He chose death for us over life without us.

We spend a lot of time trying not to feel guilty about various things in our lives. Did you just read that sentence and say to yourself that you don't spend any time feeling guilty, that there is no sense in feeling guilty about anything? To say we shouldn't feel guilty is to say we shouldn't recognize our guilt. If we spend a lot of time not feeling guilty about anything then we are spending a lot of time condoning sin in ourselves. If we don't have a sense of guilt as we contemplate the purity, the sinlessness of our Savior, then are we recognizing our need of Him? You might say you are relishing the forgiveness our Savior has extended to you, but is the forgiveness extended without first recognizing the guilt, without recognition of needing forgiveness because of our sins? The recognition of need is something we can never lose. The recognition of need is knowing we are sinners. That recognition is realizing when we sin, or are about to sin.

We are to take up our cross daily- just knowing that brings the realization we need to recognize that daily we are to be reminded of the cross of our Savior and what took place upon that cross. Our Savior died upon that cross, and He died because of our sins- your sins, my sins, all of our sins. Asking forgiveness for our sins is recognizing the innocence of our Savior and the magnitude of His sacrifice. He died for us when He did not have to die at all. He chose death for us over life without us. And yes, there is an enormous sense of gratitude for His sacrifice within us, because we know He died for our guilt.

Our feeling guilty is truly recognizing our wrongs, recognizing all those wrongs, each of those wrongs killed the Innocent One.

When, by the grace of God and through the Holy Spirit our conscience is awakened to our guilt in all its many forms, we need to thank God for the sense of guilt. We are given a chance to repent and seek forgiveness as we are convicted of the sins in our life.  Yes, we are to take up the cross daily, not try to bury the cross, not try to hide the cross, not shroud the cross in false purity when we have no white robes of righteousness to cover it in- all our righteousness are filthy rags, only Christ's righteousness can bring purity.  We must take up our cross willingly, knowingly understanding what we are taking up.

Please Lord, please don't let us ever lose our knowing need of You and Your sacrifice, never, please.

All in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our LORD now and forever!

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

1Jn_1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Isa_64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Gal_5:5  For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 

Rev_19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Conscience speaks

Please read all of the following and look up the Bible verses when they are given. There is so much truth in what is said here. If we truly desire to be Spiritual Men and Women we can be -all by the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ, through His will, by His grace.

'A believer’s conscience is quickened when his spirit is regenerated. The precious blood of the Lord Jesus purifies his conscience and accordingly gives it an acute sense that it should obey the will of the Holy Spirit.

The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in man and the work of conscience in man are intimately related and mutually joined.

If a child of God desires to be filled with the Spirit, to be sanctified, and to lead a life wholly after God’s will, he must adhere to the voice of conscience.

Should he not grant it its rightful place, he shall fall inescapably into walking after the flesh.

To be faithful to one’s conscience is the first step toward sanctification. Following its voice is a sign of true spirituality. If a Christian fails to let it do its work he is barred from entering the spiritual realm. Even if he regards himself (and is so regarded by others) as spiritual, his “spirituality” nevertheless lacks foundation.

 If sin and other matters contrary to God’s will and unbecoming to saints are not restrained as dictated by its voice, then whatever has been superimposed through spiritual theory shall ultimately collapse because there is no genuine foundation.

Conscience testifies as to whether we are clear towards God and towards men and as to whether our thoughts, words and deeds follow the will of God and are not in any way rebellious to Christ.

As Christians advance spiritually the witness of conscience and the witness of the Holy Spirit seem to close ranks. This is because conscience, being fully under the control of the Holy Spirit, daily grows more sensitive until it is attuned perfectly to the voice of the Spirit.

The Latter is thereby able to speak to believers through their consciences.

The Apostle’s word that “my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 9.1) carries within it this meaning. If our inward monitor judges us to be wrong we must in fact be wrong. When it condemns, let us repent immediately. We must never attempt to cover our sin or bribe our conscience. “Whenever our hearts condemn us” can we be less condemned by God, since “God is greater than our hearts” (1 John 3.20)?

Whatever conscience condemns is condemned by God. Can the holiness of God pursue a lower standard than our conscience? If conscience insists we are wrong, we must be wrong indeed. What should we do when we are wrong? Cease proceeding to do the incorrect thing if we have not yet done it; repent, confess, and claim the cleansing of the precious blood if we have done it already.

It is to be regretted that so many Christians today do not follow these rules. Immediately after the reproof of their inner voice, they lay plans to quench its protest. They usually employ two methods. One is to argue with it, trying to marshal reasons for their action. They suppose that anything reasonable must be God’s will and will be condoned by the conscience.

 What they do not understand is that conscience never argues or reasons.

It discerns God’s will through intuition and condemns everything which is not according to Him. Conscience speaks for God’s will, not for reason.

Christians ought not walk by reason but by God’s will as disclosed in their intuition.

Whenever they disobey any movement there, conscience raises its voice to condemn.

Explanation may satisfy the mind but never conscience.

As long as the issue condemned is not removed it shall not cease condemning.

During the initial stage of a Christian’s walk conscience only bears witness to right and wrong; as spiritual life grows, it bears witness as well to what is of God and what is not of God. Although many things appear good to human eyes, they are nonetheless condemned by conscience because they do not originate with God’ revelation but are initiated instead by the Christians themselves.

The other method is to ease conscience with many other works. To solve the dilemma of refusing to obey their inner voice of accusation on the one hand but continuing to be afraid of its condemnation on the other, believers resort to many good works. They replace God’s will with laudable deeds. They have not obeyed God, yet they insist that what they now do is just as good as what He has revealed—perhaps even better, broader in scope, more profitable, greater in influence. They highly esteem such works; God, however, deems them of no spiritual account whatsoever. He looks neither at the aggregate of fat nor at the number of burnt offerings but solely at the sum of obedience to Him.

Nothing, regardless how commendable the intention, can move God’s heart if the revelation in the spirit has been neglected.

Doubling the consecration will not silence the accusing monitor; its voice must be followed; that and nothing else can ever please God.

Conscience simply demands our obedience; it does not require us to serve God in any spectacular way. Let us therefore not deceive ourselves. In walking according to the spirit we shall hear the directions of conscience.

Do not try to escape any inward reproach; rather, be attentive to its voice.

By constantly walking in the spirit we are constrained to humble ourselves and to heed the correction of conscience.

Children of God should not make a general confession by acknowledging their innumerable sins in a vague manner, because such confession does not provide conscience opportunity to do its perfect work. They ought to allow the Holy Spirit through their conscience to point out their sins one by one. Humbly and quietly and obediently they should permit their conscience to reprove and condemn them of every individual sin.

Christians must accept its reproach and be willing, according to the mind of the Spirit, to eliminate everything which is contrary to God.

Are you reticent to let conscience probe your life? Dare you let it explore your real condition? Will you allow it to parade before you one after another all the things in your life as they are beheld by God? Will you grant conscience the right to dissect every one of your sins? In case you dare not, in case you are not willing to be so examined, then does not such drawing back prove that there remain many elements in your life which have not been judged and committed to the cross as they ought to have been: that there are still matters in which you have not wholly obeyed God nor fully followed the spirit: that some issues continue to hinder you from having perfect fellowship with God? If so, you cannot contend before God that “there is nothing between You and me.”

Only an unconditional and unrestricted acceptance of the reproach of conscience with a corresponding willingness to do what is revealed can show how perfect is our consecration, how truly we hate sin, how sincerely we desire to do God’s will.

Often we express a wish to please God, to obey the Lord, to follow the Spirit; here is the test as to whether our wish is real or fancied, perfect or incomplete. If we are yet entangled in sin and not completely severed from it, most likely our spirituality is largely a pretense.

 A believer who is unable to follow his conscience wholly is unqualified to walk after the spirit. Before conscience has its demand realized, what else but an imaginary spirit will lead the person, since the true spirit within him continues to petition him to listen to the monitor within?

A believer can make no genuine spiritual progress if he is reluctant to have his evil conscience judged in God’s light and clearly dealt with.

The truth or falsity of his consecration and service depends on his willing obedience to the Lord—both to His command and to His reproach. After one has permitted conscience to begin operating, he should allow it to perfect its work. Sins must be treated progressively one by one until all have been eliminated. If a child of God is faithful in his dealing with sin and faithfully follows his conscience, he shall receive light increasingly from heaven and have his unnoticed sins exposed; the Holy Spirit shall enable him to read and to understand more of the law written upon his heart. Thus is he made to know what is holiness, righteousness, purity and honesty, concerning which he had had only vague ideas before. Moreover, his intuition is strengthened greatly in its ability to know the mind of the Holy Spirit. Whenever a believer is therefore reproved by his conscience his immediate response should be: “Lord, I am willing to obey.” He should let Christ once again be the Lord of his life; he should be teachable and should be taught by the Holy Spirit.

 The Spirit shall surely come and help if a person is honestly minding his conscience. Conscience is like a window to the believer’s spirit. Through it the rays of heaven shine into the spirit, flooding the whole being with light. Heavenly light shines in through the conscience to expose fault and to condemn failure whenever we wrongfully think or speak or act in a way not becoming saints. If by submitting to its voice and eliminating the sin it condemns we allow it to do its work, then the light from heaven will shine brighter next time; but should we not confess nor extirpate the sin. our conscience will be corrupted by it (Titus 1.15), because we have not walked according to the teaching of God’s light. With sin accumulating, conscience as a window becomes increasingly clouded. Light can barely penetrate the spirit. And there finally comes a day when that believer can sin without compunction and with no grief at all, since the conscience has long been paralyzed and the intuition dulled by sin.

The more spiritual a believer is the more keenly alert is his inner monitor. '  Excerpt - 'The Spiritual Man' By Watchman Nee

Spiritually Cleansed

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 

Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 

Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread. 

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

' “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10.22). We do not draw near to God physically as did the people in the Old Testament period, for our sanctuary is in heaven; nor do we draw near soulically with our thoughts and feelings since these organs can never commune with God. The regenerated spirit alone can approach Him. Believers worship God in their quickened intuition. The verse above affirms that a sprinkled conscience is the basis for communion with God intuitively. A conscience tinged with offense is under constant accusation. That naturally will affect the intuition, so closely knit to the conscience, and discourage its approach to God, even paralyzing its normal function. How infinitely necessary to have “a true heart in full assurance of faith” in a believer’s communion with God. When conscience is unclear one’s approach to Him becomes forced and is not true because he cannot fully believe that God is for him and has nothing against him. Such fear and doubt undermine the normal function of intuition, depriving it of the liberty to fellowship freely with God. The Christian must not have the slightest accusation in his conscience; he must be assured that his every sin is entirely atoned by the blood of the Lord and that now there is no charge against Him (Rom. 8.33-34). A single offense on the conscience may suppress and suspend the normal function of intuition in communing with God, for as soon as a believer is conscious of sin his spirit gathers all its powers to eliminate that particular sin and leaves no more strength to ascend heavenward. '

Excerpt from - 'The Spiritual Man' by Watchman Nee

*******

Daily we take up our cross.

Daily we are to seek forgiveness.

We would have no need to be instructed on a daily prayer in which we ask for forgiveness if we were supposed to be sin free before coming to pray daily. Truly our conscience must be cleared of every sin conviction we experience and believe it or not sometimes it seems like a lot of conviction going on.

Heb 10:22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 

We need to be cleansed by the Holy Spirit and we need this Spiritual bath daily.

May God bless us as we draw near to Him with a true heart (from Him) in full assurance of faith. Let our hearts be sprinkled from an evil conscience, let our bodies be washed with pure water. May the Holy Spirit live in us!

All by the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Now, and forever!

Amen.

Conscience, Intuition, and Communion.

' “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10.22). We do not draw near to God physically as did the people in the Old Testament period, for our sanctuary is in heaven; nor do we draw near soulically with our thoughts and feelings since these organs can never commune with God. The regenerated spirit alone can approach Him. Believers worship God in their quickened intuition. The verse above affirms that a sprinkled conscience is the basis for communion with God intuitively. A conscience tinged with offense is under constant accusation. That naturally will affect the intuition, so closely knit to the conscience, and discourage its approach to God, even paralyzing its normal function. How infinitely necessary to have “a true heart in full assurance of faith” in a believer’s communion with God. When conscience is unclear one’s approach to Him becomes forced and is not true because he cannot fully believe that God is for him and has nothing against him. Such fear and doubt undermine the normal function of intuition, depriving it of the liberty to fellowship freely with God. The Christian must not have the slightest accusation in his conscience; he must be assured that his every sin is entirely atoned by the blood of the Lord and that now there is no charge against Him (Rom. 8.33-34). A single offense on the conscience may suppress and suspend the normal function of intuition in communing with God, for as soon as a believer is conscious of sin his spirit gathers all its powers to eliminate that particular sin and leaves no more strength to ascend heavenward. '

Excerpt from - 'The Spiritual Man' by Watchman Nee

I'm under the weather today, hopefully tomorrow I'll feel up to a more in depth study of this excerpt. Please, read- and re-read as needed. We truly need the grace and mercy of our Savior to be wholly His! Lord help us to live for YOU now and always!

All through Jesus Christ our LORD and SAVIOR!

Do we hear His voice?

 'But we realize that even before we take any step—while we are still considering our way— our conscience together with our intuition will protest immediately and make us uneasy at any thought or inclination which is displeasing to the Holy Spirit.'   The Spiritual Man - Watchman Nee

Is this true for you?

Do you know the feeling of uneasiness when you are doing something you know is wrong? Does the voice of your conscience rise up to warn you?

Some people don't have this voice speaking to them because they don't have their spirit renewed by the new birth through Jesus Christ by the water and the Spirit. They don't know the Holy Spirit and don't care about knowing the Holy Spirit.  We might find it strange that others don't feel moved by blatant sin. We can read all about the horrors going on in our world and we ask ourselves why, how, because we just do NOT understand the things people are capable of. Then we do things, or think things ourselves and can't believe we ourselves do things so awful and displeasing to our Lord.

In this war we can be influenced by the spiritual evil surrounding us, so we quickly plead for forgiveness when we are convicted of our own awfulness.  Those who never feel the need for pleading for forgiveness, or know the voice of the Holy Spirit are not of God and we have to pray they come to know God. We have to pray that we ONLY following the true voice of the Holy Spirit and not any deceiving spirit.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Joh_10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me

Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 

Do we hear His voice?

We need to hear His voice.  We need to have our conscience influenced by the Holy Spirit all through the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior. We cannot produce the Holy Spirit in us, it is a gift, a gift we so desperately need.

Please, Lord and Savior, please live in us, let the Holy Spirit live in us guiding us in all ways! Please, by Your will, through Your grace!

Thank you!

Amen.

Warring Within

Not too long ago I brought up a situation I often find myself in- being 'told' right from wrong in various situations. For example- I pass a person I'm assuming is homeless and three 'instincts' war inside me- one is to help the person, two is to flee because they might be dangerous, three is just ignore them and go about my business as usual.  Immediately the 'help them' instinct rises up to the surface and it wars in me against the other two options. I start feeling guilty for not instantly helping them. I keep feeling guilty and sometimes I've had to turn around and do what I know the Lord would have me do. So why don't I do it instantly? Because I'm at war just as we all are at war, a very spiritual war.  What is this struggle within me? I believe the Holy Spirit is guiding me to do what Jesus would have me do- NOT - unfortunately that I always listen.  Right from wrong, our conscience is at play and by the grace of God we choose right over wrong. The above is just one example of many situations we can find ourselves in.  Daily we face a multitude of right or wrong choices - this is called LIFE. And as long as we live we will be in the war of choosing Christ over Satan.

Read what Watchman Nee has to say about this-

'Besides the functions of intuition and communion, our spirit performs still another important task—that of correcting and reprimanding so as to render us uneasy when we fall short of the glory of God. This ability we call conscience. As the holiness of God condemns evil and justifies good, so a believer’s conscience reproves sin and approves righteousness. Conscience is where God expresses His holiness. If we desire to follow the spirit (and since we never reach a stage of infallibility), we must heed what our inward monitor tells us regarding both inclination and overt action. For its works would be decidedly incomplete if it were only after we have committed error that conscience should rise up to reprove us. But we realize that even before we take any step—while we are still considering our way— our conscience together with our intuition will protest immediately and make us uneasy at any thought or inclination which is displeasing to the Holy Spirit. If we were more disposed today to mind the voice of conscience we would not be as defeated as we are.'

The Spiritual Man - Watchman Nee

 He says- 'We never reach a stage of infallibility' and this is TRUTH.  He goes on to say 'we must heed what our inward monitor tells us regarding both inclination and overt action.'  And this is also TRUTH.

Inclination and overt action- both of these are daily struggles.  Our inclination towards sinning, and our sinning. The Holy Spirit does speak to our speak regarding these, but do we listen?

Watchman Nee also says- 'If we were more disposed today to mind the voice of conscience we would not be as defeated as we are.'   Is this true for you? I sure know it is true for me.

By the grace of God we must do God's will, not ours. By the grace of God we must heed the Holy Spirit.

Please, Lord, help us to listen and obey!

Rom_6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Spirit to spirit.

Jesus said-

Joh_5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Of His own self He could do NOTHING. 

So why do we ever imagine of our own selves we can do anything?

And what I mean by this is- Jesus LIVED wholly by His Father's will in all He ever did. Not once did Jesus step outside of His Father's will and do His own will.

We however have consistently stepped outside of God's will and believe our own will is the most paramount thing in our lives. And, if our will happens to coincide with God's, yay! More often than not, our will isn't God's. We put our own spin on things. We hope that our will is good enough for God, that He'll understand our need to assert our own will.

Jesus could do nothing by Himself.

When He heard something He would judge what He heard and All His judgment was justified and true because never, not once did He judge of His own will, but the Father's will.

We truly need to do GOD'S will, not ours. We need to do what we do for God, not ourselves. What would He have us do? He will guide us, we must submit.

Mat_16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

When we deny ourselves- we take up a cross.

To be spiritual men and women we must let the Spirit live in us and live through us, through our regenerated spirit. All by the grace and mercy of our LORD.

Excerpt from 'The Spiritual Man' By Watchman Nee.

'If the initial knowing of God’s will is so difficult, who can wonder at the lack of further and more profound revelation? How then can we ever truly know in our spirit God’s plan for the end of this age, the reality of spiritual warfare, and the deeper truths of the Bible? For our worship merely corresponds to what we think is best or what we feel on the spur of the moment. And to commune with the Lord in our intuition naturally becomes an unheard of phenomenon.

A believer must recognize that the Holy Spirit alone comprehends the things of God—and that intuitively. He is the one Person Who can convey this knowledge to man. But for anyone to obtain such knowledge he must appropriate it through the proper means; namely, he must receive with his intuition what the Holy Spirit intuitively knows.

The conjunction of these two intuitions enables man to apprehend the mind of God. “And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit” (v.13).

1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 

How are we going to impart to others the things of God which we have discerned in our spirit’s intuition? Having come to know the realities of God, our responsibility now is to proclaim them.

The Apostle Paul declares he does not transmit them in terms taught by human wisdom. That wisdom belongs to a man’s mind and is the product of man’s brain. Paul categorically asserts that he does not employ the words which come from the mind to communicate what his spirit knows concerning the things of God. Paul in himself possesses great wisdom. He is perfectly able to formulate many new and wonderful phrases and to deliver his message eloquently with good organization and illustrative parables. He knows how to make his audience understand what he means to say. He nevertheless refuses to use the terminology taught by human wisdom.

This declaration and attitude of the Apostle Paul indicate that man’s mind is not only useless in knowing the things of God but is also secondary in imparting spiritual knowledge. The Apostle articulates God’s realities in phraseology taught by the Spirit. In his intuition he receives His instruction. Nothing in the life of a Christian is of any value save that which is in his spirit. Even in relating spiritual knowledge he needs to employ spiritual words. Intuition appropriates not only the thing which the Holy Spirit unfolds but also the words taught by the same Spirit, in order to explain to others what has been revealed.

How often a believer tries to impart to others what has been revealed so clearly to him by God; yet try as he may, he finds no words to convey the fundamental meaning of what has been disclosed. Why? Because he has not received words in his spirit.

At other times, as he waits before the Lord, the believer senses something rising in the center of his being—perhaps but a few words. With those few words, however, he is able to communicate adequately at a meeting what has been revealed to him. He comes to realize how God actually uses him to testify for the Lord. Such experiences attest the importance of the “utterance” given by the Holy Spirit. There are two kinds of utterance, the natural and the Spirit-given. The type of utterance recorded in Acts 2.4 is indispensable in spiritual service. However eloquent our natural utterance, it remains powerless to truly communicate the things of God. We may view ourselves as having spoken quite well; yet we have not succeeded in expressing the thought of the Spirit.

Spiritual words, that is, terminology received in the spirit, can alone articulate spiritual knowledge. If we are burdened with the message of the Lord in our spirit, as though a fire were burning within, and yet have not the means to discharge that burden, we should wait for the “utterance” to be given by the Spirit so that we may proclaim the message of our spirit and discharge that burden. Should we inadvertently employ language taught by human wisdom instead of waiting for the words bestowed intuitively by the Holy Spirit, we shall find our spiritual effectiveness comes to nought. Speech merely grounded in earthly wisdom can only move people to say that the theory advanced is indeed good.

Sometimes we enjoy many spiritual experiences, but we are at a loss how to articulate them until other believers unlock them with a word. This is because until the moment we heard others uttering our experience in simple terms, we still had not received in our spirit explicit words from the Lord. Spiritual truths must be explained with spiritual phrases. We must employ spiritual means to reach spiritual ends.

This is what the Lord especially wishes to teach us today. Spiritual goals need to be perfected through corresponding spiritual processes. The fleshly as fleshly will never become spiritual. If we hope to arrive at our spiritual objectives with our minds and emotions, we as it were are expecting sweet water to pour forth from fountains of bitter water. All matters pertaining to God—such as seeking His will, obeying His commandments, proclaiming His message—are effective only if they arise out of fellowship with God in the spirit. Whatever is performed through our thoughts, talents or methods is accounted by God as dead.'