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being born again, discerning the spirits, experience, God's voice, Jesus Christ, Martin Luther, obedience, repentance, Satan, Temptation, the Bible, The Holy Spirit, the Word of God
I want to start with a quote from Martin Luther that expressed his view of the Bible he would translate from Greek into the German language. He said,
You can’t joke with God’s Word. If you cannot understand this, take off your hat in front of it. It’s not a joke, it’s serious and wants to be honored.
If you read my blog regularly, you might know that I am not someone who recommends to regularly study the Bible according to an unalterable time schedule. I could never suggest this as I feel that Spirit-led people might read the Bible as God nudges them to do so. However, I remember several times in my life when I somehow devoured the whole Bible for several months. You might know that there are times when God convicts us and calls us to turn from our old ways where we ignored His Word (repentance is just another word for finally turning to the Lord). When He in His grace forgave us and we sense His love, joy, and peace after having been restored to God, usually a hunger for His Word (the Bible) and for the presence of the Lord will follow, too, as we hunger and thirst for THE LIFE only He can give. Jesus told us,
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (Jn 6:63 ESV)
But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Mt 4:4 ESV)
This sort of ‘binge-eating’ of the Word of God happened at least three times in my life. Today I realize how important these times have been for me. Even though I cannot remember all these Bible verses I once dug into if you ask me right now (in fact, it often seems I do not remember any of them), 😉 I know that God reminds me of what I need to know according to His plan in His timing. As there is not always a Bible or my cell phone with a Bible app available to me (esp. when I sleep and dream), 😊 it seems that God pulls, even in my dreams (!), particular verses I once read out of a hidden resource which is located at a lower level in my mind. It is like what Jesus said here, speaking of the scriptural knowledge we might have collected before Christ manifests Himself to us.
“And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Mt 13:52 ESV)
So, it is surely never wrong to read the Bible! However, we can also misuse the written word when we take it out of its original context and try to apply it to further our own personal agenda. This is what the devil tried to do with our Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness, for example. Satan took some Scriptures out of context in order to tempt Jesus to deny His Father, the only true God. The devil, of course, who wanted to further his own kingdom in doing so suggested Scriptures to Jesus which in themselves were (and still are) true. However, taken out of context AND not spoken in God’s timing, obeying them would have meant disobedience to God!! Do you see our problem? 🙄 Written truth is not always applicable unless God is speaking it to you and me right now. ”Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Present Tense!
And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. (Is 30:21 ESV – emphasis added)
We must not think because someone has been well trained in Biblical studies that they automatically know the real God also. Alas, often the opposite is the case. 😦 As for a person who knows Scripture but not God through Jesus Christ as well, we could learn from what they know, but not from how they live their lives. Jesus said,
“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.” (Mt 23:2-3 ESV)
In fact, eternal life given to our own spirit by being born from above (Jn 3:3) must have come from the Holy Spirit before Jesus’ words turn into spirit and life to us! The Holy Spirit alone can make the whole Bible alive whenever He wills. It might need years, even decades, until we finally grasp what we could not accept or understand in Scripture before, but it is solely the work of the Holy Spirit who relates biblical truth to our everyday life so that we eventually realize, “Ah, these Scriptures are true, indeed!” Therefore, Jesus warned those who knew Scriptures but did not likewise believe in Him,
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.“ (Jn 5:39-40 ESV)
While our soul and our fallen nature can grasp parts of the written word on an intellectual and superficial level, these parts we cannot understand we might be tempted to explain by human wisdom also. And therein lies the danger. Either we throw the baby out with the bathwater by fully rejecting the Bible when there seem to be contradictions our mind cannot comprehend or we try to take the whole of Scripture literally, which does not work at all. Scripture must be interpreted for us by the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, without the Holy Spirit, it is often wrongly applied. Just as the apostle Paul wrote Timothy,
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:14-17 ESV)
Judi said:
Hello Susanne 🙂
This is “wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” to my spirit – 🤩! Thank you for sharing what the Spirit is saying to your heart.
I read through the entire Bible only one time and that was awhile ago. The Holy Spirit has brought to my remembrance what I needed to know time after time since then. Maybe just one part or word would come to mind and then I could search for the verse and see if it ‘fit’ the situation or was out of context. I was involved in so many cults I have to be careful and be sure where the thoughts are coming from!
I do not think the Spirit needs the written word though to speak since He is the One who gave the words to be penned. He does, however, want to make us living epistles/letters of Christ able to be read by all and all that is read will be an “It is written…”
John 1:14 (ESV)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son[a] from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Footnotes:
John 1:14 Or only One, or unique One
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1%3A14&version=ESV
As I finished reading Your post these verses from Job came to mind:
Job 42:4-6 (ESV)
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent[a] in dust and ashes.”
Footnotes:
Job 42:6 Or and am comforted
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job%2042:4-6&version=ESV
These verses in Job are so dear to my heart. I do not think that we ever get past this stage in this life on earth. Makes Paul’s take of life all the more precious :
2 Corinthians 6:10 (ESV)
10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+6%3A10&version=ESV
As TAS says in today’s “Open Windows” chapter:
Quote
“So one does not plead for changing the truth or having new truths, but for spiritual sight into the truth. “The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth from His Word”, which is true. Let me get rid of that thing which has been fastened upon us here if I can. We do not seek for new revelation, and we do not say or suggest or hint that you may have anything extra to the Word of God, but we do claim that there is a vast amount in the Word of God that we have never seen, which we may see. Surely everybody agrees with that: and it is just that – to see, and the more you see, really see, the more overwhelmed you feel about the whole thing, because you know that you have come to the borders of the land of far distances, lying far beyond a short lifetime’s power of experience.”
end quote
http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001059.html
What a wonderful example of the words of Paul – and we are those that have not seen him face to face not have we seen each other on this blog face to face.
There is the irony that he mentions Laodicea – the lukewarm church – in particularly the need we have for “eyesalve” which is in TAS message on Spiritual Sight.
Colossians 2:1-3 (ESV)
“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,
2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+2+%3A1-3&version=ESV
And one more thought:
1 Peter 2:5 (ESV)
5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+2%3A5&version=ESV
I think you will agree that “ The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth from His Word”! 🥳
❤️🤗 Judi
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Thank you very much, Judi. 😇
I do not think the Holy Spirit needs the written word, either. God can speak to us through another person, through a sunset, through a traffic sign, or through a dream. In fact, there are countless ways the Lord speaks to us every day. But do we always hear AND understand Him? 🤔
It is so true that having come under different false spirits in cults or simply by reading and ‘absorbing’ the wrong literature, sermons, videos – whatever, we must be cautious. This still and subtle voice of God that warns us from the inside can be pushed away easily. And then other spirits imitating God’s voice we just heard before can sneak in and deceive us by twisting the message slightly.
Therefore, I believe it is good to have a biblical fundament in order to test with the help of the Holy Spirit what is wrong and what is right. Although the anointing teaches us immediately when another spirit creeps in, we might need some more time to find out where the falseness or falsity lies.
Susanne ❤️
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
One other thing just came to mind as for seeing Jesus face to face. I don’t think it is a bad thing that we have not known Him after the flesh because spiritual knowing (i.e. loving) and seeing is so much more. I was just reminded of having shared a few parts of my spiritual diary from that time when I had come to see the Lord (that began almost twelve years ago). If you are interested, Judi, here is one part of them.
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Michael said:
Dear Susanne,
Once again this was a timely article for me, for the Spirit has been showing me this exact thing regarding whether the Spirit is opening the scriptures to us that we might have spiritual light or whether we are using them to justify our fleshly minds. To the Jewish leaders Jesus said,
“…and you do not have his [God’s] word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,” (John 5:38-39, ESV)
We might have memorized the Scriptures, but we still don’t have His word abiding in us because the Word without THE WORD teaching us its Spirit meaning, we are no better than those ancient Scribes and Pharisees.
Susanne, I had an encounter with a man not long ago who had searched the scriptures that he might that he might justify his old nature. In one case he sought verses that would justify him killing someone if they attacked his family or himself. God knows that there are hundreds of verses in the Old Covenant about killing people. But Paul wrote,
“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.” (2Cor 5:16, NKJV)
Didn’t Peter regard the servant of the High Priest “after the flesh” when he cut off his ear to protect Jesus? Yet, Jesus knew him after the Spirit and the love of the Father and healed this man who had come to arrest Him. Is it right to ignore the Spirit and insisting on self-defence with carnal weapons no matter what? By insisting on regarding the attacker according to the flesh by ones own fleshly mind and creating a law to follow ahead of time, seeking to take things into our own hands instead of waiting on God’s leading in each case, is NOT walking by the Spirit.
This fellow also searched the scriptures and the teachings and traditions of the Pharisees to “prove” that Paul had a wife that he left behind (yet Paul wrote just the opposite) so he could do the work of the Lord. (Boy, have we heard that lie before! “God has a perfect new spouse for me that will enhance my ministry where my current spouse is just a spiritual dud”). w
The more this man talked the more uneasy I got. Through this one hour plus conversation the Lord was showing me how the Bible can be used to justify just about anything. Charles Finny wrote this concerning the traditions of the Jewish elders,
“The law of God was clearly revealed to the Jews, but its power was often broken, its influence over mind paralyzed and destroyed, by a variety of oral traditions, which were handed down from one generation to another; which were held as of equal authority with the written law. They were often the corrupt glosses of the Jewish doctors, and not unfrequently mere evasions of the spirit, and meaning of the written law.”
Using the letter of the law to evade the leading of the Spirit!
Paul wrote,
“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming [out] from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2Cor 3:5-6, ESV)
Teaching from or searching the scriptures for ourselves is not bad unless it is a work of the flesh; if this happens it becomes an instrument of death. The Pharisees used the traditions of the Jewish elders to justify the persecution and death of Christ. They searched the scriptures which spoke of Him throughout, but they refused to come to Him that they might have eternal life. We have a grave responsibility to teach and write by the leading of the Spirit alone.
“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says [or writes], he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.” (Jas 3:1-2, ESV)
Once again your photos really fit the article. Well, done, my sister.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Thank you for the encouragement, Michael. 🙂
I can only say amen to everything you wrote and quoted. In particular, the description of your encounter with this man hit me! I am afraid I would have withdrawn from this man earlier, not sure. Just lately I met several people who wanted to share different conspiracy theories about covid 19 with me. Michael, that made me RUN!! 😛
Indeed, without knowing THE WORD, i.e. Jesus Christ through His Spirit, the written word will never jump off the pages into our heart as you lately said. 😉
Thanks for sharing your precious insights, my brother! ⭐
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Michael said:
Yes, Susanne, as for those who want to talk politics and about conspiracy theories, I get the same feeling. I want to run! Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom is not of this world (Grk. kosmos – not the earth itself for God created it “good.” This word implies the systems of fallen men under the control of the devil.) Jesus had nothing to do with the world system which was demonstrated by His answer to the trick question of the Pharisees, “Is it right to pay taxes to Cesar or not?”
Before I was born again and filled with the Spirit in 1970 I was a radical right wing advocate and was becoming murderous in the way the devil was taking me because of the hate that was growing in me. God delivered me of all that and much more and filled me with the love of Christ and I pray daily that I staying that way. I think that this is why I want to run when I hear people speaking such things… especially Christians! “As a dog returns to his vomit, so does a fool return to his folly.”
As Paul wrote,
“And do not be conformed to this world [kosmos], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Rom 12:2, NKJV)
Oh, heavenly Father, instill into your children the mind of Christ. Amen
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Judi said:
Hi Susanne 🙂
This morning I was reading Habakkuk and as I read through, what was shared in your spiritual diary came to mind. I thought to post the Amplified Classic version of Habakkuk 2:1-4 in relation to what you posted there.
Habakkuk 2 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)
2 [Oh, I know, I have been rash to talk out plainly this way to God!] I will [in my thinking] stand upon my post of observation and station myself on the tower or fortress, and will watch to see what He will say within me and what answer I will make [as His mouthpiece] to the perplexities of my complaint against Him.
2 And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.
4 Look at the proud; his soul is not straight or right within him, but the [rigidly] just and the [uncompromisingly] righteous man shall [a]live by his faith and in his faithfulness.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Habakkuk+2&version=AMPC
“…Write the vision…” No need for me to add anything to that…
🔥❤️🔥 Judi
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
“Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by.”
I must be honest with you, Judi. I would have never seen a connection between the words Habakkuk received and my spiritual diary. Yet it seems…somehow…. interesting, indeed! 🙄
It is true that people hasten by… from one blog to the other, that is so true. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Allan Halton said:
Hi Susanne, thanks for this. Personally I read through the Bible routinely just to keep myself familiar with the written word. I often discover that God breathes life into passages that I’ve read perhaps several times on previous occasions without their coming alive to me. Then suddenly (but has it really been suddenly?) my eyes are opened! So, I’m not trying to make this a hard and fast rule, but the incentive, at least for me, is to keep reading, reading, reading…
Here’s a little poem I wrote down years ago in the flyleaf of my Bible:
I read Thy word, O Lord, each passing day,
And in the sacred page find glad employ.
But this I pray:
Save from the killing letter; teach my heart,
Set free from human forms, the holy art
Of reading Thee in every line,
In precept, prophecy and sign
‘Til all my vision filled with Thee,
Thy likeness shall appear in me,
Not knowledge, buy Thyself my joy!
For this I pray.
J.C. Macaulay
And here is something else I wrote down years ago, part of which has already been referred to in an earlier comment:
I have always loved the words of John Robinson to those about to sail on the Mayflower from Holland.
At the sailing of the Speedwell from Delfshaven, part of Robinson’s farewell speech, (which someone recorded) was:
“I Charge you before God and his blessed angels that you follow me no further than you have seen me follow Christ. If God reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as you were to receive any truth from my ministry, for I am verily persuaded the Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth from His holy word.
“The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw. Whatever part of His will our God has revealed to Calvin, they (Lutherans) will rather die than embrace it; and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things. This is a misery much to be lamented.”
I say Amen to these two quotations, Susanne. May we go to the word of God expecting to meet the Word of God Himself therein– very much aware that we know in part– and anticipating that He will break forth more of Himself, He who is Truth and Light, upon us.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Allan, I think it is different for everyone as God created us as individuals. So, I have no problems with someone who reads the Bible regularly, even our daughter has begun lately to do so. 😉 You wrote so aptly,
“I often discover that God breathes life into passages that I’ve read perhaps several times on previous occasions without their coming alive to me. Then suddenly (but has it really been suddenly?) my eyes are opened!!
Yes and amen!! I know how that works. I was often bored by several passages in the Bible and then, all of a sudden, they come alive. That has surely been the Holy Spirit at work in us!
This is a beautiful poem!! ⭐ Thanks for sharing it with us on here! 🙂
Also, these quotations are so true. We should not follow anyone but Christ. It is impossible to discuss with a convinced Lutheran, a convinced Calvinist, a convinced Roman Catholic… we can only go so far as their belief system goes. In Christ there is no limitation as only He sets us free from any kind of man-made law.
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Michael said:
Allan, this was really a good comment and those were excellent quotes. I have known hard shell Baptist, Dutch Reformists, Lutherans, Catholics, J. W.’s and even Assembly of God people that cling to their denominational doctrines as if that is what is saving them. As a result the kingdom of God has ceased to increase in them. It is so sad that fellowship with one of these falls so short of the ever growing light of the Holy Spirit.
The Flathead Indian tribe here in northwestern USA and Canada would take a newborn infant and strap a flat board to its forehead so that as the child’s head grew it had a backwards slope starting just above the eyebrows. This is a graphic example of what religion does to the minds of those who are trapped in it. They cease to be conformed to the image of Christ by the renewing of their minds and become conformed to the doctrines of men (and even those of demons).
Thanks for sharing your light with us,
Michael
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Judi said:
Wow Susanne 🤭 Thanks for sharing that spiritual diary post. I had not read it. Quite an experience to say the least…❤️ Judi
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Thanks, Judi! 🙂
Susanne ❤️
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Patricia Lelión said:
Hola Susan y Michael:
Hacía días quería decirles algo, que yo también estoy corriendo de los cristianos que solo hablan de las teorías de la conspiración y de los que hablan de política, las redes sociales están inundadas de ellos, algunos son buenos amigos, pero he tenido que distanciarme de ellos.
Yo simplemente quiero escuchar a Jesús y esconderme bajo Sus alas, todos sabemos que los días se están acortando y las profecías se están cumpliendo, sabemos que el maligno le queda poco tiempo y hace lo que sea para dañar al remanente de Dios, pero ocuparnos de las artimañas del enemigo es pérdida de tiempo.
Creo que debemos ocupar nuestro tiempo en amar al Señor con todo el corazón y profundizar en Su vida, gracias a Dios por sus vidas, ustedes mis hermanos queridos son un bálsamo para mi corazón en medio de todo esto.
Los amo en Cristo Jesús.
Michael, espero que estés bien, tú y toda tu familia y también Susan y su familia.
Muchos abrazos.
Patricia
Patricia wrote,
“Hi Susan and Michael:
Days ago I wanted to tell you something, that I too am running from Christians who only talk about conspiracy theories and from those who talk about politics, social networks are flooded with them, some are good friends, but I had to distance myself from them.
I just want to listen to Jesus and hide under His wings, we all know that the days are getting shorter and the prophecies are being fulfilled, we know that the evil one has little time left and does whatever it takes to harm the remnant of God, but to take care of the tricks of the enemy is a waste of time.
I believe that we should spend our time loving the Lord with all our hearts and deepen His life, thank God for your lives, you my dear brothers are a balm for my heart in the midst of all this.
I love you in Christ Jesus.
Michael, I hope you are well, you and all your family and also Susan and her family.
Many hugs.
Patricia”
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Patricia, ¡me alegra oírte pasar tu tiempo con Jesús, sin que te molesten estas teorías de la conspiración, querida hermana! ❤️
Te amo en EL,
Tu amiga Susanne
PD
Escribí más detalles en mi respuesta a ti aquí.
I answered her,
Patricia, I am glad to hear you spend your time with Jesus, not being bothered by these many conspiracy theories, my dear sister! ❤️
Love you in Him,
Your friend Susanne
PS
I wrote more details in my response to you here.
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Carina said:
I am a binge Bible reader, too. Far too often, I can be undernourished because I am in a low, dry mood where I seem to get nothing out of it (God’s silence is terrible!). Not true, you always do get something, if at the moment reading seems fruitless, you are still planting a seed in your heart that God will use when the verse or passage is needed and THEN you will learn what it means when the words are translated to your personal experience. Not to disparage commentaries which may have some jewels, but the depth the Holy Spirit can show you tends to be better! And the connection between passages no footnotes point to but the Holy Spirit shows you how they interact.
Those moments when I am in revival mode, the Holy Spirit will nudge me to read a passage and as I am reading He will say, Now this one, and I can read ten passages and they will all speak to me and I will be shown things I had never seen before.
As for Bible experts with no knowledge of the Eternal Word of God, I have met too many. I used to be impressed when someone knew a lot of Bible but now I am much more drawn to people who show in their actions that they know its Author. I love people who keep pointing back to Jesus and the cross. People well-versed in suffering who will gladly share their personal battles and the lessons learned through them. You can feel the love of God in the way they speak (or write).
My current emphasis for Scripture reading is, What is God’s sword piercing through this verse? Am I allowing it to go deep enough, or am I screaming, Please stop when it gets too painful? If we allow the Bible to lead us to Jesus and the death of the flesh in us, and pray fervently for this process not to be aborted by our unbelief or double-mindedness, it will serve it’s purpose of getting us closer to God. If we don’t have this attitude, I shudder to think of what I have seen the Bible do to godless, loveless men. All full of leaves but no fruit. Studying more Bible will only make them more arrogant and judgmental, and they will use the word that is meant for healing to actually kill people’s hope and faith with satanic accusations (which is not the same as a correction or rebuke inspired by the love of the Father).
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Yes, Carina God’s “seeming” silence can be terrible!! It seems to me that if I cannot hear Him clearly or even not at all, He spoke to me on another level in a more spiritual way. He appears to pull us away from our more tangible five senses to our spiritual five senses. Sometimes this feels like NOTHING at first but there IS something. You cannot name it yet it is there. And later He often allows us to realize that which we had not seen before. It’s a process, indeed!
T. Austin Sparks’ devotional from today seems to nail it, too. He said,
“It is very often difficult to define what is meant by spirituality, or a spiritual people. It is one of those things better experienced than explained. But for the moment it can be put quite simply and quite safely and soundly in this way, that a spiritual people is a people who are governed by the Word and the Holy Spirit to this end: that in everything within and without, Christ is All and in all. That is true spirituality.”
https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/openwindows/003186.html
We need the Bible, the written Word, and the Living Word, i.e., Christ through the Holy Spirit.
Thanks for sharing your insights and experiences, my sister! ❤
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Michael said:
Susanne and Carina, recently I started reading a chapter of the Gospel of John each day and seeking the Spirit to speak to me from what is written there. It has been a long dry spell for me as well. Yesterday, I was reading about the woman at the well and how Jesus told her that true worship of the Father is not about going to a special place, but rather about walking in spirit and in truth and it is in this way that the Father seeks us to worship Him.
Well, the Spirit seemed to put a deeper meaning of what it means to worship our Father in truth as I read it this time. I think that I by nature am not one who always lives a life of truth. Out of fear of the wrath of my father I learned to lie while I was growing up to avoid punishment and this carried over into other relationships. I also went through a great deal of rejection from family and my peers and my Vietnam War experience just enforced that. As an only child as I was growing up, I was what people would call “an odd duck.” Yet the Bible says He desires truth in our inward parts. The only way this can happen is for Christ to live and reign there with His Holy Spirit of Truth, but in my natural man the law of sin is still working there. What a struggle. It seems that these dry spells of hearing His voice causes one to do some deep reflection as to where we really are in His scheme of things.
Paul wrote,
“…Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, And may overcome when You are judged.”” (Rom 3:4, NKJV)
If we really see ourselves in light of the Spirit of Truth, God is totally justified to judge and condemn us and there is no room for any self-righteousness. Paul continues,
“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Rom 3:19-26, ESV)
It all comes back to faith in the perfect atonement of the blood of Jesus Christ, doesn’t it.
We love you, Jesus!
Michael
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You are right, Michael! ⭐
I have nothing to add.
Your sister,
Susanne
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