Pay the Price to Experience the Breaking of the Cross and Submit to God’s Authority

If we pay the price to experience the breaking of the cross by living under the cross, knowing and dealing with our natural life and disposition, putting to death the flesh, and denying ourselves before God, we will know God’s authority and will be able to bring in God’s authority.

We see this in the life of David; though he was anointed by God to be king when he was young, he had to go through a lot of hardships, persecutions, and troubles until he could become the king according to God’s heart.

For example, once Saul was chasing David in the wilderness to kill him, and one night David had the opportunity to kill him.

His mighty men advised him to kill Saul, for they were right there, in the middle of the night, in Saul’s tent, while the guards were all sleeping; but David did not raise his hand against God’s anointed.

David and his attendant were right there, in Saul’s tent, and he had the opportunity to kill Saul and end the persecution he started; however, he only took Saul’s spear and water jug, and then went a bit back up and shouted to Saul’s chief guard to wake him up.

David asked Abner, Saul’s chief guard and captain of the army, whether he is protecting his king, and to check on the spear and water jug of the king.

Saul realized that David was there, and he felt sorrowful for chasing this upright man who had the opportunity to kill him but did not.

David was a person who knew God’s authority from his heart; he did not dare to overthrow the divine order arranged by God.

May we learn the spiritual lesson revealed here and acknowledge God’s sovereign hand in all things.

We may not like who is in power and who is over us; we may not agree with the moral conduct or temper of our manager or boss, but he has been appointed by God to be above us, and we need to know God’s authority by submitting to those He placed above us.

May we learn to turn to our spirit, contact the Lord, and live one spirit with Him; it is only when we live one with the Lord that He can live in us the same kind of life that He lived while on the earth, a life of fully submitting to the Father.

May we not avenge ourselves or repay evil for evil; may we simply turn to the Lord, enjoy Him, and live in the mingled spirit.

As citizens of the kingdom of God, we need to realize that nothing of the flesh can have a share in the kingdom of God; no manifestation of the flesh is welcomed in the kingdom.

Those who are of Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and its lusts; may we be such ones, those who are in Christ, in the mingled spirit, those who crucify the flesh by living according to the Spirit.

Paying the Price to Experience the Breaking of the Cross, Deny the Self, and Submit to God’s Authority

If David had rebelled against Saul when he was persecuting and chasing him to kill him, he would have set an example of rebellion against the God-ordained and appointed king for all people to see.

David’s attitude as Saul was persecuting him and seeking to kill him was that of denying the self and submitting to God’s authority.

Saul was chosen and anointed by God to be His anointed one, the king over Israel; therefore, David submitted himself to God’s authority and did not dare to touch God’s anointed.

On his side, Saul had been disobedient to God and was rejected by God; he did not obey God fully and God was displeased with him – but this was something between Saul and God (1 Sam. 24:4-6; 26:9, 11; 2 Sam. 1:9-16).

As for David, he submitted to God’s anointed, and this was his responsibility before God.

David didn’t expose Saul or publicize Saul’s failure so that all people would see; rather, he took care of his own relationship with God, and on his side, he submitted to God’s anointed.

We need to be those who pay the price to experience the breaking of the cross, deny the self, and submit to God’s authority, even when we may not agree with it and even when God’s anointed doesn’t have a good relationship with God.

If some will pay the price to experience the breaking of the cross by living under the cross, know and deal with their natural life and disposition, put to death the flesh, and deny themselves before God, they will certainly know God’s authority and be able to bring in God’s authority; this is a basic principle.

May we pray for God’s mercy that we would know God’s authority from our heart and submit to God’s authority in all situations.

Even when it seems so unfair and we are being persecuted unrighteously, may we pay the price to experience the breaking of the cross and deny the self.

May we pray concerning this to the Lord in prayer and allow Him to expose and deal with the flesh, the natural disposition, and the self; may we simply say Amen as He exposes us and deals with us.

According to the realization of the New Testament, David bore the cross every day under any kind of situation.

How can we bear the cross every day? How can we be willing to experience the breaking of the cross?

Phil. 3:10 indicates that the strength for us to bear the cross is the power of Christ’s resurrection.

Hallelujah, Christ has come into us – He is one with us in our spirit – so that He would live in us and bear the cross within us!

We cannot bear the cross in ourselves, neither are we willing to bear it; but Christ is in us to supply us, live in us, and bear the cross in us.

On one hand, God operates in our environment to expose the flesh and put it to death; on the other hand, we need to inwardly say Amen to God’s exposing and dealing, so that the Spirit with our spirit would apply the death of Christ to our natural man, the flesh, the self, and anything of the old man.

The inward application of the cross with the outward environment killing our natural man is for the manifestation of Christ (see 2 Cor. 4-5).

The Lord is like a gazelle or a young hart, leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills; He is in resurrection and ascension, leaping over every barrier and skipping over every problem.

And He calls us to be with Him in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the precipice; here He can see our countenance, for our voice is sweet and our countenance is lovely to Him (S. S. 2:8-9, 14).

As we receive the breaking of the cross by the power of resurrection operating in us, the flesh is put to death, the self is denied, and we can be one with Christ in His resurrection and ascension; it is then that we can submit to God’s authority.

When we are in Him as the crucified Christ by experiencing the power of His resurrection that our countenance is lovely and our voice is sweet to Him.

Lord Jesus, grant us the grace to pay the price to experience the breaking of the cross by living under the cross day by day. We turn to You, Lord Jesus, and we want to enjoy and experience You as the crucified and resurrected Christ. May the power of Your resurrection strengthen us to deny the self, know and deal with our natural life and disposition, and put the flesh to death. Amen, Lord, may we learn to know God’s authority so that we may be able to bring in God’s authority. Lord, by Your mercy, as the law of the Spirit of life, cause us to pay the price to experience the breaking of the cross. We pray that we would live a life under the cross and that You teach us how to know and deal with our natural life and disposition, put to death our flesh, and deny ourselves before God. Have a way in us, dear Lord!

Learn the Lessons of the Cross and Realize our Utter Helplessness for the Lord to have a way to Work Himself into us with all His Riches

Under God’s sovereignty, David took the lessons of the cross; eventually, he was not a loser but a gainer and a winner, and he was not a sufferer but an enjoyer.

If we learn the lessons of the cross, we will not be losers but gainers, and we will not be sufferers but enjoyers (see Phil. 1:19; 3:8-9; 2 Cor. 4:7, 16-18; cf. 2:12-14).

As we pursue Christ toward the goal so that we may obtain the fullest enjoyment and gaining of Christ, may we learn the lessons of the cross day by day.

Our outer man is decaying, that’s right, but our inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

Our soul as the person of the old man with the body as its organ is being decayed day by day, but praise the Lord, our inner man is being renewed day by day!

We are guided not merely by the positive indicators in our environment; we care for the rest in our spirit.

And He leads us in triumph in the Christ, manifesting the savour of the knowledge of Him through us in every place.

May we be part of the Lord’s triumphal procession wherever we are, those who are defeated by Him and scattering the fragrance of Christ and His victory everywhere.

This means that we need to let the Lord defeat us; if we defeat the Lord, we lose, but if we allow Him to defeat us, we are a winner.

David’s life signifies a life of brokenness; our life is a life of being broken, and we need to accept the breaking of the cross in our daily life.

The breaking of the outer man is the breaking of our natural disposition, our self (2 Cor. 1:8-9; 4:16-18; 12:9-10; Hosea 6:1-3; Rom. 8:28-29; cf. John 12:3).

The goal of the discipline of the Holy Spirit is for us to be a broken man; God puts us in a place of total inability and helplessness so that He can have a free way to work Himself with all His unsearchable riches in us.

When a person is broken, he has no trust in himself.

For example, Peter was very confident in his natural love for the Lord; he was very self-confident, for he thought that all the other disciples will deny the Lord, but not him.

So the Lord allowed him to experience the breaking of the cross to break his naturalness in his love for the Lord.

He wants us to love Him but with no love of ours, for we have none to give; all the love is from Him, and He as love needs to fill and be expressed through our love.

When we experience the breaking of the cross and learn the lessons of the cross, we will realize our utter helplessness, and the Lord will have a way to work Himself into us.

Many times God puts us in a place of total inability and helplessness so that He can have a free way to work Himself with all His unsearchable riches into us.

We may be put in a place where there’s nothing to do – nothing that we can do will change things, we simply need to allow the cross to deal with us.

In 2 Cor. 1:8-9 Paul said that he and the others were excessively burdened, even beyond their power; they even despaired of living.

Sometimes we are in a situation where we feel the same way. We may have the response of death in ourselves so that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. Amen!

May we learn the lessons of the cross and receive the breaking of the cross, realizing that, when we’re in situations that are beyond our power, when we’re excessively burdened beyond our power, the Lord is training us to base our confidence on the resurrecting God.

The best we can do in such situations is like Mary in John 12:3, break our alabaster flask of ointment and pour out the best we have upon Him.

Yes, there is the breaking and the cross, but we just love the Lord with His love becoming our love, and the whole church life is filled with the fragrance of brothers and sisters who pour out their love on the Lord.

To those who love Him in such a way, He is altogether worthy of their offering, and they don’t waste themselves but pour out the best they have upon the One they love.

When the Lord breaks us through the lessons of the cross, the breaking of the cross, our love for Him can be released to become a fragrance and even to make us a fragrance.

As Paul said in 2 Cor. 2:15, we are a fragrance of Christ to God.

Lord Jesus, we come to You as we are; we give ourselves to you to learn the lessons of the cross in our Christian life and church life. Give us the experiences we need, dear Lord, for us to experience the breaking of the outer man for the release of the spirit. Bring us to the point where You can have a free way to work Yourself with all Your unsearchable riches into us. We want to pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called us upward. Break through in us, Lord, and never let us win; defeat us all the time until You have a free way to flow through us. Bring us to the point that we pour out our love for You to become a fragrance to those around us. Make us a fragrance to God. We love You, Lord Jesus!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 57, ch. 25, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 6, entitled, Spiritual Principles, Life Lessons, and Holy Warning seen in the History of David.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – 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. / This is the reason why the Lord / For us a certain measure makes / Of circumstantial suffering; / ’Tis thus our outward man He breaks. (Hymns #749)
  – I love my Lord, but with no love of mine, / For I have none to give; / I love Thee, Lord, but all the love is Thine, / For by Thy love I live. / I am as nothing, and rejoice to be / Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in Thee. (Hymns #546)
  – Transformation is my need, / To be broken more indeed, / That the clay may change in form, / To the treasure to conform. (Hymns #249)