Who Hath Believed Our Message?

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death, discerning the spirits, eternal life, exhortation, experience, following Jesus, freedom, head knowledge, heart knowledge, Jesus Christ, life, revelation, spiritual blessings, T.A. Sparks, The Holy Spirit, true faith, unbelief

This time I want to be rather silent and offer you an interpretation of Isaiah, chapter 53, verses 1-12, by T. Austin-Sparks. I guess most of us are familiar with this chapter that describes the suffering Messiah. But have we ever pondered on the possibility that we might reject our Savior Jesus Christ, not as the One who has died for our sins, but as the One who has revealed Himself to us personally because He wanted to lead us further into the truth… than we were willing to accept?

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Crucified with Christ, the Power of God

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being led by the Holy Spirit, entering his rest, experience, faith, God's love, grace, Jesus Christ, Liberty, Michael Clark, new life, peace, resurrection power, spiritual blessings, spiritual power, surrender, T.A. Sparks, the cross, walking by the spirit

Do we want more spiritual power, authority and persuasiveness in our lives? If so, then we ought to let go of trying to produce these with self-effort of any kind. Michael Clark lately said to me, “It is amazing what God can do as soon as we get out of the picture.” Being crucified with Christ, conformed to His death, and risen to a completely new life with Him, means we have resolved to get out of the picture every day so that HE can live HIS LIFE through us.

What is the Fear of God?

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Albert Barnes, condemnation, curses, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, freedom, God's love, joy, judging others, love, obedience, peace, spiritual blessings, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, true faith

Photo by Paul Schuberth

Although this article springs from my own experiences with the fear of God, I did not describe here how it really feels to be struck all of a sudden by this special spirit of Him who rules the universe. If you like to read more about that, though, click here. In this entry you will rather find a definition by T. Austin Sparks’ of the fear of the Lord and some implications of what it means to truly belong to God’s people. Contrasting the evil of fear imposed on us by Satan in order to torment and paralyze us, TAS wrote regarding the fear of God,

The Pursuit of Happiness

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being born again, experience, fear of the Lord, following Jesus, God's love, happiness, obedience, refuge, spiritual blessings, the new self, the old self, troubles

Seeing the Son in the Sun 🙂
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

I never met anyone who wanted to be sad, sick, and sorrowful. We as human beings might be able to adjust ourselves to a certain kind of pain at times, but no one longs to be unhappy continuously. No, we all want to enjoy our life! Well, but that is exactly our problem since God created us to be happy eternally in His presence, yet we have fallen short of obeying Him and thus have had to face several consequences of sin, one of which is temporal unhappiness. We know that it was Jesus’ atonement and God’s grace that opened the way back into His presence through our Lord, who has become our personal way to an abundant spiritual life. But knowing about it and living to see it are two very different animals. 😉

The Simplicity of the Christian Life

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experience, experiencing eternal life, freedom, Gerhard Tersteegen, God’s presence, Holiness, knowing, peace, prayer, spiritual blessings, the Kingdom of God, the presence of God, the promised land, thought life

Bumblebee Feeding on a Purple Tansy
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

I found three quotes from Gerhard Tersteegen (*) today of which I think that they are quite enlightening with regards to our true Christian “duties”. From my own experience I can confirm that God freed me from so many things of which I had thought I should do them, either because others expected me to do so or I demanded it of myself. It has been a very long struggle and I am not yet through it all, but sometimes I feel a kind of very quiet peace I have not known before. Immersed into a silence where spoken words and even thoughts come to an end, I discover the subtle power of the omnipresent God that is reflected by all creation. And out of the blue, your whole being knows what LIFE is all about…
Q: “How do we get there?”