Renewed in God’s Living Word for our Growth and Transformation in Life to be a New Man

We need to be renewed in God’s living word for our growth in life and transformation in life to be a new man who enjoys and partakes of the good land, the all-inclusive Christ.

After the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, the second generation had a renewed training given by God through Moses before entering the good land; we need to grow in life unto maturity so that we may be transformed and become part of the new generation that takes possession of the good land.

A renewed training was given by God through Moses to the new generation of the children of Israel after their long wandering.

This was to prepare them to enter into the good land promised by God to inherit it as their possession.

After the first generation, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, had died out, the second generation was ready to enter into the good land and possess it.

On the negative side, we saw the warning regarding idolatry, which is rebellion against God.

When the people of God fall into idolatry, God has to come in and discipline them, for this touches the matter of the worship of God.

When we speak of idolatry, we don’t mean only the icons, statues, and things that we see in the Roman Catholic Church, or the paintings of “Jesus” which we see hanging on the wall in the homes of so many Christians.

Indeed, these are idols, and behind them, the enemy hides and comes in to bring in destruction, but idolatry is much more than that.

Especially in these last days, at the end of this age, people worship what they enjoy, and they worship entertainment and amusement, just as the children of Israel worshipped the golden calf and had much amusement and entertainment related to it.

Even Christians today worship entertainment and amusement, and everyone in the world is seeking to be amused and entertained.

Many times Christians don’t go to a church because there is no attractive program of entertainment, and so many Christians bring their children to church because there is an interesting Sunday school with art projects and all kinds of interesting crafts going on.

This has become the center of the worship of the people of God in so many places.

And we say this not to condemn others but to realize that it is so easy to gather together around a certain routine, program, entertaining matter, or just to enjoy our time together.

We need to be purified in our heart and in our way of meeting so that we meet in the name of the Lord Jesus, around the person of Jesus Christ, and with Him in mind and heart only.

We don’t come together to do this or that; we come together to enjoy the wonderful person of the Lord Jesus, who is our center and reality.

We focus only on Him. He is our unique entertainment and amusement, and in Him, we are made happy.

Being Renewed for our Growth in Life and the Consuming of our Old Man so that we may be a New Man

In the history of the children of Israel, the generation that came out of Egypt was not the generation that entered the good land, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb.

The first generation, the old generation, died in the wilderness, and the second generation, the new generation, entered into the good land.

The first generation signifies our old man, and the second generation signifies our new man.

Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit, and they belonged to the new generation, not to the old generation; therefore, they had a double baptism – both in the Red Sea and in the Jordan River.

The first generation typifies our old man; the second generation typifies our new man (Deut. 2:14; 8:6-10; Exo. 3:8; Col. 1:12).

We need to be those who grow in life day by day into the full possession and enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, God’s promised land.

As we grow in life by allowing the Lord to grow in us and consume our old man, our old man is dying out and the new man is growing; this is transformation.

We can say that, as the old generation was dying and the new generation was growing, the people of Israel were being transformed.

On one hand, the old generation was dying; this is the consuming of our old man through the breaking work of the cross (2 Cor. 4:16).

On the other hand, a new generation was growing; this is the growth in life of the new man for us to possess the land and be transformed into the image of Christ.

On one hand, we are being consumed in the outer man; on the other hand, we are being renewed in our inner man.

God’s economy is to have our old man (the outer man) consumed and our new man (the inner man) renewed day by day.

By the Lord’s mercy and grace, since we have come into the church life in the Lord’s recovery, we are being renewed for our growth in life and transformation in life to usher us into the enjoyment of Christ as the good land for God’s building and kingdom (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2).

We are now enjoying the Lord both personally and with the saints, and we are being renewed day by day.

Sometimes we may fellowship with some older saints for many years without knowing their physical age, and when we find out how old they are, we are very surprised, for they are so young in their spirit.

The more we grow in life, the younger and newer we become in the new man.

On one hand, through the environmental dealings of the Holy Spirit, our outer man is being consumed.

On the other hand, through the renewing of our mind, our inner man is renewed and transformed.

The old generation is being eliminated and is dying, and the new generation is growing and being formed into God’s army to take the land. Hallelujah!

Transformation in life is a matter of eliminating the old generation, the old man, and putting on the new generation, the new man.

We need to realize that, in order for us to take possession of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land, we need to have our old man consumed and eliminated and our new man is renewed and conformed to the image of Christ.

We all can acknowledge that we have some enjoyment of Christ, but we did not yet possess Him as the all-inclusive land.

If we want to possess the all-inclusive Christ, our old man must die out, and our new man must come forth.

May we daily grow in life and allow the Lord to deal with and consume our outer man so that we may be fully able to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ and take possession of His riches.

Lord Jesus, we open to Your renewed training for us to be prepared to enter into the full enjoyment and possession of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land. Amen, Lord, we want to be those who grow in life into the full possession and enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ! Hallelujah, God’s promised land is ours, and we can grow in life and be transformed in order to enjoy and partake of the riches of the good land! Amen, Lord, we want to remain in the process of the dying out of the old man and the growing up of the new man. May our old man – our outer man – be consumed, and may our new man – our inner man – be renewed day by day! Keep us in the renewing process until we’re fully transformed into the image of Christ. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to fully possess and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land! For this, we give ourselves to You to grow in life unto maturity and be transformed!

Experience Transformation in Life by Enjoying the Lord in His Word and Maintaining our Freshness and Newness with Him

Deut. 8:3 says that man lives not by bread alone but by everything that proceeds out through the mouth of Jehovah.

The Lord Jesus quoted this verse in Matt. 4:4 where He replaced “everything” with “every word”.

What proceeds out through the mouth of God is His word; we live not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.

We are being transformed in life as we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16).

The word of Christ is in the Bible, but we need to let it dwell in us richly.

We need to let the word of Christ, the living word of God, dwell in us, make its home in us, and richly abide in us. All the words in the Bible are breathed out through the mouth of God.

As part of the renewed training that we need before entering the good land is the word of God dwelling in us richly and breathing in the breathed-out word of God.

As we eat the Lord’s word, we experience transformation in life.

All the words in the Bible are God’s breathing, and all refer to Christ, who is the totality of God’s word (John 1:1; Rev. 19:13) to be life and life supply to us, the people of God.

How can we live the Christian life? How can we be transformed in life? It is by breathing in the breathed-out word of God.

We need to not only read the Bible but exercise our spirit to breathe in the word of God.

The word of God is the breath of God, the very breathing out of God (1 Tim. 3:16).

We live by every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God; this means that we live by Christ, the embodiment of the divine breath (John 6:57, 63; 20:22).

In the Old Testament we see how the loving seekers of God, especially the Psalmists, loved the word of God.

Psalm 119 is filled with verses that express how much the psalmist loved the word of God, and this word was a lamp to his feet and a light to his path.

He put the word of God, the precepts, commandments, laws, statutes, ordinances and judgments of God before his eyes all the time.

In the Old Testament, they only had the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible; however, those who loved God took these words and partook of them with gladness and much love and appreciation toward God.

Expressions such as law, commandments, statutes, ordinances, and judgments in the book of Deuteronomy are synonyms of Christ.

We need to take Christ, keep Christ, hold fast to Christ, and enjoy Christ as the word of God; this is for our transformation in life.

The Christ whom we should take, keep, hold fast, and enjoy is in the Bible, for He is the embodiment of the Word of God.

And this Christ today is the life-giving Spirit, even the breathed-out Spirit of God (John 20:22).

Because the Scriptures are the breathing out of God, the exhaling of God (2 Tim. 3:16), we should inhale the Scriptures by receiving the word of God by means of all prayer (Eph. 6:17-18).

We don’t just read the Bible; we inhale the Lord in His word, for He is breathing Himself out in His word and we breathe Him in by our prayerful musing and consideration.

May we remain in the enjoyment of the Lord in His word by inhaling Him in the word day by day.

In order for us to fully possess Christ as the good land, we need to maintain our freshness and newness with the Lord by receiving His new speaking to us day by day (Lam. 3:22-24; Deut. 34:7; Rom. 7:6; Jer. 15:16).

We need to have the Lord’s new speaking daily; each morning we need to come to Him in His word and ask Him to speak to us.

We cannot go on with the Lord unless we have Him fresh speaking. We need to maintain our freshness and newness with the Lord.

We must beware of languishing in the land (Deut. 4:25).

It is easy to lose our spiritual freshness, have our original impressions blunted, and just go on by force of custom or long residence in the same spot.

May the Lord save us from languishing in the good land, that is, losing our spiritual freshness and newness with the Lord.

Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died (Deut. 33:4), but his eye was not dim and his freshness had not left him.

We need to ask the Lord to not allow our eyes to be dim nor our freshness to leave us, no matter how advanced in the Lord we are.

If we love the Lord, humble ourselves, and come to the Lord as the living word in His written word by pray-reading His Word, He becomes the applied word of the Spirit to us.

His instant words are spirit and life to us for our supply and nourishment, and we’re infused with God’s substance through His words (John 5:39-40; 6:57, 63; Eph. 5:26-27).

As we humble ourselves and open to the Lord in coming to His word, we become one with God in life and nature but not in the Godhead for His glory, His expression.

On one hand, we experience transformation in life; on the other, we are one with God for His expression.

Lord Jesus, we want to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly for our transformation in life. Amen, Lord, we want to eat You in Your word so that we may live because of You and be filled with You! We want to breathe in the breathed-out word of God to be infused with God. We want to inhale the breathing out of God, the living word of God, by receiving the word of God by means of all prayer and petition. Oh Lord, we want to maintain our freshness and newness with You by receiving Your new speaking to us day by day. Speak to us day by day. We do not want to languish in the land. We love You, Lord, and we humble ourselves before You. We come to You as the living word in Your written word by pray-reading Your word so that it may become the applied word of the Spirit to us. Amen, Lord, infuse us with Your substance through Your word and make us one with God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead for Your glory!

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 Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Corinthians (msg. 48) by Witness Lee, 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 2, entitled, Inheriting the All-inclusive Christ as the Good Land by Taking Heed to His Words of Advice and Warnings and by Receiving His Renewed Training to Have Our Inner Man Renewed Day by Day.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The Bible is God’s breath, a portion from, On Knowing the Bible, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – Flee and Pursue Podcast #96 – A Man of God with the Breath of God to Counter the Worsening of the Decline, via, AgeTurners.
  – Touching the Divine Concept in the Bible by Exercising Our Spirit When Coming to the Bible, via, Living to Him.
  – God breathing out and we breathing in, a portion from, Messages Given to the Working Saints, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
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  – 8 Reasons to Let the Word of God Dwell in You, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
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• Hymns on this topic:
  – I come to His presence afresh / Ere the night has passed into morning; / And His face I see as it shines on me— / The Lord within is dawning. / And He speaks to me and reveals to me / All His riches for me today; / And with sweet delight I partake of Him, / My hunger has passed away. (Hymns #554 stanza 1)
  – By the power of His Spirit / In His pattern He transforms; / From His glory to His glory / To His image He conforms. / He transforms, all sanctifying, / Till like Him we are matured; / He transforms, our soul possessing, / Till His stature is secured. (Hymns #750 stanzas 4-5)
  – Thou in the Word art the Spirit and life, / Thus by the Word I may feed upon Thee; / Thou dost as Spirit in my spirit live, / Thus I may drink in the spirit of Thee. / Now to enjoy Thee I come to Thy Word, / On Thee to feed till my hunger is o’er. / Now in my spirit I turn unto Thee, / Of Thee to drink till I’m thirsty no more. (Hymns #811 stanzas 5-6)