Doing God’s Will

Grab

This year, we look to being blessed beyond bounds. Despite being in the pandemic situation for so long, our theme for 2022 fills us with hope and excitement. With this, what recent blessing have I received from the Lord?

Grace

Read:

1 Samuel 8:4-22
Psalm 89:16-19
Mark 2:1-12

We can look to being blessed beyond bounds, but only if we do God’s will. It is His will that we be blessed. But it is up to us because we ourselves can be the stumbling blocks to being blessed. In the prayer Jesus taught us, we pray that God’s will be done. But His will be done only if we obey Him and follow His ways.

Throughout salvation history, humankind has thwarted the will of God. Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed, and thus lost paradise. The chosen people, Israel, sinned and disobeyed, and thus lost the promised land. Modernists in the Church today are embracing the zeitgeist, causing many of God’s people to sin and disobey, and thus we see the loss of many Catholics and of Judeo-Christian values and culture throughout the world.

Modernism is embracing the culture of the age. So, it was too at the time of the Israelites. They have been ruled by the judges, but then they wanted a king, just like the other nations. Even after God warned them, through Samuel, what a king would do to them, they still insisted: “No! There must be a king over us. We too must be like all the nations, with a king to rule us” (1 Sm 8:19-20). What was wrong with that? It was not God’s way. It was not God’s will. In God’s eyes, the Israelites were rejecting His direct rule over them. God said to Samuel, “You are not the one they are rejecting. They are rejecting me as their king. …. deserting me to serve other gods.” (1 Sm 8:7-8). Ultimately, most of the kings were unfaithful to the covenant and did fall into idolatry. They did evil in the Lord’s sight, and Israel lost it all.

Now, what modernism also does is to look to the human and miss out on the divine. It is looking to the needs and wants of man but not to the demands of God. But we must know that if the latter are fulfilled, then the former will also be fulfilled. But most do not know that.

This is what happened in the healing of the paralytic. His four friends placed him beside Jesus to be healed. Jesus saw their faith and said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” (Mk 2:5). Huh? How about making him walk, Lord? The scribes were worse. They accused Jesus of blasphemy, saying, “Who but God alone can forgive sins?” (Mk 2:7).

Jesus was imparting blessing to the people by teaching and healing. But there were those who saw only the human but not the divine. Jesus raised them to a new level. To show that he was God, he made the paralytic walk. The paralytic, his friends, and the scribes would all have been content if Jesus just healed him. And this is where modernists are. They look to and only see on the human level, they look to the physical well-being of the ill, but they stop short of looking to spiritual healing as well, to forgiveness of sins. They do not want to talk of sin, because it is offensive to the person.

And so, God’s blessing becomes very limited, and the fullness of God’s blessing is thwarted.

If we want to be blessed beyond bounds, we must do God’s will. For us in MFC, God’s will is for us to be holy warriors. We are to grow in holiness, and we are to do the Lord’s mission as we engage in spiritual war. Indeed, “blessed the people who know the war cry, who walk in the radiance of your face, Lord.” (Ps 89:16). That is a classic definition of a holy warrior.

Then we can rejoice always. “In your name, they sing joyfully all the day; they rejoice in your righteousness.” (Ps 89:17). And certainly, we give thanks in all circumstances, because the Lord who is constant and faithful, is our “majestic strength; …. is our shield” (Ps 89:18-19a). And yes, “the Holy One of Israel (is) our king” as well (Ps 89:19b).

Gather

For discussion, answer the following questions:

1. What is the state of my heart today as God’s Holy Warrior?

2. What can I do on a personal level for God’s will of salvation to be fulfilled in this modernist world?

Go Forth

Make it a commitment with your spouse, and your household members to attend the weekly worldwide meeting of our Servant-General, Bro. Frank Padilla, which is livestreamed in our community’s Facebook page. This is one way in which we can deepen our knowledge and strengthen our conviction as God’s Holy Warriors sent to the ends of the earth.