The Blessing of Receiving the Holy Spirit

Prayer-Soldier

The Blessing of Receiving the Holy Spirit

Scripture:

And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, taking away of the spirit that was in Moses, and giving to the seventy men. And when the spirit had rested on them they prophesied, nor did they cease afterwards. Now there remained in the camp two of the men, of whom one was called Eldad, and the other Medad, upon whom the spirit rested; for they also had been enrolled, but were not gone forth to the tabernacle. And when they prophesied in the camp, there ran a young man, and told Moses, saying: Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp. Forthwith Josue the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, and chosen out of many, said: My lord Moses forbid them. But he said: Why have you emulation for me? O that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them his spirit! (Numbers 11:25-29)

Go to now, you rich men: weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days. Behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which by fraud has been kept back by you, cries: and the cry of them has entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have feasted upon earth: and in riotousness you have nourished your hearts, in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the Just One: and he resisted you not. (James 5:1-6)

John answered him, saying: Master, we saw one casting out devils in your name, who follows not us: and we forbade him. But Jesus said: Do not forbid him. For there is no man that does a miracle in my name and can soon speak ill of me. For he that is not against you is for you. For whosoever shall give you to drink a cup of water in my name, because you belong to Christ: amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. And whosoever shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me: it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the sea. And if your hand scandalize you, cut it off: it is better for you to enter into life, maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into unquenchable fire:

And if your foot scandalize you, cut it off: it is better for you to enter lame into life everlasting than having two feet to be cast into the hell of unquenchable fire:

And if your eye scandalize you, pluck it out: it is better for you with one eye to enter into the kingdom of God than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire: Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not extinguished. ( Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 )

Reflection:

To those with an open heart, He will send the Holy Spirit upon them. If we ask Him in prayer, He will grant understanding. We invite the blessings of the Lord into ourselves when we invite the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the blessings of love and peace may be found. As one heart may be blessed, so may a family, so may a community, so may a nation, so may all the nations of the world. As the people join together in faith, blessed with the Holy Spirit, they fulfill His commandments to love.

If all in the world sought the ways of the Lord, that which drives conflicts and miseries among the people would be set aside. Yet, not all the eyes of the people see clearly the light of God for they are blinded by that which seduces them to their own destruction. Through the blindness driven by desire, fairness suffers. As the evil of one is done, evil spreads; but so too, as the good of one is done, good will spread. This is the choice of the children of His creation as to which path they will follow.

And so it has been through the generations that some would seek to cast out evil while others would fall to its deceptions. Blessed are those who bring forth the truth of the Word, for they invite the lost to salvation. But the deceptions of evil abound and temptations are set as snares. If we do not care for one another, many will be lost as they follow in the direction of false prophets or fall to the snares of the addictions of the world. Despite all our failings, His hand is extended to us; a hand of mercy, a hand of salvation, a hand of ultimate love.

The choice of our path He has left to us. What we choose to do is within our hands, but if we seek Him, He will guide us away from the paths of evil. We must make no mistake, the battle will rage for our souls until our last moment in this world; so too will His hand be stretched to us to guide us to His kingdom.

May the peace and blessings of the Lord be with you always,
Prayer Soldier