halfway there...

"After you give yourself to the Lord, he begins to break what was offered to Him.  Everything seems to go wrong, and you protest and find fault with the ways of God.  But to say there is to be no more than a broken vessel - no good for the world because you have gone to far for the world to use you, and no good for God either, because you have not gone far enough for Him to use you.  You are out of gear with the world, and you have controversy with God.  This is the tragedy of many a Christian." -Watchman Nee, NCL

is this true?

At first one like myself might think that God could use us at any stage... whether we have given our all or not... and I think it's true, for the sake of his own glory, He will sometimes use one who is lukewarm.  But how much can you do with someone who is only half into what you are doing.

...Say you are on a mission to find a long lost family member in France, but you only have one week's time to go on this search.  You go to Paris ... and are so attracted by the Eiffel tower and "L'Arc de Triomphe, the designer clothes and the beautiful gardens ... that you find yourself spending less time what you originally came for, even though time is short.

Is this not we are today?  Are we not lukewarm? Are we not seeking after vanities of vanities? Are we not often grasping after something that is dying?

I sometimes obey the Lord, I sometimes get up early enough for morning devotions, I sometimes pray for the lost and struggling, I sometimes trust in the Lord's strength instead of my own,  I sometimes really mean it when I say 'Lord I give you my all".

I also sometimes choose tv over the Lord, I sometimes fool around too much on facebook even when an urge comes for me to go to bed.  I sometimes don't talk to people even though I should, because I'm a coward and often don't trust in the Lord's strength.

"'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.  Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.  The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'" - Revelation 3:15-22




"My giving myself to the Lord, must be an initial fundamental act.  Then, day by day, I must go on giving to Him, not finding fault with his use of me, but accepting with praise even what the flesh finds hard.  That way lies true enrichment....I do no consecrate myself to be a missionary or a preacher; I consecrate myself to God to do His will where I am, be it in school, office or kitchen or wherever he may, in his wisdom, send me...May we always be possessed with this consciousness that we are not our own." - Watchman Nee, NCL


It is all or nothing my friends... may we, by the Lord's grace, be zealous and repent, and may He anoint our eyes with salve that we may see what is real, the reality of His Lordship and his coming kingdom.  May our deepest desire be after solely this, and may our eyes not waiver from the Prize.