Please read the
following long excerpt from the book- 'The Spiritual Man' By Watchman Nee.
And by GOD'S grace
and will tomorrow we will go over it in much more detail. Right now I'm praying earnestly for my
sister who is suffering in so many ways. She is being tested and tried so
horribly right now. In fact, two of my sisters are suffering in their own ways.
God please, PLEASE, help them, bless them in their storm, please. Hold them
close, be their strength, their strong tower, hide them under Your wing!
Please, Father God, please give them Your strength to endure with YOU, and let
them grow ever closer to You! In the
name of our Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ now and forever! Amen.
Excerpt-
'Upon losing its
natural affection on the cross the soul cedes ground to the Holy Spirit that He
may shed abroad in the believer’s heart the love of God, and enable him to love
in God and with the love of God.
Let it be observed
that, humanly speaking, this expression of the soul is quite legitimate, for it
is most natural and is not defiled as is sin. Is not the love we have mentioned
shared by all men? What illegitimacy can there be in loving those of one’s family?
Hence we know that
our Lord is summoning us to overcome the natural, even to denying man’s legal
right . . . for the sake of God.
God wants us to love
Him more than our Isaac.
It is true that this
soul life is given by the Creator; nevertheless, He desires us not to be
governed by that life principle.
People of the world
cannot understand why; only the believer who is losing himself gradually into
the life of God can comprehend its meaning.
Who can appreciate
God’s asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac whom God Himself had first given? Those
who apprehend God’s heart make no attempt to cling to God-imparted gifts;
rather do they desire to rest in God, the Giver of all gifts.
God wills for us to
be attached to nothing aside from Him, whether it be man or a thing or even
something conferred on us by Himself.
Many Christians are
quite disposed to leave Ur of the Chaldees, but few there be who can see the
need to sacrifice on Mount Moriah what God has given.
This is one of the
penetrating lessons of faith and relates to our being united with God. He
requires His children to forsake everything that they may be wholly His.
They must not only
rid themselves of whatever they know to be harmful but also yield to the cross
whatever is humanly legitimate—such as affection—in order that they may be
entirely under the authority of the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord’s demand is
most meaningful, for is it not true that human affection is tremendously
uncontrollable? Without consigning it to the cross and losing it, affection can
become a formidable obstacle to spiritual life.
Human feelings
change as the world changes. Their easy excitement can occasion a saint to lose
his spiritual balance. Their constant disturbance can affect a believer’s peace
in his spirit. Do not sorrows, moanings, sighs and tears usually result from hurt
feelings? If the Lord is not pre-eminent in our affections He can hardly be
Lord in other respects.
This is a test of
spirituality and a measure of its degree. We must accordingly hate our soul
life and refuse its affections to have free rein. The Lord’s demand differs
completely from our natural desire.
What was previously
loved shall now be hated; and even the organ which generates love, our soul
life, must be abhorred as well. Such is the spiritual way. If we verily bear
the cross we shall be neither controlled nor influenced by soulical affection
but shall be fit to love in the power of the Holy Spirit. Even so did the Lord
Jesus love His family while on earth. '
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