LISS Day 16

The Father's search

Genesis 3:7,9 & Romans 3:23-24

Knowing that I'm in such desperate need of Jesus right now, I spent much more time on scripture today because I find such comfort in its Truth and Wisdom. I earnestly search for God through my Bible. The activities of my day meant that I couldn't make an adoration, however much my heart yearned for it... so all my travel time between locations today has been spent on Holy words.
I came across a passage in St. Augustine's Confessions of a Sinner, "it seemed to me all the more right that the authority of Scripture should be respected and accepted with the purest faith, because while all can read it with ease, it also has a deeper meaning in which its great secrets are locked away". Before that, St. Augustine says, "I ought to pay no attention to people who asked me how I could be sure that the Scriptures were delivered to mankind by the Spirit of the one true God who can tell no lie". The 'great secrets' are locked away. I need a key to unlock the great secrets... and the key is none other than the key of David: Christ [Revelation 3:7-8]. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." [John 1:1]. Christ and Scripture are one. So what has this got to do with the Father searching for us?

Well... for me, at this present moment in time, and in what I'm experiencing at the moment, if the heart and/or mind (basically my soul, that also consists of my will and emotions) is not one with the Spirit, then my soul is disconnected from God. Say it is my heart that is disconnected, God searches for my lost heart (soul) - the heart that is not connected with him, because we are all made to be one with Him. The place God searches for us, is our heart - which is part and parcel of the soul (at least this is how I understand it to be... and anybody is welcome to teach/correct me more on this matter). This is very similar in analogy of the Holy Trinity being all 3 persons in One. "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." [1 Chron 28:9]. My heart must not become hardened, when I do not have Eucharistic Adoration, or the Sacrifice of the Mass at my fingertips, I must remain open to God through His Scripture and Prayer. I mustn't lock myself up and shut God out. How could I anyway, after the abundant mercy showered upon me over the summer?

Christ was the key that opened up our access to God. That is why "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father, except through me"[John 14:6 - my favourite Gospel passage because it was sent to me from above], and according to the Revelation passage mentioned above, nobody can ever shut out that access to the salvation who is our Christ, other than ourselves.

My Heavenly Father, ever faithful and ever Loving, never allow me to lock my heart away from Your Love. You sustain me, and breathe life into my poor wretched sinful soul. Cleanse me - body, soul and spirit, and heal me in Your own time. Make me love you through prayer and scripture more and more each day, until You are more than just satisfied.

LISS Day 1

Invitation

Today, our first day of the Life in the Spirit Seminar, I somewhat felt called to blog about it. Partly because I haven't bought myself a diary yet, and partly because every fruit borne out of God's Truth is worth shouting out about.

So, I pray:
Heavenly Father, You have invited me by way of Zyg and through the prayer of Your faithful children at Soulfood, to experience something indescribable. Your encounters are indescribable, that even the Saints struggle to put to words what Your encounter is truly like. The written word can not animate or bring to life the power of Your Love - except through the Bible, and those before me who were blind, but came to see; and the deaf, who finally came hear. In You, the dead were raised to new life. I believe this with all my body, soul and spirit, because You gave me Life that I never could have imagined or prepared myself for.

You did not create me to be perfect, Lord, and neither will I ever be... and so I accept my weaknesses as a sign of my own humanity, with a great desire to know You and love You better despite those weaknesses; offering it all up to You freely. With my whole heart, I'm sorry if I have missed Your call to me... if I have missed a particular path that You have wanted me to tread, a way You have wanted me to live. And so, my dearest Lord Jesus Christ in the divinity of the Holy Trinity, I open my heart to you, so that You may fill and consume me with your light and love again, as You have before. My way is not my way, until it is Your way. My life is not my life, until it is Your life. My spirit is not my spirit until it is Your Spirit. In You alone do I want to dwell... and because of this my Lord, I invite You to bring Your Life to my Spirit, so that my Spirit may live always for Your Life.

Today, we pray to invite Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to deepen our relationship with God. Other than the two scripture passages that I have reflected on, by the grace of God, I encountered another scripture passage, that screamed such joy and excitement within me, that I simply can't keep it to myself!
Jn 6: 62-63 "[Jesus said] What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life".
Aye! (I'm not Scottish, but I like saying that word!) It is the spirit that gives life... AMEN! In one Being with the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus are one God. I would not have come to know God's love without the Holy Spirit; of that I am sure! Someone once described to me that I experienced a Baptism in the Holy Spirit. How unworthy I am to even accept Jesus at the Sacrifice of the Mass... let alone be chosen to be Baptised in so glorious a way!

I guess that is why I was led by the almighty above to the blog image I have chosen to communicate any LISS related blogposts:
Jn 1: 32-33 And John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and stay on him. I still did not know that he was the one, but God, who sent me to baptise with water, had said to me, "You will see the Spirit come down and stay on a man; he is the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit."
Mat 3:16-17 And Jesus, when he was baptised, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.






I ask, anybody who picks up on this post, to pray for me, for all the other LISS attendees, and all the leaders and organisers, that the Holy Spirit will touch give us Life throughout this season of LISS.