Top 180 Watchman Nee Quotes (2025 Update)
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151. “From the evening I was saved, I began to live a new life, for the life of the eternal God had entered into me.”

— Watchman Nee

152. “Man’s failure is not due to his weakness, but to his not accepting God’s strength. It is not in his inability but in not allowing God to enable him. He cannot do it, but why not let God deliver him? This is what the Lord stresses here. The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. Our Lord wanted to prove to the young ruler what God can do, but he, instead, went away with the conclusion that the thing was impossible to him.”

— Watchman Nee

153. “If the mind is open the individual will soon perceive the preciousness of a truth which initially appeared rather dull to him but now is illumined by the spirit’s light.”

— Watchman Nee

154. “Do not be taken in or flattered by your own success or fame. Take not only as to whether or not the old creation, including everything which comes by birth, has gone through the cross.”

— Watchman Nee

155. “Whenever man touches God’s delegated authority he touches God within that person; sinning against delegated authority is sinning against God.”

— Watchman Nee

156. “How many of us dare not use our time or money or talents as we would, because we realise they are the Lord’s, not ours?”

— Watchman Nee

157. “Authority in the world is being increasingly undermined until at the end all authorities will be overthrown and lawlessness shall rule.”

— Watchman Nee

158. “A born-again person ought to possess unspeakable peace in the spirit.”

— Watchman Nee

159. “If you perform your part, God will fulfill His. And once you put off specifically, you should just as thoroughly believe that God will renew your mind, despite the fact you know not how.”

— Watchman Nee

160. “The life of faith is not only totally different from, but also diametrically opposite to, a life of feeling.”

— Watchman Nee

161. “Because it has been so united with the devil it is vital for man to receive from God a change of mind before he can receive a new heart.”

— Watchman Nee

162. “The child of God should not be overanxious to make new gains; what he essentially requires is to keep what he already has, for not losing is itself a gain. The way to retain what he possesses is to engage it.”

— Watchman Nee

163. “Since this life is God’s and cannot die, it follows that everyone born anew into possessing this life is said to have eternal life.”

— Watchman Nee

164. “Neither our psychology nor that of the unbelievers can impart life to them. Unless the Holy Spirit Himself performs the work, all is vain.”

— Watchman Nee

165. “God’s ways with us are all designed to establish in us this other principle, namely, that our work for Him springs out of our ministering to Him. I do not mean that we are going to do nothing; but the first thing for us must be the Lord Himself, not His work.”

— Watchman Nee

166. “The life of faith can be called the life of the will since faith is impervious to how one feels but chooses through volition to obey God’s mind.”

— Watchman Nee

167. “To be penitent, to feel sorry for sin, to shed tears, to even make decisions does not bring in salvation. Confession, decision, and many other religious acts can never be and are not to be construed as new birth. Rational judgment, intelligent understanding, mental acceptance, or the pursuit of the good, the beautiful, and the true are merely soulical activities if the spirit is not reached and stirred.”

— Watchman Nee

168. “If we throw ourselves open to God, He will reveal. The trouble comes when we have closed areas, locked and barred places in our hearts, where we think, with pride, that we are right.”

— Watchman Nee

169. “We think in terms of apostolic journeys. God dares to put His greatest ambassadors in chains.”

— Watchman Nee

170. “It is because we know God’s will that we may say to Him: “God, we want You to do this thing, we are determined that You do it, You cannot but do it.”

— Watchman Nee

171. “It is not a matter of how many loaves we have in our hands, but whether or not God has blessed them.”

— Watchman Nee

172. “Other people cherish another thought. They conclude that life is power. To have the Lord as our life means to be given power by Him to do good. Nevertheless, God shows us that our power is not a thing; it is simply Christ. Our power is not the strength to do things; rather, it is a Person. Life to us is not only power but also a Person. It is Christ who manifests himself in us, instead of our using Christ to display our good works.”

— Watchman Nee

173. “There is nothing stereotyped about God’s dealings with His children. Therefore, we must not by our prejudices and preconceptions make watertight compartments for the working out His Spirit, either in our own lives or in the lives of others. We must leave God free to work as He wills and to leave what evidence He pleases of the work He does.”

— Watchman Nee

174. “Were our spirits hardy we would be able to meet the most disturbing situation with peace and rest.”

— Watchman Nee

175. “The knowledge of Christ which is produced by man’s own cleverness and wisdom is not a rock that can stand firm.”

— Watchman Nee

176. “Many Christians are unaware how drastically the cross must work so that ultimately their natural power for living may be denied.”

— Watchman Nee

177. “Frequently the burden or concern in the spirit is for prayer.”

— Watchman Nee

178. “It is a great thing when I discover I am no longer my own but His. If the ten shillings in my pocket belong to me, then I have full authority over them. But if they belong to another who has committed them to me in trust, then I cannot buy what I please with them, and I dare not lose them. Real Christian life begins with knowing this.”

— Watchman Nee

179. “Lord, I do not know fully what the value of the blood is, but I know that the blood has satisfied Thee; so the blood is enough for me, and it is my only plea.”

— Watchman Nee

180. “The reason for so many defeats in the spiritual realm is because this sector of the soul has not been dealt with drastically.”

— Watchman Nee

181. “God’s Word tells us that God has spoken of old in many portions and in many ways through His servants concerning His heart’s desire and that He loves us. But man did not understand. Therefore, God had to personally come to this world and become a man. This man is Jesus, the Christ, whom we know.”

— Watchman Nee

182. “If you have not experienced the death of self, your spiritual life will have little real progress.”

— Watchman Nee

183. “He who has ascended the cross and refuses to drink the vinegar mingled with gall is the one who knows the Lord. Many go up to the cross rather reluctantly, still thinking of drinking vinegar mingled with gall to alleviate their pain. All who say – “The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?” – will not drink the cup of vinegar mingled with gall.”

— Watchman Nee

184. “The more spiritual a child of God becomes, the more conscious he is of the significance of walking according to the spirit and the dangers of walking according to the flesh.”

— Watchman Nee

185. “Only as they cease to seek anything by themselves and only as they take the position of the teachable shall they be taught by the Spirit truth which they are able to digest.”

— Watchman Nee

186. “Only if we completely acknowledge that what man requires today is God’s life: the quickening of the spirit: will we then perceive how vain is any work performed by ourselves.”

— Watchman Nee

187. “Prayer does not alter that which God has determined; it never changes anything. It merely achieves what He has already foreordained.”

— Watchman Nee

188. “Irrespective of how we physiologically are made, even possessing special weaknesses, we can overcome our sins through the Lord.”

— Watchman Nee

189. “A Christian ought to realize what the weights laid on his spirit are. If he encounters it in the morning and does not deal with it at once, he experiences defeat the whole day long.”

— Watchman Nee

190. “Only those who sit can stand. Our power for standing, as for walking, lies in our having first been made to sit together with Christ. The Christian’s walk and warfare alike derive their strength from his position there. If he is not sitting before God he cannot hope to stand before the enemy.”

— Watchman Nee

191. “We must be brought to a place where, naturally gifted though we may be, we dare not speak except in conscious and continual dependence on Him.”

— Watchman Nee

192. “Here is invariably a spiritual fact: Our spirit is released according to the degree of our brokenness.”

— Watchman Nee

193. “For Christianity begins not with a big do, but with a big done.”

— Watchman Nee

194. “Only those who are subject to authority can be authority.”

— Watchman Nee

195. “Sitting describes our position with Christ in the heavenlies. Walking is the practical outworking of that heavenly position here on earth.”

— Watchman Nee

196. “The operation of His life in us is in a true sense spontaneous, that is to say, it is without effort of ours. The all-important rule is not to “try,” but to “trust,” not to depend upon our own strength, but upon His. For it is the flow of life which reveals what we truly are “in Christ.” It is from the Fountain of Life that the sweet water issues.”

— Watchman Nee

197. “How pitiful it must be when the flesh gains dominion. Sin has slain the spirit:.”

— Watchman Nee