By now, I trust you see that it is the Spirit of the Lord that is able to let us know what He does NOT want us to do.

But, this leaves us with a related question. How do we come to live by the indwelling Christ to do things affirmatively, to live in accord with the Lord within, and to serve the Lord? How do we know what we are to do and then do it consistently? I’m writing here quite pragmatically, trying and answer this question here in these next installments concerning what I call living by “God’s Unspoken Yes.”

I refer in these installments to an understanding of how we, as the genuine, literal, birthed children of God, should have our daily walk in obedience to Christ’s indwelling Spirit…while living in absolute spontaneous freedom. Gal. 5:1 it is for freedom that Christ has set us free… 

Our freedom in Christ is not to do whatever we will, but rather we are now made free (Rom 6:6-7) to walk in accord with Him who now is our indwelling life (Gal 2:20, Col 3:4a). We should know that we have been bought with a price and our life is not our own. As we grow in the Lord we become constrained by the bands of His love that we have seen, received and appreciate.

Earlier I wrote of how the Lord works to restrict us by an “inner sense” of “no” in our conscience that we have of His Spirit consistently working within us. This is the way of Christ restraining us from within. Now I will try to explain how the Christian is to walk in accord with the Lord.

First, we as grace believers of “the church, which is His body” (Eph 1:22b-23a) must come to know that we are not under the outer written Law. Liberty cannot work spontaneously while we are under the outer Law. Thankfully, He has liberated us from the Law. Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

I must repeat that we as grace Christians are to live the Christian life quite apart from following outer religious laws and precepts. Romans 6:14b… for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

We are not under the law, yet Paul says we do have another means to regulate us; we are those Christians who are to be regulated and “led by the Spirit.” When we are led by the Spirit we become the grown “sons of God,” otherwise we remain as children. Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Paul tells us we believers are to walk according to the indwelling Spirit of Christ’s life. Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:25 If we live in (since we have life in) the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Romans 8:2 For the law of (operation of) the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Only “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” is able to free us from the operation of Sin and death with our flesh. The Greek word for “law” here is “nomos” meaning, “method of regulation.” We are free to walk in accord with “the Spirit of life”; we are not to walk by the outer written law.

We now have a more powerful “law” or “means of regulation” within us. This method of regulation is by the operation of Christ’s “Spirit of life,” thus Paul calls it “the law of the spirit of life,” meaning “the operation of the Spirit of life.” Christ’s life within is “the way” Christ regulates the Christian – Christ regulates us by His life within our spirit.

In fact, Paul tells us “the Law” is in itself a problem that promotes Christians to sin. If we endeavor to keep the written Law, it will only empower the Sin nature within our flesh. 1 Corinthians 15:56 … the strength (dunamis, power) of sin is the law.  The law was given to activate and make sin abound and be exceedingly sinful (Rom 5:20), so we might see our hopeless state and need of the righteous life of Christ within.

Now being crucified with Christ (Rom 6:6), and being also free from the burden of the law (Rom 6:14), we are free from the power of the Sin nature (Rom 6:7) located within our flesh (Rom 8:3b); we are therefore now free to walk in accord with Christ’s life within our spirit.

The Christian is a new creature in Christ (1Cor 5:17); his old life is crucified with Christ and now Christ’s life as his only legitimate life (Gal 2:20).

Most Christians spend great deal of time and effort, fretting, and trying to determine God’s will for their lives and activities, or in a particular decision they are about to make. Some wait for instruction from the Lord as to what they should do in a matter at hand, while others “put out a fleece” (Judges 6:37). Our relationship with Christ is not remote – He lives within us, as close as our breath. These remote ways are not the way of the grace Christian who lives under grace and has Christ within. Time was, before the mystery gospel of “Christ in you” (Col 1:26-27) was revealed, men of God did not have the indwelling “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” and so they sought the confirmation of God’s will by outer means.