Living Life Abundantly

Tags

death, discerning the spirits, encouragement, eternal life, experience, Fellowship with God, freedom, God, Jesus Christ, new life, resurrection, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the new self, the old self

Photo by Susanne Schuberth

The following excerpts from T. Austin-Sparks explain the difference between the natural man and the spiritual man who allows himself to be guided by God 24/7. A fairly long time might have passed until we have finally despaired of our old Adam’s nature and leave it all up to Him. But once we have died to self, Christ’s resurrection power begins to flow into our renewed mind and into a completely new heart that was given us by God as well. From that time on we can fully enjoy life with Christ in the kingdom of God, just as Jesus promised here,

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (Jn 10:10 ESV)

Eventually, here is T.A. Sparks’ exposition on ‘Fellowship with God’ (1) which I found to be very helpful for me. I hope it serves you, too, dear reader. As a side note, I became aware of this article by TAS as I read another quote from him on Becky Johnson’s blog yesterday [note: the blog has been deleted by now, that is, in March 2023].

Advertisement

The Way of the Church is a Dead-End Street

Tags

being born again, experience, God's Humor, humor, inspiration, joy, light, spiritual, the new self

“Kirchenweg” means church way (in Oberfürberg/Bavaria) – Photo by Susanne Schuberth

If I jotted down everything I experienced with God lately, it would turn out an overwhelmingly lengthy post. And I do not want my readers to be bored stiff. So, I hope God helps me to put it as briefly as possible and as detailed as necessary. And maybe, I can raise a smile or two from my readers because of my crazy experiences with God.

Putting Christianity to the Acid Test

Tags

discerning the spirits, dying to self, exhortation, false spirits, false teachers, God's love, Michael Clark, movements, peace, psychology, soul-life, Spiritual Life, T.A. Sparks, the cross, Truth in Love

This is another joint blog post Michael Clark and I wrote together. As always, it needs to be seen against the backdrop of our own religious history. We both had many years of experience in different church groups that were not founded on Christ and have begun to understand why Paul said, “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Cor 2:2 ASV)

---

Imagine you hear or read about a new branch of Christianity and you, of course, want to know whether what those people believe might be the truth or not. How can we quickly discern if we are dealing with real or only fake Christianity? To come straight to the point, without spiritual discernment received by God’s Spirit, the firmness of our conviction will be shaken again and again, depending on our moods, feelings, thoughts, and reasoning. T. Austin-Sparks wrote the following about spiritual understanding.

The Consequences of Fully Belonging to God in Christ

Tags

church, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, God's love, Jesus Christ, joy, separation from the world, spiritual maturity, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, worldly spirits

“And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.” (Hos 2:18-20 ESV) – Photo by Susanne Schuberth

Has it ever occurred to you that God always separated a people for Himself and that it was never His intention that His people should be yoked with unbelievers (cf. 2 Cor 6:14)? I dare say, we should not even be yoked with Christians who remain stuck in this world and keep to this world’s mentality and pleasures, either. Also, I want to include tradition and religious rituals of any kind here that need to be stripped off if we want to obey God’s voice daily at any given moment. At first this separation from the world is made by the Holy Spirit’s power in our own hearts and minds. But sooner or later we might realize, a bit startled perhaps, that the line God drew between those who are His and those who are not His has become an unbridgeable gap. We might still hope that we could get along with those who believe in God in a way that is much different from ours. Furthermore, we might still be intent on loving those who keep attacking us because they do not understand the paths on which God leads us, however, we need to come to grips with the fact that a heart to heart communication apart from God’s Spirit is no longer possible with them.

On the Consistency of Thought and Deed

Tags

agape, carnal mind, consistency, deeds, demons, discerning the spirits, ears of the heart, experience, false spirits, God's love, God's voice, Jesus Christ, Michael Clark, Satan's voice, The Truth, the Word of God, thought life, true faith, words, worldly spirits

Michael Clark and I wrote this blog post together, once again. As it has often been the case, I, Susanne, start with writing and share my thoughts on a certain topic with Michael and then God gives us a confirmation about writing another joint article.

---

Can you force yourself to seemingly like what you basically do not like? What a strange question, Susanne! I need to admit that I can’t do it any longer although I tried. My heart won’t let me deceive myself anymore. Even if I like or love someone, I cannot like nor love what they do when their twisted thinking and doing contradicts the truth revealed in Christ. Not that I stop loving them, but my heart is grieved, often very deeply grieved. That hurts a lot indeed!  😦 In the past, I tried to do the impossible, that is, to encourage someone despite their wrong thinking and doing, simply because I liked these people. Well, God showed me how hypocritical that behavior was and how much I put myself in a state of bondage of the wrong spirits through that seemingly “kind” behavior. No, Susanne, that was not kind, it was only “nice.”

Let’s pray…

Tags

being born again, encouragement, experience, God's guidance, God's love, God's voice, inspiration, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther, Michael Clark, prayer, rest, Søren Kierkegaard, Teresa of Ávila, The Lord's Prayer

This is another entry Michael Clark and I wrote together which springs from our own experiences with prayer and its effects on our soul and spirit.

---

It has been for three days now that I, Susanne, wanted to write a blog post about prayer. But since I had neither time nor inspiration to do so, I only gathered a few quotes on prayer yesterday in the late evening. Afterwards I shared these quotes with Michael and we prayed about writing together about how our times alone with God affect us. We realized that be both usually wake up in the flesh and urgently need to pray in order to feel God’s presence in our life again. Michael made an observation I really liked. He said, “I need to pray first thing or my day is trashed.” Yes, indeed! Here are the quotes that sprang somehow out on me. 😉