Present Yourself to God

 Present Yourself to God

January 31, 2025

Yesterday we were considering Watchman Nee’s four steps to living the Normal Christian Life: Knowing, Reckoning, Presenting yourself, and Walking in the Spirit. Today we will explore the  third point, Presenting yourself to God.

Romans 6:12-13

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sinas instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Romans 6:16

16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, eitherof sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

Romans 6:19

19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity andto lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

Romans 12:1- 2

1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is yourspiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Of Watchman Nee’s four steps, this is the easiest one to understand. To Present yourself means just what it says. Give yourself, dedicate yourself, separate your self unto service to God. This is also called consecration, which is the process of becoming Holy. And being consecrated, or being holy, simple means to to separated unto God. So understanding the concept of presenting oneself is not hard, but doing it is an entirely different matter.

Nee emphasizes that the presenting yourself must follow the Knowing and Reckoning so that you know that your old man is dead and you consider your new man alive to God, so that what you are presenting is not your old man, but your new resurrected man. The old man is not capable to serving God, but the new man, by it’s very nature is designed to be used by God for HIs service. The other word used throughout these passages is “bond servant”, which is a servant who is wholly dedicated to lifetime service to his master because he loves him. This is the essence of what it means to present yourself to God for obedience, as a bond servant. As we consider our lives to be dead to sin and alive in Christ, we abide in Him, and acknowledge that our entire being belongs to Him, and we dedicate ourselves to serve Him.

Finally, we realize that we cannot serve the Lord in our own strength, but we have to rely on Him totally for his strength and guidance. The first part of this is abiding in the vine and the later part is walking in the Spirit which we will consider next time. So until then, consider what it means to present yourself to God and serve Him in every way. THis is the way to fulfill the purpose for which you were created.

Reckoning

 Reckoning

January 30, 2025

Yesterday we were considering Watchman Nee’s four steps to living the Normal Christian Life: Knowing, Reckoning, Presenting yourself, and Walking in the Spirit. Today we will explore the second point, Reckoning.

Romans 6:11 (KJV)

11 Likewise reckonye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:10-11 (NASB)

10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to Godin Christ Jesus.

Watchman Nee explains that the Greek word translated “Recon” or “Consider” (g3049. λογίζομαι logizomai) is an accounting term that means to consider as fact, or make a proper accounting of a fact. He says that accounting is the only endeavor in which humans can be perfect. If you have $20 in your pocket and someone gives you a dollar, you now have $21; no more, no less. In the same way he states that when Paul says you should reckon yourself dead to sin, that that is an act of faith in which you acknowledge the fact that you are indeed dead to sin. It’s easier to say than to understand or to do. What he is basically saying is that freedom from sin comes from accepting the truth that your old self died on the cross with Christ, and no accusation from the enemy can cancel that fact. This death is a death to the old nature in ourselves that has a propensity to sin. Becoming alive to God is to come into a new nature, a new life in Christ.

He discusses the implications of this in detail, so I will only be able to provide a summary here. One analogy that he uses to explain the new nature is to state that the nature of wood is to float. If you place it in water, it will naturally float, because it’s nature is to float. That is like our new life in Christ whose nature is to not sin. It is not that it is impossible to sin, but it is not in the new life’s nature to sin. Back to the wood block; it can be forced to sink if you grab It with your hand and force in under water. That is like giving into temptation and giving into sin. It is not in your new nature to sin, but it is possible to force (or allow) yourself to sin.

According to Watchman Nee, the secret of resisting temptation, living according to your new nature, and not giving into sin, is to abide in Christ. Jesus taught on this as recorded in John 15:

John 15:4

4 Abide inMe, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

As the life of the branch comes from receiving sap from the main trunk, so our life comes from being attached and receiving sustenance from Christ. This process starts with “reckoning” where we, by faith, consider that we are in fact dead in Christ, and we then live for Him when we abide in Him, remaining attached to Him and receiving new life continually. 

The Biblical term for this is “sanctification”. This literally means “to become holy” or “to be separated unto God”. Sanctification is often misinterpreted to mean keeping a set of rules in your own strength, but Nee teaches that this is entirely backward. In the world, progress comes from becoming stronger and stronger, but in the Kingdom of God, success in sanctification comes from becoming weaker and weaker. In fact, we can only be truly successful in living the normal Christian life when we reckon ourselves dead to sin. It doesn’t make sense to our rational mind, which is why it takes faith “to Know” and “to Reckon”. 

This is certainly an incomplete explanation, so I urge you to study Romans yourself and also to read “The Normal Christian Life” by Watchman Nee. Once you understand what is taught there,  you will be on your way to living a successful and “normal” Christian life.

Knowing

 Knowing

January 29, 2025

In my last blog, we were taking about the nature of God being evident in nature. But how do you know? How do you know what is real and what the reality of God means for your life? Watchman Née in “The Normal Christian Life” says that knowing is the first step in living the normal Christian life. He lists these four steps as Knowing, Reckoning, Presenting yourself to God and Walking in the Spirit. So how do you “know” ?

Romans 6:5-7

5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

Looking at nature, you can perceive that God exists and you can see some aspects of His nature, but to truly know Him, you need to understand the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Watchman Née says that to truly know this takes a revelation of the Spirit. We can know the historical fact that Jesus died, but until we have the revelation that He died for us, and that indeed our old nature died on the Cross with Him, we cannot “know” the power of His blood to justify us. Justification is one of those complicated Biblical words, but basically it means that the blood of Christ covers over our sins so that God forgives them and can never set hem again. “Knowing” this enables us to enter into the Christian life having cut off all ties to the sins of the past. Baptism is the ceremonial acknowledgement of this fact that shows the world that our old man has died and been buried with Him, and raised in newness of life.

We also recently talked about faith and how it substantiates our hope. “Knowing” what it means for Christ to shed His blood for us, is having faith to make real in our own lives the freedom from sin and the ability to live the Christian life. Now this is just the first step, but a necessary one.  But us look at one more scripture.

Romans 6:8-11

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is neverto die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Here we see that “knowing” the power of Christ’s death empowers us to “live with Him”. “Knowing” this truth enables us to be “alive to God in Christ Jesus”. So let us endeavor to know Him and next time we will talk about “reckoning” and how you can begin to live in the power of His resurrection.

Reality and Simulation

 Reality and Simulation

January 23, 2025

Now this blog entry is going to be something different; going down a rabbit trail, if you will. But hang in there if you want to consider the nature of reality.

If you have spent any time on X you have probably come across some threads that talk about reality being a simulation, like in the Matrix movies. These are posted by some of the same people that write about aliens and exotic technologies. But at the root of their thinking is a misunderstanding of what reality is. They have been taught that the natural world is random; without purpose or without design, and just happened through evolution over billions of years just by random chance. This is not what the Bible says about nature.

Genesis 1:1-3

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

John 1:1-3

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

First of all, Genesis and John tell us that the world was created by the Word of God. This implies a design because there is a designer. Furthermore, when we look at the world, we can see this design in nature. The Apostle Paul says this is clearly seen:

Romans 1:19-22

19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world Hisinvisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

He even goes as far as to say that anyone who claims to not see God’s hand in nature is a fool, though they profess to be wise. Therefore, these conspiracy theorists who proclaim that we are living in a simulation are saying that they have looked at the world and it doesn’t seem to be random. There appears to be an order and purpose to creation that violates their understanding of reality. Paul says that God’s eternal purpose is evident in nature. This goes against all that is currently taught about evolution and the random, purposeless nature of reality. They see this purpose and design, but they do not honor the creator, so Paul says that they are futile in their speculations and that they are fools.

Some have even claimed to have discovered the code that holds the world together. By some laser device they claim to have seen the code that runs in the wall to hold it together. There is indeed a force and a “code” that holds all physical reality together, but the Bible tells us what it is.

Colossians 1:15-17

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and onearth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

So we see that the same Word of God that created the world is Jesus, the incarnation of the invisible God that created all things and holds all things together. Therefore, if you were in fact able to see the “code” that runs to hold your table together, what you would be observing would be the Word of God. Not being willing to acknowledge the God that created the universe, these people postulate all manner of aliens and dark forces that are secretly running the world around us. If they were just to open their eyes and their minds, they would discover that this guiding force it not dark at all, but is light. As Genesis tells us, the very first thing created in the universe was light.

The Apostle John clarifies this in his first epistle:

1 John 1:1-5

The Incarnate Word

1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life,which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

God Is Light

5This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

So when you hear those self proclaimed wise men talking about the fear and darkness in the universe, be assured that the universe was created and is sustained by the God who is light. The only place of darkness is where there is an absence of light. Fear dwells in the shadows but love and joy flourish in the light. Therefore, be encouraged. The world does make sense. There is a plan and a purpose in creation, and there is a plan and a purpose for you. Seek out the God of light and don’t dwell in the darkness like the peddlers of doom and gloom on the internet. They proclaim themselves to be wise, but are fools. But you who seek God are truly wise.

Faith

 Faith

January 22, 2025

Our men’s Bible study has been studying the book of Romans and reading “The Normal Christian Life”, by Watchman Nee. Now there is way too much substance to this study to cover in this blog, but there was one interesting passage that I came across that included Watchman Nee’s commentary on Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV(

1 Nowfaith is the substance ^g5287 of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 (NASB)

1Now faith is the assurance ^g5287 of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

g5287. ὑπόστασις hupostasis ; from 5259 and 2476; a support, substance, steadiness, hence assurance:--

The Greek word translated “substance” in the KJV and “assurance” in the NASB is hupostasis, which literally means “to stand under”, as in a foundation.  Watchman Nee’s comment on this is that “substance” is not a very good translation, but that “substantiating” is better.

He explains this as follows: If you show a red book to a blind man, he has no way of knowing whether the cover is in fact red. He can only take your word for it . But if he is suddenly healed and in now able to see, he can then see for himself that the book is indeed red. He substantiates the fact that the book is red. The color red becomes real to him when he sees it. The book was always red, but the color was not real to the blind man until he could see it. Thus it is that there are things in the spirit world that are true, but are only hoped for until we have the faith to believe them to be true. They were always true, but it is through faith that these truths become substantiated to us.

Wuest Word Studies adds to this understanding by saying that hupostasis was a Greek legal term that referred to the body of documentation that proved that a property was yours. Along with the, the word translated “evidence” or “conviction” is the Greek word for a title deed, which would be included in the hupostasis. This says that faith is the legal proof that we own the thing that we have faith in. So when we believe that we have salvation, justification, sanctification etc., our faith is the title deed for us to own these truths in our own life.

This in only one element of a “Normal Christian LIfe”, so I would recommend that you read the book by Watchman Née and study the book of Romans. There are many aspects of a “Normal Christian Life” that are by no means normal, or common among most Christians today. But learning to have a faith that substantiates our hope is a good place to start to grow into such a Christian walk.

Kindle Afresh the GIft

 Kindle Afresh the Gift

January 14, 2025

2 Timothy 1:6-7

6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given usa spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

I was trying to light the fire this morning in our wood stove, and this verse came to mind. For whatever reason, the fire didn’t want to go this morning. It would flare up in the kindling and then die down, so I had to kindle it afresh and relight it. Sometimes our spiritual lives are like that. Let us look at the list of spiritual gifts in Romans 12 and think about any that we need to kindle afresh.

Romans 12:6-13

6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives,with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devotedto prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

First we are exhorted to “exercise them accordingly”. A gift is only useful when it is used, and it gets stronger when it is exercised. So which of these gifts have you been given, and which need to be rekindled and then exercised? When the fire starts to die down, you have to poke it and stir it up to get it hot again. Consider this my poking of you to stir your gifts up! Sometimes (always!) we need one another to stir us up and rekindle the passion for the things of the Spirit. Paul goes on to say that we need to love one another and to “be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” That’s another thing I observed this morning in lighting the fire. I had some kindling going and added a large log, but it wouldn’t catch fire. But when I added a second log, the heat from one reflected to the other and caused both of them to catch fire. That is what fellowship does for us. A little fire in one will stir up another and soon we are both aflame in fervor to serve the Lord.

Take some time to pray about your spiritual gifts. Do you know which ones you have? Are there others that you can ask for? Do you see a need around you that you could meet if you exercised your spiritual gifts? You shouldn’t have to look too far to find someone that is need of healing, or encouragement. Find someone you can serve or teach and give with liberality. Growing up in the Methodist Church, we were taught to use our time, talents and treasure in the service to the Lord. So consider what gifts you have been given and stir up and kindle afresh your desire to use them to show love to one another.

The Measure of a Man

 The Measure of a Man

January 12, 2025

Proverbs 11:5 (ESV) The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.

Proverbs 12:28 (ESV) In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.

Romans 12:9-21 (ESV) Marks of the True Christian

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another inshowing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Things my father taught me about carpentry: Measure twice and cut once. If you mark the second board from the first, and the third from the second, etc., you will end up with longer and longer boards. So always measure with the same, original standard measuring device.

So it is with the Christian life. If you are going to live a righteous life, from time to time you need to return to the original standard to see how you measure up. That’s the only way to keep your way straight, as the Proverbs say. And the Proverbs continue to say that a straight, righteous life is the way of life. So let us measure our life once, and then twice, to see how straight we are walking.

Paul, in the twelfe chapter of Romans, lays our a concise standard for measure the Christian life. Love, honor, service, prayer, blessing, giving, harmony, peace, these are all measurable standards that you can use to check your walk. If you don’t measure up to these standards, “Straighten up!” As my father used to say. He also taught me how to plow a straight furrow by looking at a marker at the far end of the field. I would tend to look down, and to the left or right, and start to drift off of the straight line, so he would remind me to “straighten up” and keep one distant fence post in view so I could keep on line. That’s what we are doing in Romans 12. We don’t want to naval gaze and keep looking inward, but we want to keep a vision of the perfect in mind so we can head straight in that direction. Therefore, if you don’t quite measure up today, take heart, and keep you eyes on the standard in Romans 12, and begin to straighten up and head directly for the goal. A straight, righteous life will lead to life, and not death, as the write of the Proverb says. So be encouraged. It’s possible to live right if you just keep you eye on the Lord and let His Spirit guide you directly to the goal.