The Division of Soul and Spirit (Heb 4:12)

Tags

church, compromise, darkness, discerning the spirits, encouragement, experience, following Jesus, freedom, God's love, hope, Jesus Christ, joy, life, light, peace, promises, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, tithes, visions

I wonder how can we describe something we have never experienced before?  🙄 Although you might realize that this unexpected shift of perspective belongs to the most amazing experiences possible in the life of a follower of Christ, did you ever expect God to really work miracles?  🙄 As for me, I had given up on waiting for miracles. Over the years and particularly during the last one and a half years, I had more and more given up on expecting something more from God than an ordinary life full of daily struggles. Having no real breakthroughs in many areas of life, I waited on God to fulfill His promises of which I, honestly, thought I might only enjoy them after this life on earth. Quite a saddening prospect for the rest of your life, don’t you think?  🙄

Obedient to the Light Given

Tags

authority, blogging, controlling spirits, darkness, discerning the spirits, disobedience, entering his rest, experience, following Jesus, God's guidance, Jesus Christ, joy, life, light of life, obedience, overcoming the world, peace, reasoning, self-control, suffering, the devil, the flaming darts of the evil one, thought life, walking by the spirit

None of us would expect a baby to test-drive a car, nor would anyone assume that children, on the whole, go to university, give guest lectures, and teach students lessons they really need to hear (exceptions confirm the rule). As much as this world admires geniuses, in spiritual life there is no shortcut to heaven. We have to go through every more or less painful lesson our Lord puts us through. However, we may know that every lesson learned and accepted makes us see more of Him in our lives.

No more theory here. Instead, I want to go on with sharing my recent spiritual experiences with you. If you read some of my latest blog articles, you might remember that God has begun to set me free from many ‘legalistic’ things. Whether inflexible internal obligations, i.e., measuring up to the expectations from neighbors, friends, or even loved ones were concerned or if He changed my thought-life, for me it has been a sort of rollercoaster as this process has developed so quickly. Actually, I have not been used to observing the Lord to set me free on a daily basis at such an accelerated speed before!

Entering His Rest

Tags

controlling spirits, destruction, discerning the spirits, entering his rest, eternal life, experience, following Jesus, God's guidance, Jesus Christ, life, Resisting the Devil, spiritual power, the hard way, The Kingdom of Heaven, the narrow gate

Instead of writing another long-winded article in which I decribe my latest experiences with God, I am going to offer you a link to an older entry, see further below (*), which I just reread and edited a bit. As I described lengthily in my last blog, Jesus has started to set me free from all bondage that kept me from closely following His lead on a moment-by-moment basis. With ‘bondage’ I mean old habits, human tradition, and obligations of all kinds. You can hardly imagine how often I find another seemingly good work I have been used to, of which I now see that that has not been God’s will for me at all.

Susanne Schuberth’s Spiritual Diary (Part 6) – On how to resist the devil… in difficult cases

Tags

controlling spirits, discerning the spirits, experience, family, fellowship, Fellowship of His Sufferings, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, manipulative spirits, Michael Clark, Resisting the Devil, resurrection power, spiritual experience, spiritual power, Testimony, the law

Maybe, you like me, have come to know difficult people. Maybe, even VERY difficult people. Perhaps, these people were not only strangers, neighbors or friends. Well, you might have had to deal with difficult loved ones for years or even decades. As much as we should love our enemies when they attack us, speak evil of us, yeah, persecute us because we follow Christ, in the same way we ought to be cautious to listen to God’s leading when we are confronted with such persons.

It is not helpful to always blame ourselves for not being able to love them as we think we should. Sometimes, instead, we need to take a stand and resist the devil who drives them. If we submit to a controlling and manipulative spirit in others, we cannot follow the Lord just the same. In such cases Satan is allowed to make us angry, upset, resentful and… we are hurting at that! Yet, is all this pain really necessary, i.e., has it all been part of God’s plan for us? Or was it rather the devil who knows the full range of how to destroy our God-given peace through any kind of dead works of the flesh? 🤔

The Cost of Discipleship

Tags

blessings, comfort, experience, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, joy, miracles, peace, spiritual power, suffering, T.A. Sparks, the cross

I need to admit that I am not gladly writing this new blog article. Nonetheless, it seems to be a recurring lesson in our life (with God) that we need to let go of so many things. In fact, we are not only to let go of ‘things’, but also of good or bad people, of opinions once dearly held, of our good old habits, of our bodily constitution, of what we ourselves would have called good health etc. I put ‘with God’ in parentheses as I think that all mankind has to go through similar trials whether they believe in God or not. However, if we see ourselves as followers of Jesus Christ, is there a particular reward, a blessing of sorts if we have become (partly) acquainted with grief and sorrow as our Lord had been?  🙄

Resurrection Life vs. Resurrection Power … Reaching the Promised Land

Tags

being born again, encouragement, following Jesus, Overcoming, resurrection power, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the promised land, Throne

In my latest article I quoted some statements from T. Austin Sparks regarding a life here on earth without being touched by the death all around us, something he called ‘a deathless life’. If that might be an amazing experience for us already, there is more God has had in mind He wants to share with us. It is even His own resurrection power! Again, here are some quotes from TAS.

A True Revival or… Living A Deathless Life

Tags

being born again, darkness, encouragement, following Jesus, freedom, Jesus Christ, joy, light, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the new self, the promised land, true faith

T. Austin Sparks wrote,

What is the supreme evidence of the living God being amongst us? It is that we know Jesus Christ as triumphant over the power of death in our experience: for, having met death in its full power, its full force, its flood-tide, He triumphed. It was the flood-tide of death that was encountered at Calvary; death, in all that death means, something far beyond mere physical death, even all the terrible, wicked power of spiritual death. The Lord Jesus went into the flood of iniquitous death, and death’s power was taken from it, and it could not overflow. He broke the power of death and its curse, and made death stand back. “He tasted death in the behalf of every man“.

Who really has an impact on this world?

Tags

a holy life, blogging, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, false spirits, Flesh vs. Spirit, following Jesus, God's love, human love, Satan, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, Testimony, the new self, the old self, walking by the spirit

I think many of you might know the temptation to give in to people who do not know God, people by whom you want to be appreciated, though, even despite their sometimes profane remarks. We may not always be able to really like what they say, but we do not want to offend other people, either, or do we? Granted, there is a species of human beings who love to offend others continually; it is like a sport to them. But I do not speak of such personalities. Instead, I refer to those believers who try to live a Christian life and know about the difficulties to obey God when our old nature rather wants to cave in to ‘other spirits’, esp. when such human beings habitually impose their (strong self-) will on others. Our constant struggle to decide between flesh and spirit, as you know, was perfectly described by Paul here.

Christianity does not equal the Kingdom of God

Tags

being born again, blogging, Christianity, eternal life, experience, eyes of the heart, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, joy, knowing God, pain, peace, reading, spiritual power, sting of death, writing

Not that I was hell-bent on publishing another blog post. However, since I was housebound until craftsmen had done their work in our flat, I decided to read a bit on the internet which I had not done often lately. Still, it seems to me a pretty boring matter to get back on the internet after having experienced LIFE, real LIFE that is a gift from God, divine LIFE that cannot be conferred on anybody, esp. not in such an artificial place as the internet is. Presenting truths to people whom we most probably will never ever come to know personally in this life time has become a frustrating experience over the last months (years?) to me. Having said this, you might wonder why I keep writing, though.

How to find out another ‘Christian’ spirit

Tags

common sense, courage, deception, discerning the spirits, duty, exhortation, experience, false spirits, following Jesus, God's guidance, Jesus Christ, light, Light and Darkness, obedience, Oswald Chambers, peace, resurrection power, spiritual power, Truth in Love, Walking in the Light

“For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…” (Ps 95:7-8 ESV)

I have come to know several people who thought they were led by the Holy Spirit, who believed in Jesus as their Lord, and who prayed to God, their Father. Alas, the spirits they usually listen to are mostly the voices of their own soul’s desires, their own mind’s ideas, and their self’s pushing interests. Here the question arises whether it makes sense to try to correct someone who is absolutely convinced of being led by God? I am afraid it might be of little help to do so unless God tells us to open our mouths in His perfect time. But speaking up and telling them the truth might turn out a damaging experience if these people are too unstable to be confronted with their deception yet. Maybe, they are confused, maybe, they are mentally sick, maybe, they were led into error by the wrong people.