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.

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On how to not “Walk by the Spirit”

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discerning the spirits, encouragement, experience, faith, following Jesus, gospel, grace, knowing God, sanctification, T.A. Sparks, the heavenlies, thought life, walking after the flesh, walking by the spirit

It was only yesterday in the evening as I was occupied with tidying up the living room when I asked myself this question, “When should I walk in the Spirit?” to which God’s immediate response was, “Now!” Honestly, that gave me a pause.  🙄 Although I recalled having prayed quick prayers when I was busy with similar mundane activities before, I rather thought about walking by the spirit whenever I was confronted with decisions of any kind as to what and how to do something. That means in particular, when I left the house I asked God about leading me. When I had to write emails or to do some phone calls, I asked Him to show me what to say and to give me His wisdom in all things. And I really thought that was enough. But no, it was not!

What does a real saint look like? You might wonder… 😉

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being born again, called by God, devotion, entering the Kingdom of God, experience, fame, family, following Jesus, friends, Humility, humor, Jesus Christ, miracles, Ordinary Life, Oswald Chambers, relationships, revelation, sanctification, servanthood, success, the new self, the old self, walking by the spirit

Just reading Oswald Chambers’ devotional from tomorrow, I was truly hit by what he had to say. I need to admit that it does not happen very often that I appreciate his devotionals because I do not like his sometimes accusatory style of writing (preaching). I am paraphrasing him here a bit, “Do you think you have already arrived? Are you sure you belong to the Lord Jesus? You should not do this … you should not do that… you [seem to do it all wrong – the latter were my words].” This posture reminds me of preachers on the pulpit who seemingly dwell in another, higher spiritual region than their more or less attentive audience does. If we compare such accusations with how often the apostle Paul humbled himself before other, less mature Christians, we might know where and when we must be cautious about believing what we hear or read from other people. Nonetheless, I can tell you whenever Chambers goes over to including himself into what he has to say, I am happy! Lo and behold… below. 😊

Being led by the Holy Spirit

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Baptism in the Holy Spirit, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, justification, killing sin, Matthew Poole, peace, prayer without ceasing, sanctification, sealed with the Holy Spirit, T.A. Sparks, the law, the new self, the old self

Photo by Susanne Schuberth

Theodore Austin-Sparks so aptly said,

The Holy Spirit’s method is to set His seal upon us as we move according to His leading; not according to our fancy, choice, aptitude, predilection or ambition. (1)

Instead of Sanctification: The crossless gospel spirit

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discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, false gospel, false spirits, following Jesus, God, Jesus Christ, justification, pain, peace, sanctification, Satan, sin

Every gospel that focuses on man instead of focusing on Christ is anti-Christian by nature.
(Picture taken from https://thepropheticnews.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/antichrist.jpg)

I am sure there are more versions of that kind of gospel today and I presume there will pop up more and more of them in these last confusing days where Satan appears as an angel of light. However, I want to merely focus on two different manifestations of the crossless gospel I have met particularly on the internet since I began to write online comments in English on December 1, 2011. I would like to refer to these two confusing sub-categories as Spiritless Salvation of the Sinner and Spiritual Self-Salvation.

“Walking In the Light as He Is In the Light” by Michael and Susanne

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church, experience, eyes of the heart, feelings, healing, light, Michael Clark, mind, pain, peace, prayer, sanctification, sin, soul, the body of Christ, triggers

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“And we are writing this that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:4-7 RSVA)

Susanne wrote, “Meanwhile I believe that God only shows us that there is no good thing coming from the old man in order to bring forth those genuinely good things that spring from a new God-given heart. But the process until we are through with all these “ouch-experiences” and our natural tendency to run from pain and/or to attack the one who offended us is indeed PAINFUL.”

Who wants to experience the final death of self aka “Mystic Death”?

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being born again, darkness, Evelyn Underhill, experience, following Jesus, illumination, pain, psychology, purification, sanctification, the dark night of the soul, the dark night of the spirit, unbelief, unification with God, walking by faith

Clouds Obscuring the Source of Light
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

If there was another way to encounter the Living God and to stay in His holy and pure presence 24/7 here on earth and eternally too, I would have immediately said, “No, thank you, I am content as it is, no more death in my life needed.” Well, having been plunged into the second part of the dark night of the soul, the dark night of the spirit, in fall 2013, yet without interruption only one year ago, I today gave in after so many struggles with and against God since I saw it makes no sense to pray to God that I might have it my own way any longer. That means, if this death will continue to last for years in which I neither have any interest in God nor in spiritual things and in which God gives me more and more sickness and pain, then so be it. Period.

Jumping into the Unknown

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Augustine of Hippo, following Jesus, freedom, joy, justification, rest, sanctification, silence, spiritual power, the new self, the old self, the promised land

God’s Hand keeps us secure – always
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

What is the goal we will reach after a comparatively short justification process and very long sanctification process? Actually, I want to offer you some food for thought here.
Although I believe that only a handful of people experienced that blissful condition of having died to self completely, it might be interesting to read Augustine of Hippo’s thoughts about how our whole inner life will have changed as soon as we have entered the invisible kingdom of God.

Sanctification – our spiritual workout

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experience, faith, feeling, God's love, mountain top experiences, mystery, Oswald Chambers, rest, sanctification, seeing God, thought life

Just a Look from Above…
(Photo by Paul Schuberth)

Just imagine you were an experienced mountain climber and there was a particular mountain you know like the back of your hand. You have been at the summit several times, you even found different ways to climb up and down, your muscles are athletically trained, and your body knows how to deal with sudden pains and injuries too. Looking at the sky before you begin to climb, you know from your own experience without consulting the weather forecast which weather lies ahead of you and you know which clothing and how much food you will need.

What does it mean to be spiritual?

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being born again, carnal mind, children of God, faith, Martin Luther, Oswald Chambers, sanctification, spiritual mind, the new self, the old self, true faith

Crocuses in the City Park (Stadtpark Fürth, March 2015)
Photo by Susanne Schuberth

In the past I read rather often that Christians tried hard to be “more spiritual” because they had observed others who seemed to have arrived at a more mature level of spirituality than they themselves. And at that point as insecurity set in, they began to ask, “How do we get there? How to become spiritual at all or even more spiritual?”
The apostle Paul defined Christian spirituality for us. He wrote in his letter to the Romans,