What hinders spiritual growth

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deception, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, eyes of the heart, feelings, fellowship, following Jesus, God's guidance, God's love, intellect, preaching, suffering, T.A. Sparks, teaching, true faith, Truth in Love

STOP!!! … AND RUN when you sense deceiving spirits approaching you! (Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

Let me begin with an analogy we all know. Imagine you see a small child that has not been fed properly by his parents. Instead, he was badly nourished and therefore grows slowly, even much slower than his peers. Maybe, his parents are extremely poor and cannot feed this child as they should. If this small child gets no help from others, sooner or later the first sicknesses will befall him and most probably, he won’t get that old, either. What is so sad to observe in the physical realm exists in the spiritual realm, too. Nonetheless, the difference is that it is easier to feed a malnourished child than a malnourished spirit being for we can see it immediately when a child is too lean, too pale, and very weak. But how can we discern a believer who has fed on the wrong spirits? Can we see the deception they have fallen prey to as well?  🙄

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Christians without Christ

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doing good, experience, following Jesus, good works, image of Christ, John Wesley, the new self, the old self

“They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” (Jer 31:9 KJV)
Photo by Susanne Schuberth (Fürth/Rednitz)

Christians without Christ’s Spirit are spiritually dead since they cannot grow. That is an outrageous thing to assert, one might say, but it has been my very observation that people who believe in something that can be seen, touched, and talked about like the Bible, dogmatics, and doctrines prefer to keep talking and thinking about God than to really approach Him as their counsellor, their best friend, or even as the LORD of their life. In fact, you will scarcely see these believers to ever have a real soul-stirring experience with God. However, if you ask them, they can tell you almost everything about Him. But alas, God rarely speaks through these Christians since they are not indwelt by His Spirit. That is why I called them dead in the beginning. If you meet these persons more often over time, you will find out that their relationship with God (in case they claim to have one) has never changed. They do not experience a loving God nor do they struggle regarding their faith – ever. They have no doubts (or at least they do not admit it), yet they can take a stand as to most questions regarding divine matters and it is, admittedly, pretty boring to listen to them. This reminds me somehow of the people’s reaction to the Sermon on the Mount as they realized that Jesus was so different from those Pharisees and scribes who had no spiritual life inside themselves and therefore no divine authority, either (cf. Mt 7:28). By the way, Martin Luther translated the verse I just mentioned not like most translators did with “the crowds were amazed/astonished” at Jesus’ teaching. Instead he said that they were “shocked/frightened.” That makes it even more clear that real divine authority causes reactions in those who are confronted with it. Whether positive or negative, a reaction to God’s speaking can always be observed and we can be sure that nobody runs danger to ever fall asleep when he is all of a sudden directly addressed by God.

Is Spiritual Growth a Miracle?

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discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, immaturity, love, maturity, obedience, spiritual growth, T.A. Sparks

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5 ESV)
Photo by Susanne Schuberth

Today I want to present you a thought-provoking article by T. Austin Sparks that deals with our (in)ability to grow spiritually. Actually, if we do not grow, we will wither since if it is not the Holy Spirit inside us that causes us to grow in Christ, it is Satan to whom we listen and who pulls us away from God. Brothers and sisters, this may happen to anyone. Don’t we think that such a temptation could always be easily discovered by our spiritual antennas. Indeed, there are people who due to their bad experiences in life project a distorted image of man onto God and call this image God or Jesus although these ‘pictures’ are, in fact, of satanic origin. If someone cannot discern which spirit they are of, they will be completely lost unless they dare to trust other Christians who could help them see when they are wrong. Regarding such errors, it got quite clear to me why we should be part of the Body of Christ. A finger apart from the body is useless; it must be connected to the hand and the hand must be connected to the arm which belongs to the body so that this finger can work properly (cf. 1 Cor 12:12-27). Furthermore, the whole body must be connected to the head which is Christ in us. Without Him we would be a body without spiritual guidance and an easy prey for any deception, spiritual confusion, and eventually delusion.

Being Blessed by GOD or… Satan’s Sensual Substitutes for the Truth

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deception, discerning the spirits, ecstasy, exhortation, experience, eyes of the heart, feeling, God's guidance, joy, Matthew Henry, peace, sensual experience, spiritual blessings, T.A. Sparks, the new self, the old self, worldly spirits

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14:15 ESV)
Picture Credits http://www.pamelavcarmichael.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/the-blessed-life_4034.jpg

Are we still looking for continued peace, joy, and wellbeing? If we only learn to listen to His Spirit’s guidance more closely and more often, we will experience all of God’s blessings in an ever increasing measure, for it is written,

But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’
But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. (Jer 7:23-24 ESV)

A Spiritual Self Check

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ads, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, flesh, following Jesus, fruit of the Spirit, God's love, pornography, salvation, Satan, spirit, the devil, the fear of God, worldly spirits

A Biblical Self Check
(Picture taken from https://goffwilson.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/self_check.jpg)

We should be aware that the devil does not sleep. Last Thursday as I checked my blog “Entering the Promised Land” on the cell phone when I was sitting at the hairdresser, I saw four ads popping up beneath one of my articles which I normally do not see when I am logged in on WordPress. One of these ads showed a sort of pornographic picture. We who may use WordPress for free, that means, all who are logged in on WordPress as bloggers ourselves won’t see those often offensive ads other visitors might be confronted with.

A severe warning against confusing the Holy Spirit’s work with manifestations of mere soul-life

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confusion, discerning the spirits, emotions, evil spirits, experience, false spirits, immaturity, mind, salvation, Satan, soul-life, T.A. Sparks, thought life, will

Confusion of the mind…
(Picture taken from http://robertbsloan.com/2015/01/26/dont-be-distracted-by-false-teachers/)

Here is another part of my series as to discerning the spirits with which we have to do every day. I observed many different evil spirits that guide other Christians who seem to be convinced they are led by the Holy Spirit of God. For almost four years now I only watched this saddening development particularly on the internet. However, lately I felt that I need to speak up more often about the reality behind the scenes. I know that the truth hurts at times, but if we let God do His work in our hearts and minds, there is nothing to fear for us. On the other hand, if we think have no need for correction because we have arrived at a certain (perfected) point of no return, we can be sure that Satan was the author of such a proud conviction. The humble mind of Christ is all we need and looking to Him for advice as to anything we might say or do, that would be enough for the true believer.