The Kingdom Life is a Life in the Depths: take Root Downward and Bearing fruit Upward

The kingdom life is a life in the depths, for only deep calls unto deep and what is in the depths of our being can touch others in their depths; we need to let Christ take root deep in the soil of our heart and we need to take root in the soil of Christ, for our life should take root downard and bear fruit upward.

Lord Jesus, may we live such a kingdom life today. We send our roots deep down into the all-inclusive Christ to absorb all His riches. Keep us contacting You throughout the day and absorbing You with all the rich nutrients of Your being. May our life be in the depths, even a life that can take root downward and bear fruit upward! Amen!

God wants to go deeper in each one of us. He is not satisfied with us merely knowing Him in a superficial way, objectively; He wants us to spend secret, private, hidden time with Him in spirit. Outward activities for God are not enough.

Contacting the Lord when we are in meetings with the saints is not good enough.

Praying with others is very good, and we receive much enlightenment and supply, but the Lord wants us to pray personally and privately to Him, just us and Him, in our secret room.

It is one thing to minister to the house of God, that is, be involved with the service in the church, the coordination with the saints, and the many things that are needed for a proper church life.

However, it is something else to minister to the Lord Himself, that is, to spend time with the Lord, take care of His interest in spirit, and allow ourselves to bathe in His countenance as we spend time privately to pray to Him.

We need to follow the Lord’s pattern day by day to come to our dear Father who sees in secret, spend time with the Lord, and seek to know Him intimately and personally.

The world rushes on, the activities outside of us are going on, and we ourselves may be quite busy doing this and that.

But we want to be kingdom people who spend time with the Lord in private, contacting Him and drawing near to Him to minister to Him.

We want to minister not only to His house but even more, to God Himself by spending time with God.

It is not good enough to be the Levites taking care of the service around the tabernacle; we need to be the priests who enter into the Holy of Holies to contact the Lord in our spirit and be infused with Him.

We may love serving the Lord outwardly, and the saints may appreciate that we serve them; the Lord, however, wants us to minister to Him, to contact Him, and to be with Him. Amen!

The Kingdom Life is a Life in the Depths that takes Root Downward and Bears Fruit Upward

Our Christian life and relationship with the Lord is illustrated by “deep calls unto deep” in Psalm 42:7.

Our Christian life is not on the surface; that is, we don’t just do things outwardly before others to see that we are Christians and before God to please Him. We go deeper with the Lord. We want to live a life in the depths. We want to take root downward and bear fruit upward.

This is why, when we speak to others, we touch the depths in their being, for we ourselves live in these depths, contacting the Lord from deep within.

Nothing shallow can touch the depths of others, nor can anything that is superficial touch the inward parts.

When we speak about the Lord to others, it may not touch them, for we are not freshly contacting the Lord and we do not live a life in the depths.

We may convey mere Scriptural knowledge to unbelievers or even to the saints when we speak to them if we do not live a life in the depths. Others can respond deep within only to what issues from deep within us.

If we do not touch the Lord in our spirit, if we do not live a life in the depths with the Lord, keeping and guarding our secret and private time with Him in spirit, others will only receive something superficial from us, and their depths will not be touched.

If we ourselves did not touch the Lord in the depths, if we don’t live in the depths, we can never have something issuing from the depths of our being to flow out to others and touch them.

Only deep calls unto deep. May we be before the Lord concerning this matter, for if our life has no depth, our superficial work will only affect other lives superficially.

The kingdom life, the life of the kingdom people, is not a superficial life, a life that is merely outward for others to see, but a life in the depths.

Our Christian life should be the kingdom life, a life that can take root downward and bear fruit upward (Isa. 37:31; cf. Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20).

If we do not live a life in the depths and yet work for the Lord, our work may produce some results, but these will be superficial.

Our superficial work will still make others happy and stir up their emotions, and it may stir others up to make some resolutions and have a temporary excitement.

But whatever does not issue from the depths of our being, from our personal and intimate contact with the Lord, cannot touch others’ depths, nor can it make a lasting impact on them.

This means that we need to grow in life daily in a normal way by sending roots downward into Christ to absorb all His riches, so that we may receive the growth from Him and grow with the growth of God.

Our focus should not be on any outward growth but on our inward contacting the Lord, paying attention to our spirit, and living a life in the depths. We need to take root downward and bear fruit upward.

The book of Isaiah in the Old Testament shows Jehovah God in His chastisement in love to the children of Israel, and His righteous judgment on the nations, and the restoration of the created things to bring in the manifestation of the all-inclusive Christ.

God fires all things, matters, and people, for only Christ is qualified.

Then, in chapter 3,6 we see King Hezekiah being confronted with a very difficult situation: the king of Assyria sent his general to challenge the children of Israel, saying, Can Jehovah deliver Jerusalem out of my hands?

This king had destroyed many cities and kingdoms, and their kings and their gods could not deliver them; can Jehovah deliver His people and His city out of his hands?

So King Hezekiah went up to the mountain to pray, for he sought after Jehovah and trusted in Jehovah.

Then, in Isaiah 37, we see Jehovah’s answer through Isaiah; He gave them a sign. This year they shall eat that which grows up of itself, the second year, that which shoots from the same, and in the third year, they will sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

Then verse 31 says, And the remnant of those who have escaped from the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. The Lord fought for the people of Israel, and the angels of God destroyed his army, 185.000 of them.

We need to rely on God and exercise to take root downward so that we may bear fruit upward.

Hezekiah, however, did not take root downward; he did not have a hidden life. Eventually, he displayed all his treasury and armoury to the messengers from Babylon. So he did not live before the Lord.

May we be those who live a life in the depths. May we take root downward and bear fruit upward. May we allow the word of God to grow in us and may we let the word of God multiply among us.

May we ourselves be in prayer and in the ministry of the word, living a life in the depths. As the Lord increases and spreads throughout the earth, we need to go deeper with the Lord, giving ourselves to spend time in the depths with Him.

May we open to the Lord concerning this matter and allow Him to go deeper in us so that we may live a life in the depths today.

Lord Jesus, we want to live a life in the depths with You today. Make us the kingdom people who do not display outwardly what they are inwardly but rather, live in the depths one with the Lord. Amen, Lord, go deeper in us. We allow You to have more ground in our being. We open to You, Lord. Touch our inward parts. Make Your home in all our hearts. May we be saved from being superficial. Save us from merely serving You outwardly without touching You deeply in our personal time with You. Oh Lord, may we see that deep calls unto deep! May there be much inward, secret, deep experience of Christ in our being so that, when we speak to others from the depths of our being, we would touch the depths of their being! May we send our roots deep down into Christ to absorb His riches so that we may grow with the growth of God. Amen, Lord, may there be much fruit that we bear upward as we take root downward. Take us on with You. Take us on deeper with You. Go deeper in us. Amen, Lord, may we live the kingdom life, a life in the depths!

May we allow Christ to Take Root Deep in our Heart and may we Take Root Deep in Christ as the Good Land

May we see that it is not enough for us to have an outward life, an outward living of activities in the church and among the saints, without sending roots deep down into Christ.

We need to have much growth beneath the soil, not above the soil. If all we have is what others can see, we are on shallow ground.

On the one hand, we need to allow Christ as the seed of life to take root deep in the soil of our heart as the good earth (Matt. 13:23). On the other hand, we, as living plants in Christ, need to take root deep in the soil of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land (1 Cor. 3:6, 9; Col. 2:6-7).

We send our roots deep down into Christ and we let Him make His home and take root deep down in the soil of our heart.

He has come into us as the seed of the kingdom of God, and He wants to take root in our heart as the good soil.

On the one hand, we are the soil, for our heart is the soil and good earth for Christ as the seed of life to take root deep down in our heart. On the other hand, there’s another kind of taking root that takes place.

According to Colossians 2:6-7, we are living plants in Christ, and we need to take root deep in the soil of Christ, the all-inclusive Christ, who is the reality of the good land.

We need to take root deep in two ways: first, we need to allow the word of God to take root deep down in our heart, and second, we need to be living plants to take root deep in the soil of Christ.

Our heart needs to be a good heart, that is, not hardened by worldly traffic, that is without hidden sins, and that is without the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches.

For this, we need to daily allow the Lord to deal with these things in our heart so that we may grow with the growth of God (v. 19). We need to deal with our heart so that it may be the good earth for Christ to take root in us and grow in us.

This means that our hearts should not be like the soil by the wayside, hardened because of too much traffic in the world. Our hearts need to be dealt with for us to remove any rocks, any hidden sins.

We need to deal with our heart so that there are no thorns, no frustration by the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches.

Such dealings are personal, as we live a life in the depths, contacting the Lord in a personal and intimate way.

We cannot deal with these things in a corporate prayer meeting; we need to spend much time with the Lord in prayer and let Him shine on all these matters.

We may even spend an extended time of prayer so that the Lord can touch us, enlighten us, and bring in genuine dealing.

Because we have been planted in Christ as the reality of the good land, we need to take time to absorb Him; we do this especially in our times with Him in the morning.

Yes, we need to build up the church, but this building comes from our growth in life, and our growth comes from taking time to absorb the Lord.

When we have the personal building up of every member of the Body by their growth in life, then we have the corporate building up of the Body of Christ.

We need to not only read the Bible and the ministry but even more, spend time with the Lord to absorb the riches in the soil of Christ, the all-inclusive good land.

We need to take God’s word, muse on the word, chew the word, pray over the word, sing the word, and speak the word, so that the Lord would make this our reality in our daily living.

We need to repent before the Lord as we pray over His word, for He shines on us and exposes us of what we are, what the problems are in our hearts, and what hinders His growth in us.

As we allow Him to expose us by His shining, we agree with His light, and He deals with anything that hinders the growth of life. Then, we grow in life, and He makes us full in Him.

We should not merely take the word of God without praying and musing prayerfully before the Lord. We need to give ourselves to absorb the riches of Christ into our being day by day.

We cannot disclose or expose our roots before others. Once a plant exposes its roots to the air, the roots die. May the Lord work in us so that we can take root downward and absorb the riches of Christ, thus living a life in the depths.

Lord Jesus, we allow You as the seed of life to take root deep in the soil of our heart as the good earth. We come to You and allow You to shine on our heart; we say amen to Your shining and we agree with You for all the hindrances to be removed so that You may grow. Amen, Lord, we want to live not a superficial life but a life in the depths. Grow in the soil of our heart. Deal with any worldly traffic, any hidden sins, and any anxiety of life and deceitfulness of riches. We just want to offer You the good earth for You to grow in us, even to go deeper in us. Oh Lord, may we as living plants in Christ take root deep in the soil of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land! Hallelujah, we have been planted in Christ as the reality of the good land, and now we can absorb His riches! Amen, Lord, may we spend much time with You in secret, especially in the morning, to absorb Your riches by sending roots deep down into You as we read, pray, and prayerfully muse on Your word!

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 the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 37, pp. 37-44, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crucial Aspects of Matthew 5 through 7 (2025 September ITERO), week 5, The Kingdom People having the Experience of Praying in Private to Contact their Heavenly Father in Secret and have some Secret Enjoyment of Him – day 4.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – All things are but a shadow / Which unto us reveal / Thyself, in whom we’re rooted, / The only One that’s real / Enjoying all Thy riches, / Thy fulness we will be; / We’ll hold Thee, as Thy Body, / And grow with God in Thee. (Hymns #189 stanza 5)
  – 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 stanza 2)
  – Deeper, deeper, in the cross of Jesus; / Deeper let me go; / Death and life, they always go together; / Deepen, Lord, the flow. / Oh, deeper yet we pray, / Do work in us each day; / Go deeper, through and through, / Till in Thee we’re wholly new. (Hymns #1240 stanza 1)