Caring for God’s Interests and having Faith in God to be the Partners of Christ

We need to be those who care for God’s interests by having faith in God (as we are infused with Him) to be partners of Christ in His divine enterprise, the divine commission.

In Num. 13-14 Joshua and Caleb honored God, and God honored them; they cared for God’s interests and had faith in God’s word, and they became overcomers because of God, in whom they trusted and whom they enjoyed.

All the twelve spies who went to see the good land had the same facts, the same scenery, but Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit – they exercised not just their mind to understand but their spirit to stand on God’s word. Because they believed in God’s word and stood on God’s word, they declared that the land is theirs, they are well-able to overcome it, and God will give them the land to possess it.

They were real overcomers, but they didn’t overcome in themselves or by themselves but because of God, the One in whom they trusted.

It was God who promised the land, it was God who brought His people with a mighty arm and tender care to the good land, and it was God who will give the land to the people of Israel as their possession.

So all they had to do as God’s people is enjoy what God did and have faith in His word.

In our Christian life many times we have trials, problems, and sufferings, and it seems that God is silent and non-responsive when we bring all these things to Him.

But if we have faith in God, if our hearts are full of faith by remaining in God’s word and believing in His promises, He will bring us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land.

If we learn to open our heart to Him, allow Him to strengthen us into our inner man, and stand in His word, our heart will be filled with faith, and we will have a spirit of faith, a different spirit, believing that God will do in us what He said He will do.

We need to be today’s Calebs, the partners of Christ – who is the real Joshua. When we enjoy Christ and partake of Him, we become His partakers, and we live because of Him; when we follow Christ, we become His partners, and He is our real Joshua leading us into the possession of the good land.

May we be today’s Calebs, the partners of Christ, those who follow Christ wherever He goes and fight with Him against the enemies and share with Him in taking and possessing the land!

And may we tell the Lord to do this in us, for in ourselves we cannot do it – but He is pleased to give us the land, and He is pleased to reproduce Himself as the Overcomer in us to make us the same as He is, overcomers, those who sit with Him on His throne!

Learning to Care for God’s Interests to Honor God, have Faith in Him, and be His Overcomers

In Num. 14:38 we see that Joshua and Caleb honored God and God in turn honored them; they were filled with faith. However, their faith was not originated with them – they were not the source but God alone was the source, and they cared for God’s interests.

In our experience it all depends on what are we looking at. Joshua and Caleb didn’t look at the fortified cities, the giants, and the inhabitants of the land – they looked to God and His promises.

When Peter was in the boat and saw Jesus walking on the sea, he asked Him to speak a word and he will come; as long as Peter looked at the Lord, he walked on water, but when he shifted his gaze to the sea, he started to sink.

The Author and Perfecter of our faith is the Lord, and we need to look away unto Him.

Part of the enemy’s strategy is to lure and even compel us to look at some negative thing in our environment, in our being, in our history, and not at the ascended Christ, the God-man Jesus on the throne who possesses all authority in heaven on earth!

The enemy wants us to shift our gaze from Christ, the Ruler of the kings of the earth, the One who is victorious and who destroyed the devil, having the keys of death and Hades in His hands.

The enemy wants us to look at ourselves, our disposition, our failures, our situation, and our feelings. But praise the Lord, we can exercise our spirit and activate our will to make a decision to tell the enemy to shut up, and we can look away to Jesus!

Satan, we look away unto Jesus! We do not look at ourselves, our failures, and our condition. We don’t look at others’ condition and failures, we don’t look at the condition of the church, and we refuse to focus on our history, our weakness, of the enemies. Oh Lord Jesus, we fix our eyes on You! You are the Author and Perfecter of our faith; faith is in You, and we set our eyes on You! We love You, Lord! We love to look away unto You to be infused with You and be filled with faith!

The enemy attacks us very subtly, and many times we fall; but we will rise up again, and when we’re in darkness, Jehovah is a light to us. May we learn to rise up from any failure, weakness, and trial, and look away unto Jesus today!

He as the Author and Pefecter of our faith can infuse us with faith. Even when we have a certain situation in which we need Him to intervene, and He seems to not answer us, we simply need to persevere in prayer until He will do what He said He will do.

May the Lord produce faith in us; may He produce the kind of faith that believes in God even when He doesn’t answer our prayers, when He doesn’t take any action to rescue us, and He doesn’t even respond to our most fervent petitions.

Whether He answers or not, whether He acts or not, may we know His ways, and may we know that He is righteous, faithful, loving, and compassionate, and we believe into Him even if He does nothing for us!

The example of Joshua and Caleb in the Bible shows us what it is to believe (Num. 13:30; 14:7-9). It was not Joshua and Caleb who overcame in this situation in Num. 13-14 but it was the One in whom they trusted.

It is not us by our strength and great faith that we can overcome; rather, it by the Lord as the Overcomer who is in our spirit and reproduces Himself in us that we can overcome.

Christ has overcome, He has been given to sit on the throne, and He is willing to produce us as His overcomers whenever we turn to Him, call on Him, ask Him for this, open to Him, and Let Him do what He needs to do in us!

God does everything – we simply need to enjoy what He does. Christ has already defeated the enemy as a Man; He, Jesus the Nazarene, the God-man, destroyed the devil on the cross, cast out the ruler of this world, and judged his entire world system.

When He ascended, we ascended; when He was enthroned, we were enthroned; now in spirit we are joined to Him, seated in the third heavens, and we fight not for victory but from victory.

The Lord Jesus already did it; we believe into Him, we remain in the organic union with Him, and we come forward to Him at the throne of grace for Him to do in us and through us what we cannot do.

We need to follow the example of Joshua and Caleb; they had hearts full of faith. May we be simple in this matter, turn our heart to the Lord, open our heart to Him, ask Him to strengthen us into our inner man and make His home in our heart, and fill our heart with faith.

Faith stops our activities and praises God, for He has done everything. Faith is not of ourselves – it is of our caring for God’s interests and not for our benefit, and it comes through the exercising of our spirit to enjoy what God already did.

The truth is that we can’t make it – but Christ can make it; we can’t do it, we don’t even want to do it, but Christ as the Overcomer is in us, and He can do it. God is able to do in us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, all that we dream or imagine. May we be those who come to Him and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You; strengthen us into our inner man and make Your home in our heart until our heart is full of faith. We admit, Lord, that in ourselves we can’t do it and we can’t make it, but we have You as the Overcomer in our spirit. We come to You, Lord: reproduce Yourself in us! We simply want to enjoy all that You are and have done, and we want to cooperate with You so that You may make us Your overcomers! We do not trust in ourselves and in our ability with our zeal; we trust in You, Lord, and we allow You to work in us to make us the Joshua and Caleb of today!

Being the Partners of Christ, those who Follow the Lord in Spirit to Enter the Good Land

Joshua is a type of Christ, and Caleb is a type of us, the believers in Christ; we need to be today’s Calebs, partners of Christ (Num. 14:24; Josh. 14:6-14; Heb. 2:10; 3:14).

This doesn’t mean that we need to set up our mind and promise to be like Caleb; no, we need to consecrate ourselves to the Lord by giving Him permission to work in us and on us, directing our ways, until He gains in us what He wants to gain.

Christ, the Captain of our salvation, is the real Joshua, and He is leading us to take possession of the land; today, we as the Calebs of today, are the partners of Christ, those fighting with Him against the enemies and sharing with Him in taking and possessing the land (Heb. 2:10; 3:14).

The Lord as the real Joshua wants to gain many who are like Caleb, infused with faith and standing with Him in His word. Christ has been anointed by God to carry out God’s commission, and we as His partners share with Him in carrying out God’s commission.

Christ has been anointed by God, and we have been firmly attached and joined to the anointed One.

He is anointed and appointed to do everything, and we as His partners enjoy the anointing flowing on us. He is the Head, we are His Body; He is the Captain of salvation, and we are His army; He is the Leader, and we are His followers; He is the One anointed, and we are His partners.

He anoints us with Himself as the anointing, and we are one with Him as the partners of Christ, sharing with Him as His companions in this commission.

Hebrews 3:7-14 deals with entering the good land; the type of this entering the good land was the entering of the land under the leadership of Joshua (Josh. 1:1-6), and Caleb was his partner in possessing the good land (Num. 32:12; Josh. 14:6-8).

Joshua took the lead, and Caleb had no problem to follow; Joshua was clear, had God’s direct leading, and Caleb functioned in his measure, coordinated with Joshua, and was not envious or in competition with him. What a pattern!

Today Christ is the real Joshua, and we are His Calebs, the partners of Christ. As Christ’s partners, we are working together with Christ and cooperating with Him to fulfill God’s desire to have a corporate expression of Himself.

How do we do this? It is by first NOT looking at what we can see – the environment, the situation, the condition of the people, our history, or the enemies, but by looking away unto Jesus through the exercise of our spirit in His word.

When we exercise our spirit, we have a “different spirit” like Joshua and Caleb did, a spirit of faith that causes us to believe into God’s word. Others may have a cowardly, unbelieving, rebellious spirit, but we need to have a spirit of faith in God’s word.

Lord Jesus, You are our real Joshua – the Captain of our salvation, our Leader, and our General – and we are Your Calebs, the partners of Christ! Amen, Lord, we declare in faith that we are the Calebs of today, the partners of Christ who enjoy the anointing and commission of Christ and are joined to Him for His great enterprise! Amen, Lord Jesus, we are one with You and we take You as our Leader and Captain. We exercise our spirit, Lord, to NOT look at what we can see outwardly but look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, the One who will accomplish what He said!

Read this article / blog post in Romanian – puteți citi acest articol și în limba română la următorul link – Să ne îngrijim de interesele lui Dumnezeu și să avem credință în Dumnezeu pentru a fi partenerii lui Cristos.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Numbers, msgs. 20-21 (Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 11, Partners of Christ Fighting for God’s Interest.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Look away! O look away! / Look to Jesus now today! / Look away from everything unto Jesus, / Look away from everything to Him! / Look away from all around—Hallelujah, / Look away from all the strife and din; / Look away where peace is found—Hallelujah, / Look away from everything to Him. (Hymns #1206)
  # In the Overcomer’s Name / Be an overcomer too! / Stand and put the foe to shame / All the livelong battle through! (Hymns #883)
  # So great the extent of salvation to us— / We’re partners of Christ in His plan glorious. / He’ll bring us to glory and we’ll rule with Him, / To the uttermost saved by His working within. (Hymns #1129)