Deny the Self by the Cross to be Dependent on the Lord and on the Body of Christ

The self is the soul declaring independence from God and from the Body of Christ; we need to deny the self and be dependent on the Lord and on the Body, for only when the self-life has been utterly dealt with by the cross are we able to touch the reality of the Body of Christ and come to know the Body. Oh, Lord Jesus!

The Lord Jesus builds His church, and He does it with us, the regenerated and transformed believers in Christ as the living stones, upon Himself as the foundation.

However, whenever we speak of the building of the church, we need to realize that the enemy is attacking; therefore, we need to exercise the kingdom of God, even to use the keys of the kingdom.

The gates of Hades attack the church, seeking to damage the church and slow down the building work.

But praise the Lord, we have been given by the Lord the keys of the kingdom of the heavens to bind on earth what has been bound in heaven and to loose on earth what has been loosed in the heavens! Amen!

Peter used two of the keys of the kingdom when he opened the way for the Jewish and the Gentile people to enter into the church as the kingdom of God.

Today we have at least three subjective keys of the kingdom of the heavens, which we need to exercise in order to shut and lock up the gates of Hades.

We need to not only see what the gates of Hades are in our subjective experience but even more shut them and lock them up.

The keys are not just for shutting the doors; the keys are for locking up the doors. The gates of Hades are the kingdom of darkness.

What are the gates of Hades in our subjective experience today?

The Lord Jesus did not leave us in the dark about it, and Peter himself became an example of what it means to open the gates of Hades: the self is one of these gates, our opinions are also gates, and the soul-life and our unwillingness to take up the cross are gates of Hades.

The Lord Jesus took the lead and set the pattern of what it means to build up the church and live in the reality of the kingdom when He denied Himself, He did not love His soul-life, and He took His cross and was fully one with the Father in His daily living.

Today we as believers in Christ need to exercise the subjective keys of the kingdom by denying the self, losing our soul-life, and taking up our cross to follow the Lord so that we may build up the church.

Whenever we are in our spirit, exercising our spirit and living according to the spirit, we are in the church in reality, for we live in the kingdom of God.

But when we’re not in our mingled spirit, we live in the self, we express the flesh, and we do not bear the cross; in such a situation, we damage the church. Oh, Lord!

We need to Deny the Self by being Dependent on the Lord and on the Body of Christ

One aspect of the self is independence from God and from the Body; the self is the soul declaring independence from God.

Because the self is something independent, the self is the greatest problem when it comes to the building up of the Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ requires that we depend on the Lord and on the fellow members of the Body, but the self is the soul declaring independence from God and from the Body. Oh, Lord Jesus!

The Lord doesn’t have regard for what we do; rather, He has regard for our dependence on Him (Matt. 7:21-23; Josh. 9:14).

It is not what we do that matters before God; what matters to Him is whether we depend on Him in all the things we do and we do not do.

When we are independent from God, no matter how many good works we do for Him and how much we serve in the church, to the Lord it amounts to nothing.

The true sign of the self is independence; when we’re independent from the Lord, when we do things for Him or for ourselves but apart from Him, that is living in the self.

If we do things without turning to the spirit, without depending on the Lord, we live in the self, and we rather damage the Body instead of building up.

The enemy of the Body is the self, because the self is something independent. Oh, Lord!

Because the self is independent, the greatest problem to the building up of the Body, even the greatest frustration and opposition, is the self.

Martin Luther once said that he was afraid of the Pope in Rome, but he is much more afraid of the pope within him, the self, which is stronger than the Pope in Rome. Oh, Lord!

We need the Lord’s shining today so that He may enlighten us and show us the self.

We need to see, under the Lord’s shining, that the self seeks to be independent from God and from the Body.

For us to deny the self (Luke 9:23), we need to learn to exercise our spirit and depend on the Lord and on the Body.

Actually, when we depend on the Lord, we also depend on the Body, for the Lord is the Head of the Body, and when we are one with Him, we’re one with the Body.

Also, when we depend on the saints the Lord put us with, when we are dependent on the members of the Body, we are dependent on the Lord.

We need to endeavour to be built up with the saints and be right with the Body.

If we are right with the Body and are built up in the Body, we will surely sense the Lord’s presence.

May we see that the Lord has more regard for our dependence on Him than for what we do for Him yet apart from Him.

When we are about to do something, we need to check with the Lord and see if He is doing that thing, and we also need to be in the fellowship of the Body regarding this.

If we’re independent of the Lord, we are in the self; if we are dependent on the Lord, we are spontaneously dependent on the Body, and the self is denied.

We should learn to depend not only on God but also on the Body, on the brothers and the sisters (Exo. 17:11-13; Acts 9:25; 2 Cor. 11:33).

Some say that they depend on God, but they are not willing to depend on the Body; they do things in their own way, according to what they like, saying they depend on the Lord, but they are not in the fellowship of the Body.

May the Lord grant us to be dependent on God and also dependent on the Body! The Lord and His Body are one, so if we’re dependent on the Body, we are also dependent on the Lord!

But if we’re independent of the Body, we are spontaneously independent of the Lord.

The apostle Paul was a person who depended on the Lord and also on the Body; from his writings, we see how much he depended on the Lord for his supply, but we also can see that he depended on the petition of the saints (Phil. 1:19-21).

He did not only speak of doctrines and spiritual matters but also greeted the saints, asked for some to come to him, appreciated the help of others, and was very much in fellowship with many saints and in a proper relation with many churches. What a pattern!

No matter how many good things we intend to do, no matter how burdened we are for this or that aspect of the church life, and no matter how great is the need for the gospel, shepherding, visitation, blending, etc, we need to learn to be dependent on the Lord and dependent on the Body.

We need to deny the self, who many times is active in the things of God so that it can express itself, and learn to be dependent on the Lord and on the Body.

Dependence kills the self. Independence causes the self to thrive. May we see the vision of the self and hate our independence from the Lord and the Body.

May we deny the self today by exercising our spirit and depending on the Lord and on the Body.

May we treasure our dependence on the Lord and on the Body more than what we can do for the Lord and in the church life!

Lord Jesus, shine on us and grant us to see the vision of the self! May we realize that the self is the soul declaring independence from God and from the Body. Oh Lord Jesus, shine on us and expose the self in its independence! We want to turn to our spirit, Lord, and depend on You. May we treasure more our dependence on God and on the Body than our doing things for God and in the church life. Oh Lord Jesus, we love You! We turn to You! We want to check with You concerning all things. We want to learn to fellowship with You about all things to depend on You and fellowship with the saints to depend on the Body. Limit, Lord, our independence; have Your way to limit us as the Spirit within and as the Body without. May we see that the greatest problem, frustration, and opposition to the building up of the Body is the self. May we repudiate the self, not stand with the self, not live in the self, and deny the self so that we may be built up with the saints in the Body! Oh Lord Jesus, may we hate our independence from the Lord and the Body! May we love being dependent on the Lord and on the Body for the building up of the Body!

When the Cross Utterly deals with the Self-Life we can Touch the Reality of the Body

Because Satan injected his mind and thought into our soul, our soul declares independence from God and from others, and the self wants to live, be expressed, and do many things.

As believers in Christ, we have God’s life in our spirit, but the soul is still here, declaring independence from God.

Even in the church life, it is easy to just be in the realm of the church life, meeting with the saints, enjoying the Lord here and there, but still living in the self.

A sign that we live in the self is that we do not depend on the Lord nor do we depend on the Body.

When we are dependent on the Lord, the self is gone and, instead of the self, we have the Lord’s presence and are full of peace.

When we set our mind on our spirit and depend on the Lord in our spirit, we are filled with life and peace (Rom. 8:6).

When we are dependent on the Lord, we enjoy the peace of Christ arbitrating in our hearts (Col. 3:15), for His peace is in us when we are in a proper relationship with Christ and with the Body.

We know that we are dependent on God because we have genuine peace within us.

However, some Christians may say they have peace even though they do not depend on the Body; they may be quite capable, being able to do many things for God, but they are not willing to depend on the Body. Oh, Lord!

There is such a thing as self-made peace, a peace made by the self, which is not the peace of Christ in the Body but a fake peace.

The more such ones claim that they do something for God, the more the saints sense that they are not at peace.

We need to experience the peace in the Body by denying the self and being dependent on the Lord and on the Body.

When we the self-life is utterly dealt with by the cross, we can touch the reality of the Body and we can be in the Body in reality.

This is why the Lord told us that, for the building up of the church, we need to deny the self, lose our soul-life, and take up our cross and follow Him (Matt. 16:24).

May the Lord have mercy on us and shine on the self-life so that we may see how busy the self is, how active and how zealous the self is, and also how independent the self is from God and from the Body.

Only when the Lord in His mercy shines on us and exposes the self in its independence from God and from the Body can we truly allow the cross to be applied to us and deny the self.

It is only when the self-life has been utterly dealt with by the cross that we’re able to come to know the Body and touch the reality of the Body of Christ.

May we be saved from any self-made peace, a peace that is made and maintained by the self, and may we be dependent on the Lord and on the Body in everything that we do.

We believers in Christ are members of the Body of Christ; we are intimately and closely related to the Head, Christ, and also to the members of the Body that the Lord put us with.

However, the self is the greatest enemy of the Body, for the self declares independence from God and from the Body.

May we learn to deny the self so that we may close this subjective gate of Hades in our experience for the building up of the church.

May we come to the Lord concerning all our decisions, desires, thoughts, actions, and intentions to do this or that for Him or in the church life.

When we have the self, we don’t have the Body, but when we have the Body, we do not have the self. Oh, Lord!

We need to deal with our self-life; we need to lock the gate of the self (1 Cor. 15:31).

No one can lock it for you and you cannot lock the gate of the self for others; we are responsible for locking up our own self.

How much this open gate of the self has frustrated the building up of the local churches!

But how much building up is taking place when the saints deny the self and are dependent on the Lord and on the Body!

Lord Jesus, may our self-life be utterly dealt with by the cross so that we may be able to touch the reality of the Body! Amen, Lord, shine on us today. Show us what the self is and expose the self-life. Save us from living in the self even in our daily living. Keep us turning to You. Keep us turning to our spirit. Keep us in fellowship with the Body, being properly related to Christ the Head and with the members of the Body. Amen, Lord, we want to cooperate with You to lock up the gate of the self, a gate of Hades, by denying the self and being dependent on the Lord and on the Body! We fully open to You, Lord, and we fully open to the Body! We need You, Lord, and we need the Body! Amen, Lord, we cannot do anything apart from You, and apart from the Body we are not able to do anything! We want to depend on You and depend on the Body in all things. May we enjoy this peace that results from denying the self to depend on God and on the Body of Christ!

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 Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 3, “The Heavenly Vision,” chs. 3-4, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God (2024 October ITERO), week 4, The Exercise of the Kingdom for the Building Up of the Church.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Dealing with self, a portion from, The Experience of Life, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
  – The governing vision for denying the soul life, via, Lamb Follower.
  – The way to deal with the self, a portion from, Basic Principles of the Experience of Life, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee.
  – The Crucial Role of Our Mind in Our Christian Life, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – What is the Self? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – Deny the Self for God’s Building Work, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – God wanting man to deny himself and live by Christ, a portion from, The Crucified Christ, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee.
  – Why Read the Bible? To Slay God’s Adversary! More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Denying the self, a portion from, The Experience of Christ, Chapter 22, by Witness Lee.
  – The Narrow Way of Bearing the Cross and Denying the Self unto New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – A Life Full of Forbearance but without Anxiety (5), a video sharing via, LSM YouTube.
  – Dealing with the Self, via, Living to Him.
  – The application of dealing with the Flesh, a portion from, The Experience of Life, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee.
  – Christ, the Cross, and the Church, via, Shepherding Words.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Limit, Lord, my independence, / Let me to Thy Body turn; / Not just seeking light from heaven, / But the church’s sense to learn. / May we be the stones for building / Not the formless, useless clay, / Gain in us Thy heart’s desire. / Corporately Thyself display. (Hymns #1225 stanza 4)
  – As members of the Body / Christ we would manifest, / Each learning how to function / His fulness to express; / We would not be spectators / But each as members move, / None bringing death or damage / But each our profit prove. / As in a team we’d never / Act independently, / But in coordination, / Each would dependent be; / Not acting by our choosing / But following the flow, / Distraction never bringing, / The Spirit’s way we’d know. (Hymns #867 stanzas 1-2)
  – Lord, breathe Thy breath of life upon me, / To me a true dependence give; / Deal with my death and isolation, / That in Thy Body I may live. (Hymns #843 stanza 5)