2511AFC031425 – THE Power of THE WORD of God
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Genesis 15:17-18 – 17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates
Psalm 27:13-14 – (GNT) [1]
13 I know that I will live to see
the Lord’s goodness in this present life.
14 Trust in the Lord.
Have faith, do not despair.
Trust in the Lord.
(NRSVCE)
13 I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
Philippians 3:19-20 – 19 They (unrepentant sinners) are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world. 20 We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven.
Luke 9:34 b -36 – a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him!” 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
La grazia del Signore Gesù Cristo, l’amore di Dio e la comunione dello Spirito Santo siano con tutti voi. OK. I admit, that’s not fair. Most likely many of us will recognize that those words are in Italian, and perhaps a few of us can decipher it closely enough to know that it says “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” It is in our Bibles in 2 Corinthians 13:13. We might also recognize it as one of the responses at the beginning of every Mass (← Check it out!) in any language. When we realize that everything in every Mass is based on Scripture and Tradition, then we begin to understand how constantly and patiently Our Father in Heaven speaks to us – always conveying the same message: “I created you in Love so that we could Love each other.” Those words are the substance of the Word of God – I LOVE YOU. God started it by saying it first, and we perpetuate it by replying “I Love you, too.” There is an important difference between his statement and our response.
What God speaks becomes what is. He says it, and it happens. His Word causes action and change. Our words, on the other hand, can be superficial and lacking in spiritual power. We are subjected to many distractions and prone to “phone it in” sometimes. That’s why, I believe, God keeps sending us the same message: I AM here for the sake of your necessary Salvation. This is my Word. LISTEN! Sometimes our response looks like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I love you, too. Let’s circle back to that in a bit. No worries. I’ll get back in touch asap.” Many people will find that this approach leads to being deaf and blind to the Word. If they do still go to Church, they become what I call “fencepost Christians.” They stand, or sit, or kneel when everyone else does, but they do not sing, or pray, or engage in the Mass. (See 1908AFC022219 – Our Call to Mercy) It seems to me quite clear that the very reason we have the Word of God – Sacred Scripture – is to cause our edification about how to use, to engage in – the dialog between us and God. If what God speaks becomes what is, then we should strive to do everything we can to mirror that action and make what we speak become what is.
“I believe in God the Father Almighty,…” Do I? Am I always aware that he is THE Creator, that he created everything that exists – from all the starry cosmos with its strings and photons, quarks and dark matter, nebulae and black holes – and he even took a quick nanosecond or two to create you and me? Is there ever a moment in any day that I do not recall that This Is My Fathers World (↔ Music Link)? We are unlikely to be always aware of God’s perpetual presence in the life of every living soul at every single moment. And when we do acknowledge how many moments of our lives have been stored up as things that cause us to ignore The Word, they add up to something like Fibber McGee’s Closet. It all comes tumbling out in a terrible racket if ever we open our heart to try and let God come in. That’s embarrassing, and it should be because, as Molly always said, “Tain’t funny, McGee.” (↔ Learning Link) In our Key Verse from Genesis for today, we have the account of the establishing of an unending covenant between Abram and God. Abram was willing to give up all doubt of God’s WORD, give up the fear of the darkness, the appearance of the visions of the brazier and torch, and accept and commit to God’s promise even though it seemed incomprehensible. Shown here is a map of the lands God promised to Abram and his descendants. Those descendants did not obey God in subsequent centuries, and so what they were able to claim was far less than what God had promised. It was less because they chose less. This is Our Father’s World, and he can give it to us however he wants. How we accept it is USUALLY quite different!
Let’s see if we can figure this out then, why don’t we pay attention to what Our Father in Heaven says to us? Since the best place to start is the beginning, let’s start with the narratives of Creation and The Fall in Genesis. God spoke, and everything he spoke came into being. He created earthlings to be like him – good, spiritual, loving, and eternal; but he added a part in us to make us accountable for our faithfulness. He Loved us so much that he allowed us to choose whether or not we would Love him in return. Our First Parents made that choice, and instantly Sin entered the lives of every earthling after them. In that same instant as well, God provided for our Salvation – The Absolutely Perfect Plan – and at that same moment, the Word of God prepared to take on our likeness, to become flesh, and to live among us and finally die for us and for our Salvation. Even though we inherited that unfaithfulness and still perpetuate it with our life-choices, God always remains faithful to his Word because The Word is God. I am reminded of a musical expression of Our Heavenly Father’s faithfulness whenever I hear Great is Thy Faithfulness (↔ Music Link).
It is true that “As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.” All of us must most likely confess, “I cannot say that about me.”
And in the instant we say that, God’s persistent, consistent, immersive Love affects all of our senses and we have the opportunity to also confess that we can and “will live to see the Lord’s goodness in this present life.” Why? How? The Psalmist gives us the answer – Trust in the Lord. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord. The Apostle Paul was able to trust in the Lord so deeply that he expected to continue to serve him even after death. We are reminded of this famous passage in 2 Timothy 2:11-13 (GNT) which may have been an early Christian hymn or perhaps a teaching slogan:
11 This is a true saying:
“If we have died with him,
we shall also live with him.
12 If we continue to endure,
we shall also rule with him.
If we deny him,
he also will deny us.
13 If we are not faithful,
he remains faithful,
because he cannot be false to himself.”
The KJV version of that passage starts with, “It is a faithful saying.” Can we dare to imagine that “if we are not faithful, he remains faithful, because he cannot deny himself.”?
What Wonderful Words of Life (↔ Music Link) these are!! The Apostle Paul received from Our Father in Heaven the assurance that Scripture is THE Power of THE WORD of God. We can, therefore, declare that whatever God says becomes All that is. I know several good preachers who often proclaim that Jesus talks about Hell more often than he talks about Heaven. Others insist that the opposite is true. Neither of these pronouncements are important. What really is important is that he mentioned both of them often enough to demonstrate that whichever one we choose, that will be our permanent, eternal residence! Even more important is that we have the power to choose between the two.
“With great power comes great responsibility,” and if we want to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, then we have to be responsible about consistently choosing not only to receive that which is good, but also to give that which is good. There’s an old adage that says, “Give God what is just and right, not just what is left.” The Apostle Paul is in full agreement with Christ (and the Church is in agreement with both) that They (unrepentant sinners) are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world. Those disordered appetites we nurture in ourselves make us unable to do what we know is right and instead do what we know is wrong. (See Romans 7:15-20) It is the sin that lives in us, present in every earthling since the earlier referenced Fall in Genesis which we permit to direct our actions even when we don’t want that to happen. It is clear that what we say does not always become what is. But, “not always” is not “never” and so sometimes we do get it right; and to our great relief God is there to accept that odd moment of goodness we somehow manage to accomplish.
How, then, do these rare moments of clarity come about? Well, we get a little help from our Friend, the Holy Spirit. If only we would remember to begin our quirky expeditions in life with a quick prayer saying, Spirit of God Descend upon My Heart (↔ Music Link). Here, in the land of the Living, we can call upon the Lord to help us “To check the doubt, the rising rebel sigh; teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.” In response to those Divine gifts, we can offer up our Praise to Our Father in Heaven as a Love offering more precious to God than our most articulate prayers. It is a familiar and faithful saying – “Acknowledge (confess) your sins and repent,” as well as “Repent and believe the Gospel.” We may feel, may even know, that the Power to do that is within reach, but we may not feel we can possess it. That is when we must recall the rearranged title of this post: Scripture is THE WORD of THE Power of God. When we speak the Scriptures – silently or boldly aloud – we speak THE WORD of THE Power of God, and whatever God speaks becomes what is. He has clearly spoken to us through the Apostles what we are to do about the Word: “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him!” It could not be any more clear. Belovéd, we are his chosen and adopted children. We must listen to him, THE WORD of God!
I apologize for the length of this so far. I’ll make only a brief few statements about our person of the week. Purim, a Jewish holiday commemorating the deliverance of the Jews in ancient Persia, begins on the evening of Thursday, March 13th, and continues through Friday, March 14th. Purim is a joyous holiday celebrated by Jews worldwide, commemorating the story in the Book of Esther where Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai save the Jewish people from a plot to destroy them by the wicked Haman. Esther is one of the most outstanding female protagonists in Scripture. She is the epitome of the bold and beautiful servants of Our Heavenly Father. The story has been somewhat fragmented across the millennia, but it is fascinating. I recommend looking for it here. I assure you it is well worth the time. And to all who cherish Purim, שָׂמַח samach with great שִׂמְחָה simcha! I may not have gotten that right, so Rejoice with Great Joy! Amein! Our Hope is in the Lord!!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
