I have been on a hermitage retreat this weekend at Pacem in Terris. While there, I spent some time reading Watchman Nee's book, The Normal Christian Life. The section I have been reading is largely taken from Romans 6 and 7. Here are some quotes that spoke to me. It may be helpful to keep this verse in mind as we read these quotes.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20.
"Many people think we become holy by extraction of something evil within. No, we become holy by being separated unto God." p. 102ff
"Presenting myself to God implies a recognition that I am altogether his." p. 103
"We cannot expect the Lord to live out his life in us if we do not give him our lives in which to live. Without reservations, without controversy, we must give ourselves to him to do as he pleases." p. 104-5, rf Romans 6:13
"I must first have the sense of God's possession of me before I can have the sense of his presence with me." p. 105
"When once we have made the discovery that we are the dwelling place of God, then a full surrender of ourselves to God must follow." p. 144
"Revelation is the first step to holiness, and consecration is the second." p.144ff
“In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.” Romans 7:4.
"For our every attempt to do his will is a denial of his declaration in the Corss that we are uttlerly powerless to do so. It is a misunderstanding on the one hand of God's demand and on the other hand of the source of supply." p. 168ff
"In the matter of forgiveness we look to Chirst on the Cross; in the matter of deliverance from sin and of doing the will of God we look to Christ in our hearts. For the one we depend on what he has done; for the other we depend on what he will do in us; but in regard to both, our dependence is on him alone. From start to finish, he is the One who does it all." p. 172
“for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.
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