Adam was created perfect — by which we mean that he was without imperfections because by God — but that he was not yet perfected. — Watchman Nee
God’s ultimate purpose for man was sonship, which is the expression of His life in human beings.
The result of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil in man’s soul is to make it overly developed above his spirit and hence make him depend solely on the faculties of his soul apart from God.
Two things that God is doing in us now:
- God is seeking to bring us in experience to the place where we live by the life of His Son.
- God is doing a direct work on our souls to undo the natural resources that emanated as a result of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (2 Corinthians 4:11)
Our natural energy (gifts, areas of strengths) in doing the work of God is not accepted by God, they must also go through the process of death.
In the matters of handling the things of God, it’s a question not of value, but of origin (where the resource springs from). The question that should be asked is by what power? Is it by the power of the flesh? Or is it by the power of the spirit?
Anything we can do without prayer and without an utter dependence upon God must come from that spring of natural life, and is suspect. — Watchman Nee
Everything we can do apart from Him is nothing.
Light is essential in knowing the mind of God in any matter.
The Bible says that God is Light.
In thy light shall we see light. — Psalm 36:9
There are two lights mentioned in the above scripture. The first Light is God’s light that is shed in our heart, and the second is the knowledge imparted by that light.
Our true knowledge of self comes not by searching ourselves but by God searching us. Psalm 139:23
How do we see light in his light? “The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (psalm 119:130 A.V). When His Word (Light) enters our heart, every darkness disappears and light (self knowledge) ensues. Hebrews 4:12,13
We can gain revelatory knowledge of ourselves too from the light of God that emanates and radiates from God’s yielded vessels, after all Jesus calls us the light of the word (Matthew 5:14).
If we throw ourselves open to God, He will reveal. The trouble comes when we have closed areas, locked and barred places in our hearts, where we think with pride that we are right. — Watchman Nee
More Scriptures: Isa. 6:5; Ezek. 1:28; Dan. 10:8; Luke 22:61, 62; Acts 9:3-5; Rev. 1:17
Christ is our light. He is the living Word, and when we read the Scriptures that life in Him brings revelation. “The life was the light of men” (John 1:4). — Watchman Nee