When and why the Holy Spirit moves or… Transfiguration Through Trials (T.A. Sparks)

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deception, discerning the spirits, exhortation, false spirits, Fellowship of His Sufferings, God's love, resisting temptation, spiritual power, spiritual transformation, suffering, T.A. Sparks, testing, the cross, the devil, trials, wilderness

I colori dell’infinito (The colors of infinity): Green standing for new life (through FAITH), white for purity (in HOPE), and red for God’s LOVE – freely adapted from John of the Cross
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

Today I want to make clear that being filled with the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with what we find as a common belief in some religious circles (Pentecostal and Charismatic in particular). When we receive the Holy Spirit through spiritual baptism, it is not primarily about getting power to preach the gospel, it is not about having some great spiritual gifts with which we could impress others, either, nor is it about beginning to shine like a radiant light bulb nobody could resist to look at. 😉 Just think about Jesus’ example we find described in the Bible. What happened after our Lord had been baptized with the Holy Spirit?

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“Close your eyes and see!”

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darkness, dream life, experience, eyes of the heart, faith, God's love, heart, light, spiritual power, thought life

My companion on a prayer walk yesterday…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

You might think I am crazy and, perhaps, you are right. 😊 Just now as I was randomly browsing my older blog posts on here, rereading what I could see up to the ‘read-more-tag’ (aka “Continue reading…”), I was hit by a Scripture I had copied and pasted beneath one of my pictures. What struck me was the following (highlighted) part of 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 which reads,

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:17-18 ESV)

We know that God’s truth is most often so simple that it can easily be ignored, or even laughed about by someone who does not know God and wants to have it a bit more sophisticated to please their intellectual mind. But not so with our humorous God who turns into ridicule what people say who think they got Him all figured out. We read,

Enjoying Life by Obeying God or… The Choice of Life and Death

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death, decisions, discerning the spirits, dying to self, eternal life, exhortation, experience, family, freedom, friends, grace, idolatry, joy, life, loved ones, new creation, old creation, pain, peace, suffering, T.A. Sparks, unbelief, walking by the spirit

Some Wildflowers on the Balcony
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

God spoke to me a few minutes ago through the following Scriptures. He made them alive particularly by emphasizing the word TODAY. You can read this word five times in these verses. As many might know, five is the number that stands for GRACE. Just to give you a few hints as for the context in which God spoke to me, I can tell you that I had a struggle regarding a decision on how to react (or not) to someone’s misbehavior that put them in more or less big trouble. If you love someone, you might know how difficult it is to not intervene when you see things go downhill. So, my heart was very troubled about this trial as God pointed out to me that NOW it was my choice to turn to Him and to obey Him instead of trying to ‘save’ someone I love. If I obeyed Him, all things would turn out well, He said. Below you can read the Bible verses that reached my heart and comforted me immediately.

My New Life…

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A.W. Tozer, being born again, David Wilkerson, experience, eyes of the heart, feeling, glory, God's love, joy, love, Oswald Chambers, peace, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the dark night of the soul, the new self, the old self, thought life

“Chicken on Horse” – (Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

At first an apology to all those readers and followers of my blog who saw that I had published a testimony by David Wilkerson yesterday which I deleted shortly afterwards. Sorry for the inconvenience.  😦 Well, it began to dawn on me lately that I did not dare to write about my own and deepening experiences with God and Jesus as much as I used to in the past. Somehow it was easier for me to let other writers speak up for God, which certainly is a good thing as long as they were truly led by the Holy Spirit. In David Wilkerson’s case I need to admit that I only partly could agree with him since he had been on a different, spiritually lower level as for example Oswald Chambers or A. W Tozer of whom I believe they had reached a higher level than him, or T. Austin Sparks who, in my humble opinion, had been on the highest spiritual level because he had really died to self and was able to live continually in the presence of God in Christ’s Spirit. So you might have noticed that my articles more and more turned into teachings that feed the left brain half. However, where did the creative flow go?  😉

Nowhereland… or between Death and Resurrection

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death, discerning the spirits, eternal life, experience, false gospel, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, life after death, Ministry, Satan, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the new self, the old self, the promised land

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)
Photo by Susanne Schuberth

I could have also called this state I am finding myself in ‘the period of putting off the old self and putting on the new self’ which is something no one may observe but God and me. It is like being in the tomb after having endured the cross, having died to everything and everyone you once loved more than God and Jesus. And little by little, a completely new world gradually comes to light. Or in other words, “the day dawns and the morning star rises” (2 Pt 1:19 ESV) in our heart in order to never disappear again. Jesus promised us, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (Jn 17:3 ESV) We cannot put ourselves into eternal life as much as we might wish to get there. If we refuse to endure the cross, we remain captured in our old and fallen nature that is unable to serve and please God. There are many ‘Christs’ that have been preached from the very beginning and it seems to me even more today. However, every crossless gospel that strengthens our old nature or tries to change it (which never works) instead of telling us that our old Adam nature is completely useless for the work of God, these gospels are of satanic origin. All of them, without exception, whether it is the health and wealth gospel where our worldly desires and our mortal body gain center stage or the social gospel that tries to change the world we live in (without being called by God to do so). There are so many more things we can believe and which lead us astray, that is, away from Christ and the narrow path. What they have in common is that we can do them on our own. We do not need God’s power in order to do what we always did, do we?

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)

What is the Kingdom of God?

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being born again, Dorothy L. Sayers, enlightened, entering his rest, experience, eyes of the heart, freedom, God, Jesus Christ, new creation, the Kingdom of God, the new self

“May [God] give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” (Eph 1:17-18 ESV)
– Photo by Susanne Schuberth

I know that many people, especially those who left the organized church, have realized that church buildings, programs, and Christian activities of any kind have nothing to do with the Kingdom of God. However, have you ever heard back from someone if you asked them about the reality of this usually unseen realm? I chose to paste an excerpt from Dorothy L. Sayers which I came across more than two years ago. I read that quote on another blog and it really hit me. Here you are.

Living LIFE Abundantly

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death, discerning the spirits, encouragement, eternal life, experience, Fellowship with God, freedom, God, Jesus Christ, new life, resurrection, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the new self, the old self

The Way that leads to LIFE is long and hard (Mt 7:14), but every path comes to an end, finally…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

The following excerpts from T.A. Sparks make clear the difference between the natural man and the spiritual man who allows himself to be guided by God 24/7. We cannot reach this blissful state unless our old self has died completely since only then we are “transferred” or baptized into Christ (see Gal 3:27) and are enabled to enjoy a life of perfect obedience to Him. We may know that it is a process, a long process, until we utterly despair of our old Adam nature and leave it all up to Him. But once we have died to our old self, Christ’s resurrection power begins to flow into a renewed mind and into a completely new heart that was given by God also. And from that time on, REAL LIFE in the kingdom of God begins. What I meant by ‘real life’ is a spiritual life that no longer knows the sting of death. These who “loved not their lives even unto death,“ (Rev 12:11 ESV), or in other words, these believers who hated their old self life, are enabled to enjoy God in all circumstances instead, just as Jesus promised us here,

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (Jn 10:10 ESV)

Eventually, here is T.A. Sparks’ exposition on ‘Fellowship with God’ which I found to be very helpful for me. I hope it serves you too, dear reader. As a side note, I became aware of this article by TAS as I read another quote from him in this blog article by Becky Johnson yesterday. Thank you, Becky! 🙂

The Way of the Church is a Dead-End Street

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being born again, experience, God's Humor, humor, inspiration, joy, light, spiritual, the new self

Kirchenweg (“Church Way”) in Oberfürberg/Bavaria
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

If I jotted down everything I experienced with God lately, it would turn out an overwhelmingly lengthy post. And I do not want my readers to be bored stiff. So, I hope God helps me to put it as briefly as possible and as detailed as necessary. And maybe, I can raise a smile or two from my readers because of my crazy experiences with God.

How God meets man… or what does it mean to be IN Christ?

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being born again, darkness, experience, God's love, joy, light, living water, pain, the dark night of the soul, The Holy Spirit, the new self, the old self, the promised land

The River of No Return…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

I just had an interesting picture on my mind. Imagine all people in this world initially walk through barren and desolate land for the most part of their lifetime. But sometimes some of them suddenly see an oasis before their eyes. They can hardly believe that they now can leave the wilderness they were in for a very long time and sparks of hope begin to take root inside their hearts. However, alas, as they come closer and closer, they realize that what they had seen within their reach seemed to be only a Fata Morgana since it was gone as soon as they wanted to take possession of it. Grievously disappointed and discouraged they find themselves forced to continue on their journey through the desert, but they cannot forget the beauty of the place they would see before being able to arrive there.