I like to get to know new people, hear their stories, and take every opportunity to share my enjoyment of the Lord Jesus with them. Air travel often presents excellent opportunities for me to talk to people about Christ.

Recently, I had such an opportunity. While flying over the Pacific, I felt the Lord’s urging to speak something of the gospel to my seatmate. As the hours went by, I felt more and more convicted that I just needed to say something to him.

But what could I tell him? Eventually, I asked, “Have you ever heard of the three parts of man?”

As we began to talk, all I could think of was the diagram of the three concentric circles in “The Mystery of Human Life”—the first chapter in the book, Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 1.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a copy of the book in my carry-on bag. So what was I going to do?

I remembered that a few weeks prior I had gone to “Free Downloads” on the Study the Bible page of the BfA.org website and downloaded the PDF of that booklet onto my tablet. I quickly searched through my downloads and found it.

I’m so glad I had already downloaded it to my hard drive, so I wasn’t stopped by the lack of Internet access on the plane! I just pulled up the file and showed my seatmate the diagram of the three parts of man—body, soul, and spirit—and told him about the wonderful process God passed through in order for Christ to enter into our spirit to be our life.

From our conversation, I believe those diagrams left a lasting impression on him. And although I wasn’t able to continue the contact to ensure his salvation, I believe his seeing the visual presentation will be something God can use in him at a later time.

This experience also made me realize that, as believers, we need to be equipped with all manner of tools to convey the gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth in God’s Word to people.

With such an awesome tool, I’m looking forward to my next opportunity to show a seatmate “The Mystery of Human Life.”

Have you used any of the tools from BfA.org to share with someone about Christ? What was your experience?

Note 3 on economy: “The Greek word means household law, implying distribution (the base of this word is of the same origin as that for pasture in John 10:9, implying a distribution of the pasture to the flock). It denotes a household management, a household administration, a household government, and, derivatively, a dispensation, a plan, or an economy for administration (distribution); hence, it is also a household economy. God’s economy in faith is His household economy, His household administration (cf. note 10¹ in Eph. 1; Eph. 3:9), which is to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people that He may have a house to express Himself, which house is the church (3:15), the Body of Christ. The apostle’s ministry was centered on this economy of God (Col. 1:25; 1 Cor. 9:17), whereas the different teachings of the dissenting ones were used by God’s enemy to distract His people from this economy. In the administration and shepherding of a local church, this divine economy must be made fully clear to the saints.”

The verse and note are from the Recovery Version, published by Living Stream Ministry. The Recovery Version outlines, footnotes, and cross-references were all prepared by Witness Lee. Bibles for America gives away the New Testament Recovery Version for free. You can order your free copy on our order page.

A definition of faith

Hebrews 11:1 tells us what faith is:

“Now faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Note 1 in the New Testament Recovery Version on this verse helps us understand more fully what this means:

“Faith is the substantiation of things hoped for. Hence, it is the assurance, the confidence, the confirmation, the reality, the essence, the supporting ground, of things hoped for, the foundation that supports the things hoped for. Faith is also the conviction of things not seen. It convinces us of what we do not see. Hence, it is the evidence, the proof, of things not seen.”

By reading this, we can see that faith is truly a wonderful thing. But simply knowing the definition of faith isn’t enough. Related to our experience of faith, we have to ask these questions:

• Where does faith come from?
• How do we get faith?
• How can we be strengthened in our faith?

Where does faith come from?

The first thing we must understand is that faith is not of us. None of us is born with a natural ability to believe. Not one person is better at believing than another. If we look to ourselves for faith, we’ll be discouraged. This is because we are not the source of faith. We simply can’t muster up faith in ourselves. These three verses in the Bible show us the true source of faith:

“To those who have been allotted faith equally precious as ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”—2 Peter 1:1

Faith comes from God. God allots, or gives, faith to us.

“The life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God.”—Galatians 2:20

Our faith is not only in Christ, but also of Christ. The source of our faith is the Son of God! We believe in the Lord Jesus not by our own faith, but by His faith.

“Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.”—Hebrews 12:2

Jesus is the Author, the Originator, of our faith. He is also the Perfecter, the Completer, of our faith. As the Author of our faith, Jesus is the origin of our faith. As the Perfecter of our faith, Jesus is the finisher and completer of our faith. He, not we, will finish what He first authored in us.

From the above three verses, we see clearly that we are not the source of faith. Faith is something given to us by God; faith is the faith of the Son of God; and Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of faith.

How then did this faith become our faith in the first place? This leads us to the next question.

How do we get faith?

Romans 10:17 tells us simply and clearly how we obtain faith:

“So faith comes out of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

How did we first believe in Jesus Christ? It was through our hearing of the word of Christ. Someone told us about the dear Person of Jesus Christ and all He did for us in His death and resurrection. As we listened, the preciousness of Jesus was infused into us, and we began to appreciate Him. While the gospel was being spoken to us, maybe even more than one time, our appreciation of Christ increased, until eventually, a spontaneous reaction took place in us—we believed in Him and wanted Him. Previously we may never have thought much about Jesus Christ or even believed He was real, but out of our hearing the word of Christ, faith came to us.

We can illustrate this way. Let’s say you don’t know anything about diamonds. And at first glance, a diamond looks like a common piece of glass to you. But a jeweler explains to you how the diamond was formed over thousands of years, and how it underwent tremendous pressure to be produced. As you look closer, he tells you the different characteristics of the diamond to help you understand how valuable it is. He shows you how the facets on a diamond reveal its brilliant beauty in the light. The more you listen to him and look at the diamond, the more you appreciate it and want to possess it.

By recalling our own experience of salvation, we can realize how our hearing the word concerning Christ caused us to really see Him and to realize His precious worth. We began to treasure the Lord Jesus, appreciating His Person and all He did for us. Inexplicably, we found we wanted Him. We even began to love Him. Without trying to, we began to have faith in the Him. This faith is just the Christ who was preached into us becoming our capacity to believe through our appreciation of Him.

So the source of our faith is not ourselves, but the Lord. And in our experience of faith, faith came through our hearing the gospel. It didn’t come by our striving to believe or by telling ourselves to think positively. The word of Christ spoken into us imparted faith into us. This is how we initially obtained the precious faith from God.

The next question is, once we’ve received this faith from God, how can we be strengthened in our faith? Don’t miss our follow-up post on learning the secret to a life of faith!

“‘We must believe in the Lord in the midst of our environment. In all the situations within our set of circumstances, we must always exercise our heart to believe the Lord.”

From The Economy of God by Witness Lee (mass-distribution ed., p. 66). Bibles for America gives this book away for free. You can order your free copy on our order page. You can also download a free PDF version here.

“Your iniquities have become a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”

How serious is sin! Its seriousness should make us realize we cannot tolerate it or give sin any ground in our lives. However, when we do fail and sin, what should we do?

The need to confess our sins

When we sin, a barrier is created between us and the Lord, which interrupts our fellowship with Him. This is why we need to confess our sins. When we confess our sins, we are forgiven, our offenses are washed away, and our fellowship with the Lord is restored. We shouldn’t ignore our sins or try to cover them up. Proverbs 28:13 tells us,

“He who covers his transgressions will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”

Instead of covering our sins, we should confess them, believing in God’s word in 1 John 1:9:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Hallelujah for the blood of Jesus! Whenever we confess, we’re forgiven of our sins, and Christ’s blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness. What a marvelous provision from God! When we confess our sins, our fellowship with the Lord is restored.

So how do we confess our sins?

We may wonder how to go about confessing our sins. Do we need to wait for an appointed time or go to a special place? Do we need to confess our sins to a particular person? Fortunately, we don’t need to wait for a particular place or an appointed time. This is because the particular person our confession is made to is the Lord Jesus Himself. We should deal directly with the Lord concerning our sins. And since He is within us all the time and in every place, we never have to go somewhere special or wait a certain amount of time to confess! The time to confess is whenever and wherever the Lord shines on something we’ve done. And the sooner we confess, the better. Here are some important points concerning how to confess sins.

1) Spend time with the Lord

One crucial point to begin with is we need to spend time with the Lord and in His Word. As we spend time fellowshipping with Him in prayer, the Lord’s light will shine on us and expose us, pointing out certain sins. We don’t need to become introspective, seeking out our sins. God is light, and as we spend time with the One who is light, we are spontaneously enlightened concerning our sins. Then we can confess to Him the sins He shines upon.

2) Confess specific sins

The Lord’s shining is very specific. He’ll shine on things like a certain lie we told, or the way we spoke to someone. For example, suppose we’re talking with some friends and the Lord gives us a clear feeling to stop talking and go back to studying or working. But we disobey Him and continue talking. The Lord convicts us about our disobedience and we know we feel the need to confess. Right away we can pray, “Lord, I confess, I disobeyed You. Please forgive me for continuing to talk when you didn’t want me to. Cleanse me of this sin with Your precious blood.” After confessing in this way, we can be assured we’re forgiven and the Lord’s blood washes away our sin.

3) Confess whatever the Lord shines on

We should confess whatever the Lord Jesus shines upon in us. This includes not only our sinful acts but also our weaknesses, shortcomings, and defects. For instance, the Lord may convict us of our laziness or rebelliousness. If so, we should pray, “Lord, forgive me for my laziness. I’m lazy, and my laziness prevents me from spending time with You. Forgive me, Lord.”

4) Keep short accounts with the Lord

We don’t want our sins to build up between us and the Lord. So we should practice to keep short accounts with Him by confessing our sins as soon as we are convicted of them. Let’s say we’re talking with a family member, and we lose our temper and storm out of the room in anger. Then, as we sit in our room, we’re convicted by the Lord and realize we were wrong for losing our temper. We can immediately confess this sin to the Lord by saying, “Lord, I’m sorry I lost my temper. Please forgive me. Wash me in Your precious blood right now.” When we confess, immediately God forgives us. This clears up our offense with Him. But in cases like this, we also need to take care of the person we offended. So in addition to confessing our sin to the Lord, we must also go and apologize to our family member. Confessing our sins daily, and even several times a day as needed, is like washing our hands. Our hands get dirty throughout the day, and we don’t just let the dirt accumulate. We wash our hands when they’re dirty. The healthiest habit we can have concerning sin is to not allow our sins to accumulate, but to confess them so we can be washed. This keeps us in a good relationship with the Lord.

5) Spend some longer periods of time with the Lord

Besides confessing our sins daily to keep short accounts with the Lord, we can also spend some longer periods of time with Him to be under His shining. Once a week or once a month, we can spend an extra thirty minutes or an hour with the Lord to allow Him more time to shine on us in a detailed way. We’ll also have more time to respond to His shining and to confess in a deeper way. We can begin our longer times by praying over verses in the Bible or singing a hymn to the Lord. Then we can ask the Lord to shine on us. As He does this, we simply confess whatever He shines upon. Through longer times like this, our experience of confession and cleansing not only restores, but also strengthens our fellowship with the Lord.

Each of us can learn this healthy practice of confessing our sins. We may not be good at it right away, but we can make a point to practice the things mentioned in this post. May the Lord help us to confess daily to Him and also to spend longer times with Him to clear up our sins and to restore and strengthen our fellowship with Him!

Note 1 on become a curse: “The curse of the law issued from the sin of man (Gen. 3:17). When Christ took away our sin on the cross, He redeemed us out of the curse of the law.”

The verse and note are from the Recovery Version, published by Living Stream Ministry. The Recovery Version outlines, footnotes, and cross-references were all prepared by Witness Lee. Bibles for America gives away the New Testament Recovery Version for free. You can order your free copy on our order page.

In this post we’ll look at portions from Watchman Nee’s book The Normal Christian Life, which expounds the book of Romans, to show us how knowing the difference between sin and sins can free us from both in our experience.

Why do I still sin?

Although we’re saved, we’re still human, and we still possess a sinful nature. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve received a sinful nature through the fall. They passed that nature on to all their children, which includes the entire human race. Romans tells us that as a result, all have been constituted sinners. Therefore, The Normal Christian Life explains,

“The teaching of Romans is not that we are sinners because we commit sins, but that we sin because we are sinners.” (p. 27)

We descendants of Adam have sin dwelling in our bodies, making our bodies the flesh, and we will always have the flesh while we live in these bodies. Because of this, we have the nature of a sinner and are prone to committing sins. This is our predicament, even after we‘re saved.

Watchman Nee illustrates by speaking of us as a “sin-producing factory”—“we are the factory; our actions are the products” (p. 54). We may have tried again and again to stop ourselves from committing sins, but the factory keeps producing. Our failures make us ask, “What am I doing wrong? Is something else going on in me?” Watchman Nee describes this experience:

“When God’s light first shines into my heart my one cry is for forgiveness, for I realize I have committed sins before him; when once I have received forgiveness of sins I make a new discovery, namely, the discovery of sin, and I realize not only that I have committed sins before God but that there is something wrong within. I discover that I have the nature of a sinner.” (p. 3)

We commit sins because we have the nature of a sinner. We can easily understand this by observing children. They don’t have to be taught to lie; they lie spontaneously because they were born with the sinful nature. Our sinful nature is the cause of our sins.

But does this mean we can excuse ourselves by saying we can’t help committing sins because we were born with a sinful nature? Surely this isn’t the case. In his book, Nee points out God’s provision for us concerning both the sins we commit outwardly and our inward nature of sin.

God’s provision for the sins we commit

The problem of our sins can only be dealt with by the precious blood of Christ. When we confess our sins, God forgives us and cleanses us, and our fellowship with the Lord is restored. But what if we don’t “feel” cleansed after we’ve confessed our sins to the Lord? Here is what Nee says about this:

“The Blood is first for God to see. We then have to accept God’s valuation of it. In doing so we find our salvation. If instead we try to come to a valuation by way of our feelings we get nothing; we remain in darkness. No, it is a matter of faith in God’s Word. We have to believe that the Blood is precious to God because he says it is so (1 Peter 1:18-19). If God can accept the Blood as payment for our sins and as the price of our redemption, then we can rest assured that the debt has been paid. If God is satisfied with the Blood, then the Blood must be acceptable. Our valuation of it is only according to his valuation—neither more or less.” (p. 10)

The blood of Christ is sufficient to cleanse us of all our sins. This is an objective fact, something testified by the Word of God. The blood of Christ meets God’s requirement for our sins; it has no relation to our subjective feelings about our sins. Based on this objective fact, as Nee says, we can boldly proclaim, “Yes, we are sinful, but, praise God! The Blood cleanses us from every sin.” (p. 20)

God’s provision for our nature of sin

Now that we know that the blood of Christ is God’s provision for our problem of sins, how can we be delivered from our inward nature of sin? Watchman Nee points to the antidote:

“So we see that objectively the Blood deals with our sins. The Lord Jesus has borne them on the Cross for us as our Substitute and has thereby obtained for us forgiveness, justification, and reconciliation. But we must now go a step further in the plan of God to understand how he deals with the sin principle in us. The Blood can wash away my sins, but it cannot wash away my “old man.” It needs the Cross to crucify me. The Blood deals with the sins, but the Cross must deal with the sinner.” (p. 26)

How is this carried out in our everyday experience? Galatians 5:16 says, “But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh.” But what does it mean to walk, or live, by the Spirit? Nee explains it this way:

“Living in the Spirit means that I trust the Holy Spirit to do in me what I cannot do myself. This life is completely different from the life I would naturally live of myself. Each time I am faced with a new demand from the Lord, I look to him to do in me what he requires of me. It is not a case of trying but of trusting; not of struggling but of resting in him.” (p. 179)

To walk by the Spirit is to live, move, and have our being by the Spirit who lives in our human spirit. As we do this, the cross is spontaneously applied to us, and we can say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Day by day as we learn to exercise our spirit to contact Him and walk by our spirit, we allow Him to deal with our inward problem of sin in a personal and practical way.

For a more in-depth look at this topic, we recommend you read The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee, which you can order free on our order page.

“‘When we believe in Him, we receive His life. We all become God’s sons, and as such, we all belong to God. Because we have this life within us, as men we can be entrusted by God to fulfill His purpose.”

From The Glorious Church by Watchman Nee (mass-distribution ed., p. 18). Bibles for America gives this book away for free. You can order your free copy on our order page. You can also download a free PDF version here.

Verses 9 and 10 tell us that some Jews from the synagogue and various others disputed with Stephen, but “they were not able to withstand the Spirit and wisdom with which he spoke.” Frustrated by this, they instigated some to accuse Stephen of blaspheming against Moses and God. This stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, who then came upon Stephen, seized him, and led him to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court. There, even more false witnesses were set up to falsely accuse Stephen of saying certain things.

On trial

In Acts 7, verse 1, the high priest asked Stephen the question: “Are these things so?”

Stephen’s response is one of the most succinct summaries of the Old Testament recorded in the entire Bible. It recounts the entire history of the Israelites, from the calling of Abraham to the building of the temple. By this, Stephen clearly refutes the false accusation that he had blasphemed. He concludes by boldly stating that their forefathers had persecuted the prophets and killed those who announced the coming of the righteous One, the Christ. He then adds that they themselves have now become the betrayers and murderers of this Christ.

Stephen’s faithful and true words so enraged them that they rushed upon him and threw him outside the city. There they stoned him as he called upon the name of the Lord. Stephen’s final words echo those of our Lord on the cross: “Lord Jesus receive my spirit!” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

How could Stephen say such things as he was being unjustly stoned to death? And how could he speak so powerfully and eloquently of the history of Israel while being falsely accused and on trial for his life? How could Stephen testify for the Lord in such a marvelous way?

Letting the Word of God dwell in you richly

Luke 12:11-12 says,

“And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how or what you should reply in defense, or what you should say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what should be said.”

Surely Stephen experienced this promise given by the Lord as he answered the high priest’s question. But was that all? Was his answer simply the miraculous, momentary work of the Holy Spirit? Or was there something about Stephen that allowed the Spirit to work in this way?

Even before he was brought to trial, Stephen spoke with wisdom and the Spirit. And from his exposition of the Old Testament in chapter 7, we can see that Stephen was very familiar with the Scriptures. Surely Stephen is a good pattern of one who lived out the words of the apostle Paul in Colossians 3:16:

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.”

Stephen was not an empty believer. He was so filled with the Word of God that there was a deposit within him from which the Holy Spirit could draw to lead him how to speak.

Many of us have had the experience of wanting to speak for the Lord Jesus but being unable to find the words to say. Why does this happen? Did the Holy Spirit not want to help us in that instance? Actually, when we build up a deposit of the Lord’s Word within us, we give the Spirit a rich reservoir from which He can speak to and through us. And the richer the deposit, the richer His speaking can be. Because Stephen was richly filled with the Word of God, he was able to speak in such a profound and clear way.

These excerpts from footnotes 1 through 3 on Colossians 3:16 in the Recovery Version elaborate in this way:

Note 1 on word: “A normal Christian life should be one that is filled with the word, that the Spirit may bubble over with praise and lauding melodies from within the believers.”

Note 2 on dwell: “Lit., to be in a house, to indwell, to inhabit. The word of the Lord must have adequate room within us that it may operate and minister the riches of Christ into our inner being.”

Note 3 on richly: “The riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8) are in His word. Such a rich word must inhabit us richly.”

For us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly is more than our simply memorizing some verses of the Bible. For it to dwell in us richly, we must allow the word to get deep into our being, nourishing our spirit and affecting our very soul, our mind, our emotion, and our will.

How can we have the word of Christ dwell in us in a rich way? On the most basic level, we need to read the Bible consistently to get it into us and to be familiar with God’s speaking in the Scriptures. But we must move beyond this if we want a rich dwelling of the word of Christ in us. For this we must make time to take in the Word as food, to eat it, digest it, and even assimilate it into us by praying over it.

By daily seeking the Lord Himself in His Word, speaking His Word, and praising Him with His Word, we give the Word more and more room to dwell within us. Then, when we want to speak for the Lord, the Spirit can bring forth the rich Word from within us and allow it to flow out of us!

Our dear brother Stephen is a real inspiration and pattern for us all. May we all be ones who daily pray over God’s Word, receive it into our heart, allow it to make a home in our inward being richly, and as a result, speak the Word of God to those around us!

Note 5 on unto salvation: “Growth in life results in salvation. Salvation here, as the result of growth in life, is not initial salvation. God’s full and complete salvation has a long span—from regeneration, including justification, to glorification (Rom. 8:30). At regeneration we receive initial salvation (see note 5⁵ in ch. 1). Then we need to grow by feeding on Christ as the nourishing milk in the word of God, unto full salvation, unto maturity for glorification. This will be the salvation of our soul, which will be revealed to us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus (1:5 and note 5; 1:9-10, 13).”

The verse and note are from the Recovery Version, published by Living Stream Ministry. The Recovery Version outlines, footnotes, and cross-references were all prepared by Witness Lee. Bibles for America gives away the New Testament Recovery Version for free. You can order your free copy on our order page.