Ways God Speaks 6

In today’s post we will look at another way God speaks to us— one that is probably the most common nonverbal way He communicates.

The witness of the Spirit

This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. 1 John 5:6 

He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 1 John 5:10 

Here we see one of the most common ways God communicates His truth to our spirit. He gives us a witness in our inner being to let us know we are walking in the truth and His plan for our lives.

13) Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14) He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15) All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. John 16:13-15 KJV

God’s Spirit has been sent to reveal truth to our spirit. He can only bear witness of the truth. If something is not true, He will not testify or bear witness because He is the Spirit of Truth.

When someone is speaking to us, we can have a witness in our spirit they are telling the truth. What they are saying will ring true in our inner being and the Holy Spirit will bear witness that what they are saying is true and not a lie. If the person is not telling the truth or misinformed, the Holy Spirit will not bear witness but instead reveal within our hearts this is a lie, manipulation, deceit, or error.

Many people have been led astray because they ignored the Holy Spirit’s warning of a lie being told or an erroneous doctrine being preached. When erroneous doctrines or falsehood is being perpetrated the Spirit of God will be grieved. He cannot bear witness to a lie.

What does this word ‘witness’ mean? According to the Greek New Testament words from Strongs Concordance, the two most common Greek words for ‘witness’ are G3141 marturia and G3140 martureo. 

Both of these words mean witness, evidence, testimony, record, testify, bear record, report.

As we read in 1 John 5:10 “He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself.” This evidence is known by the person believing. They have the evidence directly from the Holy Spirit. It may be a divine glow in their spirit. An awareness of the Presence of God. A tangible sensation within their inner being of the grace, peace, power, and joy of the Lord.

This is the reason the world cannot understand why we believe. They are looking for some external evidence. We have a witness (evidence, knowing) in our hearts we are abiding in Christ and have eternal life. Because we have believed God’s word, we have this witness of His Spirit in our hearts.

Jesus told Nicodemus the work of the Holy Spirit was analogous to the wind (John 3:8). You can feel it or even see its evidence around you but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. The witness of the Spirit is similar. It just rises within a person’s heart to notify them of something the Father is communicating. It is a signal from Him that bears witness of His truth, guidance, direction, agreement and will.

The opposite is also true. We may hear someone and have a dull sense or even troubled sense within our spirit. This is the Holy Spirit letting us know this is not His truth, direction, confirmation or will. When this happens, we may feel a sudden grievance or warning within that lets us know danger, deception, lying, or manipulation are present, and we should not agree with it.

The late Kenneth E. Hagin shared an encounter he had with the Lord which illustrates what we are sharing in this post.

In 1959 Kenneth Hagin heard the sound of someone coming towards his room. When he looked up, he saw Jesus walk into his room. The Lord sat down, folded His hands, and began to speak to him about being led by the Holy Spirit. There are plenty of biblical examples of individuals receiving visitations from the Lord in the Old and New Testament (Genesis 12:7, 17:1; 18:1; 35:9; 1 Kings 3:5; 9:2; Mark 16:9, 12; Luke 24:34).

Jesus told him the primary way His people are led is by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. He also said today’s New Testament prophets do not have the same status of the Old Testament prophets because today all of God’s children are to be led by the Holy Spirit abiding within their born again spirit.

During this visitation Jesus reminded Kenneth of invitations he had recently received to be a guest speaker at two different churches. The one invitation was from a pastor with only 70 or 80 people in the congregation. The other invitation was from a pastor with the third largest Full Gospel church in a city with over one million people.

The Lord asked Kenneth how he felt on the inside every time he prayed about accepting the invitation to speak at the smaller church. He told him, “You notice that every time you thought about going there it just seemed to be a green light on the inside of you in your spirit.”

“That's the inward Witness.”

The Lord went on to explain why Kenneth did not feel right about preaching at the larger church, although he had attempted to write a letter of confirmation several times to accept the invitation. He said this was like a red light in his spirit warning him not to go.

The Lord continued and said this green light, red light in our spirit is the primary way He leads His people. Obviously, we are talking figuratively when we say green light or red light, but something within, through the Holy Spirit, notifies us whether to proceed with something or not.

I am sure you can look back and remember times you either obeyed or disobeyed that inner witness, and the consequences that followed.

You may have sensed a check in your spirit about purchasing something, or getting into a relationship, or taking a trip, or starting a business or adventure.

If you obeyed, you saw the wisdom of it later. However, if you disobeyed that check or red light, you felt the pain of your decision after the fact, and the ripples of that decision may have added layers of difficulty and trouble to your life that were never a part of God’s plan.

God illuminates our spirit to guide our steps. We must learn to pay close attention to what He is communicating to our spirit and follow His lead. We are spirit beings with a soul (mind, emotion, will) and live in a physical body. God is a Spirit (John 4:24) and communicates with us in our spirit.

The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inner depths of his heart. Proverbs 20:27 

14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." 16) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…. Romans 8:14-16

So much more can be said on this subject, but these blogs are not exhaustive studies, but inspirational nuggets to stir you to seek the Lord for a deeper understanding and revelation of His word.

We will continue to look at the ways God speaks in our next post. Until then, may God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ richly bless and keep you!

James Brown CST

07/01/2025