Ⅵ
All our spiritual possessions in Christ are realized and actualized by faith:
A
Faith opens the door to every blessing that is ours in Christ—2 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 1:3.
B
Faith cuts off the flesh with its natural energy and effort and gives us access into God's grace and a solid standing in grace, which is the Triune God processed so that we may enter into Him and enjoy Him—Rom. 5:2.
C
We are all “sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus”—Gal. 3:26.
D
The righteousness that is God Himself lived out of us is through faith in Christ; Christ Himself infused into us through our appreciation of Him becomes our faith, the faith of Christ that brings us into an organic union with Him—Phil. 3:9.
E
We are sanctified dispositionally, which is to be saturated with God as our possession for our enjoyment today and to be transformed by and with the holy nature of God—Acts 26:18; Rom. 6:19, 22; 2 Cor. 3:18.
F
The inward cleansing of man's heart can be accomplished only by the Holy Spirit with the divine life by faith.
G
Christ makes His home deep down in our hearts through faith; Christ's indwelling is mysterious and abstract, and we apprehend it not by our physical senses but by the sense of faith—Eph. 3:17.
H
At the time of our regeneration, we believed into Christ and received the Spirit by faith as the ultimate blessing of the gospel; after this, God is supplying the Spirit to us continually, and our receiving the Spirit is a lifelong, continuous matter by the hearing of faith—Gal. 3:2-5, 14.
I
We are inheriting the promises of God through faith—Heb. 6:12.
J
We have victory over the world through faith, by which we are enabled to overcome the Satan-organized-and-usurped world.
K
We have victory over the evil one by taking up the shield of faith, which is able to quench all the flaming darts of the evil one, which are Satan's temptations, proposals, doubts, questions, lies, and attacks—Eph. 6:16.
L
Through faith we are able to overcome in the midst of all our circumstances of suffering and difficulties—Heb. 11:33-34.
M
We are kept by the power of God through faith, and we have power through faith—1 Pet. 1:5; Matt. 17:19-20; 21:21-22.
Morning Nourishment
Rom. 5:2 Through whom also we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and boast because of the hope of the glory of God.2 Tim. 3:15 …From a babe you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
The faith that justifies us and cuts off the flesh with its natural energy and effort also gives us access into God’s grace. If we remain in the flesh with its natural effort, we will neither know nor enjoy the grace of God, but if we live by faith, we will enter into the full enjoyment of God’s grace.
Faith first gives us access into grace, then a solid standing in grace. Grace is the Triune God Himself, processed that we may enter into Him and enjoy Him… Grace is the realm in which we stand… When we sense that we have moved from the realm of grace into another sphere, we should pray, “Lord, forgive me. Bring me back to the realm of grace.” We return to the realm of grace by the same way through which we entered it originally… through justification by faith. God’s justification brought us into this grace in which we stand. Whenever we act wrongly and sense that we are out of grace, we must pray: “O Lord, forgive me. Cleanse me with Your precious blood.” When we do this, we will be brought back to grace instantly. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3036-3037)
Today’s Reading
There is no doubt that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ [Eph. 1:3]. But where are these blessings? Brothers and sisters, the main question hinges on faith; we have to believe that God’s Word is true. (CWWN, vol. 24, “The Overcoming Life,” p. 118)The meaning of claiming is to acknowledge daily all that the Lord has accomplished for us, that is, to acknowledge that all these accomplishments are effective in us. Then, when temptation comes, we will live out these accomplishments as if we have already attained to the position (the fact) that the Lord has placed us in. If we do this, our experience will follow. The experience of the believers’ spiritual life is fully based on the facts that God has accomplished for them. The facts are the basis, the experience is the accomplishment, and faith is the process. In other words, the facts are the cause, faith is the way, and experience is the result… Before there can be any lofty spiritual life in the believers, there first must be the perfect work of the Lord Jesus as its wellspring… Sanctification, victory, death, and so forth do not come from self-effort. They come from: (1) acknowledging our sanctification, victory, and death to the self in the Lord Jesus Christ, and (2) practicing it by believing that one is joined to the Lord Jesus in life and that one will be as sanctified, victorious, and dead to the self as the Lord Jesus is. The Lord Jesus has already encountered every experience that we have and will have. To claim by faith is to reckon as ours all that the Lord Jesus has and to apply through an attitude and a conduct of faith all that we have counted as grace.
When we believe in God’s facts shown in the Bible and when we claim these facts, the Holy Spirit will apply to us all the graces that God has accomplished for us in Christ, making them real to us in our lives. In this way, they become our personal experiences. An acknowledging and claiming faith opens the door for the Holy Spirit to work and to apply in our lives all that the Lord Jesus has accomplished so that we will have the practical experience. The work of the Holy Spirit is based upon the facts of God. The Holy Spirit does not accomplish any fact for us; He only makes the things that have been accomplished real and living in our lives. God has accomplished all the facts in Christ. What we must do is acknowledge and claim these facts, trusting in the Holy Spirit to apply in our lives what God has accomplished so that we will have the spiritual experiences. (CWWN, vol. 1, pp. 64-65)
Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 1, chs. 4-5; CWWN, vol. 46, ch. 180