God has given us the good land, but we need to cooperate with Him by rising up to possess the land, walk in the land, fight the spiritual warfare by faith in the Lord and in the principle of His Body, and be occupied with the Lord’s word to be the Joshua of today.
The good land is rich and bountiful; everything we need is in the land, and we can just experience Christ and enjoy Him as all the riches in the land!
If we would experience Christ as the stone, iron, and copper, we need to have some degree of spiritual maturity; we need to grow in life unto maturity so that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the more solid One, the One who is the material for the building of God and the weapons for the spiritual warfare.
Whenever there’s a matured life in Christians, the building of God’s house will take place, and the battles of spiritual warfare will be fought (Heb. 5:14; 6:1; 1 Cor. 14:20; Eph. 4:13).
In the church life in the Lord’s recovery today we are on the brink of entering the good land; the Lord’s recovery has been among us beginning from brother Watchman Nee for almost 100 years, and here we are, as the Lord has brought us on through many stages through the ministry.
We have enjoyed much ministry and revelation, and we have experienced much growth in life; now we are like the children of Israel at the border of Canaan, on the brink, on the threshold to enter into the good land to possess it.
Here we are experiencing what it means to advance with the Lord from not only caring merely for our enjoyment and satisfaction but for the building up of the church and the fighting of the spiritual warfare.
We need to enjoy and experience Christ as the minerals in the good land so that we may be mature; we may even tell the Lord, Lord, grow in us and bring us on to maturity!
If we are merely little children, infants in the divine life, we are not qualified to enter the good land and fight the spiritual warfare; there has to be the maturity of life, and along with this, there’s the building work and the spiritual battle.
So we need to advance in our experience of life stage by stage until we reach the fourth stage, which includes knowing the Body, knowing ascension, arriving at the stature of the fullness of Christ, and the spiritual warfare.
Here we are today, and the Lord wants to bring us on from the beginning of Christ to maturity. If we would enter the good land and possess it by defeating the enemy, we need the maturity in life, the building of God, and engaging in spiritual warfare.
Rising up to Walk in the Land and Fight the Spiritual Warfare by Faith in the Lord and in the Principle of the Body
In Joshua 1:3 the Lord says that He has given His people the land, but they still have to take it; on one hand, God gave Israel the good land, and on the other, they have to walk in the land to possess it.
God has given us the all-inclusive Christ as the good land allotted to us, but we do not enter into it by default; we do not naturally possess the good land – we need to walk in it and possess it.
Every place that the sole of our feet treads upon is ours, for God has given us the land.
Although God has given us the all-inclusive Christ as the good land, we still need to cooperate with Him by rising up to fulfill God’s commission to possess the land.
God doesn’t just freely give us the land and we passively accept it and enjoy it; rather; we need to rise up, walk in the land, and possess it.
Are we the ones possessing the land or is God giving us the land? It is both; as God is giving us the land, He needs our cooperation for treading on the land; we need to cooperate with Him by rising up to fulfill His commission.
If we would possess Christ as the good land, we still need to fight the spiritual warfare by faith in the Lord and in the principle of the Body (Deut. 1:30; 3:22; 20:3-4; 32:30; Eph. 6:10-13).
We need to realize that we are not the ones fighting, for God goes with us and fights for us! Hallelujah!
In verse after verse in Deuteronomy God assured His people that He will fight for them; the battle is fought by God, but the children of Israel had to cooperate with Him.
It is the same today; God fights for us, but He wants us to start walking in the land, treading in the land, and possessing the land.
We need to fight the battle by faith, exercising our faith by not looking at our environment but casing aside any spirit and heart of unbelief and looking to the Lord!
God has spoken to us and He promised us the land; the land is ours – we simply need to go up at once and take it!
We shouldn’t check with our reasoning or feeling; we should exercise faith by exercising our spirit to rise up and walk in the land.
Also, our taking the land is not in an individualistic way; we do this in the principle of the Body.
We don’t go into the land by ourselves but with all the saints, and God promised He will fight for us. Hallelujah!
If we go in as the Body, we are a built-up army; God is with us, He will fight for us, the battle is His! Hallelujah, we simply need to be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength (Eph. 6:10-13).
On one hand we need to be empowered, and on the other, God is the One who empowers us; we need to let God empower us, and we need to put on the whole armor of God so that we may stand.
God will not put on the whole armor for us – we have to do it. God has given us the land, but we need to put on the whole armor of God to be covered and protected, and we need to walk in the land, fighting the spiritual warfare in the Body.
Thank You Lord for giving us the good land for our possession; we want to cooperate with You to rise up and possess the land! Amen, Lord, we want to walk in the land, tread in the land, and take possession of the land by walking in and enjoying this all-inclusive Christ as our God-allotted portion! Hallelujah, God has given us the land, and He will fight for us! Lord, we exercise our faith to fight the spiritual warfare in the principle of the Body, one with the Lord and also one with the saints! We realize, Lord, that we are not the ones fighting, for God goes with us and fights for us; we simply stand in His victory, we are one with Him and with all the saints, and we exercise faith to possess the land!
Being Today’s Joshua being Soaked with the Word, Fighting the Battle, Taking the Land, and Enjoying Christ as our inheritance
After Moses, the servant of Jehovah, died, God appointed a new leader for the children of Israel; they didn’t go into the land all by themselves but had a leader, Joshua.
Joshua led the children of Israel to enter the promised land and to take it, possess it, and enjoy it (Josh. 1:6).
From the very beginning, God told Joshua to be saturated and occupied with the word of God; he had to remain in the law, read the law, and be immersed in the law.
For us to be the Joshua of today who enters into the good land together with the saints, we need to allow the Lord of God to saturate us and soak us; we need to be soaked in the word of God.
Who is Joshua today? We could say that Christ is our real Joshua, leading us into the possession and enjoyment of the good land; also, we could say that the leading ones or the co-workers may be like Joshua, but eventually we have to realize that we ourselves need to become the corporate Joshua of today.
The response of the people of Israel to Joshua implied their willingness, their readiness, and their being in one accord not only with Joshua but also with Jehovah their God (see Josh. 1:16-18).
They blessed Joshua in the name of their God, and they were fully in one accord with Him and with God to enter into the land.
Israel had become a corporate Joshua, chosen, called, redeemed, saved, trained, prepared, and qualified by God; they were ready to go on with God as one to take the land of Canaan.
So who is Joshua today? We all are the corporate Joshua, so we all need to be fully soaked daily in the word of God!
We need to abide in the word of God, let the Word dwell in us richly, be in the meetings with the saints, and avail ourselves to be in the conferences and trainings so that the word of God would soak us thoroughly!
Especially these days as the world is going worse and worse, we have a very bright future before us: we are on the brink of entering the good land, and God is advancing us in our experience of Christ to experiencing the solid Christ, a Christ as the minerals!
He is making us ready to be built up corporately, having the iron and the bronze as our weapons for us to fight and become today’s Joshua!
Our leadership today is not brother-and-so but the word of God, the present ministry, which leads us into the possession of the good land!
Amen, for us to gain the all-inclusive Christ, we need to be today’s Joshua, fighting the battle, taking the land, and enjoying Christ as our inheritance.
Furthermore, in Josh. 4:1-11 we see how the children of Israel crossed the river Jordan; this signifies that for us to enter into the possession of the good land, we need to be buried in the death of Christ and resurrected in the resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:3-6).
In their crossing of Jordan, when the priests with the Ark were standing at the bottom of Jordan, they had to bring twelve rocks from the river bottom to the other shore, and then take twelve stones from the shore to the river bottom; this signifies that the old Israel was buried and a new Israel was crossing on the other side.
In our old man we cannot gain the victory; our old man needs to be buried so that we can become a new man!
Amen, may we realize that our old man, our natural man, is not qualified to fight the spiritual warfare for gaining the all-inclusive Christ, so it needs to be put to death, so that the new man may come forth in resurrection!
There must be a new man in resurrection who can enter into the good land!
Lord Jesus, we are willing and ready to enter into the good land to possess it. We are one with You and one with the saints in the Body for the entering and possessing of the good land. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to remain in Your word, being saturated and soaked with Your present and instant speaking, being immersed in the word of God and letting the word dwell in us richly. Produce us as the corporate Joshua, those who are chosen, called, redeemed, saved, trained, prepared, and qualified by God, ready to go on with God to take the good land! May we be today’s Joshua, fighting the battle, taking the land, and enjoying Christ as our inheritance!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Joshua, msgs. 2, 4-5 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 4, The Goodness of the Land – Its Minerals.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Fight the battle in the Body! / By the virtue of the Head; / Standing firmly with the Body, / Into vict’ry you’ll be led. / For the Body is God’s armor, / Not for anyone alone; / When you wrestle in the Body, / All its benefits you own. (Hymns #885)
– Let’s take the land! The land that God has given us; / In all our living, Christ can be so much: / To take this land, we have th’ equipment that we need— / The blood, the Word, the Spirit, and the church. (Hymns #1287)
– See our portion so available to take, / To be walked in and experienced in full. / Apprehending the unsearchable extent of this good land, / When we corporately enjoy Him with the saints. (Song on, What a Christ We Have)
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