Thursday

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.

Matt. 13:23
23 But the one sown on the good earth, this is he who hears the word and understands, who by all means bears fruit and produces, one a hundredfold, and one sixtyfold, and one thirtyfold.

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

Col. 2:6-7
6 As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him,
7 Having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Psa. 92:13-15
13 Planted in the house of Jehovah, They will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bring forth fruit in old age; They will be full of sap and green;
15 To declare that Jehovah is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Related Reading
Psalm 42:7 says, “Deep calls unto deep.” Only a call from the depths can provoke a response from the depths. Nothing shallow can ever touch the depths, nor can anything superficial touch the inward parts…Anything that does not issue from the depths cannot touch the depths. 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…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. Superficial expressions will not touch the depths of others. (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 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 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. 

Did Paul disclose all his revelations? Far from it. He wrote, “I know a man [who is himself] in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body I do not know, or outside the body I do not know; God knows) such a one was caught away to the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). He did not divulge this experience until fourteen years later…God’s church knew nothing of it;…not one of the apostles had heard of it. Paul’s roots were deep beneath the soil.

If you want to have Paul’s work, then you need to have Paul’s “root”; if you want to have Paul’s outward conduct, then you need to have Paul’s inner life; if you want to have Paul’s manifest power, then you need to have Paul’s secret experience. (CWWN, vol. 37, “Deep Calls unto Deep,” pp. 37-40) 

Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 37, pp. 37-44