The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Extraordinary Time
Beloved:
Realize that you were ransomed from your futile conduct,
handed on by your ancestors,
not with perishable things like silver or gold
but with the precious Blood of Christ
as of a spotless unblemished Lamb.
He was known before the foundation of the world
but revealed in the final time for you,
who through him believe in God
who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,
so that your faith and hope are in God.
Since you have purified yourselves
by obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love,
love one another intensely from a pure heart.
You have been born anew,
not from perishable but from imperishable seed,
through the living and abiding word of God, for:
“All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory like the flower of the field;
the grass withers,
and the flower wilts;
but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
This is the word that has been proclaimed to you.
Emphasis mine 1Pt 1:18-25
How many times have we allowed distractions to take us away from God?
In my younger years, I spent most of my time figuring out how to make more sales and become a better husband and dad (remember, we have only One Father), what had to be done to the house, yard, and earning my way to heaven, to mention a few.
As I am sure you have noticed, the I’s and where is God in the above paragraph?
God wasn’t in my, yes, my thinking.
Sad, isn’t it?
Although I had the power to overcome all of these problems, I ignored Them; in fact, my sin was even worse: I was indifferent.
I had not learned of the power available by living in the “Spirit World.”
Not knowing of this power is a sin, and I now feel it is because we don’t talk enough about The Holy Spirit, Who was infused into our souls at Baptism.
An example of this is The Apostles Creed.
The Creed was supposedly written as a concise creed of Basic Teaching of the new Catholic Church. I agree with that,
But,
When explaining The Holy Spirit, the Creed says, “I believe in The Holy Spirit.”
That’s all!
Look at our Hymnals. I would wager that fewer than ten percent of the Hymns are about the Holy Spirit.
And yet, the Holy Spirit is another true game-changer. God, Our Father, sent Jesus. Jesus, by His Life, Death, and resurrection, took away our sins, and The Holy Spirit gives us the Grace and power to live in the “Spirit World,” a totally new world and a totally new way of life.
How can we say this?
After Jesus died and rose from the dead, the Apostles were locked in the upper room for fear of the Jews. Jn 20: 19.
At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit rested on the Disciples (At 2: 2-41), and they went out and convicted the crowd and then told them to be Baptized so the crowd could be saved from their sin.
Realize that your Baptism is meant to transform you and that you were ransomed from your futile conduct,
Join Team Jesus:
We suggest starting every day, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.”
Sidebar:
Cumberland County Jail:
This week was the second week something exciting happened.
We had twenty men at our Bible study meeting last week and this week.
A little pride crept in until I found out the men had a choice: stay in their cell or go to Bible Study.
Almost all came to Bible study.
This was the same format we had had before COVID, and we loved it,
Why?
Men came in who would never voluntarily come in, and they were in for a surprise.
We talked about The Our Father, and after we finished, we had the men stand up, hold hands, and pray The Our Father.
When we got to “forgive us our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO HAVE TRESPASSED AGAINST US.”
We said STOP!
For three to four minutes, we remained silent. We told them to grow up and resist making any noise, coughing, gestures, or distractions, and they did as we asked and forgive all of the people who had worked them over.
The men had never experienced the Peace they experienced during the period of silence.
We explained that this is the Peace I try to live in twenty-four-seven. They had now experienced Peace and could no longer say it didn’t exist. Now, they had a choice: live in Peace or go back to the lifestyle that brought them to the jail in the first place.
I also fully believe that we have all had experiences that let us feel the Joy of Living in the “Spirit World” with The Holy Spirit.
Once someone realizes they are in the “Spirit World” and how they got there, they want more.
How about You?
Are you looking for the times that give you Peace and are willing to throw out satan when he tries to get you to leave The “Spirit World”?
Picture:
Fred,
We’ve been under a tornado watch and severe weather advisory for the last few hours. The cold front pushed through and this is what the clouds in the backside of the front looked like. Picture by Mark Rusch
Please keep Snapping!
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed, email me.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, no people, please, because we have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
By submitting a picture, you agree to let us include it in our next God Thoughts 2024 book.
