My neighborhood in the greater Bay Area in NorCal. Picture by Laurie Couto
The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Extraordinary Time
R. (17a) To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise. How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
R.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
R. Emphasis Mine: Psalm 116:12-13, 14-15, 18-19
How shall I make a return to the LORD, is a truly interesting question.
In the “world,” we ask a person or family back if we have been invited for a meal, to repay the invitation, give thanks, and because of the meal, assume an even status with that person.
Jesus told us to invite those who can’t repay us, so:
“When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Luke 14:12
We can’t repay God for all They have and are doing for us, starting with wanting us to be here on earth to give glory to them.
And yet we miss the mark, by believing we are here for our glory, building a business, in my case, or being recognized as someone special, also in my case, and forgetting that our only purpose in life today and every day is to give Glory to God the Father.
In short, we are to imitate Jesus.
On His Cross, Jesus gave Glory to His and our Father by His Death.
I now believe we are here to suffer two deaths, the first is a death to self, and we experience this death by listening to the whisper of the Holy Spirit, which is death to the “world,” and having new life in the “Spirit World.”
The second death, a physical death, is actually life, because we will be united with our Father, Brother, and The Holy Spirit for eternal Love, Joy, and Peace.
The question we started with was, How shall I make a return to the LORD?
And the answer is by Thanking God the Father ALL OF THE TIME for all they are doing for you in your life NOW.
You, woke up, “Thank you, Father,” did your exercises, “Thank you, Father,” have a refrigerator filled with delicious food, “Thank you, Father,” and as you can see this list is very long and important,
Why,
Because, when you thank someone you’re acknowledging that person, or in this case, God, is on top and you need Them, and this is a very positive way to make a return to the LORD.
Prayer:
I thank You, Father, for the death of Your Son, the Nails that were driven through His Hands, and the Nail that was driven through His Feet (Once).
(Now you can respond YES to the question IF YOU thank Me)
Next, pray,
Thank You, Father, for the DIFFICULTY of …(name the difficulty)….. That You have ALLOWED in my life, I have Faith You will take care of me.” Say this part of the prayer until you smile. Smiling tells you the Holy Spirit is back in your life. (satan can’t smile)
Sidebar:
The Cumberland County Jail has become very interesting.
For twenty-seven years we have averaged between ten and fifteen men at our meetings. For the last four or five months we have been averaging thirty to forty men, in short, all of the men in the pod.
Near the end of the hour meeting, we pray the Our Father and ask them to forgive everyone who has screwed them over, and we remain for a few minutes in silence, while they forgive the people, no movement, coughing, just remain still, and they do, and the Peace we all feel is powerful.
After we pray The Our Father we sing four verses of Amazing Grace, and they sing with Joy.
At the end of the meeting, we explain they have now experienced Joy and Peace, and can’t say they claim that Joy and Peace don’t exist. soooooo, now they have a problem.
Throw out satan, and accept God in their lives, and many have. Two men said all of the prayers we asked them to learn, and said their sentence was changed from going to prison for a few years to going to rehab.
They were pumped!
But the problem that always remains with all of us is, we leave the jail, ( and for you and me, at the end of Lent for example) stop saying the prayers, or what we did during lent, and fall back into our old “worldly” lifestyle.
I know this because I met a prisoner in the hallway, who said, “Hay Fred,” we said, “Give me the nine,” he couldn’t, he was in our pod and knew the nine before he left so we gave him another sheet with the prayers, and said a silent prayer that he would learn these prayers again.
I, yes, I am not being critical. I noticed the last two weeks I started by saying I had to delete the blog I, yes, I wrote, to write what The Holy Spirit wanted written.
Today, Bang! I listened, and typed on the first try, what The Holy Spirit wanted, and this is a lot easier, and JOYFUL.
As we remind the men every week, “Life is a fight, and if you’re not fighting satan, you’re losing.” And we are NOT saying you are going to hell, No, Jesus took all of your sins on His Cross. No, we are saying that you are NOT living in “The Spirit World” a world of Love, Joy, and Peace.
And, yes I lose, but I also try and stop losing ASAP when I realize I have fallen off the bus, and get back in the “Spirit World,” which is why in the past two weeks I deleted what The Holy Spirit didn’t want and started over again.
Picture:
A walk through my neighborhood in the greater Bay Area in NorCal. This picture reminds me why I need to keep looking up; never know what gems are coming your way.
Picture by Laurie Couto
Please keep Snapping!
Email me if you want a copy of the prayers we discussed or the three hiking pictures we showed.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, please do not include people. We have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
