Table of Contents
HWMR – Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Week 2)
Possessing the Land of Canaan by Defeating the Satanic Forces
Key Point – If we would possess the good land for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, we must engage in spiritual warfare to defeat the satanic forces
Eph. 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil,
We must also remember that there are evil powers in the heavenlies. We must fight the battle with the enemy. We are enjoying a portion of the all-inclusive Christ, yet the enemy and his evil forces in the heavenlies are still usurping and occupying the land. You and I have to fight the battle to take possession of the entire land. Brothers and sisters, as soon as we enjoy Christ in such a way, we realize in our spirit the reality of the evil forces in the heavenlies. These evil forces are veiling the all-inclusiveness of Christ from the Lord’s children. Very few of the Lord’s people can realize the all-inclusiveness of Christ simply because of the accusations of the evil powers in the heavenlies. To this very day the evil forces are still veiling the all-inclusiveness of Christ. Therefore, we must fight the battle. There is an exceedingly real spiritual warfare in which we must engage. By enjoying something of the all-inclusive Christ, we will be burdened for this fighting; we will be burdened for this battle. That is why we have been formed as an army. The conflict is before us. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” p. 336)
Life-study of Colossians (Message 37)
Christ in You
Col. 1:27 To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,
It is crucial for us to see that God wants nothing but Christ. If we see this vision, we shall set aside our standard and aspire to be one with the Lord in our spirit moment by moment. The all-inclusive Christ is now in our spirit. First Corinthians 6:17 tells us that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. In 2 Timothy 4:22 Paul says, “The Lord be with thy spirit” (Gk.). Our standard should not be the culture we have inherited or the culture we ourselves have made. Our standard should be the oneness with the Lord in our spirit. Do not try to be a good wife or husband. Instead, simply be one spirit with the Lord. Then you will live Christ because Christ will actually be living in you.
God has placed us into Christ. If we see that our culture frustrates us from experiencing the indwelling Christ, we shall realize that as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, the Lord indwells our spirit and that we are one spirit with Him. We need to live by this mingled spirit as the standard. If we allow Christ to live in us day by day, we shall spontaneously live by Him. In this way, Christ will replace our culture.
The problem with the saints at Colosse was that most of them had been deluded and carried off from Christ to philosophy and religious observances. They set up this philosophy and these observances as their standard and lived by it. This standard kept them from the enjoyment of Christ and the experience of Christ. This was the reason Paul charged them to let no one purposely defraud them of their prize (2:18).
The principle is the same today. The enemy within us is subtle. We have certain standards, either the standards we have inherited or those we have made for ourselves. Because these standards are good, we do not condemn them. Nevertheless, these good standards are not Christ Himself. God does not want something good produced by us; He wants Christ and Christ alone. In the eyes of God, only Christ counts for anything. God’s intention is to work Christ into us so that we may have the full enjoyment of Him. When Christ has the free course within us to become our enjoyment and experience, our culture will be dealt with.
The time has come for all of us in the churches to hear this message, to see this vision, and to condemn our cultural standards. Then we shall realize that what God wants is Christ and that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit mingled with our spirit. Instead of living according to a certain standard, we should simply live by the Christ who dwells in our spirit. As we live in the spirit, we should let Christ have a free course throughout our whole being. Then we shall enjoy Him, experience Him, and be delivered from our culture.
Life-study of Colossians (Message 38)
Christ Lives in Me
Col. 3:4 When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.
We need to see the heavenly vision that in His economy, God wants nothing except Christ. Christ is wonderful. As the One who is God and man, He has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement. All that Christ is and all that He has obtained and attained have been compounded into the all-inclusive Spirit. Now as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, He lives in us. How foolish not to give all the ground in our living to Him! Although we may love Him, we may still limit and restrict Him by our efforts to be good Christian husbands or wives. In ourselves, we still try to be humble, patient, kind, and loving. As long as we do this, there is no way for Christ to live in us.
In John 14, the Lord Jesus spoke of His death and resurrection. Speaking of the disciples’ experience after His resurrection, He says in verse 19, “Because I live, you shall live also.” It was after His resurrection that the Lord could live in His disciples and they could live by Him, according to Galatians 2:20.
Christ wants to live in us. When He lives in us, we live by Him. But where are the Christians today who give Christ the free course to live in them? Very few Christians do this. Even we in the Lord’s recovery do not give Christ the sufficient ground to live in us. Instead, we try to be humble and loving. We try to be a good husband or wife, a good brother or sister. Thus, the ground within us is occupied by ourselves and by our self-effort. Although we may fail in our efforts, we repent, pray, ask for the Lord’s cleansing, and then try once again. We may even welcome the opportunity for a new beginning afforded by a new day, week, month, or year so that we may try once again to be a proper Christian. We may comfort ourselves at the end of the day with the thought that in the morning we shall have a fresh opportunity to try again. We may do the same thing at the end of a week, month, or year. Especially at the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year, we may promise ourselves to have a new beginning. We may thoroughly clear the past, regret our shortcomings, repent for our mistakes, ask the Lord’s forgiveness for our wrongdoings, and then try to have a new beginning. We may say, “Let the past be the past. With the new year I can have a new beginning.” Nevertheless, before long we find that our best efforts still result in failure.
Because we all have this tendency, I am burdened that we would see that God does not want us to try to be proper Christians—He only wants us to live Christ. We should forget about trying to be a good husband or wife and care only to live Christ. Let us love Him, contact Him, and be one with Him. How near and available He is! He is within us and is one spirit with us, waiting to be given the opportunity to live in us. If we would give Christ the ground to live in us, we should cease from all our efforts. Instead of asking the Lord to help us in our efforts, we should pray, “Lord Jesus, I can do nothing apart from You. How foolish I have been in trying so hard! Now, Lord, I see the vision that I cannot do anything without You. Lord, I thank You that You dwell in me. I ask You, Lord, to work within me. Lord, I praise You that You are my life and that You are waiting for the opportunity to live in me. Lord, I thank You that I am in You. Now I am willing to give You all the ground to do everything and to be everything in me.” This is what it means for Christ to live in us.
After praying to the Lord in this way, we should turn to Satan and tell him to no longer tempt us to try to do anything apart from Christ. Say to him, “Satan, don’t tempt me in this way anymore. I assure you that I cannot do anything apart from Christ. Don’t try to get me to do anything.”