Advent Meditation #20



And she... brought forth her firstborn son
and wrapped HIM+ in swaddling clothes
and laid HIM+ in a manger...

and when HIS+ hour had come...
the whole band of soldiers...
stripped HIM+ 
and put on HIM+ a scarlet robe...


For The MIGHTY ONE did for me  great things and HOLY is HIS Name.

Luke 1:49 ( literal Gk)

Blessed are the poor in spirit;

for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

Are we seeking first the kingdom of Self... or of GOD ? Do we clamor and fight for "our rights" when we are stepped upon... or do we yield, yield, yield at every  opportunity... in order to bring about GOD'S Kingdom ?

[ No, we do NOT yield our members unto sin, and if forced to participate in actual sin, we YIELD NOT and prepare to take the hate, rejection and opposition.]
  

Are we SO poor in spirit, so lacking in Self-seeking, that GOD can do great things for us , to us, and with us ?

If not, then we are not low enough to be used by GOD.

We will never be able to echo The Hebrew virgin Mariam's song:

For HE that is MIGHTY hath done great things for me and HOLY is HIS Name.

MEDITATION

O Gracious LORD of the Poor in Spirit,  I praise THEE+  for being poor in spirit but rich in Grace when THOU+ walked the earth as a man.  Help me to go and do likewise. Amen.  

Passover Meditation #34 for the Lenten Season 2012

If anyone abides not in ME+, he is cast out as the branch and is dried out... and they gather them... and into the fire they throw them... and they are burned. John 15:6 Green's Greek Interlinear

And that fire is hot!

A pile of dried grape vines burns hot, sending both flames and smoke high, as we have discovered after pruning our own vines.

Notice...

 once the branch is cut off from The True VINE+, that branch dries up.

This withering process may take some time and furthermore, the branch itself may even remain supple for a long time.

But...

that branch will never bring forth fruit, supple or not, once off The True VINE+. It will be turned into ashes... just like all dead things eventually become. 

So... HOW DO YOU ABIDE ?   

YIELD.

• YIELD toThe WORD+ ... Measure your actions by what you see written in Matthew 5, 6, and 7... for starters.

• YIELD to The SPIRIT... Go meekly within your heart, asking for conviction whenever you become head-strong and unteachable or uncorrectable. 

YIELD to The WATER...Practice living as a New Creature in CHRIST because...

because...

because...  

the power to hold you

in the sin of the old man

has been broken

by the

water

of your baptism

into CHRIST'S death.

Remember your baptismal renunciations of the world, the flesh and the devil.

The Baptismal Renunciations

Made by the Ancient Church

I RENOUNCE :

satan and all his works ,

and his pomps,

and his worships,

and  his angels,

and his inventions, 

and all things that are under him;

And , I RENOUNCE  

the vain glory of the world

with all covetous desires of the same,

and the sinful desires of the flesh,

so that I will not follow them

nor be led by them,

by the Enabling GRACE of The HOLY SPIRIT,

through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

Amen.