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authority, condemnation, discerning the spirits, experience, fellowship, following Jesus, freedom, God's guidance, Jesus Christ, life, Michael Clark, overcoming the world, peace, the body of Christ, the Kingdom of God, thought life, walking after the flesh, walking by the spirit
If you read the following Scripture, your thoughts might be like mine. Jesus Christ promised us,
“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Rev 3:21-22 KJV)
Usually, I was not so interested in this and similar Scriptures of the Book of Revelation as I thought our Lord spoke there about our eternal life AFTER leaving the earth. So to me, all His promises there appeared to be fulfilled in the future far ahead of us. Well, it was only lately as I started wondering that I might have been completely wrong… 🙄 As I described in my latest blog posts before this one, Jesus has begun to set me free daily from habitual internal ‘laws’, from family traditions, from rigid to-do lists and from some old thought patterns as well. Isn’t it quite humorous that He started this process on June 3rd, which was a Roman Catholic feast day in Germany, called “Corpus Christi”? 😉
To sum it all up, I can say that whatever the bondage was of which I have been set free, it has always been a similar process. At first, I was confronted with a situation, a person, an occurrence – whatever. I recalled how I normally reacted, or used to act, and that was most of the time predictable (at least by me). If I was not Spirit-led yet, you could easily assume how my reaction to someone’s action would look like. It was just now that I realized that by automatically following the demands of these internal ‘laws’ meant nothing but “to walk after the flesh”. Oh my!! 🙄 And walking after the flesh produces what? Yes, death. And condemnation. Do you also know this kind of false bad conscience that befalls you when you did not live up to your own expectations of what you think you should have done? 🙄
But God turns my life upside down, as it seems. He keeps challenging me 24/7. 😉 As I ponder on my normal reaction-to-be in any given situation, He says, “No.”… “Try this…” or “Try that, instead”… or “Do nothing.” – “Ignore it/him/her/them…” and so on. Just in case that sounds a bit confusing, I’ll give you an example now. And to make it even more vivid, I will try to post as many pics related to this experience on here, too.
Last Monday I discovered a new biking trail which was fun as I met many storks, my favorite flowers (lilies), and I also found a new route along the river Regnitz which was not lacking in variety, either. So far, so good. Two days later as I prayed about whether to go there by bike again or not, I felt the Lord telling me, “Yes. I have a surprise for you.” ‘Huh? That sounds great’, I thought, trying to make out the meaning of what He had said. No chance, as always. So, I was both curious and cautious on my way, always hoping SOMETHING would happen.
Still wondering what Jesus might have meant, I saw after a long time that this path I liked so much seemed to be closed off. There was a traffic sign that told me “All vehicles prohibited” (except for residents and suppliers). The sign did not say all in words, I merely discovered its meaning later on the net. It was this round white sign with a red edge; I guess you know it. As I was approaching the sign, I – as a former traffic sign legalist – asked the Lord what to do, whether to turn around and find another trail – or not. “No worries, everything okay”. He seemed to have said. Aha…? I started wondering again ….. 🙄
Slowly I passed the roadblock which left some space on both sides, most probably for walkers. Alas, this whole path had become a mess during the last two days. It had turned into a construction site of sorts. The meadows on the right and on the left were dug over and this lovely bunch of orange lilies at the bench did not seem to be that happy about this chaos, either. A few hundred meters in front of me I saw two big trucks driving back and forth under the freeway bridge. The biking trail, instead, was completely empty. Still praying and asking the Lord whether I should go on or turn round now, I simply felt His peace. So I went on.
Approaching the bridge, the two big trucks seemed to come closer to me quickly from the right side, too. Again I asked the Lord what to do. I felt Him telling me to go on, still. That was truly peculiar. I thought by myself, if I heard God wrongly, I would take the blame for trespassing that locked area. As I arrived at the bridge, the truck drivers on the right backed away and ignored me. Relieved I turned to the left in order to pass under the bridge soon. But suddenly another truck came out of nowhere from the left side and I saw immediately that there was not enough space for this truck and my bike simultaneously. So I got out of his way and waited alongside the path. Once again, it was so strange as I could see the driver’s face. And he did not look into my direction at all…
Although I felt a bit uneasy, or rather insecure, about what I was doing there, this third truck passed me by, and I was ignored again. Shaking my head, I left this locked area soon and took a short break under the freeway bridge, eating a cereal bar and drinking water as it was an extremely hot day. Standing under this same freeway bridge, yet far away from any people or construction noise, I felt a strong cooling wind funneling down which was a refreshing experience. 😊 While eating and drinking, I started to wonder about what God wanted to show me through this kind of leading. It did not really make sense to me yet. All of a sudden the writings on the wall under the bridge caught my attention. There was a lot of graffiti to read, some of the words were hardly distinguishable. However, one word was repetitive; I saw it at least five times. You can see it in the picture as well. It reads, “TILOS”.
Hmm… I checked my phone as I thought Tilos sounded like the name of a Greek island or so. That was true, but not helpful. I felt the Lord wanted to tell me something through this word. As I checked the Google translator, the Hungarian language offered a distinct translation of this very word. Tilos means prohibited, forbidden. Aha! What I just did seemed to have been forbidden, too. So that was a confirmation, wasn’t it? 🙄 I was waiting on the usual negative feelings emerging from inside me whenever I sensed that I did something wrong. But nothing happened. There was simply life and peace. And a soft voice that whispered into my ear, “There is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus.”
Dear brothers and sisters, it was not so that I immediately leaped with joy afterwards as I was still wondering what that all might signify. I recalled that two days before I had seen a couple of people standing at the locks not that far from that bridge. I had also been riding there to the Europe Channel and I saw these guys taking pictures and videos of a cargo ship that was just leaving. As I took a short glance on the ship’s name, asking the Lord whether He wanted to tell me something, I was (positively) shocked! Abruptly I pulled over, took a picture with my cellphone camera, too, even while standing in front of these guys. Pretty impolite, Susanne, I thought. 😉 But they did not care, thank God! 😊 The name of the ship was “Morgenstern” in German which means “Morning Star” in English. And if Jesus Christ is not the morning star, then I do not know… 😊
“And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” (Rev 2:26-29 KJV)
It was only later when I talked with Michael Clark about my strange experience with God as it got clear to me what the missing part was. In fact, the translation of Romans chapter 8, verse 1, has been transformed over time. Both my modern Luther translation and several English translations dropped the second part of this Scripture which is so important to really understand what God wants to tell us there. Michael pointed me to King James (KJ 2000 as far as I remember) which reads,
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom 8:1 KJ2000)
For Michael it got immediately clear that I had felt no condemnation because I had asked God about what to do and to lead me into whatever direction HE wanted me to go. I was so happy to finally see what God wanted to teach me here! 🙂 You see, dear brothers and sisters, we are no spiritual islands in the kingdom of God. We who are the Body of Christ should complement one another as He has put us together. This take is so different from this world’s view of proving who is better than the other or even the best of all, isn’t it? 🙄
All images © Susanne Schuberth 2021
Wonderful story! Thanks for sharing it.
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I am glad you liked it, dear Louise. 🙂 You are very welcome.
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Wow…quote” We who are the Body of Christ should complement one another as He has put us together.”(end quote)
Nuggets of gold, silver, and precious gems gleaned along the path “Entering the Promised Land ~ by walking in the spirit”. The Land is Christ, as is the City, and full of surprises 🎁
Thank you for sharing the process not just in this post but regularly as the Spirit has led you and other commenters.
Today, once again, what you shared has cleared up my current confusion.
To ask for and be led by the Lord’s peace was what I needed to remember…
1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV
“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”
❤️🤗Judi
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You are so welcome, dear Judi. 🤩👍🏼
That has been a great example, your quote of 1 Cor 14:33! ⭐ What I did not mention in my blog – as it got already too long – was that this liberating process I have been going through ALWAYS starts with confusion on my mind as to what to decide regarding another “new” Spirit-led experience. I only know then that I need to go in a different direction as I used to. I want to do it, too, however, my old thought patterns keep tormenting me until I have obeyed the Lord no matter what.
More and more I see that it is His power that replaces my utter weakness(es) of the flesh. Feeling His life and peace has been a good confirmation for me that I was on the right path, even before I knew why He led me that way.
“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Rom 8:6 ESV)
Your sister,
Susanne 🤗♥️
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Susanne, it is always a wonderful experience when the Spirit uses us to compliment what He is teaching each of us by using the insight given to one for the other. I am reminded of the following scriptures:
“Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” (Jude 1:21, ESV2011)
“And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2Pet 1:19-21, ESV2011)
May the Morning Star arise in our hearts to edify one another in the Holy Spirit always,
Michael
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Amen to your prayer, Michael! 🙏🏼🕊️👌🏼
I thought about the morning star, mentioned in 2nd Peter before, too. ⭐ The morning star, ⭐ like the evening star, ⭐ is the planet VENUS, named after the Roman goddess of love. ♥️ As we know that our God, Who is the only true God, IS Love, I wondered whether that rising of God’s Son in our hearts 💖💖💖 (!!) might bring perfect love, which casts out all fear, with it, too. 🤔
Christ is also called the Sun ☀️ of righteousness that will rise for those who fear His name (Mal 4:2). Love and light, we talked about this before. His light drives out all darkness and confusion as we closely follow Him.
Somehow this spiritual transformation process reminds me of how God created the world, right at the outset.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. (Gen 1:3-5 ESV)
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Susanne, Please forgive me for the length of my reply. Your reply got me thinking about many things regarding Christ as our spiritual Light and the enemy as spiritual darkness. First you asked:
“I wondered whether that rising of God’s Son in our hearts 💖💖💖 (!!) might bring perfect love, which casts out all fear, with it, too… Somehow this spiritual transformation process reminds me of how God created the world, right at the outset.”
T. A. Sparks has pointed out that what God does in the beginning He continues to see it through in all His workings even in us!
In short the answer is, YES! Jesus is our Morning Star or the Day Star who is rising in our hearts as we mature spiritually and He casts out all spiritual darkness that still has a hold on us. This rising for sure brings with it perfect love which casts out all fear. I am reminded of the stories of the martyrs down through the centuries who stood boldly in the face of death with no fear of what the devil was about to unleash on them. and they also expressed love for their captors in the face of all this… Amazing!
“IN THE beginning God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters.” (Gen 1:1-2, AMP)
You also quoted Genesis chapter one where God in the first day of creation said, “Let there be Light” and there WAS Light! What kind of Light was this? Could it have been the light of a sun and the moon? I think not because the sun, moon and stars were not created until the fourth day! That light in the first day was spiritual light that ruled over the whole of His creation, Jesus Christ, and casting out darkness as He continues to do today.
“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the LIFE was the LIGHT of men.The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:3-5, ESV2011)
Jesus went on to say,
“Now the judgment (crisis) of this world [world system] is coming on [sentence is now being passed on this world]. Now the ruler (evil genius, prince) of this world shall be cast out (expelled). And I, if and when I am lifted up from the earth [on the cross], will draw and attract all men [Gentiles as well as Jews] to Myself.” (John 12:31-32, AMP)
So what is the “darkness” that God separated from that Light in the first day? It was spiritual darkness, the prince of darkness and his minions. Isaiah prophesied about Jesus and those who walk by His Spirit saying,
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” (Isa 60:1-3, ESV2011)
Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road and told him that he would be part of this rising…
“And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles— to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” (Acts 26:14-18, ESV2011)
This spiritual darkness started before the seven days of God’s creation and that creation was a reaction by God to the rising up of Satan in an attempt to overthrow Heaven and be the “lord of all” himself, seeking to usurp the place of the Son of God. He and the angels that followed him were the third of the “stars” of heaven that were cast down to the earth where he has been filled with wrath against God’s creation ever since, especially those in whom His Son abides and manifests. In Job we read,
“[My adversary Satan] has torn [me] in his wrath and hated and persecuted me; he has gnashed upon me with his teeth; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me. [The forces of evil] have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me upon the cheek insolently; they massed themselves together and conspired unanimously against me.” (Job 16:9-10, AMP)
“Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast your blameless uprightness? Renounce God and die!’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the impious and foolish women would speak. What? Shall we accept [only] good at the hand of God and shall we not accept [also] misfortune and what is of a bad nature?’ In [spite of] all this, Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:9-10, AMP)
But as it was in the life of Job, Satan had limitations placed upon him from the beginning and so has he today as he and his minions attack those of us who are born from above. We are like gold and silver tried in the fire and through it all we come out pure and fit for God’s crown. As it was with Job, the end of his life was more glorious than it was before the enemy started testing him, so shall it be with us as we continue to cling to our Lord by faith in Him alone.
“Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.” (Rom 8:37, AMP)
Love IN the Son,
Michael ❤
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Wow!!! 🕊️👌🏼 I could not agree more with you, Michael. Looks like another blog post on A Wilderness Voice…⭐😇
Love in Christ, ⭐💫⭐
Susanne 💖
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I will be praying for His leading in this matter of writing another blog article, dear sister. When I write such things I am always inspired not by getting my Biblical “ducks in a roe,” but by the way the Spirit leads us when we fellowship, Spirit to spirit to spirit. When two or three of God’s saints gathered together IN HIS name (His very character and the heart of His being, His light), He is there just as He promised. This is when it gets exciting as we watch what HE brings forth. And, yes, He can and often confirms what is being said with the scriptures as an added witness to the Truth which is Christ’s life being formed within us. And in such times the scriptures even take on a new and greater depth than before. “In Him was life and the life was the Light of men.” Without His Life working in us we are in total darkness at best. As Jesus warned, “If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness.” So much of what men call “light” or enlightenment or higher learning in this world is nothing more that darkness bundled-up in a pretty red ribbon. So, I wait as do you, dear sister. “They who wait upon the Lord shall receive NEW strength…”
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Biblical 🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆 in a row, that was funny!! 😆
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