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…

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.

“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.

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,

The Coronavirus Causing Chaos or… You Keep Him in Perfect Peace Whose Mind is Stayed on YOU

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coronavirus, discerning the spirits, encouragement, following Jesus, God's love, hope, Jesus Christ, joy, mind, Pandemia, peace, prayer, repentance, spiritual power, thought life

As I was just reading the whole chapter 26 from the prophet Isaiah, I began to wonder whether there might be a connection, a similarity to what the whole world is going through due to this pandemic coronavirus right now. Here in Bavaria after the case of disaster has been announced, everything has become chaotic. People have begun to act crazily, even insane at times. Dear brothers and sisters, even if we have to stay at home due to a ban on going out, I believe that God can help us out in everything. We won’t die of famine if we trust in Him, we won’t be ‘contaminated’ due to a lack of toilet paper or hand soap, and we will be able to experience joy and peace as the apostle Paul and Silas did when they were in prison (see Acts 16:25).

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? 🙄

A True Revival or… Living A Deathless Life

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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“.

Self under Arrest

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anointing, being born again, deliverance, discerning the spirits, entering his rest, esoteric movements, experience, faith, introspection, Jesus Christ, self-analysis, T.A. Sparks, the new self, the old self

Imagine you keep meeting your loved ones not only today but also… yesterday… and tomorrow. This is both grammatically wrong and seems to be a ridiculous statement, right? Yet how often our thoughts keep strolling about situations that happened in the past (and cannot be repeated!) and about what might take place in the days ahead (although solely God knows the future). Of course, we know that we should live in the moment right now, but can we? If you ever tried earnestly, you know that it is hard work to simply experience a few seconds without your mind trying to run away through space and time, so to say. The apostle Paul said, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (cf. Gal 2:20 ESV) What does that mean?