Sudden feelings within us are not reliable and require waiting. You may have a sudden thought during your prayer that you can surely perform a miracle, that you can pray for and lay hands on a certain sick one and he will be healed. Or the thought may come that tonight when you go out to knock on doors, in the first house you visit the whole household will be baptized. These kinds of sudden thoughts can be frequent and can come to you during prayer, while you sleep, or during the day. Some Christians are not clear about these situations and are manipulated by these sudden thoughts, doing things without consideration. Such thought is not of God, but of the evil one, who tempts people. He tried to tempt the Lord Jesus to turn stones into bread and to jump from the top of the temple (Matt. 4:3-9). We who live in the spirit should follow the feeling of the spirit. When we do, we will not trust in the sudden feelings. These sudden feelings are usually from the imaginations of the flesh or from the fiery darts of Satan. Therefore, we should wait and observe these sudden feelings. The real feeling of the spirit is surely lasting, and only the lasting feeling can be reliable.
Not only does the feeling of the spirit come from the operation of the law of life; actually the feeling of the spirit is the anointing of the Spirit. The Spirit Himself is an ointment which anoints us within. This anointing produces the feeling of the spirit. If we obey the anointing of the Spirit, we are following the feeling of the spirit. When we follow the feeling of the spirit, we are walking according to the spirit.
James 3:2 says, “If anyone does not stumble in word, this is a perfect man.” Also, Proverbs 10:19 says, “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.” These verses show us how important our talk is. Idle words, babbling, murmuring, and reasonings will annul the feeling of the spirit. Therefore, the Apostle Paul says, “Do all things without murmurings and reasonings” (Phil. 2:14). Murmurings are from the emotions, and reasonings are from the mind. Generally speaking, murmurings are more with the sisters, and reasonings are more with the brothers. Whether from the emotions or from the mind, they are from the soul. When a person is not living in the spirit, he is living in the soul and will murmur and reason. In the church life, if we want to nullify all these negative things, we have to follow the feeling of the spirit. I wish that there would be no murmurings and reasonings among us, but only the feeling of the spirit and our following of the feeling of the spirit.
(A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Taipei, Taiwan on April 14, 1988)