Worth the Fight… Extending Inner Quietness

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abiding in Christ, abundance of life, discerning the spirits, encouragement, entering his rest, experience, eyes of the heart, faith, God, Jesus Christ, joy, mind, pain, peace, prayer, rest, suffering, thought life

Last week I felt a strong nudge to get closer to God and to let go of more and more, partly self-imposed, duties. As a woman, you might know how difficult it is to get rid of old habits and of letting go to care for others (more than they really need it) in order to meet EVERY expectation perfectly. I have also been used to care for my body daily and I sensed that my exhausting workouts tend to make my life more and more burdened. However, I could not get rid of swimming ‘the English Channel’, so to speak. 😉 I do know that I am no longer twenty or thirty and therefore I had begun to take at least one break during the day some years ago. Mostly after dinner I spend time in bed praying. Admittedly, sometimes I fall asleep because of exhaustion. 😉

Spiritual Fast Food or… We are what we eat

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Baptism in the Holy Spirit, death, discerning the spirits, dreams, experience, God's voice, life, reading, Satan, Satan's voice, the devil, thought life, words, writing

Picture credits http://doctorwellgood.com/healthy-eating/we-are-what-we-eat.html

It seems sometimes I want to bombard my readers with almost one blog post every day. 😉 Actually, it was only about two or three weeks ago as I started to listen more closely to several talks and to observe my immediate inner reaction to what was being said, as I saw that there is a big difference between ‘words’ and ‘Words’. Before I begin to expound on this deeper, I want to point you to Michael Clark’s excellent article about the confusing deluge of words of any kind, even in the Christian world on the internet and elsewhere. Please, read his article here.

“Close your eyes and see!”

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darkness, dream life, experience, eyes of the heart, faith, God's love, heart, light, spiritual power, thought life

My companion on a prayer walk yesterday…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

You might think I am crazy and, perhaps, you are right. 😊 Just now as I was randomly browsing my older blog posts on here, rereading what I could see up to the ‘read-more-tag’ (aka “Continue reading…”), I was hit by a Scripture I had copied and pasted beneath one of my pictures. What struck me was the following (highlighted) part of 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 which reads,

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:17-18 ESV)

We know that God’s truth is most often so simple that it can easily be ignored, or even laughed about by someone who does not know God and wants to have it a bit more sophisticated to please their intellectual mind. But not so with our humorous God who turns into ridicule what people say who think they got Him all figured out. We read,

Love is Obedience, not Feelings

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anger, anxiety, darkness, doubts, encouragement, experience, faith, fears, feelings, God's Humor, God's love, heart, joy, love, mind, obedience, peace, self-will, thought life, true faith, worries

After the Sunset…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth, colors enhanced by Michael Clark)

Just for clarification, having chosen this particular title, I did not want to suggest that God’s love would not provide a wide range of wonderful feelings, both for our soul and body, that are intrinsic features of an abundant life in Christ (cf. Jn 10:10). Rather, my intention was to point to the fact that our walk with God is often characterized by a lack of good feelings when we find ourselves in another trial where we suffer according to His will. We might also call our walk with Him in these times a mere walk of faith. It is in these times where we learn to trust in what we cannot see (yet) and in what we cannot understand (yet).

Ha! While writing I just had an interesting experience with God I want to share with you.

Speaking the Words of Eternal Life

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confusion, discerning the spirits, doctrine, entering his rest, eternal life, evangelism, experience, fear, freedom, God's guidance, hope, John MacArthur, mind, Old Self, peace, philosophy, Satan, spirit and life, The Great Commission, thought life, worries

“Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.” (Ps 74:16 ESV)
– Photo by Paul Schuberth

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (Jn 6:63-69 ESV)

Jesus told His disciples that the word HE had spoken were spirit and life. How could he claim such a thing? And why is that true? How come that over the centuries so many educated people falsely assumed that the words written in the four gospels would automatically have the same spirit and life in them as they originally possessed when our Lord voiced them? I know that my questions are challenging here. However, it is so important to see how easily confusion can arise when we read for example about the Great Commission.

Why Positive Thinking Does Not Work

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experience, following Jesus, Gloria Copeland, Joel Osteen, joy, Kenneth Copeland, peace, positive thinking, prosperity gospel, Robert H. Schuller, thought life, Victoria Osteen, Word of Faith

(Picture taken from https://florentflora.files.wordpress.com/2012/02)

Actually, the Bible gave us some good advice as to how we could stay in God’s peace continually. But oh, on our own we might find it pretty difficult to follow what Paul told the Philippians as he said,

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. (Phil 4:6-9 KJV)

It seems to me that ‘Positive Thinkers’, esp. of the Christian kind, took part of these verses and gave them a completely new meaning they originally did not have. Just giving you a few examples in the form of quotes here.

My New Life…

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A.W. Tozer, being born again, David Wilkerson, experience, eyes of the heart, feeling, glory, God's love, joy, love, Oswald Chambers, peace, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the dark night of the soul, the new self, the old self, thought life

“Chicken on Horse” – (Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

At first an apology to all those readers and followers of my blog who saw that I had published a testimony by David Wilkerson yesterday which I deleted shortly afterwards. Sorry for the inconvenience.  😦 Well, it began to dawn on me lately that I did not dare to write about my own and deepening experiences with God and Jesus as much as I used to in the past. Somehow it was easier for me to let other writers speak up for God, which certainly is a good thing as long as they were truly led by the Holy Spirit. In David Wilkerson’s case I need to admit that I only partly could agree with him since he had been on a different, spiritually lower level as for example Oswald Chambers or A. W Tozer of whom I believe they had reached a higher level than him, or T. Austin Sparks who, in my humble opinion, had been on the highest spiritual level because he had really died to self and was able to live continually in the presence of God in Christ’s Spirit. So you might have noticed that my articles more and more turned into teachings that feed the left brain half. However, where did the creative flow go?  😉

Having the Mind of Christ

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Christlikeness, discerning the spirits, experience, eyes of the heart, God, heart, Jesus Christ, marriage, mind, new creation, old creation, relationships, Satan, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the devil, The Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ, the new self, the old self, thought life, true faith

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb 10:22 KJV)
Photo by Susanne Schuberth

We all might have heard about the difference between the male mind that works rather ‘left-brained’ (logical, purpose-oriented, and goal-focused) and the female mind which is said to be quite ‘right-brained’ (emotional, empathic, and all-round perceptive). Since women and men are pretty different as to how their thought life and feelings proceed, a lot of misunderstandings between them are inevitable… unless they have the mind of Christ! What I mean by that is that our old and fallen nature thinks it knows it all better than the opposite sex. How many marriages and relationships fall apart because men and women have given up on trying to relate to what the other one is really saying! The bad news is that there is not much hope as long as we cling to our old nature which, whether we realize it or not, usually submits to Satan. In fact, our thought habits that spring from the self-centered old creation are filled with suspicion, doubts, fears, worries and all other negative tendencies you might think of. Just trying to watch one’s own thoughts for one or two minutes only and counting how often negativity pops up might leave you completely discouraged.

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.

Trust and obey or… On how to walk after the spirit

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discerning the spirits, entering his rest, entering the Kingdom of God, experience, feelings, heart, inner man, intuition, joy, mind, new life, obedience, outer man, pain, soul, spirit, the dawning of a new day, the new self, the promised land, thought life, walking by the spirit, Watchman Nee

“Blessings to those who are doing his Commandments; their authority shall be over The Tree of Life, and they shall enter The City by the gates.” (Rev 22:14 Aramaic Bible in Plain English)
Photo by Susanne Schuberth

Just lately God both nudged and even urged me to do several things which, to my own reason and habits, did not make any sense to me at that time. I saw no real danger, I only felt uneasy in my belly region about certain people and their way of thinking and believing. However, more and more every day, I felt that God wanted me to obey Him without understanding in advance WHY I should follow Him. In order to make me do so He caused great pains in my heart, severe sorrow and deep grief so that I thought I could not endure it any longer. As I eventually gave up on my own ideas of how life should turn out, how people should be, and on my own habits of dealing with and thinking about people, God gave me the strength to obey Him in a way that was not possible for me before. As I finally did several things He wanted me to do, my heart was all of a sudden flooded with such an intense supernatural joy that I even had to cry out loudly. “Wow!!!” 🙂 Oh, how quickly heartfelt obedience that seeks the approval of God and no longer the approval of man is rewarded by our Father in heaven who is ALWAYS pleased when His children ask Him for His wisdom and guidance in all things! In order to bring my joy home to you too, I posted  that photograph above. I would see that beautiful tree on my prayer walk yesterday and I KNEW I had to take a picture.  😉