Pray in Union with the Interceding Christ to Cooperate with the Fighting Spirit and Put the Flesh to death

In order for us to deal with the flesh, we need to pray in union with the interceding Christ in order to cooperate with the fighting Spirit who indwells us; this is seen in type in Exo. 17, where Joshua, Moses, Hur, and Aaron were all involved in the defeat of the Amalekites.

Amalek typifies our flesh; Amalek is a descendant of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother.

Though Esau and Jacob eventually were reconciled, their descendants were enemies.

God delivered His people Israel from Egypt and was bringing them through the wilderness toward the good land, which He was about to give to them so that they build His house and become His kingdom on earth.

As the people of Israel were journeying toward the good land, Amalek attacked them; though unprovoked, Amalek simply attacked the children of Israel.

Amalek fought against the children of Israel as they were journeying to attain God’s goal (Exo. 17:8-16; 1 Sam. 15:2-3).

In the war with Amalek described in Exo. 17:8-16, Moses stood on the top of the hill with the staff of God in his hand, and Joshua went out with chosen men to fight against Amalek and defeat them.

While Joshua with the army was fighting in the valley, Moses was praying on the mountain.

After Joshua defeated Amalek, God declared that He would have war with Amalek from generation to generation (v. 16).

This shows how seriously God regarded the frustration caused by the Amalekites.

In 1 Sam. 15:2 Jehovah declared that He would punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they fought against Israel. Amalek as a type of the flesh is an enemy of God’s people.

We as God’s people are on our journey to fulfil God’s goal, but there’s an enemy that rises up to attack us and frustrate us from fulfilling God’s goal – the flesh.

Yes, Satan is the enemy of God, and he does many things to frustrate God and delay Him from fulfilling His purpose.

However, the practical enemy of God in us is our flesh, for Satan hides behind the flesh to do all kinds of things – good and bad – to frustrate us from fulfilling God’s purpose.

This is why we need to be men in spirit, persons in our mingled spirit; it is in our spirit that God in Christ as the Spirit dwells, but it is in our flesh that Satan, sin, and the world have their meeting place.

May we allow the Lord to shine on us and expose both the good and the evil aspects of our flesh, and may we agree with His light by saying Amen!

As He shines on us, we realize that our flesh is just us, the totality of our fallen human being, and we simply lean on Him, run to Him, and depend on Him, for only He in us can defeat the flesh and put it to death.

We take the initiative to deal with the flesh, and the indwelling Spirit fights against the flesh and puts it to death.

We Deal with the Flesh by Praying in Union with the Interceding Christ, being Strengthened into our Spirit

The way to fight against Amalek, typifying our flesh, is seen in Exo. 17:8-13.

In the picture here we see Joshua and the choice men fighting in the valley and Moses praying on the mountain; we fight against the flesh by the interceding Christ and the fighting Spirit (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; Gal. 5:17).

Moses lifting up his hand on the mountaintop typifies the ascended Christ interceding in the heavens (Exo. 17:9, 11).

Joshua fighting against Amalek typifies the indwelling Spirit fighting against the flesh (vv. 9, 13).

We need to pray in union with the interceding Christ to cooperate with the fighting Spirit and thus put the flesh to death.

In order for us to properly and utterly deal with the flesh, we need to be in union with the interceding Christ in order to cooperate with the fighting Spirit (Col. 3:1-3, 5; Rom. 8:34, 13; Gal. 5:24, 17).

On the mountaintop we have Moses, who was assisted by Aaron and Hur; in the valley, we have Joshua in direct combat with the Amalekites.

Moses on the mountaintop signifies the ascended Christ who intercedes for us; He is right now in the heavens, at the right hand of God, interceding for us. We need Christ’s intercession.

Moses also typifies us, for just like Moses, we as God’s people need to intercede before God by being in union with the interceding Christ in the heavenlies.

We need to correspond to Christ’s intercession, being joined to Him in His intercession. Yes, Christ does intercede for us, but we need to join in His intercession.

And as we pray, our hands become tired, just as Moses’ hands were tired and became heavy.

Christ’s hands never become heavy and tired, but our hands do; therefore, we need the support of a stone and of Aaron and Hur.

While Christ is interceding in the heavens for us, we as His people on earth need to correspond by praying, by interceding.

However, we know that we cannot intercede by ourselves or in ourselves; we need a solid support, a base, which is our realization that we are weak.

If we are to engage in prayer to fight against the flesh, we should not assume that we know how to do it and we are strong; rather, genuine prayer always issues out of a solid base where the praying person realizes he cannot do it, he’s not worthy, and he can’t sustain such a prayer.

We need the interceding Christ, and we need to pray in union with the interceding Christ.

In Rom. 8:34 we are told that we don’t know how to pray for as is fitting, so the Spirit joins in our weakness to pray for us and with us, even with groans which cannot be uttered.

The genuine prayer is uttered not because we’re up to it, we are strong, and we’re able to pray up a storm; the genuine prayer is prayed out of weakness.

We simply tell the Lord that we need Him, and the Spirit comes in to help us in our prayer; this is genuine prayer.

Many times in such a prayer groan, we utter groans before the Lord; our base, the rock on which we rely, is our realization that we cannot pray in ourselves – we need Christ as the praying One to strengthen us.

And we also need the priesthood, signified by Aaron; this is connected with our spirit.

Our prayer is not in our mind or emotion but something that is uttered from and released from our spirit.

Our spirit needs to be strengthened; the priesthood needs to be strengthened.

We should not pray rebellious prayers, prayers of expressing our rebellious views, asking God to do this and that for us.

We simply need to submit ourselves under God’s kingship and headship. Another status of Hur related to our prayer is that he had one descendant who was a skilful craftsman for the building of the temple.

With the assistance of Aaron and Hur, we have not only the priesthood and the kingship, but we also need to pray in view of the building of God’s temple, the building up of the church.

Our prayer should be directed toward God’s building.

In order for us to deal with the flesh, we need to realize that we are weak, we need the strengthening of our spirit (represented by the priesthood, Aaron), we need to be under God’s headship and kingship (signified by Hur), and we need to pray with a view of the building of God, the church.

While Christ is praying there in the heavens, we are praying on earth with the realization that we are weak and need the strengthening of our spirit, we submit to God’s headship, we are in union with the interceding Christ, and we pray with a view toward God’s building.

In this way, we are joined to Him in oneness to fight against the flesh.

Lord Jesus, we need You. We don’t know what to pray for as is fitting; join us in our prayer as the Spirit so that we can pray and prevail over the flesh. We want to pray in union with the interceding Christ today. Strengthen us into our inner man so that we pray in oneness with You. Amen, Lord, we submit to Your headship and we want to utter what You are praying in the heavens and in our spirit. Save us from praying prayers of rebellion, prayers in the self. May we pray one with You, prayers of warfare, and prayers for the building up of the church. We depend on You, dear Lord, in our prayer. Come in and join us in our weakness; pray in us and with us.

Cooperating with the Indwelling Fighting Spirit to Put the Flesh to Death in our Experience

In the battle against the flesh (typified by the Amalek), we need to cooperate with the Lord by praying and putting the flesh to death (Luke 18:1; 1 Thes. 5:17; Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:24).

On one hand, Moses and two others were on the mountaintop praying; on the other hand, Joshua was in the valley, engaging in the battle directly against Amalek.

Here, Joshua signifies the fighting Spirit; the indwelling Spirit fights against the flesh to put it to death.

Jesus is our Joshua as the fighting Spirit engaging in direct battle with the flesh.

When we pray, we are one with the interceding Christ; when we put the flesh to death, we are one with the fighting Spirit (Gal. 5:17).

On one hand, we need to be in union with the interceding Christ to pray, praying one with Him; on the other hand, we must slay the flesh by the fighting Spirit (v. 24).

On His side, God crucified the old man; on our side, we need to crucify the flesh (Rom. 6:6; 8:13; Gal. 5:24).

The crucifying of our old man was already accomplished by Christ two thousand years ago, as recorded in Rom. 6:6.

However, in Gal. 5:24 we are dolt that we need to crucify the flesh, and in Rom. 8:13 we are to put to death the practices of the body.

It is not Christ but we, the believers in Christ, that have to put to death the practices of the body and crucify the flesh.

The old man has been crucified with Christ, but when we see the old man being lived out, we need to crucify it.

But we don’t crucify it by our own energy and in our own will; rather, we need the power of the Spirit.

Praise the Lord, Christ is in us as the indwelling, fighting Spirit, the One who is really and directly fighting against the flesh, as Joshua fought directly with the Amalekites.

It’s not me and you who fights against the flesh; it is Joshua, the fighting Spirit. We need to apply the Spirit to put to death the practices of the body.

On one hand, we need to be in union with the interceding Christ to pray, and our prayer needs to be unceasing.

Actually, whenever we are not praying, we are in the flesh automatically; it is only when we pray unceasingly that we can be delivered from the flesh.

We may be able to defeat our flesh one time and we think we have overcome – like Saul, who made one conquest.

But the flesh keeps coming back, even as the hair keeps growing after being shaved.

We cannot rely on one-time overcoming; we need to pray unceasingly, praying in union with the interceding Christ.

Our prayer, our intercession, needs to be continual in order for us to be in oneness with the interceding Christ and pray unceasingly; as we exercise our spirit to pray, the fighting Spirit in us will slay the flesh.

May we see that Christ has already crucified the old man on the cross; this is an accomplished fact.

We need to stand on this fact, acknowledge it and agree with it. When the flesh is being manifested and exposed, we need to pray in union with the interceding Christ and stand on the fact, and we need to take the initiative to crucify the flesh.

As we turn to our spirit, we allow the Spirit with the effectiveness of the killing power of the cross to be applied to our flesh.

We take the initiative, and the Spirit executes it; we say, Amen, Lord, this is my flesh, I want to be one with You in dealing with it, and the fighting Spirit goes ahead and slays the flesh.

The fighting Spirit is in us waiting for our initiative; if we help ourselves by turning to our spirit, praying in union with the interceding Christ, and agreeing with His verdict on the flesh, the fighting Spirit who indwells us will spring into action and put the flesh to death.

May we learn to cooperate with the work of the Spirit by saying Amen to His exposing of our flesh and by unceasingly praying.

Lord Jesus, praise You for crucifying our old man on the cross. Hallelujah, our old man has been crucified with Christ. Amen, Lord, we stand on this fact, and we allow You to shine and expose our flesh in its manifestations. We want to cooperate with the work of the Spirit by saying Amen to Your light exposing our flesh. Amen, Lord, we are one with You to pray, even pray unceasingly; keep us in our spirit today. May the indwelling fighting Spirit execute the killing power of the cross to our flesh. Make us willing, dear Lord, to cooperate with the fighting Spirit and pray in union with the interceding Christ so that we may thoroughly deal with the flesh!

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 (pp. 544-550), 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:
  – Oh, may my spirit flow, / Oh, may it flow! / For this I plead with Thee, / Oh, may it flow! / High-minded not to be, / Pride shall not prison me, / I’d flow unceasingly, / In spirit flow. (Hymns #846)
  – Minding just the spirit is God’s saving way, / Minding just the spirit, Christ we will display; / Minding just the spirit, we can overcome, / Minding just the spirit, we the race may run. / 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. (Hymns #593)
  – By the cross discern the spirit; / Passing thru the riven veil, / Flesh and soul are wholly broken, / And the spirit doth prevail. / By the cross discern the spirit, / ’Tis the holiest place divine; / There commune with God in spirit / And His presence will be thine. (Hymns #748)