Meditations
for Pascha
(The Passover Season, 2016)
+ + +
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
+ + +
Meditation Verse
Ephesians 1:23
1:22 And [
The FATHER ] hath put all things under HIS+ Feet, and gave HIM+
to be the Head over all things to the church,
which is His+ Body,
the fullness of HIM+
that filleth all in all.
which is His+ Body,
the fullness of HIM+
that filleth all in all.
The
Literal Greek:
Which is His+ Body,
the Fullness of The ONE+
filling all, in ALL.
+ + +
Meditation
This verse tells us two facts.
The first fact is that the
Church is the Body of CHRIST.
The second fact is the Church is
the FULLNESS of JESUS CHRIST Who+ is
filling and completing everything ... in HIMSELF+.
If Our LORD JESUS CHRIST is the head ... and the
FULLNESS ... of the Church, the Church
should be full of life, of miracles, of healings, of Holy Fear, of power
against the evil tide rolling across the earth.
As the Body of CHRIST, are we full ?
NO.
We know that CHRIST
JESUS has not changed. We know that the HOLY
SPIRIT has not changed. We know
that Scriptures can not lie and do not change. And certainly, Our
FATHER Who art in Heaven has not changed !
So... what HAS changed ?
The Church.
Why is "the church,"
changing ... changing so much that The FATHER does not recognize it ?
Why is "the church"
changing so much that The HOLY SPIRIT flees from it ?
Why is "the church"
changing so much that there is only an excess of programs, activities,
teachings, and singing ... and not the FULLNESS of CHRIST resting upon it
?
The answer is this: The Called-Out ones are refusing to be called-out from
the world.
The individuals who make up the
congregations of the church proper are not YIELDED unto the leading of The HOLY
SPIRIT to separate from the world.
Church attenders look like the
world, talk like the world, act like the world and sometimes, they cheat like
the world.
The world CANNOT tell them apart
from other worldlings.
The Believers have followed the
world instead of the Cross. They do this because they are "under
Grace."
And "Grace" means
being "excused" from the discipline of the Cross... right ?
NO. Wrong.
The Cross means only one thing:
putting Self to death in order to Follow CHRIST JESUS.
True Followers of JESUS do NOT
look like the world; even a child can spot a TRUE Follower of JESUS because
they look differently than the rest of the public.
True Followers of JESUS do NOT
act like the world. Store clerks, bank tellers, neighbors, and all the ones
that have contact with them will KNOW something is different because they do
not act the same as "everybody else" acts.
They are not loud and rowdy.
They mind their own business. They do not become belligerent if something goes
wrong in a commercial transaction.
Nor, do true Followers of JESUS talk
the same. Their speech is clean. Their speech is salted with Truth about The
LORD JESUS. Their speech is kind and gentle towards others.
The Cross, to true Followers of
JESUS, is followed by discipleship.
Nominal church attenders NEVER
pick up discipleship; they think it curtails their freedom.
Church attenders disdain
discipleship; coming on Sunday and to the mid-week meetings... isn't that enough of the Cross ?
Worldly Christians detest
discipleship, calling it law ... and His+ Grace allows me to
escape all demands to curb my appetite, my zeal for sports, my zest for
shopping, and I am FREE to dress in the public-approved fashions because HE+
wouldn't want me to be an odd-looking spectacle, would HE+ ?
So, where is His+ FULLNESS in the
Church, that Holy Fullness which fills all with ALL+ ?
Sadly, that cavity is filled with
the world.
Here is TRUTH that you can count
on:
The LORD JESUS
will not share
His+ FULLNESS
with the world.
NEVER.
+ + +
Let
us pray:
Heavenly FATHER, I said I believe in YOUR SON+ JESUS CHRIST. I have been baptized and received
into His+ flock.
But, I am not FULL.
Well... I am not full of
YOUR SON+, that is, just like the church.
Help me to embrace
discipleship ... and that in all areas of my life.
Show me , O CHRIST, where to
start. Show me where to slow down, where to eliminate, where to change.
Show me how to dress as a
Follower of JESUS so that no-one has to guess if I am Your+ Follower or not.
And, change my speech; O LORD
JESUS, change my heart !
I am sorry for my worldly
witness; change me . I will listen to
YOU+ now.
This I pray, O FATHER, in The Holy and
Precious Name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. Amen.
+ + +
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
+ + +
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.
