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!

“Today, if you hear His voice…”

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authority, discerning the spirits, entering his rest, experience, eyes of the heart, fellowship, following Jesus, God's guidance, God's voice, hearing, obedience, resisting temptation, Satan, T.A. Sparks, the devil, the fear of God, The Holy Spirit, thought life, walking by the spirit, wisdom

I wonder what the Lord tries to tell you and me today. Actually, I believe God wants to help us in ALL things concerning our everyday life. He is eager to lead us into ALL the truth about everything through the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 16:13). Since God rarely approaches us with a loud voice unless a severe warning is necessary, some of His messages go unnoticed. If our minds are busily occupied with the handling of appointments, schedules, and deadlines, His subtlety is easily ignored.

Obedient to the Light Given

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authority, blogging, controlling spirits, darkness, discerning the spirits, disobedience, entering his rest, experience, following Jesus, God's guidance, Jesus Christ, joy, life, light of life, obedience, overcoming the world, peace, reasoning, self-control, suffering, the devil, the flaming darts of the evil one, thought life, walking by the spirit

None of us would expect a baby to test-drive a car, nor would anyone assume that children, on the whole, go to university, give guest lectures, and teach students lessons they really need to hear (exceptions confirm the rule). As much as this world admires geniuses, in spiritual life there is no shortcut to heaven. We have to go through every more or less painful lesson our Lord puts us through. However, we may know that every lesson learned and accepted makes us see more of Him in our lives.

No more theory here. Instead, I want to go on with sharing my recent spiritual experiences with you. If you read some of my latest blog articles, you might remember that God has begun to set me free from many ‘legalistic’ things. Whether inflexible internal obligations, i.e., measuring up to the expectations from neighbors, friends, or even loved ones were concerned or if He changed my thought-life, for me it has been a sort of rollercoaster as this process has developed so quickly. Actually, I have not been used to observing the Lord to set me free on a daily basis at such an accelerated speed before!

Overcoming the World as the Requirement of Christian Authority

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authority, condemnation, discerning the spirits, experience, fellowship, following Jesus, freedom, God's guidance, Jesus Christ, life, Michael Clark, overcoming the world, peace, the body of Christ, the Kingdom of God, thought life, walking after the flesh, walking by the spirit

If you read the following Scripture, your thoughts might be like mine. Jesus Christ promised us,

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Rev 3:21-22 KJV)

Usually, I was not so interested in this and similar Scriptures of the Book of Revelation as I thought our Lord spoke there about our eternal life AFTER leaving the earth. So to me, all His promises there appeared to be fulfilled in the future far ahead of us. Well, it was only lately as I started wondering that I might have been completely wrong…  🙄 As I described in my latest blog posts before this one, Jesus has begun to set me free daily from habitual internal ‘laws’, from family traditions, from rigid to-do lists and from some old thought patterns as well. Isn’t it quite humorous that He started this process on June 3rd, which was a Roman Catholic feast day in Germany, called “Corpus Christi”?  😉

“Don‘t panic, it‘s only infodemic!“

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coronavirus, discerning the spirits, encouragement, experience, infodemic, Jesus Christ, pandemic, peace, Satan, spam mails, thought life

Sometimes I wonder about God’s inexplicable leading. Really, I cannot understand His way of thinking at all! Just lately He began to teach me about something that has been very unnerving for me. For several weeks, even months, I detected in my spam and trash folder on WordPress many, many spam mails. During the last weeks even about one thousand every day! These mails come from different email addresses; however, the common thing is that they are written in Spanish and that their message consists of only one question.

The Coronavirus Causing Chaos or… You Keep Him in Perfect Peace Whose Mind is Stayed on YOU

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coronavirus, discerning the spirits, encouragement, following Jesus, God's love, hope, Jesus Christ, joy, mind, Pandemia, peace, prayer, repentance, spiritual power, thought life

As I was just reading the whole chapter 26 from the prophet Isaiah, I began to wonder whether there might be a connection, a similarity to what the whole world is going through due to this pandemic coronavirus right now. Here in Bavaria after the case of disaster has been announced, everything has become chaotic. People have begun to act crazily, even insane at times. Dear brothers and sisters, even if we have to stay at home due to a ban on going out, I believe that God can help us out in everything. We won’t die of famine if we trust in Him, we won’t be ‘contaminated’ due to a lack of toilet paper or hand soap, and we will be able to experience joy and peace as the apostle Paul and Silas did when they were in prison (see Acts 16:25).

Mind Pollution vs. A Sound Mind

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discerning the spirits, encouragement, experience, feelings, following Jesus, God's love, Jesus Christ, peace, prayer, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the mind of Christ, thought life

I might be wrong but I imagine that the mind of Christ must be, and must have been as Jesus walked on the earth, like a deep, clear water that could not be moved by anything else but by the voice of His Father. We know that we as believers should be like-minded as we share the mind of Christ. Yet how often do we experience the opposite of clarity in our minds? Are we continually filled with good thoughts toward life, toward our neighbors (even our enemies!) and toward ourselves? 🙄

Drawn toward the Light

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darkness, encouragement, experience, following Jesus, forgiveness, God's love, inspiration, Jesus Christ, light, Light and Darkness, sin, thought life, Walking in the Light

After many gray days lately, last week the sun came out for a short time again. Swimming under an almost clear blue sky in my favorite outdoor pool, I suddenly got aware of the fact that all human beings, even most animals and plants are drawn toward the visible light. These few sunrays made the water sparkle and glitter both on the surface and underneath. Due to the warm temperature inside (30° C, i.e., 86° F) the pool soon turned into a vapor bath. As the cold Eastern winds blew stronger, playing a funny game with these continually shaping clouds of steam, my heart was rejoicing over the ingenuity of our Creator. It was really an amazing spectacle!  🙂

Panic is Satanic

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anxiety, deception, discerning the spirits, ears of the heart, encouragement, experience, fears, feelings, panic, Satan, spiritual power, thought life

The other day as I was half awake in the morning, still dwelling on some thoughts that could have turned into real worries sooner or later, I suddenly heard a voice that emphatically told me, “Panic is satanic!” Although I knew it was the Holy Spirit speaking to me, I wondered why His voice was not as still and subtle as it often is when God nudges me tenderly to open my ears toward Him. It dawned on me that God wanted to teach me something. Therefore, I would not be that surprised later that day as a black truck passed me by when I was on a prayer walk in the afternoon. On this truck you could read a big-lettered yellow label that said, “Don’t panic!” Aha!  🙂

What Really Counts in Life

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aging, blessings, books, commandments, death, disaster, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, following Jesus, God's love, hurry, Judgment, mind, obedience, rest, restlessness, the fear of God, the Kingdom of God, the new self, the old self, this world, thought life, waiting, wisdom, youth

If someone nurtures soaring hopes and plans, we might tell them to stay more grounded or earthed instead. But have you ever heard someone suggest to you to get more ‘heavened’? 🙄 If you, like me, often times wonder about the seeming hopelessness of our existence as we cannot sense the presence of God while (sometimes ridiculous) everyday troubles keep preying on our minds, you might have also observed non-Christians who can seemingly live their lives confronted with less problems and difficulties than we can. Yet, in the long run, that is not the truth. The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us some sobering facts.