Against All Anxieties

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anxiety, darkness, eyes of the heart, fear, following Jesus, freedom, Jesus Christ, light, psychology, spiritual power, the new self

When the Sun comes up…                           (Photo taken from http://villanova.bandcamp.com/album/the-rise-and-shine)

Is it possible to live without anxieties in this world? Is it possible to never worry about anything that might frighten us from the outside or from the inside of our hearts? And if so – HOW???

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Justification vs. Sanctification

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A.B. Simpson, being born again, darkness, doctrine, experience, heart, justification, light, love, Martin Luther, prayer, repentance, sanctification, self-righteousness, the new self, theology, true faith, William Gurnall

Light after the Darkness (Wallpaper taken from http://www.scenicreflections.com)

“Justifying faith is not a naked assent to the truths of the gospel.”
(William Gurnall)

“The sanctified body is one whose hands are clean. The stain of dishonesty is not on them, the withering blight of ill-gotten gain has not blistered them, the mark of violence is not found upon them. They have been separated from every occupation that could displease God or injure a fellow-man.”
(A.B. Simpson)

To start off with, I’d say that we as humans are neither able to justify nor to sanctify ourselves in order to make our way to God. Instead, both transforming periods of spiritual life are gifts from our Father through Jesus Christ. While the first one, justification, changes our whole thinking regarding God, ourselves, and others, and gives us the bedrock our spiritual house can be built upon, the second process that sanctifies our whole being enables us to change our behavior, too.

Entering the Promised Land

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being born again, compassion, dying to self, ecstasy, experience, freedom, God's love, Jesus Christ, joy, love, peace, sanctification, the Kingdom of God, the new self, the promised land

Behind the Veil (Painting in watercolors by Susanne Schuberth)

Sharing the heart of God, our view of life and people changes dramatically. Being set free from old habits, we can change our former “automatic reaction mode” into the new seeing-as-God-sees and feeling-as-God-feels “unconditional compassion mode”.

The Last Surrender

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being born again, darkness, light, love, pain, peace, sanctification, sin, spiritual power, the new self

Lonely Church in the Woods (Photo by Paul Schuberth)

During the last weeks I have been going through severe spiritual sufferings while God poured His light into my spirit and soul.
As I had reached the (what I thought to be the) bottom of all pain, I knew I was dying. Indeed, it was my SELF that was fiercely struggling to survive, yet God “won”. Oh, dying is a very lonesome affair!!!

At the very painful bottom of it all, I saw that I had no real trust in God because I had projected all my negative experiences with men on Him. Furthermore, I didn’t want to pray any more, I didn’t want to do God’s will any longer, and last but not least, I didn’t want to do my own will any more, either. To perceive such an apparent contradiction was a very strange experience, indeed.

Where did the Flow Go?

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beauty, Creator, darkness, freedom, God, inspiration, Jesus Christ, light, love, psychology, the subconscious

Bumblebee on the Move (Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

If all men on earth have been created in the image of God who is THE CREATOR, then all should be able to be creative as well. Thinking about it for a while, I have been wondering why this is not the case and what might be the obstacles that hinder us to develop our full potential – I mean ALL of US – whether we think we can be creative or whether we doubt it.

The Living Flame Of Love

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Baptism in the Holy Spirit, being born again, church, Doña Ana de Peñalosa, ecstasy, God, Jesus Christ, John of the Cross, mystics, psychology, Richard P. Hardy, sanctification, the new self, the promised land

Star Trails beyond the Cross (Photo by Paul Schuberth)

A bit further below you can read John of the Cross’s last poem which he wrote when he finally had become completely ONE with God.

John of the Cross was a Carmelite priest and mystic who put his “up and down” experiences with God biblically founded down on paper until he reached the whole unity (i.e., unio mystica) with God through Jesus Christ. That poem was one of the first writings I had read from him when I came to know God’s living flame which had just begun to burn exceedingly high in my heart in the year 2000.

At that time I hoped that I had already finished my long way with God, that is, I thought I had reached the goal of perfect unity with Him. But, alas, it was only the beginning of a long, both blissful and painful way that led me closer and closer to Him. During the following years when I often thought that God would be silent and all the darkness inside me deeper than ever, He had been far closer than ever before, yet my birdbrain could not yet grasp it. God’s indwelling of a human being is indeed a divine mystery.

Losing track of SELF

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experience, freedom, God, Kundalini, meditation, psychology, sanctification, spiritual power, spiritual transformation, the new self, the old self, ZEN

THE FINAL BREAKTHROUGH  🙂 (Photo by Paul Schuberth)

How to explain what can hardly be described verbally? I don’t know what to write about IT yet, but I am trying, though…

Losing track of SELF means letting go of

(1) our thoughts – both negative and positive
(2) our feelings – both negative and positive, too
(3) our plans to do this or that by all means at a certain time