Meditations
for Pascha
(The Passover Season, 2016)
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Meditations for the Monastic-At-Heart
Now is My+ soul troubled;
and what shall I+ say ...
FATHER,
save ME+
from this hour ?
but for this cause
came I+ unto this hour.
FATHER,
Glorify Thy Name.
Then
came there a Voice from Heaven, saying,
I have both glorified IT,
and will glorify IT again.
John12:27-28
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Meditation Verse
Ephesians 1: 14
WHO is the earnest
of our inheritance
until the redemption
of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of HIS glory.
Note: WHO is
referring to the HOLY SPIRIT , keeping in context with the previous
verse. REDEMPTION is "loosening
away" in the literal Greek.
Followers of JESUS are the "purchased
possession." HIS may be understood to be the GODHEAD.
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Meditation
This special earnest, the deposit, the down-payment ( as it were
) has been given to us, to secure or hold our promised inheritance in the
Kingdom of GOD. This DIVINE
DEPOSIT or Pledge to us is the HOLY SPIRIT Who
indwells within us at our conversion to CHRIST.
Then Peter said unto them,
Repent, and be baptized
every one of you
in the name of JESUS CHRIST
for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive
the Gift of the HOLY SPIRIT.
Acts 2:38
This Divine Guarantee-or has
marked us as legal RECEPTORS for an inheritance in the Heavenlies with our name
on it. No-one can steal that inheritance from us. No-one can cheat us out of
our inheritance, nor do we have to share our portion with another.
However, there is a Divine characteristic of this DIVINE
Earnest or down-payment which makes it different than the usual legal
transaction of goods or money given for a down payment: This Divine Earnest happens to be LIVING!
HE is ALIVE !
But
when the COMFORTER is come, WHOM I+ will
send unto you
from The FATHER,
even the SPIRIT of Truth,
WHO proceedeth from The FATHER,
HE shall testify of ME+:
John 15:26
Now, this Living "Breath" from GOD has another Divine
characteristic: HE does not speak of Himself, but of
JESUS CHRIST.
Howbeit when HE,
the SPIRIT of Truth, is
come,
HE will guide you
into all Truth:
for HE shall
not speak of Himself;
but whatsoever HE shall
hear,
that shall HE
speak:
and HE will
shew you things to come.
John 16:13
Now, it is true that no-one can steal our inheritance from us
because of this Divine Deposit of The HOLY SPIRIT living
within us.
However... we can lose it.
What?
Know ye not
that your body
is the Temple of the HOLY SPIRIT
WHO is in you,
WHOM ye have of GOD,
and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price:
therefore glorify GOD
in your body,
and in your spirit,
which ARE GOD'S.
I Corinthians 6:19-20
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Let
us pray:
O LORD, we have been so foolish. We have played the harlot with the
world.
We have desired things ...
and persons... who have drawn us away from THEE+.
We are finely tuned to our distractions but barely able to discern
Thy+ Voice when we need it.
We are led about by our bodies, our flesh, our earth-centered minds
instead of by our Divine Earnest WHO is to lead us into ALL Truth.
We have NOT given to THEE+ Thine own: our body and our spirit.
Rather, we have squandered THY goods. We have not been good stewards of what is
rightly Thine.
Standing in sore need of cleansing, we ask that THOU wouldst be
pleased to restore us unto THEE and take not Thy+ blessed HOLY SPIRIT from us.
We commit anew our bodies and our spirits unto THEE+ , to be filled
with Thy+ SPIRIT and used for Thy+ purposes.
We accept the call to Quietness and Separation from this world and
its values and its ways and its activities... distractions, all.
Grant us this cleansing, this renewal, that we may bring praise to
Thy+ Glorious Name... and not lose our inheritance.
These things we ask of THEE+, in Thy+ HOLY Name, O CHRIST. Amen.
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Worthy is the LAMB+.
Worthy is The LAMB+
that was slain.
Worthy is the LAMB+,
slain
from the foundation
of the earth.
Revelation 13:8
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PRAISE and THANKSGIVING
be to The FATHER,
and to HIS
Beloved SON+
JESUS CHRIST,
and to
the Blessed HOLY SPIRIT.
ONE GOD:
FATHER,
SON+,
and HOLY SPIRIT,
both now and forever,
world without end.
Amen.
