I took an opportunity this morning to read some more of The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee. I almost like taking a few days in-between reading chapters to be able to process what I've read a little. Nee is such a powerful and practical writer & some of the things he says are so profound to me that they take time to fully wrap my brain around.

Read the chapter this morning on "Walking in the Spirit." I've been looking forward to reading this part of the book as this is a subject that I don't fully understand and arguably don't fully embrace as I should. I almost hesitate to post bits and pieces or summaries of what Nee writes, as I'm sure it loses much of its effectiveness in the process. To get the full effect I'd highly encourage you to read this book when you get a chance. Definitely full of great stuff. Here is what Nee had to say today:

Like a car without petrol, that has to be pushed and that comes to a standstill as soon as it is left alone, many Christians endeavour to drive themselves by will-power, and then think the Christian life a most exhausting and bitter one. Some even force themselves to do Christian things because others do them, while admitting they have no meaning to them. They force themselves to be what they are not, and it is worse than trying to make water run up-hill. For, after all, the very highest point the will can reach is that of willingness (Matt. 26:41)

If we have to exert so much effort in our Christian living, it simply says that we are not really like that at all. We don't need to force ourselves to speak our native language. In fact we only have to exert will-power in order to do things we do not do naturally. ...

Romans 6:23 states that 'the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,' and now in Romans 8:2 we read that 'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' has come to our aid. So Romans 8:2 speaks not of a new gift but of the life already referred to in Romans 6:23. In other words, it is a new revelation of what we already have. I feel I cannot emphasize this too much. It is not something fresh from God's hand, but a new unveiling of what He has already given. It is a new discovery of a work already done in Christ, for the words 'made me free' are in the past tense. If I really see this and put my faith in Him, there is no absolute necessity for the experience of Romans 7 - either the unhappy struggle and failure or the fruitless display of will-power - to be repeated in me.

If we will let ourselves live in the new law [of the Spirit], we shall be less conscious of the old. It is still there, but it is no longer governing and we are no longer in its grip.