Jon. 2:8 π Rom. 8:16 π Gal. 5:17 π 1 Jn. 5:6 π 1 Jn. 5:9
“…And it is the spirit that bears witness because the Spirit is truth.” ( 1 Jn. 5:6; top )
Most Christians develop their Christian walk according to their own personal feelings and temperament, rather than through the Spirit of truth they received at the new birth. So the inner guidance that is needed by us is distorted because of the conflict of the inner self-life contending with the Spirit of God within us, which is the Spirit of truth. “The flesh lusts against the Spirit.” ( Gal. 5:17; top ) If our inner man is 50% self and 50% the Spirit of truth, then the chances of hearing from God’s Spirit is remote in most cases. We often say, “Why doesn’t God speak to me, or show me,” and when He doesn’t, we take an impulsive step guided by the fleshly spirit and disobedience, and disaster follows the human effort. Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to me and answer my petitions according to my decisions? He can’t, because we are in the way; our self-life stymies His direction, and will continue to get us silence unless we completely surrender ourselves and our personal opinions, which are directed by our self-life to Almighty God.
God would like very much to witness to us, however He desires to witness to His Spirit and nature within us. He longs to fulfill Rom. 8:16 : “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit…” which He gave at the new birth, but our reasoning and self life are never satisfied, because they never have totally known the sufficiency of the Spirit of truth. Yet most times the natural common sense decisions are mistaken for the witness of the Spirit. “Those who observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.” ( Jon. 2:8; top ) We try to persuade God to witness to our self-life, with its reasonable arguments, so it isn’t hard to understand why we are living in confusion and darkness. God doesn’t want us to bring our talents, keen intellect and reasoning powers to Him (true followers of God are those that know their poverty). He only desires one thing: our absolute and without reservation, complete surrender to Him. Then we can lose our social status, our credibility with men, our ministry and even His blessings, and it can’t affect our obedience and trust in Him.
“If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater…” ( 1 Jn. 5:9; top )
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