Many Christians spend great deal of time and effort trying to determine God’s will for them in a particular situation, often requiring a decision for what they face. They wait for instruction from the Lord as to what they should do in the matter at hand. They live as though it were still “time past” when men of God did not have the abiding indwelling “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” So they seek to live by outer guidance and confirmation of God’s will, but that is not God’s way in this age since the cross – since He lives IN US.

Today we live in what Paul calls the “But Now.” “Now the Lord is that spirit” (2Cor 3:17); and He indwells every believer as “the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1).  “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:” (Col. 1:27)

I find that most often in my life He rarely guides me by impressing me with what He does want me to do, I just do as I inwardly sense that I am free to do. I’m free to live in accord with the sense of Christ life within me!

Yet, He is faithful to let me know what He does “not” want me to do. We have an example of this from our prior life when we served the Sin-nature. I formerly automatically functioned as a sinner quite naturally, automatically, as a self-loving and self-seeking person as a self-reliant self-getter. I just did what I reasoned and wanted to do. But now, my proper living and doing is as automatic and spontaneous as was my former fallen inclination. Now, by His life within us, we have an automatic innate sense that prompts or restrains us, guiding us without bells and whistles. Now we are absolutely free “to live, move and have our being in Christ” (Act 17:28) who is now our innermost “life” (Col 3:4a).

We as believers clearly know what we are NOT to do by the inward restraining sense that we have by Christ’s indwelling “spirit of life.” This I call His “NO”! We all hear Him. “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” (John 8:47). We learn to recognize, perceive, and obey His “NO”! This will save us and those around us much pain.

This “NO” is an inward restraint, an inner knowledge, an intuitive sense. It most commonly known to us by the “conscience” of our spirit that speaks into our mind’s consciousness. His inward restraint is sensed as “NO.” We innately know when we should not do, pursue, or say this or that. We all likely have this awareness by a sense of limitation, a heaviness, a restraining sense as we consider “doing” or “saying” this or that.

Most often the sense of “no” is contrary to what we in ourselves would “want to do” in the matter. The word “conscience” in Greek is “sundenesis,” meaning “a co-perception.” This is an indwelling sense is deeper than our mind and entirely a function that we have by Christ Spirit speaking in us to guide us according to His will.  “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

When we agree with the Lord’s restraining sense within us we are then “dying to self-rule.” That dying to self-rule permits His life to come forth and accomplish whatever He wants.

My being born the first time, physically, never was dependent upon anything I did. It was the result of the procreative work of my earthly father, Joe Licursi with my mother. Likewise, my heavenly Father brought me to be who I am entirely by His work through Christ cross… for me and now He is in me. All I did was “receive Him (Jesus)” (John 1:12) as the Father’s only begotten Son, as His life-giving “Seed, which is Christ” (1Peter 1:23, Gal 3:16) into the womb of my human spirit. I was thereby regenerated with Christ’s “Spirit of life” in my spirit.

 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” (Titus 3:5 (KJV)

Sometimes we may turn away from the restraining sense of Christ within us, and then bear the natural consequence of our independent choices. We should ultimately learn not to go against that sense of distress within us… it will save us much pain. We should immediately turn back to Him, to abide our soul in “Christ who is our life” (Col 3:4a) at the first sign of inward distress. Recall the story of the prodigal son who ultimately “came to himself” and returned to his father. We should learn to return to the Lord in the face of our failures, knowing we can never be condemned by God Our Father (cf. Rom 8:1).

Our Father’s life in Christ is now within our spirit and that’s where we are to abide, in blessed union with Him. We must ultimately return to who we are at our core as the rebirthed “children of God.” In our spirit we enjoy His one “Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2), as “our life” (Col 1:27) with His power and guidance.

At our rebirth Christ’s indwelling resurrected Spirit swallowed up our human spirit, such that we are now “one spirit” (1Cor 6:17) with him. Paul very often refers to this “one spirit” in us as “the spirit” (Rom. 1:9), being the one eternally mingled spirit within us. Imagine, God dwelling in us, as the new us!

Our spirit now is spontaneously and eternally alive by Christ in us. God’s life in us is spontaneous, innate, and intuitive by Christ’s “Spirit of life” and “nature” (2Pet 1:4). Thus we have His “unspoken yes” as we “live and move and have our being in Him.” We’re free to live, as our spirit permits us.

Life always flows spontaneously. A tree lacking the life-flow of its sap is dead. Likewise, Christ is our life is always flowing within us, spontaneously. We’ll ultimately learn to know and not question the inner, intuitive sense that we have by His Spirit. What we sense may be contrary to the logic of our mind; after all, it’s of a life that’s deeper than our mind – its Christ alive within us. The life we have of Him within our spirit is spontaneous. We have the inner anointing of His Spirit within us, by which we “know all things” (1John 2:20, 27) pertaining to our life. His indwelling Spirit and written word “teaches us” and “is the truth.” We can simply abide in His unspoken yes by living life moment by moment in accord with (staying obedient to) His life-flow within us (Rom 8:4).

Allegorically, our awareness of His unspoken yes within is much the same as when we are physically healthy. When we are healthy physically and all is well we’re not conscious of any restraint in our body, we simply move spontaneously until we recognize that we are ill or injured - then we feel the limiting sense of discomfort or restraint in body. It’s that way when we “walk in (by) the Spirit.” (Gal 5:16, 18, 25).

Likewise, ‘God’s unspoken Yes’ is most often without a conscious sense; but His “No” is known to us by a conscious, perceptive sense within – that sense of heaviness, a knot in our gut, or simply an inner sense of restraint, whereby we just know that we should not do this or that.

Ours then, is always to obey this innermost living Word (sense), which is Christ speaking within us. We should yield to Him, knowing that His will is His eternal best for us, no matter how it appears to us.

Now, in faith, we love God our Father and His Indwelling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We freely live in accord with to our love relationship with Him.