Seeing that there’s an Intense Battle for our Enjoyment of the All-inclusive Christ

If we read the Scriptures carefully, we will see that there is a battle for the good land, that is, there’s an intense battle for our enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ; the enemy does many things to keep us away from enjoying Christ as the all-inclusive One. Oh, Lord!

This week we come to a new series in our morning revival, based on the 2023 December semiannual training (2023 winter training).

The title for this new series is, 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. Amen!

This first week in our morning revival the topic is, Fighting for the Good Land. In the church life in the Lord’s recovery, we have enjoyed very much the matter of enjoying the all-inclusive Christ, and we have repeatedly entered into this topic.

However, here we are again on this topic, because we need to really enter into the enjoyment and experience of the all-inclusive Christ.

Even more, we need to realize that, in order for us to enter into the land and possess our portion of the good land, there must be warfare, because there are evil powers in the air and even evil human beings on earth who will do their best to hinder us from enjoying Christ.

Our entering into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ is not “a walk in the park”; rather, it is a spiritual battle.

When the children of Israel entered into the good land, the people living there didn’t just hand themselves over to them nor did they just let them take over the land; there was intense fighting.

And our entering into the good land to possess and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ is a continual matter.

We are constantly fighting to enjoy Christ, and we are in a continual spiritual battle to possess and enjoy Christ as the good land.

The enemy attacks with all his might, and he uses many evil persons to frustrate us from enjoying Christ.

We need to testify that many times we do not enjoy Christ; we blame it on the environment, on the fact that we’re busy, and even on our failures and mistakes.

The enemy is to be blamed. He uses many wearing-out tactics, and he fights both in an obvious way and in a subtle way to distract us from enjoying Christ.

Looking at the history of the children of Israel, they were delivered from Egypt by God’s mighty hand, and when they came out of the usurpation of Pharaoh, they were formed as God’s armies.

They marked out as the armies of God, even arrayed for battle (Exo. 13:18).

God’s intention was that they would enter into the good land and take possession of it, but they first had to go through a process of being reconstituted with the element of God, experience His redemption, and be trained and formed into an army to fight the battle.

We all need to have many experiences to be reconstituted with Christ as the heavenly food and be formed into the army of God to enter into the good land and take possession of our allotted portion of the all-inclusive Christ.

Amen, may we see that there’s an intense battle for our enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ and may we cooperate with the Lord!

Seeing how the Enemy does his Utmost to Keep God’s people from Enjoying the Good Land

If we read the Bible carefully, both the Old and the New Testament, we will see that God wants to gain something in particular, and the enemy opposes Him and does his utmost to hinder the fulfilment of His purpose.

God created the heavens and the earth, but the enemy came in to rebel and ruin the earth created by God.

God has a particular purpose regarding the earth; He has an economy, and He wants to accomplish His economy, so the enemy fights and does his utmost to keep God’s people from enjoying the good land.

If we read through the Old Testament carefully we will see a grim and serious activity carried on by Satan, the enemy of God, against the people of God and the land that God made.

Not long after God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1), which were wonderful and glorious to the extent that the sons of God rejoiced at seeing them, Satan did something to frustrate God.

God created all these things in order that He would make man to enjoy the earth and subdue it to express God, but the enemy came in to ruin the earth.

Because of Satan’s rebellion, God had to judge the heavens and the earth, and because of this, the earth was buried beneath the waters of the deep (Gen. 1:2).

This hindered God’s plan for some time; however, God came in to do a work of restoration and further creation.

He recovered the land from the waters of the deep, and He caused life to grow in many forms and shapes for the abundance of life to come forth.

Then, God created man in His image and according to His likeness (Gen. 1:26) in order that man would express God with His image and represent Him with His dominion (vv. 27-29).

However, the enemy came in again and again, and he deceived man and ruined man to the extent that God had to come in to bring in judgment upon the earth.

The recovered and restored earth was again under the waters of judgment (Gen. 7).

God’s purpose is related to man and the earth, so the enemy comes in again and again to ruin man and bring in God’s judgment on the earth.

Through the redemption of the ark, Noah and his family obtained the right to possess the land and enjoy all its riches.

With Noah and his family, God had a new beginning, and He could start with a new race of people.

However, it was not long before the enemy came in and spoiled the enjoyment of the earth; soon, many were worshipping idols and forsook God.

So God came in to call one man, Abraham, telling him that He would bring him into a land which He would give to him and to his descendants.

God called Abraham and his descendants, and He wanted him to be on a particular land.

But we see how again and again Abraham left the land and went down to Egypt, and later his descendants also left the good land and went into Egypt for four hundred years. Oh, Lord Jesus!

Then God delivered them from Egypt and brought them into the good land, where they had to fight and take over the land in order to become the kingdom of God having the temple where God would dwell among them.

However, the enemy came in again, and the people of Israel were deceived to forsake God and lose the enjoyment of the good land.

The enemy always comes in to frustrate, spoil, and hinder by doing something to put the land in chaos. Oh, Lord Jesus!

After a long period of being in the good land, the enemy came in; the armies from Babylon came to spoil the land and capture the people from it.

Most of the people of Israel were brought into captivity, and the enemy seemed to have won.

But the Lord came in after seventy years and brought them back once more to the good land (Jer. 25:12; 29:14).

Again and again, the fight is over the good land.

The enemy works tirelessly to distract, spoil, frustrate, hinder, and do many things to put the land into chaos and remove the people of God from the land so that they would not fulfil God’s purpose. Oh, Lord Jesus!

May we realize that we as believers in Christ are to be in Christ as the good land and enjoy Him, and may we fight against the enemy’s tactics of distracting us from enjoying the all-inclusive Christ!

Lord Jesus, cause us to see the enemy’s working to hinder us from enjoying the all-inclusive Christ as the good land. We come to You, dear Lord, to just enjoy You. You are our God-allotted portion. We want to enjoy Your riches. We take You as the all-inclusive One, and we want to live in Christ, dwell in Christ, walk in Christ, partake of Christ, and be built up in Christ. Amen, Lord, we stand one with You and we stand against the enemy’s work of frustrating us and spoiling us from the enjoyment of Christ. May we remain in Christ and not let anything defraud us from the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ. Bring us back again and again, Lord, to the enjoyment of Christ as the good land. Save us from not enjoying the all-inclusive Christ as our portion!

Seeing that there’s an Intense Battle for our Enjoyment of the All-inclusive Christ

The Old Testament is not only a record of the history of the children of Israel, something which seems to have nothing to do with us. Rather, our history and experience as believers in Christ is very much typified and seen in the history of the children of Israel.

As we read the Scriptures carefully, we see that there’s a battle for the good land (Josh. 1:2-6, 13).

The enemy of God, Satan, is doing his utmost to keep the people of God from taking possession of and enjoying Christ as the good land.

This is true in our experience today. We believers in Christ have been allotted a portion of Christ as the all-inclusive One for our enjoyment (Col. 1:12).

However, the enemy does his best to veil us not to see the all-inclusive Christ (2 Cor. 4:4) and to hinder us from the enjoyment of Christ.

We once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience (Eph. 2:2).

This one, the enemy of God, has many authorities and representatives, and he is seeking not just to destroy God’s people but to spoil their enjoyment of Christ and hinder them from the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ.

We need to see that there’s an intense battle for our enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ. Now that we are saved and regenerated, we are believers in Christ.

We have Christ as our God-allotted portion, but the enemy works tirelessly to hinder us from enjoying Christ.

Not only in the Old Testament are all the battles concerned with the good land; today there are many battles in our Christian life related to our enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ.

In the Old Testament, we see that God came in to recover the land at least five of six times; He created the land, but the enemy spoiled it, then He had to judge the land, and He came in to recover.

The enemy always fights to ruin the land for God’s people and then to destroy God’s people.

In our daily Christian life we want to be those who enjoy the all-inclusive Christ, but the enemy comes in times and times again to hinder us.

The good land in the Old Testament is a type of the all-inclusive Christ. It is not just Christ but the all-inclusive Christ.

Christ is all-inclusive, but in our experience, He may be quite limited.

In the enjoyment and experience of many Christians, Christ is very limited and small; they do not enjoy the vast, extensive, all-inclusive Christ.

We may know Christ as our Redeemer and Savior, and we may partake of the daily manna in God’s word, but we may not enjoy Him as the all-inclusive One.

We need to realize that there’s an intense battle for our enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ.

The enemy would allow us to enjoy Christ a little here and there, but he doesn’t want us to partake of His riches daily and all throughout the day because he knows that, when we enjoy the all-inclusive Christ, we’re built up together as the Body of Christ and formed into the army of God to defeat the enemy.

May we realize the enemy’s tactics to hinder us from the enjoyment of Christ, and may we stand against his schemes, plots, wearing out tactics, and attacks.

May we advance in our enjoyment and experience of Christ until the Christ we enjoy and experience is all-inclusive and vast.

Seeing that there’s an intense battle for our enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, may we give ourselves day by day not to mainly do things for God or even just to read the Bible but to enjoy the riches of Christ as the all-inclusive One.

May we ask the Lord to lead us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ day by day, even moment by moment, so that we may be built up as His Body and formed into His army to both express God and represent Him.

May we be one with the Lord as we see there’s an intense battle for our enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ.

Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to enjoy You as the all-inclusive One. Hallelujah, we have all been allotted a portion of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land. Amen, Lord, we come to You to enjoy You day by day. Be so rich to us. We want to enjoy all Your riches in spirit. Cause us to see the intense battle for our enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ. May we realize that the enemy fights against our enjoyment of Christ and may we stand against his attacks. Oh Lord, may the Christ we enjoy and experience be a rich and all-inclusive One, not a little Christ or a poor Christ. Uplift our enjoyment of Christ. Take us on with You in our enjoyment of Christ. Amen, Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to remain in the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ. We want to fight one with You against anything that distracts us from the enjoyment of Christ. Praise the Lord, Christ is all-inclusive, and we as believers in Christ have been allotted a portion of this wonderful, rich Christ!

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 Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” chs. 1, 12, 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 1, entitled, Fighting for the Good Land.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Our Need to Labor on the All-inclusive Christ (R.K.) – video message.
  – The all-inclusive Christ, a portion from, The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – The all-inclusive Christ in 1 Corinthians, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – How to labor on Christ, a portion from, The All-inclusive Christ, Chapter 15.
  – What is the All-inclusive Christ? Read more via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – The all-inclusive Christ as the believers’ portion, a portion from, The Economy and Dispensing of God, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
  – Msg 1 – Our Need to Labor on the All-inclusive Christ, via, Heavenly Foods.
  – What is the Enjoyment of Christ? Read more via, Hearing of Faith newsletter.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God has set the land before us, / And the land we will possess. / God has finally found a people / Tired of the wilderness. / Down with every weight and sin; / Let’s go up and enter in. (Hymns #1166 stanza 1)
  – Conflict today is fierce, / The strength of Satan more; / The cry of battle calling now / Is louder than before. / The rebel voice of hell / E’en stronger now becomes; / But list, the midnight cry resounds, / Behold, I quickly come! (Hymns #893 stanza 1)
  – Lo, the conflict of the ages / Is upon us today, / And the forces of rebellion / Are in total array. / The humanity of Jesus / Now the saints must possess, / His true image and dominion / On the earth to express. (Hymns #1172 stanza 1)