It is a sweet delight to live in submission. With a joy filled soul — that is absolutely smitten with the positve idea of being made NEW — such a surplus is available to all.  ❤️ We are blessed to know that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Consider the layout of the temple of God in Jerusalem. 

At the most outer court of the temple burnt offerings (Flesh) were made. A thinking, emotion filled priest (Soul) was required to keep the incense and candles in the inner court of the temple  burning.  As people waited, the priest would emerge to pronounce a blessing. The most Holy Place, (Spirit) is the center of the temple of God. It is located in the most inner court where the Holy of holies abides. Tradition is that annually, the High Priest went in to be in the Holy presence of God.

The angel Gabriel stands in the Presence of God. He acts as God’s messenger. Gabriel must have gleamed with the glory of God, and even though the elderly priest Zachariah knew and taught the promises of God, when Gabriel announced that he would have a son, Zach said “How could this be? That’s hard to believe!”  The angel Gabriel took Zach’s speech away, so when he emerged from the inner temple, Zach was unable to speak the expected blessing. The people watching and waiting believed that Zachariah had a vision of something of great significance, a sign. Yes,  John was great in the sight of the Lord, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit before birth.  “In patience you shall win your souls.” Luke 21:19 – Luke Who?

“May CHRIST dwell in your hearts through FAITH. I pray that you, being rooted and established in LOVE, may have power, together with all the LORD’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the LOVE of CHRIST, and to KNOW this LOVE that SURPASSES KNOWLEDGE —that you may be FILLED to the measure of all the FULLNESS of God.” Eph 3:17

Over time, we surrender all. “You have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth.” 1 Peter 1:22. Watchman Nee teaches that our thinking soul – the outer man – must be broken, be mastered, and be renewed for the spirits use. “The end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:9. We must agree with the Spirit of our Lord. “My soul, be thou silent unto God.” Psalm 62:5

Watchman Nee wrote this teaching in 1928. “There is a difference between a life of suppression and a life of service. Living a life in Christ, as Jesus did, was NOT living in suppression, but in full divine expression. Before the Father, Jesus lived submitted, and fully subjected to a life of service.

The soul of man, has been seduced, led captive, darkened and poisoned by self-interest. We do not seek to wipe out the soul, to empty the mind or destroy it. Our human nature, includes our body, soul/mind and spirit. If we attempt to suppress our thinking soul, it will take revenge. Jesus lived His life in perfect peace. It was His sweet delight to live in submission to the Father and serve. A pervasive soul thought in this world is that service is a sort of slavery or bondage. Like during the feminist movement, our thoughts became our beliefs, then our beliefs got defensively self-righteous.

Being Spirit led, not being soul led, is a life of great freedom. The soul needs to be smitten with the positive idea of being made new with a surplus. It is not the old nature striving to get mastery of a new nature. A soul that is thrashed by the truth breaks under the steady blow of God’s Word. “Draw near to Me and hear this: From the beginning, I did not speak in secret; From the time anything existed, I was there. “And now the Lord God has sent me, endowed with His spirit.” Isaiah 40:16

Three questions about the preface of Releasing the Spirit.  1) What was the authors major purpose in writing this book? 2) How does Satan work? 3) What is imperative if we are going to express the life of the Lord Jesus? ANSWERS: 1) God’s intent for man’s spirit was to be His dwelling place. 2) Satan messes with our mind in order to confuse us and cause doubt in God. 3) It is necessary to arrest the soul in order for the Spirit of God to flow. Reasoning “that does not make sense.” Thinking “that is utterly impossible.” Such faithless reasoning puts God in a box.  The Holy Spirit is limited if the mind thinks it knows best. A rose just grows when watered and kept free of aphid 🐛 bugs.

Jesus, said “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34 Broken, tormented people hurt others. If we’ve ever said “I forgive you but….”, our forgiveness is not complete because a thought lingers “but I’ll never forget!” Our BUT usually means there is a condition to our forgiveness. Our Jesus forgives, and He forgets all, as far is the East from the West.  When Jesus asked the Father to forgive those who crucified Him, His request was without any conditions: Jesus asked, “Father, FORGIVE them.” Becoming more like Jesus requires us to drop the BUT which wipes away all bitterness. Forgive them, and bless them, because most likely, they have been hurt and deceived by the devil to lash out in pain. Let us all practice surrendering our ways, and adopt His way of forgiving without a condition. His Way is to turn the other cheek, out of deep compassion for the one who lashes out in their pain and brokenness. His Way works.

Father, help us be more and more unrestricted in giving mercy. We seek freedom in Your Spirit to escape the prison of our ways so that the LIFE and LIGHT of Christ leaks out. We choose not to lean on our understanding as we submit to You. In our past, we relied on our clever ways and esteemed ourselves. We desire to walk in the Spirit and attract others to the sweet fragrance of Your Presence. We give the Spirit permission to point out each time we murmur, boast, display pride, or complain. You are the Potter, and we are the clay in Your hands. We do not want to prolong the breaking of our pride or our ways. We gladly yield, and we submit to Your will. Split open our human hard hearted, stubborn soulful ways so that the Spirit pours through us. Our position “in Christ” has nothing to do with our efforts. Jesus said “It is finished” on the Cross.

Chapter one questions: 1) How is it that our soul is out of harmony with our inward spirit? 2) How does the Bible divide man into two parts,  to illustrate our three parts by clothing? 3) What is the basic failure of believers seeking to serve God? 4) Who is this grain of wheat? 5) The Allabaster box confirms breaking how? Read: Mark 24:3; John 12:24; RM 7:22; Eph 3:16; 2 Cor 6:17.  “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I long, yes, I faint with LONGING to enter the COURTS of the LORD. With my WHOLE BEING, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.  What JOY for those who can live in Your house, singing YOUR praises.” Ps 84

Truth: No human MIND can adequately estimate the infinite VALUE of the DIVINE sacrifice, that the atonement covers for all of God’s people. With our individual humble consent, our most grievous sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus. Immeasurably greater is the Spirit who dwells within us!  He longs to reveal even more NEW astounding pearls of wisdom. Our soul alone is unable to fully comprehend without submitting what we think we know to the Spirit.

Gratitude turns whatever is — into enough! LAUGHTER erupts after the people in the world realize that the Spirit of God is greater than the Deceiver.  God allows deserved consequences to overwhelm us to the point of breaking our way of thinking.  When we’ve had enough grim results, we confess our foolish ways, and our wonderful Counselor — shines through faithfully! “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup OVERFLOWS. Surely YOUR GOODNESS and LOVE will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:5 Rejoice Always!

Viewing trials as a JOY is to enter into the Spirit’s way of thinking. “Count it all JOY when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” James 1:2 👍 In the midst of our brokenness, GOD is working through the adversity so that we can encounter HIM more fully, more deeply. “Oh the depth of the RICHES of the WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE of GOD! How unsearchable (in the soul’s reasoning) are HIS judgments, and HIS WAY beyond our tracing out.” Romans 11:33