Trust in HIM – A Biblical Promise in Pictures

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experience, freedom, God's love, joy, light, peace, resurrection power, spiritual power, the Kingdom of God, the new self, the promised land

Instead of offering my readers another blog article with, perhaps, too many words, I decided to show you some of the pictures I took last Sunday as we celebrated my husband Paul’s 54th BD in the Bavarian Alps. The first picture above and the second below were taken three days earlier as I was walking alone on a not-so-high mountain after I had spent some time with my daughter on her first day of stay in a hospital nearby.

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LOVE is YOU

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discerning the spirits, encouragement, experience, God's love, intimacy, life, light, love, Michael Clark, sanctification, the dark night of the soul, the dark night of the spirit, the Kingdom of God, the new self, the old self

After sunrise in the Public Pool (Fürth/Scherbsgraben)
Photo by Susanne Schuberth

After a pretty long and dry period without much inspiration, here is another joint article by Michael Clark and me.

Satan is a liar. And he is very good at that. He tells us to worry about tomorrow because God would not care or provide. Therefore, we fear the future although we might know there are Scriptures which promise the opposite of what the devil keeps whispering into our ears. If we are tempted to sin, our enemy embellishes the act of sinning and plays the consequences down by offering us only good feelings that should make us fall asleep spiritually. And what is worst, Satan tries to convince us that God could NEVER give us what he, Satan, offers. Instead, he presents God as a someone who would take everything from us which would, if we listened to the devil, make our life worthwhile (I am mainly referring to sin here). Although we might spell out the appropriate Bible verses to the angel of light, he will only laugh at us, knowing that our natural heart is terribly wicked and inclined to commit every sin imaginable if the right conditions were presented to us.

Natural Life versus Kingdom Life or… How Do We Enter the Kingdom of God?

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being born again, church, deception, discerning the spirits, dying to self, exhortation, experience, eyes of the heart, Jesus Christ, joy, peace, Righteousness, T.A. Sparks, the Kingdom of God, the new self, the old self

Source http://www.lovethispic.com

We know what Jesus said about the Kingdom of God. So, just in case someone wants to convince us of already living IN the kingdom (although we do not really know what that might mean) or tells us that he himself lives there, we should remember Jesus’ words on how we can get there and on how the kingdom of God is NOT. We read,

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” (Jn 3:5-7 ESV)

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Lk 17:21-22 ESV)

Life IN Christ… or the cost of discipleship

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discipleship, Dorothy L. Sayers, dying to self, experience, faith, following Jesus, freedom, God, Jesus Christ, Martin Luther, T.A. Sparks, the cross, the dark night of the soul, the dark night of the spirit, the Kingdom of God, thought life

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” (Mt 19:29 ESV)
Picture by Susanne Schuberth

As I thought about describing the difference between our life inside and outside of God, I thought I could share my own experiences with you on here. Just for clarification, I do not speak about the experience of Christ IN us, that is, about feeling his love, joy and peace merely from the inside. Rather, I refer to a life IN God and His kingdom as a completely new experience that approaches us from the outside by simultaneously filling us up from the inside, too. Sounds complicated, doesn’t it…? We might have received some foretaste of such a life beforehand when we all of a sudden were hit by an awareness of ‘I-do-not-know-what-it-is… but-it-is-wonderful’ as we were watching the sun rise or going down, when we saw nature unfolding its beauty in springtime or fall, or when we shared some self-forgetfulness of any kind, be that with children who played peacefully in a sort of innocence that could almost be “touched” or when we felt a very deep and unconditional love for someone who had treated us badly.

What is the Kingdom of God?

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being born again, Dorothy L. Sayers, enlightened, entering his rest, experience, eyes of the heart, freedom, God, Jesus Christ, new creation, the Kingdom of God, the new self

“May [God] give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” (Eph 1:17-18 ESV)
– Photo by Susanne Schuberth

I know that many people, especially those who left the organized church, have realized that church buildings, programs, and Christian activities of any kind have nothing to do with the Kingdom of God. However, have you ever heard back from someone if you asked them about the reality of this usually unseen realm? I chose to paste an excerpt from Dorothy L. Sayers which I came across more than two years ago. I read that quote on another blog and it really hit me. Here you are.

Some Thoughts on Spiritual Sight – by Faith

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beauty, beholding God, experience, eyes of the heart, faith, God's love, John Gill, psychology, the Kingdom of God, the promised land

“Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” (Isaiah 33:17 KJV) – Photo by Susanne Schuberth

On yesterday’s bike ride with the Lord the weather was not that fine. It would be pretty cold and looked as if it might rain sooner or later. Also, I was extremely tired and felt rather low because of a certain dizziness and some physical pain, too. As I was struggling to get ahead against the strong wind, I suddenly saw some lovely spots of color in an altogether gray and green picture that nature presented. I could not help but stop my bike and gather the colorful bouquet of flowers you can see in the photo I posted above.  😉

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?”

Getting a New Perspective on Life

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Allegory of the Cave, being born again, experience, Glaucon, Jesus Christ, light, other religions, philosophy, Plato, Socrates, the Kingdom of God

The (B)right Sight of Life…
(Source http://www.pinterest.com/pin/258816309809364763/)

Identification problems? 😉 Looking at that pic above, I can tell you that before Christ I was like one of these four girls on the left who listen to a human teacher and try to do what he or she tells them. However, since I have come to know God better and better, I find myself seemingly alone like the girl on the right side that watches the world from a completely new perspective. As I got that photo attached to an email recently, I had to laugh out loud since below the pic I could read,”Susanne in Ballet Class,” and that is indeed the way I feel when I am confronted with traditional religion or normal human reasoning which wants to figure out who God is and how He leads us human beings.

Rethinking Maturity, Time and Eternity

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age, being born again, Dorothy L. Sayers, ecstasy, encouragement, exhortation, experience, faith, feeding on Christ, God's love, maturity, mystics, psychology, spiritual maturity, the Kingdom of God, youth

Auferstehungskirche Fürth
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

I do hope that the excerpt by Dorothy L. Sayers below gives you some food for thought as to rethinking those concepts of youth and age our current culture proclaims, and which, in my view, have infiltrated the Church more than she is aware of. We read about “senior pastors” who are in their 40s (at most) and about training the next generation of church leaders, pastors, and elders, by simply teaching them tradition, theological theories, and doctrines. Indeed, the amount of books one has read does not make him spiritually mature. And the number of years we have believed in Jesus does not make us any more mature than a newborn child (speaking spiritually here). Actually, it is all about experiencing God in our own life and knowing that He can be trusted in every given situation. This kind of faith is nothing that can be taught and nothing we can soak in by reading about it only. Testimonies from others might point us in the right direction if they whet our appetite for experiencing God’s love and His kingdom first-hand. Yet they cannot provide the meat we only get when we leave the area of being fed by men and their different views of Christianity far behind. We need to feed on Christ who alone is our true food and drink.

Knowing God…

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agape, being born again, ecstasy, eros, experience, eyes of the heart, feeling, flesh, God's love, intimacy, Jesus Christ, joy, knowing God, Oswald Chambers, peace, prayer, relationship with God, spiritual power, the Kingdom of God

Knowing God… and Being Known by Him
(Source http://pixgood.com/intimacy-with-god-quotes.html)

Instead of boring you to death with a new article written right from my blank mind, 😉 I decided to copy and paste two daily devotionals from Oswald Chambers that really hit home as for the consequences of being intimate with God. We will see and feel it in our own lives, and others will too, when all our thinking and doing eventually spring from being one with God as we abide in His love. If we are really as intimate with Jesus as Jesus was with His Father, the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) cannot be ignored, neither by us nor by anyone else, for it is written,

“A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” (Mt 7:18-20 ESV)