…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Phil 2:13 NKJV

Worry is the carnal fruit of not having an inward witness. Worry is the carnal man’s response to the inward witness saying, it’s time to pray. Worry is the practical manifestation of the carnal mans desire to run his own life. Worry is sin, not love. Worry doubts the Father’s willingness or ability to turn things around and tries to find its own solution. If you could simply operate in the inward witness you could crush worry, and many other evils, while enjoying a successful abundant life.

And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Acts 12:6 NKJV

If anybody should have been worried, it should have been Peter! Herod the evil king was cutting off the heads of the born again ones, and Peter was next in line. How do you explain Peter’s composure, even to the point of sleeping? The inward witness. God showed him through the inward witness that he wasn’t going to die then. Many years later, the Lord did show him that he was about to die, as he records in 2 Peter.

…knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. 2 Peter 1:14 NKJV

You can know by the inward witness, what is going to happen. If a negative, ungodly thing is set to happen, you can seek the Lord to know how to avoid or overcome it. We are to know Satan’s plans by revelation so that we can thwart them by the Spirit of God. The immense practicality of the Spirit of God is such that you can know ‘what is out there’ and how to neutralize it. You can also know by the inward witness how the Spirit of God is moving and how you can cooperate with Him.

I teach my students to think about what they are thinking about, and to ask themselves, why am I thinking about that? The great key to recognizing the inward witness is to recognize that you are a spirit being that possesses a soul and lives in a body, not the other way around. You are naturally supernatural. God dwells in you, in your spirit man. Follow the leading of your spirit man. Your soul, mind or reason, enlightened by God’s Word, filled with the love of God, helps to keep you from running off the rails.

HOW THE INWARD WITNESS WORKS

The Holy Spirit speaks to your inner man, your spirit, and your spirit speaks to your mind. Your mind recognizes the inner working of your spirit man, that it is being moved by the Holy Spirit, and thus receives the inward witness. The key is to learn to recognize the voice of your spirit man, as opposed to the voice of your rational, soulish thoughts.

Here is a point you must consider: The inward witness is active all of the time, as opposed to the continual working of revelation coming to the five spiritual senses of the inner man. You don’t always get vision revelation, but you always have the witness within, continuously evaluating everything that comes to your mind and heart. One aspect of the inward witness is it being the voice of your conscience. You can continuously know right from wrong, truth from part, or contaminated, ‘truth,’ light from darkness, true sincerity from clever manipulation. Your spirit man is never fooled! Your spirit man is evaluating everything that you are reading right now. What is he saying?

HEAD VERSUS HEART

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind… Rom 12:2 NKJV

Your head is a machine for rationalizing unbelief. “I don’t lead anyone to Christ, but then again, neither does anyone else I know.” Rationalized unbelief. In this state your head is at war with your spirit man, your heart, which is indwelt and renewed to life by the Holy Spirit. This is why you have great internal arguments. But, an amazing transformation begins to take place when you consciously try to put on God’s Word in your mind. Suddenly your mind comes into agreement with your spirit. When the Spirit prompts you to go pray for the lady with the cane, your mind says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” God is glorified, the miracle happens, someone comes to Christ, and you are a changed individual!

MAINTAIN PEACE TO HEAR THE INWARD WITNESS

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength. Isa 26:3-4 NKJV

Sin is stupid. Confess it to God and make it right with the people you sinned against, as well. Sin steals your peace and cracks your confidence in God. There is a lot of sin that society deems acceptable, but God says ‘unacceptable.’ Sin in the long term will dull and eventually cauterize the voice of your spirit man, the inward witness. You see this in people who will just not hear what God is saying, especially religious people, Christian or otherwise. It takes a full-blown miracle of God to reach people that are in this state, because their hearts, their inner man, have been cauterized by sin.

Peace is the absolute end of strife and turmoil within yourself. Fear may attack, but it gains no foothold in the heart held by peace. The inward witness will always expose fear and will separate fear from godly warnings. There are godly warnings which must be heeded. In fact, the inward witness will ALWAYS warn you before evil strikes. If you heed the warning, and follow the leading, He will enable you to avoid or overcome the insidious evil present before you. The inward witness is an important key to being more than a conqueror!

Peace is the key to receiving revelation. God always wants to talk. It is us who don’t always want to listen. You hear when your heart is not overwhelmed with circumstances or distracted by minutiae. This is one of the great reasons God commanded a Sabbath day of rest, weekly. Do you like to talk to someone when you know they are distracted? God talks when we will listen.

GUARDING A TENDER HEART

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Eph 4:32 NKJV

One needs to keep your heart tender, not hard, so that you can hear the voice of your inward witness. Love manifesting as forgiveness is the key to maintaining any relationship. Revenge, bitterness, stewing anger poison the heart. Talk to the people who have hurt you. It’s in communication that walls come down and understanding brings bonding and healing. Be ready to forgive and be forgiven.

The inward witness is perhaps the primary way that revelation comes to the heart of the believer. The inward witness gives us the ability to make the right decision every time. You don’t have to pray about it. All you have to do is check it. It always there. Learn to follow your inward witness, dear saint of God, it’s the Lord talking to you, and enjoy the more abundant life. Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…