The Cost of Discipleship

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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?  🙄

Misconceptions of God

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commandments, cults, discerning the spirits, encouragement, exhortation, experience, faith, false spirits, God's love, Holiness, image of God, Jesus Christ, obedience, prayer, Righteousness, Seeking God, sin, the Bible, the fear of God, the Word of God

More than 20 years ago after having left the Christian cult we were in, I felt that God was not half as judgmental as it had been suggested there in that missionary congregation. My own experiences with God and Jesus made me think that HE was quite the opposite of what I had heard back then. It would seem to me that God’s grace revealed in Christ did not judge anyone at all. From hence, for quite some time I was convinced that God was love, and only love. However, what about all this evil in the world and about evil people? No judgment? No condemnation? Only forgiveness for everyone without any consequences? So many questions which I, sooner or later, could not ignore any longer…

Withdrawal from Information Overload

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discerning the spirits, encouragement, experience, peace, prayer, rest, spiritual power, the promised land

Just recently it has begun to dawn on me that this deluge of information trying to flood our minds every day can only be avoided by our own withdrawal. So, no abundance of words in this small blog post today. 🙂 Instead, I pasted the first three verses from Psalm 1 and added a few pictures I would take beforehand.

What is Spiritual Perfection?

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discerning the spirits, dying to self, encouragement, experience, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, true faith

If you, like me, thought that attaining spiritual perfection meant becoming a better human being, someone who does not make the same mistakes again and again as they did before… it seems to me now that I might have been wrong.

“Do not allow demons to speak!”

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blogging, demons, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, The Truth

Entering the Promised Land

“Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil. (Mt 5:37 ESV)
– Picture taken from http://www.firesong.net/doubleminded.html

This morning as I awoke I had a haunting picture on my mind I could neither understand nor get rid of. In my mind I was looking at a very small, seemingly white fox that stood a few meters in front of me. He was so small that he could have been easily overlooked unless the contrast between his bright appearance and a huge dark hole, even abyss, behind him would not have caused me to look a bit longer at him. He seemed to be so innocent, so small and unimportant, even so full of light. Yet the light was cold and its brightness made me feel repelled in a sense I have known before, especially during the last few weeks as the Lord has…

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“Don‘t panic, it‘s only infodemic!“

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coronavirus, discerning the spirits, encouragement, experience, infodemic, Jesus Christ, pandemic, peace, Satan, spam mails, thought life

Sometimes I wonder about God’s inexplicable leading. Really, I cannot understand His way of thinking at all! Just lately He began to teach me about something that has been very unnerving for me. For several weeks, even months, I detected in my spam and trash folder on WordPress many, many spam mails. During the last weeks even about one thousand every day! These mails come from different email addresses; however, the common thing is that they are written in Spanish and that their message consists of only one question.

Discerning true ministry and fellowship by T. Austin Sparks

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discerning the spirits, experience, fellowship, following Jesus, Growing in Christ, spiritual growth, T.A. Sparks, true ministry

This blog post should give some food for thought, I hope. Q: How can we discern true from false ministry? A: If we look closer at it, we should ask ourselves whether the ministry concerned is focused on a person or a group ministering to (mainly passive) believers or is the minister busily trying to change the audience, i.e. the human beings, instead of pointing to the Holy Spirit who alone can change us. Both ministries would represent a horizontal gospel of sorts while vertical gospel preaching usually looks first to God and then to man! If we have a true ministry, then we bring Christ to the believer, hoping and praying that everybody who hears us will discover the most intimate relationship possible – with God, our Father, and with Jesus Christ.

“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that [y]our joy may be full.” (1 Jn 1:3-4 KJV)

The Importance of the Word of God

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being born again, discerning the spirits, experience, God's voice, Jesus Christ, Martin Luther, obedience, repentance, Satan, Temptation, the Bible, The Holy Spirit, the Word of God

I want to start with a quote from Martin Luther that expressed his view of the Bible he would translate from Greek into the German language. He said,

You can’t joke with God’s Word. If you cannot understand this, take off your hat in front of it. It’s not a joke, it’s serious and wants to be honored.

If you read my blog regularly, you might know that I am not someone who recommends to regularly study the Bible according to an unalterable time schedule. I could never suggest this as I feel that Spirit-led people might read the Bible as God nudges them to do so. However, I remember several times in my life when I somehow devoured the whole Bible for several months. You might know that there are times when God convicts us and calls us to turn from our old ways where we ignored His Word (repentance is just another word for finally turning to the Lord). When He in His grace forgave us and we sense His love, joy, and peace after having been restored to God, usually a hunger for His Word (the Bible) and for the presence of the Lord will follow, too, as we hunger and thirst for THE LIFE only He can give. Jesus told us,

My Testimony – Part 2

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being born again, discerning the spirits, encouragement, experience, false teachers, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, joy, light, love, peace, prayer, rest, spiritual power

It was not my intention to write on the details about how I once came to Christ, but it somehow happened as I kept writing this blog post. So that’s why I chose this title. 😉 My purpose of writing today was showing you how easy it can be to get back under the law once we have been freed from it. I am not talking about Old Testament Law here. Instead, I want to describe my latest experiences on the internet, and then I am going to share another part of my spiritual journey with you. Btw, you can find the first part of my testimony here. Please note: I apologize to you for the bad quality of these old, darkened pictures I attached.  The camera my husband Paul used back then in 1995 did not have the same quality as the one he uses nowadays.

Mind Pollution vs. A Sound Mind

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discerning the spirits, encouragement, experience, feelings, following Jesus, God's love, Jesus Christ, peace, prayer, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the mind of Christ, thought life

I might be wrong but I imagine that the mind of Christ must be, and must have been as Jesus walked on the earth, like a deep, clear water that could not be moved by anything else but by the voice of His Father. We know that we as believers should be like-minded as we share the mind of Christ. Yet how often do we experience the opposite of clarity in our minds? Are we continually filled with good thoughts toward life, toward our neighbors (even our enemies!) and toward ourselves? 🙄