All these are the conditions for being preserved. They are also the clear conditions for the soul and
6. Taking Up the Cross Daily
If the Lord is to divide our soul from our spirit, He must make us bear the cross according to the needs in the environment. If the saints will bear the cross daily, if they will unceasingly seek to experience victory over sin and the self, not giving room to the flesh for a minute, the Holy Spirit of God will quietly divide their soul from their spirit.
7. Walking according to the Spirit
All these are the conditions for being preserved. They are also the clear conditions for the soul and the spirit to be fully separated. The saints should seek to walk according to the spirit in everything. They should distinguish what is from the spirit and what is from the soul and should resolve to follow everything that is from the spirit and reject everything that is from the soul. They should learn to know all the workings of their spirit and follow them accordingly.
These are the conditions that the saints have to fulfill. The Holy Spirit needs our cooperation. If we do not fulfill our part, the Lord will not be able to fulfill His part. If we have done what we should on our part, our High Priest will divide our soul from our spirit through the power of the cross and the sword of the Holy Spirit. Then all the things that belong to the emotion, the feelings, the mind, and the natural strength will be separated from the spirit one by one, and there will be no more mixture. When this happens, the spirit of the saints will be able to ascend to the heavenlies and will be joined to the Lord's Spirit as one in their experience. In this way, the saints will be used by the Lord; they will become channels of life and will bear much fruit. The saints themselves will have a peaceful spiritual life, hidden with Christ in God.
CHAPTER FOUR
FACT, FAITH, AND EXPERIENCE
In the present age of grace, everything is "by grace" (Eph. 2:8). Everything being by grace means that everything is done by God. Man does not have to do anything to be saved because "to the one who works, his wages are not accounted according to grace, but according to what is due" (Rom. 4:4). Because God deals with man according to grace, there are certain facts.
FACT
God has accomplished everything for man. Since everything has been accomplished, certain "facts" exist. And since they are existing "facts," man does not have to accomplish what has already been accomplished. All of God's works are complete.
However, God's grace is a righteous grace. This is why, with the "facts," there is still the need for human cooperation. What kind of cooperation is this? It is not to add anything to what He has finished, but to have man acknowledge that what God has done is real. This is faith.
FAITH
Faith is to acknowledge that what God has said and done is true. Faith is to accept the facts, that is, to acknowledge them as facts.
Faith is a "cashing in." I use the words "cashing in" in the sense of one cashing a check at the bank. Suppose someone gives you a check. That the bank has the money is a fact. For you to cash the check for money is to acknowledge the fact that the bank possesses whatever amount is written on the check. It takes faith to "cash in." With faith, one can cash in and thereby have the money to use. Now, to spend the money is the "experience." To have the money in the bank is the "fact," to cash the check is "faith," and to spend the money is "experience." In God's grace, what He has done for man are facts. But man must still experience these facts.
EXPERIENCE
To experience God's grace is to claim by faith the facts that God has accomplished for man. These facts are accomplished by God. What man needs is faith. The facts belong to God, and the experience belongs to man. Thus, faith is God's facts becoming man's experience. What the Bible shows us is simply "fact, faith, and experience."
SUMMARY
We know that the Lord Jesus is the Word become flesh. He is the consummation of all divine virtues and the grand total of all perfections. His living is God's living, for He is God Himself. Christ has accomplished salvation on the cross. All those who sincerely accept the Lord Jesus as Lord and Savior, at the moment they believe, God accepts them as He accepted the Lord Jesus. At that time, all the divine virtues and accomplishments of the Lord Jesus come upon the believers. In God's view and before God, they are the same as the Lord Jesus. God sees every Christian as He sees Christ. Christians possess all of Christ's work and accomplishments through their union with Him. This is the "fact" that the Christians have been given by God. This fact was accomplished by Christ for the Christians. This fact is that through the believers' union with the Lord Jesus, everything that belongs to Christ now belongs to His believers also. This is a fact that has been accomplished by God alone; the believers themselves have no share whatever in its accomplishment.
The Bible points out this fact very clearly. The writer of the book of Hebrews uses a particularly simple illustration to point out God's accomplished fact for us. In 9:15-17 what the Lord Jesus has accomplished for us is illustrated by a person's making of a will. A will is a promise of "inheritance" to those who receive the will. But before the one who makes the will dies, the will is not effective. Once the person dies, the recipients of the will can receive the inheritance left by the one who made the will. The Lord Jesus is the One who made the will. He has died. Hence, all that He has promised goes immediately under our name. This is the fact that we have received from Him. Although we may not take possession of the inheritance all at once or enjoy the benefit and sustenance from the inheritance, yet the inheritance is indeed ours; it belongs to us and is under our name already. This is an immovable fact. To have the inheritance is one thing; to enjoy the
inheritance is another. The ownership of the inheritance is the "fact," and the enjoyment of the inheritance is the "experience." We have the fact of owning the inheritance, not because of ourselves, but because of the One who has left the will. The possession of the fact comes first. The enjoyment comes afterward.
The teaching of this illustration is very simple. The Lord Jesus has died and has given to us all His righteousnesses, divine virtues, perfections, victories, beauties, and so forth. By these we become the same as He is before God, and God accepts us in the same way that He accepts the Lord. This is what He has given to us. These things are facts from the moment we become Christians. As far as the fact goes, we are already as perfect as the Lord Jesus. But as far as experience goes, we may not be this way. The meaning of this "fact" is none other than the grace that God has given to us and accomplished for us through the Lord Jesus. This grace has been given to us through our union with the Son of God. It is possible for us to have the fact of inheriting the inheritance without having the experience of enjoying the inheritance. There is a big difference between fact and experience. Many believers are very rich in fact because everything that is God's is theirs. However, in experience they are the poorest because they do not practically use and enjoy their riches. The older son in Luke 15 is a good example of this condition. As far as the fact goes, he was the child who was "always with me, and all that is mine is yours" (v. 31). But as far as experience goes, he never had "a goat that I might be merry with my friends" (v. 29). He was the son of a rich man. This was his position, a fact. Yet it was possible for him not to have enjoyed even a goat. This was his condition, his experience.
We should be very clear concerning the distinction between the fact and the experience. These two things are two different aspects. In the first case, it is what God has accomplished for us; it is the position that God has given to us. In the second case, it is what we practice; it is our enjoyment of what God has given to us. At present, believers tend to go to the extreme. Some (actually the majority) do not know the riches they have in the Lord Jesus. They do not know that everything that the Lord Jesus has accomplished is theirs already. They plan and scheme to secure grace. They try to work out all kinds of righteousnesses by their own strength in order to meet God's demand and satisfy the inclination of their new life. Others (not a few) think that they understand God's grace all too well. They think that the Lord Jesus has already exalted them to a matchless position. They are satisfied already and do not seek to put into practice experientially the grace that they have received from the Lord Jesus. Both kinds of people are wrong. Those who pay attention to experience and forget the facts are bound by the law. Those who pay attention to the facts and despise experience take grace as an excuse for indulgence. On the one hand, a Christian should understand through the Scriptures his lofty position in the Lord Jesus. On the other hand, he should examine under God's light whether or not his walk matches the grace of his calling.
God has placed us in a most lofty position. Through our union with the Lord Jesus, all of the Lord's accomplishments and victories are ours. This is our position in fact. The question now is how we can experience all of the Lord Jesus' accomplishments and victories. Between the fact and the experience, that is, before the fact can be turned into experience, before God's accomplishment can be turned into man's practice, there is still the step of faith.
This step of faith is nothing other than the "utilization" or "management" of the inheritance. The Lord has left us a will. He has died, and the will is now in effect. We should no longer hold an
indifferent or unconcerned attitude. Instead we should rise up to "utilize" the inheritance that we have received so that we can enjoy, or experience, the blessing of the inheritance. We are God's children already. All that God has is now ours (1 Cor. 3:21-23). We should not be like the older son who vainly possessed the promises without entering into the enjoyment of them. Due to his foolishness and unbelief, he did not ask nor did he utilize. Hence, he did not have anything. If he would have asked to exercise his right as a son, he would have had not just one goat but thousands upon thousands of them!
What we need now is nothing other than the utilization by faith of what God has promised to us; we should "cash in" by faith what God has prepared for us in the Lord Jesus. For the one who is to inherit a will, there are two things he has to do before he can enjoy and experience the inheritance. First, he has to believe that there is an inheritance. Second, he has to rise wholeheartedly to manage this inheritance. Of course, if one does not believe that there is an inheritance, he will not rise up to manage it. Therefore, we must first acknowledge that God has indeed made the Lord Jesus our "wisdom...righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30), that all of the Lord's accomplishments and victories are our accomplishments and victories. If we do not have this faith, not only can we never expect any spiritual experiences, but we are sinning against God and doubting His work! Second, those in the world manage an inheritance with their physical strength. But for us to manage our spiritual inheritance, we have to use our spiritual strength, which is faith. As this spiritual inheritance is already ours, we must advance one step further by faith to "cash in," to utilize, and to manage our inheritance in the Lord Jesus.
In the Old Testament we see another instance which can adequately show us the relationship between fact, faith, and experience. This is the history of the Israelites entering Canaan. In the old days, God promised the land of Canaan to the Israelites. He mentioned this to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and even to the tens of thousands of people who left Egypt. To God, the land was already given. God promised to fight for them and that they would overcome all their enemies. It was a fact that God had given the land and the peoples of Canaan to the Israelites already. Although the fact was there, they did not yet have the experience. As far as the fact was concerned, the land was theirs already, yet in experience they still did not own an inch of it. This is why they had to "go up at once and possess it," for they were "well able to prevail" (Num. 13:30). However, due to their unbelief, despite the fact that God had given them the land, they were not able to possess it in experience. After one generation, God told Joshua, "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses" (Josh. 1:3). They were to inherit the land that God had given them with the soles of their feet. Later when they went up, they inherited the land.
This shows us the secret of substantiating the perfection of Christ. God has already given us what Christ "is," "has," and "has done"; they are all ours already. Now what we have to do is to experience all that He is, has, and has done. There is no other way to experience all this except to acknowledge that Canaan is good; if we will realize every inch of God's land with the soles of our feet, we will indeed find ourselves inheriting the land that God has given to us. God gives; we believe and receive. This is fact, faith, and experience.
DEFINITIONS
Fact
Facts are God's promises, His redemption, His works, and His free gifts.
Faith
Faith denotes the way man believes in God, trusts in His work and redemption, and claims His promises. It is a kind of working and attitude through which God's facts are transformed into man's experience.
Experience
Experience is the proper living of the believers, which they secure through believing in God. It is the expression of the life of Christ practiced in the believers' living. Experience is the realization of all Christ's accomplishments and victories. It is the practical application, manifestation, and living out of God's facts. The histories of all the saints recorded in the Bible belong to this category.
Not only those who are teachers but all believers should know the interrelationship of these three: fact, faith, and experience. Otherwise, they will be confused in their living and in their teachings. Furthermore, they will find many contradictions and apparent disagreements in their reading of the Bible.
I am afraid that up to this point I have still not presented the scriptural teachings in a clear way. For this reason, I want to present a few great doctrines in the Bible as proofs.
We Christians have believed in the substitutional death of the Lord Jesus and have experienced the effect of His redemption. Redemption is an experience for the sinners; we Christians have already been redeemed. For us, redemption is a past experience. It seems as if we have no need to speak of it anymore. Yet for the sake of illustrating the relationship between these three things— fact, faith, and experience—and in order to show us their continuity and importance, I will first use as an example an experience that we have already had.
REDEMPTION
Redemption is a very great doctrine. It is something that we should understand. The redemption of our Lord Jesus is for the whole world. We have the following verses to prove this point:
The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29).
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16).
He Himself is the propitiation...for those of the whole world (1 John 2:2).
Who gave Himself as a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:6).
The Savior of all men (1 Tim. 4:10).
After reading these verses, we can see that the redemption of Jesus is for the whole world. Hence, it is possible for everyone in the world to be saved. The Lord's redemption is an accomplished fact.
However, the Bible tells us that not everyone in the world is saved. If a man does not understand the teaching concerning "faith," he may think that whether or not a man believes in the Lord's vicarious death, he is saved anyway. It seems to him that since Jesus has died for the whole world, the whole world need not die anymore, and there is no need to be concerned if one believes or not. This may seem very reasonable, but actually it is very unreasonable, for this would absolve sinners of all their responsibilities. If this were the case, there would no longer be the need for believers to preach the gospel.
Although the Bible says that Christ has died for the world, it also says that those who believe will be saved. The following Scriptures testify to this:
That every one who believes... (John 3:15).
He who believes into Him...; he who does not believe... (John 3:18).
Believe on the Lord Jesus (Acts 16:31).
Through the faith of Jesus Christ to all those who believe (Rom. 3:22).
Him who is of the faith of Jesus (Rom. 3:26).
Your sins have been forgiven you because of His name (1 John 2:12).
We can quote many more Scriptures, but the above verses are sufficient to prove that a man has to believe. This means that although Christ has died for the world, the world must still apply His death and reckon it their own death. Otherwise, the death of Christ will have nothing to do with them. Although the Scripture says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," the Bible does not stop here. Following this it says, "That every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life." First Timothy 4:10 says, "The living God, who is the Savior of all men." God sent His Son into the world to die for men. Hence, He is able to be the Savior of all men. He is the "Savior..., especially of those who believe." These are the ones who have believed.
After believing, there must be the experience. If one believes in God's fact, there surely must be the experience of the fact. Please consider the following Scriptures:
He who believes into Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe has been condemned already (John 3:18).
He who...believes...has eternal life (John 5:24).
Every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life (John 3:16).
Justified out of faith (Rom. 5:1).
Hence, when man believes that the salvation God has prepared for him is a fact, and when he applies this salvation, he is saved.
DYING WITH THE LORD
Let us now explain the matter of fact, faith, and experience in relation to our dying with the Lord. It is just as important for believers to know the matter of dying with the Lord as it is for sinners to know the matter of redemption.
Fact: When Christ died on the cross, not only did He die for the sinners, but the sinners died in Him as well. He not only died for sins, but He brought death to the sinners as well. It is a fact in God that the sinners have died with Jesus on the cross. The following Scriptures prove this:
One died for all, therefore all died (2 Cor. 5:14).
Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him (Rom. 6:6).
We who have died to sin (Rom. 6:2).
After seeing these few verses, we can realize that in God's view the believers have been crucified with Christ on the cross already. When a believer is not aware of this fact, he will try to crucify himself day after day and will find that no matter how much he tries, he does not die. Little does he realize that we are dead in Christ already. We should not try to crucify ourselves; rather, we should apply His death by faith and reckon His death as our death. Baptism is the demonstration and acknowledgement of faith. It both demonstrates and acknowledges the fact. Romans 6:3 says, "Baptized into His death." "Baptism into His death" (v. 4) is the demonstration and acknowledgement of our application through faith of this death.
We are dead, we have been crucified with Him, and our death and our crucifixion with Him are facts, yet the Word of God goes on to charge us to "reckon [ourselves] to be dead to sin" (Rom. 6:11). Reckoning is an act of faith. We do not consider ourselves dead, because we cannot consider ourselves dead. We may try to consider ourselves dead day and night, but how can one actually consider himself dead? The more we consider in this way, the more we will realize that we are alive and that we are capable of and even prone to sinning. The only way is for us to "reckon" ourselves dead in Christ. Christ's death is our death. If we have this faith, we will have the experience of dying with the Lord. In the Bible, Paul is a good pattern of a person who had the experience of dying with the Lord. He said, "The cross...through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world" (Gal. 6:14). He also said, "To know...the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death" (Phil. 3:10). Again he said, "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). If a believer is to have the experience—the life experience—of dying with the Lord,
he cannot do so by his own methods. He must take God's way, the way of fact, faith, and experience.
It is a fact that the believers have been crucified with Christ on the cross. Do you believe this fact? Are you willing to accept this fact and to reckon yourselves dead? If you believe, you will have the same experience of dying with the Lord that Paul had.
All of the teachings in the Bible concerning God's way of dealing with man follow the order of three things: fact, faith, and experience. All that God has done is perfect. The way He deals with the world is to accomplish all the works on behalf of the world, so that they will not need to use any human ways, but rather, receive and claim by faith alone. Since God deals with man in grace at present, He does not need any work from man (Rom. 4:4). The same principle applies to crucial doctrines such as "sanctification" and "victory."
SANCTIFICATION
Sanctification is not a work of our own. Sanctification is accomplished for us by God. The Bible says, "That He might sanctify the people through His own blood" (Heb. 13:12). "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified" (10:14). Sanctification is an accomplished fact. Since Jesus has died, we are all sanctified. Nevertheless, 1 Peter 1:16 charges us to be "holy." Why does it charge us in this way? The reason is that though believers are sanctified, this sanctification is merely a fact with God; it is not yet an experience in the believers' lives. In order for one to be sanctified, he has to apply the sanctification accomplished through the death of Jesus, taking this as his sanctification. Only then will he live a sanctified life.
VICTORY OVER THE WORLD
Concerning victory over the world, the same thing applies. First, there is the accomplished work of Christ, which is God's fact. Jesus says, "I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Second, there is our faith, for "the victory which has overcome the world [is] our faith" (1 John 5:4). When a man claims the victory of Christ as his victory, he overcomes the world. This is an experience in life that comes after we have believed. Facts are works of God; faith is our trust in God's works; while experience is the spiritual encounters in our life. Not only does sanctification follow this principle; many other major doctrines concerning God's way with man also follow this principle.
All of God's facts are God's own works; they do not come from man's struggle. God's facts, such as sanctification and victory, cannot be accomplished by the believers' prayer, work, self-denial, holiness, charitable donations, or planning. God's facts are accomplished by God alone. God has entrusted all His enterprises to Christ. Only by faith can we appropriate these facts; there is no other way.
Let us now consider an example to see the great difference between God's fact and man's experience. According to God's fact, the church in Corinth was sanctified in Christ (1 Cor. 1:2). It was the temple of the Holy Spirit (6:19). It had been washed (v. 11). Yet in experience, it was "altogether a defeat" for them, for they wronged and defrauded (vv. 7-8) and sinned against Christ
(8:12). The reason for this is that they did not apply the grace (i.e., the fact) that God had prepared for them. The result was a loss. The high position that we have obtained in fact does not come through our self-effort, diligence, self-buffeting, or pretense. We do not obtain this practical experience by exerting our own effort. In order to experience the reality of the fact that God has prepared for us, all we need to do is exercise our faith to claim what the Lord has accomplished for us and to count it as our own. The perfect and genuine faith is that which daily acknowledges the works (i.e., facts) that the Lord has accomplished. The meaning of claiming is to acknowledge daily all that the Lord has accomplished for us, that is, to acknowledge that all these accomplishments are effective in us. Then, when temptation comes, we will live out these accomplishments as if we have already attained to the position (the fact) that the Lord has placed us in. If we do this, our experience will follow.
A believer who is high in spiritual achievement is not high in himself. Rather, it is his claiming that makes him high. The spiritual experiences of the believers are not isolated matters. This means that there is a basis to these experiences; they do not exist in themselves or evolve around themselves. The experience of the believers' spiritual life is fully based on the facts that God has accomplished for them. The facts are the basis, the experience is the accomplishment, and faith is the process. In other words, the facts are the cause, faith is the way, and experience is the result. The experience of the believers' spiritual life is just the end result, the final achievement. Before there can be any lofty spiritual life in the believers, there first must be the perfect work of the Lord Jesus as its wellspring. It is absolutely impossible for a believer to try to be sanctified, to overcome, or to die by his own effort. Sanctification, victory, death, and so forth do not come from self-effort. They come from: (1) acknowledging our sanctification, victory, and death to the self in the Lord Jesus Christ, and (2) practicing it by believing that one is joined to the Lord Jesus in life and that one will be as sanctified, victorious, and dead to the self as the Lord Jesus is. The Lord Jesus has already encountered every experience that we have and will have. To claim by faith is to reckon as ours all that the Lord Jesus has and to apply through an attitude and a conduct of faith all that we have counted as grace.
Here we must never forget the Holy Spirit. Why does God's fact become man's experience through his faith? It is because of the work of the Holy Spirit. When we believe in God's facts shown in the Bible and when we claim these facts, the Holy Spirit will apply to us all the graces that God has accomplished for us in Christ, making them real to us in our lives. In this way, they become our personal experiences. An acknowledging and claiming faith opens the door for the Holy Spirit to work and to apply in our lives all that the Lord Jesus has accomplished so that we will have the practical experience. The work of the Holy Spirit is based upon the facts of God. The Holy Spirit does not accomplish any fact for us; He only makes the things that have been accomplished real and living in our lives. God has accomplished all the facts in Christ. What we must do is acknowledge and claim these facts, trusting in the Holy Spirit to apply in our lives what God has accomplished so that we will have the spiritual experiences.
CHAPTER FIVE
LIVING BY FAITH
"But the righteous shall have life and live by faith" (Rom. 1:17). This is the normal rule for the believers' living. We are prone to live by the excitement of the visible joys and the
obvious blessings. But the Word of God says that "the righteous shall have life and live by faith." Many believers desire to have the revelation of God; they aspire to noble transformation and "third heaven" experiences. Some may encounter these at times, but the righteous must live by faith. The union in life that Madame Guyon experienced is seldom found in the present age. She said that her experience was such that she found it impossible for her to live apart from His life. She was able to attain to this state only through faith and self-denial.
Many believers are deeply grieved because they do not have a conscious feeling of God's presence. As a result, they cry out to God with their whole being, seeking for God as the deer seeks for a stream of water. Faith is not to touch God's presence. It is not to love Him in excitement or to express oneself in exuberance. The righteous shall live by faith—by faith alone.
Faith is like an anchor; it establishes a person. Faith is real; it is a "substantiating." Faith is also a "conviction of things not seen." Hence, it is touchable.
Those who walk by faith may have outward joy. But this is not what they are looking for; this is not their goal. A feeling of joy is merely the flowers that shine atop the dark green leaves along the path of faith.
Faith can do what nothing else can do. First, it can please God: "But without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to Him" (Heb. 11:6). This is the life of our Lord Jesus, for He said, "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:29).
Second, it bears fruit: "Who through faith overcame kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong in weakness, became mighty in war, routed the armies of foreigners. Women received their dead by resurrection..." (Heb. 11:31-35). However, even though some results are obtained, one must continue to go on steadfastly by faith. He must believe in God and have faith whether in light or in darkness. He must fulfill his duty, moving forward to do whatever is next to do. He should advance in the way of faith even though it is an ordinary path. While he gropes in darkness and walks in darkness, he should live—living and unceasingly working—by faith.
If he would do this, glory will be all around him. However, those who live by faith will not see this glory themselves. Many lessons of faith are very deep and essential. Moses did not realize that his face shone, but the ones who saw this glory were blessed.
Once a missionary returned to her country wearing a very drab dress. When a young lady there saw her dress, she felt sorry for her. The missionary turned and looked at her, but she did not say a word. However, when the young lady saw her face, she was reminded of God. That young lady never forgot that day. She was very bright and intended to study for a certain degree, but eventually, she changed her mind and became a worker of Christ. The Lord is the Victor! She is now saving many in Africa. Although that returning missionary did not see her own face, others saw it, and the Lord worked.
An unchangeable fact is that those who live by faith must look away unto the Lord Jesus. God says that we should look away unto the Lord Jesus as the Author and Perfecter of our faith. If one does this, he will reflect in word, countenance, and attitude the One he looks away to. This life is far beyond description—the righteous shall live by faith.
CHAPTER SIX
HOW TO SEEK AFTER GOD'S WILL
The one question that troubles Christians the most is how to seek after God's will. We know that all works which are done apart from God are vanity and futile labor; they do not count before God. We are not here to do a great work, but to do God's work. Many works are great, wonderful, and beneficial, but they may not be God's work for us. We should not think that whatever is good is of God's will. If our work is apart from the will of God, the Lord whom we serve will not be happy. Although we may be busy from morning till evening, we may not reap much benefit in the spiritual realm nor receive God's praise and reward as a result of this work. We must seek after God's will in each step of our life and work. We should not work senselessly, loosely, and foolishly. Many times, in our studying of the Bible, in our prayer, and even in our preaching of the gospel, we forget to seek after the Lord's will. We may preach to others for some time without realizing why we are preaching. We have not sought after the Lord's will, yet the whole time we continue preaching! This kind of work is of little value in the eyes of God; it is worthless. Hence, it is a great matter to know how to seek after God's will. It is something all Christians must know.
The first step in seeking after God's will is to cast aside our own opinions. Our prejudices often hinder God from revealing His will to us. Once a man has some prejudice, even if God were to show him His will, he probably would not be able to hear it or even be aware of it. Furthermore, even if he were to be aware of God's will, he would probably not do it.
In my own experience, every time I do not understand God's will, it is because I already have my own will. Sometimes my own intention is hidden in the deepest part of my heart. If I do not remove my own self-will, there will be many difficulties in seeking after the Lord's will. As soon as our self-will is removed, God will show us His will.
I cannot overemphasize the fact that self-will must be removed before God's will can be known. This point is most crucial and deserves our full attention.
Our heart is very wicked. Sometimes we seek after God's will superficially, but within we are full of self-will and prejudice. Our one great goal is to please ourselves. Sometimes when we kneel down, we say with our mouth, "Lord, show me Your will. I am willing to obey Your will." But in our heart we are not willing and would not agree. Sometimes we pray with our mouth, "Father, Your will be done. I want only to seek after Your will." Apparently the heart sympathizes with the mouth and is willing to do God's will, but in the deepest part of our heart there is another intent which seeks for our own will. If this is the case, I am afraid that we cannot find God's will. This is a false seeking; it will not find. The promise of "seek and you shall find" is not given to those who are not honest. If
we are not genuine in seeking after God's will, we will not receive the revelation of God's will. We may console ourselves by saying, "I have obtained God's will," but what we have probably obtained is a product of our mind and a counterfeit of His will!
If due to some desire in our heart we have already made up our mind concerning a certain matter, it would be vain for us to seek after the Lord's will. When one already has his own will and his own desire, his prayers will be in vain. Even if he prays and begs every day, it will be of no use. Hence, every time we want to seek after the Lord's will, we must ask ourselves in the Lord if there is self-will or prejudice or any hidden desire in the deepest part of our being. We must seek after the Lord's will with a clean and undefiled heart. Otherwise, what we do will have no effect.
For this reason, when two or more ways are placed before you, and you prefer one over the other, you should ask yourself if you are willing to take the way that you do not prefer, should the Lord so choose. If you are not willing to take the way that you do not prefer, what is the use for you to seek after the Lord's will?
Whenever you come to a crossroads, the best way is to have a heart free of preference. This is to have an unbiased heart, neither preferring one way nor being afraid of another way but considering either way to be the same. Then, whichever way the Lord may point to, you will be able to take that way. If there is no preference in our heart, the Lord can easily show us His will. Inward preferences and our unwillingness to obey are the main hindrances to the Lord's will.
To have no preference in one's heart does not mean that one is passive. To be without preference means that one exercises his own judgment, resolving to do God's will. To be free from preference does not mean that one no longer has "wants" or "don't wants." It means that before one is clear concerning God's will, though the heart may not prefer any way, he is determined to do God's will and is willing to carry it out once he is clear about it. We should not have the choice between "I want" and "I don't want" when it comes to our own will deciding the way we are to take. However, when it comes to deciding between God's will and our will, we must choose between the "I want" and "I don't want," which is, we should "want" to do God's will and should "not want" to do our own will. We should choose God's will and reject our own will. It is not that we do not have a will or a choice. We do, but our will and our choice is to do God's will and take His choice. We are not void of choice. We have our choice. However, we choose to want what God wants.
Simply put, the first step in seeking after the Lord's will is to have no inclination or rejection in our heart toward the ways ahead of us, assuming that we do not know which one is God's will. Yet at the same time, our heart should hold to the attitude that we want to do God's will. We should be willing to submit our will to the Lord's will. The reason that we do not know God's will is because we fail in this one point. The Lord is happy to reveal His will to those who are willing to do His will. For those who are not willing to do God's will, their seeking after His will is false. Hence, it cannot be found by them. Therefore, if there is prejudice in the heart, it is better not even to talk about seeking after God's will. One should first trust in the Lord's power to deal thoroughly with the inclinations in the
heart before he can expect the Lord to reveal His will to him. Otherwise, even if he knows all means and exhausts all means, they will be useless to him.
What we have said so far concerns our side. If we have fulfilled God's requirements, how will He then show us His will? He will show us His will by the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and the environment. When the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and the environment all line up together, we can affirm that such is indeed the will of God.
We should seek after the Lord's will in this way in everything that comes upon us in our daily life. In the many small things in our daily life we act carelessly, according to our own will. It is not until the big things come that we try to seek after the Lord's will, but then He seems to be far away from us. This seems to be the Lord's will, and that also seems to be the Lord's will. Every way seems to be the right way. We may spend a lot of time seeking for the Lord's will without finding it. Therefore, we should seek after the Lord's will in small things as well as big things. If we are in the habit of seeking after the Lord's will in our daily life, it will not be difficult to know His will when special events happen. We should be experienced in seeking after the Lord's will and have a habit of seeking after His will. If we do, then whenever something happens we will know what the will of the Lord is.
Sometimes God does not reveal His will to us immediately. The Father is never wrong. If He sees that it is more profitable to reveal His will to us at a later time, He will do so. At such times we should hold the attitude that as long as we do not know, we will not act. The danger lies in our desire to move. We want to move before we know the Lord's will. The Lord wants us to wait for Him, to move on slowly together with Him, and to take our steps only when we are certain of His will. Unfortunately, we are often hurried by the circumstances; we love to act quickly. As a result, we often move away from the track of the Lord's will. I can say one thing for sure: eight out of ten things done in a hurry are not of the Lord's will. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, we do not see Him do one thing in a hurry. We should learn of Him. We should not act rashly, that is, before we are certain of the Lord's will. We should make up our mind not to initiate anything until we have found out what the will of the Lord is. It is not too slow to walk with the Lord. The quickest way to go on is to go forward on our knees with the Lord. May the Lord give us much strength to be quiet before Him and to wait for and seek after His will. May the Lord deliver us from times when we have to confess before Him the sin of acting too quickly. From this time forth, may we stop our self, leave our self, and solely seek after the Lord's will.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE FREEDOM OF THE CROSS
(Watchman Nee attributed this chapter to an article by Rev. Gordon Watt. However, Watchman Nee's article is quite different from the original article entitled "Liberty Through the Cross" by Rev. Gordon Watt. We have therefore chosen to translate his chapter from the Chinese. Readers interested in the original article by Rev. Watts should consult The
Christian magazine, September 20, 1923, published by Morgan & Scot, London, England, edited by James W. Thirtle.)
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not be entangled with a yoke of slavery again" (Gal. 5:1).
Three words are used in the New Testament to describe the "freedom" for which Christ has set us free:
(1) A word for forgiveness, which refers to God's pardon. (2) A word often translated authority. This word refers to the privilege and authority purchased by the Lord Jesus through His precious blood for our freedom. (3) A word that pictures one who was formerly in prison, but has now been liberated (1 Cor. 7:22).
A bound life cannot deliver another bound life. Many Christians are bound; they cannot follow the Lord freely, and they are subdued by their environment. They fear men and the world. Satan does not wish to see a Christian living the liberated life. Yet all the power of darkness has been defeated by the power of Golgotha. The victory at Golgotha has secured for us our victory. God's Word (the Bible) clearly points out the way that Satan exercises his great power to frustrate God's children from experiencing the freedom they deserve.
THE POWER OF SIN AND OF OUR OLD LIVING
The power of sin and of our old living have been clearly dealt with on the cross. We should have faith concerning this fact. The reckoning in Romans 6:11 describes the attitude of our will concerning a certain matter. It is not a power in our flesh but the power in the Holy Spirit that reckons what God sees as true. We should adopt this attitude towards our old enemy.
SUFFERING
One power is continually used by Satan for his own end: suffering. In reading Romans 8:18, we see that suffering in God's will is often the pathway to light; through suffering one receives life and fruit. Many of God's children are pitiful and poor because they lack God-given trials. But here is a question: do we view all sufferings and adverse conditions to be from the Lord? Many Christians consider that they ought to submit to all adverse circumstances. They do not realize that sufferings sometimes come from the enemy. These include things such as distractions, depressions, numbness, and things that hinder our spiritual progress. As God's children, we should reject all these things. We should not accept anything that oppresses us and should not consider them to be God's will. We should differentiate between God's will and Satan's will. We should know what is from love and what is from sin. We should test all things by the spirit of the cross and by the will of God. We should identify what kind of suffering we are facing in various circumstances by the teaching of the cross. We should accept what is from God and reject what is from Satan.
GOD'S WILL
Romans 8:37 says that we can "more than conquer." This means a victory among victories, the highest form of victory. To conquer means to be on top. We have to ask if the experiences of temptations, circumstances, emotions, frustrations, and depressions belong to our old man or our new man. If they belong to the old man, we have overcome them on the cross already, and they are under our feet. This does not mean that we can avoid the things mentioned above; however, it does mean that we can take control of them. The way to victory is not to develop the old man but to trust in the Holy Spirit for power to resist temptations. God's children are often unaware of the fact that spiritual depressions come from the enemy and not from God! At the needed moment, we must resist through the power of the cross. Every step of the Christian life is a wrestling. Every time that we die to the things that oppress us and hold the devil at bay by obeying the Spirit, we allow the Spirit to take a firmer hold of us, and we shake ourselves further away from the devil's grip.
CRUSHING SATAN
If we obey God's will, He will crush Satan under our feet (Rom. 16:20). The Holy Spirit will guide us to greater fellowship with God and make the victory of Golgotha real to us. The Lord has given us the authority to tread over the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). Victory is a necessary experience of the Christian life. A defeated Christian cannot bear fruit. Depressions, wavering of faith, dullness of the will, darkness in the mind, suppression in the spirit, inability to pray or control the forces that come from outside, and subjection to these forces have not been ordained by God for a Christian. Many believers fail because they do not know or realize the absolute victory that is reserved for them in Christ.
THE MIGHT OF DEATH
The devil is the one who has the might of death (Heb. 2:14). He murders God's children and runs rampant everywhere. Many of God's children die because of weakness. All those who are faithful to Christ are objects of the devil's attack. How should we deal with him? All believers who are joined to the Lord are able to withstand death. Unless it is God's will for a person to die, he should always seek for life through the perfect work of Christ. We are God's children, and we should not accept anything that is not God's will. We should not accept anything from the hand of the devil.
THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL
The Son of God was manifested for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). We should be careful not to take the concept of leaving everything up to fate or leaving the condition of the world and the church today to fate. We should not brush aside our responsibility just because the prophecies are already recorded in the Bible. The Bible predicts that there will be apostasies at the end time. Some Christians think that since the Scriptures have prophesied these things, they do not need to rebuke or warn others of them anymore. Sin has been restricted in this age for the purpose of paving the way for God to reach His goal. Christians are obstacles in Satan's way. We should exercise the power at Golgotha to destroy the works of the devil in the churches, the fields, and the homes. As soon as we detect the work of the devil, we should adopt the attitude that we will not stop until we see the devil's work destroyed.
Any opposing force that runs contrary to God's will can be trampled immediately under our feet because it has been trampled under the Lord's feet already. When we are in the Lord, this force is under our feet also.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE PRAYER THAT OPPOSES SATAN
Scripture Reading: Luke 18:1-8
THE THREE ASPECTS OF PRAYER
There are three aspects to our prayer: (1) concerning ourselves, (2) concerning God to whom we pray, and (3) concerning our enemy Satan. Every genuine prayer must be related to these three aspects. When we pray concerning ourselves, we are, of course, doing it for our own interest; we pray because we have needs, lacks, and expectations. Prayer is for gaining what we seek, yet genuine prayer should not seek after one's own interest alone, but should seek for God's glory and His governmental authority on earth. Of course, when our prayers are answered, the ones who receive the direct benefit are ourselves. However, the fact in the spiritual realm is that not only do the praying ones receive the benefit, but God receives His glory, and His will is done. An answer to prayer is a great glory to God because it shows God's love, power, sincerity, and greatness in accomplishing what His children ask for. An answer to prayer also shows that God's will is being accomplished because He never answers a prayer that is not according to His will.
We are the supplicating ones, and the One being supplicated is God. In a successful prayer, both the supplicants and the One being supplicated gain something. The supplicants get their intentions fulfilled, and the One being supplicated gets His will accomplished. We do not have to say too much concerning this point, for all God's faithful children who are experienced in prayer know the relationship between these two aspects of prayer. What we must now bring to the attention of God's children is that if our prayers take care only of these two aspects of God and man, though they may be effective at times, they are deficient; there is failure even in the success, and the real meaning of prayer has not yet been fully realized. Of course, the spiritual saints realize that prayer is not only for their own benefit but is intimately related to God's glory and God's will, yet this is not enough. We still have to pay attention to the third aspect. When we pray to God, not only should our prayer be related to God, but if we ask something from God, what we ask for and what God promises must be something that will cause some loss to God's enemy. We know that in the universe God is the sovereign Ruler, yet Satan is the ruler of this world (John 14:30); the whole world lies in his hand (1 John 5:19). Hence, we see two diametrically opposed forces competing against one another in this world. Of course, God has the final victory, but before the end of the millennium, Satan will continue to exercise authority in this world and will continue to oppose God's work, God's will, and God's interest. We the children of God belong to God. If we gain something from the hand of God, this means that God's enemy suffers some loss. The measure of the benefit which we who belong to God receive is equal to the measure of God's will that is fulfilled, and the measure of God's will that is fulfilled is equal to the measure of loss which Satan incurs. Since we belong to God, Satan's goal is to shatter us, persecute us, suppress us, and knock us off our feet. This is Satan's goal, but his goal will not necessarily succeed, because we can come to the throne of grace by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus and ask Him for protection and care. If God hears our prayer, Satan's plan will be defeated. For God to hear our prayer means that
Satan's will is thwarted and that he is no longer able to persecute us according to his plan. Hence, the degree to which our prayers are answered is the degree to which Satan incurs loss. Our benefit together with God's glory is inversely proportional to Satan's loss. The increase of one means the loss of the other, and the loss of one means the increase of the other. Hence, in our prayers we should care not only for our benefit and God's glory and will, but should pay attention to the third aspect, which is the enemy, Satan. If a prayer does not take care of or affect all three aspects, this prayer is only superficial; it is worth very little and will accomplish very little.
We need not mention the senseless prayers, for they will have no effect on any of these three aspects. Yet even a sensible prayer by a fleshly Christian is one which addresses only his own interest. Its goal is to secure his own interest through prayer. All he has in mind are his own needs and lacks. If God answers his prayer and fulfills his desires, he is satisfied. He does not consider God's will or God's glory, much less think of Satan's loss. But not all of God's children are fleshly. We thank and praise the Lord that there are many among His children who are spiritual. When they pray, they do not care only for their own interest and then content themselves only with God's answer to their prayer while ignoring everything else. They pay much attention to God's glory and God's will. They ask God to answer their prayer, not for their own gain, but so that God may gain glory in the matter through the answering of their prayer. They do not insist on what they pray, but rather, take care of God's will. This care for God's will does not refer to a concern for God's being willing or unwilling to grant them what they ask for. It refers to their concern that, if God were to answer their prayer, would it run contrary to His work, His government, and the will that is according to His plan. This is not merely a consideration of the thing itself but of its relationship to the principle work of God. Such prayers take care of two aspects: God and man. However, very few Christians take care of the third aspect, which is Satan. The goal of a genuine prayer is not just for one's own interest; sometimes such prayer will even be ignored. One must pay attention to God's glory and Satan's loss, not considering his own gain or loss to be consequential. Such ones consider their prayer most successful if it causes loss to Satan and glory to God. Their concern is to inflict loss upon Satan through their prayer. Their eyes are looking not merely at the present environment but at God's work and will on the whole earth. Of course, this does not mean that they are merely concerned with God and Satan and forget themselves. What it means is that, practically speaking, when God's will is fulfilled and Satan has incurred loss, they will surely reap a benefit. The spiritual condition of a saint can be seen from the aspect of prayer that he emphasizes.
THE PARABLE IN LUKE 18
In the parable in Luke 18, our Lord Jesus points out these three aspects of prayer and their relationship to prayer. In this parable there are three parties: (1) the judge, (2) the widow, and (3) the opponent. The judge represents God, though in a negative sense. The widow represents the present church or individual faithful Christians. The opponent represents our enemy, the devil. In expounding this parable, we often pay attention only to the relationship between the judge and the widow. We see how the judge did not fear God and did not respect man, yet due to the widow's persistent cry, he eventually avenged her. Our God, not being heartless like this judge, will surely avenge us because of our crying! This is all that we say and all that we pay attention to, yet there is one most important figure whom we miss and neglect. Without the opponent, there would be no need for the widow to cry to the judge. It is because of the persecution of the opponent that the widow cries to the judge. If we consider the words which the widow speaks to the
judge, we cannot help but consider the opponent. For the sake of brevity the Bible only records, "Avenge me of my opponent." How much is contained in this word! Does it not include a sorrowful tale? Those who cry out for avenging must have grievances, but where do the grievances come from? Surely they come from the oppression of the opponent, the one being accused. The Bible calls this one the opponent, which shows us the intensity of his hatred toward the widow. The Bible says that the widow asked to be avenged of her opponent. This shows the severity of the persecution suffered by the widow at the hand of the opponent. Hence, the widow was relating to the judge the history and the present threat of the opponent toward her. She asked the judge to punish the opponent and to avenge her for her grievances. Hence, strictly speaking, the opponent is the most crucial figure in this parable. Without him, no damage would have occurred under the judge's rule, and the widow could have lived and worked happily without being disturbed. Without him, there would not have been such a parable; nothing like this would have happened. The one who stirs up the wind and the waves is this opponent. He is the creator of all confusion and persecution. Hence, he deserves the most attention.
The Judge
This judge was the unique ruler in a certain city. He ruled over the entire city. This speaks of God's power and authority. Although the world is ruled temporarily by Satan, yet this position is a rebellious usurpation. When the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, He cast out the prince of this world. In His death He stripped off "the rulers and the authorities" and "made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Col. 2:15). Although the world is now under the hand of the evil one, this is not a legitimate arrangement. God has set the time when He will take back the kingdom and put His Son on the throne for a thousand years, even for eternity. Before this time comes, God is merely allowing Satan's activities; the world still remains under the rule of God. Satan can rule over everything that belongs to him and can also persecute everyone who belongs to God, but this is only temporary. During this temporary period, even Satan is strictly limited by God. He can persecute the saints, but this can be done only within certain limits. Beyond the limit allowed by God, Satan has no authority. We can see this clearly from the story of Job. The judge ruled over the whole city; God rules over the whole world. It was not normal for a person under the judge's rule to be someone's opponent. In the same way, it is abnormal for Satan, under God's rule, to persecute the saints.
The disposition of this judge was that he "did not fear God and did not regard man." What sort of person does not care for either man or God? However, because of the persistent coming of the widow and her cry to be avenged, and because he was bothered and feared her persistence, he avenged her. The Lord Jesus used this judge as a negative representation of God. God is not virtueless like this judge. He is our loving Father, the One who protects us. He desires to give us the best. Also, He is not unrelated to us like the judge was to the widow. If such a judge would avenge the widow because of her unceasing accusing, will not God, who is more virtuous and loving and is intimately related to His children, avenge them because of their constant prayer? If an unvirtuous judge will avenge a person because of her incessant asking, at the least our God will work for His children because of their prayers. The widow secured her avenging by the judge simply by her unceasing crying. She could not have had any hope in the judge himself, for this judge
did not have any virtues. However, our answer to prayer comes not merely because of our unceasing asking, though it is sufficient in itself to gain what we want; our prayer is also based on the goodness of God. This is why the Lord Jesus uses the words "will not God." The words "will not God" imply a comparison. If the widow who trusted only in unceasing asking received what she wanted, will not we, who trust in our unceasing prayer and who pray on the basis of God's goodness, receive what we ask for?
The Widow
This widow was helpless. The word widow shows her isolated situation. The husband on whom she depended for her living was gone, and she had become a widow. This is a good representation of a Christian on earth. Our Lord Jesus has ascended to the heavens. As far as the flesh goes, Christians are helpless and are like widows. The teaching of Matthew 5 tells us of the sufferings that Christians face on earth. They are the weak and have no power to resist anyone; everywhere they go they are taken advantage of and ridiculed by others. Neither the Lord Jesus nor the apostles taught the believers to have great power or high position in the world. Instead, they should be humble, despised, and persecuted everywhere by others. They cannot base their reasoning with others on justice or the law. This is the portion of the Christians; it is the way that the Lord has prepared for them. If the Son of God was crucified without opposing or murmuring, why should His disciples expect to receive better treatment? Hence, this widow is a true representation of the Christians in this age.
The Opponent
The widow had an opponent. We Christians also have our opponent. This opponent is Satan. The meaning of the word Satan is adversary. An adversary is an opponent. First Peter 5:8 says, "Your adversary, the devil." The devil is our adversary. We must clearly identify who our adversary is before we can know how to come to our Judge, God, to accuse him. How the devil became our adversary is a long story. Simply put, this hatred began from the garden of Eden. God said, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15). It is because of the devil's deceiving of the world that God put a hatred in his heart and also a hatred in our heart. We know that the seed of the woman in Genesis refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is forever at enmity with the devil. This is what God has ordained. We who have believed in the Lord Jesus belong to His side. As such, we cannot help but take His adversary as our adversary. At the same time, the enemy of the Lord Jesus, Satan, will not let us go easily, with no opposition. He took the Lord Jesus as his enemy; hence, he has to take the disciples of the Lord Jesus as his enemies as well. Those who have not yet believed in the Lord Jesus are children of the devil (John 8:44), and naturally, he loves those who belong to him. But we have believed in the Lord Jesus and are joined to Him. Because he hates the Lord Jesus, he hates us also.
This hatred grows deeper as the days go by. Satan is strong and forceful, while we are isolated and helpless like the widow. He oppresses us with his power, suppressing us and bringing great havoc upon us. In the end, we are even wrongly accused by him. The word avenge speaks of much suffering which we must endure under him. We have to pay close attention to this point. Even
now, Christians are being wrongly accused by the devil. Unless this wrong is avenged, we will continually suffer loss. What a pity that many children of God are not even aware of their being wronged by Satan!
SATAN AND THE SAINTS
As the opponent persecuted the widow, so the devil now persecutes the believers. We do not know how much we have suffered under him. Of course, Satan does not appear personally when he persecutes us; rather, he does all his works through men or things; he will never expose himself. He pushes the world to the foreground, while behind the scenes he is secretly directing everything. As he worked the first time in the form of a serpent, in the same way, in all of his subsequent work he comes in a disguised form. It is because he hides himself in this way that God's children misjudge the enemy, not realizing that he is their real opponent. He causes the believers to be physically weak or to suffer pain and sickness (Acts 10:38). The believers may think that they have violated some law of hygiene or that they are exhausted, without realizing that it has been the devil's manipulation all the while! Alas, countless numbers of believers have suffered at the hand of the devil in this way. Sometimes he will persecute the believers through the world (Rev. 2:10), attacking them through their immediate family, relatives, or the society. The believers may think that it is man who is hating the Lord, without realizing that it is the devil who is stirring up everything behind the scenes. Sometimes he works through the environment, causing the believers to encounter dangers. Sometimes he spreads misunderstandings among believers, separating the dearest of friends from one another and bringing them to tears. Sometimes he cuts off the supply to the believers, bringing upon them all kinds of deprivation, even starvation. Sometimes he will cause the believers to be depressed, restless, and aimless. Sometimes he causes the believers to become lost and indecisive, losing control of themselves. Sometimes he puts an inexplicable fear within the heart of the believers. Sometimes he exhausts the believers through their affairs and work. Sometimes he takes away the believers' sleep, causing them to be tired physically and mentally. Sometimes he puts unclean thoughts in the believers' minds or injects confused thoughts into their brains, stripping them of any defense. Sometimes he disguises himself in the form of an angel of light, deceiving the believers and leading them into the wrong way. To exhaust his workings is beyond the scope of what we can do here. In conclusion, everything that causes the believers to suffer, whether physically or spiritually, and everything that causes the believers to sin or suffer loss is a wile of the devil. But although many children of God are taken advantage of by Satan, most do not realize that it is the working of Satan. Sometimes they think that what happens is natural and accidental or that it is something done by man. Little do they know that behind many natural phenomena, there exist many supernatural things. Behind many so-called accidents, there is much scheming. Within many dealings from men, we can see the plots of Satan.
IDENTIFYING THE ENEMY
Hence, the most important thing to do now is to clearly identify our enemy. We have to know definitely who our enemy is, who it is that causes us to suffer. Many times, we think that we have been taken advantage of by men. But the Bible tells us that "our wrestling is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies" (Eph. 6:12). Hence, every time we suffer at the hands of men, we have to remember that behind the men of flesh Satan and his dark powers are there directing. We should have the spiritual sight to discern between God's work and Satan's hidden