Crucified with Christ, the Power of God

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being led by the Holy Spirit, entering his rest, experience, faith, God's love, grace, Jesus Christ, Liberty, Michael Clark, new life, peace, resurrection power, spiritual blessings, spiritual power, surrender, T.A. Sparks, the cross, walking by the spirit

Do we want more spiritual power, authority and persuasiveness in our lives? If so, then we ought to let go of trying to produce these with self-effort of any kind. Michael Clark lately said to me, “It is amazing what God can do as soon as we get out of the picture.” Being crucified with Christ, conformed to His death, and risen to a completely new life with Him, means we have resolved to get out of the picture every day so that HE can live HIS LIFE through us.

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Torn to Pieces

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Christendom, Christianity, deception, delusion, demons, discerning the spirits, dying to self, exhortation, experience, False Brethren, false spirits, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, Judgment, repentance, the Bible, The Burden of the Valley of Vision, the Cave Dweller, the devil, the enemy, The Holy Spirit, visions, walking by the spirit

Up to a certain extent, this post is a follow-on blog of The Cave Dweller. Not that you need to have read that other article before in order to understand where I am coming from. However, I had a follow-up vision of the area the cave dweller demon was working in. Somehow I hoped that I would not need to write it all down and to interpret it as I did not like what I saw. At all. 😔 But a few things happened lately which made me see that this vision has been another warning from God as to a specific kind of danger to be led astray by the enemy. Furthermore, this recent vision put such a heavy burden on my heart I could not get rid of until I had finished the interpretation and thus the whole article.

The Will of God or… The Spiritual Nature of an Overcomer

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abiding in Christ, ascendancy, ask and receive, authority, being born again, discerning the spirits, dying to self, experience, Flesh vs. Spirit, following Jesus, God's love, God's will, grateful, inheritance, joy, obedience, Oneness, Overcomer, prayer, resurrection power, Satan, self-will, suffering, T.A. Sparks, the cross, the enemy, the Lamb, Victory, walking by the spirit

As much as the overcomer position, that is, being seated with Christ on His very throne, seems to be an attractive prospect for many of us, as difficult it appears to ever get there. What I mean by this is not that overcoming would be something God had not provided in his plan for every child being born from above. However, we might know that there is a cost related to the whole issue, which is entailed taking up our crosses daily and following the Lamb wherever He goes (cf. Rev 14:4). We read that Paul told the Corinthians that “flesh and blood cannot not inherit the kingdom of God” (see 1 Cor 15:50 ESV). Some have taken that to mean that only in the hereafter we will get to know whether we would be heirs with Christ, seated with Him on His throne, or not. Yet sometimes Scripture seems to be simpler than our intellect might realize at first sight. This scriptural statement implies that only the spirit can inherit the kingdom of God, right?  🙄

The Simplicity that is ours IN CHRIST

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beholding God, discerning the spirits, dying to self, encouragement, entering his rest, experience, faith, following Jesus, freedom, Jesus Christ, mind, new life, purity, revelation, simplicity, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the cross, The Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ, walking by the spirit

The simplicity that is ours in Christ is not the exact wording Scripture offers since the apostle Paul voiced his misgivings when he said the following,

“But I am afraid that, even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from the simplicity of [your sincere and] pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Cor 11:3 AMP)

If our Christian life does not always appear to be that easy or simple, maybe, there is a reason why we sometimes struggle so much. This Bible verse above suggests that our focus might turn out to be the root cause of our conflicts. As an illustration, let us think for a moment about a small baby that has just started to explore the life in which it was born. During their first year on earth, babies seem to be intrigued by everything and everyone that comes into view. With big round eyes they gaze at whomever and whatever could be looked at. And how very long they can stare at the object observed! If they watch a human being keeping eye contact with them, they will often start to smile in an irresistible way at that.  😊

The Prince of Peace Lights the Darkness – Updated Dec 29th, 2021

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beholding God, darkness, deliverance, demons, discerning the spirits, dying to self, experience, following Jesus, God's love, hope, joy, light, love, peace, Prince of Peace, self, T.A. Sparks, The Holy Spirit, the light of the world, visions, walking by the spirit

[Please note: If you only want to read the update which can be found in a ‘box’ also written in this green color, you need to scroll down more than two thirds of the text. Thank you.]

There is a new lesson for me to learn every day. It seems like walking in the spirit with Christ turns into full-time schooling, which is a great adventure anyway.  😊 The latest lesson learned refers to how the Prince of Peace wants to pour out His spiritual blessings of peace, joy, and love on us every day in every given situation. At first I had a vision a few days ago which is getting more and more interpreted by Jesus as I have gone through several experiences related to it. At the same time the Holy Spirit pointed me to some Scriptures and a quote by T. Austin-Sparks that confirmed the experiences made. The vision I am going to describe was, again, a part of a longer vision I had seen. What was completely new to me, though, was the experience that darkness did not cause any negative feelings like fear to arise in me anymore. Quite the contrary…

Conformed into the Likeness of the Image of God’s Son

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anger, Christ in us, conformed to His image, discerning the spirits, dying to self, eternal life, evil spirits, experience, following Jesus, glory, Growing in Christ, obedience, self, simplicity, spiritual growth, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the devil, the enemy, The Glory of God, The Holy Spirit, walking by the spirit

Reading such a title, we might be tempted to think, “Oh, that is too much for me, look at myself, I am not worthy at all. I am such a failure!!” Contemplating the other side of same the coin, another one might wonder whether they should be changed at all, asking themselves, “Am I that bad? Shouldn’t rather all those others around me be changed?”  🙄 Well, you might have already guessed that the coin I was speaking of is called The Self. Whether we view our old nature as good or as bad does not matter in the eyes of God. What He longs to see in us when He looks at us is a purified spirit being that has become as transparent as Jesus Christ Himself. By such divine transparency we should reflect the glory of God like a perfectly cleaned mirror that reflects the sunlight, even unfractured. But still, we might wonder how such a miraculous transformation could ever happen in us?  🙄

Jesus Christ Abolished Death

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death, discerning the spirits, dying to self, eternal life, experience, faith, fellow-heirs with Christ, following Jesus, God's guidance, inheritance, Jesus Christ, Judgment, life, Overcomer, pain, redemption, repentance, Satan, soul and spirit, soul-life, spiritual power, suffering, T.A. Sparks, the cross, the devil, The Heritage, the throne, throne union, trials, tribulation, walking by the spirit

If you read and re-read the title, wondering about the truth of this seemingly simple statement, “Jesus Christ abolished… DEATH?”  🙄 you might feel the same way I did yesterday. I read an article by T. Austin-Sparks that left me both astonished and a bit bewildered at first. But then… No, I do not want to give away the ending yet. I am afraid, you need to read further if you want to know more.  😉 So, at first I am going to offer you this excerpt from one of TAS’ books that is called “Vocational Fellowship”. (1)

Stuck in the Soul or… Governed by God

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blogging, death, deception, discerning the spirits, experience, fellowship, Flesh vs. Spirit, following Jesus, God's guidance, habits, life, love, loving your enemies, overcoming the world, P.W. Faunch, peace, prayer, rituals, Satan, soul, soul-life, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the cross, the devil, the heavenlies, the old self, the throne, the whole armour of God, thought life, walking by the spirit

Just lately I have begun to see that a continuous life in the Spirit has to be governed by the Lord alone. Anything else I chose according to my old fleshly habits led to death, even my own thought life. Before going further by giving you another example, I decided to paste one of two short excerpts from T. Austin Sparks which clearly revealed the truth of my experiences afterwards to me. TAS said,

Walking in the Spirit by Switching from One Kingdom to Another

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discerning the spirits, dying to self, encouragement, entering his rest, entering the Kingdom of God, experience, following Jesus, fruit of the Spirit, God's love, joy, love, patience, peace, rest, soul, spirit, spiritual power, the devil, the Kingdom of God, the new self, the old self, thought life, walking by the spirit

Dear brothers and sisters, I would have never expected that Jesus Christ would really enable us to move from the burden of self-life with all its stress and unsolvable problems to His restful life in the Kingdom of God. Actually, I always hoped that the possibility existed but I had almost given up on waiting for the enjoyment of continuous love, joy, peace, or even patience (something I NEVER knew before!). Apostle Paul encouraged the Philippians several times to “Rejoice IN the Lord always….. Indeed, I still ‘hear’ myself doubting this possibility a few months ago. However, it is true!

Knowing God… and Being Known by Him

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being born again, commandments, dying to self, eternal life, experience, faith, following Jesus, God's love, heart, heart knowledge, intimacy, Jesus Christ, Judgment, knowing God, overcoming the world, spiritual growth, T.A. Sparks, the body of Christ, the cross

I chose the subtitle of my poetry blog that once sprang from 1 Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 3 also as the headline for this article because I believe that the most important thing for us Christians is to really get to know (read ‘love’) the Lord. If we have an intimate relationship with God Who is the Creator of everything, then there is no need for us to worry about anything anymore. Jesus Christ promised eternal life NOW to everyone who, by the grace of God, has been given an intimate knowledge of God in the Spirit. He said,

“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (Jn 17:3 ESV)