Sincere Asking.

'(2) Ask for the separation of soul and spirit. After knowing, there must be a genuinely earnest desire in the heart, a requesting that this mingled soul and spirit be cut apart. Just here the question rests with the human will. Should believers prefer to enjoy what they themselves consider the best life and not desire to have their soul and spirit divided, God will respect their personal rights and not force them into such experience.   (The Spiritual Man- Watchman Nee)'

ASKING-

Mat_7:7  Ask, and it shall be given you

Mat_7:11  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Mat_21:22  And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Joh_14:13  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Joh_14:14  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

Joh_15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Joh_15:16  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Joh_16:23  And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

Joh_16:24  Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full

Joh_16:26  At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:

Jas_1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Jas_1:6  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

Jas_4:3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

pleasing in his sight.

1Jn_5:14  And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us

1Jn_5:15  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him

1Jn_5:16  If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

*******

Clearly we are to ASK God for what we need- and NOT ask amiss.  Recognizing the need to separate the soul-self and spirit-self to the point that the spirit-self rules over the soul-self is definitely needed. We MUST ask for this separation. When we ask it must be in sincerity.  How many people pray prayers making their requests known to God, but do so in such an automaton fashion that while they are asking God for various things, they are in truth asking for nothing because their hearts are not in it, their earnest desire is no longer present. They repeat prayers they've heard for years, or they repeat set prayers- words given to them by others and in truth they leave their prayers feeling as if they've fulfilled an obligation to pray- but nothing more. As soon as the prayer is over the one praying returns to their life as usual, their duty to God done.  Is this true asking, is this true prayer and supplication?

We KNOW we need the spirit to reign in us guiding all the decisions we make, not the soul-self making the decision all on its own. You do know what I mean, don't you? How often are our decisions made as we think of our self- our own best interest- without ever consulting God in prayer? Too often. We need God first in a REAL way, not in pretend.

The question then becomes, as mentioned above, do we truly WANT the separation? Or do we want life to remain the same without any boat rocking?

We need this, but do we want this and if we don't- why don't we?

I CRY out as the father in the Bible did as He requested healing for his son- 'Lord, I believe! Help thou mine unbelief!' 

One Master, or Two?

Yes, I've studied the following before and not too long ago. I need to study it again, and maybe again and again. If you really don't need to study this, please feel free to ignore it completely. I just…need this.

(Excerpt from The Spiritual Man- Watchman Nee)

'We have just seen how the High Priest operates if we accept the cross. We shall consider next the practical side; that is, how we may arrive at the experience of having the Lord Jesus divide our soul and spirit.

(1) Know the necessity of having the spirit and soul divided. Without this knowledge no such request will be made. Christians ought to petition the Lord to show them the abhorrence of a mixed spirit-and-soul life and also the reality of that deeper walk in God which is wholly spirit and uninterrupted by the soul. They should understand that a mixed life is a frustrated life. '

*******

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

Mat 6:22  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! 

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

*

'The eye be single'

'No man can serve two masters'

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. 

'Walk not after the flesh' but after the Spirit'.

These are Jesus' words to us, God's words to us, words we are to use as weapons to protect ourselves. Watchman Nee wasn't making things up and twisting them to suit his own particular desires.  The word of God is plain truly. 

When we are told to NOT walk after the flesh we are told this for a reason. When our soul-self chooses to indulge in our flesh rather than allowing our spirit self to reign, we are not following God's word. We are not using God's word as our weapon. We are laying down the weapon and allowing Satan free reign in us when we choose to purposefully ignore God's word, God's truth. Is it any wonder Satan has such powerful control over us? We are not allowing ourselves to truly comprehend our need of having our soul-self and spirit-self divided. We need to ask to be shown the abhorrence of a life not led by the spirit.

We are in a fight, a spiritual fight and this fight is against the flesh and all that want us to live after the flesh, all the spiritual wickedness that would induce us to live to the flesh.  That spiritual wickedness will never disappear. The fight is ongoing until we die or our Savior returns for us. The real fight is something we need to recognize and by the GRACE of God we will.  Please, Lord, please, help us to know your truth.

Please, keep us from our own destruction! Help us to believe and let our faith have the works You desire from us!

Please, Lord, Your will be done!

And please… bless my new great nephew, Silas Alexander Lopez, born tonight. Bless him, help him to learn of You as he grows. Bless his whole family!  Thank you, Lord, thank you!

Amen.

The Experience

A very long excerpt from 'The Spiritual Man' by Watchman Nee.  Tomorrow we will start studying it bit by bit as the Spirit leads, all by the grace of God, through our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.

*******

'We have just seen how the High Priest operates if we accept the cross. We shall consider next the practical side; that is, how we may arrive at the experience of having the Lord Jesus divide our soul and spirit.

(1) Know the necessity of having the spirit and soul divided. Without this knowledge no such request will be made. Christians ought to petition the Lord to show them the abhorrence of a mixed spirit-and-soul life and also the reality of that deeper walk in God which is wholly spirit and uninterrupted by the soul. They should understand that a mixed life is a frustrated life.

(2) Ask for the separation of soul and spirit. After knowing, there must be a genuinely earnest desire in the heart, a requesting that this mingled soul and spirit be cut apart. Just here the question rests with the human will. Should believers prefer to enjoy what they themselves consider the best life and not desire to have their soul and spirit divided, God will respect their personal rights and not force them into such experience.

(3) Yield specifically. If believers definitely desire the experience of having their soul and spirit separated, they must consign themselves to the altar of the cross in a specific manner. They must be willing to accept totally every consequence of the operation of the cross and be conformed to the death of the Lord. Before they encounter the cleaving of soul and spirit believers need to bend their will continuously and incessantly towards God and actively choose to have this cleavage. And as the High Priest accomplishes this division in them their heart attitude should be that He should not stay His hand.

(4) Stand on Romans 6.11. God’s children need to watch lest in seeking to experience the separation of soul and spirit they fall back into sin. Remember that this separating is built upon their having died to sin. Hence they should maintain daily the attitude of Romans 6.11, considering themselves verily dead to sin. Additionally, they should stand on Romans 6.12 and not permit sin to reign in their mortal bodies. This attitude will deprive their natural life any opportunity to sin through the body.

 (5) Pray and study the Bible. Christians ought to search the Bible with prayer and meditation. They should let God’s Word penetrate thoroughly into their souls so as to enable their natural life to be purified. If they actually do what God says, their soul life shall not be able to continue its free activity. This is the meaning of 1 Peter 1.22: “having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth.”

(6) Daily bear the cross. Because the Lord desires to sever our spirit and soul He arranges crosses in our everyday affairs for us to bear. To take up the cross daily, to deny self at all times, to make no provision for the flesh—not even for a moment, and to be shown constantly by the Holy Spirit what are the activities of the soul in our lives: this is spiritual life. Through faithful obedience we shall be led to encounter the dividing of soul and spirit so that we may experience a pure spiritual walk.

 (7) Live according to the spirit. This is a condition not only for our preservation but also for a distinct cleavage between spirit and soul. We must seek to walk by our spirit in all respects, distinguishing what is of the spirit and what is of the soul and resolving as well to follow the former while rejecting the latter. Learn to recognize the working of the spirit and follow it.

 These are the conditions which we on our side must fulfill. The Holy Spirit requires our cooperation. The Lord will not be able to do His part should we fail to do ours. But were we to discharge our responsibility, our High Priest would tear apart our spirit and soul with the sharp Sword of His Spirit in the power of His cross.

Everything which belongs to emotion, sensation, mind and natural energy would be separated one after another from the spirit so as to leave no trace of fusion.

To lie on the altar is what we must do, but to divide the soul from the spirit with the well-honed knife is what our High Priest undertakes. If we truly commit ourselves to the cross our High Priest shall not fail to execute His ministry in separating our spirit and soul. We need not worry about His part. Upon seeing we have fulfilled the requirements for His working He shall part our spirit and soul at the appropriate time thereafter. Those who have apprehended the danger of a mixture of these two organs cannot but seek deliverance. Open though the road is to deliverance, it nevertheless is not without its difficulties. Believers must persevere in prayer that they may see clearly their own pitiful state and understand the indwelling, working, and demands of the Holy Spirit. They need to know the mystery and reality of the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. May they honor such holy presence; may they be careful not to grieve Him; may they know that, aside from sin, what grieves Him the most as well as what harms themselves the deepest is to walk and labor according to their own life. The first and original sin of man was to seek what is good, wise and intellectual according to his own idea. God’s children today often make the same mistake. They should realize that since they have believed in the Lord and have the Holy Spirit indwelling them, they ought to give the Spirit complete authority over their souls. Do we think because we have prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to reveal His mind and to work in us, that all shall accordingly be done? That assumption is not the truth; for unless we deliver to death specifically and daily our natural life, together with its power, wisdom, self, and sensation and unless we equally desire honestly in our mind and will to obey and rely upon the Holy Spirit, we shall not see Him actually performing the work. The Lord’s people should understand that it is the Word of God which parts their soul and spirit. The Lord Jesus is Himself the living Word of God, so He Himself effects the division. Are we disposed to let His life and accomplished work stand between our soul and spirit? Are we ready to have His life so fill our spirit that the soul life is immobilized? The Bible is God’s written Word. The Lord Jesus uses the teaching of the Bible to separate our soul and spirit. Are we willing to follow the truth? Are we ready to do what the Scriptures teach? Can we obey the Lord in accordance with the teaching of Scripture without putting in our opinion as well? Do we consider the authority of the Bible as sufficient without seeking human help in our obedience? We must obey the Lord and everything He teaches us in His Word if we would desire to enter upon a true spiritual path. This is the Sword which is operative to the cleaving of our soul and spirit. '

'Commit our spirit to God'

'We should fulfill our part with all faithfulness, and commit the rest to our merciful and faithful High Priest. And at the appropriate time He shall lead us into a complete spiritual experience. We need to follow the footsteps of our Lord. As He was dying, Jesus poured out His soul to death (Is. 53.12) but committed His spirit to God (Luke 23.46). We must do now what He did before. If we truly pour out the soul life and commit our spirit to God we too shall know the power of resurrection and shall enjoy a perfect spiritual way in the glory of resurrection. '

The Spiritual Man- Watchman Nee

*******

Isa 53:12  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Luk 23:46  And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. 

*

Truly we must let Christ live in us and in living in us we accept what He did for us- dying for us so we may live eternally.  We must listen to HIS words, the words HE speaks to us. When HE tells us to deny ourselves do we IGNORE Him? When HE tells us to take up our cross, do we IGNORE Him? Do we pretend we don't have to listen to those words, that it doesn't really matter what we do as long as we believe in Him?  Remember this--

Jas_2:19  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

And this--

Act_16:31  And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

1Jn_5:13  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

What about this--

Jas_2:20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Do you see? There is believing and there is believing.  I can believe a person is real, because I see them, know them, etc.  But I don't necessarily have to believe in that person. I don't have to believe in all that the person stands for, their morals, their ways.  We can believe in Jesus Christ, even believe He is the Savior, but if we don't believe in all His truths He gives us then we aren't truly believing in Him to the extent we need to.  We don't want to be like devils who believe, we want to really, truly believe.  When we believe in our Savior then we will listen to Him, not ignore His words because they don't fit in with the life style we wish to indulge in. 

Christ our Savior died for us, He emptied Himself of His divinity to become human and He allowed Himself to die, accepting the path He agreed to take in order to save all who would come to Him. He gave His spirit to God as all who did- do. The breath goes back to God who gave it. When Jesus was in the grave He was sleeping as all who die- sleep. The breath that gave Him life was gone, His spirit essence alive in Him in life was with God. The soul of who He was, was sleeping- the power to choose unable to choose in sleep.  When Jesus rose from the grave He was given back His breath- His life. He was given back His spirit. He was given back His soul. When He woke up from death's sleep He had it all back. He wouldn't have been given it all back without God giving it to Him.  We too need to give our life to God, to surrender, to allow Him to work in us. He gives us our breath and as long as we have our breath then we have our soul and spirit (unless medically incapacitated then the soul's ability to choose is gone).  We need to daily choose Christ, daily choose the cross, daily choose to deny ourselves, daily live as Christ lived - in love with the hope of being in eternity with Him. He came to preach eternity to us, we need to live with daily seeking eternity in Him, longing for that eternity, praying for that eternity, wanting all to possess eternity in Him.

Please Lord, help us give our lives over to You, and receive the Spirit that will give us all we need to be Yours, wholly Yours!

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior now and forever!!!!!!!

AMEN!

Delivered from Temptation.

2Pe 2:9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished

The Lord KNOWS how to deliver us out of temptations.  As we've talked about in-depth, and will continue to talk about- we need to comprehend our day to day life in the service of our Lord and exactly what that means. We need to understand what it means to truly have a spiritual life and not a fleshy, carnal led life.  As Paul said what a wretched man he was- we look to Paul as an example of a Christ follower, a very prominent Christ follower and we can't help but comprehend he was fighting the same spiritual warfare we are. We can surely comprehend our wretchedness. We know all about WANTING to do good and doing it NOT! We know that is seems our flesh serves flesh but our minds serve God and this must NEVER cease- the minds serving God because if we give our minds over to the flesh to serve flesh, then we have no hope. And speaking of hope we know that our true hope for salvation from our sin-filled selves is Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior!  When we feel the weight of our sinfulness and our seeming inability to keep from failing, we MUST cling TIGHTER to our Savior and His righteousness!  We are not to give into temptation as if there is no hope to keep from sinning- we fight! We have armor, and a weapon and we FIGHT! There is absolutely no reason to have any armor or weapons at all if we aren't supposed to use them.  It would be POINTLESS to have our armor on if we didn't need protection. Also, it would be senseless to have a weapon if we aren't supposed to use that weapon.  We are NOT given the Sword of the Spirit of the Word of God just for show.  That sword is not a decorative part of our attire.  The Sword must be used!

The Lord knows HOW to deliver us from temptations, and He will!

Psa 34:15  The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. 

Psa 34:16  The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 

Psa 34:17  The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. 

Psa 34:18  The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. 

Psa 34:19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. 

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 

Do you suffer affliction?

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 

Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 

Pleasures of sin.

Moses had it all as an Egyptian. Any lust he had he could easily indulge. The life many envied, he possessed. Much like our longing to be rich- as great business tycoons, as Hollywood stars, as famous sport athletes, as those who manage to earn exorbitant wealth. Moses had that life, he was the famous star, athlete, professional. People wanted to have his life.

Moses made a choice to give it all up.

Can we even begin to imagine a famous star, a famous singer, any one famous - giving up all their wealth, all their fame?  We'd call them crazy, wouldn't we?

Now, let's take it down to our level- the level of the not famous, the not wealthy, do we have 'pleasures of sin' to forsake?

By FAITH do we choose to give up our sinful pleasures?

Or do we make excuses for keeping them?

1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ

Are you in HEAVINESS through MANIFOLD TEMPTATIONS?  If not, you better ask yourself why you aren't.

Our faith will be tried.

We are engaged in a BATTLE.

If you aren't in a battle then again, you better ask yourself why you aren't.

We've spent a long time twisting sin so that we call it good, and we call good- evil.  If we are caught up in the snare of Satan and are among those who desire to call sin good, and good sin, then we better pray hard for release from that snare.

More tomorrow- by the grace of our LORD!

We are to deny ourselves- sin.

Mat_16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself

When you've thought on this for a while ask yourself a question- What are you to deny?

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

Mar 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 

Mar 10:21  Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Luk 9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 

Luk 9:24  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 

Luk 9:25  For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 

Luk 9:26  For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. 

Luk 9:27  But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God. 

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

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. 

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church

1Th 3:3  That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. 

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 

Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 

1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 

*******

We are to deny ourselves the lusts of the flesh.

Moses chose purposefully to suffer rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin.

Sin is filled with pleasure, and those pleasures are fleeting up against eternity.

Can we live with the cross- the cross which is the way to eternity?

Christ did not come and tell us to follow Him and no more. Christ came preaching the gospel of the kingdom-  eternity in Christ. Christ came to teach us that this life is temporary to eternity. Christ came to give us hope in a world what will offer us no hope. Christ's hope is our only hope. We can desire life here and now to be good to us, to be kind to us, but for the most part that will not happen. We can have moments and a lot of them that are good, but they will not last.

We are told time and again that to live to please ourselves with so many lusts- things perverted by sin,  is wrong.  We tell ourselves that God wants us to enjoy ourselves or we wouldn't have the ability to do so. We forget all about sin damaging us so that the ability to enjoy ourselves has become very warped.

More on this tomorrow….by the grace of God.