Called to Live A Holy Life

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a holy life, Christianity, discerning the spirits, encouragement, experience, God's voice, good works, intimacy, Jesus Christ, peace, preaching, T.A. Sparks, the Bible

Happy New Year to every reader of my blog!  🙂 This post should have been published in December already, but as I was very busy and have been sick for one week, I thought I could offer it to you belatedly although these festive pictures might strike you as odd now.  😉 I just added the quote in the beginning and here we go. T. Austin Sparks put it so properly as he said,

The Christian who is truly intimate with Jesus will never draw attention to himself but will only show the evidence of a life where Jesus is completely in control.

I sometimes wonder whether we as Christians know that we are called to live a holy life, a life that is evidently different from what this world calls ‘life’. Not that I am thinking here of ‘holy’ Christians who preach the law while they tend to live licentiousness privately sooner or later. Such preachers are often characterized by a very offensive style of preaching. They only ‘feel good’ if they were able to misuse their self-assumed authority by beating the hell out of their audience (speaking spiritually here). If those who were preached to bow their heads eventually as they find themselves completely discouraged, only then such preachers feel better than others. This is a carnal way to preach the gospel, indeed, as it only serves to boost the sermonizer’s self.

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Disclosing Deeds of Darkness

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being born again, Christianity, church, darkness, deception, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, eyes of the heart, false spirits, God's voice, Jesus Christ, light, poems, prayer, preaching, prophecy, separation from religious spirits, separation from the world, worldly spirits

Photo by Sarah Schuberth

To be honest with you, although I was hell-bent on going to bed, quite some time after midnight I felt the strong ‘nudge’ from God to re-publish an older poem of mine, maybe, even two. I do know that this is not my poetry blog and most of my readers prefer reading blog articles instead. Nonetheless, I want to emphasize here, once again, the danger of cherishing any kind of fellowship or friendship, not only with worldly people (which should be clear), but also with those people who are used to meeting on a regular basis where one ought to hear from God. As I have often made clear before, a spirit being who has been birthed from above will, like God, not be predictable in their speaking, writing and doing. We are like the wind if we listen to God’s leading only. So, if we really want to have spiritual relationships first with God and then with one another, too, we do not only need to go away from the world and its pleasures, we should also say ‘Bye bye’ to any regular and obligatory gathering, whatever form it might take (attending church, home church meeting, connecting via internet etc.). The reason for doing so is that we cannot submit to God’s unpredictable leading and to predictable tradition (like preaching or listening to a sermon every Sunday and singing hymns in determined order) at the same time! Either we obey God and cannot be figured by anyone who does not yet have His Spirit, or we submit to another spirit that can be put in a box, a spirit that can be controlled by us. It might be easier and feel better to go on attending meetings with other Christians, but if God does not show up in such a gathering because His Spirit is quenched there, who are we really looking for? 🙄

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?

What grieves me…

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compassion, deception, discerning the spirits, divorce, exhortation, experience, eyes of the heart, God's guidance, grace, Jesus Christ, leadership, Remarriage, repentance, Satan, sin

Photo by Susanne Schuberth

God alone knows our hearts and why we do what we do. From hence, we have no right to judge others wrongly and condemn them. However, we need to know with which people we can be open and which people we should beware of. Just yesterday I had two seemingly similar, yet also different experiences.

Speaking the Words of Eternal Life

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confusion, discerning the spirits, doctrine, entering his rest, eternal life, evangelism, experience, fear, freedom, God's guidance, hope, John MacArthur, mind, Old Self, peace, philosophy, Satan, spirit and life, The Great Commission, thought life, worries

“Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.” (Ps 74:16 ESV)
– Photo by Paul Schuberth

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (Jn 6:63-69 ESV)

Jesus told His disciples that the word HE had spoken were spirit and life. How could he claim such a thing? And why is that true? How come that over the centuries so many educated people falsely assumed that the words written in the four gospels would automatically have the same spirit and life in them as they originally possessed when our Lord voiced them? I know that my questions are challenging here. However, it is so important to see how easily confusion can arise when we read for example about the Great Commission.

Who Needs Love? by Michael Clark and Susanne Schuberth

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God's love, knowing, knowledge, love, preaching, psychology, rebuke, sinner, speaking, Teresa of Ávila

GOD IS LOVE
(Source: http://www.anaheller.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/58860011.jpg)

It is not the loveable person that needs to be loved. It is the unlovable person, the clamoring child, the rebellious adult, the nasty friend, the raging parent, in a nutshell, it is the SINNER that needs to be healed. If we react to misbehavior by speaking mere words only, they might be able to bring across what we mean, but without love they will never touch the heart of someone who has gone wild. Well, “words” alone are based on knowledge… what we think we know or what we feel. But if our words are not tempered with grace, they can wound and kill. For it is written,

A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention. (Proverbs 15:18 RSVA)

Know this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God. (James 1:19-20 RSVA)

Faith Comes by Hearing – Only?

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ears of the heart, eyes of the heart, faith, freedom, gospel, hearing, listening, preaching, salvation

Seek The Things That Are Above…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

So often it is stated that faith only comes by hearing and some say if you do not listen to the gospel preached in audible words, you cannot attain faith at all. I often wondered whether that statement was true. Do we know how many people, actually, were able to read and write at the time when the gospel would be preached for the first time? And in the centuries afterwards?

Seeking the approval of Christ – only

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God's wrath, heart, intellect, knowledge, Laodicea, light, love, lukewarmness, Martin Luther, mind, punishment, repentance, revelation, sin, spiritual power, trust, truth, warning

Cross and Fire
(Photo from http://cupandcross.com/)

As a foundation for my following deliberations, I’d like to adduce the following verses.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” (Prv 3:5-8 ESV)

We may not believe that God always caresses His children. His permanent, perfect, and satisfying love is only for those who have repented of all their sins, that is, those who have “been perfected in love.” (1 Jn 4:18) In all other cases of not-yet-mature Christians, Jesus Christ is a chastener who also punishes sin if we remain in an unrepentant condition although He warned us to return to Him. For it is written,

Let’s get real, friends!

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darkness, flesh, good works, justification, light, Martin Luther, psychology, sanctification, true faith, unconscious mind

Straw Field (Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

I am fully aware that this article might offend some people. However, we should know that the truth almost always offends our flesh. Letting His light shine into our very heart is NEVER comfortable. It is painful!

So, only if you want to let the great heart surgeon have more than a casual glance into the dark cellar of your unconscious mind any time soon, you should go on reading. If not, it would be better to cling to the dangerous delusion of believing Jesus came to make you a better human being. In fact, He came to save sinners from perishing in their (unconscious) sinfulness by giving them the light to see their lostness and hopelessness without Him.

Prayer, preaching, and love – do they belong together?

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Baptism in the Holy Spirit, experience, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, love, poems, prayer, preaching, repentance, spiritual power

The Visual Bible (Here: The Gospel of John)

The most important thing to do for every minister and servant of God is as Jesus reaffirmed,

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt 22:37-39 ESV)

If we move the commandment which is to be found in the second place to the first place, we will surely fail. Although both commandments count as equal, we may never forget that obeying the great commandment alone empowers us to love our neighbors with that love we received from God before (Rom 5:5). Also, if we drop the first commandment and try to love others (or ourselves) on our own, we will be frustrated because of not being able to love anyone including ourselves.