Deal with the Problems of the Self by the Cross through the Exercise of our Spirit

Even though we can be washed and cleansed from sin and trespasses, we still need to deal with the problems of the self by the razor of the cross; we need to be dealt with by the cross through the exercise of our spirit to live not in the self but in spirit, therefore magnifying Christ and living for His glory in the genuine church life.

We believers in Christ are complicated yet wonderful persons. On one hand, we have the divine life in us in addition to the human life, and Christ is in our spirit to be our new man, the inner man.

On the other hand, we have the outer man who still tries to live and be expressed, so we need to remain in the death of Christ to put the natural man to death.

When we believed into the Lord Jesus, a new life came in, and a new person now lives in us; Christ is our person, and He wants us to live one with Him, even to live Him.

Paul testified that to him to live was Christ. He enjoyed the bountiful supply of the Spirit day by day so that even his imprisonment was not a hindrance for him to magnify Christ.

He was in the most confined and unpleasant situation, for he was imprisoned and nothing seemed to be improving outwardly.

Yet Paul did not focus on the prison, the conditions in prison, or the way the jailers treated him.

He simply wanted to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, and he wanted to magnify Christ, making Him known to all men.

He was full of hope, full of expectation, that in nothing he would be put to shame but in all things Christ would be magnified in him.

Today we need to be such ones. On the positive side, we need to exercise our spirit to be one with the Lord so that Christ may live in us and we may live Christ.

On the negative side, we need to deny the self and allow the razor of the cross to “shave off all our hair,” all that comes out of the self, so that we may live one with the Lord to express Him.

We need both aspects. We need to exercise our spirit to enjoy and experience Christ, and we need to let Him be expressed and magnified in us.

Also, we need to deny the self, dealing with all the problems and difficulties of the self by shaving them with the razor of the cross.

May we learn to cooperate with the Lord both on the positive and on the negative side so that we may live not in and by the self but in the mingled spirit so that Christ may be expressed and magnified in us.

Deal with the Problems of the Self by the Cross through the Exercise of our Spirit

The self with all its problems is typified in the Old Testament by the leper with his leprosy. In order for a leper to be cleansed, he must shave off all his hair (Lev. 14:9).

He had to shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair. Each of the different kinds of hair signifies different aspects of the self.

The way to deal with the problems of the self is by the “razor of the cross” so that the self with all its problems would be “shaved” through the exercise of our spirit.

The leper didn’t just have to be assessed so that others would know he is leprous; he had to shave all his hair – his head, his beard, his eyebrows, even all his hair.

This is a detailed shaving with much spiritual significance in our Christian life.

Especially if we want to serve the Lord, we need to deal with the problems of the self by the cross through the exercise of our spirit.

We need to let the Lord shine on all the problems of the self and remain under the dealing of the cross.

Maybe the Lord burdened us to serve Him, and He may open a way for us to serve Him in the church life.

For us to serve the Lord in a proper way, we need to deal with the self.

We need to let the Lord shine on us and we need to agree with the Lord’s shining.

We need to deal with the self and with our natural constitution and disposition.

The hair on the head of the leper signifies man’s glory in self-display. Everyone today has his boasts in certain areas. Some boast in their ancestry, others in their education, and still others boast in their zeal and love for the Lord.

Everyone can find an area in which to boast, glorify himself, and make a display before man.

We need to be aware of such an aspect of the self and deal with this problem of the self by the cross.

The beard signifies man’s self-assumed honor; people esteem themselves honorable with regard to their position, their family background, or even their spirituality.

Some people always have a feeling that they are above others, that they are superior and better than the ones around them. This needs to be shaved off by the razor of the cross.

The eyebrows signify man’s natural beauty, his excellencies, merits, virtues, and strong points.

All these issue from his natural birth, not from the experience of God’s salvation, and they need to be shaved off by the razor of the cross.

The hair of the whole body signifies man’s natural strength and ability.

As human beings, we are full of natural strength, natural methods and opinions, thinking that we can do this or that for the Lord and that we’re capable of doing all things.

All these problems of the self must be “shaved with a razor,” which means that they must be dealt with by the cross.

We need to deal with the problems of the self by the cross through the spirit, exercising our spirit to apply the cross to the self.

In order to deal with the self, we must be those who bear the cross, allowing the cross to work on us continually in order to put our self to death.

We need to remain on the cross, keeping ourselves under the termination of the cross day by day (Luke 14:27; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:10; 1 Cor. 15:31).

May we remain on the cross day by day, keeping our self under the termination of the cross daily, so that all the problems of the self would be dealt with by the cross.

By exercising our spirit, we can apply the death of Christ in the compound Spirit for the subjective crucifixion of our self (Exo. 30:23-25).

In the compound Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit with our spirit, we have the death of Christ; when we exercise our spirit, the death of Christ is applied to the self, and all the problems of the self are dealt with.

May we be those who daily not only come to the Lord to enjoy Him but also allow Him to shine on us and expose all the problems of the self, and may we cooperate with the Lord by exercising our spirit to apply the cross of Christ to the self with all its problems.

May we remain on the cross day by day by living in our spirit and walking according to the spirit so that the self would remain under the termination of the cross and Christ may live in us.

Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit and we want to remain in our spirit today. Have mercy on us, Lord, and shine on us to expose anything of the self. We do not want to live in the self or express the self. Save us from any self-display or self-boasting. Save us from thinking we are better than others. Save us from esteeming ourselves more honourable than others. Save us from expressing the natural man with its merits and virtues. Oh Lord, we open to You concerning our natural being which is so full of natural strength, natural methods and opinions. We want to not live in the self but bear the cross, allowing the cross to work on us continually to put ourselves to death. Amen, Lord, keep us on the cross so that the self would remain under the termination of the cross day by day. We exercise our spirit to apply the death of Christ in the Spirit to ourselves for the subjection crucifixion of the self. Amen, may Christ live in us as the self remains under the death of the cross!

Dying to the Self and Living to the Lord to Express Him in His Glory

The Christian life is truly wonderful, though it is such a mystery. We have been captivated by the Lord Jesus, the most wonderful One, and we follow Him because we love Him.

As we follow the Lord, however, we do not do things in ourselves or out of our own zeal; rather, to follow the Lord we need to take up our own cross, deny the self, and follow Him in spirit.

Whoever doesn’t carry his own cross and does not come after the Lord cannot be His disciple (Luke 14:27).

The aim of the cross is not to cause us to suffer; rather, it is to terminate us. We believers in Christ have been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6).

We have been joined to the Lord in spirit through faith, and we need to remain on the cross, that is, keep our old man under the termination of the cross (Rom. 8:3; Col. 2:20-21).

On the Lord’s side, He first carried the cross and then was crucified (John 19:17-18).

On our side, we first are crucified and then we bear the cross daily.

When we believe into the Lord, we are joined to Him as the crucified One, and the cross is applied to our being.

Now we need to daily die to the self and live to the Lord to express Him. This needs to be our experience day by day.

On one hand, we need to deal with the outward behaviour, signified by the washing of the clothes (Lev. 14:8).

We need to deal with all improper and wrong deeds in our lives.

This means we need to clear the past, deal with sin, the world, and the conscience, and be before the Lord concerning any improper and wrong deeds.

On the other hand, we need to die to the self and live to the Lord. We need to deal with the difficulties of the self through the cross by exercising our spirit day by day.

Paul said, “I die daily” (1 Cor. 15:31). We need to follow his pattern to die to ourselves daily, not preaching ourselves but the Lord, even Christ as the crucified One and living to the Lord for His divine glory (2 Cor. 4:5; 5:14-15).

As we die to the self and live to the Lord for His glory, we are being transformed into the same image as Christ from glory to glory!

And He is making His home in our hearts for His glory in the genuine church life (2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 3:16-17, 21).

Giving glory to God is much deeper than what most Christians think; to give glory to God means that we don’t express ourselves but we express God.

To give glory to God means that we express God, live God, and magnify Christ.

This glory should be the expression of the church; it should be the testimony of Jesus in the genuine church life.

The glorification of God is the purpose of our living and our service, for the highest living and service we can render to God is to glorify Him.

The highest service and living we can render to God is to do all to the glory of God for the corporate expression of God (1 Cor. 10:31; Isa. 43:7; John 7:18; 8:50a; 17:4; Rom. 11:36).

Not only in our eating and drinking but our whole living and all our service must be brought to this highest level so that we do all things to the glory of God.

When others see us, touch us, hear us, and speak with us, both personally and corporately, they see the glory of God. May the Lord gain this among us today.

Hallelujah, we are freed within the spirit from any self-righteousness, self-condemnation, and self-consciousness! Praise the Lord, in the spirit we’re freed from self-will and pride, and self-love and glory! We exercise our spirit, Lord, to come to You, die to ourselves, and live to the Lord for His divine glory! May our living and service be to the glory of God. May we have the highest living and service by doing all to the glory of God for the corporate expression of God! Amen, Lord Jesus, we are here for You. We want to express You and not ourselves. We put ourselves aside, we exercise our spirit, and we want to remain in our mingled spirit so that we may express You!

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 in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” pp. 363-364, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Living the All-inclusive Christ for the Genuine Church Life (2023 spring ITERO), week 4, entitled, Taking Christ as our Living for His Magnification and Dealing with the Self for our Oneness in the Divine Glory in the Genuine Church Life.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Exercise the spirit! / Soulish life deny; / Helping one another, / On the Lord rely. / Freed within the spirit / From self-righteousness, / From self-condemnation / And self-consciousness. / Freed within the spirit / From self-will and pride, / From self-love and glory, / All to override. (Hymns #866 stanzas 4-6)
  – 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. / Through the Cross, O Lord, I pray, / Put my soul-life all away; / Make me any price to pay, / Full anointing to receive. (Hymns #279 stanza 6 and chorus)
  – Lord, teach us to discern the spirit / That subtle self exposed might be, / That by the cross to it applying / We’ll live not by ourselves but Thee. / Lord, teach us to discern the spirit / That we may be transformed in soul, / Till we’re conformed to Thine own image, / Till we’re matured and reach the goal. (Hymns #746 stanzas 5-6)