The Normal Christian Life -- Part 3

What wonder in the heart of man when he realizes the beauty, tenderness, and closeness of Communion with Me! --God Calling 2, Feb.1

 

As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.  -- Marianne Williamson

 

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never overcome it (John 1:5).

 

For God, who said, "let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cr. 4:6).

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All of my life, I loved God; I was drawn to His Presence in the Tabernacle of our church.  I loved being at Mass and praying alone in the church.  I felt the presence of God in church, and often went to morning Mass during summer break.  Riding my bike the mile and a half to church in the early morning and then back home was exciting and exhilirating to me--it was an adventure. 

 

But it was always personal.  Neither as a child nor as an adult would I ever have dreamed of telling others how I felt about God.  It was my deepest secret, not to be shared with even my closest friends.  And yet, because it was the deepest core of my being, I yearned for "fellowship," a word foreign to the Catholic faith.  The Protestant churches use the word freely, but they are more likely to mean a church supper in "Fellowship Hall" than the deepest sharing of faith.  I always thought religion was between me and God, and that was one reason I was taken back by the door-to-door evangelists who wanted me to pray with them. 

 

My first real encounter with the Living Christ, other than in the secret recesses of my heart, came when my doctor prayed for me to receive the Holy Spirit in my moment of greatest crisis.  At that moment, the great "peace that passes all understanding," the peace that knows that God is in charge of my life and that I can finally lay down my burden before Him, descended on me.  I walked out of his office that day knowing that I did not have to make a decision -- that He would take care of me.  And then, in the car, --- the overflowing praise and joy burst out of me for the first time in my life.  I had never prayed/praised like this in my life; it was unstoppable and beyond my own mind, my own thoughts.  In fact, I was singing in tongues---God had to take me out of my own mind, my own thoughts because I had been trapped in them for so long.  And in the days to come, I knew that all I had to do each day was to get up and 'sing' praise and thanksgiving.  I did not have to solve all my problems; in fact, I could not.  I just had to learn to sing.

 

But I was still alone in my praise and thanksgiving; for the first time in my life, I was learning to sing --but no one heard me, and that was just the way I wanted it too.  There was still much more to come, but I could not have guessed it at the time.  Within a few weeks of my initial 'song of praise,' it turned out that I needed major surgery -- God's answer to my fears.

 

While in the hospital, a young mother prayed for me once again to be 'baptized in the Holy Spirit,' and I encountered the Resurrected Jesus once more in peace and joy.  And with this 'second touch,' I could no longer be confined to my own spirit.  Without pain medication and without pain, I began getting out of bed and going into other rooms in the hospital, praying for the sick and 'proclaiming the good news' that God would do for them what He had done for me!

 

Who was this new person living in my body, the one that used to be afraid to mention the name of Jesus for fear that I would offend someone?  Who was this person that was no longer afraid to pray with others?  Who was this new person overflowing with joy and confidence, the one who had gone into the hospital full of fear and anxiety?  This kind of change does not happen overnight -- unless the descent of the Holy Spirit is the same as that of Pentecost on the frightened disciples hiding in the upper room, but who boldly began to proclaim the 'good news' of Jesus Christ after their 'baptism by fire.'

 

Of course, I did not make the connection until I reached over to the hospital nightstand and pulled out the Gideon Bible that was there.  For some reason, the Bible opened to the Acts of the Apostles, and I began reading about the first Pentecost.  Suddenly, I realized that this is what had just happened to me, and I was amazed!  This kind of awakening cannot be engineered my man's efforts; it is the direct action of God upon us.  From that moment on, the Bible was no longer a "book" to me; it was the story of my own life written down for me to read. 

 

And I could not stop reading it for the first time in my life; it was jumping off the page into my heart.  For the next 6 weeks, as I recuperated from surgery, I continued reading the Bible from the Acts of the Apostles to the Book of Revelation.  And then from Genesis to Revelation again.  And then I began to study the Bible -- its history, its geography, its words and word-meanings.  I could not get enough of it without hungering for more.

 

When the Holy Spirit descends on us for ministry, He brings gifts to equip us for ministry -- the gifts of knowledge and of revelation; the gifts of understanding the things of God; the gifts of wisdom and insight; gifts of boldness of speech and overcoming fear of man....

 

Like the woman at the well, once we have truly encountered the Messiah, we are enboldened to run to others, to tell them the 'good news.'  We are no longer afraid of being rejected, or of the opinions of others.  We are excited about what we have been given, and it is greater than anything the world can offer us.  Step 3, if you will, of the "Normal Christian Life" is that we have been made not only disciples of Jesus, but evangelists -- we carry the good news to the world around us. 

 

Tomorrow, 'step 4' in the Normal Christial Life.  I am calling them 'steps' because I do not know what else to call them, but this is not a "Twelve Step program" that we can follow on our own strength or will.  As John says, [we are]...born not of natural descent, nor of human decision,...but born of God." And Jesus told Nicodemus, "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit...the wind/ruah blows wherever it pleases...you cannot tell where it comes from nor where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." 

 

But He was also to say later that the Father knows how to give the Spirit to everyone who seeks, asks, and knocks.