Living in Spirit or Feeling?

Mat_24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Col_2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Luk_8:14  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

Excerpt  The Spiritual Man  - by Watchman Nee

'He wants to eliminate every obstacle to our spiritual walk. He wants us to live in Him, not in our feelings.

Another danger may arise for those who live by sensation rather than by the spirit through the will: they may be deceived by Satan.

This is one matter about which we ought to inform ourselves. Satan is skillful in counterfeiting the feelings which come from God. If with diverse kinds of sensations he attempts to confuse Christians who aspire to walk wholly after the spirit, how much more will he play his tricks on those who desire to follow their feeling. In their pursuit of emotion they fall directly into the hand of Satan, for he delights to supply them with all kinds of feeling which they assume to be from God.

 The evil spirit is able to excite or to depress people.

Once a person is misled into accepting Satan-dispensed feeling, he has yielded ground to Satan in his soul.

 He shall continue to be further deceived until Satan has gained control over nearly all his feeling. Sometimes Satan will even induce him to experience supernatural sensations of shaking, electrifying, freezing, overflowing, floating in the air, fire burning from head to foot and consuming all his uncleanness, etc. When anyone has been beguiled to this extent his whole being comes to thrive on feelings, his will is totally paralyzed, and his intuition is entirely surrounded. He exists altogether in the outer man; his inner man is completely bound. At this stage he follows Satan’s will in almost everything, for the enemy merely needs to supply him with some particular feeling to goad him to do what he wants him to do. The tragedy is that the believer is not aware he is being tricked by Satan; he instead pictures himself as being more spiritual than others since he enjoys such supernatural experiences.

Supernatural phenomena such as those described damage the spiritual life of many a Christian most severely today. Countless numbers of Gods children have fallen into this pit. They consider these supernatural occurrences—which give them a physical feeling of the power of the spirit and render them happy or sad, hot or cold, laughing or crying and which supply them with visions, dreams, voices, fires and even inexpressible wonderful sensations—as most definitely bestowed by the Holy Spirit, and thus represent the highest attainment of a Christian. They are unable to recognize that these are but the works of the evil spirit. They would never dream that the evil spirit as well as the Holy Spirit could perform such work.

 Totally ignorant are they of the fact that the Holy Spirit operates in the spirit of men. Whatever induces feeling to the body proceeds nine out of ten times from the evil spirit.

Why have so many fallen into this snare? Simply because they do not live in the spirit but love to live in their feeling! They accordingly provide the wicked power opportunity to play his tricks. Christians must learn to deny their sensational life or else they shall give ground to the enemy to deceive them. Let us seriously warn every one of God’s children to take note of their bodily feeling. We should never allow any spirit to create any feeling in our body against our will. We should resist each of these outward bodily feelings. We should not believe in any of these physical sensations. Rather than follow them we should forbid them, for they constitute the enemy’s initial deception.

 We ought solely to follow intuition in the depths of our beings.

A careful observation of a Christian s life of feeling can uncover an underlying principle in such a life—which is none other than “for the sake of self.” Why is joyous sensation so sought after? For the sake of self. Why is barrenness so abhorred? Again for self’s sake. Why seek bodily feelings? For self. Why crave supernatural experiences. Also for self. Oh, may the Holy Spirit open our eyes to behold how full of self is a so-called “spiritual” life of feeling! May the Lord show us that when we are filled with joyous emotions our life is still centered on self. It is the love of self-pleasure! The reality or falsity of spiritual life can be gauged by the way we treat self. '

Anticipating God in all aspects of our lives.

'How often we love Him not because of Himself but because of ourselves.

We love, for in loving God we experience a kind of joy in our hearts. This sharply reveals that we do not actually love Him; what we love is only joy, even if that is the joy of God.

This indicates that we esteem God’s gift higher than God the Giver!

It also proves we continue to walk by our soul life and do not appreciate what a true spiritual life is. We deify joyous feeling and incorrectly regard it as pleasurable.

To cure His children of this mistake God withdraws the joyous feeling as He wills and topples them into suffering that they may know that pleasure is in Himself, not in His joy.

 If they verily make God their joy they will uplift Him and love Him even in the hour of suffering; if not, they will sink into darkness.

God, in so undertaking, aims not to destroy our spiritual life but purposes to destroy all idols we worship other than Himself.'

The Spiritual Man- By Watchman Nee

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Have you ever been accused of 'using' someone to get what you want? What about the term- fair weather friend, do you know that saying? Maybe you haven't been accused of using anyone, and that's a great thing. Have you ever had a fair weather friend? Someone who is only your friend when you benefit them? These types of people aren't those we want to call friends. No one wants a friend who is only friendly when they need something you can give them. A person wants a friend in good times and in bad times, because life is filled with both.

People who love the joyous feeling of knowing God have to love God when they are in agony- spiritual, physical, mental agony. Why? Because God isn't a genie in a bottle! God isn't our God because He grants us wishes. God isn't our God because He keeps us from agonies.

He didn't keep His Son from agony.

Luk 22:41  And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 

Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 

Luk 22:43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 

Luk 22:44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 

It isn't wrong to love the joy of God, but as Watchman Nee talks about, it is wrong to have that love of joy rule our relationship with God. If we wake up in the morning anticipating the joy only to find one morning we don't feel that joy we will instantly believe something is wrong. We count on that joy to gauge our relationship with God and that just isn't a reliable gauge at all whatsoever.

We might NOT understand the reasons in-depth as to why God allows us the horrific trials that He does, but we have to have faith and believe that somehow, someway it's for our good.

Rom_8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

That doesn't say… 'And we know that SOME things work together for good…'  It says, ALL things work together for good.

If we worship joy, or any other emotion …if we worship our God based on the our having what people have told us is a 'good life' then we aren't worshipping God at all, but a false god we're glossed over and have convinced ourselves is true.

Please Father in heaven, please we would know YOU in all our circumstances, in all aspects of our lives. Please be REAL to us and teach us to walk in Your ways always!

All through Jesus Christ our LORD, our Savior now and forever!

Are we desiring God or just what we perceive to be God's joy?

Until we look at ourselves LONG and HARD with the will to comprehend the truth as we live in Christ, we don't realize just how caught up in emotions we can be.  Let's read this excerpt from Watchman Nee's - The Spiritual Man

'Let the question be asked instead: is a person actually loving the Lord when he is full of exultation? Or is it that he loves the exultant feeling?

Granted, this joy is given us by God; but is it not God Who also takes it away? If we genuinely loved Him we should fervently love Him in whatever circumstances He may put us.

If our love is present merely when we feel, then perhaps what we love is not God but our feeling.

Moreover, a person may misinterpret such a feeling to be God Himself, not aware that a vast distinction exists between God and the joy of God. Not until the time of barren feeling shall the Holy Spirit show this one that what he so earnestly sought was not God but His joy. He does not really love God; what he loves is the feeling which makes him joyous. The sensation does in truth give him the sense of God’s love and presence, yet he does not love Him for His sake alone but rather does he love because he feels refreshed, bright and buoyant.

 Thus he craves such feeling again whenever it recedes. What brings him pleasure is the joy of God and not God Himself.

Were he actually loving God he would love Him even if he must suffer through “many waters” and “floods” (S. of S. 8.7). '

Son 8:7  Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it…

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We need to be able to discern beyond the feelings. God does still love us when the worst tragedies are occurring in our lives, just as much as He loves us when things are going wonderfully.  The miracles we long for so we don't have to experience heartache, loss, anxieties, fears may not appear but it's not because God is punishing us!  Our love for God has to be built on MORE than just getting a desired response from Him. If our entire relationship with God is based on His being favorable to us when we long for it earnestly with all that we are, then we are not building our relationship on God at all. We are trying to establish a relationship with a genie in a bottle, not a heavenly Father. 

When we are extremely happy we cannot equate this with our love of God or His love for us. When we are extremely sad we cannot equate this with our lack of love for God or His lack of love for us.

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not

Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. 

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 

The Lord will not change, His love for us is the same in all circumstances and we have to believe this. We have to pray for comprehension, for acceptance, for Him to open our hearts to Him fully. If we are prone to the extremes of emotions, we can't let ourselves believe that our relationship with God is dependent upon those emotions. We can't let ourselves believe we are all right with God because we feel happy. Just as we can't let ourselves believe we are not right with God because we feel sad.

Watchman Nee has a lot to say on the subject that a lot of people will not want to hear, but truly He is basing his work on God's word, on God's truth. We have to pray for discernment and submit ourselves to God, for He alone can save us from ourselves.

All through Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, now and forever!

Transformed Not Conformed.

Rom_12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Be NOT conformed.

When you conform to something, what are you doing exactly?

Conform- dictionary definition-

con·form

comply with rules, standards, or laws.

(of a person) behave according to socially acceptable conventions or standards.

be similar in form or type; agree.

From <https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=conform&*>

We are to be NOT conformed to what? The world.  We are not being told to break rules, but maybe in a way we could be told that. If the world's rules are contrary to God's will we surely shouldn't conform to those rules. The same goes for worldly standards and laws, right? If a law were enacted that we must burn our Bibles, should we conform to that law? God doesn't want us to conform to the worldly socially acceptable conventions if they contradict Him and His ways. We are NOT to be similar in form or type, or even agree with the worldly ways because the world is not God's.

I'll say that again.  The world is NOT God's.

Joh_15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Joh_17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

Joh_17:16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Joh_17:18  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

If the world were God's would our Savior say- 'They are NOT of the world, even as I am not of the world.' ?

If the world was under God's rule then being part of the world would be acceptable. The world however is under another's leadership.

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 

Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 

Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 

Satan tells Jesus that he will give Him what?  All the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.

Did Jesus tell Satan that they weren't his to give? No, He did not. The fact that ALL the kingdoms of the world belonged to Satan was not in dispute. So, is it any wonder we should NOT be conformed to the world, the world is under Satan's power.  We can be IN the world and not be OF the world. Just like you can be in a group of people who all love the color red and you love the color yellow. You're still in the group but your preferred color does not conform to the others. You are in but not of, and we must be in and not of this world. If we long to fit in, if this standard is the one we hold up for ourselves then we are purposefully choosing not to follow God's will. 

We will be conformed to this world if we are not being transformed by the renewing of our minds in Christ.

We must be TRANSFORMED not CONFORMED.

By the grace and will of God may this be our choice- to be transformed, to be renewed in our minds towards God's will- not the world's will, not our own will, but God's.

All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, now and forever!!!!!!!

Hate the evil of this world.

Taking a bit from yesterday's little study to expound on a tiny bit. I've been under the weather lately so there hasn't been much expounding.

Talking about spiritual love- 'The one who participates in that kind of love despises the world, considering its things abhorrent and abominable. Henceforth he appears to be unable to see the world because the glory of God has blinded his physical eyes.'

The Spiritual Man- by Watchman Nee

Expounding- 

Rev_2:6  But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Joh_12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Joh_15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Joh_17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

Joh_17:16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Joh_17:18  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

Rom_12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 

Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 

Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 

Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast. 

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 

Eph_6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Php_2:15  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world

Put into words we can FULLY comprehend without misunderstanding we read again-

Talking about spiritual love- 'The one who participates in that kind of love despises the world, considering its things abhorrent and abominable. Henceforth he appears to be unable to see the world because the glory of God has blinded his physical eyes.'

If we PARTICIPATE in the love of God through the SPIRIT- we WILL despise the WORLD. We WILL consider its things ABHORRENT and ABOMINABLE.

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

In the PAST before our love of God through the SPIRIT, we lived according to the course of this world… In the PAST we lived according to the prince of the power of the air…in the PAST we lived according to the spirit the lives in the children of disobedience… in the PAST we had our conversations about our fleshy lusts… in the PAST we fulfilled the desires of our flesh and mind…in the PAST we were by nature the children of wrath.

All that stuff is supposed to be IN THE PAST. We are NO longer supposed to be striving to adapt to the world, to conform to the world, to fit in, to be like this world. The world and all its lusts will TEMPT us to be with it, to belong. We are brought up to NOT to want to be OUTCASTS, and that's what the world considers those who do not want to belong to it and all its temptations.

More on this tomorrow by the GRACE and WILL of our loving, amazing, wondrous Lord and Savior, our God, and the Holy Spirit! 

Soulishly, Not Spiritually Loving God.

'Let us understand that the lordship of God over our affection is an indispensable requirement to spiritual growth. How undisciplined and wild is our affection! If it is not subject to God’s will it shall endanger our spiritual walk at all times. A mistaken thought may be corrected easily, but an errant affection is nearly unmanageable. We should love the Lord with all our heart, permitting Him to direct our love.

Loving the Lord Soulishly

Right here we should sound a note of warning. Never think we ourselves can love the Lord. Whatever comes from us is rejected by Him; even loving Him is unacceptable. On the one hand, the believer’s lack of deep affection towards the Lord grieves Him greatly; on the other hand, one’s loving Him with soul power is not welcomed by God either. Our affection, even when used to love the Lord, must be entirely under the spirit’s management. Too many love the Lord with a worldly love and too few, with God’s pure love.

Nowadays the Lord’s people primarily employ their soulical power to absorb the things of God. They speak about their Father God, call the Lord their most beloved Lord, and contemplate His suffering. By so doing their hearts are filled with joy and they feel they are now loving the Lord. They conclude this feeling is from God. Sometimes while meditating on the Lord’s cross they cannot withhold their tears because they seem to experience such an unspeakable burning affection for the Lord Jesus. These things nonetheless pass through their lives like ships sailing through the sea: no lasting trace is left behind. Such is the love of countless Christians. But what is this kind of love after all? Such love as this is the sort which only serves to make one’s self happy. This is not loving God, it is loving pleasure.

The visualization of the Lord’s suffering seems to have touched his heart, but its inner truth has not affected his life. How powerless is the suffering of the Lord in a believer’s heart when merely mentally or emotionally conceived!

In contemplating His suffering one becomes inflated and proud, viewing himself as loving the Lord far more than do others. He talks as though he is a heavenly man; actually, he has not moved one breath away from his pitiful self. He gives the impression of loving the Lord so much, and for this reason others admire him. Even so, his love is nothing but self-love. He thinks and talks and desires after the Lord only because in so doing he can feel happy. His motive is for deriving pleasure and not for the sake of the Lord. Such meditation secures to himself a comfortable and pleasant stirring, and so he continues to meditate.

All is soulish and earthly, neither of God nor of the spirit. What, therefore, is the distinction between spiritual love and soulish love towards God? These two are not readily distinguishable outwardly, but inwardly every Christian can detect the true source of his love. As the soul is our very self so all which belongs to it cannot draw away from self.

 A soulish affection is one in which self is working. To love God for the sake of personal pleasure is carnal love. If a love is spiritual it has no self mixed in with loving God. It means to love God for His Own sake.

 Any affection which is totally or partially for one’s own pleasure or for reasons other than for God Himself emanates from the soul.

Another way we can distinguish the source of love is through its results. If one’s love is soulical it does not empower him to be delivered permanently from the world. The believer must continue to worry and struggle to break away from the world’s attraction. Not so with spiritual love. Here the things of the world just naturally fade away before it. The one who participates in that kind of love despises the world, considering its things abhorrent and abominable. Henceforth he appears to be unable to see the world because the glory of God has blinded his physical eyes.'  Excerpt 'The Spiritual Man' By Watchman Nee

Joh_15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Joh_17:14  I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Col_2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Col 2:20  Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances

Genuine Love - God's Love.

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 

Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. 

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'God wants us, for love’s sake, to accept His control.

 When He wishes us to love someone, we instantly are able to; should He also desire us to terminate our relationship with someone, we can do that too.

This is the pathway of the cross. Only as we allow it to cut deeply so that we have our soul life delivered to death can we be rid of self in our affections.

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

If we genuinely have undergone death we will not be attached to anyone but will be guided solely by the command of God.

(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.)

Our soul life, as it experiences death, loses its power and becomes as much as dead in the matter of affection.

(Gal_5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.)

God will then direct us how in Him to renew our love for men.

God wants us to create in Him a new relationship with those we formerly loved.

Every natural relationship has been terminated.

New relationships are established through death and resurrection.

How contrary such a course seems to Christians, and yet how blessed it is to those who so experience it!

In order to substantiate, for the believer’s own profit, his consecration to God, God often “strips” him of that which he holds dear.

(Php_3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ)

God endeavors either to secure our love towards Him or to strip us of our love. When He employs the second way He will either cause our loved ones to change their hearts towards us or make it impossible for us to love them by setting up environmental obstacles such as their moving or passing away. If our heart is sincere in consecration, God will deprive us of everything so that He shall be the only One left.

To possess spiritual life in reality we must be willing to forsake all we love.

Whatever conflicts with our love to God, God demands us to forsake.

Spiritual life forbids the dividing of our affection.

(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.)

Any error in our affection—be it an error of intention or purpose or excessiveness—is judged by God to be as wrong as an error in our hatred.

Love and hate, when from ourselves, are equally defiled in the sight of God.

Once the believer has passed through a purifying process he will observe how unalloyed his affection towards men now is: no longer is self mixed in with his love: all is for God and all is in God.

In his former affection he loved others but loved himself more, because he esteemed his own self more important than they. But now he is able to share the sorrow and joy of others, to bear their burdens, and to serve them with affection. No longer does he love what his own self loves, but loves those whom God loves; no more does he count himself above others, but regards them as his own self. He is today in God and loves himself as well as others for God’s sake: he can therefore love others as his very self.' Excerpt - The Spiritual Man- By Watchman Nee (Excerpt)

(Joh_15:17  These things I command you, that ye love one another.)