We Ought to Go Much Deeper

A rich and full soul will speak about all kinds of outward things. You feel you are standing outside the door of his heart, just as Jesus did in the church in Laodicea. If you give something to him of your inner being, he does not receive it; you leave him, downcast, feeling that your holiest and purest—the life of Christ in you—has been trampled. You did not receive any nourishment from this brother. Jesus says that such people are poor and wretched, naked and blind, but they do not know it. Jesus is standing outside their hearts, and you who are poor in spirit also remain standing outside. Jesus enters in only as the One who is poor, yet making many rich. Jesus says that whoever receives you, receives Him, and He enters into those who are poor in spirit. They shall be exalted and be set among princes; the rich He casts into the dust. Therefore He says, “To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with Me on My throne . . . .” Who is the one who overcomes if not the one who goes in and out in his poverty and finds food?

It is necessary for these things to be practiced so that our life can increase. I said to one sister that she had to get a “tree of life” from which to eat, a hungry soul with whom she could speak. The next day I asked her, “Well, have you found a “tree of life”? “Yes,” she said, “I have experienced that it is true.” Go only to those who are hungry; Jesus went to such people. If you have Jesus’ Spirit, you will walk in His steps. Such people are usually the lowliest in the assembly, so you could almost ask, “Can anything become of such a soul? Can anything good come from Nazareth, that old little hovel in Galilee? A twig out of dry ground?” Maybe there are greater opportunities in other places; more talents: greater riches, some people with more influence? Wouldn’t it be of greater significance to win them? The Scriptures say that He makes the lowly into a thousand. “He who has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor.” Prov. 22:9. “He who gives to the rich, will surely come to poverty.” V. 16. Vanity strives for great things, but God blesses the lowly. It is more profitable to sit alone with those who are alone but who hunger for the Bread of Life, than to be together with a hundred who are rich in their spirits. For God is present in the first instance, but in the latter He stands outside.