The Connection Between the Fear of God and Justification

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experience, forgiveness, God's love, grace, Jesus Christ, joy, justification, peace, repentance, righteousness by faith, sin, sinner, suffering, the fear of God, The Fear of the Lord, the new self, the old self, true faith

Garden in Weihenstephan (Upper Bavaria)

The following is an excerpt of a (not published) book I wrote about seven years ago. I just translated a text of my journal which should clarify that the experience of the fear of God and being justified by Him usually go hand in hand.

To separate awe from God from an everyday, natural fear is not easy. For it is real fear as other languages ​​also make clear:

Gottesfurcht (German)

crainte de Dieu (French)

timore di Dio (Italian)

temor de Dios (Spanish)

The fear of God is, above all, the fear of displeasing God by transgressing His commandments. I believe a further difference compared with other fears is that our natural anxieties cause narrowness inside our mind and make us think of running away from a frightening situation. “Cut and run!” the thief might think when suddenly confronted with the policeman. He, too, is, or at least should be frightened when he must face governmental authority. Nevertheless, it might happen that the thief, instead, goes over to attacking the authority figure when he realizes that his getaway route has been cut off.

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Not by Bread Alone

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Abba, bread of life, children of God, God our Father, God's guidance, God's love, God's will, God’s presence, Jesus Christ, Michael Clark, Oswald Chambers, prayer, the Bible, thought life, worship in spirit and truth

Wallpaper

Have you ever felt enlivened although you did not eat anything that gave your weak body some strength back again? I have and I really wondered… Two days ago I had been struggling with another attack of summer cholera (no details here). 😛 After prayer with Michael Clark, nausea left rather quickly and in the evening I could even get out of bed again which seemed to be impossible to me before. Well, after a precious time I could spend with God in silent prayer on one of our balconies as the sun was setting, I felt much stronger and thought I could write another blog post if He inspired me to do so. But God’s leading, you know… 😉 No blog post, yet the urge to do something for God in order to help someone out of a tricky situation. It was not easy for me to obey here, but as soon as I had done so, though, I felt so ALIVE as if I had not been sick before at all. Quite the contrary! 😊 This experience reminded me of two parts in the NT as follows. As Jesus would have this very deep talk with the woman at the well, his disciples who brought some food could not understand what Jesus had eaten as they told Him,

Waiting on God…

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agape, Corrie ten Boom, Darren T. Carter, deception, depression, discerning the spirits, divine inspiration, entering his rest, experience, following Jesus, God's love, peace, rest, restlessness, Satan, separation from the world, spiritual flow, success, the devil, trusting God

View from Zirndorf’s Tower ‘Alte Veste’/Bavaria
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

This morning as I was searching for a quote from Corrie ten Boom which I had found on my German daily kitchen calendar, I discovered many others in the English language on the internet. However, the one I was looking for was not among them.  😉 In this particular quote Corrie said it so well, “You won’t lose time if you wait on God.” Isn’t it true that our old nature wants to see things been done, if possible all at once… so that we can rest AFTERWARDS? Has it ever occurred to you that God might have forgotten about your concerns since you prayed and prayed… but nothing seemed to have happened?

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)

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.

If I cannot have YOU…

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dying to self, experience, faith, struggling with God, suffering, the dark night of the soul, the dark night of the spirit, the new self, the old self, the presence of God

Source http://utmost.org/where-the-battle-is-won-or-lost/

Instead of writing another long blog post of my own, I decided to share Oswald Chambers’ devotional from today which describes my current struggles perfectly. Actually, I see more and more clearly that I cannot count on anyone or anything in this world any longer. When the circumstances get tough and you see that you have no influence to change anything whatsoever and that your prayers are not answered, somehow, it seems you have lost the game. Trying to change myself did not work, trying to change my circumstances did not really work, either, and having lost connection and direction from God for quite some time now, made me despair of life itself. Today I had to admit that if I cannot have God, I do not want anything else. Whether it is our families, our careers, our internet presence, our fame and riches (or lack thereof), nothing compares to a continued life in the presence of God. And if He won’t give it to me, then that was it.
Finally, here is the devotional I announced above.

Instead of Sanctification: The crossless gospel spirit

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discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, false gospel, false spirits, following Jesus, God, Jesus Christ, justification, pain, peace, sanctification, Satan, sin

Every gospel that focuses on man instead of focusing on Christ is anti-Christian by nature.
(Picture taken from https://thepropheticnews.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/antichrist.jpg)

I am sure there are more versions of that kind of gospel today and I presume there will pop up more and more of them in these last confusing days where Satan appears as an angel of light. However, I want to merely focus on two different manifestations of the crossless gospel I have met particularly on the internet since I began to write online comments in English on December 1, 2011. I would like to refer to these two confusing sub-categories as Spiritless Salvation of the Sinner and Spiritual Self-Salvation.

Was Jesus a nice guy?

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discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, flattery, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, knowing God, Michael Clark, people pleaser, Satan, the new self, the old self, truth

Jesus cleanses the temple…
(Source http://thinktheology.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Jesus_temple.jpg)

Wikipedia offers the following description of a nice guy. It reads,

“A nice guy is an informal term for a teenage or adult male who is gentle, compassionate, sensitive and/or vulnerable.[1] The term is used both positively and negatively.[2] When used positively, and particularly when used as a self-descriptor, it is intended to imply a male who puts the needs of others before his own, avoids confrontations, does favors, gives emotional support, tries to stay out of trouble, and generally acts nicely towards others.[3] In the context of a relationship, it may also refer to traits of honesty, loyalty, romanticism, courtesy and respect. When used negatively, a nice guy implies a male who is unassertive, does not express his true feelings…”

Confusion vs. Clarity or… The Difference Between God’s and Satan’s Voice

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discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, following Jesus, God, God's voice, heart, joy, light, Nicolas Chamfort, peace, Satan, Satan's voice, the new self, the old self, thought life

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. “I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” (Rev 3:7-8 ESV)
(Picture taken from http://www.alive.com/health/from-confusion-to-clarity/)

Let’s say some people request you to do various things for them, but you immediately see that it would be an impossible task to do everything during the free time you have been given by God. If you are like me, you might have tried to do ALL things as quick as possible, though. In fact, I always thought that would be loving, kind, and polite to act that way. However, lately the Lord showed me how unloving it was. Not that I had been unloving toward others, but it began to dawn on me that I neglected my own needs extremely, or in other words, I hated myself. On Saturday I discovered an interesting quote on my daily calendar in the kitchen. It reads,

“The ability to give voice to the word ‘No’ is the first step toward freedom.”
(Nicolas Chamfort)

How do we define SIN?

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deception, delusion, experience, faith, following Jesus, listening, Michael Clark, mind, peace, Satan, sin, true faith

Walking with God…
(Photo credit https://revlisad.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/walking-with-god.jpg)

This is another joint article Michael Clark and I wrote together.

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Jesus was without sin because He only did what He saw His Father doing and He only spoke His words. This is why Paul could say that nothing of itself is sin, but only that which is done without faith… which is not doing what our Daddy in Heaven shows us to do and say. Faith is not law keeping. Faith is obeying the Spirit and the wind of the Spirit blows where no man expects it to. We must be free to follow the leading of the Spirit if we are to walk by faith. This is why Peter was sinning when he refused to eat with Gentiles, though the law forbade him to do so, but the Spirit of the NEW covenant often surpasses the law. The apostle Paul told us the following,

“I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.” (Rom 14:14 ESV)

“To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.” (Titus 1:15 ESV)