"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Mt 6:10)
"I will not leave you orphaned; I will come to you.
19 Yet a little ⟨time⟩, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me: because I live, you will live also.
20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." (John 14:18)
"But the Helper[10], the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I have said to you." (John 14:26)
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you!" (Mt 7.7)
"You know that when you belonged to the Gentiles[2] you were drawn, even carried away, to dumb idols." (1 Corinthians 12:2)
My dear friends,
the question of whether God still speaks today, still acts as He did in Old Testament times, whether prophetic speaking still exists today, and what actually happened to visions, to divine guidance and the Holy Spirit, heats up Christian minds more than any other.
I decisively say: Yes.
I say yes to all this, to the possibility of the close relationship with God, to the experience of Jesus, I say yes to the fact that he still leads us today, of course, and that he has lost nothing of his omnipotence and assertiveness. The Holy Spirit undoubtedly lives in us and is experienced in many ways in congregations - as the special peace that settles over us in prayer, worship, in guided conversations. As a sudden conviction, as a sudden realization. As bright joy. As the heart that lies on the stone path and as the felt, inner embrace. As the "just in time check" in the mailbox and the warm embrace of the friend confirming a word. The Holy Spirit changes the inner man,we have the opportunity to let Jesus love through us. Prayer works. And: Oh yes, when we open our hearts and see the other person with Jesus' eyes, everything changes. Yes, he was able to bring me to New Zealand (https://en.zionstochter.de/post/once-vision-and-back-an-unbelievable-testimony-of-god-s-reality), yes, he also worked many miracles later, made deep healing processes possible and today at 47 years old I am not only older, but healed and liberated in many places of my heart, changed and honed by him. I love Jesus very much and know myself loved by him. And every conversion I see as fruit that I brought through him. For him, for the love of my heart.
Yes, of course the Holy Spirit is there! Of course he lives in us and works through us. Just that he does it should be enough proof for us that God will also keep everything else he promises. Alone that prayer works and blessings flow should prove to us that he is today as yesterday real, if not even through Jesus closer to us than ever before.
He is just not as ..loud as the world. No mega event. No party drug, even if one could assume so in some charismatic churches. Whether these are then really still the fruits of the Holy Spirit, remains to be questioned there, where serene joy turns into hysterical fits of laughter, where loving care turns into aggressive throwing, where deep knowledge always gives way to the same, superficial mantras and promises of salvation and the new birth, the new creation in Jesus corresponds more to an avatar in a role-playing game.
Until the end game, in this case, the human avatar is provided with ever better, ever sharper and ever more "one hit" ( one hit, you're dead, demon) heavy equipment: Better cloaks, better anointing, the brand new sword of the Word because the old one was worn out. Everything to order, the angels produce them just now and throw them through portals into football stadiums, where they are received by those who only believe in it.
And of course:
The further you get, the better your Christ version you receive! Of course, the enemies are also getting stronger: they come through hell portals and open energy places, they spawn virtually everywhere! Sure thing, friends. I can't believe millions are being spent on such theology - I'd rather play through "The Elder Scrolls Online" to the end game. I don't really know how the propagators do it, but it's impressive how they cast a spell over an entire Christian scene. Maybe it's because "good, devout Christians" don't play fantasy role-playing games? Otherwise, maybe it would strike someone ...that what is sold there dearly are 1:1 computer games and their mechanisms ?! There is even loot! At special events from heaven gates. Don't miss your mantle of anointing, or you'll have to steal C.S.Lewis's! And if you dont join the end raid (Joel's army) to fight the end boss, you surely will be left lost! Oh my. Ouch.
Honestly, it pisses me off. Sorry to say that so clear. But this, friends, is rightous anger.
Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit is in us unchanged to this day, guiding, leading, and eager to teach, comfort, heal, fathom the mysteries of God, fill us with wisdom and knowledge, love through us, save and heal. Of course! God is unchanging.
What WE have lost, however, is the acceptance of a King who has the last word. And our ability to bow down and worship Him so fervently that we are consumed with love for Him.
I smirk. It took me a few tries to write this article, because it was always too theoretical, too pointy-fingered, too instructive for me. Jesus, how do you explain simplicity in a society that considers complicated connections more valuable?
You know, I have never found the Christian message particularly incomprehensible, nor God in any way unpredictable.I stare with irritation and concerned skepticism at the excesses that Christianity today produces. How can one simply shorten Bible passages? It must be clear to every author that a sentence - taken out of context, halved and inserted somewhere else - no longer has any of its original meaning! How can one, as in the case of Bill Johnson, delete the "Thy will be done" before "on earth as it is in heaven", because it is inconvenient, and then make a cosmic law/principle out of the second? If I'd be the author, I'd be not amused at all.
How can one then declare the partial sentence: "You will do even greater things than I" as promised God-likeness, by simply reading over "for I go to the Father ( and take my rightful place as Son of God and your High Priest")? Jesus was, is, will eternally be the Son of God, born of the Holy Spirit on earth, running into His Father's house at 12, fully aware of who He was. And no, we will never be the same as him. If you want to be, then, go, free the world from the clutches of Satan by your death on the cross, rise again and defeat the darkness forever. We are not the king. We are the rulers of his kingdom. (Isaiah 32:1ff)
Yes, what is the huge problem is the cuddly Jesus, whose authority is simply erased, but who is expected to please help where he can. Dangerous, dull, soft-spoken, without a personality profile. Sweet as sugar and understanding everything. Poor you. Poor...victim.
I say this so clearly today because I want to set myself apart. I write about the agape way, about the inner way that assumes we are saved, justified, and secure in Jesus. I am writing about Jesus' command to love God with all your heart, soul and mind- AND your neighbor as yourself. I believe that God is very pragmatic, experiential, clear. Open-visible, obvious. Hidden ways, hidden ways are called: occult ways.
Our God is not occult, not arrogant, not despotic and not dependent on our personal level of development. That we are saved is pure grace and unexpected, undeserved love of a great Father. And the Holy Spirit can work through all of us as He wishes. He can bring about whatever He wants. Our problem is that we have our own plans, assumptions and concepts. Our problem is that we don't grant God any aliveness, any greatness, any omnipotence. And that we think we always know exactly what his will is - and what not.
But his plans are higher than our plans. And we do well to respond to his invitations, to ask for his advice, and to think it possible that he shows us allegories in his creation that make us think about his word. We do well to believe that washing each other's feet is not something we should visualize, but do to resolve conflicts. We do well to believe that God really does show us great and incomprehensible things that we know nothing about when we ask Him about them. And we do well to understand that to act out of authority is to be empowered only when we also recognize the authority over us. No boss in the world would allow us to put his stamp on our own concepts. None.
You see, I believe we are part of a great, gigantic epic. God is the director who holds all the strings and assigns us our roles. Every director goes crazy inside when actors "reinterpret" their roles and overlay his scripts with their own opinions and assessments, rather than simply asking him how they should play their parts. I think we as Christians have huge problems accepting that there is a director at all who is not a church leader nor an author nor any other worldly authority- and then actively intervenes in lives! And so we open the door for self-interpretation and interpretation, change and addition, while Jesus calls out: "I love you, will you listen to me? I am coming back, does anyone hear me? Does anyone ask about my plans? Does anyone ever ask about ME?" Yes, he blesses abundantly. And he will listen to desperate calls for him. But: you know, a good relationship- it asks for each other. It doesn't just take what one has to give and then leave him. How amazed and saddened was Jesus when only ONE of the healed blind returned to give thanks? The others took what he had to give and continued to revolve around themselves.
Jesus is not someone to consume. He is not an energy, he is not a gas station, he is not a superpower that increases our own abilities and gives us worldly wealth and success in self-realization. No. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And he is lovable, clear, simple, open, all-powerful. Kind, self-controlled, consistent, true. And a little bit...funny.
How does one get to know him? Oh, you should, because it's extremely important to him! Just ask him a question. Let him show you the world through his eyes. What you have to do for that? You have to ask him to do it. And assume that you may not take him literally, not interpretatively, but simply take him at his word when he says he will do it. "Jesus, I would you please show me the world through your eyes today? Thank you, Lord! Thank you!" But don't be startled. You will be sad. And then, you may choose to bless and pray for people he shows you. He will.
With love and blessings,
Sibylle.
Sources: Bible verses: Elberfelder translation. Taken from www.bibleserver.com
Foto : Wix.com
Song: Michael W. Smiths: Sovereign over us.