In God’s plan of recovery, we as men need to retrace our steps from human rule to God’s rule, passing through self-rule in-between; the goal of dealing with our conscience is to be brought back under God’s rule and live in the presence of God.
We all are learners; we learn to experience Christ, enjoy Christ, and be brought into the presence of God to live one spirit with Him.
We all are in the process of being recovered to live directly under God’s rule, living not only under the rule of our conscience but even more, living according to the intuition of our spirit in the direct presence of God.
In the beginning, Adam lived according to his spirit; he lived in God’s presence, being guided not by right or wrong, good or evil, but by the sense of God’s presence, the intuition in his spirit.
But when he fell, when he sinned, the function of the conscience in his spirit was activated. After the fall of man, man started to live not in God’s presence but according to his conscience; the function of intuition of God’s presence was gradually lost, but the function of the conscience in his spirit was more alert and active.
However, after some time of men living according to their conscience, man fell lower and became wicked and corrupted to the extent that God had to come in and wipe them out, saving only Noah and his family.
After Noah and his family came out of the ark, a new age began: the age of man ruling over man, that is, man having rules and regulations, and enforcing them to have a human society.
Today all men live in a certain society, country, or family, and there’s a certain set of rules that keeps them to live in a proper way. Our driving, our walking, our studying, our work, and many things that we do and say are regulated by the political authorities, the society, and the family we are in.
However, even with man ruling over man, there are so many who have a problem with this, and they have to be disciplined, punished, or put aside in order to learn to behave properly according to the rules of the society.
But praise the Lord, when we were saved we were brought to know our conscience, and we have a clear inner sense when something is right or wrong, when something is good or evil, and when something is of God or not of God.
Now we are learning to not only live according to our conscience and deal with our conscience, but even more live in the direct presence of God, being under His direct rule; the goal of dealing with our conscience is to be brought back to God’s rule and live in God’s presence.
Being brought under God’s Rule and Live in God’s Presence by the Sense of Life
Regarding the matter of God’s rule and government, there are three kinds of people, or three levels of living under God’s rule.
The first level or kind is living under the human rule, under the rule of man; when there’s no rule of man, however, these do whatever they please.
The second level or kind of people is those living under self-rule; they are controlled by their conscience, and they don’t need to be ruled by others. When these ones behave, they are restrained not because of the fear of man but because of their conscience, who rules in them.
They are free to act and move and say things only when their conscience approves; outwardly it seems that they are subject to man’s rule, but inwardly it is their conscience who guides them.
This is where many of the believers in Christ stop today; they sense they have a conscience who notifies them of things that are good vs evil, things that are right vs wrong, and things that are heavenly vs earthly, so they live according to their conscience.
But the final goal of dealing with our conscience is not merely to restore us to self-rule but to bring us back to God’s rule; this is the third level or way of living – being brought back to God Himself to live in the presence of God (Matt. 5:3).
There’s a great difference between self-rule and being under God’s rule; self-rule means that we live by the feelings of our conscience, being responsible to our conscience (Acts 24:16), but God’s rule means that we live by the intuition of our spirit, being responsible to God Himself.
Yes, we do need to exercise to have a conscience void of offense before God and before man, but we need to even go further to live by the intuition of our spirit, being responsible to God and not just to our conscience.
It is necessary to have a conscience without offense, but if we remain here, we will fall into a snare; the more we stay here, we remain in the realm of ethics and morality, being ethical persons but not divinely-human persons.
We need to realise that within our spirit there’s a function to have a direct sense, to realise, discern, and perceive things from God; this is the intuition in our spirit (see 1 Cor. 2:11; Mark 2:8).
We need to deal with our conscience to have a conscience void of offense before God and man, but we should go further to contact the Lord directly through the intuition of our spirit in the Holy of Holies.
We need to stand on the propitiation cover in the Holy of Holies and receive God’s direct speaking between the cherubim of glory. When we live by our intuition and are controlled by our intuition, we are living in the presence of God and are ruled directly by Him. We are ruled by the sense of life in our spirit.
![The conscience has only the feeling of right and wrong. It condemns all that is wrong and evil and justifies all that is right and good. But the intuition is above right and wrong, good and evil. It is above wrong and also above right; it is above evil and also above good. It condemns all that is wrong and all that is evil, but it does not necessarily approve all that is right and all that is good. It accepts only that which is of God, of the Spirit, and of life. [For example], what God desires is that we speak His words, words that are of Him, of the Spirit, and of life. Therefore, when a brother ministers, whether he is speaking the truth or not will be attended to by the conscience. But as to what he should minister, what subject he should choose, what God has in mind for him to speak—these are not within the limit of right and wrong, good and evil. The feeling of the conscience is unable to do anything in this respect. Only through the intuition can one touch the mind of God and be led by God to speak His words. These differences between the conscience and the intuition are also the differences between self-rule and God’s rule. Witness Lee, The Experience of Life, ch. 6](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/The-conscience-has-only-the-feeling-of-right-and-wrong-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C674&ssl=1 "The conscience has only the feeling of right and wrong. It condemns all that is wrong and evil and justifies all that is right and good. But the intuition is above right and wrong, good and evil. It is above wrong and also above right; it is above evil and also above good. It condemns all that is wrong and all that is evil, but it does not necessarily approve all that is right and all that is good. It accepts only that which is of God, of the Spirit, and of life. [For example], what God desires is that we speak His words, words that are of Him, of the Spirit, and of life. Therefore, when a brother ministers, whether he is speaking the truth or not will be attended to by the conscience. But as to what he should minister, what subject he should choose, what God has in mind for him to speak—these are not within the limit of right and wrong, good and evil. The feeling of the conscience is unable to do anything in this respect. Only through the intuition can one touch the mind of God and be led by God to speak His words. These differences between the conscience and the intuition are also the differences between self-rule and God’s rule. Witness Lee, The Experience of Life, ch. 6")
When we are under God’s rule, we live by the intuition of our spirit according to the sense of life (Rom. 8:6). We need to not only be warned when we do something good or bad, but live according to the sense of the divine life to know God directly.
The divine life we have received at the time of our regeneration is the highest life with the richest, strongest, and keenest feeling (Eph. 4:18); this feeling is the sense of life.
This sense is rich and keen, but it doesn’t overpower us; there’s an inner sense of life, but it will not force us to do something, it speaks to us and lets us know things, but it is up to us if we obey it and go along with it.
The sense of life makes us know whether we are living in the natural life or in the divine life, whether we live in the flesh or in the spirit. This sense of life guides us, controls us, and directs us.
Many times we had the experience that, as we are about to say something, even before the words come out, a sense within stops us, Don’t say that, you know what happens when you say that…
After making the mistake of not listening to the inner sense of life again and again, we will learn to live under God’s rule by living according to the intuition of our spirit in the presence of God, heeding the sense of life.
The kingdom of God has its reality, and this reality is the living of the divine life under the direct rule of God.
Lord Jesus, we want to live not only according to the sense in our conscience but even more live, walk, behave, and speak according to the sense of life in our spirit. We want to live in the direct presence of God, being ruled not only by our conscience but even more by the sense of life. May the sense of life govern us, direct us, and control us, so that we may live the divine life under the divine rule of God. Lord, perfect us and train us to live under the direct rule of God and be recovered to God Himself!
Enjoying the Lord’s Shining and His Flowing in us and through us!
As we learn to live according to our conscience, dealing with our conscience to live a life in God’s presence, being led not only by the sense in our conscience but by the sense of the divine life within us, we will live in the presence of God directly.
We are all in this learning process – we all are learners, disciples, and the Lord trains us to live in His presence.
So what does it look like to live in under God’s rule? What kind of experiences are involved in this? There are at least two portions that speak of living in the kingdom of God, under the direct rule of God: one in Matt. 16-17 and the other in Rev. 22.
In Matt. 16 toward the end the Lord told His disciples that some of them will see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom, and then He took three of them on the mountain and was transfigured before them; the Lord’s shining is His kingdom.
The kingdom of God is the shining of Jesus over us. As we live under the direct rule of God and of Christ, one issue is the brightness – our King is in glory, His face is radiant, and our being is full of light, even shining out to others.
In Rev. 22:4-5 we see this also – God is the light in the New Jerusalem, the Lamb is the lamp, and God shines through the city to the entire earth – and this is how He rules.
The Lord God is shining upon us, His shining is His direct rule, and this light is being diffused through the city of New Jerusalem, that is, through us; we rule over the nations by being the Lord’s shining to them.
So to live under God’s rule is to live in the light, come to the light, enjoy the Lord’s shining, and shine Him forth to others.
Then in Rev. 22:1 we see that there’s a river of water of life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of the street. An indicator that we live under God’s direct rule is that we sense a river flowing; we drink of Him, and out of our innermost being flows rivers of water of life.
There’s rivers of living water flowing into us and out of us as we live under God’s rule; in this flow of life God with all His riches is brought to us and flowed through us, and God’s authority is exercised over us and through us.
On one hand we live according to the intuition of our spirit, following the sense of life; on the other, what is manifested is that we are in the light, the Lord as light shines through us, we drink the living water, and the river of water flows through us!
We live not merely a moral or ethical life but there’s a river flowing!
We don’t only discern good from evil but our path is brighter and brighter until the full day, and there’s living water flowing out of us to supply others, bringing them under God’s rule in the kingdom of God!
Lord Jesus, we come to You to be shined on by You and to be supplied with the living water. Amen, Lord, shine on us, in us, and through us; keep our whole being in the light, and may our path be brighter and brighter until the day dawns. We come to the light to receive Your shining, and we let You shine through us to others. Lord, we come to You to drink from the river of water of life, be brought under the throne of God, and flow out living water to others! Amen, Lord Jesus, may we live under God’s rule by living according to the intuition of our conscience, and may our whole being be in the light and full of the supply of life!
You can read this article also in Romanian – citiți acest articol / această împărtășire și în limba română via următorul link, Să trăim prin simțul vieții pentru a fi sub stăpânirea Domnului și să-I permitem să strălucească și să curgă prin noi.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, The Experience of Life, ch. 6 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Development of the Kingdom of God in the Church Life and the Christian Life (2019 spring ITERO), week 1, The Development of the Kingdom of God into a Realm over Which God Rules in His Divine Life.
- Hymns on this topic:
# God’s Kingdom on the earth is now / His sovereign government within; / ’Tis Christ Himself in us to live / As Lord and King to rule and reign. / His life with His authority / Enthrones Him now within our hearts / To govern all our words and deeds / And regulate our inward parts. (Hymns #942)
# God’s Kingdom today is a real exercise, / But when Christ comes to reign it will be a great prize; / It is wisdom divine that we now may be trained / That His plan be fulfilled and His justice maintained. (Hymns #947)
# River of living water, / Fellowship freely bestows; / Bringing authority with it, / Through every place where it flows. / Water of life is the Spirit, / God as the life in it flows; / Carrying with it His Lordship, / Through every place where it goes. (Hymns #984)
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