In the Lord’s work, we need to reject ourselves, oppose our disposition, and not be limited by our natural disposition; we need to live by the divine life who is able to endure all things, fit all situations, and meet all needs for the fulfilment of God’s purpose.
Many people – believers and unbelievers alike – are proud of what they are by birth; some are patient, others are joyful, and still others are diligent, so they treasure what they have in their natural makeup.
God made us in a certain way, with a certain disposition; however, due to the fall of man, our natural disposition has the element of the evil one, and it cannot be useful to God.
Take the example of Peter, for instance; in his natural disposition, he was absolute for the Lord and loved the Lord, yet he failed miserably.
First, he wanted to stop the Lord from going to die, so he expressed his opinion that the Lord would not go to the cross; the Lord immediately identified Satan being expressed through Peter, and He shut this gate of Hades manifested through his opinion.
Then, Peter had one of the worst failures one can have: even though he promised the Lord that he loves Him even more than the others and he’s ready to go to Him even unto death, he denied the Lord three times, and the Lord knew this.
This must have really exposed Peter and dealt with his natural disposition.
We need to realize that our natural disposition is simply our self, what we are; it is us, and it is in us, so for us to deny our natural disposition is for us to deny the self.
How can we deny ourselves? It is only by exercising our spirit continually so that we may reject ourselves and live by another life, the divine life.
We believers in Christ have another life in our spirit, the divine life of God; our Christian life should be in spirit, by the spirit, and according to the spirit, so that God’s purpose may be fulfilled in us.
However, by default, we live in the flesh and we express the self; so the Lord is faithful to expose us, shining on all the aspects of our natural disposition and showing us that we cannot be pleasing to Him as long as we still live in the self. Oh, Lord!
How much we need to exercise our spirit and say amen to the Lord shining in us so that we may reject what He identifies in us to be the self and live by the divine life!
If unbelievers deny themselves, there’s nothing left, for their self is all that they have; if we believers deny the self, we have Christ living in us, and He can be the One who is manifested through us to be expressed in us.
Learning to Live a Life of Rejecting our Natural Disposition and Trusting in God – Reject the Self and Rely on the Resurrecting Triune God!
We shouldn’t be limited by our natural disposition in the Lord’s work; instead, we should learn to live a life of opposing ourselves, opposing our disposition.
We need to realize that whatever we have and whatever comes out of us cannot be brought into the Lord’s service – only by living in spirit and serving in spirit can we be useful to Him and pleasing to Him (Rom. 1:9; 7:6; 2 Cor. 3:3-6; 4:5).
The natural disposition of some brothers, for example, reflects a strong self-confidence; their self-confidence must be overthrown by continually rejecting themselves and by relying on the resurrecting Triune God 2 Cor. 1:8-9).
In 2 Cor. 1 Paul said that he and those with him were excessively burdened beyond their power that they despaired even of living so that they would base their confidence not on themselves but on God who raises the dead.
We can all testify that the Lord sovereignly brings us into environments and situations that are beyond our power; if we are in ourselves and trust in ourselves, we cannot cope with them, for they are beyond our power.
This is so that we may learn not to trust in ourselves, not base our confidence in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.
It is easy to say that we trust in God, but when it comes to our daily living, we may still trust in ourselves and not in God.
God can do in us what we can’t do in ourselves; resurrection is in the realm of impossibility. All our service to God should be in the realm of resurrection.
With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
We all can testify that, when the Lord asks us to serve in a certain way or go in a particular direction, the only way this is possible is with God in us; with ourselves it is impossible, but with the resurrecting Triune God in our spirit it is possible. Amen!
This is our Christian life and our church life.
Peter denied the Lord three times, so in John 21:13-15, the Lord came to restore him and his love for Him.
He promised the Lord and declared in front of everyone that, even though all others may forsake Him, he will never forsake Him but rather, he’s ready to lay down his life for the Lord.
However, he failed to the uttermost, for before the rooster crowed, he denied the Lord three times.
The Lord allowed Peter to fail utterly in denying the Lord to His face so that his natural strength and self-confidence would be dealt with.
Then, the Lord came in resurrection to restore him and recover his function and love for the Lord; once his natural confidence and love toward the Lord were dealt with, he could love the Lord with God as his love.
Once our natural confidence, our trust in ourselves, and our natural love toward the Lord are dealt with, we can love the Lord with our love; we have no love toward Him in ourselves, but we can live by His love.
The result is that we don’t have a natural love toward the Lord, but we love Him as our love, and we don’t trust in ourselves but in God, who raises the dead.
We may be gifted and absolute for the Lord, but if we are not dealt with in our natural disposition and we do not reject ourselves, we may bring in turmoil and cause much damage and even division in the church.
We may be an absolute person, but we may be absolute in ourselves without the Lord, without taking the Lord as our absoluteness. Oh, Lord!
May we realize our utter helplessness, how utterly helpless we are in everything and in everything, and how much we need the Lord in everything and in anything!
The less a man is enlightened by God, the more he thinks that he will have no trouble obeying God; the quicker a man makes loud claims, the more it proves that he has never paid any price. Oh, Lord!
Those whose words pretend intimacy with God are probably the farthest away from Him (Matt. 6:1-6, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14; Phil. 3:3).
We cannot obey God in ourselves, but the Lord’s life of obedience is in us, and when we live by His life, we can express Him in His obedience to the Father.
In our natural man, we cannot submit to the Lord; if we can, this needs to be rejected.
We need to allow the Lord to enlighten us and expose our natural disposition so that we may take Him as our life of obedience and submission.
The Lord in Matt. 6 emphasizes that whatever we do toward God should be done in secret so that the Father who sees in secret would repay us in secret.
Our prayer, our giving alms, and our fasting should all be in secret; we need to have a lot of secret history and experiences with the Lord, sending our roots deep down into Him to have hidden growth.
Only once we have a hidden life with the Lord, hidden growth with Him, can we bear fruit for others to see.
We need to humble ourselves before the Lord, contacting Him in a personal, intimate, and private way, being open to Him to receive His enlightening and shining to realize what we are in our natural disposition.
Then, we need to reject ourselves, being “the circumcision” – those who do not live by the flesh but by the spirit, boasting in Christ Jesus, and serving by the spirit (Phil. 3:3).
May we have no confidence in ourselves but boast in Christ Jesus; may the Lord have mercy on us that we would not have any confidence in the flesh, in any part of our natural disposition.
It is impossible for us to be an overcomer and to live the Christian life in ourselves and according to our natural disposition; only Christ as the life-giving Spirit living in us can live the Christian life and can be an overcomer.
May we open to Him to enjoy Him, experience Him, and be constituted with Him in our inward being so that we may become His duplication on earth today.
Lord Jesus, have mercy on us and enlighten us concerning our natural disposition. Shine on us and expose our self-confidence so that we may continually reject the self and rely only on the resurrecting Triune God. We open to You, Lord, and we acknowledge our utter helplessness; we are not suitable for Your service or for the church life when we live in our natural disposition. Give us the experiences we need and keep our being open to You so that we may be dealt with in our natural disposition until we lose all confidence in ourselves and trust only in God. We want to experience Your life of obedience to God; in ourselves, we cannot obey God, but Your life of submission and obedience is in us. Oh Lord, we reject ourselves, we oppose our natural disposition, and we come to You to be filled with You, constituted with You, and become Your duplication. We believe that this is impossible with man but it is possible with You: do it in us!
Working together with God by His Life who can Fit All Situations and Accept any Kind of Treatment for the Carrying out of the Ministry
In our natural disposition, many of us cannot work for God or serve in the church until there are certain circumstances that are suitable to us, or when the conditions are according to what we prefer.
The natural disposition of some brothers is one of refusing to work as long as the circumstances are not perfect or the conditions are not adequate.
We need to realize that this is our natural disposition, and we must reject the natural disposition that requires a particular kind of environment before we can work (1 Pet. 4:1; 1 Cor. 9:23-27).
Most times in our service for God the circumstances are not perfect and the conditions are not adequate; those around us may not be welcoming and our situation may not be the best, yet the Lord wants us to serve Him.
With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
For example, we may like to have our own space, our own office, not being bothered by others when we serve or do something for the Lord; however, the Lord may arrange that we are put together with everyone else, and this may be quite bothersome to us.
Some people don’t know how to utilize their environment; rather, they expect that the environment would suit them.
They refuse to work as long as the circumstances are not perfect and the conditions are not adequate.
May we allow the Lord to enlighten us and expose our natural disposition so that we may become those who are flexible and fit any environment, adjusting to any circumstances.
For this to happen, we need to reject our disposition that requires a particular environment before we can work, and work together with God by His life.
The divine life which we have in our spirit is an all-fitting life.
Such a life is all-sufficient and all-mature, being able to fit all situations; it is able to endure any kind of treatment, accept any kind of environment, and work in any kind of condition and take any kind of opportunity for the carrying out of the new testament ministry.
May we learn to work together with God by such a life which is in our spirit; we need to work together with God by a life that is able to fit all situations and is able to endure any kind of treatment.
Our service to God is by a life that is able to accept any kind of environment, that is able to work in any kind of condition, and that is able to take any kind of opportunity for the carrying out of the ministry! Amen!
This is the kind of life that Paul lived by, and such a life is in us today; we need to learn the secret of experiencing Christ in everything and in every place (2 Cor. 6:1-2; Phil. 4:5-9, 11-13).
In everything and in anything, in all things, we need to realize that our natural life doesn’t fit; our living according to our natural disposition doesn’t fit the Christian life and the church life, for our natural disposition is not all-fitting. Oh, Lord!
But the divine life in us can fit all situations, endure any kind of treatment, and accept any kind of environment.
May we learn the secret of experiencing Christ in everything and in every place, living by the divine life and serving God by this all-fitting life!
Lord Jesus, we love You and we want to serve God by the all-fitting life in our spirit. We acknowledge that in our natural disposition we do not fit the Christian life or the church life. We open to You, dear Lord, and we exercise our spirit to live by another life, the all-fitting divine life in our spirit! Hallelujah, the divine life in us can fit all situations, is able to endure any kind of treatment, and is able to accept any kind of environment! Amen, Lord, we want to live by this all fitting life and work together with God by this life! May we learn the secret of experiencing Christ in everything and in every place so that He may live in us and serve God in us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 3, “Character,” chs. 3, 5-7, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Vital Factors for the Lord’s Recovery of the Church Life (2021 ITERO), week 6, The Factor of Dealing with our Natural Disposition for our Growth in Life and our Usefulness in Service.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Since it must be thus, I pray, Lord, / Help me go the narrow way; / Deal with pride and make me willing / Thus to suffer, Thee t’obey. / I for greater power pray not, / Deeper death is what I need; / All the meaning of the Cross, Lord, / Work in me-for this I plead. (Hymns #279)
– He’s pledged to save us to the full, / His life is operating; / He’s doing everything for us / ’Tis all for our perfecting; / Our life’s a failure at its best, / Only His life can stand the test: / His life brings full salvation! (Hymns #1130)
– We work together with God by a life, / We work together with God by a life: / All-sufficient, / All-mature; / Able to fit / All situations, / Able to endure / Any kind of treatment, / To accept any kind of environment; / All-fitting life! (Song on, All-fitting Life)
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