How to become the change you wish to see - Part 1 -

"You are the Light of the World... You are the Salt of the Earth..."

- Jesus of Nazareth-

Introduction:

To be a Missionary of the Holy Spirit we must first become a Friend of the Holy Spirit. In today's Church culture those who produce results are applauded and praised. Those who serve in silence are all too often ignored or considered lesser. For example: We honour the international evangelist or the successful Christian business person and mentally pass by the faithful church member who brings their children up in the knowledge of God and love. Who is the greater? Neither! They are great in the Father's eyes in so far as they dwell in and share His love & mercy. While it is right that we honour those who serve well our beloved Master, it is also true, that in the human need for love, acceptance, and appreciation, and through our primal need to belong to the "in-group" many have "burned out" in the search for illusory ministerial success and human pier approval.

In God the Father's eyes, what is spiritual success? Mother Teresa once expressed it thus: "We are not called to success, but to faithfulness". This "faithfulness" is a faithfulness to living in the centre of the Father's will and desires. If God calls you to love those of your own household and your neighbour, and you go to a war torn area and hold a mass crusade, but neglect your own, then though many may have been brought to Christ through the miracle action of the Holy Spirit honouring the Divine Gospel, you will have failed in your primary calling! We have been called firstly into relationship with the Trinity. All other callings spring from this well. Eph.2:10. All Christian service which substitutes this reality is void of usefulness to the Father's Kingdom. The service becomes a "dead work" because it substitutes the reality of that which flows from the Divine expressing itself through the human.

Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but
yours. Yours are the eyes through which He looks with compassion on this World. Christ has no body now on earth but yours. -- St. Teresa of Avila -

Jesus died and rose to realize RECONCILIATION for humanity (2 Cor.5:16-21). This reconciliation is therefore an already accomplished fact in the heart and mind of our Father. The veil in the Temple was torn. That veil had separated man & woman from the presence and power of God through the effect of human sin in the human heart and conscience. Christ's blood sacrifice on Calvary not only atoned for sin, it remitted sin. This remission is not a covering but an annihilation of the fall, commission & guilt of humanity. It-is-finished! Anyone, anywhere, can now look to Christ's atoning sacrifice and enter in to a full and complete relation with the Trinity. The love of God the Father pours out towards us. The grace and the healing Lordship of Jesus, the Christ, is ours, even before we know to ask for it. The Friendship and Fellowship with The Holy Spirit, that Jesus in His humanity enjoyed, is now ours to the same level and extent. Reconciliation means exactly that and the barrier between God and man has been eliminated in His flesh!

So we begin our journey to become the likeness of He whom we follow with a clear way opened into the centre of the Trinity and a true and sincere invitation to Friendship and Fellowship with God.

For the purpose of this series I shall share Seven "How to" Keys to realise this calling.

1. How to live in the Presence of God.


2. How to receive Revelation Knowledge.


3. How to overcome the past & appropriate a new life and inner identity.


4. Discover three spiritual "tools" that experientially open Friendship with God for you.


5. How to discover & enter into your Ministry.


6. How to make His Kingdom visible to the World.


7. Discover the Secret of Jesus' ministry.

With much love,

Your Brother,

Fr. Gerard

Missionary of the Holy Spirit