Section 8
How do we know that we are the sons of God? We know by the leading of the Spirit, for the leading of the Spirit puts a mark upon us. The inward life constantly gives us a sensation or consciousness that we should not behave ourselves as worldly people do. We must be dif ferent from our relatives, friends, classmates, and neighbors. As we obey the inward sense of life, we spontaneously display a mark which tells people that we are different from the Devil's children, that we have the life of God within us which makes us sons of God. This is the lead ing of the Spirit. Do not consider the leading of the Spirit mentioned in verse 14 as an outward matter. It is absolutely an inward sense which comes from the divine life in our spirit.
If we do not live and walk according to this leading of the Spirit, we may be the children of God concerning which the Spirit witnesses with our spirit in crying, "Abba, Father," but we do not have the mark that designates us as the sons of God. We may be God's children, but we do not have the growth which comes by living and walking according to the leading of the Spirit in life. The leading of the Spirit marks us out as being the sons of God in the growth of life.
We need to realize the difference between the