A Digital Newsletter from Living Stream Ministry
Satan is not as frank as God. God is very frank and always comes to the front. Satan, however, is subtle, always staying at the rear. If Satan wants to trouble you, he will not do it openly and frankly. He will do it subtly, acting through your wife or through a part of the world, such as a department store.
Sometimes, Satan even utilizes the Bible, operating through the letters of the Scripture to harass you. Remember how the Jewish religionists, the Pharisees and the scribes, used the Bible to condemn the Lord Jesus to death (John 19:7). Because Satan is subtle, the tree of knowledge does not signify him directly. It signifies everything apart from God, including good things, scriptural things, and religious things. Regardless of whether a thing is good or evil, as long as it is not God Himself it can be utilized by Satan.
The things apart from God fall into three categories: knowledge, good, and evil. Suppose you have the intention of doing a certain good thing. Deep in your spirit, however, you have the sense not to touch it and not to do it…Do not employ the principle of good and bad, but cooperate with the principle of life. If you do not have peace within, it means that the Spirit of life does not agree with what you intend to do. You need to cooperate with Him. If you do, you will receive life (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 166-167).
No Christian can determine anything apart from life. Whatever increases the inner life is right, and whatever decreases the inner life is wrong. No one should determine whether a matter is right or wrong by some outward standard.
Those who know God can only stand aside in silence, for our pathway is His life, not right and wrong. The difference between these two principles is immense. Brothers and sisters, the contrast here is too great. So many people only think whether it is right or wrong for them to do something. But today we should not act according to what is right and what is wrong. The one question we must ask today is whether the divine life within us rises or falls. This is what must determine the path we take. Everything is decided in our hearts.
Man says that right is good enough, but God says that only life is sufficient….God is not satisfied with being right. He requires us to satisfy the divine life….We must do things in a way which satisfies the life God has given us (CWWN, vol. 56, “Two Principles of Living,” pp. 426-431).
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