«　WEEK 2　DAY 6　»

　　Phil. 3:3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

　　Acts 7:35 This Moses, whom they refused,...God has sent as both a ruler and a redeemer, along with the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the thornbush.

　　In our service we must do everything in the principle of incarnation. The principle of incarnation is that the divine nature is wrought into humanity. When the Lord Jesus was on this earth, He did everything in His humanity full of the divine element. He did not do anything by the natural strength or the natural ability.... The Father was within Him and one with Him in all His deeds, in all His words, and in all His works (John 14:10; 10:30). Whatever He did, whatever He said, and whatever He worked was altogether with the Father as the divine element. We need to consider whether the strength and ability we use for the Lord's service are natural or divine.

　　The natural strength and ability need to be dealt with by the cross.... In a certain sense, our natural strength and ability equal our self, our natural constitution....This is why after the denial of the self we need a lesson on rejecting the natural strength and ability and dealing with them by the cross.

　　The natural strength and ability are useful if they are dealt with by the cross. After being dealt with by the cross, they are in resurrection....The cross always works the divine element into the person it deals with, bringing God into him....After being dealt with, our strength and ability become useful in resurrection for our service to the Lord. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, "Basic Lessons on Service," pp. 140-143)

　　Acts 7:22 tells us that Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and works.... Moses did something for God's people according to his own will (vv. 23-26). He was full of assurance that he could accomplish something, but he was carrying out his will, not God's will. God purposely and sovereignly put Moses aside for forty years (Exo. 2:14-15; Acts 7:27-30)....In those forty years Moses learned to serve God according to His leading and to trust in Him (vv. 34-36; Heb. 11:28). Moses eventually became a person who did nothing according to his will. He always acted according to the Lord's leading....He had no faith in his ability. Although he was very capable, he did not use his natural ability. His natural ability was dealt with, so it became an ability in resurrection.... If our ability is not dealt with, it is separate from God's move. But after being dealt with by the cross, our ability becomes one with God's move. Actually, God was wrought into Moses' ability. His ability eventually was full of God.

　　Peter was self-confident in his natural strength and ability even to the point of thinking that he would follow the Lord both to prison and to death (Luke 22:33)....Peter was tested, and he denied the Lord three times, even before a little maid (John 18:15-18, 25-27). Peter was absolutely defeated and became a complete failure (Matt. 26:69-75)....His love for the Lord was precious, but his natural strength had to be denied and dealt with. The Lord allowed Peter to fail utterly in denying the Lord to His face three times, so that his natural strength and self-confidence could be dealt with. Through his failure Peter learned to serve the brothers by faith in the Lord and with humility (Luke 22:32; 1 Pet. 5:5-6). Peter was really broken and was turned from the natural ability to something in resurrection.

　　Our natural strength and ability must be dealt with and put on the cross. Then they will be in resurrection and full of the divine element, and whatever we do in the church service will be a ministry of the divine element to others. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, "Basic Lessons on Service," pp. 143-145)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, "Basic Lessons on Service," lsn. 20