We've Forgotten Our Place

Excerpt- The Spiritual Man - by Watchman Nee

'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. '

*My thoughts- Ceding ground to the Holy Spirit. The idea of ceding any of ourselves isn't a very acceptable one, especially in this day and age. We don't even like to have wedding vows with the words 'obey' in them, it's too demeaning any longer to have to 'obey' anyone.  We desire to be masters of ourselves and have no master over us. Yet, truly God wills us to 'cede ground' to the Holy Spirit. We need to allow self to be diminished in the hope that the Holy Spirit will fill us. As we've already studied some, the soul-self part of us will never be replaced- it is a part of us we need.  Soul-self will not be done away with. What needs to happen is the soul-self needs to LEARN its place in us. 

Truly we've all heard of 'people' needing to learn their place. And as soon as I say these words something inside us has been taught to rebel against them saying we are all equals, we should have no place to learn of. The servant is as great at the master, the ditch diggers as wonderful as the surgeons, the drunk as worthy as the policeman, the billionaire as amazing as the homeless man. Equally they are all the same this is what we wish to believe and you know what? It's true in God's eyes, we are all sinners with none of us righteous. However we need to KNOW our place in connection to God, and we are NOT and NEVER will be equal to God. God is our master, God is our Creator. We will NEVER be like the Most High. We will NEVER take the place of God. We can be children of God. We can be the sons and daughters of God.

We need to cede the ground in us that has been overtaken by our soul-self and return it to God so the Holy Spirit can not only live in us, but work in us, through us.

We need to learn our place in relation to God!

We've forgotten our place.

Excerpt- The Spiritual Man - by Watchman Nee

'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. '

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 

2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

2Co 7:1  Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 

Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 

Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin. 

Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 

Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 

Rom 6:10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

The Lord needs to be first in our lives, truly first.

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. '

Our cross- loving with Christ's love not ours.

Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 

Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 

Excerpt-

'He wishes to rid us of our natural love towards others so that we will not love with our own love. Of course He wills that we should love others, but not with our natural soulical affection. If we love, let it be for the sake of the Lord and not for their sake. A new relationship comes to us in the Lord. We should receive from Him His love so that we may love others. In a word, our love must be governed by the Lord. Should He desire us to, we must love even our enemies: if He does not ask us to, we cannot love even the dearest of our household. He does not want our heart to be attached anywhere because He wants us to serve Him freely.

This new love relationship being the case, the soul life must be denied. That is a cross. In so obeying Christ as to disregard his natural affection, a believer’s natural love suffers intensely. Such sorrow and pain becomes a practical cross to him. Deep are the heart wounds and many are the tears when one has to forfeit the one he loves. These inflict intense sufferings upon our lives. How very loathe the soul is to yield up its beloved for the Lord’s sake! But through this very action is the soul delivered to death; yea, it even becomes willing to die; and thus the believer is liberated from the power of the soul.'

The Spiritual Man  - Watchman Nee

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Do you believe those we hold dear are more important than our love for God? How do we feel about God taking our loved ones from us- through death, divorce, and any other way? Do we comprehend that we are truly being refined by Christ?  That we do have a cross to bear. We've been talking about the cross, our own individual cross that is connected to the cross of Christ. We have to bear our cross as He bore His cross. We need to comprehend that we may even feel as if God has forsaken us when we are bearing that cross. We may be in agony- spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically as we take up our cross.  If we are expecting a life without the cross bearing we are NOT in Christ!  We cannot be Christ's without our cross - it's impossible. 

Loving God first- we then receive God's love which will enable us to love others with HIS love, not our own screwed up idea of what love is or should be.

Is love getting along with someone?  Is love never fighting?  Is love an understanding? What IS this thing WE call love?  If we LOVE with Christ's love we are putting others first- even our enemies.  Those who love their enemies are NOT loving them with their own love, but loving them with CHRIST'S love.  Christ would have all people know HIS love and it goes beyond all things.

We want to teach our children to know Christ, to know Christ's love and to do this, we need to live Christ's love. 

The cross we bear is RECOGNIZING that even in all our frustration over life and all its squabbles, even when we are being UNJUSTLY used, NOT thought about lovingly, emotionally stripped of affection, demeaned daily-  even in all that and more we know that it's all a part of our CROSS!  

We have to bear our cross, but all too often we don't even know what that cross bearing is.  When we are shown that our cross is all those things that would keep us dwelling on ourselves in any way at all, we need to understand that Christ would have us kneel at HIS Cross and seek HIS love in which to love in His way, NOT ours!

More tomorrow on this by the GRACE and WILL of God!

In Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior's name always!!!!!!!!

We lose our carnal life when we take up our cross.

'Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. '

We lose our life when we take up our cross.  Not literally our body's life- we keep on breathing, our heart keeps pumping, the life we lose is a different part of us.

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 

Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 

Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 

Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 

Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. 

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, but after the Spirit. 

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 

Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, but after the Spirit. 

Rom 8:5  FOR THEY THAT ARE AFTER THE FLESH DO MIND THE THINGS OF THE FLESH; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 

Rom 8:6  For to be CARNALLY MINDED is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 

Rom 8:7  Because the CARNAL MIND is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 

Rom 8:8  So then they that are IN THE FLESH cannot please God. 

Rom 8:9  But ye are not IN THE FLESH, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 

Rom 8:10  And IF CHRIST BE IN YOU, THE BODY IS DEAD BECAUSE OF SIN because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 

Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

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Plain as day we can see that the CARNAL MIND, our WALKING AFTER the FLESH, these things are what are contrary to the cross, contrary to our Savior.

When we take up our cross we are taking up the instrument that is to put our flesh, our carnal mind to death.  Our flesh/carnal nature is that of the soul-self in us.  We know that our BODY by itself can't sin, it is the part in our mind that chooses to sin.  The carnal part of our mind and that is the soul-self part of us choosing.  Only by living in Christ, only by having Christ in us, only by living after the spirit can we have hope- the hope Christ brings.

The Spirit raised Christ from the dead and this same Spirit will bring life to us because the Spirit will dwell in us!

Christ died upon a cross.  He could have been killed in any number of ways, but the cross was chosen and He suffered terribly.  We each have a cross to bear, and we need to put to death our carnal flesh, soul-self, and we need to live after the Spirit.  Christ has to be in us, we cannot please God if we live in our flesh.   Did you read those words up there- 'If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.' 

We are told this--

'Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. '

We have to lose our life and find Christ's.

Christ in us, living for Christ NOT FOR OURSELES, JUST LIKE CHRIST, THROUGH CHRIST!

We all have our own cross.

'Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. '

There IS a cross for each of us.

We have to take that cross and follow our Savior.  We can no longer follow Jesus in a literal sense because He is in heaven. When He walked the earth people could and did follow Him. Read this--

Joh 6:2  And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. 

Joh 6:10  And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 

Five thousand people!

Did they take up literal crosses and follow Him, no. No one did. We take up our cross and that cross is connected to us losing our lives because a cross represents a death. Did Jesus advocate suicide for Him like 'death by cop'?  No. NO. NO! We put to death our soul-self, we put to death our carnal tendencies that lead us into sin. We put away all that would keep the Holy Spirit from uniting with our spirit and letting the spirit live and rule in our lives- which lets Christ live in us!

More on this tomorrow by the grace and mercy of our LORD, JESUS CHRIST!

Are you resisting the devil?

 'Unless Christians are keenly alert in resisting the devil, they shall encounter great defeat through their self life. That the Christian’s soul life could be deceived and could be used by the devil is indeed beyond common expectation.'   The Spiritual Man- Watchman Nee.

Jas_4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Tell me something, why would we be told to RESIST the devil if we weren't really supposed to resist the devil?

Seriously.  Can we resist something if we don't even believe it's real? Can we resist something that we don't believe has anything to do with us? Is the devil real to you?  I'm not asking you to MAKE him real to you, he'll oblige anyone who desires to really want to be his. Then again, my asking you to make him real to you is something you can't do if you simply do not believe he exists in a REAL and active way, other than on tv shows meant to entertain you. Very few have any trouble believing the devil exists in a fictional, very abstract way.

We are told to RESIST the devil.

Watchman Nee talks about us being 'keenly ALERT in resisting the devil'. He says that we can be deceived and used by the devil.   Our soul-self which loves to be in control will often give way to the devil, because the devil will tempt us with so much that our soul-self loathes to give up.  We enjoy our self-righteousness. We enjoy our self-indignation. We pat ourselves on the back every opportunity we get. Or, we enjoy our self-depreciation in a very selfish way.  It's not enough to loathe ourselves if we've made it something we inwardly enjoy. Do you see how many traps there are that the devil uses at every opportunity he gets. We have to fall to our knees in front of the cross of our Savior. We have to give our lives over to Him. We have to yield to Jesus Christ, all of ourselves and this must be a constant submission.

Resisting the devil means examining our actions, the heart of them.  It is amazing what can be revealed to us if we yield to the Holy Spirit's leading. We will be allowed to recognize the devil working in our lives in so many ways. We will be shown his temptings and we NEED to remember the tempting is NOT the sin! It's the giving in to that temptation, letting that sin be conceived in us. There is a difference between indulging our thoughts with the temptations we face and having the thought there that can be given immediately to Christ as we RESIST.

May the LORD please bless us with all we need whatever it may be for us to resist the devil so he will flee from us! May we recognize the soul-self and it's constant temptation to give in to all that has its roots in selfishness whether it's seems good or is outright evil. Help us NOT to be deceived, Lord, please, help us!

All in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord now and forever!

Overcome our accuser by---

Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

The blood of the Lamb.

The sacrificial Lamb.

The Lamb slain for YOU, for ME.

By the blood of this sacrificial LAMB - Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God- we can overcome our accuser, we can overcome our ultimate enemy, the Devil.

By the word of our testimony we can overcome the Devil.

What is our testimony?

Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ

Rev 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

Rev 1:9  I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 

Rev 6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 

Luk 24:44  And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 

The TESTIMONY of JESUS.

Think about it for a moment. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and that same spirit of prophecy was what predicted Salvation's unveiling in Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father God.  Jesus said those words above in Luke 24:44 '…all thing must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms - concerning me.'  So MUCH was written predicting our Savior and it ALL came to pass. This is the testimony-  the proof offered- unfailing, unwavering, predictions that have come to pass without a single prediction failing to take place! This is TRUTH, hard TRUTH, undeniable TRUTH and SO many refute through their blindness, through their unseeing hearts, through their self-imposed righteousness over TRUTH that causes them to NO LONGER be the center of their own universe! The Testimony of Jesus - with this testimony that prophecy has proven true beyond ANY doubt at all- is what will enable us to overcome along with the sacrifice of the LAMB and also this--

'Rev 12:11  … and they loved not their lives unto the death.'

LOVING NOT OUR LIVES UNTIL DEATH!

Loving NOT our lives even to the point of death!

NOT deeming our lives more important than the Word of God, not more important than the TRUTH which we know is found in Christ Jesus in His message of Salvation!  Salvation offered beyond this current existence we live in. TRUST, FAITH in our SAVIOR to the point that we realize HE ALONE is WHY we live! If we are called to face death may we do so in HIM. May we be willing to give our LIVES to Him by faith!

Do you love your life? Do you love yourself more than anything else? Do you teach your children that to love themselves is more important than loving God or others? 

We grow up convinced by society all around us that we are most important, that our selfish, self-centered life is a good thing- as long as we aren't hurting anyone.  We are educated to be self-focused.

May GOD HELP US to become GOD FOCUSED, JESUS CENTERED, not all caught up in ourselves at every turn!

PLEASE GOD! PLEASE!

We would be among those who would overcome our accuser who only seeks to drag us down into the darkness of nothingness with him.

Bless us! Keep us!

All through Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, now and FOREVER! PLEASE LORD! Please.