Hebrews 4:12 English Standard Version (ESV) For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Note carefully the division within each of us. There is flesh and there is spirit. There is how we live and what gives us life. There are thoughts which do not originate from our heart of hearts. We should be aware of this division because one is selfish and the other selfless.

Romans 8:1-4 English Standard Version (ESV)

Life in the Spirit

¹ There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

It is important to recognize that the flesh can do nothing but weaken obedience to authority. The flesh can only please itself and has no interest beyond self. The Spirit only serves God, His purpose and His will. Those are two extremes and our earthly life is walked out with both of those interests within us at all times.

We have to choose to follow one or the other every day. Choice is at the core of love. Love cannot be expressed with any sincerity without freedom of choice. God created us this way so that we could choose to love Him. We are no longer prisoners of our own devices. We are free to choose.

2 Corinthians 1:19-21 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

¹⁹ For the Son of God, Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us, by myself, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not Yes and No; but in Him it is [always the divine] Yes.

²⁰ For as many as are the promises of God, they all find their Yes [answer] in Him [Christ]. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him [in His Person and by His agency] to the glory of God.

²¹ But it is God Who confirms and makes us steadfast and establishes us [in joint fellowship] with you in Christ, and has consecrated and anointed us [enduing us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit];

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation 

The AMPC gives the clearest translation of what occurs in those who believe and have received the Holy Spirit. Without His presence there cannot be agreement nor the anointing of the gifts to enact God’s will.

Because the Holy Spirit abides with us the Spirit of Truth can use us to utter truth. When we hear those truths the Spirit within us resonates with confirmation in the Spirit, “Yes and Amen”. This is one of the ways in which we come to hear by faith that we are in Christ and that others among us also abide in Christ.

2 Corinthians 13:5 English Standard Version (ESV) Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Not all of us are introspective and we need the help of others to see what is obvious to us which escapes them. When we hear a resounding “Yes and Amen” the fact that it is a strong Word may be an indication that we should say to the speaker, “That was the Holy Spirit speaking to me through you.” In this way we can encourage one another that we truly are children of God.