Faithfully Exercise our Spirit to Utterly Destroy the Flesh and Live in the Spirit

When the flesh is utterly dealt with, the kingdom of God immediately comes in; may we be absolute in dealing with our flesh and faithfully exercise our spirit to follow the Lord as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit. Amen!

The lesson in 1 Sam. 15 is a very important one for us as believers in Christ to learn, for we are constituted with the flesh, and whenever we speak and do things apart from the Lord, we are in the flesh.

By our natural birth, by being a human beings, we are in the flesh; by default, we live in the flesh, and the flesh can be good or ugly, having positive and negative aspects.

In Saul’s case, he seemed to be a good king until the Lord tested him with the destroying of the Amalekites; because God wanted to test him, He charged Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites and all that is theirs.

Saul, however, did not destroy everything but rather, he spared the life of the king of the Amalekites, and he also spared the best of the sheep, oxen, and cattle, under the pretext of having them offered to God.

Humanly and outwardly speaking, Saul did obey God, but intrinsically speaking, Saul rebelled against God, for he did not absolutely obey God’s charge.

Amalek is a type of the flesh; the flesh frustrates us and attacks us, always seeking to hinder us from fulfilling God’s purpose.

God doesn’t delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices; He doesn’t want our effort, and He is not after the efforts of our flesh to please God.

The flesh can never please God, for the flesh is enmity with God, and it can never please God for it cannot submit to God.

The flesh may try to please God, but at one point the flesh will rebel against God, doing things according to its desire and mind.

We need the Lord’s mercy to see in His light what the flesh is and what we should do about it.

We cannot crucify ourselves; we cannot put the flesh to death on our own – unless the flesh tries to limit the flesh.

Praise the Lord, we have a spirit indwelt by the Spirit of God, and in this mingled spirit there is the fighting Spirit, typified by Joshua, who can defeat the flesh. Praise the Lord!

The only way we can obey God’s word to utterly destroy the flesh is by exercising our spirit; we need to faithfully exercise our spirit to follow the Lord as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit, and He in us will put the flesh to death, with our cooperation.

We need to take the initiative, when the Lord exposes an aspect of our flesh, not to stand with the flesh but to agree with His light and say Amen to His speaking; then, the Spirit will apply the effectiveness of the death of Christ to that aspect of the flesh.

If we compromise in the matter of dealing with the flesh, if we still appreciate and want to spare some of the good aspects of the flesh, we rebel against God, and this is as evil as contacting an evil spirit to carry out his intention. Oh, Lord!

May we be saved from any rebellion and insubordination.

May we faithfully exercise our spirit and say Amen to the Lord’s exposing of the flesh, and may we live by the Spirit and walk by the Spirit in our daily life!

We need to Faithfully Exercise our Spirit and Crucify our Flesh, not doing Anything by our Flesh

May we heed the holy warning in 1 Sam. 15, the account of Saul’s disobedience; may we not do anything in the kingdom of God by our flesh.

As believers in Christ, we have Christ living in us as one spirit with our spirit, but whenever we are not in the spirit, we are in the flesh.

May we fear God and remember that we are flesh. The Son of God has crucified the flesh, He put to death the old man, and He has come into us to regenerate our spirit.

Now Christ as the life-giving Spirit lives in our spirit; He moves, lives, acts, and takes the lead to guide us to live on the line of life for the building up of the church.

When we do not follow the Lord by exercising our spirit, we live in the flesh.

May we faithfully exercise our spirit and crucify the flesh, not doing anything by our flesh in the church life and in our Christian life.

May we realize that we who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts, and we now live by the Spirit and walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:24-25).

When we walk by the Spirit, we will by no means fulfil the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).

How do we deal with the flesh? How do we crucify the flesh? It is not by being like the ascetics, buffeting our body physically and restraining its lusts by not allowing it to have any of its desires; it is by exercising our spirit and living in the spirit.

As we faithfully exercise our spirit, we crucify the flesh, and we live and walk by the spirit, not doing anything in and by the flesh.

Such a living is for the building up of the church, the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the upcoming New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.

This should be our goal. We should not try to build a monarchy for ourselves in the church life as the kingdom of God; rather, whenever such a desire rises in us, we should faithfully exercise our spirit and follow the Lord as the life-giving Spirit on the line of life, seeking to do all things in Spirit for the building up of the church and not for our interest.

Thank the Lord that, in His mercy, He has opened up the intrinsic secrets and meaning of the Word of God to show us the real lessons.

God was not moody when He rejected Saul, neither was He picky when He told Saul that he lost his kingship because of his disobedience.

Rather, the matter of the flesh and dealing with the flesh in an absolute way is crucial in our Christian life, for if we live by the flesh, we must die, but if by the Spirit we put to death the practices of the flesh, we will live. Amen!

May we learn the lesson of the cross and crucify our flesh with its passions and its lusts, and may we leave the flesh on the cross always and in everything (Gal. 5:24).

May we faithfully exercise our spirit to follow the Lord, who is the life-giving Spirit indwelling our spirit and who is one with us; may we be one with Him in our living, doing nothing apart from our organic union with Him.

If we do this, if we remain in this organic union with the Lord and depend on Him in everything, we will have a living and a work that is for the building up of the church as the kingdom of God, and He will have a way to bring in His kingdom on earth through us and among us.

Lord Jesus, we want to faithfully exercise our spirit to follow the Lord as the life-giving Spirit indwelling our spirit. Amen, Lord, we choose to walk by the Spirit and by no means fulfil the lust of the flesh. Hallelujah, we who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts! And now we are living by the Spirit and walking by the Spirit for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ and the kingdom of God! Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to learn the lesson of the cross and crucify our flesh with its passions and its lusts, leaving the flesh on the cross always and in everything. We choose to exercise our spirit and follow the Lord on the line of life for the building up of the church!

Follow the Lord’s Word to Utterly Destroy the Flesh and Live and Walk According to the Spirit to have the Kingship and be in God’s Kingdom

According to 1 Sam. 15:26-28, Saul lost his kingship because he did not utterly destroy Amalek; he was anointed as king just a few chapters before, but because of the rebellion in ch. 15, that was the end of his kingship.

He did continue to rule, and David regarded him as God’s anointed, but as far as God was concerned, he was done – his kingship was over.

If we are not absolute in dealing with our flesh, we, like Saul, will lose our kingship (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10).

The account of Saul’s disobedience is a warning, indicating that we shouldn’t do anything in the kingdom of God by our flesh.

Rather, instead of doing things in and by our flesh, we should crucify our flesh and faithfully exercise our spirit to follow the Lord on the line of life, knowing that He as the life-giving Spirit is with our spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22; Gal. 5:16, 25).

God’s intention is that we all His children would be a kingdom of priests and kings, those who contact God and rule with Christ.

However, if we rebel against God’s word and do not utterly destroy the flesh, this will cost us our kingship, and it will frustrate and hinder us from entering into God’s kingdom.

Exo. 18:1-26 shows that, when Amalek is dealt with, the kingdom of God immediately comes in.

When the flesh is dealt with, when we live by the Spirit and crucify our flesh, the kingdom of God immediately comes in.

The kingdom of God cannot coexist with the flesh; where the flesh is, there is no kingdom of God, but when the flesh is eliminated the kingdom is there.

The kingdom of God denotes the authority of God by which all things are made subject to God (Mark. 1:15; John 3:3, 5; Rev. 11:15; 12:10; Dan. 2:44).

In our daily life and in our church life, in order for the kingdom of God to be able to come in, the flesh needs to be thoroughly dealt with.

Because the flesh is versus the kingship, we must thoroughly deal with the flesh before the kingdom of God can come in (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Eph. 5:5).

May we be those who follow the Lord’s word to utterly destroy the flesh and live and walk according to the spirit so that we may have the kingship and be in the kingdom of God (Rom. 8:4; 14:17; Gal. 5:19-21; 2 Pet. 1:5-11).

May we say Amen to His speaking and allow His intense light to expose the flesh, and may we faithfully exercise our spirit to follow the Lord and be one with Him crucifying our flesh with its passions and its lusts.

It is not possible for the flesh to be subject to God (Rom. 8:7); the flesh is utterly opposed to God’s throne.

When the flesh is dealt with, we have a desire to pray. May our attitude be one of prayer, one of needing the Lord in prayer and doing nothing apart from Him.

Even the good aspects of our natural life and virtues need to be dealt with and destroyed by the cross through the exercise of our spirit to be one with the Lord.

May we not treasure the good aspects of our flesh but be willing to faithfully exercise our spirit, agree with the Lord’s light, and not stand even with some of the habits that we have built up.

Sometimes we may say that we have this habit and there’s nothing we can do about it; this is a lie, for the Lord can deal with it.

May we experience God’s organic salvation from level to level until there is no more flesh, no more natural being, but we all live in spirit and walk in the spirit, thus becoming beings of the New Jerusalem.

In the Lord’s recovery, we are moving with the Lord not to merely gain some knowledge concerning the intrinsic matters in God’s word but to reach the highest point where there is no more flesh but we are in the kingdom of God.

May we aspire to be beings in the New Jerusalem, persons living in spirit, until we spontaneously live in spirit all the time.

We are now living in an age which is at the threshold of the kingdom age.

May the Lord by His mercy and grace make us the people who will usher in the kingdom age by our willingness to faithfully exercise our spirit and utterly destroy the flesh.

May we take grace day by day to cooperate with the Lord and deal with the flesh in a serious way.

May we open to the Lord concerning this matter and allow Him to shine on us; may our attitude before Him be,

Lord Jesus, we don’t want to do anything without You. We need You as our grace. We need Your shining on all that we are and do. We want to follow Your word to utterly destroy the flesh and live and walk according to the spirit so that we may have the kingship and be in the kingdom of God. Amen, Lord, we take You as our grace; we depend on You and can do nothing apart from You. Take us on with You stage by stage until there is no more flesh, no more natural being. Make us beings of the New Jerusalem, those who faithfully exercise their spirit to deal with the flesh until there is no more flesh, there is only the Spirit! Amen, Lord Jesus, grant us the grace and mercy to cooperate with You and deal with the flesh in a serious way so that the kingdom of God would come in!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus (msgs. 48-49), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 5, entitled, War with the Amalekites.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Minding just the spirit, we the cross will know, / And His resurrection pow’r thru us will flow; / Minding just the spirit, Christ will live thru me, / And His life within will reach maturity. / In the spirit Christ is life and all to me, / Strengthening and blessing all-inclusively; / Living in the spirit, holiness I prove, / And the triune God within my heart doth move. (Hymns #593)
  – Now, Lord, I yield my members, / From sin’s dominion free, / For warfare and for triumph, / As weapons unto Thee. / Oh, blissful self-surrender, / To live, my Lord, by Thee; / Now, Son of God, my Savior, / Live out Thy life in me. (Hymns #447)
  – Exercise the spirit! / Human thought reject; / Meet with one another, / Body life respect. / Exercise the spirit! / All the forms forsake; / Share with one another, / Each of Christ partake. (Hymns #866)