Live a Life in the Depths and have Deep Experiences of Christ, Not Exposing our Roots

As believers in Christ, we need to have direct and intimate fellowship with the Lord to live a life in the depths, having roots that go deep down in God and not showing forth our roots but rather, having many hidden, private, and intimate experiences with God and of God.

We need to live the kingdom life by living a hidden life. Even as the Lord Jesus did not show forth all that He heard from the Father, neither did He perform more than what He lived before and with the Father, so we today need to do the same.

We need to learn from the Lord’s pattern of living a hidden life; daily we need to set time aside to be with the Lord in prayer.

We may have ups and downs, we may have a success or a failure, but we do not remain there, nor do we boast or complain; we simply come to the Lord and spend time with Him in prayer.

We need to treasure our time with the Lord, being with Him personally in prayer.

The principle of the kingdom people is that they live a hidden life; they don’t perform their righteous deeds before men but rather, have a hidden life before the Lord and with the Lord.

When it comes to our righteous deeds, such as giving, praying, and fasting, we live in an emptied and humbled spirit and walk in a pure and single heart, and our unique desire is to be with the Father in secret, not show off any righteous deeds.

We should pray much but not let others know how much we pray, and we need to do our righteous deeds in secret, before the Lord, not so that others see them and appreciate it.

Our God is a God who hides Himself; He does many things but He conceals Himself, not being visible in what He does.

We like to display, but God likes concealment; we cannot live without outward manifestations and appreciate them very much, but God does not crave such things.

Rather, He works in secret, He wants to gain some who know Him and enjoy Him in secret, and He is in the secret part of our being, speaking to us in a tender and quiet voice, the anointing.

God has the kind of temperament that dislikes ostentation; He likes to work secretly rather than openly.

And we love Him! We want to know Him as such a One, not only as the One who does things for us outwardly and saves us in His life but even more, as the One who does things in secret.

We want to let Him make His home in our heart, even work Himself into the depths of our being, so that there would be something of God in the depths of our being to flow out and into others to touch the depths of their being.

Only deep calls unto deep.

As we spend time with the Lord in secret to absorb Him in our times with Him, there will be something of God that is wrought into us, into the depths of our being, and we will not be eager to show others what we enjoy and experience of Him.

Having Deep Experiences of Christ like that of the Apostle Paul and Not Exposing our Roots

In 2 Cor. 12:1-4 Paul tells us how he had some deep experiences of Christ, so deep and precious that he didn’t even tell us what they were, only that he heard some things that were unspeakable.

Paul was caught away to the third heaven and caught away into Paradise, but he did not divulge this experience until fourteen years later.

He had roots that were deep beneath the soil. We need deep experiences of Christ like that of the apostle Paul; however, we should not expose our roots.

Can you imagine, Paul had such great visions, but he never even mentioned them for fourteen years?

If we would have such great visions and deep experiences of Christ, we may want everyone to know; we may even hold a conference to tell everyone about it.

But Paul did not divulge his experience for fourteen years – the church didn’t know about it, the apostles did not hear it, and he did not tell anyone about this.

Paul’s roots were deep beneath the soil. It is important for us to have deep roots into Christ and not expose them.

If we want to have Paul’s work, then we need to have his roots, and if we want to have Paul’s outward conduct, then we need to have his inner life.

If we want to have Paul’s manifest power, we need to have his secret experience of Christ and with the Lord.

If we have no roots in Christ, if we do not have deep experiences of Christ in our private time with Him, we have no hidden treasure.

This means that we have no hidden life or hidden experiences of Christ.

May we all seek the Lord in secret, open to Him in secret, and send our roots deep down into Him in our personal, private, and intimate time with Him. As we have deep experiences of Christ in our daily life, we need to make sure we do not expose our roots.

It is essential that some of our experiences remain covered, for if we uncover everything, we lose everything.

In Isa. 39:2-8 we see the story of Hezekiah, who was mortally ill but God graciously healed him.

When the news of Hezekiah’s sickness and recovery reached the Babylonian court, they sent some messengers with letters and a present.

Hezekiah truly experienced the grace of God in a deep way, but he was not able to stand the test of grace.

He was so glad that he showed the messengers everything he had, the silver and the gold, the spices and the fine oil, his treasury, and his whole armoury with everything that was found among his treasures.

He did not overcome the temptation to display everything. God then spoke to him through the prophet that, whatever he showed to the Babylonians, would be taken by them into captivity, yet not in his lifetime.

What we expose of our roots with the Lord will be lost.

This doesn’t mean that we should not bear testimony; rather, we should testify of the Lord to others, but we should not delight in exhibiting our experience.

It is one thing to testify to others of what we enjoyed and experienced of the Lord, but it is something else to delight in exhibiting in our experience before them. Oh, Lord!

Our object in testifying is not to display before others what we experience of Christ or to delight in the deep experiences we had with the Lord.

To do this is to expose our roots and therefore to lose them.

When we expose our roots, we have no root and we have no treasure.

It is essential that some of the experiences we have of the Lord, some of the hidden deep experiences of Christ, would remain covered, for to uncover everything is to lose everything. Oh, Lord Jesus!

If our life has no depth, our superficial work will only affect other lives superficially, for only deep calls unto deep.

May we learn to enjoy and experience the Lord, having hidden and deep experiences of Christ, and may we resist the temptation of showing these forth before others.

May we learn to testify of what the Lord is doing in us and around us without exhibition.

We exhibit Christ, not ourselves.

We exhibit what He is doing in us and among us, but we do not expose our roots.

We need to learn to follow the inner anointing.

The secrets we have with the Lord must be preserved, for only if He moves within us to reveal something, dare we reveal it.

If the Lord wants us to share an experience we had with Him before a particular brother, we dare not withhold it, but if He in us does not want to do this, we should not do it.

On the one hand, we need to fellowship in the Body and flow out life to others by sharing our experience of Christ with them.

On the other hand, we should not expose our roots, for this will open the way for the enemy to attack us and take from us what we have. No root should be exposed.

Lord Jesus, we desire to have deep experiences of Christ like that of the apostle Paul! Amen, Lord, we love You and we open to You! We want to enjoy and experience You in secret. Keep us living before You, even living one with You in all things. Oh Lord, may we have deep roots in Christ by spending much intimate, private, and hidden time with the Lord throughout the day. We want to have the inner life that is hidden with Christ in God, taking Christ as our life and our everything. We give ourselves to You, dear Lord, to have roots sent deep down in Christ. May we experience Christ daily and accumulate the experiences of Christ in a deep and hidden way. Oh Lord, save us from exposing our roots. Save us from exposing all our deep experiences of Christ for others to see. Save us from losing our experiences of Christ by delighting in exhibiting them before others. Oh Lord Jesus, we want to learn to function in the Body in a proper way but without exposing our roots. May we have deep experiences of Christ so that our life has depth before God until deep calls unto deep!

Live a Life in the Depths by Having Direct and Intimate Fellowship with the Lord

We may read portions of the Word such as 2 Cor. 12:1-4 and we may think that such deep experiences of Christ are reserved only for some of the more mature and experienced Christians such as the apostle Paul.

While it may be true that we may not have such experiences of the Paradise as Paul had, we all can contact the Lord and live a life in the depth by having direct and intimate fellowship with the Lord.

A pure and beautiful spiritual life is derived from inward, hidden, and uninterrupted fellowship with God.

When we send forth our roots into Christ in our personal time with Him, we will bud forth like the lily and we will send forth our roots like the trees of Lebanon (Hosea 14:5).

As we live a life in the depths by having direct and intimate fellowship with the Lord, we will bear much fruit, for such a life is capable of bearing much fruit (vv. 5-7).

This portion in Hosea is very interesting, for it refers to lilies who have roots like the trees of Lebanon.

On the one hand, we live a simple life trusting in God, having a pure and single heart for Him; on the other hand, we send our roots deep down in Christ, Amen!

In order for us to live a life in the depths, it is necessary to have direct and intimate fellowship with the Lord.

We need to take time to behold the Lord in secret, having direct and intimate fellowship with Him.

We cannot have a second-hand knowledge of Christ, nor should we have merely an open enjoyment of Christ; we need to personally enjoy Christ in our daily life.

Song of Songs 4:12 says, A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride, / A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

In our spiritual progress with the Lord, we as the Lord’s loving seekers need to become a garden for Christ’s personal satisfaction.

As we live in ascension, one with Christ, we become a garden for the Lord’s personal and private satisfaction.

As believers in Christ, we need to close up a little more and seal up tighter, so that our work may become more prevailing.

Many times we are too eager to expose our roots. We may enjoy something of Christ and we may have a personal experience of God, and then we’re eager to tell others about it.

We may have some deep experiences of Christ and, as soon as we meet other Christians, we are ready to speak concerning these. Oh, Lord.

We need to extend ourselves deeper and take root downward, being aware of not exposing our roots before others.

May the Lord grant us grace and do a deeper work in us through the cross so that we may strike deep roots and live a hidden life in the depths to fulfil God’s requirements and satisfy His heart.

We need to have a rich and deep inner life with the Lord. Day by day we need to accumulate the experience of the riches of Christ, opening to the Lord from within and having much private and spiritual time with Him.

When we allow the Lord to touch us and infuse something of Himself into the depths of our being, our inner being is touched, and others will receive help and be enlightened.

Whether we share of our inner personal experience with the Lord or not, the Body of Christ has much benefit simply by our allowing the Lord to touch our inner being.

If we have no depth, we will only do a superficial work for the Lord, but if we send our roots deep down in the Lord and live a life in the depth, having deep experiences of Christ, we will be able to live the reality of deep calls unto the deep.

Lord Jesus, grant us the grace to spend time with You and not rush our personal contact with You. We want to strike deep roots into Christ. May we live a pure and beautiful life deriving from inward, hidden, and uninterrupted fellowship with God. We want to send forth our roots deep down into You. May we be those who live a life in the depths by having direct and intimate fellowship with the Lord. Amen, Lord, strengthen our time with You. We want to pay the price to be with You in secret, contacting You, enjoying You, and have deep experiences of Christ. Oh Lord, may we send roots deep down into You to absorb You and enjoy You. Grant us the grace, dear Lord, and do a deeper work in us through the cross so that we may strike deep roots! Grant us the grace to live a hidden life in the depths to fulfil God’s requirements and satisfy His heart. Amen, Lord, we are here for Your satisfaction. We are here to please You! We love You, dear Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 37, pp. 39-44, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God (2024 October ITERO), week 2, Living the Kingdom Life by Living a Hidden Life.
• Similar articles on this topic:
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• Hymns on this topic:
  – Only this I know: I tell Him / All my doubts and griefs and fears; / Oh, how patiently He listens! / And my drooping soul He cheers; / Do you think He ne’er reproves me? / What a false friend He would be, / If He never, never told me / Of the sins which He must see. / Would you like to know that sweetness / Of the secret of the Lord? / Go and hide beneath His shadow; / This shall then be your reward; / And whene’er you leave the silence / Of that happy meeting-place, / By the Spirit bear the image / Of the Master in your face. (Hymns #553 stanzas 3-4)
  – Take time to behold Him, / Be calm in thy soul, / Each thought and each temper / Beneath His control. / Thus led by His Spirit / To fountains of love, / Thou then shalt be fitted / His mercy to prove. (Hymns #643 stanza 4)
  – Unto him that hath Thou givest / Ever more abundantly; / Lord, I live because Thou livest, / Therefore give more life to me, / Therefore speed me in the race, / Therefore let me grow in grace. / Deepen all Thy work, O Master, / Strengthen every downward root; / Only do Thou ripen faster, / More and more Thy pleasant fruit; / Purge me, prune me, self abase; / Only let me grow in grace. (Hymns #394 stanzas 1-2)