A Renewed Training: Fear God, Walk in His Ways, Love God, and Keep Christ as His Word

In Deut. 10:12-22 we see how, as part of the renewed training God gave His people through Moses, there were nine matters that they had to take care of; these nine matters apply to us in our Christian life today.

We as believers in Christ want to inherit the all-inclusive Christ as the good land by taking heed to His words of advice and warnings, and also by receiving His renewed training to have our inner man renewed day by day.

We have seen this week that God’s goal in His calling of us, His people, is that we may enter into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ with all His unsearchable riches so that we may establish the kingdom of God and be God’s expression on earth.

In this, however, we need to be warned of having an evil heart of unbelief. We should not allow the enemy to infuse his evil and doubtful thoughts into our heart to make it a heart of unbelief.

The Lord has promised us the land and, no matter how hard it may seem to take the land, He will bring us through.

All the difficulties that come our way are actually our food; we eat these as our bread, even as we eat the word of God as our daily bread.

This means that we do not look at what we see outwardly but partake of Christ’s riches inwardly and all these things help us enjoy more of Christ as the all-inclusive One.

As a word of warning, we need to realize that, if we want to partake of the riches of Christ as the all-inclusive good land, we need to flee from idolatry.

We need to be warned by the principle of the golden-calf-idol made by God’s redeemed people to make them an idolatrous camp.

We may think that we’re immune to this, for we don’t have idols in our home but actually, the idols are in our heart and, even worse, we may worship amusement and entertainment instead of worshipping God.

This is truly a deep matter, for there’s a battle today for the matter of worship. God desires to have worship, and He also deserves it, but Satan wants to deceive us so that we may worship him.

In so many ways and in so many occasions, we do not worship God but rather, we worship the enemy, for he hides behind so many things in our life and in our environment.

Instead of worshipping Satan by worshipping things that he hides behind in order to distract us from the true and living God, we need to love the Lord, be intimate with Him, and even be His companion, so that we may do things according to God’s heart.

May we remain under the Lord’s renewed training so that we may be the new generation that enters into the enjoyment of the good land, the new man that enjoys Christ with all His riches in many ways.

Receiving the Renewed Training by God, His Charge to His People in Nine Matters

Before the new generation of Israel entered the good land, they received a renewed training from God through Moses, nine charges to help them be renewed and be God’s new people taking the new land.

These nine matters are fearing Jehovah their God, walking in all His ways, loving Him, serving Him with all their heart and all their soul, keeping His commandments and statutes for their good, circumcising the foreskin of their heart, not being stiff-necked any longer, holding fast to Him, and swearing by His name, who is their praise and their God.

Each and every one of these is for our experience and enjoyment in our Christian life and church life.

We must Fear the Lord – be in Fear of Offending Him and Losing His Presence

The first thing Moses spoke about is that we need to fear the Lord (Deut. 10:12).

As believers in Christ we must have a proper fear of God.

Today so many people seem to not have a fear of anything, of God or of man – no fear at all.

They think they are free, so they don’t fear anything or anyone, including God.

This is a terrible matter, for such ones are capable of doing many evil things.

The lack of the fear of God is the source of all kinds of lawlessness.

Especially the young people need to realize that God has ordained certain authorities and deputy authorities; God is the highest authority, and there are deputy authorities in the family, in society, and in the church.

In all that we do and say, and even in our thinking, we need to fear God. He is observing us, He knows where we are and what we are doing.

We may think that we do this or that or say this or that and no one can see or hear us, but God can hear us.

Eventually, we all will reap from what we sow, and we will eat the fruit of this harvest.

We must fear the Lord. To fear the Lord is to be in fear of offending Him, of losing His presence, and of not receiving Him as our reward in the next age (Prov. 1:1, 7; Eph. 4:30; 2 Cor. 5:9-10).

To fear the Lord is to be in fear of missing His smile in this age and His reward in the next age.

As society is going the way of rebelling against God and defying any norms, even putting aside the fear of God, we need to take the lead in the church life to fear God.

Lord Jesus, grant us to have a proper fear of God today in our daily living. We want to be those who are in fear of offending the Lord and of losing His presence. We fear not receiving You as our reward in the next age. Amen, Lord, we don’t want to miss Your smile in this age and Your reward in the next age. Save us from not fearing God. Save us from not fearing the authorities that God has placed over us. Oh Lord, grant us to have a holy and proper fear of God in our daily life!

We must Walk in God’s Ways – we must Live God, Live Christ, to Express and Magnify Him

We must walk in God’s ways (Deut. 10:12).

What does it mean to walk in God’s ways? What are God’s ways?

The people of Israel knew God’s acts, what He did outwardly, but Moses knew God’s ways.

God’s ways are what God actually is. Whatever God is, is a way to us.

For instance, God is love; love is the way in which we should walk. God is light; we should walk in the light (1 John 1:7).

We must walk in God’s ways; whatever God is, is a way to us, and for us to take God as our ways and walk in these ways is for us to live God, to live Christ.

Christ came and said, I am the way (John 14:6). He is the way to God and He is the way for us to live.

To take Christ as our way is to live Him, and to live Him is to express Him and to magnify Him (Phil. 1:19-21).

Christ is humble, and we should live in the way of humility. He always takes the cross, and we should walk in the way of the cross.

To take Christ as our way is to live Christ (Gal. 2:20) so that we may express Him, manifest Him, and magnify Him.

May we know God, enjoy God, fear God, and know God’s ways, that is, know what He is.

What He is, is a way for us to walk in. And we can do this because we have the heavenly nature of our Father.

We don’t strive to walk in God’s ways; we walk in His ways because His life and nature are in us, and we can express Him by means of His life being lived out of us. Amen!

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to be the way and the reality and the life. We take You as our way. We want to walk in God’s ways. Amen, Lord, whatever You are is a way to us for us to walk in. We take You as our way and we want to walk in Christ, live in Christ, and express Christ. We exercise our spirit to know You, enjoy You, fear You, and walk in Your ways all the days of our life. Amen, may Christ be expressed through us. May Christ be magnified in us!

We must Love the Lord Jesus, who is our God, by Setting our Affection on Him – even as He set His Affection on us

We must love God (Deut. 10:12); God has set His affection on us and made us His people, and now we need to set our affection on Him.

We must love the Lord Jesus, who is our God (John 20:28).

Because God loves us and has set His affection on us (Deut. 10:15; Jer. 31:2), we should love Him in return by setting our affection on Him (1 Cor. 2:9).

This is part of our renewed training. We need to be trained by God not only to fear Him and walk in His ways but even to love Him.

The Lord Jesus, when He came, left us with this one commandment, to love God with our heart and all our soul and all our strength.

He has set His affection on us, and we now set our affection on Him.

As we read the Bible and see the Lord’s love toward us, we are filled with love toward Him.

He loved us so much. He still loves us.

He knows who we are and what we have done, He knows how far away from Him we’re going so many times, yet He still loves us.

He sets His love and affection on us, and we simply respond by setting our affection on Him.

It is good to come to the Lord again and again and ask Him to rekindle our love for Him.

We can sing hymns to the Lord, love Him, and set our affection on Him.

In this way, we love the Lord Jesus.

As we read His word and pray it back to Him, we’re infused with the Lord as love, and we love the Lord.

Lord Jesus, we love You. We set our affection on You. Thank You for loving us. Thank You for setting Your affection on us. Oh Lord Jesus, You are our God, and we love You. We love You in return by setting our affection on You. Thank You for commanding us to love You. Oh Lord Jesus, we love You. Cause us to love You more. Draw us with Your love. Constrain us with Your love. Increase Yourself as love in us. Cause our love for You to be burning!

We must Love and Serve God with all our Heart and all our Soul

We must love and serve God with all our heart and all our soul. Amen!

On one hand, we must love God; on the other hand, we must serve God.

Whomever we love, we also serve.

If we love God, we will serve Him, but if we don’t love God, we will not be eager to serve Him.

Our heart is linked to our spirit, for our conscience – which is a function of our spirit (Rom. 9:1), is also a function of our heart (Heb. 10:22).

Therefore, to love and serve God with all our heart and soul indicates that we love and serve Him also with our spirit.

Paul served God in his spirit (Rom. 1:9) in the gospel of His Son. We need to love God and serve God with all our heart and all our soul.

We need to love and serve God with our spirit, which is a spirit of love (2 Tim. 1:7). Praise the Lord!

This is not something that we need to strive to do and keep as a command; this is something we should do spontaneously.

As we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord and love Him, we will spontaneously serve Him. And our service will be with all our heart and all our soul.

We must Keep God’s Commandments and Statutes for our Good

In Deut. 10:13 Moses continued by saying, So that you would keep the commandments of Jehovah and His statutes, which I am commanding you today, for your good.

We must keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes for our good.

For our good means that we may be blessed. If we want to be blessed, we need to keep the Lord’s commandments.

What does it mean to keep God’s commandments?

Today as believers in Christ we need to realize that we need to keep Christ as the reality of God’s commandments and the riches of Christ that have been ministered to us so that we may be blessed.

The reality of God’s commandments is Christ; all that God has spoken is embodied in Christ, and Christ is the One that we should keep.

We need to keep Christ and the riches of Christ which have been ministered to us so that we may be blessed.

God has ministered some of the riches of Christ to us, both in our personal time with Him and in the fellowship with the saints.

We need to treasure and keep the riches of Christ that have been ministered to us.

If we keep the riches of Christ, if we keep and treasure the Christ we have enjoyed and experienced and has been ministered to us, we will be blessed.

Lord Jesus, we want to be those who keep God’s commandments and statutes for our good. Amen, Lord, we want to keep Christ as the reality of all of God’s commandments and statutes. We exercise our spirit to keep Christ and the riches of Christ which have been ministered to us so that we may be blessed. Oh, what a blessing it is to have Christ and to possess and enjoy the unsearchable riches of Christ! Amen, Lord, we want to keep enjoying Your riches both personally and corporately so that we may be Your blessed people!

We must Circumcise the Foreskin of our Heart – We Crucify our Flesh and Live in Spirit

In Deut. 10:16 Moses said, Circumcise the foreskin of your heart.

On one hand, the children of Israel had to be circumcised in their flesh; on the other hand, Moses here tells them to be circumcised in the foreskin of their heart.

Spiritually speaking, this means that we need to crucify our flesh with its passions and its lusts (Gal. 5:24).

Our flesh is all that we are and have in our natural being by our living and serving in our regenerated spirit (Rom. 1:9; 2:28-29; 7:6; 8:4, 16).

We do not try to crucify our flesh by our own power and strength; we live in spirit and serve in spirit, and the flesh is put to death.

This makes us the true circumcision, those who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and who have no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3).

As believers in Christ, we need to live in our spirit and serve God in our regenerated spirit; this is to crucify our flesh.

May the Lord make us the true circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in our flesh.

We are a peculiar people of God, His treasure; therefore, we are required to cleanse ourselves, to circumcise the unclean thing in our heart.

May we bring this to the Lord and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, we want to live and serve in our regenerated spirit so that our flesh may be crucified. Amen, Lord, You see and know what we are and have in our natural being; we do not want to live in the flesh or serve in the flesh but in our spirit. May we be the true circumcision, those who serve God by the Spirit of God! Amen, Lord, may we serve You in spirit and boast in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh.

We must Not be Stiff-Necked any Longer – our Will must be Subdued and Resurrected

In Deut. 10:16 Moses speaks of not being stiff-necked any longer.

The people of Israel were stiff-necked before God, stubborn before Him, and therefore they were a rebellious people.

We must not be stiff-necked any longer. Our stiff neck signifies our stubborn and rebellious will (Deut. 31:27).

Our rebellious and stubborn will must be subdued and resurrected by Christ through Him as the transforming Spirit to become our beauty in our obedience to Him (Song of Songs 1:10; Phil. 2:13).

When we are stubborn in our will, we hinder God in His move and work.

But when our will is subdued, we are beautiful before God in our obedience to Him.

The loving seeker has her neck adorned with strings of jewels; this shows that her will has been transformed.

The Lord is working to transform us and subdue our will; we simply need to cooperate. He operates, and we cooperate.

He operates in us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.

Many times, however, we want our own will and we reject God’s will.

May we open to the Lord as the transforming Spirit to subdue our will and transform us so that we may be pleasing to Him and even beautiful to Him in our obedience to Him.

Lord Jesus, save us from being stiff-necked before You. We open to You, dear Lord, concerning our will. You see how stubborn and rebellious is our will. Have a way to subdue and resurrect our will by the transforming Spirit. Have Your way in our will, dear Lord. We want to enjoy Your life of obedience being expressed in us and through us. Amen, Lord, may You be manifested in us and through us. May we be those who open to Your inner operation. Operate in us both the willing and the working, Lord, according to Your good pleasure. As You operate, we want to cooperate.

Hold Fast to Christ as God’s Commandment to Possess the Good Land and Gain Christ

In Deut. 12:20 Moses said that we should hold fast to the Lord and to the whole commandment.

We must hold fast to Christ as God’s whole commandment.

We need to hold fast to Christ as the word of God, even not let Him go but hold to Him and allow Him to live in us.

When we hold fast to Christ as God’s whole commandment, we will be strengthened and encouraged to go to possess Christ as our good land (Deut. 11:8, 24).

This means that, as we enjoy Christ and hold to Him as the word of God, we will gain Christ (Phil. 3:8).

Furthermore, those who hold to the Lord and to His commandment, their days will be extended (Deut. 11:9, 21).

If we hold to Christ as the commandment of God, our days will be extended in Christ, and God’s eyes will be upon us to care for us and give us the blessings of His presence (v. 12).

If we want to have the blessing of the Lord’s presence and have God’s eyes upon us, we simply need to hold to Christ as the whole commandment of God.

When we hold to Christ as the word of God, we will enjoy the heavenly rain, the watering of the Spirit to reap a harvest of Christ (vv. 14-15).

We want to enjoy the heavenly rain and be watered by the Spirit so that we may reap a harvest of Christ.

God cares for Christ; if we enjoy Christ, hold to Christ, and live Christ, God’s eyes will be upon us, and we will enjoy Him and have His presence. We may tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, we want to hold to You as the enter word of God. We don’t want to let you go. You must do in us what You say in Your word. Live in us, Lord. You promise that we will live Christ – live in us today. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to gain more of Christ today. May the eyes of God be upon us to care for us and give us the blessing of His presence. May we enjoy the heavenly rain, and the watering of the Spirit to reap a harvest of Christ. Amen, Lord, we hold to Christ as God’s whole command and we ask You, do in us what You said You will do in us according to Your word!

By the Lord’s Name we Swear – We Call on the Name of the Lord to Enjoy His riches

Finally, in Deut. 10:20 Moses said, By His name shall you swear.

We today in the New Testament do not swear by the heavens, by the earth, or by anything else, for we cannot guarantee anything in our own power.

Rather, we call on the name of the Lord. God is our praise and He is our God, and He has done great and awesome things for us, which our eyes have seen (10:20-21).

In the New Testament terms and experience, we call upon the Lord so that we may enjoy His organic salvation and His unsearchable riches (Rom. 10:12-13). Amen!

We today do not swear or promise – we call on the name of the Lord, and we enjoy His riches.

He is rich to us, and His organic salvation is available for us to enjoy.

The more we call on the name of the Lord, the more we enjoy what He is to us, and the more we partake of His riches in spirit.

The more we call on the name of the Lord, the more He works in us and for us.

His organic salvation operates in us as we call on the name of Jesus. Hallelujah for the Lord’s name!

Lord Jesus, we call on Your name! Amen, Lord Jesus, we love You and we love Your name! We hold fast to Your name and we call on Your name! Your name is so rich. Your name is so wonderful. We hold fast to the wonderful name of Jesus! Oh, Lord, we love to enjoy Your riches by calling on Your name! Your name is so sweet. When we call, we get the person of that name! Lord Jesus! We love You, Lord Jesus!

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 Deuteronomy (msgs. 3, 5-8, 28, 30) 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.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Christ is the truth, ’tis Him we testify, / Christ is the life, ’tis Him we minister; / Christ is the Lord, ’tis Him we magnify, / Christ is the Head, and we exalt Him here. / Christ is the All in all to God and man— / With Him both we and God are satisfied; / Christ, the reality within the Church— / By Him are life and numbers multiplied. (Hymns #863 stanzas 3-4)
  – Laboring on Jesus this practical way— / Praying His Word in the spirit each day, / Foll’wing His living anointing within, / Built up with others, the church life to win. / Laboring on Jesus yields reality, / Meetings of fullness for all men to see; / There God and man are indeed satisfied, / And there God’s presence cannot be denied. (Hymns #1168 stanzas 3-4)
  – Gathered in Thy name, Lord Jesus, / Losing sight of all but Thee, / O what joy Thy presence gives us, / Calling up our hearts to Thee! / Loved with love which knows no measure, / Save the Father’s love to Thee, / Blessed Lord, our hearts would treasure / All the Father’s thoughts of Thee. (Hymns #204 stanzas 1-2)