Swallowtail butterfly feeding Picture by Jerry Torres
The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
Moses spoke to the people and said:
“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees
which I am teaching you to observe,
that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land
which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees
as the LORD, my God, has commanded me,
that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.
Observe them carefully,
for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,
‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’
For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him?
Or what great nation has statutes and decrees
that are as just as this whole law
which I am setting before you today?
“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard
not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen,
nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live,
but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”
Emphasis mine Dt 4:1, 5-9
Last week, we used this week’s Gospel Acclamation, and the thought that entered my, yes, my mind, was, what will we discuss this week, satan! I had read the readings, and the Gospel Acclamation was the only phrase that jumped out at me.
We are retelling this because last week, satan was at me constantly saying that we would have nothing to write about. God would let me down!
We read the first reading and bam, what we highlighted jumped out at me instantly, and we started typing.
I love writing the Wednesday blog!
Question.
For what great nation PERSON is there
that has gods so close to it, THEM as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him?
We have changed three words.
The first person, of course, was Jesus. He called upon His Father throughout His life, and look what he did. Raised the dead, fed the hungry, walked on the water.
But,
How about you?
Do you fully appreciate that we worship a Triune God who wants to be close to us, yet we fail to call on them whenever we need them?
Consider we have the chance every day to touch Jesus when we receive Communion; when we touch Jesus, we can be healed if we fully believe.
Many Protestants believe fully in Jesus but don’t believe Jesus is fully present in their Eurchrist.
All last week, I prayed God wouldn’t let me down in writing our blog, and all week long, satan kept telling me God would.
I fought satan all week by telling satan to get behind me and come Holy Spirit when satan tried to convince me of the opposite.
Today, my mind is full of thoughts, Holy Spirit, and my only problem is I can’t type fast enough.
Why, Fred, are we talking about this?
We were at a men’s faith group meeting Saturday, and we said, “Life is easy; there is only God and satan. You have to choose where you want to live.”
After Saturday Mass, three men who were at the meeting stopped me and said, “Living in the Holy Spirit is easy for you.”
I, yes I, am so tired of hearing this said to me. I, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, fight satan every day, many times during the day, and what keeps me going is living in the Joy and Peace of the Holy Spirit.
I have also learned to ask my Father for everything!
And,
I thank my Father for everything God has given me and our family many times daily.
In short, my, our day is a day of prayer.
Growing in Joy and Peace is like standing in quicksand. You gradually sink in, but unlike quicksand, where you don’t want to sink deeper, with Joy and Peace, you only want more.
The prayers we suggest you start saying during Lent are great. Remember, these prayers evolved over twenty-seven years in the Cumberland County Jail. You’re getting a crash course in prayers proven in the Cumberland County jail to help you build a relationship with God.
Maybe at the end of Lent, you will say, what PERSON is there that has gods so close to THEM as the LORD, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?
Daily Prayers for Week Three of Lent: Thank you, Father, for the difficulty of ……..Name difficulty… I know you will take care of me and say this prayer repeatedly until you smile. (satan can’t smile) “Get behind me, satan, Come Holy Spirit.” AND Pray the “Nine.” Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control.
Join Team Jesus:
If you would like to protect your family, dumb question, pray Psalm 91 verbally.
My life changed after reading Peggy Joyce Ruth’s book, Psalm 91, God’s Shield of Protection, Military Version. Every day, I say this powerful prayer for everyone in our life, including the writers and readers of A Catholic Moment.
We pray that you will spend $8.89 on the pocket edition or $7.99 on the Kindle edition and spend a short time each day saying Psalm 91 to protect your family.
Sidebar:
My oldest son, Mike, and my brother, Roger, review our blogs to pick up any grammar mistakes. Mike made the comment the sidebar seems longer than the main text. He’s right, but we explained that I just type the Holy Spirit takes me where the Holy Spirit wants to go.
I thought we were going to talk about something else.
No,
For the sixth time, I am reading Mysteries of the Messiah by Rabbi Jason Soble, and I had the bookmark at the end of what I thought we would go to the beginning of what Rabbi Sobel wrote and discuss what we had highlighted. The Holy Spirit had a different idea.
Where the bookmark was, I read, “We cannot avoid the Cross of Jesus. We can overcome the testing times by seeking the redemptive power of the Cross. By studying God’s word so we can bring it to mind when we are tempted, and by believing that God will keep His promise.”
We learn God will keep His promise when we bring God into our life, thanking God for the DIFFICULITIES God has allowed in our lives, and understanding and eventually knowing God will take care of you.
Wow!
I can’t believe how this ties in so beautifully with what we talked about above.
God taking care of me!
Picture:
A swallowtail butterfly feeding we came across when we were hiking in Tennessee. Picture by Jerry Torres
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 place that picture in our next God Thoughts 2024 book.
