APPLYING THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
In order to keep his fellowship with the Lord untarnished, Watchman Nee learned how to apply the blood of Christ to his situation. He told me that once his conscience was strongly condemning him before God concerning certain things. He could not get through, so he was compelled to seek out Miss Barber for help. After relating his story to her, she said to him, "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us" (1 John 1:7). When he told her that he was still under condemnation she repeated to him several times, "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us." Eventually, he received light that only the blood of the Lord can keep one’s conscience from any kind of condemnation before God. By that fellowship with Miss Barber, he learned that through the cleansing of the Lord’s blood it is possible to keep oneself always in the presence of God.
In 1940 while I was attending his training in Shanghai, I heard him confessing sin and applying the Lord’s blood in his prayer at the Lord’s table. I was greatly impressed with his prayer. This indicated that he relied upon the cleansing of the Lord’s blood to maintain a continual practice of God’s presence.
ABIDING IN THE LORD
Watchman Nee also thoroughly learned the lesson of abiding in the Lord according to the inner anointing (1 John 2:27-28). To him this was vital for the practice of the presence of God. He realized that the inner anointing was the Lord’s moving and working within him. To disobey the anointing was to disobey the Lord Himself. Only by obeying the inner anointing could he have the closest and most intimate walk with the Lord. He realized that even a little negligence regarding the inner anointing would keep him away from the presence of God.
By all the above practices, he kept himself continually in the presence of God. No shadow whatsoever was allowed to come between him and God, and his fellowship with the Lord was constantly maintained. It was in this kind of uninterrupted fellowship with the Lord that he continually received heavenly light and spiritual revelation. He greatly treasured God’s presence. To him God’s presence was life, light, power, and victory. In His presence he enjoyed all the riches of God’s provision. It is obvious that he received much help from the book The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. In this matter he was also helped very much by the biography of Hudson Taylor.
(Watchman Nee—A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee)
