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 Do not quote this or that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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