The Release of the Spirit - Watchman Nee
This little book (94 pages long) took quite a while to read, not because it is hard-going, but because it a book you need to chew on a bit. Watchman Nee talks about 'breaking' the hold of our 'outer man' (aka, our soul, or our flesh) and letting the 'inner man' (our spirit, and in a Christian, the Spirit of God) shine out more prominently. "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." (page 36)
The challenge, according to Nee, is not to strive for perfection in our own rights, but to truly lay ourselves down before God and allow Him access to every part of our life. He talks about 'splitting open' the shell of our 'wheat' to allow us to grow, and suggests that when we hang on to pride in any area of our life, we 'keep our shells up' to God. "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." (page 56)
The Release of the Spirit really spoke to me. It is one of those 'timely' books that seem to come along as you are already wrestling through something, and speak into just that area. God has been challenging me on His role in transforming us, on the way that He is responsible for our ongoing sanctification, and that our role is not to 'strive' for perfection, but to allow Him to carry on His work in us. Near the end of the book Nee speaks into just that topic, when he says:
"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, but I keep it under control; yet this does not make me gentle. So long as the negative is struggling for recognition, I should resist it without letup. Nevertheless, I should not pretend to possess the positive. 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 Thee 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." (pages 92-93).
A very challenging, stretching, and encouraging little book.
Completed 12 November 2020.
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