MEDITATION:
Our beatitude for today is something that many Christians seem to take for granted. As I see it, the desire to see God thrills many but the condition to meet that makes them hesitate. Looking inside, they see their imperfections that make them dismiss the pursuit to see God.
As a new born Christian, I learned about the Holy Spirit Baptism. Most of those who experienced it told their encounter in a very dramatic and emotional way. I also read stories of some great Christian leaders and as they detailed their experience, a common experience surfaces, they felt the power of God like a lightning bolt or electric current that made some physically convulsed and spoke in other tongues. That thrilled me and made me wonder how I could have it so I went to Philippine Christian Bookstore in Manila and look for a book. After awhile, I saw a booklet authored by Jimmy Swaggart entitled “How to be baptized in the Holy Spirit” so I bought it and went home. With a bottle of coke and grains of peanut, I begun to read it to unlock the key in receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit and to my surprise, the conditions asked were simply, “you must be a Christian and desires to be baptized”! I thought before that you need to be fully mature and blameless to receive it but here it doesn’t say so. So I get up and went to our room and told my wife, “if you hear something inside, don’t open the door because I am going to pray”, to which she simply ignored me. As I sat on the side of the bed I remembered what my sister Mayie told me that “you need to sing to the Lord and asks Him to come” which I did and after almost an hour I was truly crying not because I sensed God presence but because my hands were shaking and tiring and nothing’s happening. I then said, “Lord ngawit na ngawit na ako, gusto kong mabaptize”, and I continued to sing and pray then suddenly the power of the Lord came, starting at the tip of my left hand fingers down to my body. Oh it was so glorious I couldn’t help but to cry and convulsed and to my surprise, without any effort, I saw my tongue began to speak something I couldn’t understand. What followed was a vision of Christ hanging on the cross and the thought that this very experience was received by the early disciples two thousand years ago. I guess I was there crying, praising God and speaking in tongues for another hour and as I went out of the room my wife told me that I was truly making a very loud noise that sent the dogs in the neighborhood howled furiously! That whole night I was not able to sleep, my heart’s desire was to pray, pray, pray and yes praying became a delight not a toil.
Did I say I saw God that night? No, I simply felt His wonderful presence in my whole being but no glorious physical appearance whatsoever happened that night. Being a new Christian, that experience made me long for God’s physical manifestation, but I failed. As I grow in my Christian life I begin to understand the nature of God. God is a spirit and no way could flesh like us see Him in His true state. Jesus said the pure in heart will see God. God reveals himself to us thru His word. God is true and ever present whether you physically see Him or not. God cannot be seen by our naked eye because He is bigger than anything our naked eye could see. During Jesus earthly ministry, He was so astonished that Israel who supposed to know God rejected Him and the word He was saying to them. They couldn’t recognize who Jesus truly is. Is He from God or He is just a man or is He a lunatic? They seek for physical signs that will connect Jesus to God. What was the real problem with these Israelites who doubts Jesus? THEY WERE NOT PURE IN HEART. What they have is religion and not true relationship with God. They did not really have the intention to obey and love God from their heart that is why they cannot understand and recognized God and Jesus. Jesus claimed that He speaks what He only hears from the Father and yet these people who claimed to be of God could not understand Jesus. That is why Jesus said,
John 5:37And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41"I do not accept praise from men, 42but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44How can you believe if you … make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?
GOD TAKES ALL THE INITIATIVE TO REVEAL HIMSELF TO YOU BECAUSE AS YOU BEGIN TO SEE GOD, YOUR LIFE WILL BE BLESSED. YOU WILL BEGIN TO SEE WHY YOU ARE HERE ON EARTH. YOU WILL BEGIN TO SEE THE TRUE WAY TO CONDUCT YOUR LIFE THAT WILL BRING YOU PEACE AND JOY. IT IS NOT AN ACCIDENT THAT YOU READ THIS BEATITUDE FOR TODAY; GOD INTENDED IT. ALL YOU NEED TO DO TO START THIS WONDERFUL JOURNEY OF SEEING GOD IS TO “BE PURE IN HEART”. IT IS NOT PERFECTION, IT IS SIMPLY A “PURE DESIRE AND INTENTION” TO KNOW HIM, OBEY HIM AND LOVE HIM.
GETZ MO BA?
Smile :)
Ptr. Roger.
