Firm Foundation Focus

We stay in chapter 3 of The Release of the Spirit, with the focus on the “thing in hand,” and Nee brings in Balaam, which is very exposing. Here is a man recognised as a prophet, someone who speaks on behalf of God, and yet in this moment he cannot see what is right in front of him. The donkey stops because it sees the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and Balaam keeps going until he is forced to stop. That puts everything in the open a man with a recognised place, and yet no sight in the moment.

Nee brings this straight back to the person. The “thing in hand” is something being carried that has come from ourselves, something still under our own hand, and because of that, it stands in the way of what He is doing. This reaches into leadership, where what is in hand can be treated as something to use or build with, and yet the question is whether the person themselves has been dealt with. And so there are moments where everything is brought to a halt, and through people and circumstances, what is in hand is exposed, and we are brought back to Him.

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

This episode continues Chapter 3 as we read further into The Release of the Spirit by Watchman Nee, and I share some very personal reflections alongside the reading. From the illustration of The World’s Strictest Parents, to real-life examples, this shows that He does not circumvent the outward man, He deals with what is coming out of you, your reactions, your decisions, your resistance.

We then look more closely at the “thing in hand,” and how easy it is to believe we are doing something for Him, especially when there are visible results, and yet still be the one holding it, sustaining it, and directing it. This leads into the breaking of the will, where independence is exposed at its root, and our ability to decide apart from Him is brought to an end, so that what comes through is truly from Him.

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

We begin Chapter 3, reading the opening section, Recognising “The Thing in Hand”, where Watchman Nee brings this into something very direct, showing that even after the outward man has been broken, what a person is already holding onto can still stand in the way. This “thing in hand” is whatever is already taking up attention, strength, and response when the Father calls.

As this unfolds, he shows how this appears across the mind, the emotions, and the will, where thoughts, affections, and decisions are already occupied, leaving little capacity to respond to Him. This brings it into clear view, raising the question—what is already in your hand, and what answers first when He speaks?

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

We finish Chapter 2 today by reading the final section, Dividing the Outward from the Inward, and then I share one thought from Hebrews 4:12, where the Word of God, wielded by Holy Spirit, separates soul and spirit and exposes the true source of what is coming out of us.

I open up a very personal area from my own life around the need to be seen, how that developed, and how Holy Spirit has dealt with it by bringing truth from within and separating me from what was built in my soul over many years. This is that ongoing work where He holds the self life in a place where it no longer expresses itself, and what comes through is from the inner man, joined to Him.

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

In this episode, I read the next section of Chapter 2 from The Release of the Spirit by Watchman Nee, titled “Launching Out and Retreating,” where Nee describes the unstable pattern of advancing and withdrawing that often marks an unbroken outer man.

This section is longer, so I let the reading stand on its own—trusting the One joined to you in spirit to make clear what needs to be seen and understood as you listen.

The Release of the Spirit https://dci.org.uk/zipped/ReleaseOfTheSpirit.pdf

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

We continue Chapter 2, opening the section Some Practical Problems. This episode looks at the gap between what can be produced through preparation, thought, and even “revelation,” and what actually carries life, drawing from both the reading and a personal story of the Lord dealing with what was built independently from Him.

As this unfolds, the focus comes back to the breaking of the outward man as the first lesson in serving God, where everything we rely on is brought to nothing so that, as Paul writes, “death is at work in us… life… in you,” raising the question—what is actually being released through us?

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

We begin Chapter 2, reading the opening section, Before and After Brokenness. This episode looks at what is produced through thought and emotion, and what is released when the outward man has been dealt with, bringing a clear contrast between these two.

As this unfolds, we come to the question, which spirit is it?—and the reality that His Spirit and our spirit have become one, as we see the difference between initiating something in self and joining what He is already doing, and His life coming through as the outward man is broken.

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

We finish Chapter 1 by reading the final section, where Nee identifies two reasons the outer man remains untouched. This brings a direct close to the chapter, helping us recognise what holds this process back and why it continues for so many.

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

We continue through Chapter 1, reading The Timing in Our Brokenness and The Meaning of the Cross. This episode is split into two parts, first looking at how the Father carries out this work over time, and then what the Cross is actually doing within us.

As this unfolds, it becomes clear that delay in this work affects far more than our own lives, and that the Cross is not only something that has already taken place, but something that is working within us day by day — dealing with the self life so that the spirit can come through.

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk

We continue through Chapter 1, moving into Nature Has Its Way of Breaking, where Watchman Nee shows that this is something God Himself undertakes through situations and circumstances over time. As we read, I reflect on recognising His hand in these moments, and how easily we can misunderstand what He is doing. This leads into some honest thoughts on prayer ministry, learning to stay with the Father and discern what He is doing in a person’s life, rather than stepping in too quickly and getting in the way of that work.

About Alex

Alex is from the UK and he teaches and disciples across nations after years serving in Poland. His heart is the maturing of sons, believers growing into the fullness of Christ and revealing His life on earth. He serves within Firm Foundation, a work the Father is unfolding, joining partners who carry the same call. Through the Firm Foundation Focus podcast, Alex helps sons mature in Christ, discover the Father’s eternal purpose, and live Their way of life.

Check out the Firm Foundation website for more information ffdiscipleship.co.uk