the environment cooperates with the Spirit to put our natural man to death

If we want to minister life, we need to know God as the God of resurrection. The life that we minister to others is nothing else but the resurrection life of Christ – we need to know, experience, and gain God as the God of resurrection (John 11:25; Rom. 4:17).

Day by day our outer man is decaying under the operating of the Spirit and the work of the environment, and our inner man is being renewed to minister life and dispense God as life into others (2 Cor. 4:16). We daily experience death, the working of the cross, which terminates our self so that we may experience God in resurrection – such an experience produces and forms the ministry of life (see 2 Cor. 1:9, note 3).

No longer trusting in ourselves but in God

We need to realize that we as believers in Christ are not only members of the Body of Christ, God-men with the divine life and nature, and children of God, but we are also ministers of life, those who dispense life into others. This is not a practice or something we do from time to time, but it is our being, our constitution, our person.

God is faithful to bring a lot of things, situations, and people our way so that we would be prepared, processed, transformed, and constituted into ministers of life. We are so full of ourselves – we trust in ourselves and not in God, we can do so many things in ourselves…. But God desires that our self would be terminated and we would trust in God.

In 2 Cor. 4:7-12 we see that we need to be brought to an end so that we would no longer trust in ourselves but in God. God operates in us through the cross to terminate us, to terminate our trust in ourselves, and to bring us to realize that we cannot have any confidence in ourselves.

We may trust our sharp mind, our intelligence, our discerning of the Scriptures, or even our spirituality, our spiritual attainments. A minister of life is one who has no more confidence in himself, not even in his spiritual attainments, but he trusts in God and affords God a way to flow out through him as life.

The environment cooperates with the Spirit

When Paul speaks of the application of the death of Christ to us he refers to the indwelling Spirit (in Rom. 8) and to the outward environment (in 1 Cor. 4). In other words, the putting to death of Jesus in our sovereignly arranged environment cooperates with the operating of the indwelling Spirit to kill our natural man and put our self to death.

All human beings desire to have a good life, a loving family, a good job, an easy life, etc – but the environment many times is not according to what we desire. God arranges our environment with sufferings, pressures, and difficulties, all of which work together with the inward Spirit to kill our natural man.

As we grow in the human life our natural man is also growing and developing. Even after becoming a Christian, our natural man is there active and living, and sometimes it even can become a “spiritual natural man”. For God’s life to flow out of us, our natural man needs to be broken and killed so that the divine life contained in our inner man may be ministered to others. The Spirit is “the killer”, and He uses a “knife” to kill our natural man.

The Spirit uses our family members, our co-workers, and even some particular brothers and sisters in the church, to put to death our outer man so that life may be released. The outward environment cooperates with the inward Spirit to put our natural man to death.

That the life of Jesus may be manifested

Why do we have to go through all kinds of sufferings, difficulties, problems, and other unpleasant things – all of which are sovereignly arranged by God? Why does God want to put to death our outer man? It’s not just “for the sake of it”, and it is not because God hates us or wants to harm us. All the killing of the cross results in the manifestation of the resurrection life!

Death operates in us so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in us. The killing of the cross has a positive result – it causes the manifestation of the resurrection life. If no death, no life! Life can flow when the natural man is being broken, killed, and put to death – Hallelujah, life can flow!

The Lord is seeking for an opportunity to flow out of us – He came into our innermost being, and He’s ready to flow as rivers of living waters! But our natural man envelops our inner man and hinders the flow of life in us. This is why the outward environment is sovereignly arranged by God to put us to death and cooperate with the inward Spirit to destroy our natural man, our outward man, and the flesh – so that the inward man can be given the opportunity to develop and be renewed to live out the resurrection life!

We are daily being put to death and death operates in us so that the life of Jesus may be manifested through us and it may be ministered to others!

Lord Jesus, have a way in us. Break through in us, Lord, and may our spirit flow! May the Spirit work in us to gain what He is after, a free way to flow out of us to minister life to others. Thank You for all Your sovereign arrangement in our environment. Lord, keep us open to Your dealings, Your inward working, Your outward operating, and the putting to death of our natural man! May the life of Jesus be manifested in our body!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from, Life-study of 2 Corinthians (msgs. 33-34), and, The Conclusion of the New Testament (page 4084, by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking the Lead as Elders and Responsible Ones, week 3.
• Further reading: 2 Cor. 1:9, footnote 3;
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Oh, may my spirit flow, Oh, may it flow! / I ask Thee, gracious Lord, / Oh, may it flow!
  # Release my spirit! ‘Tis for this I yearn, / That self may bind my spirit nevermore;
  # I would cease completely / From my efforts vain, / Let Thy life transform me, / Full release to gain;
• Picture source: 2 Cor. 4:16 photo.