In our Experience we’re in the Process of Becoming a New Creation by being Broken and Renewed

In our Christian experience, we are in the process of becoming a new creation by being broken and renewed; we are daily being delivered from living in the old creation to live in the new creation, that is, we are daily being renewed!

As believers in Christ, we have both the human life and the divine life, and we have an outer man and an inner man.

There is a point in our Christian life when we realize that, through regeneration, we have received the life of God, and now there is a new person living in us – Christ lives in us, in our spirit.

However, we still live so much in the old creation, in the old man, so God is doing a work of renewing us until we live in the new creation, that is, live in the inner man, in the mingled spirit.

Our Christian life is a life of being daily renewed – we are renewed in our inner man day by day.

On one hand, God works in our environment to arrange all things for the outer man to be consumed; on the other hand, He is seeking an opening in us so that the inner man would be renewed.

There’s a continual consuming and renewing going on; on one hand, the outer man is being worn out, consumed, and decaying, and on the other hand, our inner man is renewed with the fresh supply of the resurrection life. Hallelujah!

We are new in our spirit, for God, the Spirit, Christ, and the divine life is in our spirit; our spirit is the dwelling place of God.

But what about our soul and even our body – does God live there? Is God our life and person in the way we think, in our decisions, in our choices, and in our desires? Or is it still us who live, is expressed, thinks, makes decisions, and desire things?

The Bible shows us that our outer man is still so strong, but the Lord works behind all things, especially our environment, to break down, tear down, and consume our outer man, so that the inner man may be renewed.

We shouldn’t ask for “more breaking” and “more suffering” from God; rather, we should simply learn to turn to the Lord in all the things that we experience.

Whether we are going through sufferings or peaceful situations, we need to learn to turn to the Lord, keep our being open to Him, and allow Him to work Himself into us.

Outwardly there may be a lot of things happening, and not many of the things in our environment may be pleasant or nice; inwardly, however, we are learning to open to the Lord and receive His dispensing, so that He would work Himself into us and renew us more and more.

In our Experience, we’re in the Process of Becoming a New Creation by being Broken and Renewed

1 Cor. 5:17 tells us that we are a new creation in Christ Jesus; in our spirit, in Christ, we already are a new creation, but in the other parts of our being we are still in the old creation.

In our soul and body, we are still in the old creation, so we need to undergo a process of becoming the new creation; this process is being broken and renewed.

We need to remain in the process of breaking and renewing; for us to be renewed, we first must be broken.

This is what 2 Cor. 4:16 speaks about; the outer man is being consumed, and the inner man is being renewed day by day, so we should not lose heart.

There needs to be a consuming away, a wearing away of the outer man; this breaking, this being broken, means that all our natural life needs to be broken down.

Religion wants us to be perfect, to improve ourselves, and to meet the standard and requirements of the law; in God’s economy, however, we need to be broken and renewed to have Christ added to us.

It is only when our natural being is broken down that the inner man can be renewed.

We see this principle in nature, for example, with a seed; unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies unless death operates in this grain to break the outer shell and release the power of life within, the seed remains alone (John 12:24).

But when a seed is buried and remains in death, the life contained within it will be released and will grow to be manifested.

The divine life with its power is contained and concealed in our spirit, our inner man; unless our outer man is broken, this life cannot break through, grow, and be manifested.

This is why we need to be broken and renewed.

This process is spoken of in 2 Cor. 5:18 and onward; right after Paul tells us that we are a new creation in Christ, he mentions the matter of being reconciled to God.

We have been reconciled to God initially from sin, but now we need to be reconciled to God even further.

This is the reality of the children of Israel being delivered from Egypt and arriving in the wilderness; the wilderness with the tabernacle around the mountain of God is not the end goal – they need to enter into the good land, to build the temple and establish God’s kingdom.

This is also typified by the three sections of the tabernacle – we may have passed from the outer court into the Holy Place where we enjoy Christ as the light of life (the lampstand) and the bread of life (the showbread table), but we still need to advance to enter into the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence is.

We may be in the Holy Place, enjoying Christ as our light of life and bread of life, but we still need to advance to be under the direct shining of God, in His presence.

We need to be reconciled not just once but at least twice; first, we are reconciled to God from sin to be saved, and then, we’re reconciled to God to grow in life unto maturity and be fully saved into God, being delivered fully from the things related to our natural man, the self, and the flesh.

Paul was an ambassador entreating the Corinthia believers, who were so much in their flesh and in the self, having strife, boastings, and other manifestations of the flesh, that they would be reconciled further to God.

In 2 Cor. 5:21 Paul says that, Him who did not know sin, He was made sin on our behalf, that we may become the righteousness of God in Him.

We are being reconciled to God until we become God’s righteousness in Christ. We not only are righteous but become God’s righteousness in Christ.

And in the new heaven with the new earth righteousness dwells (2 Pet. 3:13); righteousness is related to being renewed.

The Lord is taking us through the process of being broken and renewed so that we may be fully reconciled to God from living in the self, in the flesh, and in the natural man.

May we cooperate with God’s breaking and renewing process so that we may be fully renewed and become the New Jerusalem!

Lord Jesus, keep us in the process of becoming a new creation by being broken and renewed. Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You to be further reconciled to God not only from sin but also from living in the self, in the flesh, and in the natural man. Have a way in us, Lord. Have a way through all the things, persons, and matters in our environment, that our outer man may be consumed so that our inner man may be renewed day by day. Keep us in the process of being broken and renewed until we fully become a new creation in our spirit, soul, and body!

Being Saved from Living in the Natural Man and having God’s Ever-new Essence dispensed into us to be Renewed

In the sense of us being in Christ, praise the Lord, we are a new creation; but in actuality, in our daily living, we all can testify that, unfortunately, we still live in the old creation so much.

In actuality in our daily life, we are not that new because we do not yet have Christ as the only One who occupies us, fills us, and is our life, nature, appearance, and expression.

We have to admit that, even though Christ dwells in our spirit, we still do not live Christ all the time but rather, it is still us who live (Gal. 2:20), and Christ is still not formed in us (4:19).

Though we have God in our spirit, we are still not fully transformed into His image (2 Cor. 3:18), for Christ didn’t yet make His home deep down in every part of our heart (Eph. 3:16-17).

We all have the conviction that, in our daily life, we are not that new, for it is still you who lives and I who live, not Christ; as long as we are the ones who live, Christ doesn’t live in us.

As long as we still live in the old creation, in ourselves, we are still old, and we’re not new.

So the Lord takes us through the process of being broken and renewed to make us a new creation in Christ.

We have been regenerated, but there’s still a mixture in our daily living because our living is partly the new creation and even more the old creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 8:4, 14).

We are like a caterpillar who is still in the cocoon; there’s a metabolic process taking place, and the result is a glorious and wonderful butterfly, but we’re still ugly and nothing can be seen on the outside from the beauty growing inside.

We still live in the natural man so much, keeping many of our old habits and old ways of living. In our daily life, we lack God; we still live in the old creation, so much in the old ways and with the old habits.

We may be quiet in nature, so we behave in such a way in the church life also; we may be quick by nature, so we bring our natural quickness in the living of the church. Oh, Lord.

We need to be saved from living in the natural man and have God’s ever-new essence dispensed into us through the process of being broken and renewed so that we may become as new as the New Jerusalem.

The cross is the greatest help to accomplish the renewing for us; God uses the cross to discharge, remove, tear down, and consume the old man, so that the new man may be renewed (Matt. 16:24; 2 Cor. 4:10-12).

The cross is God’s unique way, His highway for us to be renewed; the cross breaks us down, causing our soul to be denied, and bringing our natural man, our self, and our flesh to an end, so that Christ may live in us.

We need the work of the cross to help us be renewed; we are being renewed through the process of being broken and renewed in our Christian life.

Hallelujah, as the cross operates in us, God’s ever-new essence is being dispensed into us to replace and discharge our old element (Rom. 12:2; Titus 3:5).

As the old man, the outer man, decreases, Christ increases. We need to daily grow with the growth of God (Col. 2:19), with the increase of God in us.

As God is increasing within us, His new element is being added to us; this element renews us regardless of our kind of disposition, and it makes us new.

He adds Himself to us as we contact Him; if we don’t contact the Lord, though we may experience the consuming of the outer man, there’s no renewing going on inwardly.

The process of being broken and renewed takes place as we contact the Lord again and again, so that He may infuse us with more of Himself.

If we don’t contact the Lord, He has no way to work Himself into us.

This is why our morning time with the Lord is so important, for simply by calling on His name and praying over His word, we breathe Him in, we drink Him, and we receive His element. Then, throughout the day this element of God renews us, even as our outer man is decaying.

Through the process of renewing, we are transferred from the realm of the old creation into the realm of the new creation to become the New Jerusalem (Col. 3:10; Rev. 21:2).

Our old habits, our old ways of living, and our old man with its living and expression is being washed away and removed as we are being broken and renewed, for God’s new element is added to us to constitute us with God Himself. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, save us much more in Your life from living in the old man, in the old creation, and in the self and the flesh. Save us from the mixture in our daily living because our living is partly in the new creation and even more in the old creation. We come to You, dear Lord, to contact You in spirit and receive more of Your ever-new element. Add Yourself to us and cause us to grow with the growth of God. We just want to breathe You in, drink You, and partake of You. Amen, Lord Jesus, have a way to renew our mind, emotion, will, and even our body! We open to Your ever-new essence being dispensed into us to replace and discharge our old element. Amen, Lord, have a way to transfer us fully from the realm of the old creation into the realm of the new creation to become the New Jerusalem!

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, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed Day by Day,” chs. 1-2, 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. / By the cross discern the spirit; / Passing thru the riven veil, / Flesh and soul are wholly broken, / And the spirit doth prevail. (Hymns #784)
  – Transformation is my need, / To be broken more indeed, / That the clay may change in form, / To the treasure to conform. (Hymns #548)
  – Thy oil anoints me here in every way, / Anointing Thee within unceasingly; / I more decrease, Thou more increase each day, / Thus full expression Thou shalt have through me. (Hymns #764)