Are we indwelt by the Holy Spirit … or not (yet)?

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adultery, being led by the Holy Spirit, discerning the spirits, divorce, experience, false spirits, God's guidance, Indwelt by the Holy Spirit, remarried, separation from the world, sin, Spiritual Life, T.A. Sparks, this world, walking by the spirit

This question is not meant as an offense to anyone. Instead, I want to make sure that nobody misses out on something that would be theirs in Christ by their spiritual nature. So many struggles as to ‘keeping the law’ by living according to what is written in the Bible WITHOUT the power of the Holy Spirit could be avoided, I believe. T. Austin Sparks offers some very practical and helpful explanations on how we could discern whether the Holy Spirit is acting in and through us all the time or whether we might detect a lack of spiritual guidance in our everyday life. We do not need to worry if we cannot fully understand what TAS was talking about below. However, we might ask God to fill us with this divine life if we have not known it the way it has been described ourselves. Jesus affirmed this promise here as He said,

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Lk 11:13 ESV)

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Are we too sure of ourselves?

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carnal mind, compromise, discerning the spirits, dying in the wilderness, exhortation, experience, false spirits, fullness, satisfaction, T.A. Sparks, walking by the spirit

The following post is meant to provoke some thoughts in my readers. I could have added my own experiences as I usually do in order to illustrate the message below. However, I decided to copy and paste this exhortation by T. Austin Sparks without joining in.

False Christ-Centeredness

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Christian books, Christianity, church, consistency, deeds, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, false spirits, Karl Barth, sacraments, Satan, sin, the old self, theology, Thomas F. Torrance, thought life

Some of you might wonder why I keep publishing about the dangers of clinging to the wrong spirits. However, I believe it is important to get rid of all negative influences that might be able to pull us away from a personal and intimate relationship with Christ risen. If we want to feed on Christ by seeking His presence daily, we should stay away from reading books, blogs, or the like that pollute our minds with an abundance of theological theories. Even though we might always find some truth in theological writings, a true Christian writer can solely be someone who knows God and is known by Him also. Actually, don’t we want to be introduced to all the truth instead of to some starters only? Dear reader, what this world thinks is recommendable is usually detestable in God’s eyes. The same applies to the religious world of Christianity where the average Christian has been raised to look up to charismatic high-profile figures. The book market is flooded with a diversity of Christian books that are not always helpful to lead us into the truth as it is revealed in Christ alone. Let me give you an example here the Lord has just made me aware of.

Spirit-led vs. spirit-driven

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anxiety, blogging, deception, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, eyes of the heart, false spirits, following Jesus, God's love, God's voice, heart, Satan, the Kingdom of God

Although I have been posting articles about discerning the spirits for almost 27 months now, I have come to realize that it is often times not possible to explain the difference between these emotions that move our soul habitually and, by contrast, those tender ‘nudges’ or even stronger impressions of restraint in our hearts by which God leads our spirits. Actually, we can only recognize what we have come to know ourselves, right? So, I simply want to tell you today what God’s leading is NOT about.

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? 🙄

The Times We Live in or …Thoughts on Today’s Theology

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Catholicism, Christian books, Christianity, darkness, deception, discerning the spirits, dying to self, Evangelicalism, exhortation, experience, false spirits, false teachers, light, Lucifer, Protestantism, Satan, temptations

In recent weeks I got more and more aware of the fact that there has been an alarming trend in (public) Christianity to migrate from often times good beginnings as believers in God and Christ to one of three seemingly different camps of Christendom. Let me give you my observations for this assertion.

It’s a Matter of Faith

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admonition, church, discerning the spirits, divine inspiration, doctrine, encouragement, exhortation, false spirits, Flesh vs. Spirit, God's voice, good works, inspiration, knowing God, prophecy, prophetic function, prophets, revelation, Revival, T.A. Sparks, teaching, The Bride of Christ, The Burden of the Valley of Vision, the cross, true faith, warning

A misty morning, sitting at the hairdresser. Looking out the window, I see people hurrying to and fro around the main station area in Fürth. As I had asked the Lord whether I should begin to write a new blog article here or not, He answered, “If you like.” I responded, “Only if YOU like!” since I have had no clue, until now, what to write about. 🤔

However, that’s IT, indeed! 😊 I do not want to write about the BIG things God might be inclined to do through us because that would not be the truth. How many Christians still tend to believe that God’s main interests were in revival, in teaching proper doctrine, in healing the sick and helping the needy, or in evangelism aka preaching the gospel to save the lost? “Hey, wait a moment…” I hear someone say, “The Bible tells us that some of these things you mentioned will follow those who believe.” Yeah, that is right. But do we really believe just as Jesus believed His Father? Do we think that our Lord cared and worried about these issues as we do today? Or did He not, rather, care about what His tender loving Daddy in heaven had on His mind at any given moment?

How to find out another ‘Christian’ spirit

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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.

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?

Counterfeit Spirits

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church, deception, demons, discerning the spirits, drawing boundaries, experience, false spirits, following Jesus, God's goodness, God's love, light, peace, Resisting the Devil, RHEMA movement, Satan, T.A. Sparks, Witchcraft, Word of Faith

The danger behind the fence… (Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

The following excerpt by T. Austin Sparks speaks bluntly about how evil spirits imitate God by letting people appear ‘holier’ than before they had come into touch with these cunning underlings of Satan. May we not think it is easy to discern the real Christian who is indwelt by Christ’s Spirit (cf. Rom 8:9) from the ‘Christian’ that is indwelt by these evil spirits that comport themselves as if they were beings of light. Sparks wrote,