From the "Watchman Nee Daily Devotional" for June 26"Seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him. Colossians 3.9, 10. That ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, . . . and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind." Ephesians 4.22, 23 These passages underscore the fact that we should experience the perfectness of the new man in accordance with the life of God. Put off, put away and put on are actions of the will. Believers need to exercise their will to reject all the works of the old man and to choose all the freshness of the new man. The apex of Christian living is the life of the will. With the will set, they shall be renewed in mind and knowledge according to the image of God. The mind is the battleground in spiritual warfare. It is the stronghold of the Adamic life as well as being that part of our life which is most corrupted by sin. If the mind be renewed, the image of God can easily be restored.
_________________Mike
See, this kind of teaching only serves to confuse me. Nee and others say one thing but then other preachers say the EXACT opposite; they say that you need to GIVE UP your struggle against sin and just let CHRIST live THROUGH you and let HIM do all the work, and that the harder you strive to do good works or to try to wrestle against a besetting sin, the more in bondage you become to the sin! And to me that makes some sense, because you can have all the willpower in the world but if you don't LOVE Christ and/or don't allow HIM to LIVE THROUGH YOU then all the willpower in the world is only going to be good for a little while.I think Nee's focus should be more on CHRIST and less on WILL.
Dear brother I do see you are confused. Perhaps I can help. Brother Nee says nothing about willpower as you say. He is speaking of exercising our will in the power of the "new man" which is renewed in Christ. It actually is Christ Himself indwelling, willing and working. It is us exercising faith which is an action of the will which is a renewed will after we are born again. The contrast to this is exercising our will in the power or life of the flesh, or "the old man". Paul testifies to the deliverance of this in many passages of Scripture such as I (old man) am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I (renewed man) live, yet not I (renewed man apart from Christ), but Christ Himself liveth in me. This speaks of his living union with Christ in the inner man, which is emancipated and free to exercise the renewed will to reject sin and trust God.Hope that helps brother!
_________________R. Evan Gombach