The Christian life is a life of being renewed; as our outer man is being consumed, our inner man is being renewed day by day with the fresh supply of the resurrection life. Hallelujah!
As believers in Christ, we received another life – the divine life, and now we are learning to live by this life in our daily living. Again and again, we need to turn to our spirit, contact the Lord, and be inwardly supplied by the fresh supply of resurrection life, and we will live Christ.
Our need is to walk in newness of life and serve in newness of spirit. How can we walk in newness of life and serve in newness of spirit?
It is by being in the mingled spirit; we need to exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, and we need to live in the mingled spirit.
When Christ came into us, He came as the Spirit and was joined to our spirit; we are now one spirit with the Lord, and the Lord is with our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22). Hallelujah, our spirit is life!
Our spirit, the innermost part of our being, is life, for both God, Christ, the divine life, and the Holy Spirit dwell in our spirit.
Whenever we turn from our mind to our spirit, we touch life; when we walk according to the spirit by following the sense of the divine life in our spirit, we walk in newness of life.
When we serve God in spirit, in the exercise of our spirit, we serve in newness of spirit.
Newness is in our spirit; newness is God Himself, for only God is new, and this new, fresh, living God is in us, in our spirit! Everything that is related to our spirit that has been regenerated by God is new; everything that comes out of our spirit is new.
When our mind is set on our spirit, our mind becomes life (Rom. 8:6); when we set our mind on our spirit, the divine life in our spirit has a way to spread into our mind to renew our mind and make our mind life.
Our entire inner being needs to be filled and saturated with the divine life.
Many times, however, we are not willing to open our being to the Lord; we close our being to Him, and He has to find a way in.
So the Lord uses the environment with all the things and persons and matters around us to consume our outer man so that our inner man may be renewed.
May we keep turning to our spirit, setting our mind on our spirit, and looking not at the environment but at the Lord, the One who lives in us and who is constantly and continuously renewing us!
May we turn our eyes from what we can see, turning from our condition and situation, and simply set our whole being on Him by turning to our spirit and living in the mingled spirit, so that we may live a life of being renewed in our inner man day by day.
The Christian Life is a Life of Being Renewed in our Inner Man as the Outer Man is Being Consumed
The Christian life is not a religious life or merely a proper life; the Christian life is a life of being renewed day by day.
We need to be renewed in our inner man as our outer man is being consumed (2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23).
The Bible tells us that we are a new creation; if we are a new creation, why do we still need to be renewed?
As many as are in Christ, they are a new creation; this takes place mainly in our spirit, the innermost part of our being.
We are made of three parts: our spirit is our innermost part, our soul which surrounds the spirit, and our body which is outward.
God as the source of newness has come into our spirit; from our spirit, He wants to spread into every part of our being so that He may renew our mind, emotion, and will, and He would even swallow up our mortal body in life.
In our spirit, we are a new creation, but in our soul, we still need to be renewed; our Christian life is a life of being renewed in our inner man.
The Lord is faithfully working in the environment to consume our outer man so that our inner man may be renewed.
We should not lose heart because, though our outer man is decaying, being consumed, our inner man is being renewed day by day.
The environment with all the situations and people and things around us is causing our outer man to decay and be consumed; inwardly, however, the Lord keeps us in a process of being renewed in our inner man.
We need to realize that our outer man is being consumed, but our inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16).
Our outer man consists of the body as its organ with the soul as its life and person. Before we were regenerated, our outer man was living and active, and the soul was the person with the body as the organ to fulfill its desires.
However, after being regenerated, we have an inner man, which consists of the regenerated spirit as its life and person, with the renewed soul as its organ.
The order in our being has been changed; our soul is no longer the person – now our inner man, our spirit regenerated with the divine life, is our real person.
The old man – the outer man – still tries to live, move, and be expressed, but our real person is our inner man.
Every believer in Christ has an inner man, which is the regenerated spirit indwelt by the Triune God; formerly, we lived by the outer man, but now we need to live by the inner man.
The outer man is being consumed, but the inner man is being renewed.
This doesn’t mean that we need to seek sufferings and put ourselves in situations that are unpleasant so that we would put the outer man to death; we simply need to keep turning to the Lord and be renewed in our inner man.
The life of the soul must be denied; the soul-life, the life of the unrenewed soul, must be denied and put aside for the Lord’s sake (Matt. 16:24-25).
However, the functions of the soul – the mind, the will, and the emotion – must be renewed and uplifted by being subdued by the Lord (2 Cor. 10:4-5).
Our renewed soul can be used by the spirit, the person of the inner man, for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Day by day our outer man is being consumed and our inner man is being renewed.
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us as the source of newness to renew us and make us as new as God Himself. May we realize that our Christian life is a life of being renewed in our inner man, even as our outer man is being consumed. Amen, Lord, we want to cooperate with the process of being daily renewed. We turn to You again and again, and we are willing to put our soul-life aside for Your sake. Renew us in our inner man today. We choose not to live in and by the outer man but to allow the inner man to move, work, and be expressed in us. Amen, Lord, strengthen us into our inner man and have a way to spread into our soul to renew us more and more!
As our Outer Man is being Consumed, our Inner Man is Renewed with the Supply of Resurrection Life
We can all testify that, even though we thought we will have a peaceful and calm life after believing into the Lord, our experience is that the outer man is being consumed and our inner man is being renewed day by day.
As we spend time with the Lord, read the Word, fellowship with Him, and meet with the saints, we are experiencing the renewing of the mind.
As we live our Christian life, the outer man is being consumed, worn out, and even put to death; however, the inner man is being renewed.
This means that day by day, through all the situations, people, things, and matters sovereignly arranged and allowed by God around us, our outer man is reduced, worn out, and decreased, and our inner man is increased.
This is what should happen in our Christian life daily: the outer man needs to be decreasing, and our inner man needs to be increasing.
The outer man – which includes the fallen body with the soul as its life and person – is decaying, being consumed.
The inner man – which consists of the regenerated spirit as its life and person with the renewed soul as its organ – is being renewed day by day.
Our inner man is being renewed by being nourished with the fresh supply of resurrection life.
Outwardly, the Lord arranges the environment to put to death and consume the outer man; inwardly, there is a fresh supply of resurrection life for our inner man to be renewed.
There is a killing work of death that consumes our outer man, even our body; however, there is a fresh supply of resurrection life that is available in our spirit to renew us more.
Our body is getting older and decaying, our flesh is being exposed by the Lord’s light, and our old man is being exposed and put to death.
Furthermore, our regenerated spirit is being metabolically renewed day by day with the fresh supply of resurrection life (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 7:22, 25).
We may sometimes want to escape God’s hand, and we may want to avoid the suffering and the consuming.
We may use our cleverness to escape the breaking of the outer man, and we may think that no one is able to deal with us.
However, the more we try to escape the breaking, the more we suffer; it is our destiny to be consumed in the outer man so that our inner man would be renewed.
We have a treasure within us, the Triune God Himself; this treasure has a renewing element, and the more we turn to the Lord in our spirit, the more we are inwardly renewed.
This treasure, however, needs the environment to do the work of the killing, destroying, consuming, and grinding of the outer man, so that the treasure may be seen and expressed through us.
The Lord sovereignly uses our environment to consume us.
We may think that we did something wrong, hence we are being punished or disciplined; however, whether we’re right or wrong, the consuming of the outer man comes, for our inner man to be renewed.
If we look at the apostle Paul, he didn’t do anything wrong, but there was much consuming of the outer man so that the inner man would be renewed.
We shouldn’t seek to do wrong things but rather, simply exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, saying Amen to His sovereign hand, realizing that, the more we experience the consuming and putting to death of the outer man, the more our inner man is renewed.
The more our outer man is being consumed, the more our inner man is being resurrected, renewed, and developed. How we thank and praise the Lord for this process of being renewed day by day!
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to be renewed in our inner man day by day! Save us from trying to escape the consuming of the outer man; may we simply say Amen to all the consuming work done by the environment. Amen, Lord, keep us turning to You and enjoying the fresh supply of resurrection life so that we may be inwardly renewed more and more. Cause us to realize that our outer man needs to be consumed, broken, ground, and put to death; save us from trying to preserve our outer man. Oh Lord, may our vessel be conformed to the wonderful treasure in our spirit so that You can be seen and manifested in us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a message by bro. James Lee on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 11, 34-37 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Meeting God’s Need and Present needs in the Lord’s Recovery, week 5, entitled, Our Need to Walk in Newness of Life, to Serve in Newness of Spirit, and to Be Renewed in Our Inner Man Day by Day.
- Hymns on this topic:
– By the cross discern the spirit, / With the mind by light renewed, / All emotion consecrated, / And the will in love subdued. (Hymns #748)
– Earthen vessel I was made, / Christ in me the treasure laid; / His container I must be, / As the content He in me….Transformation is my need, / To be broken more indeed, / That the clay may change in form, / To the treasure to conform. (Hymns #548)
– Hallelujah! In the body we / Bear the death of Christ continually: / Thus His life comes forth for all to see as / The outer man is broken down, / The inner man is shining so that— / In these earthen vessels men can see / There’s the treasure of reality! / Thus the gospel’s glorious light will be / Shining out from us. (Hymns #1178)
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