Being Saved from a Heart of Unbelief by Looking away unto Jesus to be Infused with Faith

We need to be saved from an evil heart of unbelief and open to the Lord to be infused with Him as our faith, taking the word of God as our faith to care for God’s interests so that we may be able to possess the good land.

Joshua was such a one – he didn’t bring an evil report after being sent out to spy the land but rather, he had faith in God’s word, and he received – together with Caleb – the reward of the good land.

Hallelujah, Christ is our real Joshua – He is leading us into the enjoyment and experience of Christ as the good land, He is grace replacing the law, and He is the fighting One in our spirit to defeat and put to death the flesh and its lusts.

Praise the Lord for such a Christ!

It is very interesting to see that our regeneration takes place just like that, in a moment; when we repent and say, Lord, I’m a sinner; I repent, I turn my heart to You, and I want to receive You right now as my Lord and Savior! – we are saved!

We receive the divine life in an instant, simply by opening to the Lord.

Then, as seen in 1 Cor. 15, the transfiguration of our body will also be in an instant; it will be in a twinkling of an eye.

However, in between our regeneration and our transfiguration, there’s the long tunnel of transformation, through which our entire soul is being renewed, transformed, subdued, and made in the image of Christ.

Today we are in this process of transformation, and our mind is being renewed and saturated with life, our emotion is being attuned to Christ’s emotion, and our will is being subdued and made one with Christ’s will.

However, our flesh will never and can never improve; the totality of our fallen human being is not to be perfected, improved, or changed – it simply needs to be put to death by the Spirit.

The Spirit lusts against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit so that we don’t do what we want. We are either in the flesh or in the spirit.

Christ as the Captain of our salvation is in our spirit, leading the fight against the flesh; when we turn to our spirit, exercise our spirit, and live by the spirit, we no longer fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

Even more, when we walk by the spirit, the righteous requirement of the law of God is spontaneously fulfilled in us.

Christ as the real Joshua is in our spirit to be the fighting Spirit for the putting to death of the flesh as we live by the spirit.

When we enjoy the present and practical Christ as the indwelling Spirit, this One is fighting against the flesh to put it to death, and He is also leading us to glory by transforming us and saturating us with Himself.

Being Saved from a Heart of Unbelief and Exercising our Spirit of Faith to be Infused with Christ as our Faith

When he was forty, Joshua joined Caleb to be two of the twelve spies sent out by Moses to spy out the good land; when they returned, they had hearts full of faith by taking God’s word as their faith, for they cared for God’s interest for His people to possess the good land.

They were the only two out of the twelve spies who had hearts full of faith – they did not have a heart of unbelief but rather, they believed God’s word and were infused with faith.

Only two overcomers among God’s redeemed in the wilderness – Joshua and Caleb – received the prize of the good land (see Num. 13:30; 14:6-9, 27-30; Rom. 10:17; Gal. 3:3, 5; Heb. 11:5-6; Phil. 3:13-14; cf. Acts 6:5).

Christ is the unique Overcomer, but He wants to make us His overcomers; He wants to infuse Himself into us and duplicate Himself in us so that we may overcome even as He overcame (Rev. 3:21).

In ourselves it is impossible to be an overcomer; it’s impossible for us to overcome.

But praise the Lord, all things are possible with God because Christ is the Overcomer in our spirit.

Like Joshua and Caleb, we need to come to God’s word to be infused with Christ as our faith; faith is not in and of ourselves – Christ is our faith.

The Christ who is infused into our being becomes our faith.

The overcoming saints in the Old Testament are only witnesses of faith, but Jesus is the Author of faith; He is the originator, the inaugurator, the source, and the cause of faith.

In our natural man, we have no believing ability; many times unbelievers wonder how do these Christians believe in God, in someone they have never seen or heard – that’s because faith is not in ourselves.

When we look away unto Jesus (Heb. 12:2), He as the Author and Perfecter of our faith infuses Himself into us; He as the life-giving Spirit transfuses us with Himself, with His believing element.

Then, spontaneously, a kind of believing arises in our being, and we just believe.

This is not us trying to believe – it is us coming to the Lord in His word and looking away unto Jesus, and He imparts Himself into us to be the One who believes in us.

In ourselves, we only care for ourselves and for our own benefit, just as the ten spies in Num. 13:31-33 and the people of Israel did when they murmured against Moses and Aaron (14:1-4).

The people of Israel had an evil heart of unbelief; Joshua and Caleb exhorted and warned the people by saying, Don’t rebel against Jehovah!

For us to not believe in the Lord and not believe His word and promises is to rebel against Him; having an evil heart of unbelief is serious, for this is rebellion against God (Num. 13:31-33; 14:1-3, 6-11; Deut. 1:26, 32).

We need to beware of an evil heart of unbelief, for when we do not believe what the Bible says, when we shake our head in disbelief as we read the Bible or hear the word, we rebel against Him.

If we are going to fully possess Christ as the good land, we must ask the Lord to save us from having an evil heart of unbelief; when we have such a heart, we are hardened in our heart, and we fall away, we turn away, from the living God (vv. 25-26, 28, 35-39; 9:23; Acts 6:5a; Heb. 3:7-13).

We need to pray daily to the Lord, even many times during the day, that He would save us from an evil heart of unbelief, and that He would infuse us with Himself as our faith.

Our mingled spirit is a spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13), but doubts and unbelief are in our unrenewed mind.

We need to exercise our spirit of faith to believe and to speak the things that are recorded in the Word of God.

God’s word is truth, and His truth is absolute; no matter how we feel, no matter what we think our condition is, and no matter what’s going on around us, God’s word is truth.

We stand on God’s word, we admit we haven’t fully arrived, and we exercise our spirit of faith to believe that God is and that His word is true.

We must stand on the side of the truth and oppose ourselves and our feelings; if we live according to our feelings, the truth cannot be entrusted to us.

May we be saved from lifting up the truth when we’re feeling good and from lowering the truth when our condition is not so good.

May we come to the Lord in His word, exercise our spirit of faith, and allow Christ to infuse Himself into us to be our faith; this will make us His overcomers in this dark age.

Lord Jesus, save us from having an evil heart of unbelief. We exercise our spirit of faith to believe that God is and that God’s word is true. Amen, Lord, the word of God is the truth, and this truth is absolute. We stand on the Word of God and we reject ourselves with our feelings and opinions. Lord, we say Amen to Your word and we allow You to infuse Yourself into us to be our believing ability, our very faith. Amen, Lord, fill us with Yourself as our faith. Keep us in the constant, present, actual infusion of Christ into us as our faith, our believing ability! Save us from a heart of unbelief; save us from being hardened in our heart. Save us from falling away from the living God; keep us turning to You and being infused with Christ as our faith!

Continually Looking Away unto Jesus to be Infused with Him as our Faith and Live by Faith

Our Christian walk is not by sight – it is by faith (2 Cor. 5:7); we can have such a walk by continually looking away unto Jesus, the One who is the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:1-2).

Our faith as believers in Christ is not of ourselves but of Him who continually imparts Himself as the believing element into us so that He may believe for us (Gal. 2:20; 2 Pet. 1:1).

Paul testified that he lived by faith, and this faith was the faith of the Son of God; our Christian walk is by faith, not by sight.

We need to not only look to Jesus but look away unto Jesus; there are many distracting and frustrating things around us, and we need to look away unto Jesus.

There are many persons, circumstances, events, and things that are going away in the world; we need to look away from all these unto Jesus.

He is on the throne, and He is also in our spirit; when we look away unto Him by contacting Him and calling on His name, we enthrone Him in our being, and He infuses Himself into us.

When we look away unto Jesus, He becomes the Author of our faith; He generates faith in us, and we simply believe into Him. This is how we can be like Jesus – it is by looking away unto Jesus!

When we read the Gospels with a praying spirit, we will simply be infused with what He is; He is the One who loves man, cares for man, is moved with compassion for the low situation of man, and gives His life for man to receive life and become part of the house of God.

As we look away unto Jesus, He imparts Himself as the believing element into us so that He in us may believe for us; in this way He becomes both the Author and source of our faith and He is also the Perfecter of our faith, as we continually look away unto Him.

For a Christian, unbelief is the greatest sin; if we grasp hold of God’s word and believe His word, all will be well.

But if we live by our feelings and do not exercise our spirit of faith and turn our heart to the Lord in order to believe in the divine facts in God’s word, we are rebelling against the Word of God, we insult God, and we make Him a liar (Deut. 1:25-26; Heb. 3:12, 16-19; 4:2, 6; 11:1; Rom. 3:4).

This is a serious matter in our Christian experience; we all have to admit that we have done this, we have rebelled against the word of God and have made God a liar.

The word of God is true; the Word of God is His covenant to us, His will, and by His Word God is giving all that He is to us for our enjoyment and experience.

However, if we have an evil heart of unbelief, that is, if we don’t say Amen to His word but doubt it whether it can be worked out or not, we make God a liar. Oh, Lord Jesus!

God is faithful to His word, and His word is the testament, the covenant. May we learn to say Amen to God’s word and simply pray it back to the Lord.

Faith is in our spirit, but doubts are in our mind; we need to turn our heart to the Lord in order to believe the divine facts in God’s word, which is His covenant to us.

Let God be true and let every man be a liar (Rom. 3:4)! Our Christian life and church life are by faith and are under God’s covenant; there’s a verse of promise to meet every situation.

We shouldn’t be threatened or frightened by the clouds of our convictions, feelings, and environments; rather, we must live under the new covenant and not believe in any failure, weakness, darkness, or negative thing.

As believers in Christ, we are covenanted people, we are the church of the covenant, and we have a verse of promise in the Bible to meet every situation (see Gen. 9:8-17; Rev. 4:2-3; Lam. 3:22-23; Rom. 8:1; 2 Cor. 12:9; 2 Tim. 1:10; 2:1; Jude 24; 1 John 1:9; 1 Cor. 1:9).

Just read the Bible and be encouraged and strengthened, for God’s lovingkindness is new, His compassions are fresh, His goodness follows us all the days of our life, and faithfulness is so great.

When we are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation for us, but rather, His grace is sufficient to us; when we feel weak, we can enjoy the Lord and He will empower us.

He is able to guard us from stumbling, and no temptation has taken us except that which is common to man, and He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able but rather, He has also made a way out so that we may be able to endure it.

And the key is our spirit: our spirit is the “bank account” of the resurrected, pneumatic Christ as the reality of all the bequests of the new covenant! Hallelujah!

By the law of the Spirit of life, all these bequests are dispensed into us and made real to us.

Because we the church people are a people under a covenant, we can actually be called the church of the covenant (Isa. 42:6; 49:8; Rom. 8:2, 10, 6, 11, 16; Heb. 8:10; John 16:13). Hallelujah!

Hallelujah, we Christians are people of faith and under the covenant, and our Christian walk is a walk by faith! We can continually look away unto Jesus to be infused with Him as our faith, our believing ability. Amen, Lord, infuse us with Yourself as faith as we look away from anything and anyone unto You! Save us from having an evil heart of unbelief; save us from living according to our feelings. We choose to exercise our spirit and turn our heart to the Lord to believe the divine facts in the word of God, His covenant! Amen, Lord Jesus, we are not threatened or frightened by the clouds of our convictions, feelings and environments. We simply look away unto Jesus and believe in His word, for there’s a verse of promise to meet every situation! Hallelujah, our spirit is the bank account of the resurrected Christ as the bequests of the new covenant!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Hebrews, msg. 25, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 1, God’s Charge, Promise, and Encouragement to Joshua.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Look away! O look away! / Look to Jesus now today! / Look away from everything unto Jesus, / Look away from everything to Him! / Look away from all around—Hallelujah, / Look away from all the strife and din; / Look away where peace is found—Hallelujah, / Look away from everything to Him. (Hymns #1206)
  – Begone, unbelief, / My Savior is near, / And for my relief / Will surely appear; / By prayer let me wrestle, / And He will perform; / With Christ in the vessel, / I smile at the storm. (Hymns #716)
  – Promises, promises, all God’s called ones share; / Promises, given us, great and precious are. / These we take to partake of God’s nature true, / Having thus escaped the world’s corruption too. / Christ within, as the pow’r, in our spirit lives; / Christ without is the Word—all God’s promises. / Now the key is that we daily contact both, / Calling, praying, reading to produce the growth. (Hymns #1211)