The Witness of the Spirit

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 Do not quote this or that person to Him.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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聖靈的見證

聖靈與我們的心同證……（羅八16）

我們常存交易的心到神面前。我們順服神吩咐之前，先要求見證。 [為什麼神不向我顯示他自己？ ]他不能。不是他不肯，而是不能，因為你若不完全降服於神，你就成為神向你顯示的攔阻。你一降服，她就即時為自己作見證；他不能向你見證，乃是向他在你裡面的本性見證。若你先得著見證，那不過是情感作用。在你不再理論爭辯的那一刻，神見證他的作為，你會因自己的悖逆而詫異，因為你竟讓神苦等。若以仍為神是否能救人脫罪的問題爭辯的話，最好是讓他去做，或乾脆對他說：你無此能力。不要引用這人或那人的說話，試試馬太福音十一章28節的話－－[到我這裡來。 ]你若勞苦擔重擔，來吧；你若自知有罪，求吧（路十一13）。

我們天然常理的抉擇，往往來得很簡單，很容易誤認作聖靈的見證；可是，聖靈只對他的本性，和救贖的工作見證，而不能向我們的推理見證。若一味要聖靈向我們的理性見證，難怪我們總在黑暗疑雲中。把這些一概拋開，信靠神，他自然給我們見證。

祈禱◆主啊，我無助地來到你面前，卻盼望因著你的靈的內住，我可以被你的愛、你神性無私的屬性，你慈憐的忍耐所充滿，不再被個人的因素所傷害。