Exercise thyself unto godliness.
For bodily exercise is profitable for a little;
but godliness is profitable for everything,
having promise of life, of the present one and of that to come.
The word is faithful, and worthy of all acceptation.
For for this we labor and suffer reproach,
because we hope in a living God, Who is Preserver of all men, especially of those that believe.
May we have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we gather here this afternoon unto Thy name, we have the assurance from Thee that Thou art here with us. Lord, we ask that Thou wilt use Thy word. Open Thy word to us, that we may see what Thou art really after.
Lord, we want to respond to Thee. We want to have all that Thou hast purposed for Thyself in us. We do look to Thee to open Thy word and bless it. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
As you know, the afternoon sessions are somewhat different from the morning and evening sessions. The afternoon sessions are devoted more to the practice, or the practical application, of the principles that we have heard.
So, in these afternoon sessions, I hope we are more relaxed before the Lord and allow the Spirit of God to really work it out in us.
Those who were here last year probably still remember—but I do not know how much. We began on this matter of spiritual exercise.
Now the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, and he said, “Bodily exercise is profitable for a little.” That is in comparison with exercise unto godliness, which is spiritual exercise.
Well, we all know how important physical exercise is. I think people are more and more conscious of it, and the Bible does say that it is profitable—but for a little. Why? Because it certainly profits our physical health, and it is useful and profitable as long as we live on earth. But that is about it.
But spiritual exercise is of such value that it is profitable for everything. In other words, it is not only profitable for our spiritual well-being; it is also profitable even to our physical well-being. Or, to put it another way, it is profitable to our whole being—not just the body, but the whole being.
And it is not only profitable in this age in which we live, but also in the age to come, in the coming kingdom. So, brothers and sisters, here you see the importance of spiritual exercise.
Now, by spiritual exercise, it simply means exercise unto godliness. How do we exercise ourselves to be like God? We who have the life of God in us—how is that life to be developed into the character of God? You need exercise, and this is what we mean by spiritual exercise.
Now, unfortunately, today many Christians do not even know they have a spirit. It is just like Jude 1:19: “Natural, not having the Spirit.”
Now, it is no surprise for the world to know nothing of the spirit. Being natural—that is, of the flesh—it is soul and body, with no spirit. That is excusable for the people of the world, because before God that is exactly what they are. Their spirit is dead toward God.
But for us believers, not knowing that aside from this body and the soul, which is your personality, you have a spirit—now, if you do not know this, brothers and sisters, it is just too bad. Because how can you become spiritual if you do not even know you have a spirit? How can you exercise your spirit if you do not know you have it?
You know, in Christianity you may see lots of so-called spiritual exercises. But are they really exercises of the spirit?
For instance, theology. People who study theology—what do they mainly exercise? Probably they mainly exercise their mind through study and research, trying to understand God. But can you call this spiritual exercise?
By theology you may know lots about God, but do you really know Him? Unless you know Him, there is no spiritual exercise. It is mental.
Ritualism—in the church today, it is full of ritualism. Now, what is the exercise involved in ritualism? You may prostrate yourself on the floor to show your piety. You kneel before a statue, perhaps of Christ. You may sit, or you may stand up. No, it is physical exercise.
Can you call this spiritual exercise? I do not say that there is absolutely nothing of the spirit in all these things. No, I would probably be mistaken. But what I am trying to say is this: very frequently in Christianity today, we do not really know what spiritual exercise is.
And spiritual exercise is so important, because without such exercise you do not grow spiritually. Life without exercise will not grow properly. This is true physically, and this is even truer spiritually.
In order to help some who may not have the background, or in order to bring us to what we are going to say this afternoon, I think I have to go back to the fundamental, to the basic.
You know, when God created man, He created us with a spirit, a soul, and a body.
The body is made up of earth. It gives us the consciousness of the world around us.
Our soul is where our thought, our feeling, and our volition—our will—come from. It gives us the consciousness of ourselves. You are conscious of yourself.
But our spirit comes from the breath of God that is breathed into man’s nostrils. That gives us the consciousness of God.
But unfortunately, when our forefathers rebelled against the command of God and ate the forbidden fruit—the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—something happened.
Now, God told man, “Of all the trees in the garden you can freely enjoy, and that includes the tree of life in the midst of the garden. But there is one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of which you shall not eat; because in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.”
But Adam and Eve, our forefathers, ate the forbidden fruit. Adam lived for more than nine hundred years afterwards, and he begot many sons and daughters. But God’s word says, “In the day—the very day—that you eat that forbidden fruit, you die.”
God’s word is exact. It is always true. So you see, on the day that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they did die. Physically, they remained for hundreds of years. Soulically, they continued on as long. But their spirit was dead.
In other words, they were cut out of communication with God. Now, what is death? It is the cessation of communication with its proper environment.
What is physical death? When you cease to communicate with the world around you, that is physical death. You have eyes, but you cannot see. You have ears, but you cannot hear. You have hands, but you cannot touch. You have a nose, but you cannot smell. In other words, your communication with your proper environment is cut off.
So spiritual death is when your communication with God, Who is your proper environment, is cut off. So your spirit was dead. In Ephesians 2, we are told that once we were dead in sins and transgressions.
Now, that does not mean that the human spirit, as an organ, is annihilated. That organ is still there, but its proper function has been damaged. We still have a human spirit in us, but we do not know it, as if it is not there. Why? Because it has lost its proper functions.
It is still there. The functions are still there, but it does not function properly anymore. For instance, people who are not born again can communicate with evil spirits, but not with God, with the true and living God.
You know, after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, what happened? Immediately they discovered that they were naked. They felt ashamed, so they sewed fig leaves as aprons to cover their nakedness. But did that cover their nakedness? It was more than physical nakedness.
When God came into the garden to commune with them, they fled and hid themselves among the trees. Why? A guilty conscience.
Brothers and sisters, when our forefathers disobeyed God, conscience began to work. It awakened the conscience, and they had a guilty conscience.
Because the spirit is still there, they were driven out of the garden and lost their communication with God, but the functions of the spirit were still there. There were still traces of their former communion with God.
As men drifted farther and farther away from God, you find that even that awakened conscience began to be lulled to sleep, because God was no longer their proper environment.
So you find, as people continued on through the centuries, gradually custom, perhaps education, became the standard of man’s conscience. God was no longer the standard of man’s conscience.
In the early days—and I do not know whether it still happens today or not—among primitive people, when they killed a man and ate a man, they felt it was the greatest thing in the world. Their conscience never bothered them. But if you did that now, would your conscience bother you?
So you find that custom and education become the standard of your conscience. Your conscience is no longer standardized by God.
The same thing is true with intuition. Intuitively, people know that there is a God.
Your reasoning, your rational mind, may tell you there is no Creator, no God. But when you are desperate, when you are in danger, when you are dying, intuitively you know there is God, and you are going to meet Him. The trace is still there, but it does not function properly.
Now, we cannot commune with God, but that does not mean God cannot commune with us. He can still reach down to us, but in a different way. I will not mention that today. But anyway, you find that was man’s condition before new birth.
We have the spirit, but it is dead. So we live by our soul and body. We live by the passions and lusts of our soul and body. That is the way we live.
But thank God, one day we heard the gospel—the gospel of Jesus Christ—and the Holy Spirit worked upon our sleeping conscience.
Just like on the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and began to speak. He told the people, “This One Whom you crucified, God has made Him both Lord and Christ.” And those people who heard were pricked in heart. In other words, their conscience was awakened.
So when the seed of the gospel falls into the heart, then you find that we are not only convicted; we are convinced that Jesus Christ is our only hope, our Savior. So we repent and believe in the Lord Jesus. Brothers and sisters, that is the way we come into life.
You remember in John 3, the Lord says, “You must be born again.”
That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Brothers and sisters, that which is born of the Holy Spirit is the human spirit. So one day, when you repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit quickens your dead spirit into new life.
That is the fulfillment of Ezekiel 36. God said, “I will give you a new spirit, and I will put My Spirit into your spirit.”
And that is what Romans 8:16 tells us: the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Every cry of “Abba, Father” comes from that.
Brothers and sisters, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, something happens in us. Our spirit is raised, resurrected into new life, and the Holy Spirit of God comes and dwells in our spirit. We are born from above. We are children of God.
Because we have this new life in us, the life in the Spirit, Christ dwells in our spirit. God dwells in our spirit. Eternal life is in our spirit. That begins our spiritual journey.
So, brothers and sisters, unless we are born again, we cannot talk about spiritual exercise. But thank God, since we are born again, we have a new spirit, and there is life there. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life, is in our spirit. Therefore, we have to learn to exercise our spirit in order that life may grow spiritually.
We mentioned last year that, as Christians, we need to exercise the conscience of our spirit. You know, our spirit is invisible. How do we know we have a spirit? We know by its activities, by its senses.
So you find that the way we know our spirit is by its senses, by its faculties, by its functions, by its activities. Now, in Scripture, generally speaking, the senses of our spirit are mainly in three different areas:
Now, last year we shared a little bit on conscience.
We cannot live our Christian life if we neglect our conscience, if we do not exercise our conscience, because our conscience tells us what is right and what is wrong.
You know, our Christian life is intensely internal. Unfortunately today, Christianity has become an outward thing. But actually, the Christian life is intensely internal. We are to live according to the Spirit, to live by the Spirit, to live in the Spirit.
So we need to pay attention to our conscience. Now, our conscience is being cleansed by the blood of our Lord Jesus. In Hebrews 10, we are told that the conscience of our heart is purified and cleansed by the blood of our Lord Jesus.
So we have a clean conscience, a new conscience, a clear conscience, a sensitive conscience. And God Himself now becomes the standard of our conscience. The voice of our conscience now is the voice of God.
So, brothers and sisters, if we want to live our Christian life, we have to live according to our conscience. It is true that before we were saved, our conscience was undependable because it had lost its standard. But now, after we are born again, we have a pure, clean, clear, new conscience, and God is now the standard of it.
Listen to it. We cannot walk our Christian life if we neglect our conscience. If we do, what will happen? Paul said that if we do that, we will make shipwreck of our faith. We will drift away.
We need to maintain a clear and good conscience before God and man. That was the testimony of Paul. He said, “I live before man and God with a clear conscience.”
Never, never try to do anything against your conscience.
You know, even as believers, there is still the danger of trying to silence and even cauterize our conscience. Oftentimes our conscience will tell us, “No,” but we want it so much that we try to reason it out. We try to let our mind, our rational reasoning, overcome and still the voice of our conscience.
And if you are doing that, you will find that the voice of your conscience becomes smaller, harder to hear. In other words, you live by your rational reasoning instead of by your conscience. You do not exercise your conscience; you try to lay it aside.
Eventually, your conscience becomes so hardened that you cannot hear its voice anymore. You can be so brainwashed that your conscience will not work anymore. And that is what is happening—not only in the world, but in the Christian world. That is what is happening.
So, brothers and sisters, we have to listen to the voice of our conscience. Always, by the grace of God, maintain a good, clear conscience before God. Amen.
Now, this afternoon, we would like to talk about the other faculty of the spirit: how we shall exercise our intuition, our intuitive power.
Now, brothers and sisters, in our spirit there is a kind of knowledge which comes directly from God, from life. This is very different from the knowledge of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Our conscience tells us what is right and what is wrong, but our intuition tells us what is good and what is evil. There is some difference there.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil—what kind of knowledge does its fruit give to man? It gives man a knowledge of what is good and what is evil. But that knowledge does not come from life. That knowledge comes from the mind.
That knowledge of good and evil is the development of your rational reasoning. You observe, you analyze, you weigh, and you balance; then you come to a conclusion: this is good, or this is evil.
And what do you consider as good? It is because it is good for your flesh, for yourself. What you consider as evil is evil to you. In other words, you become the standard. It is your mind, yourself, that decides what is good and what is evil.
So after man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his ego was greatly developed. He began to be so self-centered. Everything was for himself. He considered that what was good for him was good, and what was bad for him was evil. That was his knowledge, and that leads to death.
But there is a knowledge of good and evil in the Bible. What is good, and what is evil? You will find that the definition of good and evil in Scripture is very different from the good and evil that the world defines.
What the world may consider good may be considered evil in the sight of God. Good is what is according to the will of God. Evil is anything that is out of God’s will.
So, brothers and sisters, we who are the Lord’s should exercise the intuitive power of our spirit to know the difference between good and evil.
Oftentimes people will say, “If this is not wrong, it cannot be evil. It is good.” But with us, this is not enough. It may not be wrong, but it may be evil in the sight of God.
Our life on earth is not to be governed merely by right or wrong. It has to be governed by good or evil, and that comes out of God’s life, not man’s rational reasoning.
You know, man’s knowledge is actually indirect, because his knowledge is gathered from outside information. You get all kinds of information, analyze it, deduce from it, and come to a conclusion. That is how man’s knowledge comes.
But intuitive knowledge is direct knowledge. It does not come from outside; it comes from within, from God, and it comes directly from God. It is a knowledge that comes from life.
I do not know if you can see the difference. You know, in John 17:3, in the Lord’s high priestly prayer, He said:
And this is eternal life, to know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.
Brothers and sisters, what is eternal life? The Lord said, “This is eternal life.” Eternal life is knowing—the knowing of the only true God, and knowing Jesus Christ as the Sent One. Now, how does that knowledge come?
That knowledge never comes from outside. You may be brought up in a Christian family. You may know all these things. That was what I was. I was brought up in a Christian family. My father was a minister.
I read the Bible from my childhood. I knew all about the gospel. I believed with my mind. I never doubted that there was a God. I was afraid of Him.
I heard enough that I could preach that Jesus Christ is the Sent One, the Savior of the world. But I did not need Him. I was too good.
Even though I had all the information, it did not do me any good. I was still unsaved.
Not until one day, when the grace of God came upon His chief of sinners, did He reveal His beloved Son in me. That is intuitive knowledge. I knew. I knew within me: He is my Savior. I knew it. I could not explain it.
As a matter of fact, when the person who led me to the Lord asked me, “Are you saved now?” I said, “I am.” He said, “How do you know?” I said, “I have such peace in my heart.” He said, “Wait a minute.”
And suddenly it dawned upon me. I said, “I know I am saved because God says so.” He said, “Right.” Our emotions may change, but God’s word is forever true.
Brothers and sisters, knowing the only true God and knowing Jesus Christ, Whom God has sent—this is eternal life. This knowledge is different from rational knowledge, from external knowledge, mental knowledge, and human knowledge. This is divine. This is by revelation.
It pleased God to reveal His Son. That is what Scripture says. That is intuitive knowledge.
Brothers and sisters, how do we develop our Christian life? If we go the wrong way, if we seek only for knowledge that comes from outside—I do not say that we should completely neglect it—but if we only go in that direction, trying to know about God outwardly instead of exercising our spirit, that intuitive power of our spirit, to really touch God and know His will, how can we grow spiritually?
You know, in Hebrews 8:11, what is the new covenant? On the day that our Lord Jesus had His last supper with His disciples, He took up a cup and said, “This is the cup of the new covenant, sealed with My blood. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
Our Lord Jesus gave us a new covenant. God has covenanted with us in a new covenant, sealed by the blood of the Lord Jesus. We are now under the new covenant, not under the old covenant.
In the new covenant, what do you find? What has God covenanted with you? What has God given to you unconditionally? We cannot go into the whole matter of the new covenant, but in Hebrews 8:11, He says that you do not need anyone to teach you, saying, “Know the Lord,” for you shall know Him in yourself, from the very least one to the greatest one.
People who lived under the old covenant had to be taught. There were the Levites and the scribes who taught the law of God. Unless they were taught, how would they know? So they were taught, “Know the Lord.”
And the word know there is outward knowing, not inward knowing. It is mental knowledge: telling you there is one God; telling you that you cannot make an image and worship it; telling you that you cannot take the name of the Lord in vain; telling you to honor your parents. In other words, it is informational knowledge. You have to be taught to know.
But, brothers and sisters, this kind of knowing is still not knowing. So under the new covenant, God says, “You do not need anyone to teach you, ‘Know the Lord.’” Why? Because every one of you, from the least one—the one who is newly born—to the greatest one, will know Him in himself.
How do you know? You know Him yourself, in your spirit. And this knowing is different from the former knowing. It is epignosis; it is experiential knowledge. You really experience.
How? Because the anointing that is in you will teach you in all things, great and small. And whatever it teaches is true. If you obey the teaching of the anointing within you, you abide in Christ. This is 1 John 2:27.
Brothers and sisters, today we are living in an entirely different way. We live by the anointing. The Holy Spirit is like an ointment working within. He is in your spirit, touching your intuitive power and making you know what is good, what is evil, and what is the will of God. Listen to Him.
Unfortunately, brothers and sisters, we Christians often do not live that inner life. Our Christianity is all external.
If I am just saved, I may say, “How will I know the will of God? That is beyond me.” So whenever I have a problem, I try to find an older brother or sister and ask, “How about this thing? Can I do it? Is it wrong if I do it? Will you please tell me?”
And you know, unfortunately, we all want to be teachers. Woe to the teachers. The Bible says, “Do not be many teachers.” Their responsibility is too great; you are dealing with souls. But we all want to be teachers. In our flesh, we want to teach. We do not want to be taught.
So when you go to a brother or sister and say, “Oh, brother, how about these things?” he may say, “Well, this is not good for you. Do not do it.” All right, you listen, and you do not do it.
Now, why do you not do it? Because brother so-and-so said so. There is no direct relationship with God, with His life.
If that brother is wise in helping people, probably he will ask you, “Why do you ask this question? Is it because something is bothering you? Is it because something is telling you? You already know, but you do not like it.”
And if you ask enough people, you will get someone who agrees with you. Is it not true that oftentimes, when we ask, we already know? How do you know? In your spirit.
The Holy Spirit will teach you small and great things. Because we neglect Him when He teaches us in small things, when it comes to great things, we cannot hear Him.
But if you learn in your daily life to hear His teaching in small things, brothers and sisters, when great things come, it is easy.
You remember in Matthew 11, our Lord Jesus had labored much in Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, and there was very little result. Our Lord Jesus lifted His eyes to heaven and prayed to His Father:
Father, I thank Thee, for it is Thy good pleasure
to hide these things from the wise and prudent
and reveal them unto babes.
Brothers and sisters, you know how children live? Children live by intuition. They have not collected enough knowledge yet. But children, being so innocent, live by intuition.
Strangely, when they see certain people, they shy away; and when they see some other people, they run after them. They live by intuition.
But gradually, as we grow up, we pick up more knowledge. Finally, we live by our rational reasoning, and our intuitive power is completely buried.
You know, in Chinese we have a proverb: the greater the worldly knowledge, the less the heavenly revelation. We depend more on our own reason, and we silence our intuitive knowing.
Now, oftentimes I think we as believers should not be deceived by any heretical teaching.
You know, in 1 John 2:20, it says, “You have the anointing, the unction, in you, and you know all things.”
If anyone comes and says, “Jesus is not the Christ,” you know this is wrong. This is not of God. You may not be able to explain it. You may not understand it. But somehow, when you hear something that is out of Scripture, something within you intuitively tells you, “No. This is not God.”
But unfortunately, we do not listen. We say, “Well, that person is more knowledgeable than I am, and I do not know the reason why I feel this way. I must be wrong.” Then you begin to accept it, and you are deceived.
But there is no reason why you should be deceived if you learn to live in these things before God. Is it not true that when you listen to some preaching, you cannot pinpoint where the fault is, and yet somehow you feel uncomfortable? Something is not right. But unfortunately, people do not listen.
You know, our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 18, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens.”
What does He mean? He does not mean that you should be childish or act like a child. In history, something like this happened. Probably you have heard of the Moravian mission under the guidance of Zinzendorf, and how God greatly used that mission.
But at one time, they really went to the extreme. Because they emphasized that we should be like little children, eventually they began to act like children. Unfortunately, they realized it was wrong.
What Christ means is: do not be childish, but be childlike. Be simple, pure, humble, and not so self-confident. Trust Him, trust in the Lord. That is a childlike spirit.
Yet, unless we are converted and become like little children, we cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens.
I like Psalm 131. It is David’s song, a Song of Degrees of David:
O Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty;
neither do I exercise myself in great matters,
or in things too wonderful for me.
Surely I have quieted and composed my soul;
like a weaned child with his mother,
my soul within me is as a weaned child.
Now, that is David. Before God, he is like a child, a weaned child, weaned from outside supplies. It is as if he is lying on the breast of God, just looking up to the face of God, and so satisfied.
He is not trying to think of something too deep, too mysterious. Today Christians want to delve into things that God has not revealed. That which is revealed is for us, that we may keep it; but what is not revealed belongs to God. God does not have to reveal everything to us.
But people try to delve into these mysteries, these high and lofty things, and the result is that they get caught, trapped, and fall into error. How serious.
So, brothers and sisters, we need to be childlike, live intuitively, and exercise and develop it. This is different from psychic power; it is entirely different, because psychic power is from the soul, but this is from the spirit. Inwardly, you come to know His will.
Brothers and sisters, conscience shows us the righteousness of God, but intuition tells us of the holiness of God. God is holy, and it is our intuition that teaches us this holiness.
Our intuition is the way of knowing the will of God. Look at our Lord Jesus. While He was on earth, the perfect Man, how did He live on earth?
How differently He lived from the Pharisees and the scribes. They lived by rational, mental, human, external, bookish knowledge, and how they were in bondage.
Our Lord Jesus had never been to rabbinical school, and yet He knew His Father so intimately. He said, “I cannot do anything by Myself. I do it because My Father is doing it. I cannot say anything by Myself. I say it because it is My Father Who speaks in Me.”
He said, “Your time is always convenient; My time has not yet come.” No wonder His brothers did not understand Him. They said, “No one who wants to be known publicly stays hidden in a village on a hill. Go to Jerusalem during the feast days, where the crowds are.” But our Lord said, “You go. My hour has not yet come.”
Brothers and sisters, you see the way our Lord Jesus lived His life: intuitively. He lived in communion. There was constant communion with His Father, and intuitively He knew what to do, where to go, and when to do certain things.
Very simple, childlike; and yet it was so divine, so perfect. Brothers and sisters, is this the way that we live our Christian life? Are we exercising our spirit intuitively? Do we really listen to the teaching of the anointing within us? Do we obey the Holy Spirit?
This is the way of guidance. As you find in Scripture, oftentimes we seek for guidance. How will God guide us? Brothers and sisters, God guides us intuitively.
You remember Acts 16. There you find Paul and his companions. They were sent out by God to preach Jesus Christ. In Phrygia and Galatia, they were thinking of going to Asia, a very populous area.
But the Holy Spirit did not allow them. Not by circumstances—by all circumstances and conditions, the need in Asia was great. “Let us go there because the need is great. Lots of people are there, ready to hear the gospel.” But strangely, the Holy Spirit said, “No.”
They were not guided by conditions, by means, or by circumstances; they were guided by the Holy Spirit. So they turned their eyes toward Bithynia, another great area, and the Spirit of Jesus said, “No.”
They did not know why. Eventually Asia would be brought to Christ; many would come to Christ. God said, “Not this time. Later.”
They went forward until they came to the coast, to Troas. That night, in a vision, Paul saw a Macedonian saying, “Come over and help us.” So in the morning, they came to see that this was God’s will. They crossed the sea, and the gospel was preached for the first time in Europe.
That is God’s strategy. So, brothers and sisters, if you are seeking guidance, remember: the Holy Spirit in your spirit will guide you.
Now, of course, circumstances and other things can be considered, but you will find that it is by intuition.
Now let me quickly add something. I think it is important. If you are trying to live by exercising your spirit and live intuitively, remember: we are human. We are not perfect.
And thank God, for this reason, He has given us the Bible. Brothers and sisters, if you read 1 John 2, you will find that on the one hand He says, “The unction is in you, and you know all things. You shall not be deceived.”
But following that, it says, “What you have heard from the beginning, keep it. And if you keep it, you will not be led astray.”
So, brothers and sisters, on the one hand we have the Holy Spirit, the anointing within us, to guide and lead us. But because we are imperfect, sometimes we may mistake. Sometimes our own mind and our own will may be so strong that they give us, in a sense, a wrong signal. We think it is from the spirit, but it is actually from ourselves.
You know, brothers and sisters, the functions of the soul and the functions of the spirit are very, very similar. You cannot judge them by outward appearance. It is the source that is vastly different, and the fruit that is greatly different; but the appearance and sensations are almost alike.
Now, how are you going to divide the spirit and the soul? By the living word of God.
So, brothers and sisters, if intuitively you are given a revelation or you are led into a place, check it with the written word of God. Why? Because it is the same Spirit Who breathed in you and into this Book. If they are in conformity, then the word will be correct.
And furthermore, thank God for the body of Christ. We are members one of another. We are not all by ourselves. We need the help of the body.
One time, when I was talking about the new covenant and telling people, “You do not need anyone to teach you, ‘Know the Lord,’ because you know the Lord in yourselves,” I said, “Let us throw out all the teachers—and that includes me. I should be thrown out of the window. What am I doing here?”
But God does raise up teachers. Now, why? Remember, your brother and sister are not to direct your life. Your life is so precious that God will not commit your life to anybody else—not to you, not to any other. He will handle you Himself. You know how much He loves you.
You are His responsibility. He is the only One Who has the right to direct your life. That is the reason why He will teach you in all things.
But thank God, He gave us brothers and sisters. He gave us gifts, spiritual gifts, in order to either correct or confirm what the anointing has taught us. Now, that is what it is.
So, brothers and sisters, do not go to the extreme, saying, “Because I have the anointing within me to teach me in all things, therefore I do not need you all. Pack up and go home. You do not need to be in this conference.”
Well, if you do that, you may find yourself in the wrong place.
We need the word of God. Store it richly in your heart. Read it until the Holy Spirit speaks to you.
Let this always be a present help, a check to correct you and to instruct you.
And thank God for many brothers and sisters. Their prayers and their counsel are all needed. That is the way we go together in that inner way of life.
So may the Lord help us. Let us pray.
Dear Lord, show us Thy way.
We do acknowledge that Thou hast made all provision for us to live before Thee. And yet, Lord, how we turn away from what Thou hast provided and go the other way.
We ask that it will please Thee to open our understanding and bring us back to Thy way.
Lord, Thou said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” It is the way of life, the way of the Holy Spirit, the way of the inner life, the intuitive power of the spirit.
Teach us how to exercise our spirit, that we may grow spiritually to the praise of Thy glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.