The Release of the Spirit Quotes

“Do we impress people with ourselves, or with the Lord? Do we draw people to our teaching, or to the Lord? This is genuinely vital. It determines the value of all our work and labor.”
― Watchman Nee, The Release of the Spirit

“Here is invariably a spiritual fact: Our spirit is released according to the degree of our brokenness. The one who has accepted the most discipline is the one who can best serve. The more one is broken, the more sensitive he can be. The more loss one has suffered, the more he has to give. Wherever we save ourselves, it is at that very place where we become spiritually useless. Whenever we preserve and excuse ourselves, it is at that point where we are deprived of spiritual sensitivity and supply. Let no one imagine he can be effective if he disregards this basic principle. Only those who have learned some lessons can serve. You may learn ten years’ lessons in one year, or you may take twenty or thirty years to learn one year’s lessons. Any delay in learning means a delay in serving. If God has put a desire in your heart to serve Him, you should understand what is involved. The way of service lies in brokenness and is connected with your accepting the discipline of the Holy Spirit.”
― Watchman Nee, The Release of the Spirit

“Here is invariably a spiritual fact: Our spirit is released according to the degree of our brokenness.”
― Watchman Nee, The Release of the Spirit

“He who has ascended the cross and refuses to drink the vinegar mingled with gall is the one who knows the Lord. Many go up to the cross rather reluctantly, still thinking of drinking vinegar mingled with gall to alleviate their pain. All who say—“The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?”—will not drink the cup of vinegar mingled with gall.”
― Watchman Nee, The Release of the Spirit

“Whatever is manufactured outwardly by our own effort is not real and is doomed to frustration and defeat.”
― Watchman Nee, The Release of the Spirit

“Suppose, for example, a brother has a brilliant but unbroken intellect. He may come to the meetings of a local church, but he is untouched. Unless he meets someone whose mind is sharper than his, he will not be helped. He will analyze the thoughts of the preacher and reject them as useless and meaningless. Months and years may pass by, and it is impossible for anything to touch his spirit. His spirit is stonewalled by his intellectual mind.”
― Watchman Nee, The Release of the Spirit

“since God’s Word is living, he who listens and does not have a living response is he who has not actually heard the Word of God.”
― Watchman Nee, The Release of the Spirit

“is most vital that the Lord breaks us.”
― Watchman Nee, The Release of the Spirit