A Life Redeemed, now……or later?

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circumstances, eternal life, experience, joy, life after death, new life, Oswald Chambers, seeing God, spiritual power, spiritual transformation, wilderness

The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

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Getting a New Perspective on Life

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Allegory of the Cave, being born again, experience, Glaucon, Jesus Christ, light, other religions, philosophy, Plato, Socrates, the Kingdom of God

The (B)right Sight of Life…
(Source http://www.pinterest.com/pin/258816309809364763/)

Identification problems? 😉 Looking at that pic above, I can tell you that before Christ I was like one of these four girls on the left who listen to a human teacher and try to do what he or she tells them. However, since I have come to know God better and better, I find myself seemingly alone like the girl on the right side that watches the world from a completely new perspective. As I got that photo attached to an email recently, I had to laugh out loud since below the pic I could read,”Susanne in Ballet Class,” and that is indeed the way I feel when I am confronted with traditional religion or normal human reasoning which wants to figure out who God is and how He leads us human beings.

Rethinking Maturity, Time and Eternity

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age, being born again, Dorothy L. Sayers, ecstasy, encouragement, exhortation, experience, faith, feeding on Christ, God's love, maturity, mystics, psychology, spiritual maturity, the Kingdom of God, youth

Auferstehungskirche Fürth
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

I do hope that the excerpt by Dorothy L. Sayers below gives you some food for thought as to rethinking those concepts of youth and age our current culture proclaims, and which, in my view, have infiltrated the Church more than she is aware of. We read about “senior pastors” who are in their 40s (at most) and about training the next generation of church leaders, pastors, and elders, by simply teaching them tradition, theological theories, and doctrines. Indeed, the amount of books one has read does not make him spiritually mature. And the number of years we have believed in Jesus does not make us any more mature than a newborn child (speaking spiritually here). Actually, it is all about experiencing God in our own life and knowing that He can be trusted in every given situation. This kind of faith is nothing that can be taught and nothing we can soak in by reading about it only. Testimonies from others might point us in the right direction if they whet our appetite for experiencing God’s love and His kingdom first-hand. Yet they cannot provide the meat we only get when we leave the area of being fed by men and their different views of Christianity far behind. We need to feed on Christ who alone is our true food and drink.

Where our real strength comes from

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abiding in Christ, God's love, Jesus Christ, joy, peace, quietness of heart, rest, spiritual strength, trust, weakness, wisdom

I have always been a weak woman, though not necessarily outwardly, but the One who knows me better than anyone else has always known about my frail health, my indecisiveness, and my lack of assertiveness. Actually, it grieved me a lot that I was never as healthy as other people, yet I fought against it with sports and I had to try harder to do so than others who never felt fatigued or were never plagued by physical pains and sicknesses. Just recently I thought that it was a great gift from God to have me act that way, that is, to never give up, but to fight despite feeling bad most of the time. I know that God can heal and sometimes He truly did. Yet often times He decides to not heal us and only He knows why.

To put it more spiritually, I was wondering where our spiritual strength might come from. What is it that makes us strong when we are weak? What helps us to face circumstances that grieve us and of which we know that we cannot change them? We know that Paul lived that life of spiritual strength in light of many adverse circumstances. Even his flesh (body) was affected, yet God would not help him as Paul had wished. Instead, the Lord said,

Sanctification – our spiritual workout

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experience, faith, feeling, God's love, mountain top experiences, mystery, Oswald Chambers, rest, sanctification, seeing God, thought life

Just a Look from Above…
(Photo by Paul Schuberth)

Just imagine you were an experienced mountain climber and there was a particular mountain you know like the back of your hand. You have been at the summit several times, you even found different ways to climb up and down, your muscles are athletically trained, and your body knows how to deal with sudden pains and injuries too. Looking at the sky before you begin to climb, you know from your own experience without consulting the weather forecast which weather lies ahead of you and you know which clothing and how much food you will need.

Attaining Maturity of Faith

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faith, God's love, head knowledge, heart knowledge, intimacy, John Gill, knowing, knowing God, Oswald Chambers, spiritual power, true faith

Christian Love Quote

Indeed, I have just read the best and shortest definition of what faith really is. A few words that explain why so many who only know the Bible are still struggling with getting more faith when they read and reread written promises of God. However, their faith does not really grow and they cannot attain spiritual maturity. Even praying over those aforementioned Scriptures, i.e. promises, alone does rarely help anyone. Why? Here comes the definition.

Continuous Joy and Peace?

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abiding in Christ, circumstances, faith, freedom, Jesus Christ, joy, peace, rest, the promised land, true faith

Cruiser in the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, Fürth – March 31, 2015
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

If I had not believed in the possibility of enjoying God’s joy and peace on a permanent basis, I would not have dared to write one word about it. Despite struggling with falling in and out of such a desirable spiritual condition, I could not help searching and knocking on Heaven’s door to, please, let me in and to give me what I wanted. If God had been a man, He would have certainly been stressed out by a woman who had asked Him almost daily – for two decades – to give her a certain blessing as we find it described in the Parable of Persistent Widow (cf. Lk 18:1-8). But thank God, He is not a man and loves to be asked until He gives us graciously what only He can give.

Paul in his letter to the Philippians writes several times about the capability to rejoice in the Lord in ALL circumstances. We might think here, for example, about Paul’s and Silas’ experiences of how the Philippian jailer had been converted as it is written in Acts.