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Reflection on Rom 7:22-23
Post date: 2019-08-24Autor: BCP
The inward man mentioned in God’s Word is in agreement with the law of the mind and delights in the law of God. In another place in the Scripture, the Apostle Paul calls this spiritual man “pneumatikos”. The spiritual man is led by the Spirit of God. The natural – old – man, by contrast, is governed by the lusts of the flesh and pride. We have to fight against the old man, i.e. original sin in us, until the end of our lives. He must not be our Lord! Jesus must be our Lord! When we are deceived by sin and we fall, again and again we must repent and arise on the way of following Christ. This is a daily programme for a true Christian.
Word of Life – Rom 7:18-20 (11/8/2019 – 25/8/2019)
Post date: 2019-08-10Autor: BCP
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practise. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”
Reflection on Rom 7:18-20
Post date: 2019-08-10Autor: BCP
The working of sin is unjust, but there is one more thing that is unjust and thanks to it we are saved. Jesus died for us on the cross and delivered us from sin. According to justice, we have no right to salvation. It is the greatest gift. And so in order to know Christ more and more we need to give Him our sins more and more, not to keep them and not to allow them to proliferate. Let us repent immediately even after committing a minor sin in thought, word or deed. Let us stop immediately and make an act of contrition.
Word of Life – Rom 3:14-19 (28/7/2019 – 11/8/2019)
Post date: 2019-07-27Autor: BCP
“Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
Reflection on Rom 3:14-19
Post date: 2019-07-27Autor: BCP
This whole passage highlights the truth that all have sinned and all the world is guilty before God. Verses 10-18 describe the old self and its evil works. But we know that Jesus has come to take on Himself all sins originating from the poisoned root in us which the Scripture calls the old self.
Word of Life – 1Jn 3:24 (14/7/2019 – 28/7/2019)
Post date: 2019-07-13Autor: BCP
“Now he who keeps His commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
Reflection on 1Jn 3:24
Post date: 2019-07-13Autor: BCP
The true meaning of the commandments is to create the conditions for God to be in us and for us to be in Him. Therefore we also have to find time for prayer, i.e. for God and for our immortal soul. Without prayer one can hardly speak of the love of God and the love of neighbour.
Word of Life – 1Jn 3:22 (30/6/2019 – 14/7/2019)
Post date: 2019-06-29Autor: BCP
“And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”
Reflection on 1Jn 3:22
Post date: 2019-06-29Autor: BCP
This word of life emphasizes that we receive whatever we ask. The condition for our prayers to be heard is to keep His commandments and to do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Reflection on Gal 5:13-14
Post date: 2019-06-15Autor: BCP
The Apostle says that the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Let us bear it in mind and put it into practice. To love my neighbour means to sacrifice myself for him, to desire his salvation, to try to communicate to him the divine truth of salvation, and to lead him to conversion and to the receiving of the Holy Spirit, so that he may live and walk in the Holy Spirit just as I try to do so – this is true love.
Word of Life – Gal 5: 13-14 (16/6/2019 – 30/6/2019)
Post date: 2019-06-15Autor: BCP
“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’”
If you judge yourselves, you will not be judged (+german version)
Post date: 2019-06-07Autor: BCP
If we lived in the truth, put our sins under the power of the Blood of Jesus, walked in the light, judged ourselves, then it is true: “If you judge yourselves, you will not be judged.” (1Cor 11:31) This is very important.The sins which we have given to Christ have already been judged. We confessed them and repented. And God forgives, rectifies all our mistakes but we must repent time and again. I must be ready at all times for an encounter with Christ. The final judgment depends on us. We decide it. What to do? To settle our accounts before the Day of Judgement.
Word of Life – Jam 2:21-22 (2/6/2019 – 16/6/2019)
Post date: 2019-06-01Autor: BCP
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?”
Reflection on Jam 2:21-22
Post date: 2019-06-01Autor: BCP
Not only Abraham, Moses, David and all the prophets but above all the Virgin Mary is an example of the obedience of faith for us. Jesus gave her to us as our Mother at the hour of death. We ask: Why? A Czech proverb says: Like mother like daughter. Unfortunately, our natural mother is Eve. We all have inherited the programme of sin from her. We revolve around our ego, which leads us into suffering, problems, and ultimately into eternal death. That is why we must be born again of the Spirit of God. We must receive Christ. But we also need educators, teachers – and who is the best teacher for children in life? Who else than their mother? If a mother is good, then her children are good too. If a mother is bad, then her children are bad too. A mother brings up her children both by word and example. Let us look at the Mother of Jesus. She was preserved from original sin, i.e. spiritual poison, which was passed on to us through Eve, our common earthly mother. However, Mary not only was preserved by God but she also cooperated with grace and acted in faith.
Word of Life – Gal 5:17-18 (19/5/2019 – 2/6/2019)
Post date: 2019-05-19Autor: BCP
“For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Reflection on Gal 5:17-18
Post date: 2019-05-18Autor: BCP
If we are led by the Spirit of God, the law can no longer judge us because the Spirit of God does not lead us into sin. On the contrary, He gives us the strength to fight, and when we fall He gives us the strength to repent and rise at once and to continue our fight rather than to be plunged in despair or in the spirit of betrayal of our soul and of Jesus who redeemed us by paying the price of His life.
Word of Life – 1 Cor 11:31-32 (5/5/2019 – 19/5/2019)
Post date: 2019-05-04Autor: BCP
“If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”
Reflection on 1Cor 11:31-32
Post date: 2019-05-04Autor: BCP
The First Epistle to the Corinthians says that if we judge ourselves, we will not be judged. However, with this judgment, this true self-criticism, we cannot stop halfway. Judas judged himself but ended up committing suicide in despair. True judgment of myself must be connected with the faith that Jesus Christ paid for my sins. So I give my sins to Him and have them covered under His blood. Then it is true: “If we walk in the light, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.”
Reflection on Rom 7:16-17
Post date: 2019-04-20Autor: BCP
Therefore, we have to fight with sin, and not forget the words of Christ: “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.” “Because narrow is the way which leads to eternal life.” (Mt 7:14)
Word of Life – Rom 7:16-17 (21/4/2019 – 5/5/2019)
Post date: 2019-04-20Autor: BCP
If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.