Peace I Leave With You…

The Spirit of Fear, God, therefore, did not give to humanity.

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – WK II

CANTICLE OF MARY – Antiphon “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them, says the Lord.”

7 “God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid. He gave us a spirit of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7 International Children’s Bible (ICB)

Dear brothers and sisters, listen for the truth in these trying times of which we live is under attack at every turn! You only have to watch the nightly news channels, the doom, and gloom reporting about the lies and misconduct of those in power, people who have decided to take it upon themselves to commit horrible crimes leaving in their wake pain and heartbreak. But, I would like to reassure you that there is still a lot of good news to be had in all of this daily chaos. Simply put God did not put into our hearts the spirit of fear, no… flawed people do that. They do it in their words laced with the selfish intent of maintaining control over those around them. They do it in their selfish actions and unreasonable deep-seated misguided beliefs that are transferred from one to another like a plague. I have known people who have prided themselves on the fact that they were hard to get along with; I used my nice voice on that comment. Moreover, I have known people that have boasted… yes you heard me… boasted that they can be argumentative, pushy, rude, and admit they have a bad attitude and that they don’t care who they hurt. They wear these bad attitudes like a badge – a badge of honor! Remember my brothers and sisters, “God gave us a spirit of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7)  

Practical Application

In reflection, I think we all need to get back to the basics by looking at some examples that inhabit our sinful world for the purpose of striking fear into our hearts! From there I promise to serve as a guide in looking at ways we can overcome our individual personal fears which plague us daily; finding the right source –  knowing where to turn for relief and rejuvenation.

World-Wide Societal Examples of Fear Driven Agendas

Slavery of all kinds around the world, racism, sexism, as well as economic, religious, and cultural oppression. The idea that human beings allow the spread of lies, resentments, crushed and fearful hearts, as well as the condoning of acts of social deviance, in all do not come from God, but rather the human race.

Reflection Question:

“Have you ever been put into a situation that put real debilitating fear into your heart? Was that situation manifested by a flawed human being or by our loving, forgiving, perfect God?”

Think about this for a moment before answering. Take time to examine it fully. I would wager that 100% of the time it was a man-made dangerous and careless action that snowballed out of control. Perhaps it was an accident or maybe due to unforeseen events. Then look around you in your town, city, neighborhood, and state and if you look deep enough for every so-called innocent accident created by man there are at least a hundred events that affect your life which had been planned and executed diligently and deliberately with fidelity over a long period of time that does real evil in our world. Crimes which tear families apart, suppress fathers rights, discriminate against the weakest and most vulnerable of us, that being our children. Actions by people in power at all levels and even by individuals who seek to maintain control over their children and make a convincing argument which leads to alienation of the child’s biological father or mother. I am talking about things in this world so evil that it causes permanent damage to our hearts, minds, and souls. All of which was not condoned or given to us by God, but perpetrated unto us by members of our own human race! From start to finish evil allowed to live in our world by the heinous actions of yes… our own brothers and sisters! Done with malice and purpose to drive fear into those who only see the effects and are innocent of the long-range plan. But take heart my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, for it is this fear mongering which kicks up the fears from within, stirs the insecurities passed down by family members, or maybe close friends, certainly the nightly news can wear thin on our sensibilities. Ignoring them, using sarcasm, comedy,  or worse in the attempts of shutting them out only puts a band-aid on your problems at that singular moment. These fears are real and valid and stock us during the day and at night when we are awake and in our dreams.  Know that the fears of our world if allowed into our hearts take hold and grow becoming your new unwanted reality and begin to shape your life in ways you could have never possibly imagined. It is these fears which hold you back and until you find a way to free yourself from those fears will then and only then your eyes be truly opened. (John 8:32)   Now, think about your life and ask yourself were did these fears come from then when you arrive at the true answer do not sit back and do nothing, but rather give them all to God. For I tell you from experience that God gave us power and love and self-control. The power to stand up and let our true feelings be heard loud and clear. God gave us love so that the message we preach is given with sincerity and kindness which allows for forgiveness and reconciliation.  Self-control to know when to talk and when to be quiet, when to help and when to be still.

Turn To God!

4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” ~ Psalm 23:4 Modern English Version (MEV)

In the depths of your fear know that God protects you, God comforts you, and God walks by your side. In that what reason is there to fear? When you think your parents, brothers or sisters, husband or wife or a friend may not support you, or when you think you will be deserted know that God is with you and in that knowledge you are never deserted, left alone, unprotected, and when a person slams a door closed in your face God is there ready to open a new and better door! What is there to fear in the face of such unjudging love? I can’t tell you how many times in my life people have closed the door in my face without rim or reason. I can’t begin to express the uncertainty of not having any income, or even worse yet to have money taken from my bank account because falsehoods had been propagated against me which left me almost without a home, car or food and without any recourse to spend precious time with my only child. Imagine the evil it takes to tell a parent they can never see their only child at no fault to that parent! What gets me is the unfairness of it all!  On the other hand, God never left me and put good people in my life which took wonderful care of me. That my brothers and sisters is the very nature of our God, always walking by our side bringing us to glorious victory! Jesus says we must have confidence in our faith, and God has given us many perfect examples that are powerful and tangible so that we might have that confidence in Him. (Mark 5:36)   When life gets you down don’t allow pity to fill your heart rather say this instead; 13 “For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’” (Isaiah 41:13)   Say it with confidence, my brothers and sisters, because I testify before you that it is true, God does indeed hold your hand and walks with you through all kinds of mayhem, hoopla, and chaos! Finding comfort in the Lord is the starting point for reclaiming the real you, the one He is molding into a more perfect version! (Jeremiah 29:11)

LET US PRAY!

MY HEART SHALL NOT FEAR – Psalm 27

Psalm of David

27 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

11 Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Ant. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 MEV

Remember to also pray for all the victims of Sexual Misconduct within the Catholic Church, we all pray: (Month of September 2018) The Prays of Contrition & Reconciliation.

NEED HELP OR ENCOURAGEMENT?

If you would like to receive ongoing encouragement, to help you stay focused, and/or need some guidance in where to look for motivational scriptures in the bible then feel free to email me at listeningfaithfullyblog@gmail.com with your request. Remember you’re never alone.

May the Lord bless you, protect you from all evil and bring you to everlasting life.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Saint Joseph, Pray for us. ~ Sancte Ioseph – ‘ora pro nobis,’

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Reflection 2: What You Can Expect From Life: According to Belief; pt 2

“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” ~ John 3:16

It is a hard concept for some to come to grips with the idea of “GOD”. The idea of a singular “GOD” that is so powerful, so perfect that He would even want to count us as His children. It makes no sense logically speaking that the “GOD” of the Bible would hang in there and forgive each and every collective sin, striking covenant after covenant, until finally having to hand over His only son. It is a very hard concept to believe in because we would not have treated ourselves with such grace, so why would “GOD” love us so much? I think a bigger question is why would God continue to love us after the sacrifice of His Son and seeing the brutality of it, a death befitting a common criminal. “GOD” is such a hard concept to believe in that some refer to Him as a fantasy no different than all the sci-fi shows and fantasy novels that fill the movie-houses and books-shelves of popular culture of today. In this light “GOD” is regarded as nothing more than a story to explain our beginnings  no more important than filler until we arrive at some sort of scientific imperial truth. The argument these people use is based upon the lack of  change in the human story over the past two thousand years, the lack of evidence that proves Jesus was really a person, the lack of evidence that surrounds other Bible tales like the events chronicled in Genesis,Exodus, Job, Isaiah, Daniel, Jonah, and a host of other Old Testament stories that didn’t make it into the Bible. These arguments however do not stop at the Old Testament, but continue throughout the remainder of the Holy Bible as our one “GOD” seems to have undergone a metamorphosis from start to finish. The biggest argument I have personally heard is if our sin debt is paid in full why then are we still so completely filled with sin and destruction on every level of being? With these ideas permeating throughout our world it is not surprising there are some who do not believe or even entertain God or the Bible, but I ask all who do not believe; “At what cost will this lack of faith and belief in God cost you in the end?”

This question as a youth is what drove me to first research God, to study God, to understand the cost of disbelief. In part the very idea of “GOD” and His perfect love is what gave me my center balance and my ability to live through unforgiving situations, it is this belief centered life I was given by our singular God that constantly reaffirms my belief in Him daily and every-time I actively seek him out. In retrospect, I was more afraid of missing out on the greatest, most powerful, spiritual, loving being known to mankind as; “GOD”, that I put away all notions of a Godless Universe, because after all who made everything I see, feel, touch, experience, love, and who is it that feeds me when I am hungry, forgives me when I have sinned. The hole I had in my soul was so vast and empty it drove me to my current conceptualized belief  I hold today. It was through many hours in deep contemplation, research,reflections, conversations, and life experience which brought me to understand the God of our Bible, of our world, and of our universe. With all these collective influences I came to the point of simply handing over all control of my life  to God, doing His will, allowing Him to mold me into a more perfect person, the person He wants me to be. I was filled and still am with His Holy Spirit, I feel His  forgiveness, His love, His mercy, I see His miracles in my life, and I know without a doubt He will always be there no matter what, even after my mortal death. In short I was more afraid of not being forgiven for my sins and transgressions and having to live with them for an eternity absent of God. So I find it next to impossible to teach others about the Bible, and the power of belief without referring to my own past infantile thinking about religion and of humanistic spirituality. Therefore, in no short order this post will delve into a very grey area for most of you, and all I ask is that you read and confirm what I have written here in order that it build your fabric of belief so as to fill all the gabs and holes, to make you stronger in your faith, to bring you closer to God, and to hopefully steer you away from false doctrine which is so plentiful in our modern world. With that said I will be asking a lot of logical questions that I hope you ask of yourselves in doing your research into the Bible, questions that will if applied guide you and help you conduct the best possible research on the subject matter of God and in your growing belief in Him.

Question 1: Concerning Everlasting Life; “According to John is it here or in Heaven we will live forever?”

Because the spirit of God is so vast anything is possible. But the idea of living forever has been with mankind from the start, the wanting to live forever has been the catalyst that is found behind many great fantasy stories in our popular culture. The requirements found in the Bible are somewhat different than what is found in many non-fiction stories that have been told for centuries, interestingly the bond in all stories dealing with immortality include obtaining to some-degree a potion, spell, or magic that can transform a mortal body into a non-mortal body. The best evidence in this cultural idea is found in John 20:15-17; and again later in John 20:28-29 which reads;

Events After Jesus’s Resurrection:

15 “Jesus said to her, ‘Women, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, ‘Sir, if You have carried Him away , tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to Him, ‘Rabboni!’ (which is to say, Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” ~John 20:15-17 

In this passage we, the reader, are to believe that Jesus arose three days after His death and talked with Mary. He was unrecognizable to her, which in and of itself is a stretch of what writers and story tellers call the, “Suspension of Dis-Belief”. This then is made the focus when Jesus call’s out to Mary and then she saw Him for who He really was. This event in faith is one of the most powerful indicators that something out of the norm happened to the mortal body of Jesus, and that something was so unexpected that Mary had not conceived of looking and finding anything other than a dead Jesus, not a living one. Even though He told all His disciples of what would happen three days after His own death.

Question 2: “Why then were they not looking for a living Jesus?”

The crushing reality for those who witnessed the brutality of the Romans in their onslaught against Jesus and then to see His mortal suffering and death drove into their minds that no one could have survived the punishment Jesus had suffered. This fact also leeds us to believe in the notion Jesus really died on the cross just as it had been told. The scene was so gruesome and Jesus’s body so mangled that there would have been no possible chance for resurrection. The feelings of  hopelessness, grief, guilt, and fear was so well chronicled that even if Jesus’s followers had believed they still would have been taken by surprise, and as the Bible tells us the disciples did not believe in Mary’s words, in fact they where cruel to her in their response. This then brings in to question Mary’s state-of-mind when the tomb was empty, in that her grief overshadowed her faith and made her cry real genuine tears. This part of the story is believable to anyone who has lost a loved one. This is a human response, one filled with love, and panic as she inquired to the whereabouts of the body of Jesus, not recognizing Him for who He really was, again ignoring the obvious out of grief. We can extrapolate from this text that Jesus died, and arose in a transformed body, a spiritual one, an immortal one, not unlike the body He presented to three of His disciples, Peters, James, and John during the transfiguration of  Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8Mark 9:28-36 and ten again refereed to in 2Peter 1: 16-18. Going back to mans longing to be immortal the Bible is a clear foundation for later stories we have build up over time. Each fantasy being larger and more fanciful than the one before it. We have more details to non-fiction characters like Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, The world of J.R.R. Tolkien, and The tales of Narnia than we do for the resurrection of Christ. The Bible goes into no detail to how Jesus defeated death, rather it plainly states that He did defeat death just as He said that He would. In fact much of the story had already been written thousands of years before Christ such is found in,  Psalm 2:7,Psalm 16:9-11Psalm 22:14-25Psalm 30:29Psalm 40:13Psalm 110:1Psalm 118:21-24Isaiah 53:9-12Hosea 5:156:3, and Zechariah 12:10,and so on.  This drives scientists crazy, and with them all others who are lacking in faith. Because the Bible tells us nothing of the, “How Factor”, of Christ’s resurrection and because of this missing peace of the puzzle there have been countless hours spent looking at physical evidence such as the Shroud of Turin, and other important artifacts from that time period. But because our God is so mighty in knowledge and perfect in His execution Jesus gave us something even more powerful than proof, He even said it aloud to Thomas;

27 “Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach you hand here, and put in into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and My God!’ 29 Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” ~ John 20:28-29

The act of believing transcends factual evidence, as proven by non-fiction stories that after a time people begin to believe in them. What is interesting in this human behavior is we have the power to believe in events that have happened but are so unexplainable and unbelievable to others that some how we are forced to make a leap of faith. But Jesus gave us the power to believe without seeing, because His life was prophesied about, then in The Acts of the Apostles his story was spread and eventually replaced the many Gods of Rome. We know this to be true because of many writings found in Acts such as,  Acts 2:22-363:13-184:10-12335:29-3210:37-4313:27-3717:2330-3223:624:14-1625:1926:68; etc. Again the Influence of Christ was written about in other books of the Bible such as, Romans 1:3-46:391 Corinthians 15:1-582 Corinthians 4:10-14Galatians 2:20Ephesians 1:19-23;Philippians 2:5-11Colossians 2:121 Thessalonians 1:104:141 Timothy 3:162 Timothy 2:8-11Hebrews 13:20; and 1 Peter 1:21; etc.

In truth this is the true story behind the non-believing, unrepentant, and lost Christian who struggles in their faith, that is the real story, the human story behind the Bible tales of Moses, and King David, and plethora of others who struggled in their belief. But, at some point they and we had to stop questioning and simply believe in a world where mortal and immortal collide. Our hearts long for it, we chase after it, and to some extent we fight against the power of belief. Mary did when looking for a dead Jesus, the disciples did in not believing her, Thomas when they all told Him of the resurrected Christ, Paul did in His persecution of Christians, and we all do before we meet Jesus face to face in our hearts. We may have based our fanciful stories of immortal beings from Greek authors, but the Bible stories share their truth in their telling from an spectacular reality; from an unknown, “How Factor”,  of man, to the immortality of God. We gain our immortality through the belief in Him, and thus to answer question 1 we will live and reign forever with Christ in Heaven. We will be with Him wherever He is as God created us all in His image and will recreate us in His resurrected likeness. Unlike many fantasy stories that have no shred of proof, there is proof to Jesus. His immortality was not achieved by some elaborate mystical spell that no one could repeat, but rather in the belief in God, though His perfect love, through the belief in the Holy Spirit, and in the belief in His mission to save mankind; all of which give us the promise and power to believe that there is nothing God cannot do. Likewise, our immortality is secured by our faith and belief in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, as we too live, die, and will live forever in His glory.

10 “They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’” ~ Acts 1:10-11

Truth in the power of belief is all we have in this world, the feeling deep in out heart is all we have to know that God is with us. It in reality is the tuning into the heart, into morality, to hold the covenant with Jesus Christ as the most important aspect of ones life. The Holy Bible offers us a wonderful chance to look into the world of belief from Gods point of view, from Jesus’s point of view, from all the Saints and Prophets vantage point. We are all called to believe without seeing, and to ask for forgiveness through Jesus Christ who has paid our sin debt in full, for Hell itself has been over thrown by Jesus for you and me and everyone living and dead. To some regard I look at my life since understanding these most basic tenants of belief and can truly see all the small miracles in my life God has placed there. My life is no longer aimless, and without direction, rather I can see clearly the path He wishes for me to travel. It is this assurance I offer to you now by reviewing the “human” Jesus, the “scared” Mary, the “vulnerable” disciples, for it is this aspect of our belief that is the corner stone to Jesus transcending from mortal to God through His resurrection. A tantalizing peace of the puzzle is simply over looked in telling this story, Jesus was the only one of His age that could bring people back from the dead, they were not in their spiritual bodies, but still fully flesh and blood. When Jesus died their was no one to bring Him back, but yet His arose. The Disciples could not have this because they where hiding, and the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon them, so this “How Factor” rests with God. The tomb was filled with Angels, indeed it was the Angels that rolled back the heavy stone to His tomb. The Bible describes the Roman guards that were placed there by the Pharisees  bore witness to these events. The proof we all seek is in the scripture, but the power of belief is in your heart.

43 “To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever in Him shall receive remission of sins.” ~ Acts 10:43

Challenge Question: If we use this power of believe in every aspect of our lives, how would it impact our thinking, feeling, and emotions selves, would our lives be better or worse for having done so? 

Amen

If you liked this Reflection on BELIEF please leave a comment. Also please LIKE and SHARE this post with others.

Brian Keith

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Brian Keith

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ~ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 

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