We need to be identified with the crucified Christ, even be in Christ, to carry out the ministry of reconciliation to reconcile others into God; first, we need to be reconciled to God from living in the flesh and in the natural life, and then we can bring others where we are, to being reconciled further to God.
Lord Jesus, may today be the day of more reconciliation to God! Thank You for reconciling us to God through Your death on the cross. Hallelujah, we believe into the Lord Jesus, we have peace toward God, and we’re justified! Amen, Lord, we want to be further reconciled to God. We come to You and we want to be identified with You as the crucified Christ. Save us from still living in the flesh, in the soul, the other man, and the natural being. Reconcile us further into God! Amen!
The Lord has made each one of us, the believers in Christ, ambassadors of God, and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We may not think we have this ministry, but simply by being reconciled to God, we can bring others where we are.
By faith in Christ, many wonderful things happened; we were redeemed, justified, and reconciled to God, and we were made ambassadors of Christ.
Wow, we are those who represent God, the highest authority in the universe! As ambassadors of Christ, even when we’re in a prison – as the apostle Paul was – we still have the ministry of reconciliation.
No matter where we are, no matter how low we are, and no matter how much suffering and limitation we experience, we need to carry out our ministry of reconciliation.
First, we ourselves need to be reconciled to God; we have been reconciled to God from sin, but we need to be reconciled further into God from living in the flesh.
We need to take the second step of reconciliation by allowing the Lord to apply the cross to our being so that we may no longer live in the self or in the flesh. Christ died for our sins to redeem us, and He reconciled us to God initially.
Christ also died for us, the sinners, the persons, so that He may apply the cross to our natural being and crucify the flesh, with our cooperation, so that we may be further reconciled to God.
He wants us to no longer live in the natural life or by the self but live to the Lord in the resurrection life.
He loved us, died for us, and gave His life to us; now we take Him and live because of Him, even let Him live in us for Him to express Himself through us.
Being Identified with the Crucified Christ to be Further Reconciled to God
If we are to carry out the ministry of reconciliation, we need to be identified with the crucified Christ (2 Cor. 4:10-12; 5:14; Gal. 2:20; 5:24).
We may like the idea of being reconciled, and we may be so grateful that God reconciled us to Himself through the death of Christ, but we need to go further and be further reconciled to God.
We need to live in the reality of being reconciled to God by being identified with the crucified Christ.
Paul mentions the cross again and again; the cross is not only our initial experience when we repent and believe into the Lord but the cross is our experience today.
If we want to have and carry out the ministry of reconciliation, we ourselves need to be reconciled further to God by being identified with the crucified Christ.
This is what the apostles experienced; they remained in death, even one with Christ in His death, so that life may operate in the saints.
They allowed the cross of Christ to operate in them and did not reject the environment God raised up around them, simply so that the saints may be reconciled to God.
We need to identify ourselves with the crucified Christ; we need to stay on the cross. There is no other way for us to be reconciled further to God except remaining on the cross all the time.
On the one hand, the enmity has been slain on the cross; on the other hand, enmity is still in us, and we need to deal with it by the cross. For example, in James there is a verse that says that friendship with the world is enmity with God.
There is something in each one of us that is for the world and one with the world. So many things in the world are appealing to our natural being, and something within us is friends with the world. Oh Lord!
Whenever we set our mind on the flesh, we are in death, for we’re at enmity with God (Rom. 8:6-7). But when we set our mind on our spirit, we have life and peace.
By default, our mind is set on the flesh; it is a natural mind, a mind that is at enmity against God. So we need to be reconciled to God, for our natural mind cannot be subject to the law of God.
The Corinthian believers have been reconciled to God, but only initially, halfway, that is, reconciled to God from sin.
But they needed to be reconciled even further (2 Cor. 5:18-20), for them to cross the veil into the Holy of Holies, in the very presence of God.
The veil of the flesh, the natural man, still separated the Corinthian believers from God; their very natural being was a separating veil.
What separates us from God and causes us to be at enmity against God is our natural being. We need the second step of reconciliation.
The apostle Paul worked and laboured in chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians to cut the veil of the flesh asunder, even to expose and crucify their natural life and consume their outer man.
We need to be identified with the crucified Christ so that the veil of our flesh may be cut asunder.
When the flesh is crucified, when the natural man remains on the cross, we can be one with the Lord and be further reconciled to God, having no obstacle between us and God.
We need to realise, under the Lord’s shining, how much we still live in the flesh, that is, in the soul, the outer man, the natural being (1 Cor. 3:1; 2:14).
We are still so fleshly and even fleshy; we are so soulish, for we live in the soul, do what the soul desires, and satisfy the desires of the flesh.
As the Lord shines on us and exposes us, we need to open to Him and be identified with the crucified Christ so that we may be further reconciled to God.
We need to enter into the Holy of Holies through the veil of the flesh by allowing the cross to deal with the flesh (Heb. 10:19-20).
Lord Jesus, we love You and we open to You. Shine on us. Expose us to see how much we still live in the natural man and in the flesh. May we realise that we need to be further reconciled to God. Amen, Lord, reconcile us more with God! We want to be identified with the crucified Christ so that we may be reconciled to God from living in the flesh. Oh Lord Jesus, we choose to set our mind not on the flesh but on the spirit! Oh Lord, our mind! We want our mind to be set on You so that we may be saved from being at enmity against God. Lord Jesus, You see how much we still live in the flesh. You see how weak our inner man is and how strong we are in the soul, the outer man, the natural being. Grant us the experiences we need for us to be identified with the crucified Christ and be further reconciled to God. Amen, Lord, may we see that it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us! Keep us on the cross today. May the cross operate in us by the Spirit. May Christ have a way to live in us today!
Being in God to Work Together with God and Carry out the Ministry of Reconciliation
On the one hand, we need to come to the Lord and allow Him to shine on us to expose how much we still live in the natural man, in the flesh, in the outer man.
As we are shined on, we simply come to Him and are identified with the crucified Christ so that we may be further reconciled to God. Amen!
On the other hand, we need to work together with God to help others be reconciled into God (2 Cor. 6:1).
Working together with God is different from working for God; it is not too difficult to work for God, for we work and do something for God, but we may not be one with God.
But when we work together with God, we need to be fully one with God, even be in step with God, being in one accord with Him.
For example, a wife may enjoy cooking a meal for her husband, but she may not enjoy cooking that meal together with her husband.
The same may be true in working for the Lord. We may often like to work for the Lord, but we may not want to work together with Him. Oh Lord!
May we allow the Lord to operate in us and cut the veil of the flesh asunder in our being as we are identified with the crucified Christ in spirit.
As the flesh is cut asunder, there’s no more separation between us and God, and we can be one with God to work together with God and carry out the ministry of reconciliation.
The flesh is in the way; the flesh is the blockage to our experience of God fully in the Holy of Holies.
The Lord may allow a long period of time to pass so that the flesh may be exposed, cut asunder, and fully dealt with; He allowed forty years to pass for the children of Israel in the wilderness.
He wants us to be fully saved and fully reconciled to God. When we are identified with the crucified Christ, we are one with Him practically, and we can work together with Him to bring others where we are, in God.
We need to be in God first and then we can bring others into God. Only a person who is in God can bring others into God, for we cannot bring others to a place where we are not.
Our closeness to God is the measure of the result of our work. This is why we need to deal with the flesh before the Lord, being open to Him as He shines on us and learning to be identified with the crucified Christ.
If we’re far away from God, we can’t bring others close to God. But if we let the cross operate in us and cut the veil of the flesh asunder, we will be one with God, and we will bring others to the very place where we are, in God.
The more we’re in God, the more we can carry out the ministry of reconciliation to bring others in God also. Only when we have been fully reconciled to God are we fully saved (2 Cor. 6:1-2; Rom. 5:10; Heb. 7:25).
In the context of 2 Corinthians 5-6, being saved is being reconciled to God. Being fully saved is being fully reconciled to God.
Today is the day of salvation; today is the acceptable time; today the Lord helps us by reconciling us further to God.
Today is the well-acceptable time, the time for us to be reconciled to God, when He well accepts us. Thank the Lord that He is pleased to accept us and reconcile us to Himself.
He wants us to save us much more in His life by reconciling us further with God. This is our experience day by day; in our daily living, we can experience the much-more salvation of God by being further reconciled to God.
Then, we can bring others to God and even into God, for we are in God, reconciled with God.
The more we are in God, the more we’re one with God in a practical way by having the flesh being cut asunder; the more we can reconcile others also into God (2 Cor. 12:12; 5:20).
The apostle Paul was fully reconciled to God, so he could tell the Corinthian believers on behalf of God, Be reconciled to God!
When we are further reconciled to God, we can bring others where we are. If we are in the Holy Place, enjoying the Lord’s shining through the lampstand and His supply through the facebread on the table, we can bring others only this far.
But if we are deeper in the Lord, if we are reconciled further to God, we can bring others to where we are, for the gates of the flesh have been broken and we are in God.
May the Lord grant us the experiences we need for us to be ministers of the new covenant who are in God, one with God, and who work together with God to reconcile others further into God.
May we work together with God to bring others into God by carrying out the ministry of reconciliation.
Lord Jesus, we want to be in God today! Amen, Lord, grant us the experiences we need and keep us one with You so that the flesh may be exposed and dealt with. Bring us deeper into God. Make us one with God. May we be in God so that we may work together with God to carry out the ministry of reconciliation. Amen, Lord, we want to bring many others into God! We are one with You today, doing what You are doing so that You may reconcile others to God through us! Hallelujah, today is the acceptable time! Praise the Lord, today is the day of salvation! Amen, Lord, reconcile us further with God and have a way to reconcile others to God through us! Save us much more in Your life today so that we may be further reconciled to God! Grant us to be one with You in our speaking to others so that we may work together with God to bring others into God! Amen, Lord, save us in full! Reconcile us further with God! Make us the ministers of the new covenant who work together with God to reconcile others into God! Amen!
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 on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg, 40 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Ministry of the Word and God’s Dispensing for God’s Economy (2026 March ITERO), week 2, “The Ministry of Reconciliation” – day 2.
- Hymns on this topic:
– By the cross discern the spirit, / Put the soul to death alway; / Bear the cross, deny the self-life, / Walk in spirit day by day. / By the cross discern the spirit, / Through the living Word of God, / Separating soul from spirit, / That the right path may be trod. (Hymns #748 stanzas 1-2)
– 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)
– Lord, we’ve heard the call, “Come forward,” / Unto the most Holy Place, / To behold shekinah glory / Shining from Your blessed face. / Coming forward to the Holiest, / Through the incense altar’s prayer; / No more veil of separation, / We may boldly enter there. (Hymns #1217 stanza 1 and chorus)
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