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blessings, comfort, experience, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, joy, miracles, peace, spiritual power, suffering, T.A. Sparks, the cross
I need to admit that I am not gladly writing this new blog article. Nonetheless, it seems to be a recurring lesson in our life (with God) that we need to let go of so many things. In fact, we are not only to let go of ‘things’, but also of good or bad people, of opinions once dearly held, of our good old habits, of our bodily constitution, of what we ourselves would have called good health etc. I put ‘with God’ in parentheses as I think that all mankind has to go through similar trials whether they believe in God or not. However, if we see ourselves as followers of Jesus Christ, is there a particular reward, a blessing of sorts if we have become (partly) acquainted with grief and sorrow as our Lord had been? 🙄
As the crowds had seen that Jesus performed many miracles in front of their eyes and would preach with a divine authority that was unknown to them before, they followed him wherever he went. However, instead of letting the crowd make Him their earthly king, our Lord described the sacrifices we will have to make in order to not lose track of Him who walks an unseen spiritual path before and with us.
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-33 ESV)
Drinking a cup of healthy tea, I had just been reading T. Austin Sparks’ devotional from tomorrow where he would refer to Luke chapter 14 verse 33. I did not really like what I read, yet I had to acknowledge that what he said was true. There are, indeed, times of comfort, joy, and peace where God lifts us up from the dust of our everyday struggles. But there are also often these times of suffering where we, patiently or not, are waiting until we experience His resurrection power once again. We are longing to taste the blessing of heaven here on earth with our own spirits, knowing that only after another part of our flesh has been crucified, it will happen. Alas, always only afterwards. 😦 T.A. Sparks raised an interesting question. He asked,
“Why cannot God increase? Why is it that in the first few years of the church’s history there was such a going on and on and on in life, ever and on in life, and growing, growing, growing? Just think of all that happened in the short life of Paul alone; the churches over the whole then-known world in one short life – and nearly two thousand years since, and the world is not yet touched with the gospel. The contrast is terrible, but why? Why? And the answer is clearly and definitely this: that somehow or other man has come into this business of God and turned it to himself. The Cross has not been kept in its place to give God a clear, full, free way.”
“It is a lesson that you and I have to learn very deeply in our own lives, that nothing is given increase except on the ground that it is deeply marked by the Cross as to our own flesh and natural life. Everything has to carry with it the sign of, on the one hand, death to the principle of Self, and on the other hand, Life in the realm where it is only of God and all of the Lord. That is in each individual Christian life for life and increase; that a local assembly has got to be marked in this way; it has to be a crucified (and thoroughly crucified) company of the Lord’s people so far as any personal ambitions and interests are concerned. It is just like that. This is the way of Christ so clearly in His own case: the way of the Cross.” (1)
May it be so with us. Amen.
“That is in each individual Christian life for life and increase; that a local assembly has got to be marked in this way; it has to be a crucified (and thoroughly crucified) company of the Lord’s people so far as any personal ambitions and interests are concerned.” TAS
This afternoon I have been watching a Trump rally in Washington, D.C. turn into total chaos as his followers stormed congress during its electoral college voting and debate and that chaos finally found its way into the chambers themselves forcing them all to escape. It is a sad day for America! Yet, what we saw were many people involved that call themselves “Christian.”
How many of our local Christian assemblies are marked by crucified lives that shine forth with the life of Jesus Christ? How many pulpits have turned into political platforms as is the case of one of Georgia’s newest senators? Jesus said, “If the salt has lost its savor it is good for nothing than to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.” Where the crucified life of Jesus Christ is not being manifest in His body their saltiness that is meant to preserve the world will be trod under the feet of worldly people and political violence will be the outcome. Where His light is lacking, darkness will prevail, but we who are Hus have an alternative… it is called the personal cross that deals with our darkness so His light can shine forth.
“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon you, and his glory shall be seen upon you.” (Isa 60:1-2, KJ2000)
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Thank you so much for this comforting Scripture, Michael. 😇🙏🏼👍🏼
Yes, Paul and I watched that chaotic rally on TV, too. 😳😳
I think TAS lived in a time when, maybe, there were still a few more crucified Christians in assemblies. But today?? 🙄 Only God knows if there are still some. Although I tend to believe that He has called us out of the whore which is Babylon, the great. That is the church and this world’s system.
Thank you for your enlightening thoughts, my dear brother. 👍🏼
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These are deeply disturbing times. The Christian message has morphed into a political one, w/ violence the subtext.
This is in direct opposition to the Gospel. “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it’ ” (Matt. 16: 24-25).
I pray for my country and the world. The temptation for Bible believing Christians is to give in, give up. But — as someone recently reminded me — we must continue to work, while there is still light.
Love to you both, Susanne and Michael.
A. ❤
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Yes, Anna, very disturbing. I wonder how often in history did political people who wanted to exercise power morph the Christian message into a lie? 🙄 I have just been thinking of the crusades in the medieval period and of the burning of ‘witches’. None of those religious people saw that we live in the New Covenant and that we should love our enemies. Instead, they morphed into puppets on Satan’s strings.
That is so true, Anna, we need to lose our life daily by wearing our crosses and by walking after Him only. It is impossible to follow an earthly political leader and to follow Jesus just the same, in particular when the leader/ruler/president resembles a cult leader in his narcissistic and sociopathic behavior. 😦 God also made me pray for Donald Trump et al in the past. Such prayer is surely biblical and it helped me understand him and his behavior better. Nonetheless, that does not mean I did not see what has been going on… it is sooo sad, indeed! 😥
Furthermore, there are still false Christian prophets who have been sure all along that DT has won the election despite the evidence. They have been fully deceived as they blink the facts and keep spreading their conspiracy theories everywhere. There are so few who still hear the Holy Spirit’s voice, alas! 😪
Much love to you, dear Anna! ❤
Susanne
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You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. (Isa 26:3-5, ESV2011)
Love you both,
Michael
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Very good, that fits, Michael! 🙂
Love to you, too! ❤
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It always amazes me where the Holy Spirit leads me in the Bible and how it fits when I listen to His voice. 🙂 ❤
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Yes, Michael, I can attest that you are a Spirit-led expert on Scripture Finding!
🙂
❤
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Thanks, Susanne. Paul wrote that we are each given a gift by the Spirit for the benefit of the whole body of Christ. Yours is special in that you can see Him speaking through everyday things that you encounter along your way. Once when our kids were young we were on a family nature walk and our youngest son kept finding all kinds of interesting bugs and creature as he turned over rocks and logs. So my wife asked him why HE always found so many interesting things in nature. He answered, “I find them and you don’t because you don’t look.”
Oh Lord, please open our eyes to see you what you would say to us individually in your creation. Amen.
“In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.” (Isa 29:18, ESV2011)
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You are welcome, Michael. It seems God deals with everyone of us differently as He created us as individuals.
What your youngest son told you back then reminded me of what Jesus once said, i.e., that no one could enter the kingdom of God unless they had become like little children. So often we think we have all things figured out, especially regarding God. Then we stop asking, stop searching as He has not answered yet, particularly not in the way we expected Him to. So I was just reminded of another Scripture.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:11-13 ESV – emphasis added)
Maybe, seeking God “with ALL our heart” is the problem we often face… 🙄 I know I face it every day, in particular when I am mad at Him for not having answered prayers in MY expected way. It’s a shame to admit it but I know I must be honest with Him. If I am not honest and rather try to cover my wrath with ‘religious fig leaves’, I know I won’t hear anything new from Him anymore. However, when I am desperate, really at my wits’ end, acknowledging that I am truly mad at Him and then tell Him about it, He answers. Always. With words of consolation, at least, if not more…
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Michael, here is an excerpt from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Jeremiah 29:8-19. It spoke to me, specifically the last short sentence I highlighted.
“We often do not know our own minds, but the Lord is never at an uncertainty. We are sometimes ready to fear that God’s designs are all against us; but as to his own people, even that which seems evil, is for good. He will give them, not the expectations of their fears, or the expectations of their fancies, but the expectations of their faith; the end he has promised, which will be the best for them. When the Lord pours out an especial spirit of prayer, it is a good sign that he is coming toward us in mercy. Promises are given to quicken and encourage prayer. He never said, Seek ye me in vain.”
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/29-13.htm
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Susanne, you wrote, “So often we think we have all things figured out, especially regarding God. Then we stop asking, stop searching as He has not answered yet, particularly not in the way we expected Him to.”
This reminded me of the following translation of Jesus words,
“Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.” (Matt 7:7-8, AMP)
How often I have prayed about something and then let the world distract me from what persisting until His desires in that situation are made known. I like this quote from Matthew Henry, “When the Lord pours out an especial spirit of prayer, it is a good sign that he is coming toward us in mercy. Promises are given to quicken and encourage prayer. He never said, Seek ye me in vain.”
I never thought of those special times of prayer as a sign of Him wanting to answer us with His mercy. Thanks for the encouraging word, dear sister,
Michael
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You are very welcome as to the encouragement, my dear brother. I have been encouraged myself by our exchange on here. 🙏🏼😇👍🏼
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God’s synergism: In the Spirit the whole is greater than the sum of those who are one.
“Again I tell you, if two of you on earth agree (harmonize together, make a symphony together) about whatever [anything and everything] they may ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by My Father in heaven.For wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as My followers) in (into) My name, there I AM in the midst of them.” (Matt 18:19-20, AMP)
“Make a symphony together,” I like that!
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I like that, too, Michael, very much! 😃 In particular as it reminds me of the TAS prophecy God gave us more than seven years ago.
“Two saints, simple, humble and unimportant in this world, but really meeting together in the Spirit, can be a functioning instrument of Him to whom has been committed all authority in heaven and on earth. With them all these old limitations can be dismissed and they can at one moment touch all the ends of the earth. Do you believe that?”
I believed it immediately as I had read that on your blog A Wilderness Voice and thus I commented on this back then. God keeps His promises. Always. 😇🙏🏼😇
http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/openwindows/003503.html
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Michael, just now I checked out the original article by you and the comment thread we had on your blog back then in 2013 and later. Here it begins, the two-saints-simple-humble-thing 🙂
https://awildernessvoice.blog/2013/12/20/will-the-real-church-please-sit-down/#comment-927
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Susanne, I went back to that thread we wrote together over seven years ago and continued in 2015. It was refreshing to be reminded of what the kingdom of God is all about after being so distracted by the events lately in the kingdoms of men. Thanks for sharing this.
May the Lord continue to knit the hearts of His humble and lowly saints together in HIS kingdom until He returns. Amen.
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Amen to you prayer, Michael!
Yes, I also felt it was good to be reminded of what is really important for us as we want to follow Jesus Christ in His invisible kingdom while still being in this world (though not of it).
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S.T.S.T. I just finished writing a new blog article about this very thing. 🙂
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Ha! That’s great Michael! I am glad God has us on the same-time-same-thought thing again! 🙂
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🙂
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Here is the link to your said blog that has been a gread read for me! ⭐
https://awildernessvoice.blog/2021/01/11/i-have-not-come-to-bring-peace-but-the-sword/
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Thanks for the link and I’m glad you found it a blessing. I know that this word has been timely for both our walks in Christ. 🙂
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You are very welcome, Michael. 🙂👍🏼
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