An excerpt from "Release of the Spirit - The Breaking of the Outward Man" by Watchman Nee

From Chapter 2 - Before and After Brokenness"

Publisher New Wine Ministries, UK. First British edition 1968.  Copyright.

Copied with permission.

 

Some feel that to have God's presence, their environment must be free of such distractions as the clatter of dishes.  The further away they are from mankind, the better they will be able to sense the presence of God.  What a mistake!  The trouble lies not in the dishes, nor in other people, but in themselves.  God is not going to deliver us from the dishes;  He will deliver us from our responses!  No matter how noisy it is outside, the inside does not respond.  Since the Lord has broken our outward man, we simply react as if we had not heard.  Praise the Lord, we may possess very keen hearing, but due to the work of grace in our lives, we are not at all influenced by the things pressing on our outward man.  We can be before God on such occasions as much as when praying alone.

 

Once the outward man is broken, one no longer needs to retreat Godward, for he is always in the presence of God.  Not so with one whose outward man is still intact.  After running an errand he needs to return, for he assumes he has moved away from God.  Even in doing the work of the Lord, he slips away from the One he serves.  So it seems the best thing for him is not to make any move.  Nevertheless, they that know God do not need to return, for they have never been away.  They enjoy the presence of God when they set aside a day for prayer, and they enjoy the same presence in much the same degree, when they are busily engaged in the menial tasks of life.  Perhaps it is our common experience that in drawing near to God, we sense His presence; while if we are engaged in some activity, in spite of our vigilance, we feel that somehow we have drifted away. 

 

Suppose, for example, we are preaching the gospel or trying to edify people.  After a while we feel like kneeling down to pray.  But we have a sense that we must first retreat into God.  Somehow our conversation with people has led us a little away from God, so in prayer we must first draw closer to Him.  We have lost God's presence, so now we must have it restored to us.  Or we may be occupied with some menial task such as scrubbing the floor.  Upon completing our job, we decide to pray.  Once again we feel we have taken a long trip and must return.  What is the answer? 

 

The breaking of the outward man makes such returns unnecessary.   We sense the presence of God in our conversation as much as in kneeling in prayer.  Performing our menial tasks does not draw us away from God, hence we need not return.   .   .

 

Watchman Nee

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In Christ

Abigail, NZ