We need to cultivate a consciousness of the Body by fellowshipping more with the Lord. Our inner sense will spontaneously be developed as we fellowship more with the Lord. Furthermore, if we add obedience to this fellowship, our inner sense will become keener and richer. When a feeling comes, we should closely follow that feeling. If the inner sense desires us to stop, we should stop; if it desires us to go, we should go. In this way, our inner sense will become keen and enriched. Our inner sense is developed through our fellowship with the Lord and our obedience to Him. Therefore, we should always exercise this sense. This means that we must always use this sense when we touch spiritual matters.
For example, when the church is going to preach the gospel, in addition to moving with the brothers and sisters, we should take a further step and check the matter of our gospel preaching with our inner sense. In fellowship with the Lord, we need to ask how much ground He has in us and how much spiritual element is in our preaching of the gospel. We need to touch the matter of preaching the gospel with the sense in our spirit. Likewise, when we meet a brother, we should not merely contact him outwardly; we need to touch him in our spirit. We need to see whether he is speaking to us according to his natural man, his mind, or his spirit. We need to exercise the sense in our spirit to gain a sense of whether this person is humble and pure before God and whether God’s authority is in him. We need to touch these matters with our spirit. These are matters related to the exercise of our inner sense.
Regrettably, many brothers and sisters have never been trained to use their inner sense. For example, I may be a person who is interested in building houses. Even though I may have never studied civil engineering or contracted a project, I am interested in building houses. For this reason, I am always interested in knowing how a building was constructed, paying special attention to the doors, the windows, the corners joining the walls, and the beams. I would also inquire if it was built with concrete and steel or wood and brick. Even though I do not have formal schooling in this field, my observation is quite accurate since I have been training my eyes in this matter. Similarly, this inner sense depends on our being trained.
As a further example, a person who is trained can give the accurate dimensions of a building simply by looking at it. He may say that the building is one hundred feet long and fifty feet wide. But an untrained sister might say that the same building could be as long as two hundred feet or as short as sixty feet. Sometimes we speak in this way; we either overestimate or underestimate because we have not been sufficiently trained.
Exercising our inner sense is like exercising our insight. Some people have keen insight; if we put gold in their hands, they can immediately say how much of it is pure gold. This is because they have been trained. Some businessmen are excellent in this matter. Suppose three items of the same product are placed in our hands: one is made in Hong Kong, one is made in America, and one is made in Japan as an imitation of the one made in America. They look the same to us. But those who are trained do not need to look; they can tell which one is made in Japan, which one is made in Hong Kong, and which one is made in America simply by touching the items. We cannot distinguish the difference, but they can distinguish clearly because they have been trained.
A brother has a son-in-law who is in the navy. Once he and his son-in-law were at the seashore watching for anything appearing on the horizon. Although the brother did not see anything, his son-in-law said that a naval ship was approaching. Since his son-in-law was trained in the navy, his sight was keen, and he could see what ordinary people could not see. After a while, a naval ship appeared. This is a matter of exercise. Similarly, spiritual sense depends on exercise. Some brothers and sisters have never exercised their inner sense, never cared for it, and never cultivated it. Therefore, they are always confused regarding the Lord’s work, others, and even themselves. They do not care whether a word should be spoken or whether there is inward peace; they simply speak as they please. Such people are very rough and never care for their inner sense. Those who ignore their inner sense have not been trained and have not been opened; moreover, they do not have enough heart for God. A person who loves God and cares for the things of God has a heart for God and is careful, always being conscious of the things in God’s house as well as the situation of the brothers and sisters.
Everyone who serves God, everyone who serves sinners, and everyone who administrates the church must exercise to have a keen sense. If we do not exercise, we will not be of much spiritual use. We must admit that often the help we render to people is in faith; we do not need to be so clear. In fact, our being clear concerning the condition of people actually hinders us from helping them. At the same time, we cannot be foolish. When people come to us, we should be able to discern their condition in three to five sentences. Even if they describe a certain condition, our spirit should be able to sense their real situation. This kind of exercise is necessary. Although we are outwardly listening when we contact a brother or sister, inwardly we should be exercised to sense their true situation.
Several brothers and I were once fellowshipping with another brother who said that his wife was very good and that he was satisfied with their relationship. When we checked with each other later, two of us felt that this brother was happy and did not have any problems with his wife. However, my spirit sensed that there were problems. If you asked me how I knew, I would have been unable to answer. This can be compared with asking how we know that the food we are eating tastes good. This cannot be taught. We can only say that it tastes good.
Our inner sense is usually accurate. This is the reason some people say that you can fool a servant of the Lord in practical affairs, but you cannot fool him in spiritual matters. Spiritual matters are real; they cannot be faked, just as life cannot be faked. Everything else can be faked but not life; no one can pretend that he has a certain kind of life if he does not have that life. Life simply cannot be faked. A person’s spiritual condition before God is what it is; he cannot pretend to have a different condition. A person with a trained, spiritual sense has a keen sense. When people speak a few sentences with him, he can immediately discern their inward condition. They may speak concerning the east, but he knows that they actually mean west. They may say there is no problem, but he knows there is a problem. He knows man’s real condition, and no one can fool him; people can fool him in practical affairs but not in spiritual things. This is a matter of the inward sense. This sense originates from the Spirit of God and from God’s life in our spirit. This sense is called the sense of life, and it is also the consciousness of the Body.
The overflow of the life of Christ is the expression of the Body of Christ. The consciousness of the Body is the sense of Christ’s life within us. If we use this sense often, it will cause us not only to sense our own condition before the Lord but cause us also to sense others’ condition before the Lord and to be conscious of matters related to the Body. If we constantly exercise, cultivate, train, and use this sense, it will enable us to detect the problems in the Body.
In a newly saved believer, this sense may enable him to sense only his condition and situation before God. If he pays attention to this sense, cultivating it by fellowshipping with God and obeying the inner sense, it will develop. He will be able to sense his spiritual condition and the spiritual condition of the brothers and sisters. This sense will gradually develop and increase to enable him to sense the condition of the meeting, the service in the church, and the Lord’s work. This means that this sense has been enlarged, beginning with himself and then reaching to others, the church, and the church meetings.
If we would pay attention to spiritual things, pursuing and learning gradually, we will have feelings when we come to the meetings. We will have a sense of whether a brother is choosing a hymn according to himself and whether a brother or sister is praying according to the Spirit. We will have a sense of whether a meeting has started and is proceeding according to the Spirit and whether the progression of the meeting has been interrupted and is in need of being recovered. Our sense will also be enlarged to the point of sensing whether a work carried out by the Lord’s workers is in the Spirit, that is, whether the Lord’s presence is with them. Moreover, we will also be able to sense whether the situation in the church, the responsibility of the elders, and the service of the deacons is spiritual and in life. The sense that has been enlarged in us will enable us to properly touch all these matters. This sense is the sense of the Body.
If we use and exercise this sense often and if we love God and care for the church, this sense will become the sense of the Body. We will sense when our fellow members are in difficulty, when they are weak, happy, or victorious in the Lord, and we will share the same feelings with them. We sense their burden so that their burden becomes ours, we sense their experience so that their experience becomes ours, and we sense their difficulties so that their difficulties becomes ours. In this way we will be in one Body.