When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”
And he said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. (Lk 7: 21- 22)
This post is inspired by the Holy Spirit:
In my youth, I felt the stories in the New Testament were true at the time of Jesus but didn’t happen now.
How sad!
God is not a God of the past, but instead is a God of the present.
This was made clear to me on the night I attended a small faith group meeting of Baptists. A very close friend had asked me to go with him to the meeting. I said yes but really thought it would be a waste of time.
Note: as you read our posts in the future you will find my negative attitude seemed to be the starting point of that next step God would ask me to take.
Second note: notice the timing, Any other night she might not have told her story, or wouldn’t have told it with the same fervor.
God was working in my life, and I didn’t know it.
The meeting started with a question from the leader, “How has God been in your life this past week?” I will also ask you this question. “How has God been in your life this past week?”
Is this somewhat similar to the question John the Baptist is raising in the first paragraph?
Yes, I think it is.
Take a moment and ponder your answer.
The question raised by the leader was first answered by a person across from me so I had a chance to concoct an answer. Well, to be honest, God hadn’t been part of my life this past week. I can feel some of you thinking, and they invited him to write for The Catholic Moment?
Hold On.
I came up with an answer, here I am in a small faith group, and not wanting to tell the truth, “God hadn’t been in my life this past week.” Which also wasn’t true.
God had been in my life, I just didn’t know it.
Sad,
Why?
I missed the joy of being with God during the past week.
God’s loss, no!
My Loss.
What happened next started me on a whole new course, which is why the Holy Spirit encouraged me to go to the meeting in the first place.
Since I am making a confession I might also tell you I didn’t really know the Holy Spirit at that time in my life either, and we will discuss my growth in the Holy Spirit in future posts.
As we said earlier, I gave an answer, actually not a very good one, something like, “God’s always in my life,” nice words, noncommittal words, words that really don’t say anything, and most importantly I didn’t answer the question.
Next, it was the turn of the woman who was hosting the meeting. She said she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and last week was due to have a double mastectomy.
I could see the others were all shocked by what she said,
they had no idea.
She continued,
The night before the operation she felt heat on her breasts and knew she had been healed. She went to the hospital, told the doctor about the heat on her breast she had felt the night before, and asked the doctor to do new tests to prove she was healed.
Notice, prove she was healed, notice, this was not an if statement.
Her doctor did as she asked, and to his amazement, found she was fully healed.
She was filled with Joy!
My ears picked up at the telling of this story and the question the Holy Spirit asked me as I drove home that night was, “Why haven’t you experienced any healings?”
I will ask you the same question
“Have you experienced healings?”
I can’t answer that question in the negative anymore. As I am sure we will relate over the months and years to come. I have had many healings, and I am quick to give credit and glory to a God the Father, who I now fully realize;
has taken care of me,
is taking care of me,
and therefore I am confident, will take care of me.
I am a sinner in every sense of the word, but I am one who is now actively fighting satan and trying to stay in the “Spirit World” where God has, is, and will take care of me.
The question asked by John’s disciple was, “Is He the one?”
The question now is, “Is the Triune God the one, or should we look for another?”
Jesus answered the question by telling John’s disciples what He, Jesus, had done.
We will be answering the question, by telling what the Triune God has done, is doing, and I am sure will continue to be active in my life, and if God is active in my life shouldn’t God be active in yours?
God Loves me the same as God Loves you. I find the words, God has, is, and will take care of me, fills me with Joy and Peace, and in a world filled with fear, my living in Joy and Peace is a contradiction to what so many others are experiencing today.
We pray you will grow in the Love, Joy, and Peace of the Holy Spirit by growing in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
The Holy Spirit suggested to me that we write a Sidebar that could contain information that we couldn’t write about because the readings for that day called for a different response.
Today is a great example, It’s Christmas, and in the Sidebar, we are talking about the comment that will be made at the bottom of every post, which doesn’t really fit into what was discussed above.
Now it does!
At the bottom of every post you will see; We pray you will grow in the Love, Joy, and Peace of the Holy Spirit by growing in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
I was reading the bible many years ago, I’m eighty-one, and the Holy Spirit asked me after I completed reading Galatians 5: 22, “Wouldn’t you like more Peace in your life?”
I said, “Yes, Who wouldn’t?”
My life at that time was filled with fear because we had a young family, three sons, a new house, a new car, and I had started a new business, and our income had tanked.
The Holy Spirit told me to learn the Nine Fruit of The Holy Spirit.
I wrote the Nine Fruit on a piece of paper and proceeded to pray the Nine Fruit of The Holy Spirit every day thereafter, and within a week started to see changes in my personality.
Changes I loved!
I could see I was growing in Patience and Sel-Control.
We, Holy Spirit, and I, years later went into the Cumberland County Jail and asked the men to learn “the nine’ as we called them, and see if their lives would be changed. The change I saw in some of the men over the next twenty-five years was profound.
As I said earlier, my life changed within a week of praying for an increase in the Fruit of The Holy Spirit, by asking specifically for an increase of Love, Joy Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
I love it!
I first grew in Peace and then discovered Joy.
I never want to go back to where I was in my earlier relationship with God and neighbor before the Holy Spirit told me to learn ”The Nine Fruit of The Holy Spirit.”
We will ask you the same question,
Do you know “the nine,” if not, please learn them and include “the nine” in your everyday prayer life, and watch your life change!
