Chapter 3 of Part 10 of our Textbook: The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee
Picture yourself striving to survive in a harsh wilderness. As the sweltering heat continually assaults your skin and heavy perspiration drenches everything but your parched tongue, you note with growing unease your environment’s complete lack of water. Also, as you feebly wander through the steep hills, jagged rocks, and vicious wildlife, fear begins to rise as you notice how incredibly scarce edible plants and animals are. As your dehydrated mouth pleads for water and your empty stomach desperately growls for sustenance, you come to the grim realization that you are completely inadequate to survive on your own. In utter brokenness, destitution, and frailty, you humbly agree with God that your life is truly in His hands and will only be sustained by solely relying on His continuous providence.
This was the same situation the Israelites found themselves in when wandering for forty years through the brutal wilderness. The people were completely incapable of sustaining themselves because their own strength and supplies were woefully inadequate. Furthermore, their environment’s extremely scarce resources made it equally incapable of keeping them alive. Because all natural means of survival completely failed them, the Israelites had no choice but to fully trust God to be the source of their strength and life.
As discussed in our last class, the Lord intends for us to wholly rely on His life to strengthen our mortal physical bodies. Through conforming to Christ’s death, abiding in Him, and habitually intaking His Word, our union with Christ so thoroughly becomes our experience that we trust His life over our own strength to sustain us. By doing this, the Holy Spirit’s power is then free to flow from our spirit, next to our soul (if also submitted wholly to Him), and then through our body. In many cases, this deep level of faith, surrender, and dependence results in God not only sustaining our bodies but also healing them. However, the Apostle Paul’s life reveals that the latter is not always God’s will.
Despite his immensely rich faith in Jesus, fervent dedication to Him, and abundance of spiritual fruit, the Apostle was not excluded from suffering physical weakness in his body. In fact, 2 Corinthians 10:10 reveals that his bodily weakness was visibly pronounced and called out by his detractors in Corinth, “For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”” Furthermore, Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7-8 reveals that he received an agonizing physical weakness in his body, “7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.” Paul reveals in the next two verses that despite his desperate, repeated pleas for deliverance, the Lord did not grant his request.
Why would God, who has the power to do so, refuse to heal the weak body of an incredibly faithful, fully surrendered, and abundantly fruitful believer? Paul answers this in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “9 But [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
As seen here, God allows our bodies to endure weakness, illness, and disabilities because these circumstances further His plan to strengthen us in three ways. First, they expose the frailty and inadequacy of our own bodily strength, revealing our need to receive Jesus’ power for serving Him. Next, the disruptive nature of bodily impediments forces us to not just receive, but also fully depend on Christ’s power. Finally, their noticeable presence brings Christ glory by clearly revealing to others that His power, not our own strength, is working in and through us. These three points are demonstrated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” Here, Paul acknowledged his need for God’s power, depended on it for preaching, and noted said preaching could only be through God’s power.
Concerning Paul’s weakness and Christ’s strength, Watchman Nee provides the following commentary: “He was very weak in body, but did he remain long therein? No, for he informs us that the power of Christ rested upon him and made him strong. We notice a “law of contrast” here. Neither the thorn nor the weakness which came from the thorn had left Paul; yet the power of Christ inundated his frail body and gave him strength to meet every need. The power of Christ was in contrast to the weakness of Paul. This power did not [remove the thorn] nor did it eliminate weakness, but it abided in Paul to handle whatever situation with which his weakened frame could not cope. It may be likened to a wick which though kindled with fire is not consumed because it is saturated with oil. The wick is as flimsy as ever, but the oil supplies everything the fire requires of it. Thus do we apprehend the principle that God’s life is to be our bodily enablement. His life does not transform the nature of our weak and mortal body; it merely fills it with all its necessary supplies” (709-710).
It is crucial to note that like many of God’s blessings, we can forfeit Christ’s life being the strength of our bodies. This happens when we preserve any part of our self-life rather than reckoning every aspect of it crucified with Christ on the Cross (Gal. 2:20). This even includes attempting to serve God or survive solely on our own physical strength. Watchman Nee explains why self prevents Christ’s life from strengthening the believer’s body: “our own life must be denied totally before [the life] of the Lord Jesus will be manifested in our bodies. This unfolds to us the intricate relationship between a spiritual selfless walk and a sound healthy body. The power of God is used exclusively for Him. When God exhibits His life in our bodies He does so for the sake of His Own work. He never dispenses to us His life and strength that we may consume it selfishly. He does not give His energy to our bodies that we may waste it; nor does He do so to accomplish our purpose. How then will He ever bestow this power upon us if we do not live entirely for Him? Right there do we locate the reason for many unanswered prayers. Believers too often covet health and vitality solely in order to enjoy themselves. They seek God’s strength for their bodies that they may dwell more comfortably, joyfully, conveniently. They want to be able to move freely without any impediment. That is why up to this very moment they are still weak. God will not furnish us His life for us to wield independently. For would we not live even more for ourselves, and would not the will of God incur even greater loss? God is waiting today for His children to come to their end that He may grant them what they are seeking” (712).
This is why the strength of Christ’s life being imparted to our physical bodies is preceded by submitting to His death, that being the life of self-denial Christ lived and calls us to in Luke 9:23-24, “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”” It is when we live by faith in the Son of God, reckon our self-life co-crucified with Him, and accept His death that our weakened bodies can be strengthened with His life. 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 perfectly explains this, “7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” Thus, although God does not promise to take away all bodily weakness, sicknesses, and disabilities, He does promise that Christ’s life will strengthen our bodies to accomplish His will when we surrender to His death.
Among the greatest challenges for the believer is to cease relying on our own strength and instead rely on Christ’s to sustain our bodies. Fortunately, Nee discusses three ways to do this: desiring our glorified bodies, living moment-by-moment from God’s strength, and distrusting our physical strength.
Concerning the first point, Scripture makes clear that God desires us to have glorified physical bodies after this life. Philippians 3:20-21 say the following on the matter, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” Also, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 say, “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
According to Nee, God desires that we would long for this glorified body. He permits the sufferings of our current bodies so that, in anticipation of our new ones, we would transfer our trust from our naturally possessed power to Christ’s life that will perfectly strengthen our glorified bodies. While our current bodies have yet to experience this transformation, His life is within us and is available to sustain our current bodies (713).
Next, it is God’s design that we would live moment-by-moment seeking His strength. Jesus gives us a clear illustration of this in John 15:1-11, using the example of a vine and its branches. In verses 4-5, He says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” The moment a branch becomes disconnected from its vine, it loses its life; there is no reservoir of life in it that can later bare fruit. Likewise, God does not give our bodies large quantities of strength so that we can come and go from our dependence on Him as we like. Rather, God’s life will not strengthen our bodies unless we purpose in constant faith to abide in the life of His Son. Christ did not say He is the gasoline station and we are the car that just fills up here and there and then travels as it pleases on its own. Rather, He is the vine and we are the branches, where our survival unendingly depends on the constant, moment-by-moment drawing from His life to sustain our bodies.
This continual dependence was foreshadowed by the way the Israelites depended on God to survive in the wilderness. Having no means to sustain themselves, their lives totally depended on God’s provision, which was the manna He miraculously gave them (explained in Exodus 16). God did not permit them to store large quantities of manna for multiple days, for doing so would cause it to rot and become useless. Rather, He required them to gather it each morning (except for the Sabbath) so they would depend on and trust in Him for their food daily. Furthermore, seeking other food in their self-centered lusts broke their trust with God, which disrupted their dependence and resulted in His judgment. Thus, as Israel learned to continually trust God for their sustenance, so must we die to our self-driven lusts and rely solely and completely on Christ’s life to strengthen our mortal bodies.
Nee explains this constant dependence as follows: “Perhaps some may think that to have the Lord Jesus as life to our body means God miraculously grants us a large measure of bodily power that we may never again suffer or be sick. But this was evidently not the experience of the Apostle [Paul], for does he not definitely declare that “we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh”? Paul’s flesh was frequently weakened, but the strength of the Lord Jesus continuously flowed into him. He lived momentarily by the life of the Lord. To accept Him as life for our body requires constant trust. In ourselves we cannot meet any situation at any time; but by trusting continually in the Lord we receive moment by moment all the necessary strength… We are not to deem ourselves safe and secure because of our own inherent strength; we must instead commit ourselves to the life of the Lord for every breath. In this alone is safety, for He alone ever lives. We do not possess any reserve power which enables us to move as we wish; each time we need strength we must draw from the Lord. A moment’s drawing is good for that moment’s living; there is no possibility of holding a little in reserve. This is a life completely united with, and exclusively dependent upon, the Lord.” (713-714).
Finally, to receive this strength of Christ’s life, we must no longer place any trust in the strength of our own body. Especially for those of us who are healthy and strong, this can be an immensely difficult task because bodily health appears to negate the need for God’s strength. However, as we noted in our previous class, the human body, no matter how strong, is incapable of sustaining both the demands common to all people plus the spiritual demands of sanctification, service, and spiritual warfare. Furthermore, Scripture both commands us to trust in God’s strength and proclaims the importance of doing so:
As Watchman Nee states, depending on God’s strength means completely distrusting our own. As the flesh is no help to the Holy Spirit and actively opposes Him, so is our natural strength incapable of working with God’s. The only solution to break free from depending on the former is by adopting an attitude of helplessness before the Lord (715). Again, we must become like the branch in John 15:4-5, surrendering to the truth that we are incapable of doing anything for God apart from Christ’s life. Unless our will is attuned to God’s, our mind is renewed to be like Christ’s, our feet are guided by the light of His Word for our steps (Psa. 119:105), and our strength is wholly supplied by the Lord, our self-life will remain alive and force us to rely on our own bodily strength. This is because, as Nee states, the moment we step outside of God’s will, the Lord’s life will not yield its strength to our bodies for the self-centered tasks we set out to do (716). Thus, Christ’s life must not only be continually received for every moment, but also must be received by faith in Him and total distrust in our own bodily strength.
Throughout our studies in this course, we have discussed in detail how every part of our being must be wholly surrendered to God for us to grow spiritually. This lifelong journey is summarized below:
Once our spirit, soul, and body are all in total surrender to Christ, His life is free to flow to our body and be its strength in every moment. Once this occurs, we are free to receive from God the deepest blessings of the abundant life Christ promised us in John 10:10. Nee describes many of these blessings here, which are listed and briefly described below:
Although Christ offers us His life to be the life of our physical body, He does not promise immunity from all weakness, ailments, and disabilities. Such was Paul’s experience, who, while being denied his request by God to have his thorn in the flesh removed, nevertheless glorified Him. As a result, Paul received the strength necessary to serve Him despite his weakness. Furthermore, the reception of Christ’s life in our body is not a one-time ordeal. As the Israelites learned, God demands our constant reliance. For the saints today, bodily strength is to be received through living like a branch constantly depending on the Vine for survival. Finally, when our spirit, soul, and body are fully surrendered to Christ and we experience through His Spirit His co-crucifixion with our entire self-life, we receive far more than strength for our body. We additionally receive an unwavering trust in God’s plan, total reliance on Him in all circumstances, a burning desire to bring Him glory over benefitting ourselves, and an intimate union with Him where He is truly first in our lives and is desired far more than His blessings, healing, and providence. As we increasingly depend on Christ’s life for our sustenance, all things of this world will become an unbearable wilderness to us as He Himself becomes all that matters and sustains us.
Reference:
Nee, Watchman. The Spiritual Man. New York, Christian Fellowship Publishers, 1968.