Becoming the Man-Child by being Inwardly Strengthened and by Pray-Reading the Word

The first major covenant God made with man can be seen in Gen. 3:15, where God came in after the fall of man and preached the gospel by promising that the seed of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent. Instead of rebuking Adam and Eve for what they did, God preached the gospel to them, and they believed God – they became the first believers.

The seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15 was individually fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, who is the complete God becoming a perfect man through the dispensing of Himself into humanity to destroy Satan (the serpent) and to save the believers in Christ from sin and death.

Christ came to be the seed of the woman, and in Him, Satan had nothing – no ground and no opportunity in anything. Through His death on the cross Christ has destroyed him who has the might of death, that is, the devil (Heb. 2:14).

Now this One, Christ as the seed of the woman, has been transfigured to be the life-giving Spirit, and whoever believes into Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior, he receives the overcoming seed of the woman in his spirit.

As believers we have the transfigured seed of the woman, the overcoming Christ, as the life-giving Spirit with our spirit; now this One is daily being dispensed into us to bruise the serpent’s head in us and to make us the corporate seed of the woman.

The promised seed of the woman in Gen. 3:15 is not only the Lord Jesus individually but also the corporate man-child in Rev. 12, that is, the corporate group of the overcomers. We can be part of the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to Adam, the seed of the woman, by choosing to be the Lord’s overcomers today!

The Lord is looking for a group of believers who would be His overcomers to be the dispensational instrument who will carry out God’s judgment on Satan, close this age, and bring in the age of the kingdom (Rev. 12:5). The Lord Himself is the first Overcomer, and He leads the way by being the Head, the center, the reality, the life, and the nature of the man-child, and the man-child as the following overcomers is the Lord’s Body.

May the Lord gain us as His overcomers, those who choose to enjoy Him, are strengthened into our inner man to be the stronger part of the woman, are empowered to enjoy and experience the riches of Christ, and are strong by putting on the armor of God in the Body by means of all prayer and petition.

May we enjoy the spontaneous life-power of Christ as the life-seed who bruises the serpent’s head in us as we employ the blood of the Lamb, speak forth the word of our testimony, and love not our soul-life even unto death!

There are so many ways for us to become the man-child: let us see what the Bible says concerning this in more detail.

Becoming the Man-Child by being Inwardly Strengthened and by Pray-Reading the Word

The man-child is part of the woman in Rev. 12; the woman in the Bible is the weaker vessel, indicating dependence on the Lord and trusting in Him. The overcomers depend on the Lord desperately, realizing that without the Lord they are nothing and they can do nothing.

God is our source; we trust in God, and only because we have God in us can we be strong – and our strength is not of ourselves but in God and of God. The Lord Jesus depended on the Father, always prayed to the Father, and did everything according to the Father; He as the Leading Overcomer is now the center, reality, life, and nature of the man-child, and we are the following overcomers.

We follow the Lord Jesus to depend on the Lord, take God as our source, and do everything in oneness with God; our trust is not in ourselves but in God and His strength.

We are the same as He. He is the leading overcomer, and we are the following overcomers. He is the Head of the man-child, and we are the Body. He is the center of the man-child, and we are the circumference. He is the reality of the man-child, and we are the expression of the man-child. He is the man-child’s life and nature, and we are the man-child. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Genesis, pp. 265-266)

How can we become the man-child, the stronger part of the church? It is by daily practicing to pray and experience Eph. 3:16, praying that the Father would grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.

The more we are strengthened into our inner man, the more we become the stronger part within the woman (the church) to be the man-child through which Christ can destroy Satan and end this age.

As we are strengthened into our inner man, we are empowered to experience the riches of Christ; we realize how high, deep, and wide He is both in our individual and corporate experience of Christ, and we are filled with His riches (Eph. 3:8-9).

When we are strengthened into our inner man with power, we are strong through putting on the all-inclusive Christ as the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:10-20). We are strengthened into our inner man, we enjoy and experience the riches of Christ, and we put on the whole armor of God by taking the word by means of all prayer and petition (Eph. 6:17); this is the way to be produced as the man-child.

Christ is the breastplate of righteousness, the firm foundation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the Word of God. We receive all these items by means of all prayer and petition – both individually and corporately in the Body.

Therefore, in order to become the man-child, we need to be strengthened into our inner man, being empowered to experience the riches of Christ and being strong by putting on the all-inclusive Christ as our armor.

We need to take the Word of God by means of all prayer and petition; the way we can prevail against the enemy is not in our own strength but in pray-reading the word of God so that we may be inwardly strengthened and Satan would be defeated in us and around us.

It is of no avail to fight against Satan with our words, our strength, our thoughts; we fight by praying the word of God; this strengthens us into our inner man, causes us to put on the whole armor of God and defeat the devil!

Lord Jesus, You are our head, our center, our reality, our life, and our nature. We want to follow You as the Leading Overcomer to depend on God, trust in God, and take God as our source. Father, grant us to be strengthened with power through Your Spirit into the inner man so that we may enjoy and experience the riches of Christ day by day. May we be empowered to put on the all-inclusive Christ as the whole armor of God by regularly pray-reading the Word of God both personally and corporately! Lord, we want to cooperate with You to be the man-child, the overcomers, as the corporate seed of the woman!

The Spontaneous Life-Power of Christ as the Life-Seed in us Bruises the Serpent’s Head in us

It is not us that defeats Satan but Christ; Christ is the Overcomer, and He is the Overcoming One in us. The Lord Jesus is in us as a living Person and as a spontaneous automatic life-power; He in us automatically and spontaneously defeats the enemy as long as we cooperate with Him.

In Rev. 12:10-11 we see that Satan is the accuser of the brothers; his full-time job is to accuse us before God and before one another. But we can overcome Satan because the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of our testimony, and by not loving our soul-life even unto death.

When we apply the precious, effective, and overcoming blood of Christ by confessing our sins, depending on the Lord, and looking to Him for cleansing, Satan is defeated. When we declare the divine facts in the Bible, such as, Jesus is Lord! – Satan is defeated!

When we deny our self and lose our soul-life, not standing in our feelings, emotions, and mind but turning to the Lord in His Word and declaring the fact that Christ is the Victor, and He has overcome the enemy, we overcome Satan!

We need to be the Lord’s witnesses, His martyrs, by losing our soul-life and by bearing a living testimony of the resurrected and ascended Christ in life (Acts 1:8).

When we give the Lord our cooperation by applying the blood of the Lamb, declaring and witnessing the Word of God as our testimony, and not loving our soul-life even unto death, we will be the overcomers the Lord needs today to execute His judgment on Satan, end this age, and bring in the age of the kingdom! May we be those who reject ourselves and deny our soul life so that we may have such a living testimony today!

We employ the blood of the Lamb, which is for our redemption; this blood answers before God all the accusations of the devil against us and gives us the victory over him!

We declare the word of our testimony, which is the word that testifies that the devil has been judged by the Lord; Hallelujah, Satan has been judged, and God’s judgment is being carried out on him through the church! Praise the Lord!

When we cooperate with the Lord in such a way, the spontaneous life-power of Christ as the life-seed bruises the serpent’s head in us. Spontaneously. Automatically. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, thank You for Your blood which is for our redemption; Your blood answers before God all the accusations of the devil against us and gives us the victory over him! Praise the Lord – Jesus Christ is Lord, and He has overcome the enemy! The devil has been judged by the Lord, and we stand with the Lord, the Overcoming One in our spirit! Lord Jesus, we declare Your victory over Satan. We stand in Your victory. We are willing to lose our soul-life and be joined to You in Your victory to execute Your judgement over Satan!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Genesis, msg. 18 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 6 / msg 6, The Covenanting God and His Covenants (1) – Major Covenants That God Made with Man.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # For experience we must pray to be strengthened always, / That from soul into spirit we would turn and remain, / Only when we’re in spirit can Christ have a way, / From our spirit to make His home in our hearts through faith. (Song on being strengthened into our inner man)
  # The name of Jesus is our stand, / It is our victory; / Not on ourselves do we rely, / But, mighty Lord, on Thee. / Our weapons are not arms of flesh, / But ours the Spirit’s sword, / And God’s whole armor putting on, / We battle in the Lord. (Hymns #887)
  # By the blood of Christ the Victor / Overcome the enemy: / By its virtue and its power / You will win the victory. / By the blood of Christ the Victor / Counter him who doth accuse; / By the blood for you defending / All the sland’rer’s blame refuse. (Hymns #889)