A Quick Test of Spirits

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A Christ-Centered Life, Angelic Hosts, Cloud of Witnesses, death, deception, discerning the spirits, encouragement, eternal life, experience, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, life, prayer, Principalities and Powers, Satan, T.A. Sparks, the devil, the Word of God, walking by the spirit, wisdom

Every human being can talk about God, Christ, and the Bible as long as they have been enabled to speak. The more educated they are, the more convincing such people seem to be, esp. to those who cannot figure out Satan’s elaborate strategies. T. Austin-Sparks said,

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The Greatest of These is LOVE – by Michael Clark and Susanne Schuberth

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church, discerning the spirits, experience, fellowship, Fellowship with God, following Jesus, freedom, God's love, joy, love, maturity, Michael Clark, peace, pride, Satan, spiritual gifts, Spiritual Warfare, Spiritual Weapons, Susanne Schuberth, T.A. Sparks, the devil, the enemy, the heavenlies, the mind of Christ, unity, walking by the spirit, worries

It has been a very long time since Michael Clark and I wrote our last joint article. As we are both dependent on God’s leading and inspiration, we know that we cannot ‘produce’ any blog post unless the Holy Spirit nudges us to write and publish. We are also aware of the fact that Satan has tried to destroy our spiritual fellowship more than once during the last nine years. These continuous onslaughts by the enemy are something we cannot fight against unless we use spiritual weapons since the devil is a spirit, too. It seems when you and I, dear brothers and sisters, are seeking fellowship with someone who is like-minded with us, the devil is instantly ready to fire. T. Austin-Sparks in his article “Spiritual Warfare” (1) wrote,

How can we discern God’s Voice more clearly?

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confusion, deception, discerning the spirits, dying to self, ears of the heart, experience, following Jesus, God's guidance, God's voice, hearing, Light and Darkness, mind, Paul Schuberth, prayer, quietness of heart, Satan, the body of Christ, the devil, The Good Shepherd, visions, walking by the spirit, wisdom

Before suggesting a more detailed explanation, I want to first offer you this follow-up vision on the one I posted on the 25^th October in 2022 (full particulars here). If you do not want to follow the link, here’s a short summary of the surroundings in that vision.

The Weakness of the Soul vs. The Power of the Spirit

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Body of Christ, darkness, demons, discerning the spirits, encouragement, experience, feelings, Fellowship with God, following Jesus, freedom, pain, peace, Principalities and Powers, Satan, spiritual power, Spiritual Warfare, T.A. Sparks, the heavenlies, The Holy Spirit, thought life, throne union, Victory, visions, walking by the spirit, World Rulers

In order to illustrate the contrasting pair I chose in this title, I will give you an example. Just think about someone who has been hurt deeply by another person. The pain they feel can neither be forgotten nor does it seem that it will ever be healed. Since we as human beings do not want to feel pain at all, we might choose different ways to protect ourselves in the future. Some people suppress all their negative feelings, others tend to talk about it often, and others again seek revenge up to a certain extent. There might be even more ways to deal with such suffering on a permanent level, yet none of these methods will ever set us free. Quite the contrary.

A Testimony That Counts

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dying to self, experience, following Jesus, God our Father, heart, joy, legalism, light, Lord Jesus Christ, mind, rest, spiritual power, Spiritual Warfare, T.A. Sparks, Testimony, the cross, the light of the world, throne union, true faith, trusting God, walking by the spirit

To start off with, the title I chose was part of a sentence from T. Austin-Sparks whose article I will be referring to further below. As for me, dear brothers and sisters, actually, it is getting more and more difficult to write a blog. Not that I do not have experiences with God I could share with you. I could. But either I do not have the time to write (for mainly private reasons) or I do not sense the Spirit’s ‘nudge’ to publish what He has shown me. Often times I think it could not help anyone if I described my struggles in the heavenlies. This continous warfare in the dark spiritual realm can be very exhausting, esp. when faith is lacking. Christ is always beside me, but do I fully trust Him? Alas, not yet.

Then again I may gain new spiritual (!) experiences, things I cannot even describe properly as they are completely new to me, too. For instance, have you ever you walked on air, without any visible fundament to tread on?  🙄 In the beginning it was a joy and even fun to walk or stand with Jesus to my right side way above the earth where no path, no mountain, no landscape beneath was needed. I take it that He should be the only fundament we need. He wants us to be completely dependent on Him so that He can release His power and spiritual blessings in and through us. Jesus said,

Crucified with Christ, the Power of God

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being led by the Holy Spirit, entering his rest, experience, faith, God's love, grace, Jesus Christ, Liberty, Michael Clark, new life, peace, resurrection power, spiritual blessings, spiritual power, surrender, T.A. Sparks, the cross, walking by the spirit

Do we want more spiritual power, authority and persuasiveness in our lives? If so, then we ought to let go of trying to produce these with self-effort of any kind. Michael Clark lately said to me, “It is amazing what God can do as soon as we get out of the picture.” Being crucified with Christ, conformed to His death, and risen to a completely new life with Him, means we have resolved to get out of the picture every day so that HE can live HIS LIFE through us.

Dominion with Christ – The Choice is Ours, The Power is HIS

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discerning the spirits, dying to self, entering his rest, experience, following Jesus, God's love, Jesus Christ, natural life, peace, prophecy, rest, resurrection power, sanctification, T.A. Sparks, the cross, visions, walking by the spirit

This afternoon I had a gripping vision which initially filled me with great joy. But later I got deeply sad. In order to spare you numerous details, I try to be as brief as possible and to rather point you to this excerpt from T. Austin-Sparks further below where he also described a personal experience. Reading what he had to undergo shed some light on what I saw and felt in the following vision.

The Secret of Heart Rest

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being born again, experience, faith, following Jesus, God's love, grace, new life, peace, prayer, quietness of heart, rest, T.A. Sparks, the cross, The Lord's Prayer, thought life, walking by the spirit

I could have chosen another title also. But I guess the following, at first sight, might have had a slightly discouraging connotation. Nevertheless, the other title would have signified the same. I was thinking about the heading ‘Getting LIFE through the Cross.’ As you can see in the picture I posted above, there is a sort of summit cross, standing on a rock (!), out of which leaves have started to grow on all four sides which are to represent the whole world. Green leaves symbolize life as we know from Noah’s story, for instance.

The Other Side of the Cross

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being born again, discerning the spirits, dying to self, encouragement, entering his rest, experience, eyes of the heart, faith, following Jesus, freedom, grace, Jesus Christ, joy, mind, peace, rest, suffering, the cross, the devil, The Holy Spirit, thought life, walking by the spirit

Before sitting down in front of my computer, I had no clue as to whether I would ever write and publish again, neither had I any idea about what to write at all. Hesitatingly, I had checked out my blog “Entering the Promised Land”. Jesus recently told me to delete those three drafts of blog posts I had started writing during the last six months. One might ask what has happened during this rather long period since February this year after I had published Speak My Words. Indeed, it was exactly THIS! Our Lord taught me to rather speak than to write. This particular lesson had begun with a close observation of my conversational and thought habits.

Speak My Words

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Beholding Christ, discerning the spirits, experience, eyes of the heart, fear of, following Jesus, God's guidance, God's voice, Jesus Christ, Michael Clark, natural life, new life, obedience, Satan, T.A. Sparks, The Fear of the Lord, the flesh, visions, walking by the spirit

This time I am going to share a short vision with you on here, though only further below. Nonetheless, this vision was so impressive that I was left with the fear of the Lord in my heart afterwards. For a better understanding I want to clarify again that beholding the Lord or God Himself cannot be compared with looking at a real photograph or with watching a movie or else with our natural eyes. When we look at a picture or at someone who is in front of us, as long as our eyes allow we can explore what we want to see, even in details. However, that is not the case in the spiritual realm.