Preaching the Cross without letting it kill us or… on Plagiarism, once again

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blogging, discerning the spirits, disobedience, dying to self, experience, honesty, inspiration, killing sin, plagiarism, resisting temptation, sin, the cross, writing

Walking in the Light as He is in the Light…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

It was not my intention to write a new blog post today and I hoped this would turn out a short one, but I thought I should share my recent experiences on the internet with you. In fact, I was simply searching for ANY other blog that deals with the cross of Christ on a personal basis. I truly wondered whether there might be a handful of such blogs nowadays. Here’s what I found out.

What grieves me…

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compassion, deception, discerning the spirits, divorce, exhortation, experience, eyes of the heart, God's guidance, grace, Jesus Christ, leadership, Remarriage, repentance, Satan, sin

Photo by Susanne Schuberth

God alone knows our hearts and why we do what we do. From hence, we have no right to judge others wrongly and condemn them. However, we need to know with which people we can be open and which people we should beware of. Just yesterday I had two seemingly similar, yet also different experiences.

How to Become ONE

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becoming one, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, faith, feelings, God's love, heart, love, obedience, Oneness, sanctification, Satan, sin, soul-life, the valley of the shadow of death

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1 Jn 4:20 ESV)
– Photo by Susanne Schuberth

We have an easy time dealing with people who perfectly agree with us and always understand what we mean. Ahem, ahem, seriously… do such people really exist??  😉 Is there anyone but God who understands everything we might tell them and knows these dark and hidden areas inside our hearts we do not even know ourselves? I assume we all might feel more comfortable with those people who agree with us or who appreciate us even if we disagree. Yet it appears to be more difficult when we have to do with human beings who like to debate or fight over who is right. God who knows our problems created a heavenly condition of which Jesus spoke as He prayed,

Knowing God’s heart… intimately

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adultery, being born again, darkness, discerning the spirits, encouragement, exhortation, experience, eyes of the heart, following Jesus, George Michael, God's love, homosexuality, Jesus Christ, light, prayer, salvation, Satan, sin

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Jn 3:3 ESV) –
Photo by Susanne Schuberth

It is not for me easy to define intimacy, even more difficult regarding my relationship with God. Maybe, an example might help here. Yesterday morning as I was thinking about someone who died four days ago, I closed my eyes and looked at Jesus in my spirit. I recall that I did not say anything, neither loudly nor silently in my mind, but my question was heard by Him, nonetheless. This person who died was famous and some might know that I write about British pop star George Michael who died at the age of 53. I did not know that much about him, I only remember some of his songs that touched me in a certain way, especially ‘Last Christmas’ where he sang,

“Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special…”

Sin does not equal sin or… God only judges the heart

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discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, forgiveness, grace, heart, judging others, light, rest, sin, truth

Fall Has Come…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

While typing the headline, I myself just wondered about the wording of this title. You and I know what sin is when we read or talk about it, however, is it possible that there are differences of motives when we fall in sin? I was just thinking about the Pharisees who by condemning a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery basically did no wrong thing according to their own law as they wanted to stone her. The Jews indeed had the right to judge those who belonged to them, just as they had no right to do so with others who were no Jews like the Gentiles. But here stood Jesus who represented the end of the Old Covenant, the end of the law for all those who believe in Him (cf. Rom 10:4). He alone was the One who could show grace to this poor woman “for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (Jn 1:17 ESV)

How to Break free from Delusion and Deception

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deceitfulness of the heart, deception, delusion, discerning the spirits, entering his rest, exhortation, experience, false prophets, God's love, Jesus Christ, Satan, sin, spiritual growth, T.A. Sparks

“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Jer 2:13 ESV)
– Photo by Susanne Schuberth

Below you can read a definition of what the word ‘delusion’ basically signifies. T. Austin Sparks explained it this way.

What is delusion? Well, it is to lead from truth into error. It is to mislead the mind or the judgment, to beguile, to lead astray, to cheat, to frustrate, to disappoint, to impose upon; something that is not the truth; and these are days peculiarly marked by that peril. [1]

Actually, delusion and deception are so natural to us that we usually submit to them without knowing about it until God sets us free. On the one hand, there are people who are atheists or agnostics who are deceived because they reject The Truth which is Christ. On the other hand, there are religious people, even Christians, who are deceived because they are content with what they know and can do for God or other religious entities. These believers do not want to grow spiritually because it is too painful for the flesh which must die and make room for Christ in us. Furthermore, there are Christians who have come to know parts of the truth and who had their personal experiences with God and Christ too, however, they habitually eat the whole meat of everything they were taught and do not spit out the bones. Thus it is often times a horrible mix of truth and lies they offer and you need to be cautious to not get captivated by their confusing spiritual spider webs as well.

Seven ways to discern truth from error by A.W. Tozer

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A.W. Tozer, clarity, confusion, deception, delusion, demons, discerning the spirits, God, Jesus Christ, love, method, mystical experiences, Satan, sin, test, the Bible, The World

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Mt 7:13-14 ESV)
Photo by Susanne Schuberth

If we are insecure about how to discern the spirits in certain cases, A.W. Tozer offers a very helpful method to try any new experience, doctrine, or religious movement regarding their effects on our relationship with (1) God, (2) Jesus Christ, (3) the Bible, (4) our (old) self, (5) other believers who are indwelt by Christ’s Spirit, (6) the world and its desires, and as to (7) sin. It is a quite long article of which I only pasted some excerpts on here although the text is pretty long, still. If you want to read more, please, follow the link below. It is well worth reading, I believe. I also think we can use this method in order to judge the origin of our thoughts, our (day)dreams and visions, even everyday occurrences and their effect on us. May God help us sharpen our discerners with what Tozer, who in my opinion had been inspired by God, wrote about.

Awakened to a New Life… IN Christ

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awakened, being born again, darkness, discerning the spirits, encouragement, eternal life, exhortation, experience, experiencing eternal life, fellowship, Fellowship with God, God's love, Jesus Christ, light, Oneness, Paul Schuberth, Satan, sin, T.A. Sparks, the new self, the old self

“Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the Triune God.” – John Wesley
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

This is not a new post. I put this article as a featured blog entry before all others on my home page since after rereading, I just found out that this writing expresses now, more than one year later, a lot of what I have been going through since then. As for publishing new and inspired blog posts, I will have to wait for Him to inspire me once again in the days ahead, whenever that may be. 😉

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Lately I began to wonder when this seemingly endless process of dying to self finally would be over. To be completely honest with you, I had given up any hope of ever seeing His light again, just as the apostle Paul said here, “… we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” (2 Cor 1:8-9 ESV) Just now as I checked the context of these verses, I saw some encouragement I unintentionally had ignored before. Paul wrote there,

How to Detect False Spirits – The Spirit of False Unity and Fake Love

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church, deception, discerning the spirits, Ecumenism, evil spirits, exhortation, experience, fake love, false spirits, feeling, God's love, knowing God, love, Nicky Gumbel, obedience, Satan, sin, the devil

Picture source http://www.datekoupdatekar.com/blog/fake-world-fake-people

God knows how often since October last year I asked Him when this series about discerning the spirits finally would be over. However, I never got a direct response from Him. Instead, He taught me consistently new lessons about dangerous spirits that look so innocent and “holy” on the outside. If this kind of teaching was only a “mind thing”, that would be no problem at all. But God always lets me FEEL those evil spirits, meanwhile even before I meet them. Brothers and sisters, that is not fun!! Yet I believe it must be important to God that we learn to merely listen to His voice and to keep ignoring those other seducing spirits that approach us every day.

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

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behavior, deception, discerning the spirits, dream life, experience, eyes of the heart, God, Jesus Christ, John Gill, peace, Satan, sin, thought life

Bad Company Corrupts Good Character.
(Picture credits http://www.trivalleylifechurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/one-bad-apple.jpg)

I decided to write a not-so-long blog article that deals with the question, once again, how far our relationships with “difficult” people may go. I do not speak of our family members here since our family and relatives were God-given and, of course, you might find some very difficult persons to deal with among them, too. However, where we have a choice is the question of making friends, even more, of seeking spiritual fellowship with other people who are not relatives. Regarding our family members who have really become our enemies because of Christ in us, we know we should love them. As for me, I keep praying, often with many tears and a hurting heart, but I know it would make no sense to talk with them openly or to even share the gospel, in particular when they ridicule what I write about my experiences with God on the net. If they keep attacking and nourish their feelings of hatred continually, we can be sure that Satan has blinded their eyes. Yet I hope and pray that God finally opens their eyes to the truth which is Jesus Christ alone. May we never fall prey to Satan’s lie that we should have fellowship with such people who hate us because we think WE should save them. It is so important to know that Christ is Savior!!! If God has not given us supernatural strength to endure their attacks and doubtless faith that He wants us to stay with them (accompanied by His peace that surpasses ALL understanding!), then we have most probably listened to the devil who always wants to burden us with something that is too difficult for a simple human being, especially without God’s help.