Look away unto the Ascended Christ to Run the Heavenly Race and be Perfected in Faith

As we look away unto the ascended Christ, He as the Perfecter of our faith will complete this faith in us; He is the One on the throne with many qualifications and attainments, and when we look away unto Him, He infuses us with Himself and makes us able to run the heavenly race and live the heavenly life on earth! Amen!

Our Christian life is a life of hope, which accompanies with faith and abides with faith.

As believers in Christ, we follow in the footsteps of our father Abraham, and we do not regard the things which are seen but the things which are not seen.

The things which are seen are here today but gone tomorrow; they are temporary. The things which are not seen, the things of God and of the eternal life, are eternal.

Day by day we are being recovered from things seen to things not seen. The Lord in His recovery is bringing us back to Himself as the unseen One.

We love Him, we pursue Him, and we seek Him, for even though we have never seen Him with our physical eyes, yet we have seen Him in spirit.

Our spirit is a spirit of faith, and by means of our spirit, we can contact God, enjoy God, and substantiate God.

Whenever we pay more attention to the seen things, we are in degradation, but whenever we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord and enjoy Him as the unseen things, we are recovered to the Lord Himself.

Thank the Lord for bringing us in the way of His recovery to be recovered from merely seen things to unseen things, from appearance to the divine things in our spirit and in God’s word.

May we be those who are faithful to exercise our spirit and contact the Lord, say Amen to His word, and pay attention to and focus on the unseen things, not being distracted by what we see but focusing on the divine and mystical things in the spiritual realm.

Amen, may we be those who exercise their spirit of faith to apprehend and substantiate what the Lord is and has for us in His Word and in our experience! Oh, what a hope we have!

We have great hope in the divine life in us, Christ is our hope of glory, and even beyond hope, we believe in hope!

And by faith, we substantiate what God is to us, what Christ has promised us, and what the Spirit is doing in us and for us.

Contacting the Lord for Faith to Increase in us and be Perfected in Faith

On one hand, the Lord is the Originator, the Source, the Initiator, and the One who generates faith in us. Faith is not of ourselves: faith is of the Lord, and He infuses us with faith as we look away unto Jesus.

On the other hand, the Lord Jesus is the Perfecter, the Finisher, the Completer of our faith (Heb. 12:2).

As we look away unto the ascended Christ in a continual way, He will not only generate faith in us but He will also finish and complete the faith that we need for the running of the heavenly race (Heb. 12:1).

We all have the same faith in quality, for we were allotted equally precious faith at the time of our regeneration (2 Pet. 1:1).

Just as the children of Israel were allotted a portion of the good land which was the same in quality but different in quantity according to their measure, so we have been allotted equally precious faith.

Christ was allotted to us as faith, and this faith is equally precious to all of us.

But the quantity of faith we have depends on how much we contact the living God so that we may have Him increased in us.

In Rom. 12:3 we see that, according to the grace given to us, we should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think but think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.

Each one of us has been apportioned a measure of faith, and we can have our faith increased by contacting the Lord in our spirit day by day.

The quantity of faith we have depends on how much we contact the living God so that we may have Him increased in us.

Faith in the progressing stage comes through our contacting the Triune God, who is faith in us (1 Thes. 5:17).

When we contact the Triune God through faith and by looking to Him, He generates faith in us, He increases faith in us, and He perfects our faith; in this way, our faith is increased.

The best way to receive such a faith is to contact its source by calling on Him, praying to Him, and pray-reading His word (Heb. 4:16; Rom. 10:12; 2 Tim. 32:22; Eph. 6:17-18; Heb. 4:2).

The Lord Jesus as the Spirit, the processed and consummated Triune God is the source of the faith; when we contact Him, He overflows within us and perfects our faith.

When we contact the Lord in our spirit, He is overflowing within us, and there’s a mutuality of faith among us; in this way, we’re encouraged through the faith that is in one another (Rom. 1:12; Philem. 6).

When we meet with fellow believers in Christ and see their faith, we are encouraged.

Our regenerated spirit, which is a spirit of faith, is the victory that overcomes the Satan-organized-and-usurped world (1 John 5:4; John 3:6; 2 Cor. 4:13; 1 John 5:18).

When we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, faith is increased and perfected in us, and we overcome the world, for the One who is in us is greater and stronger than he who is in the world.

Throughout history, the great irrepressible and unlimited power of faith has motivated thousands to suffer for the Lord and be overcomers.

Thousands upon thousands not only suffered for the Lord and risked their lives, but they also became overcoming sent ones and martyrs for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy, which is in faith (Luke 18:8; Phil. 2:30; Rom. 16:3-4; Acts 20:24; 1 Tim. 1:4; Heb. 12:3).

When our faith is perfected, we will be inwardly motivated not only to live a heavenly life on earth but also become the Lord’s overcoming ones today, even His martyrs, for the carrying out of His economy.

Lord Jesus, we come to You to contact You and be infused with You as our faith. Overflow within us, Lord, and increase our faith. Increase Yourself as faith within us. We come to You, again and again, to be perfected in our faith. You are the source of faith, and we come to You to call on Your name, pray to You, and pray-read Your word so that faith may increase and be perfected in us. Hallelujah, our regenerated spirit is a spirit of faith, and this is the victory that overcomes the world! Praise the Lord, the great irrepressible and unlimited power of faith motivates us to suffer for the Lord and become His overcomers today! Amen, Lord, we open to You again and again; infuse us with Yourself and perfect our faith.

Look away unto the Ascended Christ to be Infused with Him to Run the Heavenly Race and Live the Heavenly Life on earth until we’re Brought into Glory!

All Christians love Heb. 12:2, the verse which tells us that we can look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

This verse is really precious, for Jesus is both the Author and the Perfecter of our faith; for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.

He knew that, if He went through death and entered into resurrection, He would be glorified (Luke 24:25-26) and that His divine life would be released to produce many brothers for His expression (John 12:23-24; Rom. 8:29).

Therefore, for the joy set before Him, Jesus Christ despised the shame and volunteered to be delivered to the Satan-usurped leaders of the Jews and therefore was condemned by them to death.

However, God highly exalted Him after His resurrection; He approved His redemptive work on the cross and justified Christ, exalting Him to the heavens and seating Him at His right hand (Mark 16:19; Acts 2:33-35).

God gave Him the name which is above every name (Phil. 2:9-10) and make Him both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), and He crowned Him with glory and honour (Heb. 2:9). Hallelujah!

In His ascension, Christ was seated on the throne of God’s government in heaven.

In the book of Hebrews in particular we see that this One unto whom we look away is not only in resurrection but also in ascension, and He has so many aspects, He has accomplished so many things, and He cares for us in so many ways.

We can experience Him simply by turning to Him in our spirit and contacting Him; He is the heavenly Christ in contrast to the earthly religion and all earthly things.

For us to enjoy the heavenly Christ, we need to look away unto the ascended Christ from all things on earth, and we will be infused with Him as our faith.

Furthermore, He ministers to us to infuse all that He is into us.

According to Hebrews, Christ in His ascension is sitting in the heavens as the Son of God (Heb. 1:5) and the Son of man (2:6), as God (1:8) and as man (2:6), as the appointed Heir of all things (1:2) and the anointed One of God (v. 9), as the Author of our salvation (2:10) and the sacntifier (v. 11).

Christ in ascension is the constant Succor (v. 16), the instant Helper (4:16), the Apostle from God (3:1), the High Priest (2:17; 4:14; 7:26), the Minister of the true tabernacle (8:2) with a more excellent ministry (v. 6), and the surety and the Mediator of a better covenant (7:22; 8:6; 12:24).

In His ascension, Christ is the Executor of the new testament (9:16-17), the Forerunner (6:20), the Author and Perfecter of faith (12:2), and the great Shepherd of the sheep (13:20).

If we look away unto the ascended Christ from all other things unto Him as such a wonderful and all-inclusive One, He will minister all that He is into us, and He will dispense heaven, life, and strength to us.

As we are infused with Him and as He is transfusing all that He is into us, we may be able to run the heavenly race today!

It is only by looking away unto Jesus, the One in ascension with so many characteristics and functions, that we can be infused with what He is and live the heavenly life on earth.

As we look away unto Him, focusing not on anything of the earth but on the ascended Christ, He will carry us through all the lifelong pathway and He will lead us and bring us into glory (2:10; 2 Cor. 3:16, 18; 1 Pet. 5:4; 2 Tim. 4:8). Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, we look away unto You as the most wonderful and all-inclusive One, the One who has been highly exalted by God and made Lord and Christ! We open to You as the ascended One so that You may minister Yourself as heaven, life, and strength into us. Transfuse us with Yourself and infuse all that You are into us so that we may be able to run the heavenly race and live the heavenly life on earth! Amen, Lord, we look away unto the ascended Christ today! We open to You, we turn to You, and we focus only on You! Carry us through all the lifelong pathway of faith and lead and bring us into glory!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 380 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, God’s Economy in Faith (2022 spring ITERO), week 4, entitled, Running the Christian Race So That We May Obtain the Prize by Looking Away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of Our Faith.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Look away into His face—Hallelujah, / He who’ll finish what He did begin. / O what grace to run the race—Hallelujah— / We obtain by looking off to Him! / Look away! O look away! / Look to Jesus now today! / Look away from everything unto Jesus, / Look away from everything to Him! (Hymns #1206)
  – Christ is the Author of my faith, / And its Perfecter too, / My Mediator, Guarantee, / And faithful Witness true. (Hymns #510)
  – Its qualified Executor, / By life of resurrection; / Its potent Mediator too, / Fulfilling God’s election….Thou art the Finisher of faith, / As well its Author perfect; / By faith and love we follow Thee, / And e’er to Thee are subject. (Hymns #188)