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Ha Nevi ' im Ministries
( The Prophets Ministry)
presents
The Watchman


The deep calls to the deep.
Ps 42:7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise
of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
Is 39:1 At that time Merodachbaladan, the
son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah:
for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.
Is 39:2 And Hezekiah was glad of them, and
shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold,
and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour,
and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house,
nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.
Is 39:3 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto
king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence
came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country
unto me, even from Babylon.
Is 39:4 Then said he, What have they seen
in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they
seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.
Is 39:5 Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear
the word of the Lord of hosts:
Is 39:6 Behold, the days come, that all that
is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until
this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the
Lord.
Mark 4:5 And some fell on stony ground, where
it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no
depth of earth:
Mark 4:6 But when the sun was up, it was
scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
2 Co 12:1 It is not expedient for me doubtless
to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
2 Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen
years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body,
I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
2 Co 12:3 And I knew such a man, (whether
in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
2 Co 12:4 How that he was caught up into
paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man
to utter.
Ac 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with
Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
Ac 5:2 And kept back part of the price, his
wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at
the apostles' feet.
Ac 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath
Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part
of the price of the land?
Ac 5:4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine
own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou
conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto
God.
Ac 5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell
down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard
these things.
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. Only the deep will responded to the
deep. Anything that does
not issue from the depths can not touch
the depths. Others can respond deep within to only what issues from deep
within us.
When we go to a certain place and listen
to a message, the only
thing that touches us is something that has
issued from the depths
of others. 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 issue 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 help 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 awhile. Only
deep calls unto dep. Superficial expressions will not touch the depths
of others.
Deep Roots
One principle in our preaching is found
in the Lord's parable
of the sower. While the sower sowed
seed, some seeds fell beside
the way, some on the rocky place, some into
thorns, and some into
the good earth. This shows us four different
ways man can receive the Word. The Lord Jesus tells us that among these
different
conditions one is the 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 root ? It is the
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 believers
is that, while there
is much apparent life, there is very little
secret life. In others words,
there is a lack of hidden life. How much
of your life is hidden from view ? How much is unknown to others ? You
stress out ward works. Yes, good works are important ; but apart from that
manifest
expression of your life, how much of your
life remains hidden ?
If all your spiritual life is exposed, you
do not have any root.
Are all your virtues before God manifested
before man, or is there
something more that is unknown to man? 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 life as a Believer
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 he
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 " (Matt. 6:3-4,6) On
one hand if you
are a Believer, you must come right out into
the open and make a public profession; on the other hand, there are Believer
virtues
which you should preserve from public gaze.
The Believer 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 trail and temptation.
Deep Experiences
Writing to the Corinthians, Paul said, "
To boast is necessary,
though indeed not expedient " (2 Cor. 12:1).
He admitted that it
was "not profitable" (in Gk.) for himself
to write what he wrote
in 2 Corinthians 12. But for the sake of
others he had to do it;
he was obliged to speak of "visions and revelations
of the Lord."
This should be our attitude also. Many
of us cannot stand the test
of visions and revelations; as soon as we
have a little experience, we blow the trumpet, and everyone knows about
it. Paul know that it was no profit to himself to mention the Lord's visions
and revelations.
Why then did he mention them ? He was forced
to do so because some doubted his Apostleship, and there were problems
concerning the
foundation of the Faith.
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 up
into the third Heaven"
(vr. 2). He did not divulge the experience
until fourteen years later.
Some people would be inclined to say, "Paul,
let us hear all about
that experience of yours fourteen years ago.
Tell us about your experience in the third Heaven. It would be most helpful
for us to know the whole story. " But he said, " I know such a man (whether
in the body or outside I do not know; God
knows), that he was caught away into Paradise and heard unspeakable word,
which it is not
allowed for a man to speak " (vr. 3-4). To
this present day this experience of Paul's has not been uprooted; still
no one knows
about that experience.
Brothers and Sisters, This matter of root
is a matter of extreme
importance. 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.
The trouble with Believers today is that
they cannot keep any spiritual thing or any special experience undisclosed.
As soon as
they have a little experience, they have
to tell it abroad. They live
their lives before men; nothing is hidden
with them. They do not have any root. May God show us Paul's experience.
and may He lead us into having depth !
Superficial Living
In Isaiah 39 we are told that when
the news of Hezekiah's sickness and recovery reached the Babylonian court,
messengers were dispatched with letters and a present for Hezekiah. Hezekiah
had
been a recipient of the Grace of God, but
he was unable to stand the test of Grace. God's Word says, "And Hezekiah
was glad for them and showed them his treasury, the silver and the gold,
and the spices
and the precious oil, and his whole armory
and everything which
was found among his treasures" (vr.
2). Hezekiah could not overcome the temptation to display everything. He
had just been
wonderfully healed of his sickness and no
doubt felt self-important
and thought there were few people in the
world who had had such a remarkable experience as he. After all, how many
had been given
such a marvelous sign at the time of their
healing as the shadow on
the dial of Ahazgoing back ten degrees (Isa.
38:8) ? In his elation
Hezekiah displayed all his treasures. This
means that he had not
passed through the dealings of the Cross.
His natural life was not
dealt with. It was apparent that all his
roots were exposed.
Whatever Hezekiah knew and whatever he had,
were known to
the Babylonians. Because of this exposure,
Isaiah said to him,
"Hear the Word of the Jehovah of Hosts; Behold,
the days are coming when everything which is in your house and which is
your fathers
have laid up as a treasure unto this day
will be carried away to
Babylon; nothing will be left, says Jehovah
" (Isa 39:5-6) .
The measure in which we display things to
others will be the measure of our own loss. The measure in our life that
exhibit before others will be the measure we give up in ourselves. This
is a solemn matter,
and demands our attention. Alas, so many
people cannot forbear disclosing their experiences ! They have to speak
to their hearts delight. This is like Hezekiah opening up his treasures
to others.
A brother once said, " Many of the Brothers
fall sick, and when they recover, they give their testimonies. I wish I
could develop some sickness---but not a fatal one---and God would heal
me; then I would have something to say at the next testimony meeting."
This Brother's motives for healing was to
be able to give a testimony. He sought an experience in order to have something
to talk about.
Oh ! This superficial kind of living brings
grave loss to us; it rules
out the possibility of spiritual progress.
Testifying Without Exhibiting
Then should we not bear testimony ? Yes,
we should. Paul did so, and multitudes of God's children from generation
to generation have doe so too. But bearing testimony is one thing; delighting
in exhibiting one's experience is quite another. What is our object in
testifying ?
Is it that others may profit or that we may
have the pleasure of
talking ? The love of hearing one's own voice
and the desire to be
helpful to others are two totally different
things. We testify because there is a problem, and we have to speak about
it. A testimony is
not an after meal conversation piece. Many
times while we gossip ,
spiritual riches leak away. When the Lord
so leads, we should
testify because we want to render help to
others. Paul testified in
2 Cor 12, but he did not lightly disclose
his experience fourteen
years earlier. He hid his experience for
fourteen years, and no one
knew about it. Even when he talked about
this experience, he did
not disclose everything. He only mentioned
the fact that he received
a revelation and heard unspeakable words.
He did not tell others the words that he heard. Even today, the third Heaven
is still a mystery, and we still do not know what it is like.
Brother and Sisters, what are our treasures
? What are our gold, silver, spices, precious ointments, and precious things
?
What is our armory ? We have to remember
that everything gold is
of God and silver is anything that is related
to the redemption of
the cross. Spices are the results of our
wounds, precious things are things that relate to the Kingdom, and armory
is the Lord's work
that we have received from God and from the
Lord.
All these are not doctrine, biblical teachings,
or theology. These are
the things we have acquired through
our fellowship with the Lord.
When we fellowship with God, communicate
with Him, and are
dealt with by Him, we pick up many things.
It is wrong to speak about them loosely. This does not mean that
we should not testify. But we
must realize that many experiences need to
be hidden. This is a
crucial matter in the Believers life. Many
spiritual experiences need
to be hidden away and should not be exposed.
The Lord Jesus sometimes gave HIs testimony,
but He never was
talkative. It is one thing to give a testimony
and another to be talkative. The Lord healed the sick and insisted that
the story of
the healing be kept secret. This charge is
repeated again and again
in the Gospel of Mark. Once the Lord told
a certain person, "Go to your house, to your own people, and report to
them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy
on you "
(Mark 5:19). We may speak of the great things
the Lord has done for us, but we must not publish these things abroad as
items of news;
this only exposes ourselves as being without
any root. To be without
root is to be without any treasure; it is
to be without any hidden life or hidden experiences. It is essential that
some of our experiences
remain covered; to uncover everything is
to loss everything.
Let us also remember that if we display all
our treasure, captivity cannot be averted. Death and exposure go together,
and spiritual dryness and exposure also go together. Even if we have to
give a testimony, we must be like Paul, who boasted out of necessity "though
indeed not expedient " ( 2 Cor 12:1). Satan's attack often comes when man
is exposed. Any kind of exposure opens us up to loss. Many people are healed
of their sickness and they testify for the Glory of God. But many testimonies
of healing are not for the Glory of God but for the glory of one's
own faith. As a result, the sickness comes back.
After these ones give their testimony once,
they are attacked by the
same thing again. This shows us that God
covers those who cover their roots, and God does not protect those who
disclose their roots;
they will be exposed to attacks. If God wants
us to testify, we still have to do it. But there are things that ought
to be hidden away.
God protects what we hide before Him, and
we enjoy it.
The same applies to our work. By His Grace
and Mercy God has accomplished something through us, but remember that
what He has
accomplished is not a matter for advertisement
or material for
propaganda. If we expose the work of God,
we will find that the touch of death comes upon it immediately; and the
loss will correspond to the extent to which we expose ourselves. As soon
as David
numbered the children of Israel, death set
in (2 Sam 24 ). May God
deliver us from this kind of exposure.
Whatever secrets we have with the Lord must
be preserved. We can only move according to God's instruction within us.
Only if He moves
within us to reveal something, dare we reveal
it. If He wants us to share some experience with a brother, we dare not
withhold it, for that would be violating a law of the members of the Body
of Christ. One law of the members of the Body of Christ is fellowship.
Once we
suppress this law, the flow stops. We must
be positive, not negative,
and minister life to others. But if we are
engrossed all day with ourselves and with our own things, this talkativeness
and exposure
opens us up to assault from the enemy. I
trust we shall learn what
the Body of Christ is and what the flow of
life among the members is; but I trust we shall also learn the need for
safeguarding the hidden part we have before the Lord, the experiences which
are not known to others. No root should be exposed...
As we extend ourselves deeper and take root
downward, we will
discover that " deep calls to the deep."
When we can bring forth riches from our inner life, we will find that other
lives will be deeply
affected. The minute our inner being is touched,
others will receive
help and be enlightened. They will know that
there is something
beyond their knowledge. When deep touches
deep, deep will respond to deep. If our lives have no depth, our superficial
work will only affect
other lives superficially. I repeat yet again-----ONLY---"Deep
calls to Deep..."
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