Reflection 3: Expect God!

“Everyone who acknowledges me in public will be celebrated by the angels.” ~Lost Gospel Q, Q47

 

WHAT THE WORLD PROVIDES

In our daily lives temptation and earthy desires constantly tug at us like a child at a store that wants something in the checkout isle. Sin constantly rips at our mind and heart doing its best to convince us that the pleasures of life is all we need and is more important than living a morally centered life. The majority of us look the other way when a beggar asks for money, or when a person is in need of rescue from harm. We as human beings have grown into a complacency that dictates we are not morally accountable for not helping our fellow man. In this doctrinal philosophy man has also become complacent with our societal expectations that operate underneath our everyday experience largely unnoticed and unchecked. These expectations govern how we feel about what makes us happy, to what is wrong with the world, and in large part is also directly responsible for our inflated since of self or the grouse inflation of the ego, and more importantly is the drivers behind the falling away from our natural expectation of God and His important role in our lives. We live in a world where some of us exist within an alternate reality which feeds a psychosis of, “Do whatever you want because there is no repercussions of your actions.” Or worse yet, “If you don’t agree with me then your harassing me!” In this psychosis reason and logic fades away into a world of absolutes to the extremes be them good or bad, and is largely accompanied by character traits which make others believe in their misguided truth, in their non-logical beliefs, and then true domination of mind, body, and soul begins. From these people you can expect chaos, as they do not deal well with the message of God, his divine love, mercy, and majestic power over all things. Because for them to admit that God is Alfa and Omega would mean they would have to submit to God, and these people do not submit to anyone, specifically a God they cannot see, hear, or touch, because their life is centered within the natural world, not the spiritual one that Jesus preached about. Arguing with these people is impossible, as they are always right, even when proven wrong. Love runs off their backs like water, kindness is only accepted on their terms, and then they rush to claim all the glory of the hard work of other peoples loving kindness and gentle deeds. The world revolves around them, man’s or God’s laws have no meaning for they live by a code of opportunistic self-preservation tactics which abuse all laws that favor them, and everything else falls to the category of harassing, damning, slanderous insults  against their critics, or those they target. These people will say they follow the Bible, but their actions are more like that of Satan, as they truly believe in their own self-centered blind ambition which leads them on a path that closely resembles a cruel dictator, or one who crushes other peoples happiness for the sack of their own joy. These people do not truthfully acknowledge Jesus and therefore will not be celebrated by the Angels. I write this first to forewarn you, God is all we need, God is all we can expect, and God is all we should ever want. God should be placed first in your life, thus everything else is a wash. With God we can expect true love, true kindness, true honesty, true mercy, and true forgiveness. There is no human psychosis which can stand against God, there is nothing which God cannot do, and in the end humanity will either come to grips with this one truth, or be damned within this Satanic, self-serving frame of mind and will live and die being forever absent of God.

“2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” ~ James 1:2-7

 

EXPECT GOD TO…

Expect God to heal your heart, comfort your tired and troubled soul, and to give you the words and wisdom you need to do his will within your life. In this our unrealistic expectations of our fellow man melts away to a world of pure joy because for the first time pain is bearable, hardships are surmountable, and love is attainable. Giving in to the love of God is scary because this requires us to believe in God, to believe He hears us without direct proof, and to walk with absolute faith in a concept that builds our character as it transforms our life. Its scary because there is so much we don’t know about God and in stark contrast the world is all around us, tempting us, pulling at us, telling us to expect nothing from God and everything from the world. Doubt is part of our nature, we are naturally skeptical about almost everything we do not know or are afraid of. This built-in skepticism is one of many survival instincts programmed into our brain, and it overrides almost every other trait we have with the exception of God’s love. It goes without saying that our children seek love and acceptance from their parents, just as all people seek the love and acceptance from God.  Doubt fades in the reality of this basic need to be accepted by our parents, our loved ones within our community, and that of our creator. Satan uses this basic need and turns it into an unrealistic expectation using fear and that of our natural doubt. He puts us through trials and tribulations always looking out for the weakness in our faith.  He probes our mind, heart, and soul looking for all the cracks in our devotion to God. Satan can take the simplest, most innocent thing and twist it into the most  horrific, most perverse action and self-righteously condemn everyone else for it. This is why Jesus instructed us through his message of peace and love to rejoice in God, to rejoice when others curse you. For this simple action of rejoicing in times of hardship and intense scrutiny is in reality like using a two edged sword against Satan, it cuts at his flesh, tears away at his unholy soul, and reminds him to who you belong. Rejoice, when others curse you and do not doubt that God has heard your cries and has seen everything and everyone who has come forth to harm you, for in this you can expect God! You can expect God to generously give to you without finding fault!

WHAT THE LORD PROVIDES

The Lord provides in ways that we cannot possibly understand nor fully realize. Take for instance each blade of grass, each tree that sprouts from the ground, and each rose that blooms in the spring and summer. Have you ever asked who planted them or from where the seed came? Have you ever asked who gave it the nourishment and the water ? Have you ever asked from where does these things come?  For we know the nourishment comes from the ground and the water comes from the sky, but who placed the nourishment in the ground and who put the water in the sky? These are the blessings of God these are his miracles in our daily life. It would be right to consider where do the birds of the air get their food and the lions of the great plains in Africa get their prey, for who feeds them and who gives them the opportunity to be feed? Likewise, it would also be right to not wander in your faith, to not worry about where your next meal will come from. In these examples we live each day expecting God,  expecting his love, expecting his holy nourishment,  each day we expect him to take care of us just as the animals and the plants of this earth expect God’s merciful hand and God’s love and grace daily. Living your life without expectation does not exclude God because we too expect God’s loving grace each day of our lives. On the contrary living your life with unrealistic expectations puts you in a cage and pushes you further from God. If I expected for man to feed me and to clothe me I would go hungry and I would go naked from man’s grace is not as complete as God’s grace. I could not expect anyone to do the right thing because under the psychosis I spoke about earlier we are righteously indignant and morally bankrupt. Many people say they listen and follow God but their actions are more like Satan and in their wants, desires, their words, and in their blind ambition many have sold out to sin. For Jesus said you cannot serve two masters, as he also called these people of fake faith hopeless!

 

“You who claim to be the most devout are hopeless! You love sitting in the front row of the synagogue and having people bow down to you in public. You are like whitewashed tombs-beautiful on the surface, but filled with death and decay. Beware to those who load people down with the crushing burden of laws and regulations but do nothing to help them. You have taken away the key of knowledge, but instead of unlocking the door, you have blocked the way for those trying to enter. You erect monuments to prophets who were murdered by your ancestors. They did the killing, you built the tombs. That’s why the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and messengers. Some they will kill, others they will persecute. This generation will have to answer for the blood of every prophet shed since the beginning of the world, from Abel to Zechariah.'” ~Lost Gospel Q, Q44

To expect God is the same as to accept his final judgement in your life. To accept the fact that for each sin there is a consequences even if the laws of man of this world lets you slip through the cracks. There is punishment and, (thank God),  the chance for atonement. There is forgiveness, mercy, love, and Gods grace, but there is also real spiritual accountancy.  In these realities which we, (the living), have not yet experienced, there has been a counter philosophy or counter-culture that would have people believe there is nothing after you die. The great thinkers of empirical evidence would have many believe that change happens slowly over time and not by the hand of an almighty being that is somewhere in the universe. Still others would have you believe that aliens from outer space is responsible for mankind’s achievements. But I would have you believe that these things were predicted thousands of years before this misguided philosophy had ever took root.  Great prophets and messengers lived hundreds of years apart, without the knowledge base of the other to support them in many instances all predicted with remarkable accuracy using much the same verbiage, the coming of the “Son of Man”. Jesus forwards us that there will be a time when the ideas and concepts of mankind will be no match for the judge to come. I would have you believe in a Bible which has been proven to be historically accurate, a book filled with the words of our creator and I would ask you my brethren to  stop searching for the aliens,  or the evaluation process, but await with great joy the coming of God.

 

“A time will come when you will long to see the son of man, but you’ll see nothing. There will be those who will say, ‘Look over there’ or ‘Look right here.’ But don’t go searching! Stay right where you are. Because the son of man will come like lighting flashing from one end of the sky to the other. It will be just like it was in the days of Noah. People ate, drank, got married and went on with their lives right up until the day that Noah climbed aboard the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them. That’s how it will be when the son of man is revealed. If two people are sleeping, one will be taken, the other left. If two women are grinding grain at the mill, one will be taken, the other will be left.” ~ Lost Gospel Q, Q80

 

We can expect God to work miracles and we can also expect God to take his own into heaven within a blink of an eye, for there is nothing which God cannot do. There is nothing that God cannot see, hear, or affect in any manner he so chooses. God is the Alpha and the Omega, and there can be only God. This we can build our hope, renew our soul, find comfort, and find safety against the many who would kill our body. In God’s words and in the sacrifice of Jesus we can expect that there is a force in this world which is stronger and more loving than anything we could ever see or touch. God moves through the waters, the air, the earth, and rests within our hearts, in this you can expect God.

Amen,

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Published by

Brother Brian

Brother Brian currently serves within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Catholic School System. He is currently in his twentieth year of teaching.

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