The Power Of A Pure Conscience

The focus of the messages I have been ministering in our Winter Bible Faith Seminar at Harvestfire Church this week has to do with learning how to be led of the Holy Spirit on a much higher level. In the days we live in it is imperative that we stay in close fellowship with the Lord and listen to His instructions and directions for our lives. We cannot afford to "wing it" in these perilous times; making decisions that are based out of some emotional upwelling or flesh-energized feeling. We cannot make decisions that are based upon carnal reasoning or even physical, factual information without the counsel of the Holy Spirit to direct our steps based upon a higher level of insight.

There are three primary ways that the Lord will lead and guide our lives. The primary way is by the inward witness. Romans 8:14, 16 tells us, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, New King James Version. The Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirit concerning a wide variety of things that we need to know, and that information comes to our awareness as just that: a knowing in our spirit. While this "knowing" becomes an awareness on a conscious level in our minds the overall sense of it comes more from deep within our being. We just "know" things that are not based upon information that comes through the five physical senses. We can heighten our awareness of this inward witness as we spend time praying in the Spirit and taking the time to quietly sit in the presence of God and listen.

Our spirit, which is filled with the presence of the Godhead through our union with Christ by the Holy Spirit, is able to communicate with God and speak to our minds in that "still small voice" that comes from within. This is the second way that God will lead us, by our own born-again spirit that is called in 2 Corinthians 5:17 the "new creation". The first part of Romans chapter 8 is addressing this aspect of our lives. As we become more oriented to the spiritual and less given to the carnal we can find that our mind picks up on the voice of our own spirit as well as the voice of the Holy Spirit in a much greater way.

The voice of our own spirit is also known as our conscience and is a very accurate way of knowing whether we are in step with the Holy Spirit or venturing out into an area of sin or disobedience. This works in concert with that inward witness of the Holy Spirit to keep us on track and in the mainstream of God's perfect will for our lives. This is a very powerful aspect of our being able to be led by the Holy Spirit, the voice of our own conscience.

Six times in the New Testament we find the phrase "good conscience" being used to indicate the importance of having nothing in violation of our conscience as it relates to our faith in God. The word "conscience" is comes from the Greek word "suneidesis" and is described as, "a knowing with" (sun, "with," oida, "to know"), i. e., "a co-knowledge (with oneself), the witness borne to one's conduct by conscience, that faculty by which we apprehend the will of God, as that which is designed to govern our lives"(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright (c)1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

In several places Paul refers to having a good conscience; he also speaks of serving God with a pure conscience (2 Timothy 1:3); and also refers to holding faith in a pure conscience (1 Timothy 3:9). One very interesting mention of conscience is found in Acts 24:16 as Paul is testifying before Felix, "And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men." King James Version.

Paul was continually exercising himself to keep his conscience clear of any offense of any kind toward anyone. Offense will shut down the ability of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our lives. When we get offended we have put ourselves in a place where the only thing the Holy Spirit can speak to us about is getting rid of the offense. And, until we get our conscience clear of that offense we cannot trust any leading that we get for it will more than likely be a leading that is energized from our flesh or emotions that have no contact with the Holy Spirit.

The danger of this is seen in 1 Timothy 4:1-3, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron." New King James Version

Repeatedly ignoring the voice of conscience and not repenting, not asking forgiveness of the Lord, and forgiving those who offended you will gradually silence your conscience and place you in peril of becoming deceived and seduced by evil spirits. And, because your conscience is seared to the point of no longer energizing you to the danger you are in those spirits can mimic the voice of the Holy Spirit and make you think you are hearing from God when you actually are being led away from faith by lying and deceiving spirits. Paul refers to the final state of these type of people in Titus 1:15-16, "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work." New King James Version

Faith will not work in an unforgiving heart. Holding offense against anyone is too dangerous to your spiritual walk to allow such a thing to continue. Making decisions to make changes of lifestyle, jobs, where you go to church, or any other major decision while in a state of holding offense can lead to mistakes that sometimes are very difficult to correct. Your conscience is to be your guide and keep you on track, but when it is disabled by offense you have no guarantees that your decisions are good ones and in line with the will of God. Remember, when you are in a state of offense toward anyone the only direction the Holy Spirit can give you is to get rid of the offense. He will not direct you to leave a job, leave a church, divorce a spouse, or make any other changes in your life until you step back within the boundaries of the commandment of love and forgive those who offended you and repent of the sin of offense.

Hebrew 10 explains that our conscience is cleansed and placed back into a pure state by the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus. That blood goes to work immediately to bring forgiveness and cleansing of all unrighteousness in our heart when we confess our sin before our High Priest, Jesus Christ, who is our Advocate with the Father. We can receive that forgiveness when we readily and freely forgive all who have sinned against us in any way. By doing so we can walk free from the offense and live in the power of a pure and good conscience.

Learn to be a forgiver. Forgive everybody of everything, real or perceived offenses, without holding on to them for a single moment. Keep your conscience clear and clean so that the Holy Spirit can direct your steps accurately and easily. Do as the Apostle Paul did, and exercise yourself continually to have a conscience void of offense toward God and man and you will have no trouble staying in step with the leading of God's Spirit on a daily basis.