learning to reject ourselves and live by the divine life for the Body of Christ

When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He did not do anything from Himself (see John 5:19) or for Himself – He did everything as He saw the Father doing, and whatever the Father said, that’s what the Son also said. The Lord Jesus as the God-man could have lived His own life by not being dependent on the Father, yet He chose not to seek His own will, His own purpose, or His own intention but the Father’s will, the Father’s purpose, and the Father’s intention.

He is such a pattern to us as the first God-men, and we today are His duplication, His mass reproduction, His continuation on the earth. He in us wants to live such a life today again for the Father’s glory and for the building up of the Body of Christ!

The Lord did not do anything from Himself

The Lord Jesus didn’t do anything from Himself, even though He had the right to. The entire universe was created through Christ, but when He lived on the earth He didn’t do anything from Himself. Then, He said that His followers need to take up their cross and deny themselves (Matt. 16:24).

Today we as the many God-men need to learn to deny ourselves and not do anything from ourselves but do things together with the Lord and from the Lord. We need to continually exercise our spirit to REJECT our self and live by another life, the divine life in our mingled spirit, which is the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19-21).

The more we know the Lord and the more we know His Word we need to also realize that we can and should nothing from ourselves or out of ourselves. We may have many good intentions to do good things for the Lord, but the Lord prefers that we would rather do a few things in oneness with Him than doing many things for Him yet apart from Him.

This is why the Christian life is actually Christ living in us, us living with Christ, and us exercising our spirit to reject our natural life and live by the divine life in our spirit. We are daily learning to take Christ as our inward subjective pattern in not doing our own will but the will of God, His purpose.

The Lord did not seek His own will

The Lord Jesus did not seek His own will but the will of the Father, the One who sent Him (see John 5:30; 6:38; Matt. 26:39, 42). He could have lived just like the others, doing His own will, but He chose to reject His idea, His intention, and His purpose. What He sought was to do the will of the One who sent Him.

The Lord Jesus is our pattern; we need to be on alert not to do seek own will or goal, but do the will of God seeking His goal. The Lord may commission us to do something for Him or go somewhere and visit the saints in a certain place – we should seek only the idea, the purpose, the goal, and the intention of our sending Lord.

How much we need the Lord to purify our heart through the cross so that in whatever He entrusts us to do for Him we would seek His will, His glory, and His purpose! Unconsciously and unintentionally when we do something for the Lord we may seek our own purpose or we may want to gain something for ourselves.

Oh, Lord Jesus! Even in writing this blog, daily I am considering this before the Lord and I am repenting of any seeking of a personal gain or glory. I just want to be faithful to the Lord in His Word and in His ministry today to speak something one with Him, and not seek my own will but His will, His purpose, His goal, and His glory!

God today desiring a Body for Christ

What God desires today is not many spiritual persons who do their best to live like the Lord Jesus did; He desires to have a Body, a corporate expression, for Christ. The entire Triune God is embodied in Christ in all His fullness, and Christ needs a corporate people through whom He can be expressed. We as the believers of Christ who are built up together in all the many localities all over the earth are Christ’s enlargement, Christ’s expression, and Christ’s Body!

Our denying of our self to live by another life and to seek the Lord’s will and goal is FOR THE BODY and IN THE BODY. We learn from the Lord to deny ourselves, reject ourselves, and live by the divine life so that the Body of Christ may be built up!

Lord Jesus, we want to learn from You. You are our pattern. We want to be those who do not seek their own will, who do not want to do their own thing, but who join themselves to You to be one with You in Your will and Your goal. Lord, remind us daily to reject ourselves and not live by our natural life but live by the divine life. Oh, Lord, save us from trying to accomplish something according to our own intention and idea. May everything we do be in oneness with You and for the Body of Christ!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from brother Witness Lee’s speaking in, The God-man Living (pages 125-126), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking the Lead as Elders and Responsible Ones, week 5.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Ever tender, quiet, restful, / Inclinations put away, / That Thou may for me choose freely / As Thy finger points the way.
  # Living for Jesus a life that is true, / Striving to please Him in all that I do;
  # I am one with Thee, Lord Jesus, / One in spirit now with Thee; / All Thyself I now possess, Lord, / All Thou art now lives in me.
• Picture source: deny the self and take the cross.