What Really Counts in Life

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aging, blessings, books, commandments, death, disaster, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, following Jesus, God's love, hurry, Judgment, mind, obedience, rest, restlessness, the fear of God, the Kingdom of God, the new self, the old self, this world, thought life, waiting, wisdom, youth

If someone nurtures soaring hopes and plans, we might tell them to stay more grounded or earthed instead. But have you ever heard someone suggest to you to get more ‘heavened’? 🙄 If you, like me, often times wonder about the seeming hopelessness of our existence as we cannot sense the presence of God while (sometimes ridiculous) everyday troubles keep preying on our minds, you might have also observed non-Christians who can seemingly live their lives confronted with less problems and difficulties than we can. Yet, in the long run, that is not the truth. The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us some sobering facts.

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Knowing God’s heart… intimately

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adultery, being born again, darkness, discerning the spirits, encouragement, exhortation, experience, eyes of the heart, following Jesus, George Michael, God's love, homosexuality, Jesus Christ, light, prayer, salvation, Satan, sin

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Jn 3:3 ESV) –
Photo by Susanne Schuberth

It is not for me easy to define intimacy, even more difficult regarding my relationship with God. Maybe, an example might help here. Yesterday morning as I was thinking about someone who died four days ago, I closed my eyes and looked at Jesus in my spirit. I recall that I did not say anything, neither loudly nor silently in my mind, but my question was heard by Him, nonetheless. This person who died was famous and some might know that I write about British pop star George Michael who died at the age of 53. I did not know that much about him, I only remember some of his songs that touched me in a certain way, especially ‘Last Christmas’ where he sang,

“Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special…”

I AM the Resurrection

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death, eternal life, experience, good works, grace, life after death, Life and Death, Martin Luther, Nicky Gumbel, Pippa Gumbel, salvation, true faith, truth

When time as we know it comes to an end, eternity in Christ begins.
(Picture taken from http://riverbankoftruth.com/)

Just lately I felt concerned about those who are grieved because they do not know whether their loved ones will be saved or not. Even looking closely at other people, we sometimes perceive no outward sign of faith in Jesus Christ. BUT that does not mean that they won’t be saved!

Death and Resurrection or… “I NEED A SAVIOR!”

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A.W. Tozer, being born again, death, dying to self, experience, following Jesus, joy, killing sin, love, pain, resurrection, spiritual power, suffering, T.A. Sparks, The Holy Spirit, the new self, the old self

Empty Tomb
(Source http://www.answering-christianity.com/empty-tomb.jpg)

In this article I want to make clear that death and resurrection are two very different things. Regarding Jesus’ death on the cross and His supernatural resurrection, and what that should imply for us today, you will find a longer excerpt taken from one of T. Austin Sparks’ sermons following my deliberations on dying to self.

Pressed Beyond Measure Into Christ

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death, discerning the spirits, experience, fellowship, following Jesus, God, life, Michael Clark, peace, Satan, T.A. Sparks, true faith, unity

This is another joint article by Michael Clark and me. Our common spiritual experiences were the foundation of our deliberations and conclusions in this post. If you have ever tried to really follow the Lord closely, you might know that Satan does not sleep but keeps attacking you as often as possible in order to drive you only deeper into the arms of God. Of course, that was NOT the devil’s intention! Instead, he merely wanted to discourage and finally destroy you. But whenever Satan means evil against us, God always means it for our good (see Gen 50:20).

A Wilderness Voice

By Michael Clark and Susanne  Schuberth

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence [Grk, apokrima – an answer] of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead: (2Cor 1:8-9, KJ2000)

Susanne Schuberth recently took this picture on one of her prayer walks and sent it to me (Michael) and I cropped it to fit.

I (Susanne) thought about the biblical meaning of the number four. These four arrows represent the world system that puts those under pressure who eagerly want to follow the Lord. The two people with arrows coming at them from all directions seems to portray what we have been going through for some time with many attacks…

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The Glory of God… is ours!

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A Wilderness Voice, Alexander MacLaren, freedom, glory, Jesus Christ, joy, light, Michael Clark, poem, salvation, shekinah, spiritual power, the new self, the old self, the promised land, true faith

The Dawning of a New Day or… Spiritual Springtime
(Photo by Michael Clark)

Actually, I was searching for something else on the net as I suddenly found an exposition on the glory of God by Alexander MacLaren. I could not stop reading although I can hardly relate to all these wonderful blessings he wrote about right now. Even while deeply suffering, I am still sitting here, knowing that which I read there is the truth. Dear brothers and sisters, have you ever heard someone preach or teach on the possibility of being glorified even during this life on earth? I am speaking spiritually here, of course! However, as far as I can see it, you often only find Christian writings about justification and/or sanctification. And you also hear that sanctification will not be finished unless we are in heaven after our physical death. Yet is that biblical truth too? Although the Bible speaks about the necessity to die once (Heb 9:27), we also have Jesus’ mysterious promise he confided to Martha whose brother Lazarus had died before,

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn 11:25-26 ESV)

Some Comfort when Confronted with Death

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agony, Charles H. Spurgeon, comfort, darkness, death, dying to self, experience, Jesus Christ, light, pain, peace, the cross, the dark night of the spirit, the valley of the shadow of death

Covered under His Wings…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

The following Scripture both refers to the believer who faces physical death as it refers to the one who was chosen by God to walk through that same valley while He is still alive on earth.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Ps 23:4 KJV)

Jesus confirmed those two different possibilities of dying when He answered Martha,

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn 11:25-26 ESV)

Although I am aware of the fact that most expositions on the latter verse where Jesus mentioned the one who lived believing in Him that should never die point to the second death (which is eternal), I believe that Jesus also pointed out the possiblity to enter His kingdom while still living in this world.

Some Thoughts on Spiritual Sight – by Faith

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beauty, beholding God, experience, eyes of the heart, faith, God's love, John Gill, psychology, the Kingdom of God, the promised land

“Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” (Isaiah 33:17 KJV) – Photo by Susanne Schuberth

On yesterday’s bike ride with the Lord the weather was not that fine. It would be pretty cold and looked as if it might rain sooner or later. Also, I was extremely tired and felt rather low because of a certain dizziness and some physical pain, too. As I was struggling to get ahead against the strong wind, I suddenly saw some lovely spots of color in an altogether gray and green picture that nature presented. I could not help but stop my bike and gather the colorful bouquet of flowers you can see in the photo I posted above.  😉

Regaining a Peaceful Mind and Heart

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confusion, faith, feeling, flesh, God, heart, hope, hopelessness, Jesus Christ, mind, Oswald Chambers, pain, peace, psychology, rest, restlessness, Satan, the devil

There is always hope…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

“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)

Basically, it would be so easy to discern whether we have set our mind on the Spirit or on the flesh if we only took a short glance into our hearts and check them for their peaceful or restless condition. The problem is, as soon as we sense that there is NO peace at all, we might be inclined to look at our own failures or to those of others instead of taking a short glance to God who allowed Satan to bring us into that confused, disheartened, sometimes even hopeless condition. We can be sure that the devil always tries everything in order to keep us restless and discouraged. He does not cease telling us about our wrongdoings or about those of others in order to keep our thoughts running like a hamster in his wheel – from past events to the future, back to the past, and so on and so forth. The sorrow and those negative feelings that go with these thoughts ALWAYS come from the devil, too.

Making Sense of Suffering

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being born again, dark night of the soul, darkness, Donald W. Ekstrand, experience, faith, following Jesus, God's love, pain

Hope in the Darkness
(Photo Credits http://abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/562557/)

Since our all-knowing and sovereign God decided to usher me into deep darkness which is accompanied by much pain and suffering, I thought it would be a good idea to provide an excerpt from Dr. Donald W. Ekstrand that deals with the Hows and Whys of dark times in our lives.

God never lets us suffer because He likes to do that. However, in His great love He alone sees what kind of circumstances, afflictions or trials will be helpful for us to finally give up on ourselves and to only trust in Him. Despite serious pains in my heart and soul for some time now, I sense that a new form of faith which is no longer grounded on something that I could find in myself – since there is nothing that could ever make me jump for joy again – has begun to come to light right out of the darkness. I do not understand how it works, yet I have realized that faith, indeed, exclusively comes from God. We could never achieve true faith on our own.