I met a sister yesterday who spent two hours telling me her history of failure. While she was speaking, I was smiling. Finally, I asked her, “Are you willing to concede now? Do you still have some hope in yourself? Have you failed enough?” She admitted that she could not make it, but she still lacked one thing. The first thing that God shows us is that we cannot make it. We have to lose hope in ourselves. But this alone will not bring us to victory. It is one thing for us to acknowledge that we cannot make it, but it is another thing for us not to try to make it. I said to her, “Your realization that you cannot make it is good and right. But you have not realized that you are still trying to make it. Don’t you see that you are still trying to make it? Since you know that you cannot make it, you should have stopped your own work. Don’t you see that you are still trying even though you say that you cannot make it?” She admitted that she could not make it, but at the same time, she did not see that she was working and hoping that she could make it. I asked her a few times, “Don’t you realize that you are still working? Don’t you realize that you are still trying to overcome?” She was struggling and trying. This is why she could not overcome. She asked me what she should do. I told her that she needed only to accept the cross, acknowledge her weakness, and stop trying or expecting to make it. I said that the minute she tried to do anything, she would fail. She asked, “If I fail in spite of doing everything, won’t I fail even more if I don’t do anything?” This is where the problem lies with many people. They know very well that they cannot do anything, and they know very well that they are absolutely powerless, yet they are still struggling and striving. The result is that there is still no victory, and they still cannot overcome.
In experiencing the overcoming life, there are two very important conditions in regard to surrendering. First, we have to acknowledge God’s appraisal that we are not able in ourselves. Second, we should not try to become able. Rather, we should lose hope in ourselves completely. A brother once told me that he could not believe. I told him that he should give up trying to believe. He remarked, “What kind of teaching is this?” I said, “All you have to do is tell God that you cannot believe. God is waiting for you to acknowledge that you cannot believe.”
What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? It means that henceforth I am not responsible for my own victory and I am not responsible for my own failure. My things are in Christ’s hands. Suppose a sister serves a cup of tea, and while you are picking up the cup, she holds on to it and will not let go. On your side, you are trying to drink the tea, but on her side, she is still holding on to the cup. Even though she says that she is serving you the tea, she will not let go of it. Without her letting go, you cannot drink the tea.
What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? The first meaning of being crucified with Christ is to let go. The second meaning is to not try to take control. You should tell God, “From now on, I offer myself to You. From now on, victory is Your business, and patience is Your business.”
A brother once asked what it means to be victorious. I told him that being victorious is resigning, and resigning is expiring. It means that victory is no longer his business.
Once I met a sister and told her, “You have to do only one thing. Just say to God that from now on, you can do nothing, and that you are not responsible for anything.”
We cannot stop losing our temper, we cannot suppress ourselves, and we cannot surrender. From now on, we should give up and not worry or care about anything anymore. When we come before God, we often tell Him that we cannot make it, or that we cannot do anything. However, when we walk away from His presence, we pick up everything ourselves again. Brothers and sisters, whatever we bring to God when we come before Him must be left with Him when we leave His presence. Those who know how to leave things with God will experience deliverance.
Once I delivered a manuscript to a sister and asked her to make a clean copy of it for me. But when I left, I took the manuscript with me. Although she was willing to do the copying work, there was no way that she could do it. This is how we pray today. We say with our mouth, “God, please help me.” But after we pray, we take up everything ourselves again.
Hence, the most important thing is to let go. We have to say, “God, I cannot overcome, and I do not intend to overcome. Neither will I try to overcome.” This is being crucified with Christ. How wonderful this is! “I am crucified with Christ”!
When you wake up in the morning, Satan may tell you that you are not good, that you are the same in this and that matter. You may become sad. However, what are you going to do? You should say, “I have known for a long time that I am utterly corrupt. I have given up hope in myself. I do not intend to make any more headway in myself.” If you say this, you will immediately become well. This is very amazing! This is not a matter of a change but of an exchange. You have to grasp hold of God’s accomplished facts. If there were any usefulness in you, God would not have crucified you on the cross. God has put you to the cross and put you in Christ because you are utterly corrupt. Therefore, you should let go. What should you do practically? You should say, “God, I cannot improve myself, and I do not intend to improve myself. Lord, from now on, I am through; I will not try to make it anymore, nor do I intend to make it anymore.” Brothers and sisters, do you dare to let go?
I have mentioned the story of the doctor who smoked cigars. He was over seventy years of age and had been struggling with cigars for years. One day in a meeting, he began to talk about his struggle with smoking. A young man who knew the Lord said, “If I were you, I would not struggle.” The old man said, “If I cannot quit even if I struggle, wouldn’t it be more difficult to quit if I did not struggle?” The young man said, “No! If I were you, I would say to God, ‘I cannot stop smoking. You quit for me.’” The old man thought that there was some sense to the young man’s word, and he did so accordingly. He told God, “I cannot quit smoking. I will not struggle to quit any longer. Lord, I commit this matter to You. I will not take control any longer. Please quit for me.” Every day he smoked twelve to twenty cigars and had been doing this for fifty years. He surrendered on that day, and the next day he told others that he had woken up for the first time without thinking about smoking.
Brothers and sisters, if you think that you can become holy, you will surely fail. If you think that you can become perfect, you will surely fail. If you think that you can become patient, you will surely fail. God sees us as being beyond any possibility of repair or improvement. Can you say with Paul that you are crucified on the cross? You are utterly corrupt and useless, and you deserve only to be nailed to the cross. This is what Paul meant. When I was in Peking, I asked a brother if he was through. He said, “Thank and praise the Lord, I am through!” This is a basic qualification: We must see before God that we are completely useless and that there is no way to improve or correct ourselves. All we have to do is to tell the Lord, “From now on, I commit everything to You. You do everything for me.”
Some brothers and sisters acknowledge that they cannot make it. They acknowledge that they are through and that they have been crucified with Christ. But why have they still not overcome? Why do they still fail? Why have they not yet realized victory? Brothers and sisters, there is another word which we must not forget.