"My World", early this morning...my youngest, and his reading assignment...and our puppy!"
"My World", late this evening... my book, my blog, and my cutest, furry companion...The above things are exactly what my eyes looked upon this morning, and just now tonight. The best writers make you see exactly what they see. When you "get it"....when you see...you should mark the moment and the passage. I'm sure you know how the best parts, the choicest bits of a book, should always be either highlighted or underlined, or both. Preferably both, and only after at least two readings. The first time through, you might have highlighted a sentence or a phrase or whole paragraph. The second reading, or third or fifth, often years later, finds you underlining, annotating, rejoicing in the fact that this truth has, over the years, become part of you. You've come to own it.
I want to share with you the underlined bits from the pages I've read this past week. Far from my first reading of Watchman Nee's "What Shall This Man Do", these underlined portions and phrases and truths have, in verity, worked their way into my heart over a course of years. Watchman Nee wrote it....I own it. Thank God for men of God who paid the price to become the message that they wrote, thus their words carry life, and bring forth life in me!
Finding it well-nigh impossible to read for mere pleasure, my heart is always poised and ready to recognize depth and weight when I plumb and handle and measure the heft of ideas. When I find depth...when I encounter heft....I feel compelled to share. So here you go:
"Head knowlege...may produce the appearance of life when conditions are favorable, but when the gates of hell come out against us, this all too soon discloses to us our true fate."
"The start of a true work of God within us, is not when we consecrate ourselves to Him, but rather when we see. Consecration should result from spiritual vision, it can never take its place."
"Given the right mood, we may accomplish a lot. But just as easily, in adverse conditions, we may put down tools entirely. As the fire will one day prove, work that is dependent on feelings or on the wind of revival is of little use to God."
"Two (wo)men may use the same words, but in the one you meet something you cannot get past; in the other - nothing. The difference is in the (wo)man. You always know when you are in the presence of spiritual worth."
"Once we have recognized the heavenly body, the church, we shall be very glad to have the tiniest part in it."
"There are those who want their contribution to be the highlight of the meeting. They are individualists, even when with others."
"Resolutely refuse schism. It is totally disallowed. The Divine will is that there be no schism in the body."
"The basis of our life is not "good or bad", but the anointing. "Is the Holy Spirit in this thing? Is my heart empty or full as I approach it?" Does the Spirit witness LIFE?"
"It is not merely that a man does certain things, moves in certain gifts, or says certain words, but that he is a certain kind of man. He himself is what he preaches."
"The Spirit gives gifts, but God gives men."
"Some speak, and we are helped. Others say the same words, and we are empty."
"In 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, when Paul comes to speak of his own ministry, he does not emphasize gifts at all. He is clearly much more concerned about the formation of Christ within."
"The natural man may discern between warmth and coldness, good doctrine or bad, but not between life and death..." (meaning: life is only spiritually discerned.) "It is easier to preach when some are present, harder when others are there. Why? It all depends on the pouring in or the draining away of life. Is life present? That is the question everywhere. Every member has a responsibility before God to bring into his house (local church) a ministry of the risen Christ!"
