Exercise our Spirit of Faith to Believe God’s Word and Trust in God’s Keeping Power

As believers in Christ, we need to exercise our spirit of faith and keep our heart turned to the Lord to believe in His promises, to believe that He is with us, and to believe that we are well able to overcome, trusting in God’s keeping power and not having a heart of unbelief nor murmuring against God. Amen!

The history of the people of Israel in their journey through the wilderness and entering into the good land is a type of our spiritual history as the spiritual people of God today.

As seen in their history and also in the warnings in Heb. 3:7-19, even though we may be saved, delivered out of Satan’s bondage, and brought into a revelation of God’s economy, we may yet fail to reach the goal of God’s calling.

The goal of God’s calling is that we enter into the full possession of the all-inclusive Christ as our good land, enjoy His riches, and bring in the kingdom of God and become the corporate expression of God on the earth.

In Matt. 25:21 and 23 we see the parable of the talents; here one slave had five talents, another had two, and the third one had one.

The Lord called the one with one talent “an evil slave” because, instead of using his talent and bringing Him interest, he buried it and returned it intact, with no interest.

We do not want to bury our talent but rather, use the function that the Lord has given us to bring the Lord and His kingdom some interest, some increase.

We want to be the faithful slaves who are faithful over a few things whom the Lord puts us over many things, thus entering into the Lord’s joy.

The more we go on with the Lord, the more the Lord entrusts us with things; we need to be faithful over the things the Lord has placed us today so that He may set us over many things in the coming age.

May we dwell in the good land and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ, and may we feed on the Lord’s faithfulness (Psa. 37:3).

He is faithful. In ourselves we are not faithful; rather, we are faithless. But the Lord is faithful. He will bring us all the way to the end.

We should not think that the all-inclusive Christ seems so far away and we are here so low, full of weaknesses and sins.

We should not allow any doubts from the enemy to be lodged in our mind.

When we receive and welcome the enemy’s evil thoughts and his doubts, our heart becomes an evil heart of unbelief, which is an offense to God.

God has promised us the land, He will bring us into the land, and we need to simply trust in Him.

We should not look at the problems, difficulties, and situations around us; we should look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, for He will do in us what He has already begun.

Eat the Difficulties as our Bread and Trust in God’s Keeping Power by Exercising our Spirit of Faith to Believe His Promises

Ten of the twelve men whom Moses sent to spy out the land brought an evil report that caused the children of Israel to murmur and rebel against the word of the Lord.

However, Caleb and Joshua said to the whole assembly, “Only do not rebel against Jehovah, nor should you fear the people of the land, for they are our bread” (Num. 14:9). How did they get this revelation? Wow!

The people of the land seemed to be much stronger and even giants were there, but Caleb and Joshua realized that they were food for them, for they believed God’s promises.

On one hand, we believers in Christ have the word of God as our bread (Matt. 4:4) and also doing God’s will is our food (John 4:24).

On the other hand, however, our bread is the Anakim, the giants in the land, the difficulties that we encounter.

The seemingly insurmountable obstacles and impossible situations in our pursuit of Christ for the building up of the church are our food.

We all have seemingly impossible situations, and obstacles that seem to be insurmountable; these are our food.

If we exercise our spirit of faith to believe the promises in the word of God and not look at the difficulties and obstacles in our way, we will realize that we can eat the difficulties as our food.

Every difficulty and temptation that Satan puts in our way is food to us.

This is how God wants us to progress in our Christian life, not only by eating Him as our food and the will of God as our food but even more, the difficulties are our food.

If we rely on the Lord for victory and allow His overcoming life to be manifested in us, we will find fresh nourishment and increased vitality (Josh. 14:11-15).

Many times when we find ourselves in a difficult situation, even in an impossible situation, we may want to get out of there; however, when we encounter a difficulty, we need to eat.

If we rely on the Lord for victory and allow His overcoming life to be manifested in us, we will find fresh nourishment and increased vitality, and we will be fed.

This is only when we exercise our spirit of faith to believe the promises of God.

Our bread is not only the word of God and the will of God but also our difficulties and impossible situations.

Many Christians are weak because they do not exercise their spirit of faith to believe in the promises of God when they encounter difficulties and impossible situations.

But the more we eat “the Anakim”, the giants in the land, the stronger we become.

This is why Caleb, even at eighty-five years old, was as strong as at forty – he was eating the giants as his food, and he was ready to take the land.

May we have a change in our concept to realize that every difficulty and tough situation that the Lord has put in our way, even every temptation that Satan puts in our way, is food to us.

May we take all these things as our food so that we may progress in the Lord.

Sometimes the sight of troubles strikes terror in the heart of those who do not have faith, but if we exercise our spirit of faith, we realize that this is our food.

Thank the Lord that all our trials, without exception, are bread for us.

Why? Because the God who has called us and chosen us, He will also do it in us.

We trust not in ourselves, our strength, and our ability, but in God’s keeping power.

We simply believe His promises with all of our heart, and we believe in God’s keeping power.

We even tell Him that we trust in Him and in His keeping power.

Can we keep ourselves from temptations and trials? Can we maintain our spiritual progress and can we grow in life in and of ourselves?

No. We trust in the Lord.

We believe that our life is truly in His hands, and He will guard us from stumbling and set us before His glory without blemish in exultation (Jude 24).

He will keep us not only from falling but even from stumbling.

We praise the Lord for God’s keeping power; He guards us from the slightest slippage, and He keeps us from this day to the day of His return. He keeps us without blemish, and we can trust in Him.

We simply need to rely on the Lord for victory and allow His overcoming life to be manifested in us, and when we do this, we will find fresh nourishment and increased vitality.

In order for us to have God’s keeping power, we must exercise our spirit of faith and keep our heart turned to the Lord to believe wholeheartedly in His promises (2 Cor. 4:13; 3:16; 1:20).

We need to believe that God is with us, His people, and we need to believe that we are well able to overcome (Josh. 14:12-15; Num. 13:30).

May we commit our souls as a deposit to God, the faithful creator (1 Pet. 1:19), hand ourselves over to Him, and commit to Him the keeping of our life (2 Tim. 1:12).

We believe that the Triune God is with us right now.

We believe in Him, we trust in God’s keeping power, and we exercise our spirit of faith to simply trust in Him!

If we trust in His promises and commit ourselves utterly to Him, we will be kept from this day to the day of His return, for He is able to guard us from stumbling and to set us before His glory without blemish in exultation. We can gladly tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit of faith to believe in Your promises. We do not look at the impossibility of our situation but in You. We trust in God’s keeping power and not in ourselves. We keep our heart turned to You to believe wholeheartedly in Your promises! Amen, Lord, we believe that whatever You have spoken is true and You will do it in us! We believe that You are with us, Your people, and we believe that in You and by You we are well able to overcome! Praise the Lord, in Christ we have the victory, and with Christ even our impossible situations are our food! Amen, Lord, we commit our souls as a deposit to God, the faithful Creator. We hand ourselves over to You, and we commit to You the keeping of our life. We believe, dear Lord, that You are able to guard us from stumbling and set us before Your glory without blemish in exultation. Amen, Lord Jesus, we trust in God’s keeping power.

To Possess Christ as the Good Land we need to Not Rebel against His Word and Beware of Murmurings

If we are going to fully possess Christ as the good land, we must beware of having an evil heart of unbelief; if we do not believe in the Lord and His word, we rebel against Him (Deut. 1:25-26, 28, 35-39; 9:23; Heb. 3:12, 16-19; 4:2, 6; 11:1; cf. 2 Cor. 4:13; Gal. 3:2, 5; Rom. 10:17; Acts 6:5a; Num. 13:25-33; 14:4-10; 32:11-12; Josh. 14:6-12; 1 Cor. 10:1-13). Wow!

Not to believe in the Lord is to rebel against Him.

The people of Israel were promised by the Lord that He would bring them into the good land, but they did not believe in Him nor did they believe His word; this was rebellion against God.

This is very sobering. They believed the report of the ten evil spies who brought an evil report, and God had to give them up, but He gave the land to their children, which they said would be prey to the Canaanites.

Because the people of Israel rebelled at the word of Jehovah and did not believe the Lord nor did they listen to His voice, the Lord disciplined them by allowing them to die in the wilderness and not enter the good land.

Not listening to someone’s word is very disrespectful; it is to despise that person to the uttermost.

The first generation of Israel who got out of Egypt had the good news announced to them, but the word heard did not profit them because they did not mix it together with faith.

We need to hear God’s word and mix it with our faith.

We need to trust in God’s keeping power and mix His word with our faith, exercising our spirit of faith to say Amen to His word.

When we hear the word of God, when we hear His marvellous promises, and when we hear that He will bring us into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, we need to mix this word with our faith by saying Amen to the Lord’s word.

We need to pray the word God speaks to us back to Himself.

When we pray-read the word in a genuine way, we are mixing the word of God with our faith.

We receive the word, praying at every time in spirit, which spirit is a spirit of faith.

Faith comes out of hearing, and hearing comes through the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17).

May we remain in the word of God with much prayer, not having doubts whether the Lord will or can do it in us, but say Amen to the word of God.

May we be those who are full of the Holy Spirit, those who are full of faith, by praying over the word of God with the exercise of our spirit.

On the negative side, may we beware of an evil heart of unbelief, a heart that is infused with Satan’s thoughts of unbelief.

If we are going to fully possess the all-inclusive Christ as the good land, we must beware of murmurings (v. 10; Psa. 106:24-25; Phil. 2:14).

The people of Israel could not enter into the good land because they murmured.

They just complained. We may think that we just murmur with our spouse or with the ones around us, but the destroyer is out there ready to destroy those who murmur.

May we be saved from murmuring and reasoning. We must beware of murmurings, which are discontented and secret mutterings, grumblings, and complaining.

Murmuring is an indistinct, whispered complaining in low tones, discontentedly and with a gloomy resentment.

Sometimes we may grumble about our work situation, the saints in the church life, our spouse, or our situation; we may complain about the hard situation we’re in. Oh, Lord.

May the Lord shine on us and save us from murmurings and reasonings.

We all have our own situation, our own set of sufferings, and each one of us has his own “oven” in which the Lord put him.

So we may say, Woe is me, this is so hard, look what is happening to me, look at what he or she is doing or saying to me, look how hard the situation is, etc.

Instead of murmuring, may we learn to praise the Lord.

Sometimes there may be discontentment bubbling up in us, and we may have a gloomy resentment. Oh, Lord.

The children of Israel were whispering, complaining, and muttering; they were grumbling.

They even despised the good land, the pleasant land (Psa. 106:24-25). Oh Lord.

May the Lord save us from our grumbling, muttering, and complaining, and may our complaining be turned into praising.

Lord Jesus, we want to fully possess Christ as the good land. Save us from having an evil heart of unbelief. Save us from not believing the Lord or rebelling against Him. Oh Lord, we say Amen to Your word. We take Your word and pray it back to You, being full of confidence that, what You promised to do, You will do. We do not focus on our situation or condition: we focus on You and we praise You! Praise the Lord, He will bring us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ. Amen, Lord, we choose to take You at Your word, believe Your promises, trust in God’s keeping power, and refuse to murmur or complain! We simply want to enjoy and fully possess Christ as the good land. Save us from any murmurings, mutterings, grumblings, and complaining. May all our murmuring be turned into praising. May all our complaining be turned into praising the Lord for all that He is and all He has done for us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Watchman Nee, God’s Keeping Power (booklet), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good land for the Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Reality and the Manifestation of the Kingdom, and for the Bride to make Herself Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 Winter Training), week 2, entitled, Inheriting the All-inclusive Christ as the Good Land by Taking Heed to His Words of Advice and Warnings and by Receiving His Renewed Training to Have Our Inner Man Renewed Day by Day.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The Bible Is Our Spiritual Food, article via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Podcast: The Practice of Pray-Reading God’s Word, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – What is it to Exercise Our Spirit? Via, Hearing of Faith.
  – Apprehending the things of the Spirit by faith, a portion from, Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee.
  – Choosing to Exercise our Spirit, via, Living to Him.
  – God being the One who keeps us, a portion from, Gospel of God, The (2 volume set), Chapter 16, by Watchman Nee.
  – Words That Spread Death and How to Stop Them, via Shepherding Words.
  – New Jerusalem: No Murmuring, No Reasoning, but Shining the Glory of God, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Exercising the spirit to pray-read the Word, a portion from, The Secret of Experiencing Christ, Chapter 11, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Sometimes ’mid scenes of deepest gloom, / Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom, / By waters still, o’er troubled sea, / Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me. / Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine, / Nor ever murmur or repine; / Content, whatever lot I see, / Since it is Thou that leadest me. (Hymns #585 stanzas 2-3)
  – We have the Word! The written Word’s our daily food; / We mix this Word with faith and say “Amen!” / Then thro’ the day, the spoken Word will speak to us / And regulate our living from within. (Hymns #1287 stanza 3)
  – All the way my Savior leads me; / Oh, the fullness of His grace! / Perfect rest to me is promised / In my Father’s blest embrace. / When my spirit, clothed immortal, / Wings its flight to realms of day, / This my song through endless ages: / Jesus led me all the way, / This my song through endless ages: / Jesus led me all the way. (Hymns #701 stanza 3)