We can overcome and change the age by paying the price to forsake the world, learning to fellowship with God on the altar of total consecration, and standing on God’s word to defeat the enemy by fighting the battle in the Body. Amen!
The four journeys that Elijah and Elisha took before Elijah was raptured are full of significance for us as believers in Christ.
There are four main stops or places they went through Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and the river Jordan; they didn’t remain in these places but journeyed onward to Elijah’s rapture and Elisha’s being clothed with the Holy Spirit as power.
If we want to be prepared to be raptured by the Lord and to have the outward clothing of the Holy Spirit, we need to pass through Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and the river Jordan.
If we want to change the age, as Elisha changed the age from the age of Elijah to the age of Elisha (typifying the change of the age from the Old to the New Testament), we need to have the experiences typified by Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and the river Jordan.
We have seen in the previous article what does the experience at Gilgal means; it is the experience of thoroughly dealing with the flesh, judging and condemning the flesh in the Lord’s light and according to how He judges and condemns it.
In God’s eyes, the flesh is the ugliest and most hateful thing, for Satan himself is embodied in our flesh, and the flesh is the ground of Satan in our being.
Our flesh needs to be exposed by God; the flesh includes not only the evil and sinful aspects of our natural man but even more, everything that we possess from our birth, for the flesh is the uttermost expression of the fallen tripartite being.
Everything that we possess by birth, both the good and the evil aspects of our natural being, is displeasing to God.
God, however, doesn’t “wipe us out”; rather, He wants to come in and become our very life and life supply so that, as we turn to Him and live in the mingled spirit, we do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.
May the Lord have mercy on us and be faithful to expose the flesh so that we may see it as God sees it, judge it as God judges it, and go on with the Lord in our spiritual life by living in the mingled spirit.
By default, whenever we’re not in our spirit, we live in the flesh; the flesh is the default living of the old man.
Actually, even as we pursue the Lord and read the Bible, the flesh can manifest itself, for there are aspects of the flesh that want to please God and obey His law. Oh, Lord!
May we allow the Lord to expose the flesh with all its aspects, and may we reject it as God does, turning to the Lord in spirit, and living in the mingled spirit!
Paying the Price to Forsake the World and Learn to Fellowship with God on the Altar of Total Consecration
The age was changed when Elijah and Elisha passed through Bethel, which is the place to give up the world and turn to God absolutely, taking God as everything, for Bethel refers to victory over the world (Gen. 12:8; 1 John 2:15).
In Gen. 12:8 we see that Bethel was the place where Abraham built an altar, the place of fellowship and communication with God.
Bethel is the place where we consecrate ourselves to God and are totally given to Him to overcome the world (13:3-4).
First, we need to deal with the flesh (Gilgal), and then we need to have the altar of total consecration to God, giving ourselves to fellowship with Him and forsake the world.
We pitch our tent between Ai and Bethel, as Abraham did; on one hand, we see the world which is a heap of ruins (typified by Ai), and on the other hand, we have the place of fellowship with God in the house of God (Bethel), the church life today.
There are only two places we can be in today: in the world as a heap of ruins and a dunghill, or in the church life as the house of God, the dwelling place of God.
In Gen. 13 we see that Abraham backslid because of the famine in the land, so he went down to Egypt.
Some things happened there, and the Lord did not let him go; eventually, he had to leave that place and journey out of Egypt to go to Bethel.
He had been at Bethel formerly, and there he called on the name of Jehovah.
Even though we may backslide and fall away from the Lord, we can simply come back to the altar where we can give all that we are and have to the Lord.
Victory over the world is a condition for being raptured and receiving the power of the Holy Spirit.
If we as believers truly desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be raptured, we must pay the price to forsake the world and learn to fellowship with God on the altar of total consecration. Amen!
Believing into the Lord does not guarantee you health, wealth, and prosperity; this is what some people say being a believer is, but this is NOT what the Bible says.
If you look at the apostle Paul, who wrote half of the New Testament books, we don’t see health, wealth, or prosperity with him; rather, we see persecutions, trials, and imprisonment.
If we follow the Lord, He is our health, He is our wealth, and He is our prosperity. We may not be rich, but we will enrich many.
We may be poor outwardly, but we will make others rich in the unsearchable riches of Christ.
We simply need to draw near to Christ, take Him as our burnt offering, and lay our hands on Him as the consecrated and absolute One.
In ourselves, we are not absolute and we don’t have a total consecration, but we can lay our hands on Him and be one with Him, and Christ in us will live a life that is absolutely for God.
We have the Christ who is absolute for God in our spirit.
Yes, there are persecutions and sufferings in the world, and especially we as believers go through trials and tests and tribulations today, but we have the One who is absolute for God in our spirit.
He in us enables us to pay the price to forsake the world and learn to fellowship with God on the altar of total consecration.
Again and again, we need to come to Him and seek to have His appearing.
It is in His appearing that we are commissioned by Him to witness of the things in which we see Him.
We need His appearing day by day until He comes back.
May we give ourselves to the Lord today to have victory over the world and be those who change the age.
Lord Jesus, we want to be those who change the age by giving up the world and turning to God absolutely. We take You as our everything and we forsake the world for Your sake. Our desire is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be raptured. We lay our hands on You, dear Lord, for You are our absoluteness for God. Live in us a life that is absolute for God and teach us to fellowship with God on the altar of total consecration. Amen, Lord, appear to us day by day. We need You. We open to You. We want to be one with You. We love Your appearing. Infuse us with Yourself and be the overcoming One in us. Make us Your duplication: make us the same as You are in Your absoluteness for God!
Exercising our Spirit of Faith to Believe in God’s Word, Standing in the Position Christ gave us, Exalting Christ, and Putting Down Satan and his evil spirits to their Inferior Position
Jericho, the third journey taken by Elijah with Elisha, is the first city that Joshua and the people of Israel had to defeat when they entered into the good land, and it signifies God’s enemy, Satan (Josh. 6; Rev. 12:11).
Joshua 6 speaks of how Israel overcame Jericho, which means “cursed”; the Canaanites signify the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies mentioned in Eph. 6:12.
Because of their rebellion against God, Satan and his evil spirits are cursed.
However, those who love God enjoy things that the eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, neither has it come up in man’s heart (1 Cor. 2:9). But those who do not love the Lord are accursed (16:22).
If we love the Lord, we enjoy God and have the blessings of His presence, being filled with His unsearchable riches; however, if we don’t love the Lord, we are Jericho, under a curse.
Satan is the ruler of this world (John 14:30), and the evil spirits are the world rulers of this darkness, referring to today’s world.
The evil spirits are the rebellious angels, who followed Satan in his rebellion against God and who now rule in the heavenlies over the nations of the world.
An example of this is the prince of Persia and the prince of Greece in Dan. 10:20.
As believers in Christ, we need to put on the whole armour of God (Eph. 6:11, 13); this armour is for the entire Body of Christ, not for any individual member.
Therefore, we must fight the spiritual warfare in the Body, not as individuals.
We may be going through an illness, but we’re not in it alone; the Body is with us, for we’re members of the Body.
We may feel strong and powerful, but in the Body we feel with other members, being able to minister Christ to them according to their level.
We fight the battle in the Body, not on our own. We do everything in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body with the supply of the Body.
The way to overcome the world is to exercise our spirit of faith to believe in God’s word, act according to His word, and believe that we will receive the results of carrying out His word (2 Cor. 4:13; John 17:17; 6:63; Eph. 6:17-18).
The way that Jericho fell was not by the Israelites fighting against it but by them relying on God’s word and standing firm in their position.
None of them uttered an opinion or took the lead to do this or that to attack Jericho; they obeyed the Lord’s word of instruction through Joshua.
Similarly, when the Lord was tempted by the devil three times in the wilderness before He started His earthly ministry, He responded three times to him by saying, “It is written…” (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10).
We need to exercise our spirit of faith to believe in the facts in the Bible; our spirit is of faith, and we can exercise our mingled spirit to believe in the facts in the Bible and in the ministry that opens up these facts.
Regardless of how we feel, we need to stand on the truth, believe in the truth, and allow the truth to free us of ourselves and our feelings, and to bring us up to its standard.
In order to overcome the attack of the evil spirits, we must disregard every situation and feeling and exercise our spirit of faith to believe in God’s word of promise. Amen!
We must also stand in the position that Christ has given us, which is in the heavens, and we must put down Satan and his evil spirits to their inferior position (Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:1-2). Amen!
We believe what the Bible says, we stand on the word of God, and we stand on the position which Christ gave us; from this position of the heavens, we are one with Christ and with the Body to put Satan and his evil spirits to their inferior position, where they belong.
![And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which [Spirit] is the word of God, By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints. Eph. 6:17-18 And raised [us] up together with [Him] and seated [us] together with [Him] in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Eph. 2:6 If therefore you were raised together with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things which are above, not on the things which are on the earth. Col. 3:1-2](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/And-receive-the-helmet-of-salvation-and-the-sword-of-the-Spirit-which-Spirit-is-the-word-of-God-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which [Spirit] is the word of God, By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints. Eph. 6:17-18 And raised [us] up together with [Him] and seated [us] together with [Him] in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Eph. 2:6 If therefore you were raised together with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things which are above, not on the things which are on the earth. Col. 3:1-2")
The Bible clearly tells us that we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and in Christ we overcome.
The bearing of the ark by the priests at Jericho signifies that in spiritual warfare the first thing we should do is exalt Christ, giving Him the first place, the preeminence, in everything.
The blowing of the trumpets and the shouting (the seventh time around the city) signify the testifying and proclaiming of God with Christ (the Ark) through faith in God’s word of instruction (Josh. 6:1-20).
Jericho did not fall by power but by the Israelites’ relying on God’s word and standing firm in their position.
For us to overcome the attack of evil spirits, we first must disregard every situation and feeling, and we must believe in God’s word of promise. This will defeat the enemy.
Then, we must stand in the position that Christ gave us, one with Him in the heavenlies, and put Satan and his evil spirits to their inferior position. Amen!
May we have a total consecration and simply stand on God’s word.
We cannot overcome the enemy without believing God’s word and without exercising our spirit of faith to choose the position God gave us.
Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit of faith to believe in God’s word, act according to His word, and believe that we will receive the results of carrying out His word. Amen! We stand firm on God’s word and in our position in the heavenlies, one with Christ and one with the Body. We do not look at our situation or feelings; we exercise our spirit of faith to believe in God’s word of promise! Amen, we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and we stand on God’s word, and we put down Satan and his evil spirits to their inferior position! Hallelujah, we fight the battle in the Body, as members of the Body, by putting on the whole armor of God in the Body and as the Body! Praise the Lord, Christ is Victor, and we declare and apply His victory to the enemy today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 9, pp. 309-312, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 2, entitled, Four Crucial Journeys to Enter into the Ministry of the Age by Closely Following the Minister of the Age with the Vision of the Age.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Consecrated is Thy temple, / Purged from every stain and sin; / May Thy flame of glory now be / Manifested from within. / Let the earth in solemn wonder / See my body willingly / Offered as Thy slave obedient, / Energized alone by Thee. (Hymns #403 stanza 2)
– Fight the battle in the Body, / Never fight it on your own; / With the Body to the Head joined, / Fight the battle on the throne. / For the Body is God’s armor, / Not for anyone alone; / When you wrestle in the Body, / All its benefits you own. (Hymns #885, stanzas 1 and 2)
– We the altar must obtain, / Have our all upon it lain. / The burnt-offering must be slain, / O glory be to God! / This we never should dispute, / For the church be absolute, / All that’s otherwise uproot / In the local churches now. (Hymns #1251, stanza 4)
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Bethel is the place to give up the world and turn to God absolutely, taking God as everything (Gen. 12:8); Jericho, the first city that Joshua and the people of Israel had to defeat when they entered into the good land, signifies the head of God’s enemy, Satan (Josh. 6:1-27). (2 Kings 2:1, footnote 1)
The real spiritual warfare is the warfare between us and Satan with his evil spirits. Every mature believer should join in this warfare. God’s children on earth are often attacked by evil spirits. Some of these attacks are in the environment, some are in the physical body, mind, emotion, or spirit. It is not by power that Jericho fell, but by the Israelites’ relying on God’s Word and standing firm in their position. In order to overcome the attack of evil spirits, we first must disregard every situation and feeling and believe in God’s Word of promise. This will defeat the enemy. Second, we must stand in the position that Christ has given us, which is in the heavens, and must put down Satan and his evil spirits to their inferior position. Without God’s Word and without exercising our faith to choose the position God has given, we cannot overcome the enemy. Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 9, pp. 309-312
The way to overcome the world is to exercise our spirit of faith to believe in God’s word, act according to His word, and believe that we will receive the results of carrying out His word.
And we disregard our situation and feeling, standing in the position that Christ has given us, to pur down Satan and his evil spirits to their inferior position!
As well as dealing with our flesh (Gilgal) in order to be raptured and filled with the Holy Spirit of power we must overcome the world with all its affairs (Bethel) and also the enemy – Satan, the world-rulers and rebellious, evil spirits (Jericho).
For this we must be willing to pay the price in forsaking the world, and exercise our spirit of faith to believe and act on God’s word declaring before the enemy “it is written”.
As we disregard our situation and feeling and stay in the heavenly, superior position Christ has given us we overcome these ones who are beneath our feet!
As well as victory over the flesh, we believers must defeat the world.
Victory over the world is a condition for being deemed an overcomer and receiving the power of the Holy Spirit.
If we truly desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be an overcomer, we must pay the price to take the way of the Lord.
We must forsake the world and learn to fellowship with God on the altar of total consecration.
Having overcome the flesh and the world, we must still defeat the enemy. We can only do this by believing in God’s word and acting according to His word, knowing that we will receive the results of carrying out His word.
Real spiritual warfare is the war between us and Satan with his evil spirits.
Sometimes we’re under attack in the environment. At other times in our body, mind, emotion or spirit.
Jericho fell because the Israelis relied on God’s word and stood firm in their position. Likewise, we must disregard every situation & feeling and believe in God’s word.
Second, we must stand in the position that God has given us in the heavens. Satan and his cronies are in an inferior position.
Without God’s word and without exercising our faith to choose the position God has given, we cannot overcome the enemy.
Yes, the age is changed by passing through Bethel, the place to give up the world and turn to God. The house of God. The church is the dwelling place of God, the place where we consecrate ourselves to God and are totally given to Him to overcome the world.
This is a precondition for being raptured and receiving the power of the Holy Spirit.
If we desire to enter into this realm, we must pay the price by giving up the world and learning to fellowship with God on the altar of total consecration.
In general, we as a church of God need to know the place and time of the age so that we can perform the task, which we are given according to His will.
Praise the Lord for His trust on us to fulfill His plan. Amen.
Amen brother! We need to overcome sin Satan and the world and the way to do that is to firm on the word have faith in the word and act according to the word.
We see that Satan is under our feet and we are seated in the heavenlies in christ we need to stand one with these facts in the word
Oh hallelujah! We can journey on to Bethel.
It is there where we overcome the world (Egypt) forsaking the world to have fellowship with God on the Altar of total consecration and this is the condition for being raptured!
Amen hallelujah! Thank you brother
Thank you Father because we have overcome the flesh and the world. We wrestle not against flesh and blood but the spiritual forces in high places, thank God because he has given us the victory and we can stand on his word! I pray that our faith grows more and more everyday no matter the circumstances as we continue to exercise it in Jesus name