Seeing that God Deals with us and Opening to Him so that our Inner Man is Released

Seeing that God is the One who deals with us, we open to Him, do not love the self, and let Him break our outer man so that our inner man is released.

The more we grow in the Lord in our Christian life, the more we realize that what we are by nature means nothing – only what the Spirit constitutes in our being counts; the discipline of the Holy Spirit destroys our natural disposition and brings in the constitution of the Holy Spirit so that the outer man may be broken and the inner man may be renewed and released. Amen!

As believers in Christ, we need to live a proper Christian life one with the Lord to express Him, even to be the same as He is, in all things.

In 2 Kings 4:8-9 we see how Elisha passed through Sunem and there was a woman there who hosted him; he did not preach anything nor did he do any healings, but she sensed that he was a holy man of God. Wow.

This woman identified him as a man of God by the way he took his meal; this is the impression Elisha gave to others.

What impression do we give other people? What comes out of us when they see us, when we live our daily life?

If our outer man is not broken, what others will see is our outer man, our natural man.

We will give others an unpleasant feeling that we love ourselves, we are stubborn, and we are proud.

Or maybe they see that we are very eloquent and clever. If our natural man is good, others will get a good impression of us, but what they get is just the natural man, not Christ.

What God wants is for Christ is expressed through us.

He doesn’t need us to give others a good impression about ourselves, that we are good people who try to obey God and do what His word says; He wants Christ to be lived out in us.

The only way this is possible is if our outer man is broken so that the inner man may be released and expressed.

Where is God today? He is not only in the heavens; He is also in our spirit, dwelling in us, living in us, and doing all things in us.

He is in our spirit, but our spirit as our inner man is enveloped and surrounded by our outer man.

We are building up our outer man throughout the years, and we are strong in our outer man.

How can the inner man be released and expressed when the outer man is so strong and active? Oh, Lord!

What others see in us is what are the strongest spots of our outer man; they don’t see Christ in us, they see something of the outer man being expressed.

If the outer man is not broken, our spirit will not be released, and what we express is just ourselves, our natural man.

God put us in the world so that our presence would create a hunger and thirst for righteousness in sinners, believers, and the world.

But if we express our outer man and our inner man is imprisoned in us, others will not see Christ in us, nor will they be drawn to the Lord.

May the Lord have a way in our being.

On the positive side, we need to enjoy the Lord, spend time with Him in the word, meet with the saints, and have all kinds of life practices that help us to eat Him, drink Him, and partake of His riches.

On the other hand, we need to realize that the Lord desires to tear down our outer man so that our inner man may be released and expressed, and we need to cooperate with the Lord’s operation.

The Discipline of the Holy Spirit Destroys our Natural Disposition and Constitutes a New Disposition with a New Character in us

Even though we believers in Christ have been regenerated by God and have His life and nature in our spirit, so many times we still live in ourselves, by ourselves, and for ourselves, and we express ourselves, not the Lord.

If we have some good virtues and qualities, we try to improve them and “use them for God’s glory,” while we try to put down or suppress some of the negative things in our being.

But what the Lord wants to do in us is to make His home in our heart so that He may be expressed through us.

We need to be strengthened with power by the Father through the Spirit so that Christ may make His home in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:16-17).

The Lord doesn’t want to use the good things in our being and then put down the bad things in us; whatever we are by birth – whether good or bad, whether useful or not – is natural, and it hinders the Holy Spirit from constituting the divine life into our being.

So the Lord works through the discipline of the Holy Spirit to expose and destroy our natural disposition so that He may constitute a new disposition in us with a new character with new virtues that express Him.

Because whatever we are by birth is natural and hinders the Lord from what He wants to do in us, we realize that our natural strength, natural wisdom, natural cleverness, natural disposition, natural shortcomings, natural virtues, and natural virtues all must be torn down so that the Spirit may work God into us.

Our character and habits also need to be torn down, so that the Holy Spirit may form in us a new disposition, new character, new habits, new virtues, and new attributes.

How can the Holy Spirit do this? First, He works within us to enlighten us, inspire us, lead us, and saturate us with the divine life.

When we’re inwardly strengthened by the Father through the Spirit into the inner man, we can open to Him and allow Christ to make His home in our heart.

The Holy Spirit also works in our environment to arrange everything – every detail, person, matter, and thing – to tear down what we are naturally.

So many times it seems that everything and everyone around us is contrary to us, trying to tear us down and put us down; this is not people and things or even Satan but it is the Holy Spirit working by means of His discipline to tear down our natural man.

For example, we love our spouse and we thank the Lord for them, but the Lord arranged for our spouse to expose us and to tear down our natural disposition.

The Lord arranges persons, matters, and things, including all kinds of situations and environments, to expose and tear down our natural quickness or slowness and to abolish our natural cleverness or dullness.

He also arranges things to tear down our natural wisdom or folly. All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, for He wants to conform them to the image of Christ, the Firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:28-29).

All things, all matters, all persons, and all situations are used by the Lord not only for Him to grow in us but also for the many aspects of our natural being to be torn down so that He may conform us to the image of Christ.

May we realize that what we are by nature means nothing; only what the Spirit constitutes into our being counts, for only a new creation is what matters (John 3:6; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15).

May we see that the Holy Spirit works through all kinds of things, persons, matters, and situations to destroy our natural disposition and habits and bring in the constitution of the Holy Spirit in maturity and sweetness.

God Himself orders everything in our environment in order that He may form in us a new disposition, new character, and new attributes.

The result is that the outer man is broken and the inner man has a way to be released and expressed, and the Lord is the One who is expressed through us (2 Cor. 4:16).

If we see this, if we realize that all things are sovereignly arranged by God to tear down our outer man so that the inner man may be renewed, released, and expressed, we will no longer resist the Lord in what He is doing but we will cooperate with Him and allow Him to make His home in our heart.

Lord Jesus, enlighten us to realize that what we are by nature means nothing, for only what the Spirit constitutes in our being counts! Amen, Lord, the old creation with all the virtues, character, and disposition of the natural man does not matter – only a new creation is what matters! Break through in us. Have a way to destroy our natural disposition and habits and bring in the constitution of the Holy Spirit in maturity and sweetness. We open to You, dear Lord. We do not want to resist You or murmur against You when we experience the discipline of the Holy Spirit. May the Holy Spirit move within us to enlighten us, inspire us, lead us, and saturate us with the divine life. May we realize that the Spirit works in our environment and through many things and persons to destroy our natural disposition so that He may constitute a new disposition in our being! Oh Lord, we open to You in all things: have a way to conform us to the image of Christ!

Realizing that God is Dealing with us and Not Loving ourselves but Opening to Him so that the Outer Man may be Broken and the Inner Man may be Released and Expressed

Sufferings, trials, and problems are part of every human being, and we as believers in Christ are no different; in our case, however, all these things should have a positive result – being conformed to the image of Christ.

However, many believers in Christ who love the Lord and pursue Him may go through so many dealings, problems, trials, and sufferings for years, but it seems that they remain unchanged.

They are the same as before, but now they have more experiences of trials and suffering.

Why do so many people remain unchanged after being dealt with for years? There are two main reasons: not seeing that God deals with them due to being in darkness and loving themselves very much.

Our natural reaction to any suffering, hardship, or opposition is to resist it, thinking that it is this person or that thing who is the problem, not us.

If we are in darkness, though God is working and breaking, we think that is persons, things, situations, and matters that happen to us, and we oppose them.

We may even complain against them, thinking that we’re dealt with in a harsh way.

But when the Lord shines on us and we realize that it is God’s hand that operates in our environment through the discipline of the Holy Spirit, we will accept God’s dealings (Job 10:13; Eph. 3:9).

We will simply realize that it is God who is dealing with us to break our outer man so that the inner man may be realised.

May the Lord have mercy on us so that we may see that it’s God’s hand who is upon us to deal with us, not the world, our family, our boss, or any of the saints who are dealing with us.

Though the things happening to us are unbearable or too harsh, the Lord wants to deal with us, and we have to accept and believe everything that the Lord has done.

It may seem that the pressure is too much, the dealings are too harsh, and the limitations are too strict, but God can never be wrong in what He does.

Joseph was a person who realized that it was not his brothers, the Pharaoh, or Potiphar that was dealing with him to cause him to suffer, but that God worked in him and on him to turn all things to good.

He went through a lot of suffering, unrighteous persecution and betrayal, and even prison, but he was convinced that God worked in all things, and the result was that he was not bitter against the environment or his brothers but was one with God in all things.

The second reason a man is not broken though he may go through dealings and sufferings is that he loves himself too much.

We all love ourselves. This is why Satan asked God to deal with Job, for he knew that Job loved himself.

Because we love ourselves, we try to save ourselves from problems, spare ourselves from suffering, and stay away from hardships and limitations.

We complain to God and to others, and there are many misunderstandings and dissatisfactions in our being because we secretly love ourselves.

Secret self-love is the source and root of the problem. May the Lord have mercy on us and shine on us to expose our self-love.

May we realize that our self is not our real person – Christ in our spirit is our person, and our inner man is the real person that lives in us.

When we see that God is dealing with us to conform us to the image of Christ and cause the inner man to be renewed and expressed, we will love our self less and less.

When the Lord speaks within us and exposes the love of the self, we will simply turn to the Lord and love Him, even consecrate ourselves to Him.

We need to ask God to remove all self-love from us.

We may not even be aware of how much we love ourselves, so we need to ask Him to expose us, enlighten us, and strengthen us to love Him and not love the self.

We need to realize that everything through which we pass has only one purpose: that God’s life would be released through us and expressed in us (John 12:24-26; 2 Cor. 4:12).

For this, our outer man needs to be broken to such an extent that our inner man can be released and expressed!

When this happens, the Lord is expressed through us, we live a genuine Christian life, and we can serve the Lord!

Lord Jesus, we love You and we give ourselves to You. Cause us to see that You are the One operating in us and in the environment to work Yourself into us and to tear down our natural man. Oh Lord, may we accept Your dealings from Your hand and not complain or resist. Shine on us. Enlighten us to realize that the discipline of the Holy Spirit is to tear down our natural man and release the inner man for the Lord to be expressed through us. Oh Lord, cause us to see how much we love ourselves. Remove all secret self-love from us. May we love You more than we love ourselves. May we be attached to You and live one spirit with You, rejecting the self and not loving ourselves. May Your life be expressed through us. Save us from wasting so much time by trying to save ourselves. May we see Your hand and willingly consecrate ourselves to You. Amen, Lord, we commit ourselves into Your hands today! Have Your way in us and around us so that our outer man may be broken and the inner man may be expressed and released!

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 brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 54, “The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit,” pp. 157-159, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life (2024 Memorial Day Blending Conference), week 1, The Intrinsic Significance of the Christian Life.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Sufferings and Transformation for New Jerusalem (6), via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The separation of the outer man from the inner man, a portion from, The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit, Chapter 2, by Watchman Nee.
  – What Is Spiritual Growth? More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The Spirit using an outer man that is broken, a portion from, The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit, Chapter 3, by Watchman Nee.
  – 6 – The Ministry Produced through Revelation and Suffering, Part Two: Suffering (2), From chapter six of The Ministers in the Lord’s Recovery – Genuine Ministers of the New Covenant at, Shepherding Words.
  – The Intrinsic Significance of the Christian Life (2), outline from the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Labor Day Conference.
  – The Glory of God (2): Released through Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection, via, Living to Him.
  – The purpose of the discipline of the Holy Spirit, a portion from, The Experience of Life, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee.
  – Sinners in the Hands of a Misunderstood God, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – I’m ashamed, my Lord, for seeking / Self to guard alway; / Though Thy love has done its stripping, / Yet I’ve been compelled this way. / Lord, according to Thy pleasure / Fully work on me; / Heeding not my human feelings, / Only do what pleases Thee. / Each blow I suffer / Is true gain to me. / In the place of what Thou takest / Thou dost give Thyself to me. (Hymns #626 stanza 3 and chorus)
  – Oh, how the Lord our self must break, / Our outward man does so impede! / It must be broken thoroughly, / And thus the Spirit will be freed…Oh, cause me to appreciate / Thy breaking, never to complain; / And grant that I may value more / All kinds of loss instead of gain. (Hymns #749 stanzas 4 and 8)
  – Here, Lord, we give ourselves to Thee; / Receive us into Thy wise hands; / Bend, break, and build together in Thee / To be the house to meet Thy demands. / Break all the natural life for us, / Deal Thou with each peculiar way, / That we no more independent be / But with all saints are one for aye. (Hymns #837 stanzas 6-7)