For as many are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God – Roman 8:14-16.

The witness of the Spirit is the inner assurance of God’s truth. One of the conditions of this inner conviction concerning the things of God is obedience to His known will. God uses this ministry of the Holy Spirit to convince us of truth that cannot be understood other than through divine help.

Too many times, Christians are led by their spirit and not the Holy Spirit. We’re tripartite, meaning we have three parts (spirit, soul, body). When God created man, He breathed into him, and man became a living soul (And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul – Genesis 2:7). The man received the breath of God, that brings life, breath in this Scriptures differs from being filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

Our spirit is clothed with the human body; the soul is the mind, will, and emotions of the person. The mind is the seat of consciousness, which brings about thinking, feeling, and intellect. Whereas the soul is what usually gets us in trouble with God, our mind, will, and emotions when they have not been dedicated to God.

Christians often try to receive guidance in other ways than by what the Bible says. For example, nowhere in the Bible says God will guide us through our souls. We are spirit beings, and we contact the spirit world with our spirits. We can’t contact the spirit world with our intellects, neither can we contact the spirit world with our bodies.

When a person has been born of the Spirit of God, they have become a new creation; they will have the same body, but their spirit will be connected with the Spirit of God. He or she is transformed into the likeness of Christ. Instead of living for oneself, the person will live for Christ and according to the written Word of God, which is the Bible.

The inward witness is our spirit that the Spirit of God has transformed. If we have been born again, the Holy Spirit abides in our spirit. The Holy Spirit does not communicate directly with our mind because He’s not in our mind; He’s in our spirit (And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God: as God hath said: I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people – 2nd Corinthians 6:16). If God is dwelling in our physical body, He’s going to speak to our heart and our spirit. It is the Spirit that bears witness with our spirit that we have become the children of God (The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God – Romans 8:16).

If our feelings or our physical senses lead us, then we’re going to get into trouble because we contact this world where Satan is god (In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them – 2nd Corinthians 4:4). Satan influences through our senses, this is why the Spirit of God must engulf our spirit to reject what the world has to offer. Just as Satan influenced Eve, he is also influencing unbelievers as well as believers because they believe but haven’t dedicated themselves to God in order to receive His Holy Spirit, or they think they received the Holy Spirit when they received salvation.

The Holy Spirit is not given by denomination or culture. He is given to anyone that will accept the gift (If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him – Luke 11:13). We communicate with God through our spirit. When we pray to God through tongues, we’re praying directly to the Father (For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God; for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries – 1st Corinthians 14:2). Man can’t interpret what we’re praying and neither can Satan.  The reason why many prayers haven’t been answered is that Satan is aware of everything you’re asking the Father.

The inward witness will lead and guide us to truth; every Christian should have a spiritual perception. It’s not a manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit; it’s not a manifestation of the gift of the word of knowledge or the gift of discerning of spirits. We should know when the Holy Spirit is speaking to us and when it’s our spirit is speaking.

Our inward witness will give us directions. For example, if we’re traveling, we’re asking and confessing God’s protection around us, but when the Holy Spirit tells us it’s not the time to go, but we go anyway, it could be detrimental. Although we’ve prayed and confessed, the Holy Spirit has given us directions, we rejected the direction, and now, we don’t have God’s protection because we disobeyed. The inward witness will tell us what to say and when to say it. What job should we or shouldn’t take.

It’s through the inward witness we will be directed and communicating with our Father. Our spirit has to be changed, and it comes through His Spirit indwelling our human spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us revelation of the Word of God. Every denomination that is confessing to be Christian is in need of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He is the inward witness; you’re a child of God.