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death, decisions, discerning the spirits, dying to self, eternal life, exhortation, experience, family, freedom, friends, grace, idolatry, joy, life, loved ones, new creation, old creation, pain, peace, suffering, T.A. Sparks, unbelief, walking by the spirit
God spoke to me a few minutes ago through the following Scriptures. He made them alive particularly by emphasizing the word TODAY. You can read this word five times in these verses. As many might know, five is the number that stands for GRACE. Just to give you a few hints as for the context in which God spoke to me, I can tell you that I had a struggle regarding a decision on how to react (or not) to someone’s misbehavior that put them in more or less big trouble. If you love someone, you might know how difficult it is to not intervene when you see things go downhill. So, my heart was very troubled about this trial as God pointed out to me that NOW it was my choice to turn to Him and to obey Him instead of trying to ‘save’ someone I love. If I obeyed Him, all things would turn out well, He said. Below you can read the Bible verses that reached my heart and comforted me immediately.
“For this commandment that I command you TODAY is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. “See, I have set before you TODAY life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you TODAY, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you TODAY, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you TODAY, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Dt 30:11-20 ESV – emphasis added)
Have you ever thought about ‘other gods’ being our loved ones, our family and our relatives, or our friends…? Maybe you have and thus you know that it is impossible to tear someone out of your heart and to decide to love God more than them. In this as in all other cases God’s grace is truly required so that we are enabled to trust God more than our own reasoning, fears and doubts. If we decide to trust Him despite our remainders of unbelief, God helps us to get rid of our old habits of thinking and behaving as we surrender one area of life after the other into His loving hands. He knows best what is good for us and for our loved ones and sometimes they, like us, need to learn through suffering and pain that earthly life is not always a bowl of cherries. In fact, our old nature cannot really enjoy life because of its self-centeredness. If our life is all about us and about how we are doing, we will never be able to live in God’s peace and harmony on a permanent basis, as it is described by Paul in his letter to the Galatians. Paul said,
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Gal 6:7-10 ESV)
In closing I offer you another excerpt from T. Austin Sparks which I already saved a few days ago because I would realize that that was exactly what I had been going through lately, experiencing life and death, death and life, again and again. So, I got more and more aware of how important it is to run every little decision by God before I act as I always did according to my old nature’s habits. Listening to Him has been a freeing experience indeed! Sparks explained it properly as he wrote,
“If we begin to work for the Lord with our own natural strength, we meet death and before long our natural strength will come under death. If we begin to use our natural judgment in the things of God, we shall meet an arrest and before long we shall come to a deadlock, unable to get through. Anything which we bring of nature into the things of God will bring us up against – not some new issue, but the old issue – death which was made to rest upon the old creation. In so far as we move in the newness of Life, work by the Spirit of God, and walk after the Spirit, death is done away and we are in Life and we can go on and can get through, no matter how much there may be of handicap and weakness in nature, we can get through as we go on in the Spirit.” (1)
May God give us His Life and peace as He enables us to walk by the Spirit, just as it is written here,
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (Rom 6:5-6 ESV)
By the way, the land of which God promised us that we could enter and possess it (Dt 30:16) is a spiritual land in the New Covenant. It is the Kingdom of God, the Promised Land that we enter by walking in the Spirit, just as my blog’s name indicates. 😉 Entering His rest and never return to our old Adam life, that is our goal, isn’t it?
(1) http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/openwindows/003249.html
“In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks’ wishes that what was freely received should be freely given and not sold for profit, and that his messages be reproduced word for word, we ask if you choose to share these messages with others, to please respect his wishes and offer them freely – free of any changes, free of any charge (except necessary distribution costs) and with this statement included.”
Fred Thoren said:
One of my biggest problems or questions is how to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh. I may have figured some of that out thanks to your blog, books and Micheal but I am lost as to which I am walking in at times. One of my pastor friends has a different idea of what the flesh is then I do. For him it is race, and other physical attributes. That is not what I am getting from your blog.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
I guess your pastor friend might be wrong here, Fred. Only rarely the Bible equates flesh and the physical body. Usually, flesh stands for our old carnal nature which thinks and behaves as it always did before getting to know God. Walking in the Spirit is always counterintuitive compared with our old nature’s ways, understanding, and desires. Do not lean on your own understanding… would be the beginning of an OT Bible verse I cannot look up right now since I am on my cell phone. If we trust in God, even without grasping His ways, then we will be blessed by Him!
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
So, now I am on my computer again. Just looked up this Scripture and found a verse that seems to speak about the flesh being our body, too. However, it might be that our soul is included here as well since my own experience has been that God primarily wants to make our souls whole before He restores our bodies. If He does that at all… You never know…
I was just thinking about ppl who are disabled and won’t be healed during this lifetime. People with who you cannot even talk since they are not able to understand you and to express themselves. Sickness to a certain degree is part of God’s plan in this fallen creation too, I believe, although the author of sickness and sin is Satan. But Satan can only do what God has allowed Him to do (see Job). And here is the Scripture, finally.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. (Prv 3_5-8 ESV)
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Fred Thoren said:
Thank you very much for the info.
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Ken Dawson said:
That is our goal is it not?–Yes Sue it is!–We CAN get through If/or as we go on in Gods Spirit—Great word–thanks
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You’re very welcome, Ken. Thanks for encouragement! 🙂
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Anna Waldherr said:
Leaning on God when we see our loved ones making bad choices (or impacted by those choices) is extremely difficult. At least, it has been for me. I ache to rescue. In many instances though rescue would deny our loved ones the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, and make better choices next time.
In the children’s movie “Finding Nemo” the father laments of his lost son, “I promised I’d never let anything happen to him.” His companion responds, “Well, you can’t never let anything happen to him. Then nothing would ever happen to him.” That may not sound profound. But it points to the reality that life will bruise us. And it will bruise our loved ones, whether we like it or not. The very best we can do is hand them off to God’s care.
Much love,
Anna ❤
PS. Great photos!
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
I think we are much alike, dear Anna. ❤
The quote from this film I also watched many years ago as our daughter was a little girl was the great reminder I needed today. It is very profound, I believe!! ⭐ I am glad you like the pictures. 🙂
Much love to you,
Your grateful sister Susanne
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Living New said:
Susanne,
This resonated deeply with me. I am being shown this very thing. Or as Watchman Nee put it, I am experiencing: “The Working of Death in the natural man that the indwelling Life may be progressively manifest.” Oh! Just these past two days, the Lord is really impressing upon me some great truths that are challenging me, and causing me to let another layer of my old nature to die, therefore allowing his indwelling life to be manifest. And then your post came in to my email late yesterday afternoon and as I read it I sighed deeply with recognition of all you shared. Thank you for writing.
And LOVE the flowers!
With great love,
Becky
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Yes indeed, Becky, the indwelling life manifests progressively (alas, my old nature is sooo impatient 😉 ). Great quote by Nee! ⭐
I am happy to hear you love the flowers and that this post resonated with you. 🙂
Much love ❤
Susanne
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Michael said:
Susanne,
What a passage you quoted and boy does it fit.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you TODAY, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days…”
I am so glad that you had this breakthrough and are able to rest IN Him regarding the choices of this person and persons close to your heart. Entering into His rest is the key to our life and freedom in Christ, for sure. Those are lovely pictures. That is a lovely “bouquet of toes” in the last one,too. 🙂 ⭐
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Pat Orr said:
Thank you for the blog.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You’re very welcome, dear Pat. ❤
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Marta said:
So very blessed by this post. My dear husband found your wisdom, and sent this to me. I, too never learned not to rescue others from their poor choices. In 40 years in the wilderness, rescue of the family members was all I did. Until my dear Lord, had this workaholic fired for such a silly reason, it had to be God. And couldn’t find work.
That was also God. I, of course, penniless though my career should have afforded me with a great retirement, had my desire to rescue not been in the way. 4 months, living on faith, He showed me everyone survived without my help. Gave away all my possessions, when God sent me a godly man to marry. We both knew instantly it was God. Sold my home, and divided the proceeds between my three grown offspring. They promptly went through it. But I was debt free, and now we live simple lives, serving God. And couldn’t be happier. Working for God is more rewarding, for sure.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
I am glad to hear you were blessed by this post, Marta, and that you could relate.
Thanks for sharing your amazing testimony with me! 🙂
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Michael said:
Susanne, I was reading my daily T. Austin-Sparks devotional this morning and in light of the trial of which you spoke in this blog, I found this quote that seems to apply…
“In the resurrection of the Lord Jesus – or let me put it this way – in union with the risen Christ our hopes are far greater than all our worldly hopes. We may in His death have to lay our treasure in the dust, we may have to let go much that is very precious to us of hope and expectation and ambition and outlook. Our world may have to be placed with the stones of the brook (Job 22:24). In resurrection union with Christ something more is given back than what we formerly wanted. God is like that. You may say that is language and sounds very beautiful, but is it true? Well, I appeal to those of you who have any spiritual life and history at all. You have doubtless gone through a time of deep and dark trial in which you have had to hand everything over – you have come to a crisis where you have had to place on the altar something that was very precious and let it go to the Lord. If the Lord has not given that back to you, have you not come into some spiritual wealth, some spiritual good, something more in a spiritual way that makes you say, ‘Well, it was worth it!’? The answer of God through the Cross to all disappointed hopes and expectations is, and in the very nature of God must be, something more than that which was laid in the grave. It is the very principle of Christ risen.” (http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/002118.html)
IN Christ there is hope, dear one, for what dies in us is always raised in newness of life. ❤
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Very good, Michael! ⭐ This TAS devotional truly fits as to what I have been going through lately. Thanks so much for sharing these wise words with me. There IS hope, indeed.
May God bless you for your compassionate heart, my dear brother. ❤
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