Discipline

Two kinds of eating: eating in sowing and eating in harvesting

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“Many of you have testified regarding your enjoyment of the Lord, but all that I have heard pertains to your eating, your enjoyment in sowing. You have not yet reached the level of eating with regard to harvesting. The initial sowing is easy, but the final harvesting is not so easy. After the seeds are sown, whether or not there will be a harvest is still a question. Up until now, your eating of the Lord for enjoyment has been in the initial stage, the sowing stage.

Therefore, I have to make it clear to you, brothers and sisters, that you should not stop at the enjoyment of sowing, but go on to the enjoyment of harvesting. When you sow, you simply bury the seed into the ground. After sowing, you still need to take care of the sprout that it may grow and bear fruit. Only then can you have the enjoyment of the harvest. In our enjoyment of sowing, we receive something of the Lord into us. Whenever we call on the name of the Lord and pray-read His word, we receive a portion of the Lord as a seed into us. Whether this will result in a harvest depends upon our willingness to let the seed grow. If we let it grow, it will surely yield a harvest. Otherwise, nothing will happen.

…Today I want to check with you all. Do you as sowers truly have seeds? Do you as eaters really have bread? Perhaps you have only half a bowl of rice, which is not enough even for yourself. If you cannot feed yourself adequately, how will you be able to take care of others? What is the reason for this? It is because you sow the seed, yet you do not labor to let the seed grow.

We all know that when a farmer labors on a field, he has to remove the stones, eliminate the weeds, water the soil, add fertilizer, and sometimes apply some pesticides. What do you do? You have done very well eating the Lord and pray-reading His word, but you do not remove the stones, nor eliminate the weeds, nor water the soil, nor add fertilizer, nor apply pesticides. In the end you might as well have not sown at all. If you do not sow, your seeds will remain intact, but once you sow, you lose the only seeds you have. There are some people who indeed have a reserve of a small portion of the Lord before pray-reading the Word, but after they gained the Lord through pray-reading and then are disobedient by not laboring, they lose the presence of the Lord. The Lord went farther away from them.

…Let me ask you, brothers and sisters, what do you eat today, manna or the produce of the good land? Some say they eat manna; others say they eat manna as well as the produce. This is true. However, I hope that those who eat manna will gradually stop eating it. Do you know where manna was eaten? It was eaten in the wilderness. Therefore, eating manna is a strong proof that you are a wanderer. Where was the produce of the good land eaten? It was eaten in Canaan! Moreover, the top tenth of the harvest of the land — the firstborn of the herd and of the flock and the firstfruits of the grain — were not to be eaten at home. They had to be brought to the temple and eaten before God. This shows that their wandering had ceased. Do you want to be a Christian who eats manna or a Christian who eats the produce of the good land? Everyone wants to be a Christian who eats the produce of the good land. True, manna is good; but it is not good enough because it is the diet of those who wander about in the wilderness.

…To obtain manna does not require our laboring, but to get the produce of the land of Canaan does. While we are enjoying the Lord and receiving Him into us, He often raises up circumstances and allows many things to happen for our good, so that the seed in us can grow and produce something. For example, a sister, whose husband always makes things difficult for her, prays every day, asking the Lord to cause her husband to love Him as much as she does. However, the more she prays, the less he loves the Lord; the more she calls “O Lord, Amen!” and the more she pray-reads, the more her husband is annoyed…. Let me tell you that all those things that happen are the Lord’s raising up the north wind to blow upon you (S.S. 4:16). Instead of asking the Lord to change your husband, pray that the Lord will grow in you: “O Lord, make me willing to accept Your dealing. O Lord, subdue me from within. O Lord, cause me to submit myself under Your hand and take the breaking.”

…Twenty years ago, when I saw brothers who had good character and proper behavior and who gave good impressions wherever they went, I greatly appreciated them. However, now in retrospect those brothers with good character and proper behavior did not bear any good fruit. On the contrary, some careless and sloppy ones were able to bring people to salvation. The church life, the testimony of the church, is not a matter of behaving well or not behaving well, nor is it a matter of being or not being above reproach. The church life, the testimony of the church, is a matter of eating the Lord as the seed and allowing this seed to grow. Like a farmer, you remove the stones, eliminate the weeds, water the ground, add fertilizer, and apply pesticides so that the Christ in you will gradually grow into a harvest. This is not a matter of being well-behaved or not; it is a matter in a totally different realm. Behaving and not behaving are in the realm of good and evil. What we are speaking about is the realm of Christ. You are full of Christ, and you bring in your topmost portion before God to enjoy with the saints in the meeting. This is our proper meeting today. The emphasis in the meeting is not on singing, praying, praising, speaking in tongues, or functioning; the emphasis is on bringing in the topmost portion of the Christ that you have produced. I bring my portion, and you bring yours. Apart from any forms, we all present our Christ.

…Now we all have learned to eat. We have learned that there are two kinds of eating. One is the eating in sowing, and the other is the eating in harvesting. The eating in sowing cannot constitute our worship; we need the eating in harvesting. When you bring the eating in harvesting, that will constitute the true worship and the genuine church life. The church needs this. We have to look to the Lord and open up to Him that we all may learn to be exercised in the matter of eating.”

(Eating the Lord, chapter four)

Why do we need to pass through afflictions and persecutions?

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We ourselves boast in you among the churches of God concerning your endurance and faith in all your persecutions and the afflictions which you bear,
A plain indication of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which also you suffer. (2 Thes. 1:4-5)

Establishing the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)

“The believers have been called into God’s kingdom and glory (1 Thes. 2:12). To enter into this kingdom, we need to pass through afflictions (Acts 14:22). Hence, the persecutions and afflictions are a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment, showing that we may be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God.”

(2 Thes. 1:5, footnote 2)

Why does God allows us to be afflicted?

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‘Psalm 119:71 says, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” This verse indicates that God raises up circumstances to discipline us so that we may learn the Word. Through suffering and affliction we learn His law. Inwardly we have faculties created by God by which we can understand His Word, and outwardly we have the environment and the circumstances by which we are disciplined. God allows us to be afflicted so that we may learn the Word of God.’

(Life-Study of Exodus, message #57)

The Spirit arranges circumstances for us according to our need

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Date: July 26, 1948

TESTIMONY BY SISTER P. S.
…The Lord wanted me to work in the kitchen, but I felt that I was behind in my spirituality, and I wanted to serve the Lord in a spiritual way like other sisters. In the past I did not like to visit the sisters. But the Lord empowered me, and I have been able to go out to visit others. This has actually brought profit to me. In the past I felt that I was completely useless and that there was nothing in me that I could hand over or offer. Later I felt that I should hand myself over to Him because I belong to Him, whether or not I am useful.

BROTHER NEE’S COMMENT
From your testimony I can see that your spiritual life is a very simple one. If you are willing to hand yourself over to the Lord and commit yourself to His hand, He will take you up. But you have to be stronger than you now are before you can become more useful. One does not necessarily have to be in a spiritual environment before he can be useful to the Lord. The main thing is to accept God’s limitations and the Spirit’s discipline. In pursuing spirituality, we should not overlook the limitations that God has placed upon us. Many people think that the only way they can receive spiritual blessing is through the meetings and through listening to messages. Yet many times the Lord grants us great blessings through the environment He arranges. Many people have the concept that they will know God more as long as they can attend more meetings, listen to more messages, and remain in a certain spiritual environment. Little do they realize that they have more opportunity to know the Lord in a constricted environment. If a man rejects God’s limitations, he will lose his usefulness.

A man becomes useful in God’s hand by accepting the discipline placed upon him in the environment. The Holy Spirit disciplines and perfects man through the environment. A man should not pray just for opportunities to experience direct grace, while refusing the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Limitations in the environment often are great opportunities to receive grace. Working in the kitchen and doing housework for others are both means through which the Spirit disciplines a person. Many people want bright and glorious prospects but are not willing to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. However, one often receives more grace through humbling himself under God’s mighty hand which lies behind the disciplining environment. A young person may find this lesson hard to take. He is full of self in his spiritual pursuit, and it is hard for him to accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit in his environment. But nothing affords us better opportunity in the spiritual pathway than the environment that the Holy Spirit has arranged for us.

As the Holy Spirit operates in us, He must also arrange outward circumstances to match this operation. This is the only way for us to learn. The inward operation is part of the Spirit’s work, and the arrangement in our outward circumstances is also part of the Spirit’s work. We cannot eliminate the element of circumstantial arrangement from our Christian life just because we do not like it. Strictly speaking, a believer does not have many so-called “circumstances”; he only has the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Nothing happens to us by accident when we are under men’s authority. Everything that happens to us is part of the discipline of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit arranges circumstances for us according to our need. The inward working of the Holy Spirit is accomplished only in conjunction with the environment He arranges for us. As the Spirit operates within us, He knows the environment we need, and He arranges the most profitable environment for us. We have no way of knowing ahead of time what kind of environment the Spirit will arrange for us. Therefore, we cannot choose our pathway according to our own will. The Holy Spirit works within us on the one hand and arranges our environment on the other hand. Therefore, a Christian must submit to the inward working of the Holy Spirit as well as to His arrangement in the outward environment.

Our sister has been learning spiritual lessons in the kitchen and at home during the past years. This is the right way. It is better to serve the Lord in the kitchen than to seek for freedom from the kitchen in order to work as a preacher. If God wants us to remain in the kitchen, no place, not even the meetings, can match its excellence. The kind of spiritual training each person needs is different. Some need to suffer loss. Others need to go through sickness, troubles, calamities at home, or other things. All these things are the discipline of the Holy Spirit. We all need God’s limitations, and we all need to be disciplined by the Spirit before we can become useful to the Lord. We should learn to reap profit from all the discipline in the environment. We often try to push away the environment, but we should learn to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. The term environment may not be too good; we should call it God’s limitations or, still better, the Spirit’s discipline. Brothers and sisters, do not learn rebellion; learn obedience. If the time has not come, do not seek to be free from your environment. Some feel that they cannot serve the Lord in a constricted environment. Actually, this is the preparation that God has ordained for their future service.

After we have learned our lesson through discipline, God will first release us inwardly and then change our environment outwardly. If we are not released inwardly, we should not argue with the environment. If we do, we are arguing with God. We have to obey the Lord according to the environment that He has arranged for us. The environment often is a chain provided by the Lord. These sufferings and pressures are meant to train us. We should not complain, murmur, or rebel. Instead, we should accept the discipline that the Lord has measured for us. When God places us in situations where we cannot receive grace in a direct way, we should never struggle, complain, or murmur. Struggling, complaining, and murmuring have destroyed many people. We are like a vessel. When we are placed in a certain environment, we are being molded. Once we complain, the vessel cracks. If we continue to allow such complaints to come out of our mouth, the vessel actually will break and become useless. Brothers and sisters, we have to realize that the benefit we reap from submitting to the discipline of the Holy Spirit is far greater than we can fathom. What a pity that most of us have spent half of our lives fighting our environment. If a man does not have any argument with the Lord everything that comes his way will become a spiritual blessing to him. A person who does not know God’s acts will curse the day of his birth (Job 3:1). But one who knows the Lord’s acts will praise Him for everything that befalls him in his daily life and will reckon it as a God-allotted blessing.

We must learn to make our inner world the same as our outer world. We should be able to thank and praise the Lord for everything that we experience. The Bible says that in everything we should give thanks, because every environment is measured by the Lord for our greatest training. This is the reason we can give thanks in everything. Although we were not able to fellowship with each other for years because of the war, we have to confess that this was a discipline of the Holy Spirit under the Lord’s sovereignty. The Lord’s Spirit worked within us, and He also worked around us. If we have not experienced the former, we should have experienced the latter at least. The one thing that disappoints me the most is that I do not find much progress in the brothers and sisters. If we are willing to learn our lessons and submit ourselves to the disciplining circumstances arranged by the Holy Spirit, we will receive light and abundant life. Otherwise, we will remain poor.

God’s children should realize that the persons, things, and events that are around them are environments arranged by the Holy Spirit for their discipline. Let me repeat: We should not complain, murmur, or rebel under such circumstances. We have to realize that everything God has arranged is for our good. We have to bow our heads, fall in the dust, and worship God, saying, “God, all the environments that You have arranged are for me to experience Your grace.” If we do not stand on God’s side, we will not receive anything, and we will eventually become useless. There are two ways for us to receive grace. First, we can receive it directly from the ministry. Second, we can receive it through the disciplining environment arranged by the Holy Spirit. If we fight against the latter, we will lose our chance of receiving grace. But if we obey, we will find grace.

(Collected Works of Watchman Nee,  Set 3 – Vol. 58: Spiritual Judgment and Examples of Judgment, Chapter 28, Section 1)

In order to make us more valuable, God brings us through many trials and beatings

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“A piece of iron that is worth five dollars will be worth $10 when it is cast into a horseshoe. If it is made into needles, it will be worth $350. If it is made into fine blades, it will be worth $32,000, and if it is made into springs inside watches, it will be worth $250,000. Brothers and sisters, have you seen this? What is the difference between a piece of iron worth $10, $350, $32,000, and $250,000? It is the same material, but after many trials and much beating, it becomes stronger, more pliable, and more valuable. In order to make us more valuable, God brings us through many trials and beatings. In order to become a useful and valuable vessel before the Lord, we must not bemoan the things that God has allowed to come upon us. Instead, we should rejoice and rest. We should say to the Lord, “Father, I thank You, because everything You have allowed to come upon me is good.” If we submit to the will of God, our heart will find rest, and we will be filled with joy. Our mouth will be full of praise, and our burden will no longer be a burden.”

(General Messages, ch. 32)

When we look back, we have to acknowledge that everything the Lord has done is meaningful

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“The cross is not merely a doctrine. It has to be carried out in practice. The cross has to be realized in us; all the things that belong to us have to be destroyed. As we are smitten once, twice, many times, there will come a time when spontaneously we will become sober; we will no longer be arrogant. The way is not through denying our arrogance when our memory reminds us of it. That kind of denial will disappear in five minutes. Only after a man passes through God’s chastisement will his pride be forever stripped. A man may be proud at first, but after he is smitten by God once, twice, many times, he will begin to humble himself, and his arrogance will begin to erode away. No teaching, doctrine, or memorization will destroy the outer man. Only God’s chastisement and the Spirit’s discipline will destroy it. When a person is dealt with by God, spontaneously he will not dare to be proud. He does not have to force himself to remember this lesson. He does not act this way because he has heard a message a few days ago about it. He is not acting according to teaching. His pride has been knocked out, removed. He abhors his own methods and views them like fire; he is afraid of being burned. We live by God’s grace, not by our memory. God has to smite us to the extent that we will be the same whether or not we remember to act that way. Such a work is reliable and lasting. When the Lord finishes such a work in us, we will not only receive grace and be strong in our inner being, but the outer man which was once a hindrance and frustration to the Lord’s word, purpose, and presence will now be broken. Formerly, the outer man and the inner man could not be joined together. Now the outer man prostrates in fear and trembling; it has yielded itself to God and is no longer at odds with the inner man.

Every one of us needs to go through dealings from the Lord. In looking back, we find the Lord dealing with us item by item. He is continually breaking our outer shell and knocking down our outward independence, pride, and selfishness. When we look back at all that has happened in the past, we have to acknowledge that everything the Lord has done is meaningful.

I hope that God’s children would see the significance of the discipline of the Holy Spirit. God wants us to see that we are poor, that we have been going against Him, that we have failed, that we have lived in darkness, walked by ourselves, and been proud and arrogant for a long time. Now we know that the Lord’s hand is on us to break us. Let us put ourselves in His hand unreservedly and unconditionally, praying that this breaking work will be accomplished in us. Brothers and sisters, the outer man must be broken! Do not try to save the outer man from being wrecked while hoping to build up the inner man. As we pay attention to the work of breaking, we will spontaneously witness the work of building.”

(The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit, chapter 6)

What is the basis of our spiritual wealth?

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“Many people have spent much time before God, but they have not passed through many experiences before God. If one wants to become rich, he must spend time before God, and he must pass through many experiences before God. The experiences one has to go through are the discipline of the Holy Spirit.

…Let us not be dismayed by the difficulties we face before God. Every one of these situations adds to our wealth. The fewer problems we have, the less we will have in reserve, and the fewer words we will be able to share with others. No one can have a word without experience. Our wealth in the Word and our service to God’s children are in proportion to the experiences we go through. Our supply comes through the lessons we have learned before God. This is not something that doctrines can give to us; nor is it something that commentaries on the Bible can give to us. It is something we learn when the Holy Spirit leads us in our daily walk.

Therefore, I hope that we will not be slack in our daily experience in learning to follow God. In all the disappointment and disillusionment we face, let us recognize the Lord’s severe dealings with us. Let us bow before Him in gratitude and worship Him, acknowledging that His purpose in all these things is to enrich us and to lead us to abundance.

A certain brother thought that he was quite strong in faith until he fell ill. Then he began to learn the real meaning of faith. If we have never been poor, we do not know how to look to the Lord. If we have never been ill, we do not know faith. If we have never had problems, we do not know true worship. If we are without experiences and have not learned anything, we are poor. Anyone who tries to avoid difficulties is a poor person. Everyone who asks for easy circumstances is poor. If we want progress, we must ask for some situations to pass through. The more we want to learn, the more we must experience. Our hope, our faith, and our submission all come into these different situations to edify us and bring us through. If we have one more situation added outwardly, we will have one more item of spiritual wealth added inwardly. We must realize that every situation we encounter is for teaching us something, no matter how hard it is for our flesh or how much we dislike it. We must bow our head and say, ‘This is a chance, a once-in-a-lifetime chance, a hard-to-come-by opportunity! Lord, I thank You!’

…When you encounter trials, you should lift up your head and praise the Lord, saying, ‘Lord, You are creating another opportunity within me for me to gain some riches. Everything is working together for good. You are going to produce something in me that others do not have so that I can supply the church.’ Brothers, do not be deceived into thinking that you will be able to preach by dint of much study. A man can deliver a message, but he does not necessarily have a rich spirit. A man can improve his preaching and increase the abundance of his words, but this does not make him wealthy in his spirit.

Being full of meaningful utterance and being full of the Spirit are two entirely different matters. God is not treating us wrongly when He gives us more trials and difficulties; He is actually treating us very well. He has selected us and has granted us favor by providing us this big opportunity. We must look for this. If we have the light, we should always consider one matter: How many experiences have we passed through before the Lord? Do we have any reserves?  …The amount of our spiritual wealth is based on the amount of experiences we have passed through.”

(Special Grace and Reserve Grace)