If we would possess and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land, we must engage in spiritual warfare to defeat the satanic forces which hinder us from the enjoyment of the all-inclusiveness of Christ.
On His side, God desires to give us the good land, and He has promised it to us, yet this piece of land is not just freely handed to us – there is a spiritual warfare we need to engage in, because there are some enemies that want to keep us from the enjoyment of the land.
The land that God promised the children of Israel was one flowing with milk and honey, but there were also some pagan tribes who lived there, and Israel had to fight against them and defeat them.
The measure to which Israel defeated and removed the pagan tribes was the measure to which they entered into the possession of the good land.
Similarly, in our spiritual experience, the measure to which we fight to possess Christ as the good land is the measure in which we enter into the enjoyment of the all-inclusiveness of Christ together with all the saints.
We should not take the land for granted. We must rise up and take it by defeating the enemies.
From the day we were saved and all throughout our Christian life we were engaged in spiritual warfare. This warfare is not only when there are “bombs” and “explosions”, that is, when there are big troubles and turmoils, but all the time in our daily life.
The enemy is not just outside of us but also inside of us, for there are adversaries in our being that try to stop us from the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ.
The enemies outside the and adversaries inside fight to hinder our enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, because they know that the issue of our enjoyment of the all-inclusiveness of Christ is the building of the church as the temple of God for His expression and as the city of God for His representation.
The good land is ours. We have already been transferred from the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, and now we just need to enter into the possession and enjoyment of the good land, the all-inclusive Christ.
Also, we need to fight for our enjoyment and fight for the enjoyment of the brothers and the sisters, so that together we may apprehend with all the saints what the universally vast dimensions of Christ are, and we may be filled with all the fulness of God to express Him and represent Him corporately on earth.
Seeing how Satan is doing his Utmost to Hinder us from Enjoying Christ as the All-inclusive One
Satan, the enemy of God, has been doing his utmost to hinder us, the people of God, from enjoying Christ as the all-inclusive One.
Satan does whatever he can to keep us from enjoying the all-inclusiveness of Christ as the reality of the good land (see Col. 2:8, 18). The spiritual warfare seen here is taking place in our daily life; Satan is doing his utmost to hinder all of God’s people from enjoying Christ as the all-inclusive One.
We need to beware that no one carries us off as spoil through his philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. Satan uses philosophies and traditions of men to lead the believers away from enjoying Christ.
We should not let anyone defraud us by judging us unworthy of the prize of enjoying the all-inclusive Christ. Satan hides behind many things, including seemingly positive things such as traditions, philosophies, and religion, to deprive us from enjoying Christ.
There’s a spiritual warfare going on in our thoughts and concepts, for there are things put there by Satan to frustrate us from enjoying Christ as the all-inclusive One.
God gave Christ, the all-inclusive One, to be everything to us; He has allotted a portion of the all-inclusive Christ to each and every one of the believers to be their inheritance (Col. 2:9).
The Triune God is embodied in Christ, and Christ is realized as the Spirit who is the foretaste, the sea, the pledge, and the guarantee of the divine inheritance (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:13-14).
Today we can and should have a foretaste of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land allotted by God to His people; He is the embodiment of the processed Triune God, and He has been given to us as our inheritance.
However, there’s a struggle, a fight, a warfare when it comes to enjoying the good land, for Satan, God’s enemy, has been doing his utmost continually to frustrate us from enjoying the all-inclusive Christ.
If we look at the Old Testament, God called Abraham and gave him the good land, but then Abraham went to Egypt, and God had to bring him out of there. Then, Abraham’s descendants ended up in Egypt again for four hundred years, and God had to rescue them and bring them up to Canaan from there.
Many years later, the enemy came again and took the people in captivity in Babylon for seventy years, and God had to rescue them and bring them back to the good land to build the temple and the city of God.
God’s work is always to recover the land for His people’s enjoyment, while the enemy’s work is always to frustrate, spoil, and hinder the enjoyment of the land, and he always does something to bring the land into chaos.
Lord Jesus, show us the stratagems of the enemy to keep us from enjoying the all-inclusive Christ. We want to fight the spiritual warfare by being one with You, standing in Your victory, and entering into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land! Amen, Lord, may no one defraud us of the enjoyment of Christ, and may nothing lead us as spoil through philosophy and empty deceit. Lord Jesus, unveil us to see the good land. Cause us to see the all-inclusive Christ and bring us into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusiveness of Christ!
Fight the Battle to Enjoy the All-inclusive Christ for the Building up of the Church
To this day, evil forces are veiling the all-inclusiveness of Christ from God’s people; the enemy veils their eyes and blinds their thoughts so that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ – who is the image of God – would not shine on them (2 Cor. 4:3-4).
The first tactic the enemy uses is to blind us, to veil us, from seeing the all-inclusive Christ; he may let us see a few aspects of Christ, but not Christ in His all-inclusiveness.
We need to pray that God would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may see, the eyes of our heart being enlightened (Eph. 1:17), and we need to open others’ eyes and turn them from darkness to light, from the authority of Satan to God.
For the bringing forth of the new man we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind; our mind is easily distracted and polluted with philosophies and thoughts, so that we don’t see the all-inclusiveness of Christ.
There’s an exceedingly real spiritual warfare in which we must engage; we must fight the battle to gain the all-inclusive Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ (see Eph. 6:10-12; 4:16).
This warfare seems so silent, quiet, and unnoticeable, but it is going on every moment of every day.
The enemy veils us with the natural life, culture, philosophies, and religion so that we may not see Christ and enjoy His all-inclusiveness.
We are born in our natural life, we are raised in our culture, we are educated with certain philosophies, and after we are saved we get religion.
We need to see the hindrance posed by our natural life, our culture, our philosophies, and our religion.
Yes, Christ is the good land, and God wants us to enjoy Him, but there’s a layer of devilish, demonic forces between us and the good land; if we would take possession of the good land for our enjoyment, we must defeat these satanic forces (Col. 1:12-13; 2:15; Eph. 3:18; 6:11-12).
God has qualified us for a share of the allotted portion of the saints; according to God, this is a fact, this is His word.
We need to stand on God’s word, stand on the fact, and day by day be rooted in Him, allowing Him to make His home in our heart, and spend time with Him to send roots to absorb His riches.
As we absorb His riches, we are confirmed, strengthened, and full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the universally vast dimensions of Christ are.
We need to be today’s Joshua and Caleb, those who are fighting against and defeating the satanic forces so that we can gain more of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ, for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 4:16).
We need to enjoy more of Christ, gain more of Christ, and possess more of Christ, until He is our all.
We need to fight all the replacements for Christ and substitutes of Christ, and fight the battle to gain the all-inclusive Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
Lord Jesus, we want to gain more of You! We do not have enough of Christ – we need more of the all-inclusive Christ! Lord, we want to possess You, gain You, and enter into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land! Amen, Lord, we even want to fight for our enjoyment of the good land, and we want to fight the battle for all the saints to enter into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusiveness of Christ! Unveil us to see the spiritual struggle going on, and strengthen us to fight the battle to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 6, 20 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Spiritual Warfare of the Church as the New Man (2018 Memorial Day Conference), week 5, The Formation of a Corporate Joshua to Possess the Good Land by Defeating the Satanic Forces.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Christ is a land of iron stones, / Whence comes authority. / We must dig out this solid Christ / To bind His enemy. / Then we must through the sufferings pass / To be refined as burnished brass. / With iron bind, as brass refined, / Is our need. (Hymns #1164)
# ’Tis here within the spirit-part / We contact Christ and dwell with Him; / ’Tis by our spirit we with God / Have fellowship and worship Him. / ‘Tis here that Christ is like the land / Where we may dwell, its wealth enjoy; / ’Tis here that we must fight the foe, / And Christ’s authority employ. (Hymns #747)
# Let’s enjoy Christ to reach the goal, / Partake of Him to beat the foe, / All His vast riches we extol, / Yes, we are freed from every woe! / We may not know a lot of things, / But we are kept from Satan’s stings / By eating Christ, and Christ alone! (Song on, Our Christ is So Enjoyable)
