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Word of Life – Col 2:12 (30/7/17 – 13/8/2017)
Post date: 2017-07-29Autor: BCP
Word of Life – Col 2:12 (30/7/17 – 13/8/2017)
Reflection on Col 1:27
Post date: 2017-07-16Autor: BCP
In verse 27, the Apostle points out a mystery. We ask what this mystery among the Gentiles is. It is the mystery concerning us who often live among non-believers. The mystery is this: Christ is among us and in us at the same time. In verse 29, the Apostle Paul says: “I strive according to His working which works in me mightily.” He thus points out that Jesus is in him. But Jesus is in us, too, and we have to know about this might of God. We have to rely on His might in our struggle with original sin which is in us, as well as in our struggle with the system of the world which boycotts divine truths concerning our salvation and in our struggle with the spirit of lies and evil which works through this system of the world and has a direct impact on our thoughts and feelings. So it is an ideological and spiritual fight.
Word of Life – Col 1:27 (16/7/17 – 30/7/2017)
Post date: 2017-07-15Autor: BCP
Word of Life – Col 1:27 (16/7/17 – 30/7/2017)
Reflection on Eph 6:11-12
Post date: 2017-07-01Autor: BCP
It is said that we should put on the whole armour of God. So not only part of it, but the whole armour. And it is said that it must be the armour of God, and not of man. Why should we put it on? That we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And what does the devil, the spirit of lies, wile us into? Into doing evil under the guise of good, or into promoting lies through a sophisticated mosaic of partial truths. So we need the armour of God, for we do not wrestle against human enemies but against principalities, against spiritual powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. It is a spiritual battle.
Word of Life – Eph 6:11-12 (2/7/17 – 16/7/2017)
Post date: 2017-07-01Autor: BCP
Word of Life – Eph 6:11-12 (2/7/17 – 16/7/2017)
Reflection on Eph 5:15-16
Post date: 2017-06-17Autor: BCP
We must be careful, every one of us. Careful about whom? About ourselves. And about what? About how we live. And why? Because we should live not as unwise but as wise. So what should we do? Redeem the time, because the days are evil. What does it mean to redeem the time? Not to walk after vanities which pass away but to do our best in time to store spiritual treasures which thieves will not steal and rust will not destroy.
Word of Life – Eph 5:15-16 (18/6/17 – 2/7/2017)
Post date: 2017-06-17Autor: BCP
Word of Life – Eph 5:15-16 (18/6/17 – 2/7/2017)
Reflection on Eph 4:11-12
Post date: 2017-06-03Autor: BCP
The Lord Jesus builds up the Church, which is His Body – the Body of Christ. In building up the Church, He uses truly converted Christians, not only priests or monks. Every baptized Christian, who has been converted and received the Spirit of Christ, should thirst after the salvation of souls, especially those living around him. It is a mistake to think that it is the task of priests or monks or special missionaries to convert people. A priest should be a shepherd, but sheep give birth to sheep, shepherds don’t. So every Christian has a duty of mission – he should be an evangelist to this effect. He is called to save the souls in personal contact, face to face, in the place where he is.
Word of Life – Eph 4:11-12 (4/6/17 – 18/6/2017)
Post date: 2017-06-03Autor: BCP
Word of Life – Eph 4:11-12 (4/6/17 – 18/6/2017)
We do not wrestle against flesh and blood...
Post date: 2017-05-26Autor: BCP
The Word of God says clearly, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age – so-called kosmokratoras.” (Eph 6:12) Are we aware of it? If we want to fight with a sling or a bow against an army with tanks, it is de facto suicide. Similarly, if we want to fight against the kosmokratoras with our feelings or anything human only, for example with our cunning, the battle is lost in advance. First of all, we must realize that the spiritual powers are leading a spiritual struggle against us. In the spiritual struggle, as the Apostle Paul writes in the Ephesians, we must have spiritual weapons and spiritual armour: the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. The sword of the Spirit, i.e. the Word of God, is not a physical sword, but a symbol of a spiritual weapon. The Apostle Paul also constantly repeats and emphasizes that we should act “in faith”.
The beauty of heaven surpasses everything
Post date: 2017-05-25Autor: BCP
Heaven surpasses all our imagination. Let us imagine supreme happiness, unspeakable beauty, and yet heaven is far more beautiful. The Scripture says about heaven that no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him. What then this heaven must be like if it surpasses our imagination?!
How to pray the prayer of unity and power
Post date: 2017-05-22Autor: BCP
If you are absent-minded during the prayer and you use the prayer model as a mere formality, you benefit minimally from the prayer. If you pray with the heart, you benefit more. But what is most important is to pray with faith, to concentrate your thoughts and to be in union with Christ, with His death – and the power of God works.
Reflection on Eph 2:8-9
Post date: 2017-05-20Autor: BCP
These Bible verses need correct interpretation. Mainly: we have not been saved through our works. God has given us the grace of salvation; it is the gift of God, as the Scripture says. So no one can boast. But it does not mean that once we have obtained salvation in Christ we do not need to do good works. We should do them in cooperation with the grace of God and in union with Christ. But the foundation – salvation – has been given us freely. That is why it is necessary to carry out mission of prayer. To obtain the grace of God for the conversion of particular people, and above all to pray for the spiritual resurrection of the nation.
Reflection on Eph 2:1-2
Post date: 2017-05-06Autor: BCP
We could entitle this word of life as follows: “We have passed from death into life”. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…” Without Christ people live in their trespasses and sins, and are spiritually dead. There is a kind of power which keeps them in the system of death. The Apostle refers to it as the course, or the system of this world, which prompts people to follow demonic inspiration, i.e. the prince of the power of the air whom the Apostle calls the spirit of evil. Where is this spirit, this prince of the power of the air, at work? He is at work in those who refuse to obey God.
Reflection on Gal 4:6-7
Post date: 2017-04-22Autor: BCP
Everyone who has been born anew has received the Spirit to know God, to know His heart, His laws, and since he himself is known by God, he can know Him as a child knows its mother or father. Therefore St Paul reproves the Galatians and us too by beseeching us not to lose the inner relationship with Jesus, our first love, the grace of the inner light of the Truth. Only in Jesus we are sons, and therefore God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit crying out “Abba, Father!” What joy! I am no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God, an heir of God’s kingdom!
Reflection on Gal 1:7-8
Post date: 2017-04-08Autor: BCP
This statement of God’s judgment, given through the Apostle Paul, is extremely important! It is a protection against heresies which destroy the Church of Christ from within. Not only in the distant past but especially since the days of Vatican II, heresies have swept forward like an avalanche. The Council approved the heresy concerning a regard for pagans, and de facto for their demons too! This heresy is contrary to the apostles’ teaching, and contrary to Scripture and the whole 2000-year Tradition.
Reflection on 2Cor 5:14-15
Post date: 2017-03-25Autor: BCP
In this Lenten time, we will repeat the following words of verses 14-15: “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died…” These verses speak about the mystery of Christ’s death which is connected with our baptism and our faith in this mystery. We are still physically alive. When Jesus, the Only-Begotten Son of God, became man out of love for us and died for us, we also died in His death to evil and sin. We see, however, that sin continues to work in our life. But we forget that it does not work in Christ’s death; it is overcome. If in a particular moment I unite with Christ and His death in faith and self-surrender, the power of sin is ineffective, dead.
Reflection on 2Cor 4:16-17
Post date: 2017-03-11Autor: BCP
Saint Paul the Apostle tells both the Corinthians and us, using the example of the Apostles themselves, that if we love the Lord Jesus and strive to serve Him with all our strength, we must also reckon with the cross of physical exhaustion. Spiritual battle, involving prayers, sleeplessness, fastings and toil, exhausts our body and soul. Nevertheless, our spirit is renewed like the strength of the eagle. The inward man, born again of the Holy Spirit, is full of the inward power of God, a childlike joy and the love of God and people. Our spirit “rejoices in God our Saviour” and as if contrary to natural laws we come to see that as we grow older, we are more and more vigorous, filled with God’s strength, in our service to God. If not, we must repent because something is wrong with us and we are wasting our life.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel (Mk 1:15). Part 3: Original sin (in Adam) and deliverance (in Christ)
Post date: 2017-03-01Autor: BCP
Christ paid for our sins with His blood on the cross. Our old man (Adam) was crucified together with Him. Christ became the satisfaction for our sins as well as for our Adam-nature. On that day on the cross, there were not only our sins but also our nature. When Christ was crucified, we (our Adam-nature) were crucified too. Provided that we understand this single point, the rest will be clear: “I (Adam’s nature) have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I (ego) who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2:20)
Reflection on 2Cor 4:10-11
Post date: 2017-02-25Autor: BCP
What does it mean to be delivered to the death of Christ? Example: If you are to bear witness to Christ in a particular situation, and you know that it is the will of God for you to do so, you have to be innerly prepared beforehand for being ridiculed or persecuted, which is like being spiritually killed for the sake of Christ. Or a similar situation: You act according to conscience and it is disadvantageous to you. It would be easier to commit fraud or betrayal. However, you refuse to do so. Aware that God sees you, you want to keep Christ’s commandment in this situation and make this sacrifice for His sake. When you are to overcome fear and to resolve to accept suffering, it is like being united to the death of Christ on the cross.