourished and revived. My spirit is much like a mirror, which is polished
every time.
Suppose we explain it like this:
whatever proceeds from the spirit brightens everything it touches. As
individuals we are much like light bulbs - different colored light bulbs. Yet
the color does not interfere with the passage of electricity through it.
As soon as the electricity flows
into it, it lights up. So is it in our spirit; when there is the flowing of His
Spirit we will forget the theology we have learned. All we know is that the
Spirit has come. Instead of mere knowledge we have an “inner light.” We are
revived and nourished in His presence. Once our intellectuality made us
impossible, but now we can easily be helped. Now we understand why it is hard
for others to receive help. We understand that it requires spending much time
in prayer before we can touch them in spirit. There is no other way to help an
obstinate person. As we shall see in the next lesson there is a way God has
designed for true effectiveness.
Two Very Different Ways
WE must recognize two very
different ways of help before us. First, “there is a way that seems right” in which
help is received from the outside - through the mind - by doctrine and its
exposition. Many will even profess to have been greatly helped through this
way. Yet it is a “help” so very different from that help which God really
intends.
Second, we must see that God’s
way is the way of spirit touching spirit. Instead of having our mentality
developed or acquiring a storehouse of knowledge, it is by this contact that
our spiritual life is built up. Let no one be deceived; until we have found
this way we have not found true Christianity. This alone is the way of having
our spirit edified or built up.
Let us explain it like this: if
you are accustomed to sermons, no doubt it would annoy you to hear the same
message from the same preacher twice. You feel sure it is enough to hear that
message once. This is because your conception of Christianity is simply
doctrine - the storing of correct knowledge in your mind. Do you not realize
that edification is not a question of doctrine, but of spirit? If your brother
speaks through the spirit, you will be washed and cleansed each time his spirit
comes out and touches you, no matter how familiar the subject or how many times
you have heard that particular theme. Any teaching or doctrine which does not
result in reviving the spirit can only be considered as dead letter.
Again, there is something quite
remarkable about one who is broken. You are not only able to give help, but in
the giving you also are helped. You are asked a question, and in answering it
you are helped. You are praying with a sinner who is seeking the Lord, and
again you are inwardly strengthened. You may be led to speak sternly with a
brother who has slipped; not only is his spirit thereby revived, but you too
are inwardly built up. You are able to receive help from every spiritual
contact. You marvel that the whole Body is supplying you as a member. Any
member of the Body can supply your need, and you are helped. You become the
recipient of the supply of the whole Body. How rich it must be! You can truly rejoice:
“The wealth of the Head is the Body’s, and the Body’s wealth is mine.” How
greatly this differs from the mere increase of mental knowledge!
This ability to receive help -
allowing another’s spirit to touch our spirit - is proof that one is broken. Cleverness
does not make it hard to be helped; rather, it is evidence that the outer shell
is harder than others. In the Lord’s mercy, a clever person must be drastically
dealt with, broken many times and in many ways until one day he is able to
receive the supply of the whole Church. Let us ask ourselves, “Are we able to
receive this supply from others?” If we cannot receive, it is likely that our
hard shell hinders meeting the spirit of our brother when it is released. But
if we are broken, as soon as his spirit moves, we are helped. The question
then, 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 to be destroyed. There can be no question
but that this constitutes the basic requirement for our being helped and for
helping others.
Fellowship of the Spirit
While there are many different
kinds of fellowship, there is spiritual fellowship which is much more than the
exchange of ideas and opinions. It is the interaction of spirits. This kind of
fellowship is possible only after our outward man is shattered, and our spirit
is thus released to touch the spirit of others. In this sharing of spirit we
experience the fellowship of the saints and understand what the Scriptures mean
by “fellowship of the spirit” (Phil. 2:1). It truly is a fellowship of the
spirit, and not an interflow of ideas. By this fellowship of the spirit we can
pray with one accord. Because many pray through their mind, independent of
their spirit, it is hard for them to find another with the same mind who can
pray in accord with them.
Anyone who is born anew and has
the indwelling Holy Spirit can have fellowship with us. ‘This is possible
because our spirit is open for fellowship, ready to receive, and be received by
our brother’s spirit. And thus we can touch the Body of Christ, for we are the
Body. Can we comprehend it when we say that our spirits are the Body of Christ?
Indeed, “deep calls unto deep” (Ps. 42:7). The depth of your being is
calling for a touch of my depth; and I am calling for a touch of the depth of
the whole Church. Here is the fellowship of the deeps, the calling and the
answering of one another. This is the one thing most necessary if we are to be
useful before the Lord and properly touch the spirit of the Church.
A Meekness Beyond Imitation
When we suggest that we must be
meek, we are not trying to persuade you to act meek. If you do, you will soon
find that even this man-made meekness needs to be destroyed. We must learn once
and for all that human striving to imitate meekness is futile. All must be of
the Holy Spirit, for He alone knows our need and will arrange circumstances
leading to the destroying of our outward man.
It is our responsibility to ask
God for light that we may recognize the mighty hand of the Holy Spirit and
willingly submit to it, acknowledging that whatever He does is right. Let us
not be horses and mules without understanding. Rather, let us hand ourselves
over to the Lord for Him to work in us. As you give yourself to the Lord, you
will discover that His work actually began five or ten years before, though it
seemingly has not produced any fruit in you. Today a change has come. At last
you can pray, “Lord, I was blind, not knowing how You were leading me. Now I
see that You desire to break me. For this I surrender myself to You.” Then all
that was unfruitful for five or ten years begins to bear fruit. We find the
Lord skillfully moving in to destroy many things of whose existence we have not
even been aware. This is His master work: to deprive us of pride, self-love and
self-exaltation, that our spirit may be liberated and exercised unto
usefulness.
Two Related Questions
Two questions arise here for us
to consider. The first is: Since the breaking of the outward man is the work of
the Holy Spirit, defying man’s imitation, should we try to stop any fleshly
action we recognize, or must we wait passively until greater light comes from
the Holy Spirit, the doer of the work ?
Surely it is right and proper
that we should put a stop to every fleshly activity, but we must see how this
is vastly different from imitating the Spirit’s work. To illustrate: though I
am proud, I must refuse all pride, yet I do not feign to be humble. Or, I can
lose my temper with people, yet I keep it under control; 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.
This is the important distinction: pride is a negative thing, so I must deal
with it; humility is something positive; therefore, I cannot imitate it. Though
I must put a stop to all fleshly activities known to me, I do not need to
imitate the positive virtue. All I need to do is to commit myself to the Lord,
saying: “Lord, there is no reason to exert my strength to imitate. I am
trusting You to do the work.”
External imitation is not of God;
it is of man. All who seek the Lord must learn from within, not just, conform
outwardly. We must allow God to finish His work within us BEFORE we can expect
the evidence of this to be manifest without. Whatever is manufactured
externally is unreal and doomed to destruction. 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.
Often it is hard to convince him of his unrealness, for he cannot distinguish
the true from the false. Therefore, we must not try to imitate outwardly. It is
far better to be natural; this opens the way for God to work in us. Let us be
simple and not imitate anything, in the confidence that the Lord Himself will
add His virtues to us.
The second question is: Some are
naturally endowed with such a virtue as gentleness; is there a difference
between natural gentleness and the gentleness that comes through discipline?
There are two points to be
considered in answering this question. First, 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, moving only as the spirit moves.
Natural gentleness can really become a hindrance to the spirit. One who is
habitually gentle is gentle in himself, not “in the Lord.” Suppose the Lord
wants him to stand up and utter some strong words. His natural gentleness will
hinder him from following the Lord. He would say instead, “Ah, this I cannot
do. I have never in my life uttered such hard words. Let someone else do it. I
simply cannot.” You see how his natural gentleness is not under the spirit’s
control. Anything that is natural has its own will and is independent of the
spirit. However that gentleness which comes through brokenness can be used by
the spirit, for it does not resist nor offer its own opinion.
Second, a naturally gentle person
is gentle only while you are going along with his will. If you force him to do
what he does not like, he will change his attitude. In so called human virtues,
the element of self-denial is lacking. It is obvious that the purpose of all of
them is to build up and establish our self-life. Whenever that self is
violated, the virtues all disappear. The virtues which spring from discipline,
on the other hand, are only possessed after our ugly self-life has been
destroyed. Where God is destroying your self, there true virtue is seen. The
more self is wounded, the brighter shines true gentleness. Natural gentleness
and spiritual fruit then are basically different.
A Final Exhortation
Having stressed the importance of
the outward man being destroyed, let us be careful lest we try to effect this
artificially. We must submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God, accepting
all the necessary dealings. As the outward man is destroyed, the inward is
strengthened. A few may find the inward man still feeble. Do not pray for
strength to correct this, for the Bible commands us, “Be strong.” Proclaim that
it is your goal to be strong. The marvelous thing is that after your outward
man is destroyed, you can be strong whenever you want to. The problem of
strength is solved with the problem of the outward man. By desiring to be
strong, you are strong. None can block your way. The Lord says, “Be strong.” In
the Lord you also say, “Be strong.” And you find you are strong.
The inward man is freed only
after the outward man is destroyed. This is the basic road to God’s service.