WEDNESDAY, MAY 4 For this is the will of My Father
Lillies in our side garden @ Cape Elizabeth Picture by Gail Prince
For this is the will of My Father For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the lst day.”Jn 6:40
Our Post is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
I am returning from a four-day golf outing with all the men in our family over the age of twenty-one. We always have a great time, and the ages run between 21, who won’t be there, college, and eighty-one. I tried typing this two weeks ago, set it aside, and just reread it and all I could do was delete it.
“For this is the will of my Father,” is for me a very interesting statement made by Jesus, and was the title of our first draft, because Jesus said earlier in Matthew 12 that “whoever does the will of my Father is my brother, sister, and mother.”
Jesus is calling us into a relationship with the Triune God with this statement, and this relationship is totally unique when compared to any other god or religion that you can think of.
I realize we have talked a lot about building a relationship but consider for a moment,
God the creator of the universe,
wants Fred Prince to be in a relationship with God?
Fred Prince who tried to live life doing his will NOT God’s will,
Fred Prince who said he would never go to daily Mass, pray the Rosary, or truly change his life to live in and listen to the whisper of the Holy Spirit,
and,
the same Fred Prince, that did the Father’s will when he agreed it was what Fred wanted to do.
Yes, that Fred Prince!
God, wants a relationship with me?
Yes God does!
How do I know this is true?
The first reading from Acts.
There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the Church; entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment. Emphasis mine Acts 8:3
Saul, soon to be renamed Paul, was a terror to the Christians.
Saul wanted to stamp out the Christian movement!
But!
There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is there praying, and [in a vision] he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay [his] hands on him, that he may regain his sight.” But Ananias replied, “Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man, what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call upon your name.” emphasis mine Acts: 12 10-14
This is another favorite reading for me in the Bible.
Why?
Ananias was bold (?) or dumb enough to try and give counsel to God?
Hello!
Ananias doesn’t have a clue as to what God has in store for Paul, just you don’t have a clue as to what God has in store for you or me.
This blog is proof of this.
I never in all my life would have believed I would be asked to write a blog, and much more importantly find Joy in doing it.
In fact, as we stated at the top I deleted my first attempt, with no regrets.
It sucked!
As we are wrapping this portion of the blog up I am filled with Joy.
Don’t try to fight God, as I did for so many years.
Surrender, give yourself a chance to find the Joy of being a brother or a sister, just as Jesus found throughout His entire life, even on His Cross.
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
“The nine” 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:
Once again we are typing this two weeks early, so events may have changed.
I like you, I am sure are very concerned about the war in the Ukraine.
I heard or read an article that we cannot hate or condemn Vladimir Putin or the Russian troops for that matter, because if we do then we are no different than the people we are condemning.
In fact, Tim Gray said in a talk he gave a few days ago, the Catholic Church has named many Saints,
but,
The Catholic Church has never named a person sent to hell.
I found this statement very interesting.
You see,
Being Christian is NOT easy!
Every instinct of mine wants to lash out, and yet we can’t and when you consider it very carefully, you also know this is true.
Once again go to the Cross.
God the Father, could have lashed out at the Jewish and Roman authorities for Crucifying His son.
God the Father didn’t!
Since Jesus only said what He heard His Father tell Him, John 8:38 it was God the Father who said to Jesus, “forgive them, they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34, which Jesus then repeated from His Cross.
The more I think about this, this is the greatest prayer ever said.
We don’t know what we are doing!
If we truly did, we wouldn’t do it.
But since so many of us refuse to listen to the whisper of the Holy Spirit, we are left to live in the “world,” with all its hate and envy.
The truly great news is you can change today, and start living in the “Spirit world, “
How?
Try praying for an increase of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Why wouldn’t you want to ask in your prayers for an increase in Love, Joy, and Peace?
Once you’re hooked you will not want to go back.
