WEEK 2 — DAY 1
Morning Nourishment
Matt. 16:23 "...He...said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men."
Luke 9:23-24 "And He said to them all, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake, this one shall save it."
The hindrance to seeing the vision of the Body and to practicing the Body life is the self. Yes, we are practicing the church life on the proper ground of the church, but are we built up together? Are we rightly related to one another? Are we fitly framed together? We meet together, but we may not be built up together. We have the meeting, but we do not have the building. We need a vision of the Body, but this vision is at the cost of the self. If we are to be built up in the Body, the self must go. This is why we also need to see...the vision of the self. The self is a problem to the Body. (The Heavenly Vision, pp. 32-33)
Today's Reading
The origin of the self was Satan's injecting his thought into the human mind. Now we need to see that the self is the soul being independent of God. Whenever the soul is not dependent on God but is independent of Him, the soul immediately becomes the self. This means that whenever we do something by ourselves without depending on God, we are in the self. No matter what we are and no matter what we do, as long as we are independent of God, we are in the self.
God created man as a soul to be always dependent on Him. Man is a soul (Gen. 2:7), and as a soul he should depend on God for everything. We may use married life as an illustration of the dependence of the soul on God. A wife should depend on her husband. This is indicated by a bride's wearing a head covering on her wedding day. Her wearing a head covering signifies that she will take her husband as her head and will depend on him. Otherwise, there will be two heads, and this will lead to contradicting, fighting, and even divorce. Just as a wife should depend on her husband, so the soul should depend on God.
However, the soul has become the self. The self is simply the soul declaring independence from God. If we have the vision of the self, we will see what the self is—the soul declaring its independence from God. If we see this vision, we will realize that we can no longer be independent of God. Then we will say, "I must depend on God all the time. Whatever I do, I must depend on God. Whatever I am, I must depend on God."
Because the self is something independent, the self is the greatest problem to the building up of the Body. We should be dependent not only on God but also on the Body, on the brothers and sisters. Whenever we are independent of the brothers and sisters, we are in the self; in the independent soul. For us today, being independent of the Body is equal to being independent of God. This is a matter not of doctrine but of experience. If you check with your experience, you will realize that when you were independent of the brothers and sisters, you had the sense that you were also independent of God. Likewise, when you were isolated from the brothers and sisters, you had the sense that you were also isolated from God.
Seeing the vision of the self has much to do with the Body. Today we are in the Lord's recovery, and the recovery will eventually come to this crucial matter—the building up of the Body. The enemy of the Body is the self. The greatest problem, the greatest frustration and opposition, to the Body is also the self. When we have the self, we do not have the Body. When we have the Body, we do not have the self. In order for the Body to be built up, the self, the independent soul, must be dealt with. The self is the independent "I," the independent "me." When we are independent, we are in the self, the Body is gone, and we do not have peace. (The Heavenly Vision, pp. 43-44, 47)
Further Reading: The Heavenly Vision, chs. 3-4
Morning Nourishment
Matt. 16:23 "...He...said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men."
Luke 9:23-24 "And He said to them all, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake, this one shall save it."
The hindrance to seeing the vision of the Body and to practicing the Body life is the self. Yes, we are practicing the church life on the proper ground of the church, but are we built up together? Are we rightly related to one another? Are we fitly framed together? We meet together, but we may not be built up together. We have the meeting, but we do not have the building. We need a vision of the Body, but this vision is at the cost of the self. If we are to be built up in the Body, the self must go. This is why we also need to see...the vision of the self. The self is a problem to the Body. (The Heavenly Vision, pp. 32-33)
Today's Reading
The origin of the self was Satan's injecting his thought into the human mind. Now we need to see that the self is the soul being independent of God. Whenever the soul is not dependent on God but is independent of Him, the soul immediately becomes the self. This means that whenever we do something by ourselves without depending on God, we are in the self. No matter what we are and no matter what we do, as long as we are independent of God, we are in the self.
God created man as a soul to be always dependent on Him. Man is a soul (Gen. 2:7), and as a soul he should depend on God for everything. We may use married life as an illustration of the dependence of the soul on God. A wife should depend on her husband. This is indicated by a bride's wearing a head covering on her wedding day. Her wearing a head covering signifies that she will take her husband as her head and will depend on him. Otherwise, there will be two heads, and this will lead to contradicting, fighting, and even divorce. Just as a wife should depend on her husband, so the soul should depend on God.
However, the soul has become the self. The self is simply the soul declaring independence from God. If we have the vision of the self, we will see what the self is—the soul declaring its independence from God. If we see this vision, we will realize that we can no longer be independent of God. Then we will say, "I must depend on God all the time. Whatever I do, I must depend on God. Whatever I am, I must depend on God."
Because the self is something independent, the self is the greatest problem to the building up of the Body. We should be dependent not only on God but also on the Body, on the brothers and sisters. Whenever we are independent of the brothers and sisters, we are in the self; in the independent soul. For us today, being independent of the Body is equal to being independent of God. This is a matter not of doctrine but of experience. If you check with your experience, you will realize that when you were independent of the brothers and sisters, you had the sense that you were also independent of God. Likewise, when you were isolated from the brothers and sisters, you had the sense that you were also isolated from God.
Seeing the vision of the self has much to do with the Body. Today we are in the Lord's recovery, and the recovery will eventually come to this crucial matter—the building up of the Body. The enemy of the Body is the self. The greatest problem, the greatest frustration and opposition, to the Body is also the self. When we have the self, we do not have the Body. When we have the Body, we do not have the self. In order for the Body to be built up, the self, the independent soul, must be dealt with. The self is the independent "I," the independent "me." When we are independent, we are in the self, the Body is gone, and we do not have peace. (The Heavenly Vision, pp. 43-44, 47)
Further Reading: The Heavenly Vision, chs. 3-4
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