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 Do not quote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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