Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise - Jeremiah 17:14

PRAYER INTENTION

1. We pray for HEALING GRACES, upon all who are sick of one disease or the other.

2. We pray for the HOLY SPIRIT to HEAL ALL who are sick in our families and in our communities especially MOST REV. JOHN BONAVENTURE KWOFIE, CSSp

As I was saying yersterday Humans are now attempting to create an explanation of the realm of the spirit and dealings with God without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. And that is where the big problem is – because the Holy Spirit is the life of every dealing with God and if we relegate the Holy Spirit to the background we will end up becoming like the Pharisees and Sadducees during Jesus’ time- we will become religious practitioners- with no access to the Holy Spirit.

Christianity is supposed to be a lifestyle, an experience, it is a revelatory experience of which faith life is a must. All the Sacraments of the church, name them Baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation with the Holy Spirit, Forgiveness of sins, Anointing of the Sick, Marriage, Priesthood are all powered by the Holy Spirit- the Holy Spirit gives us the church and gives us the sacraments-

A Christian rite, which has Christ as the institutor, where Grace, power, and inward sanctification is communicated to the soul - Sacrament. So in Baptism it is the Holy Spirit that effects through water a second birth- a Rebirth--

In confirmation, the sacrament connected to Baptism, is presented in the Acts of the Apostles in the form of an imposition of hands through which the apostles communicated the gift of the Holy Spirit-

the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the forgiveness of sins cannot be over emphasised - once the road block of sin is removed, then the process of divinization can begin.

In marriage- the man and the woman participate in the DIVINE LOVE which has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit- through the Sacrament of Matrimony, the Spirit forms communion of persons between a man and woman.

The Holy Eucharist- or communion as other church's will call it- has a strong bond with the Holy Spirit- “ Lord, you are holy indeed, the fountain of all holiness. Let your spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of Our Lord, Jesus Christ .” This are the words of the Priest as he prays over the bread and wine to be transformed, just after we finish singing/reciting the Hosanna –

... And as we gain a deeper appreciation of the church’s sacramental life, we discover in all these encounters the gentle but powerful presence of the Holy Spirit.

Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit for the saviour to be birth- if Mary is who she is- it is because of the Holy Spirit and the fact that she birthed Jesus the Son of God the most High.

This same Holy Spirit birth the Church- that we happen to be so proud of. The various churches we boast of today, “ Ena, I am Presbyterian, I am Methodist, I am Catholic, I am charismatic, I am Evangelical Presbyterian- I am this- that, we are the best, this and that ”…this same Holy Spirit birth the church.

But look at what we have done- we have ignored the Spirit of God- why we have ignored him is a mystery I am still trying to uncover- we have sent him out of our churches, out of our families, out of our businesses, out of our daily dealings, out of our governments, out of our lives and that is why we are the way we are…

Oh hold on you think the Spirit of God cannot leave a church, cannot leave a family, and cannot leave you? - let me shock you- turn with me to Ezekiel 10- the Glory of the Lord left the temple- as a result of the attitude of the people- the temple was there people were going to church- but God's glory had left kraa. And then you know the scary part- God’s glory left the city of JERUSALEM too in Ezekiel 11:22- A whole city without the Holy Spirit? This is serious.

I can say with authority that the Holy Spirit has left many Christian church's and places of worship- that a good number of our various Christian places of worship, temples, churches- the glory of God left long time ago- it is gone, gone - you enter and you know its gone-that’s why some of our *churches have become social clubs instead of places of worship-

Haven’t you heard of churches where the members become angry because the preacher man is preaching the truth, preaching repentance and they want him out because he is a challenge to them and is rocking their boats of sin?

Haven’t you heard of churches where they organize all night every other night, but the life of the church members are still the same- little or no progress- Haven’t you heard of churches that the members prefer the life of sin as juxtaposed to spiritual growth? God’s glory has left some churches- so I wonder, the people who go to those buildings, what they go to worship…

You remember King Saul, scripture says in 1 Samuel 16:14 “ Now the Spirit of the LORD had left Saul, and the LORD sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear. ” So the Spirit of the Lord can leave you- it is a possibility- has the spirit of the Lord left you? The Spirit left Saul because he disobeyed God- 1 Samuel 15:11

Hear me when I tell you that, the Holy Spirit is the life and force of the church and I will rather focus on the SOURCE first before I concentrate on other things… Many zealous people have focused on God the Father and God the Son and side-lined the Holy Spirit and it dimensions of operations, probably because the Holy spirit is radical and revolutionary and it blows where it wills and does not have a specific modus operandi, it can manifest itself in diverse ways, so like I said earlier we have succeeded in driving the Holy Spirit out of our lives, out of our churches, and when the *Holy Spirit manifests we call it strange, nuisance, childish etc.

We need to bring the Holy Spirit to our consciousness, he is a PERSON, we can relate with him and you can experience him, and walk in his power. What your spirit is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church. It is the Holy Spirit that makes the Church " the temple of the living God "

The Holy Spirit is " the principle of every vital and truly saving action in each part of the Body. "

He works in many ways to build up the whole Body in charity: by God's Word " which is able to build you up "; by Baptism, through which he forms Christ's Body; he brings growth and healing to Christ's members; by the virtues, which make us act according to what is good; finally, by the many special graces (called " charisms" ), by which he makes the faithful " fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church.

The Holy Spirit also represents the unlimited presence of Jesus. So you can call the Holy Spirit, Jesus unlimited. John 14:16-18 says “ I will ask the Father and he will send you another helper, who will stay with you forever… ” The Holy Spirit is the representation of Jesus on earth in the heart and life of every believer. So He says am sending you another comforter that He may abide with you forever.

Carnal men cannot walk with the Holy Spirit, because they see him not and cannot see him unless granted access by God. You can feel the wind, see it effects, but can you see the wind? No, same with the Holy Spirit you can feel it in operation but on a physical dimension you cannot see him unless in his various expressions.

So tell me_ Have you driven the Holy Spirit out of your life?

TO BE CONTINUED....

#monkreflections

#firemustfall

#HolySpiritConference

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