Nee Quotes & Sayings

Natural strength is what we receive from the hand of God as Creator. Spiritual strength is what we receive from God in grace. — Watchman Nee

The author nicely encapsulates Paul's overarching intent in his letter to Corinth, to impress upon those in the church infatuated with the gifts of the Spirit a greater awestruck awareness of His presence in and among them. The author then illustrates thusly: if we have but a few coins, we may carry them lightly with little concern as to whether we lose them. But if we are aware that we carry a great sum, we will carry it with great care. How much more the Treasure of the Holy Spirit within the earthen vessel of our bodies? — Watchman Nee

All spiritual prayers have their source in God. God makes known to us what we ought to pray by unfolding to us the need and by giving that need as a burden in our intuitive spirit. Only an intuitive burden can constitute our call to pray. — Watchman Nee

Every true spiritual experience means that we have discovered a certain fact in Christ and have entered into that. Anything that is not from Him in this way is an experience that is going to evaporate very soon. — Watchman Nee

It is so easy to become more attached to the gifts of God than to the Giver - and even, I should add, to the work of God than to God Himself. — Watchman Nee

Good is not always God's will, but God's will is always good. — Watchman Nee

God has supplied all my needs and has not failed me once. — Watchman Nee

An unpeaceful mind cannot operate normally. — Watchman Nee

By the time the average Christian gets his temperature up to normal, everybody thinks he has a fever! — Watchman Nee

God does not blame me for being an individual, but for my individualism. His greatest problem is not the outward divisions and denominations that divide His church, but our own individualistic hearts. — Watchman Nee

On at least four separate occasions and recorded in the four Gospels the Lord Jesus called His disciples to deny their soul life, deliver it to death, and then to follow Him. — Watchman Nee

How dangerous a master human emotion is! — Watchman Nee

When I write, all those that we don't know we can be write themselves from me, without exclusion, without prediction, and everything that we will be calls us to the tireless, intoxicating, tender-costly-search for love. We will never lack ourselves. — Helene Cixous

The cares of this life emerge as very small items indeed along our daily path. — Watchman Nee

Ja-nee, there had been some good times at the academy over Scrabble boards. Of course, the long evenings had always ended in recriminations when one or other recruit insisted that 'pzxtrri' was a word, and the others had told him to prove it, and he'd said Fine, give me a dictionary, and they'd said You know we don't have a dictionary, and he'd said Then shut your face, and they'd said Make me, and he'd gone for his service pistol. But before the inevitable arrival of the dog unit with the pepper spray, there had been some real friendships made. — Tom Eaton

Not until we take the place of a servant can He take His place as Lord. — Watchman Nee

If we verily bear the cross we shall be neither controlled nor influenced by soulical affection but shall be fit to love in the power of the Holy Spirit. Even so did the Lord Jesus love His family while on earth. — Watchman Nee

Only those who are spiritual perceive the reality of the spiritual foe and hence engage in battle. Such warfare is not fought with arms of the flesh. Because the conflict is spiritual so must the weapons. — Watchman Nee

The soul seeks to retain its authority and move independently, while the spirit strives to possess and master everything for the maintenance of God's authority. — Watchman Nee

Every true work is not done to the poor. Every true work is done to Me. — Watchman Nee

The Christian life from start to finish is based upon this principle of utter dependence upon the Lord Jesus. — Watchman Nee

And it is through conflict that God induces the believer to seek and to grasp total triumph in Christ. — Watchman Nee

A characteristic of the flesh is its fickleness: it alternates between Yes and No and vice versa. But the will of God is: "Walk not according to the flesh (not even for a moment) but according to the Spirit." — Watchman Nee

God asks for men who are totally broken and who will follow Him even to death to work for Him ... — Watchman Nee

God will answer all our questions in one way and one way only. Namely, by showing us more of his Son. — Watchman Nee

Prayer is work. The experiences of many children of God demonstrate that it accomplishes far more than does any other form of work. It is also warfare, for it is one of the weapons in fighting the enemy. However, only prayer in the spirit is genuinely effectual. — Watchman Nee

Several days after Mary broke the alabaster box and poured the ointment on Jesus' head, there were some women who went early in the morning to anoint the body of the Lord. Did they do it? Did they succeed in their purpose on that first day of the week? No, there was only one soul who succeeded in anointing the Lord, and it was Mary, who anointed Him beforehand. The others never did it, for He had risen. Now I suggest that in just such a way the matter of time may be important to us also, and that the whole question for us is: what am I doing to the Lord today? — Watchman Nee

Were our spirits hardy we would be able to meet the most disturbing situation with peace and rest. — Watchman Nee

It is because we know God's will that we may say to Him: God, we want You to do this thing, we are determined that You do it, You cannot but do it. — Watchman Nee

Do we not realize that the basic condition for a spiritual walk is to fear our self and its wisdom and to rely absolutely upon the Spirit? — Watchman Nee

Learn to recognize God's sovereignty. Learn to rejoice in God's pleasure. This was Abraham's first lesson, namely that God, not himself, was the Source. — Watchman Nee

We should not open our mouths too hastily upon approaching God. On the contrary, we first must ask God to show us what and how to pray before we make our request known to Him. Have we not consumed a great deal of time in the past asking for what we wanted? Why not now ask for what God wants? — Watchman Nee

Frequently what we say is rest is merely laziness. Our body requires respite and so does our mind and spirit. But a person should never rest because of a laziness which arises from the evil nature in his emotion. How often laziness and emotional distaste for work join to employ physical fatigue as a cover-up. — Watchman Nee

The more spiritual a child of God becomes, the more conscious he is of the significance of walking according to the spirit and the dangers of walking according to the flesh. — Watchman Nee

But I begin to fancy you don't like me. How strange! I thought, though everybody hated and despised each other, they could not avoid loving me. (Catherine Linton, nee Earnshaw) — Emily Bronte

Oh, Lord, you have indeed been gracious to me. — Watchman Nee

Whenever man touches God's delegated authority he touches God within that person; sinning against delegated authority is sinning against God. — Watchman Nee

Everyone knows that a place exists which is not economically or politically indebted to all the vileness and compromise. That is not obliged to reproduce the system. That is writing. If there is a somewhere else that can escape the infernal repetition, it lies in that direction, where it writes itself, where it dreams, where it invents new worlds. — Helene Cixous

God's ways with us are all designed to establish in us this other principle, namely, that our work for Him springs out of our ministering to Him. I do not mean that we are going to do nothing; but the first thing for us must be the Lord Himself, not His work. — Watchman Nee

Numerous Christians do not know how to glorify God in their eating and drinking. They do not eat and drink simply to keep their body fit for the Lord's use but indulge to satisfy their personal desires. We should understand that the body is for the Lord and not for ourselves; hence we should refrain from using it for our pleasure. Food ought not hinder our fellowship with God since it is to be taken purely to preserve the body in health. — Watchman Nee

The first and foremost sign of new birth in anyone is that he knows God intuitively, for his spirit has been quickened. — Watchman Nee

Any action which lacks in obedience is a fall, and any act of disobedience is rebellion. — Watchman Nee

The note of hallelujah must never be in short supply in the spirit of the believer. — Watchman Nee

It was a while before my mind was quiet enough for reading. The conversation with Shevraeth I was determined not to think about. What was the use? It was over, and it was clear it wasn't going to be repeated.
Recalling the name he'd mentioned, Lady Trishe
one of the names Bran had spoken earlier that morning
I realized it was Shevraeth they were planning to go riding with. She wouldn't enjoy this ride was what Nee had said, meaning that I wouldn't enjoy it because Shevraeth would be along. What it probably also meant, I realized glumly, was that they wouldn't enjoy having me along if I glared at Shevraeth and started squabbling. — Sherwood Smith

The life of faith is not only totally different from, but also diametrically opposite to, a life of feeling. — Watchman Nee

Not by gain our life is measured, But by what we've lost 'Tis scored; 'Tis not how much wine is drunken But how much has been outpoured. For the strength of love never standeth In the sacrifice we bear; He who has the greatest suffering Ever has the most to share. — Watchman Nee

Today, even amongst Christians, there can be found much of that spirit that wants to give as little as possible to the Lord, and yet to get as much as possible from Him. The prevailing thought today is of being used, as though that were the one thing that mattered. That my little rubber band should be stretched to the very limit seems all important. But this is not the Lord's mind. The Lord wants us to be used, yes; but what He is after is that we pour all we have, ourselves, to Him, and if that be all, that is enough. — Watchman Nee

Never adopt an attitude of indifference, for if you do you will suffer for it. The weight will grow heavier and heavier. — Watchman Nee

[Jesus] said, "Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill. ... For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matt. 9:10-13). Jesus opened up God's heart to men. — Watchman Nee

A heartbreaking paradox: if only I can finish my work so that it will live. Yet if it is finished, completed, a part of me but departed from me, I lost it alive, living but separate; and if it does not leave me, it is incomplete, insufficient, and half-dead that I keep it. — Helene Cixous

Since this life is God's and cannot die, it follows that everyone born anew into possessing this life is said to have eternal life. — Watchman Nee

Only as they cease to seek anything by themselves and only as they take the position of the teachable shall they be taught by the Spirit truth which they are able to digest. — Watchman Nee

The fruit of the Spirit is ... self-control — Watchman Nee

Outside Christ, I am empty; in Christ, I am full. — Watchman Nee

An affection which is not inspired by the Lord will soon be transformed into lust. Samson is not alone in the history of man in failing in this regard. Delilah is still cutting the hair of man today! — Watchman Nee

The electric bulb cannot give light without electricity. Likewise, you cannot change yourself if today you are cut off from Christ. If there be any change or difference in you, it is not because you yourself have changed, for all is in Christ. Such is the way of God's salvation.[2] — Watchman Nee

To keep our hand on the plow while wiping away our tears
THAT is Christianity! — Watchman Nee

Let us recognize this one thing: burden is the secret of prayer. If a person does not feel within him burden to pray for a particular matter he can hardly succeed in prayer. In a prayer meeting some brothers and sisters may mention a great many subjects for prayer. But if you are not touched inwardly, you cannot pray. — Watchman Nee

But to return to your question, Vidanric's tendency to keep his own counsel ought to be reassuring as far as people hopping out with embarrassing words are concerned. If I were you
and I know it's so much easier to give advice than to follow it
I'd sit down with him, when no one else is at hand, and talk it out."
Just the thought of seeking him out for a private talk made me shudder. "I'd rather walk down the mountain in shoes full of snails."
It was Nee's turn to shudder. "Life! I'd rather do almost anything than that
— Sherwood Smith

Why do so many Christians pray such tiny prayers when their God is so big? — Watchman Nee

Fellowship means among other things that we are ready to receive of Christ from others. Other believers minister Christ to me, and I am ready to receive. — Watchman Nee

Nowadays Christians appear to treat prayer as a means to accomplish their aims and ideas. If they possessed just a little deeper understanding, they would recognize that prayer is but man uttering to God what is God's will. — Watchman Nee

God aims first to renew man's darkened spirit by imparting life to it, because it is this spirit which God originally designed to receive His life and to commune with Him. God's intent after that is to work out from the spirit to permeate man's soul and body. — Watchman Nee

If you have not experienced the death of self, your spiritual life will have little real progress. — Watchman Nee

Christ is the Son of God. He died to atone for men's sin, and after three days rose again. This is the most important fact in the universe. I die believing in Christ. — Watchman Nee

Now the things done may not be evil or improper; they in fact may be good and godly (such as reading the Bible, praying, worshiping, preaching); but if they are not undertaken in a spirit of complete reliance upon the Holy Spirit, then the flesh is the source of all. The old creation is willing to do anything-even to submit to God - if only it is permitted to live and to be active. — Watchman Nee

Henceforth we are dead to everything pertaining to ourselves and alive to His Spirit alone. This requires our exercising faith. — Watchman Nee

We may be weak, but looking at our weakness will never make us strong. — Watchman Nee

That which they have need of ... let it be given them day by day without fail. Ezra 6:9 If we really trust God, we shall expect to bear unaided the spiritual burden both of our own needs and of those of the work. We must not secretly hope for support from some human source. Our faith is not to be in God plus man but in God alone. If brethren show their love, thank God; but if they do not, let us thank Him still. For God's servant to have one eye on Him and one eye on other men is a shameful thing, unworthy of any Christian. To profess trust in God yet to turn to the brethren for supplies is to bring only disgrace on His name. Our living by faith must be transparently real and never deteriorate into a living charity. Yes, in all material things we dare to be utterly independent of men, because we dare to believe utterly in God. We have cast away all other hope, because we have unbounded hope in Him. — Watchman Nee

To walk after the spirit a believer must inhibit his mind from revolving endlessly. If it turns too long around one topic, worries or grieves too much over matters, and ponders too intensively to know God's will, it may become unbearable and hamper its normal operation. The mind needs to be kept in a steady and secure state. — Watchman Nee

It is a great thing when I discover I am no longer my own but His. If the ten shillings in my pocket belong to me, then I have full authority over them. But if they belong to another who has committed them to me in trust, then I cannot buy what I please with them, and I dare not lose them. Real Christian life begins with knowing this. — Watchman Nee

Negligence in prayer withers the inner man. Nothing can be a substitute for it, not even Christian work. Many are so preoccupied with work that they allow little time for prayer. Hence they cannot cast out demons. Prayer enables us first inwardly to overcome the enemy and then outwardly to deal with him. — Watchman Nee

Now is the hour we should humbly prostrate ourselves before God, willing to be convicted afresh of our sins by the Holy Spirit. — Watchman Nee

Attempting to follow Him without denying the self is the root of all failures. — Watchman Nee

If Christ lives in us, we will rejoice in everything, and we will thank and praise the Lord. We will say, 'Hallelujah! Praise the Lord' forever. — Watchman Nee

Prayer does not alter that which God has determined; it never changes anything. It merely achieves what He has already foreordained. — Watchman Nee

Voice-cry. Agony
the spoken "word" exploded, blown to bits by suffering and anger, demolishing discourse: this is how she has always been heard before, ever since the time when masculine society began to push her offstage, expulsing her, plundering her. Ever since Medea, ever since Electra. — Helene Cixous

The book of Acts is the best aid in approaching our work. We do not find there anyone consecrating himself as a preacher nor anyone deciding to do the Lord's work by making himself a missionary or a pastor. What we do see is the Holy Spirit Himself appointing and sending men out to do the work. — Watchman Nee

Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the ordinance of God: and they that withstand shall receive to themselves judgment. — Watchman Nee

Faith in Christ makes one a regenerated believer; obedience to the Holy Spirit makes him a spiritual believer. — Watchman Nee

Just as the right relationship with Christ generates a Christian, so the proper relationship with the Holy Spirit breeds a spiritual man. — Watchman Nee

Now, Ani." Whitney was doing that thing I hate, pronouncing my name "Annie" instead of "Ah-nee." "Luke says the wedding is in Nantucket. Why there?" Because of the privilege inherent in the location, Whitney. Because Nantucket transcends all classes, all areas of the country. Go to South Dakota and tell some sad smug housewife you grew up on the Main Line, and she doesn't know she's supposed to be impressed. Tell her you summer on Nantucket - be sure to verb it like that - and she knows who the fuck she's dealing with. That's why, Whitney. — Jessica Knoll

God not only wants to break the outer man ... He wants our spirit and our soul ... our inner man and outer man to be separated from each other. — Watchman Nee

If any person desires to think, he must possess memory, imagination and reasoning power; but the Christian has presently lost these powers, hence is unable to think. — Watchman Nee

Our prayers lay the track down which Gods power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails. — Watchman Nee

The particular sin of omission which gives ground to the evil spirits is the believer's passivity. — Watchman Nee

I need forgiveness for my sins, but I need also deliverance from the power of sin ... I appreciate the blessed fact of God's forgiveness, but I want something more than that: I want deliverance. I need forgiveness for what I have done, but I need also deliverance from what I am. — Watchman Nee

The reason for so many defeats in the spiritual realm is because this sector of the soul has not been dealt with drastically. — Watchman Nee

We may infer from any defeat of ours that it is due either to lack of faith or failure to obey. No other reason can suffice. — Watchman Nee

Many Christians are unaware how drastically the cross must work so that ultimately their natural power for living may be denied. — Watchman Nee

I don't know what my pathetic life is going to look like now, but I nee you to help me survive. — Jody Hedlund

Separation to God, separation from the world, is the first principle of Christian living. — Watchman Nee

I want nothing for myself; I want everything for the Lord. — Watchman Nee

You need eyes that tell the dog who watches them what you are feeling toward it, even though the message may be hidden from the outside world. Above all, you nee telepathy so that the dog thinks with you. These things are not always born in people. They can be developed as any sense or gift can be developed. That is, providing the person wishes to develop them is honest in mind, because with animals you cannot cheat ... — Barbara Woodhouse

None who are shod with fleshly shoes can stand on the holy ground of God's service. Many failures and much waste and confusion which have resulted are due to men's coming to work, instead of being sent out to work. — Watchman Nee

Therefore, brethren, pray until God gives us revelation so that "knowing this" in our spirit we may truly confess "that our old man has been crucified with him." — Watchman Nee

It is not a matter of how many loaves we have in our hands, but whether or not God has blessed them. — Watchman Nee

Long-lasting victory can never be separated from a long-lasting stand on the foundation of the cross. — Watchman Nee

Knowing the truth concerning the deep workings of the evil spirit helps the individual not only to overcome sins but to eliminate unnecessary afflictions as well. — Watchman Nee

The clerical system of church management is exceedingly popular, but the whole thought is foreign to Scripture. In a church all the members are active. He [God] appointed some to take oversight of the work so that it might be carried on efficiently. It was never His thought that the majority of the believers should devote themselves exclusively to secular affairs and leave church matters to a group of spiritual specialists. — Watchman Nee