Friday

Related Verses
Psa. 42:7
7 Deep calls unto deep At the sound of Your water spouts; All Your waves and Your billows Pass over me.

Isa. 37:31
31 And the remnant of those who have escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

Acts 6:7
7 And the word of God grew, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly; and a large number of the priests obeyed the faith.

Acts 12:24
24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.

Acts 19:20
20 Thus, the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

Matt. 13:20-21
20 And the one sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21 Yet he does not have root in himself but lasts only for a time, and when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately he is stumbled.

Related Reading
Only a call from the depths can provoke a response from the depths [Psa. 42:7]. Nothing shallow can ever touch the depths, nor can anything superficial touch the inward parts. Only the deep will respond to the deep…Others can respond deep within to only what issues from deep within us…If nothing comes from the depths, the help we receive is just superficial. We have to see the importance of the depths. Anything that is not from the depths will never reach the depths of others. If we have never received help or benefit in our depths, we will never have anything issuing from our depths. If we want to render spiritual help to others, something must issue from our depths. If we do not dig deep, we can never gain others. Unless our utterance is from the depths, we will not touch the depths in others, even though we gain their emotions and thoughts and make them cry or be happy or excited for a while. Only deep calls unto deep. (CWWN, vol. 37, p. 37)

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One principle in preaching and receiving the word is found in the Lord’s parable of the sower. While the sower sowed, some seeds fell beside the way, some on the rocky place, some into the thorns, and some into the good earth. This shows us four different ways for man to receive the word. The Lord Jesus tells us that among these different conditions, one is the rocky place. There is a little earth on the surface, but underneath there are rocks. When the seed falls into this kind of ground, it springs up quickly, but as soon as the sun comes out, it withers because of the lack of root.

What is a root? It is growth that occurs beneath the soil. What are the leaves? They are growth that occurs above the soil. In other words, roots are the hidden life, whereas leaves are the manifest life. The trouble with many Christians is that, while there is much apparent life, there is very little secret life. In other words, there is the lack of a hidden life…If all your spiritual life is exposed, you do not have any root… If all your spiritual life is exposed, you do not have any root…If all your experiences are manifested, then all your growth is upward; there is no downward growth. If this is the case, you are a person who has only leaves without root, and you are on shallow ground.

In our Christian life it is necessary that we learn the meaning of the Body of Christ; we must learn to have a life of the Body. On the other hand, we must learn that the life given to each member of His Body by the Lord is distinctly individual. The measure that has been given to you personally by Him needs to be guarded; otherwise, it will lose its specific character and will be of no particular use to God. If that which has been specially committed to you is exposed, it will wither.

The discourse of the Lord Jesus on the Mount was most remarkable. On the one hand, He said, “You are the light of the world. It is impossible for a city situated upon a mountain to be hidden” (Matt. 5:14). It is open. On the other hand, He said, “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret;…when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (6:3-4, 6). On the one hand, if you are a Christian, you must come right out into the open and make a public profession; on the other hand, there are Christian virtues that you should preserve from the public gaze. The Christian who parades all his virtues before men and who does not have anything in the depth of his being has no root; he will not be able to stand in the day of trial and temptation…May God work in us so that we can take root downward. (CWWN, vol. 37, pp. 37-39)

Further Reading: Watchman Nee, Deep Calls unto Deep (booklet); CWWN, vol. 38, ch. 66