C
They loved not their soul-life even unto death:
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Due to Adam's fall, Satan joined himself to man's soul-life—man's self; to overcome him we must not love our soul-life; rather, we must hate it and deny it—Matt. 16:23-24; Luke 14:26; 9:23:
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Satan wants us to act in our own strength and move in ourselves with the power of our soul, our natural ability.
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Natural ability is the ability which we originally had and which has never been dealt with by the operation of the cross.
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The failure of the church is due to man's bringing in his natural ability.
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The purpose of the cross is to deal with our natural strength and ability so that we will not dare to move by ourselves, as seen in the cases of Moses and Peter—Acts 7:23-30; Luke 22:32-34; 1 Pet. 5:5-6.
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We should have the attitude that we will not live by our self in any way; we will not value our own ability or have any self-confidence—1 Cor. 2:2-4; Phil. 3:3; cf. Isa. 11:2b.
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We must be self-sacrificing persons, a drink offering, allowing Christ as the heavenly wine to fill us and cause us to become wine to God—Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6; Judg. 9:13:
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The drink offering typifies Christ as the One poured out as the real wine before God for His satisfaction—Exo. 29:40-41.
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The apostle Paul became a drink offering that was poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the saints' faith—Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6.
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The drink offering typifies not only Christ Himself, but also Christ who saturates us with Himself as the heavenly wine until He and we become one to be poured out for God's enjoyment and satisfaction and for God's building—Matt. 9:17; Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6.
Morning Nourishment
Rev. 12:11 And they overcame him because…they loved not their soul-life even unto death.Matt. 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
Because of Adam's fall, Satan has joined himself to man's soul-life, man's self (Matt. 16:23-24). Hence, to overcome him we must not love our soul-life but rather hate it and deny it (Luke 14:26; 9:23). The overcoming believers who constitute the man-child do not love their soul-life even unto death. Those who do not love their soul-life are willing to be martyred. We must hate our self. As long as we love our soul-life, we are dust, good to be food for Satan. But if we do not love our soul-life, our self, there will be no dust, and Satan will be killed. When our soul-life is killed, Satan is killed also. This is the way for us, as the stronger part of the woman, to overcome Satan. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 411-412)
Today’s Reading
The best way for Satan to deal with us is to cause us to act in our own strength…He wants us to exercise our own natural ability and fleshly energy in our work for God.Natural ability is the ability which we originally had and which has never been dealt with by the cross. It accompanies our character. The natural ability of one person may be his cleverness…The natural ability of another may be his eloquence. He can speak well independent of any special power from the Holy Spirit. Man, however, cannot serve God with the natural ability that has never been dealt with by the cross…Oh, we all must be brought by God to the place where we are trembling and fearful lest we do anything without the
Lord. We must become such persons—not merely speaking such things, but actually being such persons. Then we will become useful in the hand of God.
We must learn to experience the cross. The purpose of the cross is to deal with us, so that we will not dare to move by our selves. It is useless merely to talk about the message of the cross or to listen to the message of the cross. God needs those who have gone through the cross and have been dealt with by the cross. It is not enough that our message is correct. We have to ask, “How about ourselves? What kind of persons are we?” The apostle Paul said, “For I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling; and my speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom” (1 Cor. 2:2-4). The first part of these verses refers to Paul's message, and the last part refers to Paul's person. We often think that when a person like Paul gets up to speak, he must feel rich and full of his own resources. But Paul's message was the cross, and he himself was in weakness, fear, and much trembling…If we have been dealt with by the cross, we will not have any self-confidence, and we will not dare to boast.
The subjective work of the cross in us is to take away the things which do not originate with God. The cross leaves only the things which are of God… Some brothers have said that in the past they had many ways to help people be saved, but after they began to experience the dealing of the cross, the cross has dealt with their various ways, and it seems as if they are not able to do anything. This proves that what they did previously came out from themselves, because whatever is of God cannot be slain by the cross…That which passes through the cross and rises up again is of God; anything which is not able to rise is of man. The Lord Jesus is of God, for after He passed through the cross, He was able to rise again. We should not love anything of the soulish life or of the life of the flesh, but let it all go into death…Our attitude is that we will not live by ourselves in any way; we will not value our own ability or have any self-confidence. We must live as men full of fear and trembling. We must realize what feeble creatures we are. (CWWN, vol. 34, “The Glorious Church,” pp. 91-93)
Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 34, “The Glorious Church,” ch. 4