Even more letters & papers from prison...

As we work through Ephesians, one of Paul's amazing letters from prsion, we are letting other profound works written while in prison speak into our lives. Watchman Nee provides such material.

Nee was a leader in the Chinese church & chose to remain despite the threat of Communism.

“If a mother discovered that her house was on fire, and she herself was outside the house doing the laundry, what would she do? Although she realized the danger, would she not rush into the house? Although I know that my return is fraught with dangers, I know that many brothers and sisters are still inside. How can I not return?” Watchman Nee

He spent the last 20 years of his life in a Chinese prison & had his tongue cut out at one point because he kept speaking of God & his jailers kept coming to faith! He died alone in 1972 in his cell. In his final letter dated the day of his death he wrote,

"In my sickness, I still remain joyful at heart."

A piece of paper was discovered under his pillow with 'several lines of big words written in a shaking hand',

"Christ is the Son of God who died for the redemption of sinners and resurrected after three days. This is the greatest truth in the universe. I die because of my belief in Christ."

Nee believed in holding things with an open hand. Our own agenda's & ambitions are some of the very things we need to surrender in order to fully experience who God is & what He has in store for us.

What truth of God would you write & place under your pillow?

What is God asking you to release right now? Might it be a fear you currently have or even fear itself?!

Ephesians 3:12-20
When we trust in him, we're free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don't let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.