As lovers of Christ who pursue Him for our mutual satisfaction, we are called to be delivered from the self through our oneness with the cross of Christ, and we do this by the power of resurrection in our mingled spirit. Amen!
We want to be those who love the Lord’s appearing by maintaining our love for the Lord day by day.
We believers in Christ are lovers of Christ, those who love Him whom we have not seen, being drawn to Him to pursue Him and enjoy Him. How we love the Lord Jesus!
Though we have never seen Him physically nor have we touched Him or felt Him with our physical or psychological senses, we love Him, for He is the most wonderful One.
Day by day we contact Him and enjoy Him.
We do not look at the things which are not seen nor do we focus on our situation or the environment; we focus on the Unseen One, the One who is the most Precious One. He has appeared to us in spirit.
We have seen something of Him in His word, and by the hearing of the faith, we started to believe into Him.
We were joined to Him, He drew us to Himself, and we were magnetized by Him. We just love Him!
When we wake up in the morning, we tell Him, Lord Jesus, I love You!
We may not feel it, but deep within our being there is a love for the Lord.
The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, and we simply love the Lord.
Outwardly the age gets darker and darker, and in Christianity in general there is so much degradation; however, we love the Lord and enjoy Him, and we love to spend time with Him to be infused with Him.
He truly is the most wonderful One! He is light in darkness, He is joy in grief, and He is the heavenly life on earth.
He brings heaven to us and brings us to heavens, for when we turn to our spirit He joins us to God and brings God to us and us into God. We truly love Him.
We love to spend time with Him, enjoying Him in His word and partaking of His riches.
In His word, He speaks to us and reveals to us all His riches for us.
When we open to the Lord and come to His word, wow, the riches of His being shine on us, we are infused with His sweetness, and we cannot resist Him!
How can you resist this most wonderful, most precious, most lovely One?
When we behold His face, He infuses us with what He is.
We can truly say, Lord Jesus, kiss me. Kiss me with the kisses of Your mouth, for Your love is better than wine!
Wine may give us temporary happiness but the Lord’s sweet taste gives us true joy, happiness, peace, and rest.
As we love the Lord Jesus and fellowship with Him, we are passing through some experiences in a progressive way to be prepared as His bride.
This progressive experience and fellowship with the Lord is seen in type and in pictures in the book of Song of Songs.
We are called to be Delivered from the Self through our Oneness with the Cross of Christ
In the second stage of Song of Songs, as it relates to our Christian experience, we as lovers of Christ are called by the Lord to be delivered from the self through our oneness with the cross of Christ (Song of Songs 2:8-3:5).
We all can testify that, as we love the Lord Jesus and pursue Him for satisfaction, so many times we fall into introspection, focusing on ourselves, our condition, and our situation.
When we look to the Lord, He is like a gazelle or a young hart, leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills.
But when we look at ourselves, there seems to be a wall between us and the Lord, and He seems to be looking through the windows and glancing through the lattice.
He is calling us to come, rise up, and come with Him, but we seem to be locked in, walled in, and stuck in our introspection.
On His side, the Lord is leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills, for Him there’s no obstacle or barrier, and nothing is too high or too great to stop Him.
But on our side, there seem to be some barriers and some difficulties, and there is the self, which holds us down and locks us in. Oh, Lord.
All the troubles concerning our fellowship with Christ come from our side; on His side, there’s no problem, but on our side, there are mountains and hills that frustrate us from coming to Him.
With the Lord, there’s the power to leap and skip over any barrier, but when we’re in the self, we’re walled in, we do not have the power to move, and we focus on ourselves. Oh, Lord Jesus!
Introspection is to look within us, to look inside, into ourselves, instead of looking to the Lord Jesus.
We may care too much for our spiritual condition before the Lord, being concerned with whether we remain in the perfection that we have attained to.
When we do this, we become introspective, and this becomes a separating wall which keeps us away from the Lord and deprives us of His presence.
Song of Songs 2:8-9 speaks of the vitality of resurrection; in these verses, Christ is likened to a gazelle or a young hart leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills.
Our Christ is in resurrection, and nothing is too great or too high to stop the resurrected Christ.
We need to seek for and know Christ’s mountain-leaping and hill-skipping presence.
Christ is in resurrection, being filled with the power of resurrection, but we are in introspection.
Whenever we are introspective, whenever we focus on our own condition without being one with the Lord and loving Him fervently so that He shines on us instead of us “shining a light” on ourselves, we see mountains and hills ahead of us, and there seems to be a wall between us and the Lord.
The problem in the self separates us from the Lord. However, the Lord calls us out of the self; He wants us to be delivered from the self through oneness with the cross by the power of His resurrection.
He asks us to come out of ourselves, out of our introspection, so that we may join Him and be one with Him as the hill-skipping and mountain-leaping resurrected Christ.
As lovers of Christ, we may fall into introspection, which becomes a seclusion as a wall that keeps us away from the presence of Christ.
The Lord calls us and encourages us to rise up and come out of our low situation to be with Him.
May we hear the Lord’s call and exercise our spirit to contact Him so that we may be filled with His power of resurrection to be delivered from the self through our oneness with the cross of Christ.
Lord Jesus, we love You. We focus only on You. We do not want to fall into introspection. We want to see You and enjoy You as the mountain-leaping and hill-skipping Christ! Hallelujah, nothing is too high or too great to stop the resurrected Christ! Amen, Lord, may we hear Your call for us to be delivered from the self through our oneness with the cross of Christ! Save us from the self. Save us from introspection. Save us from being secluded and separated from Your presence by our introspection. Oh Lord, may we hear Your encouraging word for us to rise up and come out of our low situation to be with You in resurrection! Amen, Lord, we love You! We want to be delivered from the self through our oneness with the cross of Christ by the power of His resurrection! Keep us going on with You. Keep us advancing with You in our daily living. We want to seek for and know Christ’s mountain-leaping and hill-skipping presence! We love You, Lord Jesus!
By the Power of Resurrection, we are Enabled to be Conformed to Christ’s Death by being One with His Cross
How can we be delivered from introspection? How can we be delivered from the self through our oneness with the cross of Christ?
As lovers of Christ who pursue Him for satisfaction, we love Him, seek after Him, and enjoy Him.
However, it is easy for us to fall into the self and be introspective. It is easy for us to be secluded in our introspection, away from the Lord’s presence.
Our self creeps in; it causes us to be introspective.
Whenever we look at ourselves, trying to analyze ourselves and examine ourselves, we will always be in a low situation.
The Bible tells us to look away unto Jesus (Heb. 12:2); our self is not worthy of our attention.
Our self deceives us and is not real; though the self may be so present and strong today, we should look away unto Jesus.
Introspection is one of the greatest enemies of our progress in the Christian life.
We need to be strengthened with the power of resurrection to be delivered from the self by being one with the cross of Christ.
The Lord encourages us as His lovers to rise up and follow Him with the riches of His resurrection.
Song of Songs 2:13 says, Rise up, my love, / My beauty, and come away.
He considers us as His beauty and calls us to come away.
Because we’re introspective, we’re in a low situation; so our Beloved Lord Jesus calls us to Himself and asks us to rise up, for the winter is past and the rain is over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth and the time of singing has come; the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
All these are the riches of the flourishing resurrection of Christ.
We need to enjoy the Lord and be strengthened by the power of resurrection so that we may be enabled to be conformed to the death of Christ by being one with His cross.
Verse 14 says, “My dove, in the clefts of the rock, / In the covert of the precipice, / Let me see your countenance, / Let me hear your voice; / For your voice is sweet, / And your countenance is lovely.”
We may be introspective, focusing on ourselves instead of the Lord, but the Lord encourages us by the power of His resurrection and with the flourishing riches of His resurrection for us to come out of ourselves and be delivered from the self.
We need to learn to know the resurrection power of Christ, learn and experience the riches of the flourishing resurrection of Christ, and experience the cross of Christ to be delivered from the self.
It is by the strengthening of the resurrection power of Christ and by the encouragement of the flourishing resurrection of Christ that we can experience the cross of Christ and be delivered from the self.
It is by the power of resurrection – not by our natural life – that we, the lovers of Christ, are enabled to be conformed to His death by being one with His cross.
This means that we need to exercise our spirit and be in the mingled spirit so that we may participate in and experience the resurrection of Christ
. This enables us to be one with the cross to be delivered from the self and be transformed into a new man in God’s new creation for the fulfilment of God’s economy in the building up of the organic Body of Christ (Rom. 8:2, 4, 29; Gal. 6:15; 2 Cor. 5:17).
As lovers of Christ, we are called by the Lord to remain in the cross, in a crucified condition, continually (Gal. 2:20; 1 Cor. 15:31; 2 Cor. 4:10-11).
However, we may not choose to do so, for it is a difficult matter for us to enter into the clefts of the rock and the covert of the precipice high in the mountains by a rugged road.
So the Lord empowers us as His lovers to rise up and come away from our low situation in our introspection of the self by showing us the power of His resurrection.
Also, He encourages us by the flourishing riches of His resurrection to be delivered from the self by being one with the cross of Christ.
It is by the power of His resurrection that we as those who love the Lord determine to take the cross by denying the self (Matt. 16:24).
It is by the power of the resurrection of Christ that we’re enabled to be conformed to the death of Christ by being one with His cross (Phil. 3:10).
How can we enjoy and experience the power of His resurrection today?
The reality of resurrection is Christ as the Spirit, the pneumatic Christ (John 11:25), and this Christ indwells us and is mingled with our regenerated spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).
It is in and by means of our spirit that we participate in and experience the resurrection of Christ.
The power and riches of the resurrection of Christ enable us and encourage us to be one with the cross so that we may be delivered from the self and be transformed into a new man in God’s new creation! Hallelujah!
Lord Jesus, show us the power of Your resurrection and encourage us by the flourishing riches of Your resurrection. We exercise our spirit to contact You, know You, enjoy You, and participate in the power of Your resurrection. Oh Lord, it is only by the power of Your resurrection that we as the lovers of Christ can determine to take the cross by denying the self! It is only by the power of Your resurrection that we’re enabled to be conformed to Your death by being one with Your cross. We turn to You right now. We exercise our spirit. We want to be in our spirit, for in spirit we’re mingled with You and it is here that You as the Spirit dwell. Amen, Lord, we want to be in our mingled spirit so that we may participate in and experience the resurrection of Christ! Keep us in our spirit today so that we may be enabled to be one with the cross of Christ to be delivered from the self and be transformed into a new man in God’s new creation!
Read this article in the Romanian language – citiți acest articol în limba română la următorul link, Să fim eliberați de sine prin cruce prin puterea învierii lui Cristos.
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 Watchman Nee, vol. 23, “The Song of Songs,” secs. 1-5, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, Keeping the Faith, and Loving the Lord’s Appearing in Order to Receive the Reward of Christ as the Crown of Righteousness (2024 ICSC), week 4, Loving the Lord’s Appearing by Maintaining Our Love for Him according to the Intrinsic Significance of Song of Songs.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– How Can Christ’s Crucified Life Become Our Pattern? Read more via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– The Narrow Way of Bearing the Cross and Denying the Self unto New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– By Christ’s resurrection power through His fellowship, a portion from, Life-Study of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs, Chapter 13, by Witness Lee.
– Christ, the Cross, and the Church, via, Shepherding Words.
– A lover of Christ, a new song via, Hymnal.net.
– What Does It Mean to Walk According to the Spirit in Romans 8? More via, Bibles for America blog.
– Life-study of Song of Songs, Message 3: Called to Be Delivered from the Self through the Oneness with the Cross, message by brother Lee.
– Dealing with the Self, via, Living to Him.
– Dealing with the self by the cross, a portion from, Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
– What is the Self? Read more via, Hearing of Faith.
– The day-by-day Christian life, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique. - Hymns on this topic:
– Lord, may Thy blood now cleanse me, / Wash all my sins away, / That with Thy Holy Spirit / Thou may anoint, I pray. / My service, I confess, Lord, / Is failure-full and weak; / The filling of Thy Spirit / To live for Thee I seek. / Oh, from myself deliver, / From all its misery; / I’d henceforth be forever / Completely filled with Thee. (Hymns #280 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Divine deliverance e’er slays man by the cross; / Though cruel it may seem, it is a grand release. / Christ ne’er will be our life if we escape the cross; / Christ ne’er will be expressed but by our sure decease. / The cross’s final goal, that God’s will be fulfilled; / His will’s arch enemy is but the self of man. / If self be done away and all the soul-life killed, / God’s will shall then prevail and prospered be His plan. (Hymns #622 stanzas 2-3)
– The blest reality / Of resurrection power, / Thy Church’s dower, / Life more abundantly, / Lord, give to me. / Thy fullest gift, O Lord, / Now at Thy word I claim, / Through Thy dear Name, / And touch the rapturous chord / Of praise forth-poured. / Jesus, my life is Thine, / And evermore shall be / Hidden in Thee, / For nothing can untwine / Thy life from mine. (Hymns #365 stanzas 4-6)
Life-study of Song of Songs, pp. 20-23, by Witness Lee
Song of Songs 2:14, footnote 1, Recovery Version Bible
Dear brother, the Lord calls us, the lovers of Christ, to be delivered from the self through our oneness with the cross of Christ.
We should not remain in introspection, which becomes a seclusion that keeps us away from the presence of Christ.
The Lord encourages us to rise up and come out of our low situation to be with Him by showing us the power and riches of His resurrection.
Amen. Praise the Lord!🙏🏼💖
Amen! Yes Lord!
Dear brother, It is by the power of Christ’s resurrection, not by our natural life, that we are able to be conformed to His death by being one with the cross to be delivered from the self! to be transformed into a new man in God’s new creation!
Amen, yes, we don’t want to remain in introspection or in self.
No mountain is too high for our Lord. It is us who create the walls that separate us from Christ.
Amen, call us to come out of ourselves.
This week we must take into account 6 experiential stages – they are a very living picture of our steps towards meeting our husband.
https://youtu.be/bGKw9MglGOk?si=u0a-No93pJb1f7xu
What a mercy and a blessing to know that we have the mountain-leaping and hill-skipping pneumatic Christ in our Spirit!
As the resurrected one nothing is too great or high for Him and He can overcome all the barriers and difficulties that frustrate our coming to Him.
Instead of being introspective, remaining in a low situation, we must rise up and come away to Him!
All barriers & difficulties are beneath Christ’s feet.
Therefore, all the troubles in our fellowship will the Lord come from us.
One of those troubles is our introspection, which can separate us from the full experience & enjoyment of the Triune God.
Our Christ wants us to get away from the introspection of the self, and we can do this by the power of Christ’s resurrection.
The only way we can remain on the cross continually is by the power of resurrection, and this power is in our mingled spirit.
May we turn again & again to our mingled spirit in order to be free from the problem of the self.
Amen! Exercise the spirit.
Christ has resurrected! All difficulties and barriers are under His feet!
He comes “leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills” [S.S. 2:8].
This means that nothing is too high or too great to stop Him.
07/09/24 Loving the Lord’s Appearing by Maintaining Our Love for Him according to the Intrinsic Significance of Song of Songs (Week 4, Day 2)
After the lover of Christ has been drawn to pursue the Lord for satisfaction in the first stage of Song of Songs, he is then brought into the second stage of the experience in the loving fellowship with Christ, wherein, he is called by Christ to be delivered from the self through her oneness with the cross by the power of Christ’s resurrection.
Three critical words help us to interpret this section: cross, self, and introspection. The cross is signified by the clefts of the rock and the covert of the precipice (SS 2:14). These are places of safety, but they are rugged, and few would be willing to go there. The clefts of the rock and the covert of the precipice surely signify the cross as the place of safety for fallen man.
The safest place for us to be is the cross. Although the self has no figure in Song of Songs, according to Christian experience, it is manifested in the second stage. In the first stage, the lover of Christ pursues Him, receives help in the fellowship in the inner chambers, and enters into the church life, where she experiences transformation. She enters into the rest and enjoyment of Christ for her full satisfaction.
Then the self rises up, and the lover of Christ begins to care only for being perfect. This is the self. The self is very subtle. In Matthew 16, after the Lord Jesus unveiled the way of the cross for the accomplishment of God’s economy, Peter showed his love for the Lord by saying, “God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!” (Mat 16:22).
Peter thought that was his own word. Actually, Peter spoke from his self, which had become one with Satan. The Lord Jesus rebuked Peter saying, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Mat 16:23a). Then the Lord spoke about denying the self (Mat 16:24). This reveals that the self is the satanic humanity; it is man possessed and usurped by Satan. As a result, man in his fallen humanity cares only for himself.
Because everyone is for himself, selfishness is seen in all kinds of relationships—between husband and wife, between children and parents, between employers and employees. The self is the satanic humanity; it is man possessed and usurped by Satan. As a result, man in his fallen humanity cares only for himself. Even a lover of Christ, one who yearns for Him, seeks Him, and gains Him, is still troubled by the self.
Self comes in under the false cloak of introspection. Actually, self is constituted with introspection. Introspection is to examine yourself by looking into yourself. The Bible teaches us to always look away unto Jesus (Heb 12:2). We should not look at ourselves. Our self is not worthy to look at. Nevertheless, every spiritual person who reaches a situation of satisfaction in Christ eventually falls into introspection, not only examining the self but also analyzing it.
Only the cross of Christ can deliver us from such a situation caused by introspection. Therefore, we need to be called to be delivered from the self through our oneness with the cross. When we become one with the cross, hiding ourselves in the clefts of the rock and in the covert of the precipice, we will be delivered from the self. The lover of Christ is called to be delivered from the self through her oneness with the cross by Christ’s resurrection power through His fellowship (SS 2:8-9).
In this second stage (SS 2:8—3:5), the lover of Christ learned three basic lessons:
[Excerpt from HWMR-Wk. 4 Day 2]
S.S. 2:8-9
The voice of my beloved! Now he comes, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart. Now he stands behind our wall; he is looking through the windows, he is glancing through the lattice.
–
HWMRW4D2
“𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥’𝘴 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴”
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Youtube:
https://youtu.be/rCuqYjuol4w
Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v565m97-delivered-from-the-self-through-the-cross-by-the-power-of-resurrection.html
https://on.soundcloud.com/wAthPeeR5XU8PC5z5
Ameeeen!!!
Truly all the troubles concerning our fellowship with Christ come from our side.
There are many “hills” and “mountains” frustrating us from coming to Him, but He is never frustrated, for He can “leap” and “skip.” Our Lord is the Lord of resurrection.
Christ has resurrected; He has overcome all difficulties and barriers. Difficulties and barriers are things of yesterday. He is living in the next day.
All difficulties are beneath His feet. This means that nothing is too high or too great to stop Him.
We admit that to enter into the experience of the cross to deny the self and to be conformed to Your death are very difficult.
A new song on this topic is,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYDSsqlKqHY
A similar song on this topic is, Lovers of Christ in His Ascension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JA1eGw5sVA
Also, it is recommended to enjoy, Crazy Lover of the Lord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-0jQzlNe0M
We love the Lord! Enjoy, I’m so attracted by Your love, via,
Amen and amen! This is a most excellent portion. I have learned that introspection is in fact the killer of resurrection. Oh Lord Jesus.
The world will tell us that introspection is good, it will lead us to “self improvement.” The truth is, there is no such thing as a good self.
Introspection is like looking in the mirror. Some days we look better than others…who knows why. Maybe sleep, diet, weather…who knows? Should we start to perseverate on it, what did I eat, how did I sleep, how long did I pray, did I drink enough water etc. this is like introspection.
The Lord shared with me a couple years ago that there are no mirrors in heaven. Should we wish to look at ourselves, we will need to view our neighbor. The more I think about this the more I realize its wisdom. You see, in heaven the self is gone. We are truly one. For me to gaze upon you, is to gaze upon me. We will all be truly one. No separation. No more “selfs.”
Taking the cross is allowing our self to die. Introspection dies. Criticism dies. Judgement dies. We live only through His life and His heart. When we allow Him this latitude, the mirror shatters.
Hallelujah saints. Let us pray every morning to be freed from this heaviness and run and leap on the mountaintops with Him.
in His love.