Now we come to the sense of life. Romans 8:6 says, “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” Whenever we feel weak, there is a sense of death within us. Whenever we are in pain, there is a sense of death within us. Whenever we feel dark, even more there is a sense of death within us. We need to be clear that these negative feelings—weakness, emptiness, depression, darkness, and pain—are all related to the sense of death; they are senses of the flesh. In contrast, positive feelings of being strong, satisfied, lively, bright, and restful are all related to the sense of life; they are senses of the spirit. Strength is in contrast to weakness, satisfaction to emptiness, liveliness to depression, brightness to darkness, and rest to pain. The sense of life involves peace, which is rest, and the sense of life includes rest, which is peace.
The function of the sense of life within us is to guide us and prove us. However, this guiding and proving by the sense of life is not for us to know right or wrong but rather to give us peace. Being right or wrong, which is according to the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is a fallen thought in Christianity. This thought must be overthrown. The sense of life within us is not related to right or wrong; rather, it guides and proves us according to peace.
The sense of life is not a matter of whether we are right or wrong in doing certain things. Instead, it is a matter of whether we are doing them according to the leading of the Holy Spirit in us or according to ourselves. When we do things according to our inner sense, do we touch God and life or do we sense darkness and depression? Based on the sense of life, when we do certain things, we should sense that we are touching God more and more and that we have the presence of the Holy Spirit and the anointing. On the contrary, if we feel empty, dark, and depressed within, this indicates that we have lost God and the sense of life; this is to be in death and in the flesh.
Being right or wrong is altogether a fallen thought that belongs to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The sense of life is related to the tree of life, not to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, the sense of life is not related to a sense of good or evil or a sense of right or wrong. Rather, it causes us to sense whether we are touching God and whether we have the presence of the Holy Spirit, the anointing, and the peace of life. Visiting a saint should not be a matter of right or wrong, which is according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and according to Mount Sinai; right and wrong are not related to Golgotha. Mount Sinai is a matter of right or wrong; Golgotha is a matter of no longer I, but Christ (Gal. 2:20).
Mount Sinai is a matter of what we should or should not do. What we should do is a matter of right, and what we should not do is a matter of wrong. This was the situation at Mount Sinai. Golgotha, however, is not a matter of right or wrong. Rather, Golgotha is a matter of our being terminated on the cross and of Christ living in us. It is “no longer I who live, but it is Christ”; we are terminated and finished, and now Christ lives in us. No matter what action we take, no matter what kind of living we have, and no matter what we do, the sense of life within us causes us to know whether we are touching God, and it proves to us whether we are living in or outside of God.
For instance, when a person is giving a message, the sense of life will give him a feeling and prove him within so that he will know while he is speaking whether he is in God or outside of God and whether he is touching God. From our point of view, giving a message is a good thing, and while it may seem right for someone to give a message, the giving of the message may not be according to the sense of life. The sense of life involves whether our speaking is in God or outside of God and whether we are touching God in our speaking. It also is a wonderful and godly matter for saints to pray in the meeting. This matter is absolutely unrelated to right or wrong because it is always good and right to pray. However, the inner sense of life still tests and proves whether our prayer is in spirit or outside the spirit and whether it touches God. If we pray outside of God and outside of the spirit, we are praying in death, and this prayer will be dry, depressed, weak, dark, and empty. If we pray in our spirit, however, our prayer will be a prayer in life, and we will feel lively, comfortable, strong, bright, satisfied, and at ease. Even those around us will sense strength, liveliness, satisfaction, brightness, and comfort when they hear our prayer. This will prove that our prayer is in the spirit and has touched the Spirit and that we are in God and have touched God.
We have said repeatedly that we need to drop the concept of right or wrong and good or bad. The only thought we should have is whether we are in God or outside of God, whether we have the presence of the Spirit, and whether we have touched the feeling of the Spirit. Our concern should only be whether we are in God or outside of God, whether we have touched the Spirit, and whether we do things out of life or out of death. We must be clear that good things as well as bad things are related to death; both right things and wrong things are related to death.
If every word that a saint prays is right, but his words are void of Spirit and life, his words will still make people feel empty and depressed. Thus, even right words can bring people into death. In contrast, some saints may not be able to clearly utter some words in their prayers. Even their prayers may not be proper grammatically, but every sentence causes others to touch Spirit and life. Even though their sentence structure and choice of words are incorrect, their prayers have the Spirit and cause others to touch the presence of God and to sense God’s feeling. This is a prayer of life, a prayer in the Spirit. We need to continue steadfastly in this kind of exercise.