The Witness of the Spirit

October 22nd, 2015 by Dave Leave a reply »

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit… —Romans 8:16

We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him— we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.

Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself— He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden….” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).

The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.

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Journal Entry for October 22, 2015-JDV

Lord, this devotional touches on a lesson you have been giving me for the last couple of weeks. Namely, that Your Spirit connects with the Holy Spirit living inside of me when I do not bring my logic or ideas about how we relate. When I think our relationship should look like this, or when I focus on my unanswered prayers and how certain answers would make me or others whole or happy, we are disconnected: Disconnected because I did not come surrendered. I still held onto my ideas of what the world, answers to prayers and blessings for us should look like. And when I do this, I do not offer up un equivocal faith that “says” You are God and You work all things out for good. When I truly seek Your will, I have no suggestions or answers about what that should “look like”; what the outcomes should be. I simply seek first the kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and allow You to be God in my life.

And God says…”When you let go of your ideas, your perceptions and trust Me to be your God, I can meet all your needs according to my riches in glory. When you only allow me a small space in which to operate, that is to say your hopes and faith only include certain outcomes, and blessings, your faith in Me is reduced and restricted to only those areas and outcomes. And certain outcomes and answers do not and will not always serve you, Me or the greater good. My will is chosen by you and I am free move in your life as you surrender and let go of your will, and trust in Me with all your heart. When you do this you can be certain that I will make your paths straight. Delight yourself in Me and I will give you  the desires of your heart shaped by my will.”

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