Knowing how to sift true from false prophecy is something that everyone needs. It may be easier to understand if some case studies are used.

This need came to my attention through a friend who had been sent an unsolicited prophetic word by an email. The friend had no idea where the prophet had obtained the email address from. However, it was a lengthy piece, and it spoke into all the hopes and frustrations this friend was experiencing, ie it was exactly what the friend wanted to be true.

Thankfully the friend had the courage to share it with me.

The very first thing after reading the prophetic word and ascertaining that it contained nothing specifically pertaining to the life of this friend, ie there was nothing in it that couldn’t easily be applied to the life of just about anyone else (warning flag 1) was to search the internet for what could be learned about the prophet.

The website had a pleasant feel, and a link to what must be a very inspiring conversion story, and some very basic Christian teaching without any perceived denominational biases. But it did contain a few things that gave me significant pause; a few very general prophetic words that were undated, no contact information or details, and no affiliation with any faith community.

It is so unusual for a prophetic word to be undated (warning flag 2). No address, no social media links, no email address, no contact form where you would expect it to be (ie an easily visible Contact page), but given bit by bit under a ‘please support this ministry’ sub-page that begins by asking for donations (warning flag 3). There is no indication on the website that the prophet is part of a faith community, in leadership of a faith community, or anything other than a lone ranger. Ideally a prophet should have a regular small group to which he/she is personally accountable, and should also be under some form of leadership to whom he/she is also accountable. Otherwise there are none of the normal and natural checks and balances that come from community life where people are invested in you enough to ask the odd quiet question if you are looking like going off the rails, or when your walk doesn’t match your talk. (major warning flag 4).

If something is exactly what you want to hear, (eg in order for the destiny God has for you to unfold, don’t let anyone box you in to their mindsets) and it doesn’t contain any invitation to transformation that leads to a deeper relationship with God, that should put up a warning flag too. It is a hallmark of the Gospel accounts that Jesus always invited people to the next level of relationship with Him, requiring either a change of heart or a change of life.

There were enough warning flags to safely dismiss and delete that email.

Around the internet at present there is a set of major ‘doom and gloom’ prophecies going around. The prophet is not a regular prophet, but is in leadership with a Christian community, and has had some vivid dreams that were felt to be prophetic for a national and global scale.

Can God call anybody to deliver a message? Yes, He can, for example the prophet Amos. However, it is more usual for an important wake-up call kind of message to be given to someone who is mature in the prophetic gifting and widely recognised as such, with a reasonable track record for accuracy.

There is also a difference between a Jonah-like warning message that invites to repentance and a Daniel-like message declaring that God’s judgement on bad behaviour is going to manifest in specific ways. Neither are certain; the former can be mitigated or even avoided by repentance (Ninevah); the latter can be mitigated by intercession (2 Sam 24). But even the most dire of messages warning of austere times to come contain an inkling of hope, that after punishment and exile that there would be restoration and return (Jeremiah).

However if the prophet reveals that his/her consumption of news media is greater than his/her consumption of God’s word in scripture, then extra caution is required.

Many years back this lesson was given to me. It happened like this. The community I was a member of at that time was receiving lots of apocalyptic sounding prophecy. It somehow happened that I was able to have a chat to one of the most accredited prophets in that community about all this apocalyptic stuff. His response was that many in the community had been reading the same spiritual/devotional literature that contained that kind of language. The ideas you consume eventually come out again, and often get processed in dreams and can be expressed in prophecy. And that was what had been happening in that community situation. You can see it too in less mature prophets who drink in what a lot of other prophets are releasing online. Sometime down the track, all of that prophetic soup will emerge in a very generic prophecy (and very sincerely given) that is a reasonable summary of the main flavours of the soup.

Such known human weaknesses do make it less clear to discern whether God is telling everyone the same message (in which case, Pay Attention!!!), or whether everyone has collectively gone off on a non-God inspired tangent. For this reason, keep aware of times of the liturgical year that various messages arise.

Sometimes they are collective wishful thinking born of deep desire to see God act in powerful ways, as what often happens as Easter, Pentecost and Christmas draw near or something related to the Jewish liturgical calendar. You see this big crescendo of expectation, and then as the special date passes, there is a lull until someone comes out with a statement that the date was still very important, and we will find out why in due time things didn’t manifest in the natural and there’s even bigger and better things coming in a month or 3 months’ time. Yes, it is easy to become cynical, but we do have to fight against that lest we dismiss a true message from God. That’s why growing in discernment is so important and so necessary.

Discernment can take time. And it is easy for us to get it wrong.

Just recently I have had to sadly acknowledge that someone I had on my short list of trusted online prophets was no longer worthy of being on that list. When the messages are exactly what you want to hear, and those messages get picked up and promoted by others and there are online followers in the order of tens of thousands, then of course you are biased towards the messages being true prophecy. But slowly some question marks began to arise. The first question marks happened when some of my cautionary comments that had logical merit were rejected out of hand. The second question marks began when there were more lists of how to do this or how to respond to that, which were all just human thoughts. The third set of question marks began when ‘sign up for my online course’ appeared at the end of prophetic messages, and it was an almost seamless segue. The final question marks were due to the disclosure by way of sharing personal background that this was, despite friendships and recognition from other prophets in good standing, very much a lone ranger ministry although it was couched in pioneer terminology. So I went back and took a more detailed look at the associated website, and the lack of accountable relationships became apparent.

It is like this, as far as possible there should be no conflict of interest between the ministry of a prophet and the way a prophet earns a living. The whole ‘God showed me how to deal with issue X in a whole new and effective way, but you need to pay $$ before I will share it with you’ thing flies in the face of ‘you received without charge, give without charge’ Matt 10:8. At the same time, a labourer is worthy of his hire, so there is no objection to a Donate/Give page. But when the prophet’s main source of income is online mentoring courses or similar, how can the prayers and natural desires for a good sign-up rate not transmute consciously or unconsciously into the prophetic messages, particularly when those messages are squarely aimed at hidden and forgotten ones who have a big destiny in God’s plan? Isn’t this what we all long to hear when we feel that life has passed us by, thus making us very vulnerable and susceptible to exploitation?

Then again, some things are presented as prophecy, when in fact all they are is teaching or preaching on some topic of the life of faith. Weigh it for what it is, not what it purports to be.

In this age of prophets with some celebrity status, it is well to remember that popularity is not a guarantee of accuracy. In the time of Jeremiah there were plenty of prophets announcing times of prosperity ahead, and only Jeremiah repeating God’s warning that the punishment of exile for their sins was coming. Of course the people of that time wanted to listen to the other prophets who spoke what they wanted to hear, and of course they wanted to shut Jeremiah up by any means necessary.

There will be times of restoration and refreshing, just as there will be times of trial and testing, therefore the maxim, ‘test everything, and hold onto what is good’ has to be our guide, as well as frequent prayers for guidance and discernment.

Why is the accountability thing so important? Because a true prophet is going to have enough humility to mistrust his/her own judgement, and be open to correction and submission/obedience to leadership. Even the best of prophets don’t get it 100% right every time (1 Cor 13:9). Obedience to lawful human authority despite what the prophet believes God has told him/her is the ultimate test of legitimacy. If it is of God it will come to pass, despite setbacks, delays and misunderstandings. Any prophet who thinks that everything they receive is always 100% from God is deluding themselves, and a big danger to themselves and others. Do you know what the worst punishment is from God? To be let drift into error. Because unless someone intercedes for you, there’s no way out. (read St John of Avila’s ‘Listen Daughter’ a.k.a. ‘Audi Filia’ for the best ever explanation of this.) Even Moses had his father-in-law Jethro as someone willing to speak truth into his life.

Now should a prophet make a grand prediction, and it doesn’t come to pass, eg a major share market crash during the visit of a specified world leader, then said prophet is automatically and completely discredited.

Particularly when it comes to dreams and visions, it can be crucial to separate the raw material of the prophecy from the interpretation of the prophecy. Quite often the raw material is correct, but the interpretation is incorrect or immature (ie the prophet has only grasped the first layer of the interpretation and not yet the underlying layers of interpretation.) In essence they are similar to parables. With time and diligent prayer, usually the full meaning comes to light.

Sometimes a prophecy (particularly to a community) is an invitation to go deeper, and the ‘more’ that God intended doesn’t happen because the response to the prophecy was mismanaged. For example, someone in that community who has been growing in the prophetic gifting shares that God has shown a vision of angels, surrounding the prayer meeting, who are waiting to be sent on assignment. Responding with a call to those at the prayer meeting to present their petitions to God is level 1. If you took that word seriously you would them get the prophet back and ask if there were any angels left, and if so, how many? (level 2) and if the answer wasn’t zero, you should then either get the people to petition some more, or better yet, ask the community to pray for wisdom in order to petition according to God’s desires (level 3) and delegate a leader to question the prophet about any details not disclosed in the initial message (ask if the angels were all the same size?, were they perhaps in groups?, was there anything to distinguish the groups eg colour, what they were holding?) which might give clues to the How to pray. If there is any sense that this might be a more significant word than first ascertained, then and there, or soon afterwards, get the prophet to have a go at drawing what they saw in as much detail as possible, and then share both the verbal and drawn parts with leadership and other prophets to pray over, discuss and ask further questions. After all, if it was God’s intention to lead the group into prolonged and specific intercession for local political leaders and business leaders, or for the bringing down of some stronghold that was preventing the conversion of the region, and everyone prayed for those they knew in personal, financial or family stress, then that was a comparatively poor outcome.

Some prophecies don’t find fulfilment for a year or several years, some don’t find fulfilment in our lifetimes. Because of this, some interpretations take a while to become clear. For example, St Catherine Laboure was convinced that much needed funds would appear if an area was dug down to a certain level. Everyone else thought she was crazy to keep insisting upon it. Yet in the years ahead, that area was the place where her body was buried, and not too long after a very sizable donation was anonymously placed on her tomb.

Care should be exercised when reading prophecies from years past and seeing in them relevance for today. That can indeed happen. However it is also possible that the mindset with which you read it today prejudices you into believing that it is solely about the current times. For example the pandemic situation the world has recently found itself in has seen a lot of re-evaluation of past prophecies. Many of them read like they were written for us today, and some of the phrases that were glossed over back then, now seem to carry increased meaning (eg A great shaking happening among the nations, and peoples locked down by a spirit of fear). ‘Lockdown’ carries a whole new level of meaning now that it didn’t pre-Covid19, as does ‘lawlessness’ in the wake of the George Floyd riots. Yet there is no guarantee that this is the only era it was meant for, or even if it was the primary era it was meant for.

We do know that God never takes back or revokes His gifts, and that He always invites us to grow. The intended life cycle of a prophet is that as they grow in experience, they also grow in holiness, and weightier and more important prophetic words can be given through them. However this doesn’t always happen; what started out relatively pure can become increasingly sullied with human frailty and error; or what started out pure can go through a wilderness period away from the moral life and then re-emerge stronger than ever after a sincere conversion. Sometimes there will be only a single season of profound revelation, and then no more, if that is God’s plan for them. St Bernadette is an example of this; and saw herself as a broom that was used by God for a while, and then put away. Always the revelation is firstly for the prophet, and then for others. If the prophet is growing in response to the revelation, and growing in holiness and in moral character, it is an indication that what they are receiving is God inspired.

If God is trying to get a message across, He will use more than one messenger, and probably from diverse sources. Therefore, if a message is of a personal nature, it will confirm something He has already called you to do, or in time to come it will be confirmed via other sources. So never change your life on the strength of a single unconfirmed word. Write it down, store it somewhere, refer back to it every 3-6 months, it may make more sense then. If it doesn’t, and there haven’t been any confirmations of it, you can safely forget all about it.

These are only general guidelines born of experience for sifting out the questionable. For every general guideline there are exceptions, because God is not limited and He sometimes chooses to use the unusual or discredited to get our attention and loosen our pre-conceived ideas.

Here are some scriptural reminders that the gift of prophecy is a good gift from God, and needed, and worth the effort of time in discernment and interpretation:

1 Thess 5:19-21 Never try to suppress the Spirit or treat the gift of prophecy with contempt: think before you do anything – hold on to what is good.

2 Peter 1:19b-20 You will be right to depend on prophecy and take it as a lamp for lighting a way through the dark until the dawn comes and the morning star rises in your minds. At the same time, we must be most careful to remember that the interpretation of scriptural prophecy is never a matter for the individual.

I Cor 14:3 The man who prophesies does talk to other people, to their improvement, their encouragement and their consolation.

1 Cor 14:32 Prophets can always control their prophetic spirits, since God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
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For more detailed guidance on prophecy, interpretation and discernment, please read the attached document, particularly pages 11-16 and pages 18-20.

This wasn't even on my radar until this morning.

That is, until a mid-20s, confident, athletic, law degree-d youth leader happened to visit the Blessed Sacrament chapel while my son and I were still doing our weekly holy hour. Said son is non-athletic like his parents (bless him!), and has much less confidence. Said youth leader did the 'fish in the barrel' thing that greatly upsets me, ergo, 'I need another bloke to make the fraternity part of Exodus 90 work, here's a bloke, he's here, maybe it is meant to be, let's go ask him' without taking into account any discernment of whether Exodus 90 was a good fit for my son's needs and personality and his current place on the spiritual journey of life.

Life is not at all easy for young men who go to church and who aren't athletic and don't ooze with confidence.

Case 1: Every visiting priest does the 'fish in the barrel' vocation chat. Listen, please, you only have the right to do that chat if you have taken the time to get to know the young man in question, and have attained a good grasp of his strengths and talents, and can say with truth 'I think you have what it takes to be a good (insert vocation here) because (insert observed behaviour A), (insert observed talent B), (insert observed charism C), would you please consider it, or at least come and have a deeper chat with me about it.'

Case 2: Then the young men who go to church and who aren't athletic and don’t ooze with confidence go to various Catholic summer school offerings that are presented by gung-ho extrovert on-fire young men that make the others feel woefully inadequate and lacking in faith and commitment.

End of mini rant.

But a brief look at the Exodus 90 program got my hackles up, and it has taken me a few hours and reading blogs on the topic to get a better handle on why.

I can understand that for a unmarried Catholic male who has walked The Camino, and who is ready for an equally satisfying challenge, that this is cat-nip.

I can understand that if your life was out of order, and you have had a massive conversion experience, then the desire to get your life into God's order, and the desire to do significant penance for past mis-deeds, would make Exodus 90 a really good fit for you.

I can understand that if you have an inkling that a vocation in one of the rigorous religious orders might be in your destiny, then doing the Exodus 90 would be a prudent step on the discernment path. But with the caveat that the temptation to do it on human power alone, with human boasting of same when completed should be enough to make a wise person run in the opposite direction.

I can understand that if you have a major prayer intention (eg return of a prodigal child, return of a separated spouse, needing clear direction on vocation, starting up a new ministry) that an Exodus 90 process would add lots of power to those prayer intentions.

I can understand that if you have a major habit or addiction that you want to break, that Exodus 90 could be very helpful with that.

But I can also see

That it is suited to unmarried men, particularly if they are living alone or in a household of like-minded individuals.

That you will have to have very strong social relationships, capable of surviving lack of maintenance for 90 days, because snacks, dessert, going to a movie, sharing a soft drink, re-posting a joke on social media,  are the ways we usually connect with our loved ones and friends for fun and conversation. The fraternity part of Exodus 90 is going to be focussed on survival, mutual support and spiritual growth, and not on those lighter moments that make life worth living.

That the Exodus 90 days of deprivation are as tough as an elite warrior boot camp, and most will not be able to complete the challenge and feel or be made to feel that they are failures and have let themselves, God and their loved ones down. That's a pretty big risk if you are already emotionally or mentally fragile.

I am concerned

That although there is a component of prayer and spiritual reading, there is no overt commitment to sacramental life.

That those whose livelihoods depend on regular blogging or posting on social media (artists, journalists, interior designers) would be greatly disadvantaged career-wise.

That the Exodus 90 lifestyle is unsustainable, you can't continue at that pace, and those who in actual life do so are specially called and gifted by God for the rigours of such a penitential lifestyle in religious orders or as hermits.

That too many will take up the challenge because a buddy invited them, and try to achieve it on human power alone, rather than as a response to a call of God, depending on Him for the grace and power to complete each day.

That going 'cold turkey' on so many ascetical practices at once is a recipe for disaster. It would be better to commit to three of them over the first 2 weeks of the challenge and then decide in the fraternity group whether to add another one in week 3 or not.

That keeping going for the Lenten distance of 40 days is hard enough, and that there's some ancient wisdom in our liturgical cycles of feasts and fasts.

That there are reports on YouTube of people having major counter-reactions to the extreme disciplines when they reach day 91 and beyond; think about the behaviour of boarding school types when they hit the undisciplined life of university because that's what the counter-reaction looks like. People who go on long fasts with liquid diets know that when the fast finishes that it is important to return to normal eating patterns at a slow and gradual pace.

That there are many housebound people who depend on social media for their connection to the outside world, and for whom the departure of swathes of good people from social media for Lent or Exodus 90 vastly impoverishes their lives. Fasts from social media don't have to be total, limiting it to only after 6pm of an evening or for an hour daily are quite effective.

The bottom line?
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I don't doubt that God can do great things in the lives of those who undertake an Exodus 90 process, as long as the goal is God and not a bucket-list item or a badge of honour or bragging rights, but a response to a personal call from God to go deeper through penance and reparation for a specific purpose.

Firstly a rough transcription of the prophetic words given that night; some prior to the talk, some afterwards:

•Find your shout and declaration again. Angels are putting trumpets to our lips. Declare what God is saying and not what anything else is saying. The truth of God is being rewritten over minds and hearts. God: 'But what do I say?' Pay attention to that and not to your circumstances. Echo what God is saying over us.
•(sung) There is a mighty echo. Come up higher. Can you hear the echo? See His angels all around. Let the trumpets sound. Let the people gather round. The Lord is coming on the clouds. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. Holy ones I am calling You to Myself. Re-sound the sound of the trumpet sound. Holy mantles. Holy mandates. High and holy ones, you are My hope.

(the talk took place, see below)

•This council of the Lord is not just for church services, it is a realm that God is inviting us into as parents, and business leaders throughout the week, an invitation that doesn't require a building or a worship CD as access points. I am training My people to be supernatural in a very natural way.
•There are so many angels here. We have so much authority because we are in Jesus and He is the supreme authority over everything. In the story of Daniel it says, 'As soon as you prayed a command was given'. The angels are waiting for us to pray and declare so that they can be given their assignments.
•We were in the throne room, all of us, with Jesus on the throne. The four beasts with wings were there and the lampstands. The angels were singing, and we were singing with them. The elders bowed down and worshipped Him, and all their crowns came off because they were so bent before Jesus. When we come before Him in worship we are to be like them and bow down so low before Him that our crowns come off. As we walk closer and closer to Him we are bowing further before Him. We need to be bare before Him in order to receive from Him and give to Him.
•In a similar way to how native American wind-talkers were used in WW2, God wants to give us messages that the enemy cannot decode.
•God is repositioning us into different levels and areas of our lives e.g. spiritual warfare, intimacy, intercession, spiritual realms. We need to do something in the natural to co-operate with, appropriate and come into agreement with this action of His. (It was suggested that as a sign of our Yes we swap places with the person beside us).
•Isaiah 51:16 'I put My words into your mouth. I hid you in the shadow of My hand, when I spread out the heavens and laid the earth's foundations and said to Zion, 'You are My people.'' It is time for rain. Contend with Him for the promised rain. The rain will be a sign in the natural of what He is doing in the supernatural. God wants us to be reminded of the prophetic words that have been planted. He is raising up blueprints and strategies and He was a holy 'DO' partnership, people who don't just listen but who act upon His word. This is a multigenerational thing. A time when newer generations pick up the neglected/forgotten/as-yet-undiscovered destinies embedded in their families and run with them; to take on the family legacies given by God and to see them happen.
(This was primarily for the Central Coast, but for people all over the world as well.)
 
Secondly a rough transcription of the talk given by Larry Sparks, international speaker and publisher at Destiny Image  Publishers who studies how God has acted in past movements of the Holy Spirit and who seeks out the prophets God is raising up in our day in order to help relay the messages of God to the people of God. He is an American, married, and has a much loved daughter:
 
Australia is a testimony nation to the earth.
(speaking to the HopeUC worship team): Worship teams have the capacity to be key leaders in the council of the Lord, places that are reserved for His friends. He invites you there, and desires to share His secrets with you there. Songs birthed in the council of the Lord release the thunder of Heaven. We want those songs. They carry God's active power. The gift and inspiration of those songs belong to those who want to be a friend of God far, far more than they want to be professional, successful musicians.

This message is for Australia, but also for the nations.
Be obedient.
God is reforming or language a bit, explaining what standing in the council of the Lord means.
'Holy, Holy, Holy' is the song of Heaven that never gets stale, tired or old.
New encounters with God often occur when we tap into the ancient songs.
You can tell that someone has had a genuine encounter with God if they tremble with the awe and reverence of God upon their lips.
In this atmosphere tonight there is a sense of reverence.
At a recent prophetic roundtable I met a young woman named Hannah Brim, granddaughter of Dr Billye Brim, and she said, 'I see myself as a friend of Jesus, not as a prophet'.

Our identity in God has three levels.
First identity: friends of God, those who see and hear the Word of God in the council of the Lord.
Jer 23:16-18 'The Lord God of hosts says this: Do not listen to what those prophets say: they are deluding you, they retail visions of their own, and not what comes from the mouth of the Lord; to those who reject the Word of God they say, 'Peace will be yours', and to those who follow the dictates of a hardened heart, 'No misfortune will touch you'. But who has been present at the council of the Lord? Who has seen it and heard His Word? Who has paid attention to His Word in order to proclaim it?'
Second identity: intercessors with God, who know what to do with what they see and hear - including who to share it with, and when, and how. They ask Him, what you have revealed to me, is it for me alone? There are some secrets that God wants to share with us personally that are for us alone. Is it something I should share with four crazy faith-filled friends to help me process and steward this revelation? Is it for someone else, of for a group? Or is it for me primarily, and shareable with others later on?
Third identity: prophet of God, declaring what God authorises you to declare.
In our times we have great need of people secure in these three identities who can reliably and reputably receive God's messages for our region, our city, our church community, our nation, and who are in right relationships with church authorities and not itinerant lone rangers.

The realm of the council of the Lord is available to everyone, but highly exclusive, because it belongs only to those who prize their relationship with God above everything else.
Study Abraham and Moses, who are friends of God. Their bold prayers were actually high reverence because they knew the character of God so deeply. They were able to 'be confident then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from Him and find grace when we are in need of help' Heb 4:16.
Friends of God are invited to know what is coming. If it happens to be negative, then they pray for that situation not to happen or for it to be mitigated, because they know God's delight is to show mercy. They appeal for mercy, even when judgment is deserved, eg Abraham concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses concerning God's repudiation of Israel after the golden calf incident. If no one ever finds out that their prayers for this potentially negative situation were effective, then that doesn't bother them at all. They remind God what He has promised until that promise is fulfilled, no matter how long that 'until' takes. They contend for those promises with supernatural grit. They know that God has not forgotten the promises He made, even if it feels completely otherwise.

The Hebrew word for council means 'a circle of familiar friends'.

What distinguishes a true prophet of the calibre of Isaiah, Ezekiel etc from the rest of the prophets are their throne room encounters with God and their ability to stand in the council of the Lord where He reveals His plans. What qualifies prophets like this, are the encounters with God that leave a person completely undone.

For friendship with God obedience is necessary viz John 15: 14-15 'You are My friends if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know his master's business; I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from My Father.'
Amos 3:7 'No more does the Lord God do anything without revealing His plans to His servants the prophets.'
God wants us to know, 'You are welcome in My room'.
Heb 12:22-23 'What you have come to is mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a 'first-born son' and a citizen of heaven.'
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All of us are invited, but responding to that invitation requires much from us, including that we seek Him solely for the prize of the pleasure of His company.

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​Below is a printer friendly version (3 x A4 pages)

Remember, these are but rough notes that give the gist of the content of that night.

Session 5, Sunday 20 Jan 2019 with Jim Murphy, president of ICCRS

Sometimes even when we know what to do, it is still not easy to do it.

Sometimes we feel we can't jump that high – that's why He gives His Spirit.

When Jesus says, 'Take My yoke…', we know that the yoke goes across the shoulders of two animals. Normally an older more experienced animal is joked with a younger animal. The older one calms the younger one down and communicates, 'Just walk with Me, I know how to do this.' On our own we are not capable of doing what God is calling us to do.

How does the Spirit work? It starts with you and me.

God is responsible for the great revival – no one else – and He will deal with us first. Pay attention to your own piece of real estate, and only then together look at the big picture. However if you wait until you are perfect to help anyone else, you will die of old age before that happens.

This is a both/and, not either/or, and we need to seek balance. God wants to give you the power to do the things of the kingdom, and also to be and to become holy. Both are essential and necessary.

Charisms flow from the generosity of God; they are undeserved gifts from the ridiculous generosity of God. God knows how to give good things to His kids.

Have you ever sat in a car-park of a hospital, nursing home or funeral place and said, 'I don't want to go in. God help me.' and you eventually got up and went in. That was His grace at work.

Priesthood is a special example of this; God working in the man, with the man, beyond the capacity of the man.

There was a farmer's wife who came to a prayer meeting with her very reluctant husband. He had a speech problem that made putting a sentence together a laborious effort. He was prayed with for the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and nothing seemed to have happened. However at subsequent prayer meetings, he would be prompted by the Holy Spirit to stand up and speak – and out came this divine poetry. The farmer had been given an extraordinary prophetic gift that only operated under the influence of the Holy Spirit. At all other times he continued to have speech difficulties. This was an unusual charism chosen to show forth the surpassing power of God.

So don't limit God by saying, 'I could never do that', because we put our faith in the God who can do it in us.

Human effort cannot fix the world – only God can save us now.

Do not count yourself out – let Him use you to do something extraordinary – that the rest of us really need.

If God calls you to do something – do it. But you don't have to go it alone, seek out and talk to experienced people about ways to move forward in responding to that call.

Prayer groups are not the only place for charisms, they are for the water cooler interactions too. If someone at the water cooler shares what they are struggling with, seek the Lord for that person, and if there is openness and permission from him or her, take the opportunity to pray together about that situation.

Don't ever be afraid to minister in the Spirit anywhere.

The Spirit gives us the power to be something else – to be the sons and daughters of God.

Galatians 5:22 give us the fruits of the Spirit which flow from the Isaiah 11 gifts of the Spirit. When the Spirit of God fills and dwells in you, His personality starts rubbing off on you. Then the Holy Spirit's capacity for courage, wisdom etc start becoming our qualities, forming us into the likeness of Christ.

You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Can you believe that?

When we think gift, we normally think of objects, but 'the' gift is the person of the Holy Spirit.

With some people, the room changes when that person walks in, and that person – just by their presence – brings everyone closer to God.

More people are converted by character than by charism: pick both!

This inner work in us cannot be done except by the Spirit of God.

We all need to be more open to the Holy Spirit. Ask Him, 'where is the bulls-eye on my back?' He wants to shine light on it. He will show those areas of weakness to you for the purposes of love and healing.

Human beings don't co-operate well together – but the Holy Spirit can make unity happen and can make team-work happen.

Without the Holy Spirit, there is no vision to unite us.

I invite you to journey with the Holy Spirit. Ask Him, 'what do I need to pay attention to from this weekend?' Reflect on it, but keep inviting the Holy Spirit into the process.

The only way restoration happens is by the Spirit of God.
There is no other way, no other option.
We have been called by God, to be with God for this great restoration.
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When all the talks are transcribed and blogged, a printer friendly version will be provided. There is still the Homily to go.
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My thoughts

There is outward and inward work to be done, and all under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. As missionary disciples, the charism gifts are the missionary part, and the character gifts are the discipleship part, and we should earnestly desire both types of gifts from God's goodness.

To think that we can do anything (prayer groups, children's liturgy, parish leadership, soup kitchens, evangelisation through social media, teaching as a catechist, youth groups, welcoming ministry, raising a family etc) without the Holy Spirit and His charisms – is sheer lunacy. But with Him all things are possible, fruitful, and effective.

If there isn't room for the Holy Spirit's charisms to operate in your corner of the restoration work – make room. Get your team together, collectively surrender your whole ministry to His leadership, beg the Holy Spirit together for the charisms your team needs, and spend time in prayer each time you come together seeking His guidance and direction, and be open to changing your plans according to His.
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Make room in your hearts and minds too. Get hold of resources that have experiential knowledge of how charisms operate, and study them. Visit ministries in similar fields to yours where charisms are operating, and let the possibilities of what God can do get you on your knees seeking Him with all your heart.

This is a rough transcript of a talk given by Lalith Perera from the Community of the Risen Lord on Sunday 19 February 2017 at Seven Hills, NSW, as part of a weekend conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

(Ed. I am revisiting this talk because some recent prophetic words here and here may make more sense in the light of this talk.)

God is looking for a person to host His presence, to carry Him to the world.

Often we ask, 'If God is love, why is this happening; why isn't that happening?'

God very much wants to be involved – but He needs someone to take Him to that place. If not, then the natural law takes over.

Matthew 9: 27-31. Jesus heals the two blind men. Jesus says, 'Do you believe I can do this?' They reply, 'We do'. Jesus tells them, 'Let it be done to you according to your faith.'

Moses hosted the presence of God. Mary hosted the presence of God. Jesus Himself, obviously, hosted the presence of God. Peter after Pentecost hosted the presence of God.

Moses hosted the presence of God so much that his face glowed and he had to wear a veil Exodus 34:29-35. When Mary visited Elizabeth, she didn't have to say a word, the presence of God in her touched her cousin. Acts 5:15 says that people brought out their sick hoping that the shadow of St Peter might fall on them and heal them, such was the presence of God that he carried.

We are called to host His presence.

If you are grateful for all that Jesus has done, but yet feel dissatisfied and have a desire for more. If your prayer is, 'Lord, I want more', then know that this restlessness is a gift of the Spirit.

If He could use Peter and the Apostles, He can use you and me.

Divine and human partnerships are God's preferred way of doing things.

Isaiah 57.15 'I live in a high and holy place, but I am also with the contrite and humbled spirit, to give the humbled spirit new life, to revive contrite hearts.'

This is the formula for hosting the presence of God.

God is in the revival business and He wants to do it through the contrite and lowly.

Three keys to hosting His presence:
•A heart of repentance; a contrite heart.
•Lowliness: an inner space within to hold Jesus: people not full of themselves.
•A life of praise and worship – to shift the clouds.

We are more prone to see other's faults and not our own (Matthew 7:3, Jesus compares this to the beam in our eyes and the splinter in someone else's eye.)

Go to confession. It is a lifetime journey to repentance. Even after Baptism in the Spirit, we change slowly. It is so easy to judge others – this is a trap. St Francis of Assisi spent a whole night in repentance. The Holy Spirit shines His light into the dark places of our hearts not to condemn or destroy, but to draw us closer to Himself.

When we are reconciled with God, there is a space within that we can fill with the Eucharist, the presence of Jesus, and space for the Word to rest in our hearts. I want Him to live inside me. I want to be sitting at the feet of Jesus. Every so often take a whole day, and spend that day with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

A life of praise and worship is what we need to keep Him with us when we leave our time of prayer, when we leave the Mass. There is a cloud of unknowing, a covering keeping us from seeing God. Many of us are living as atheists who say they believe. The test? How much do you love God after a sleepless night?

Break the cloud above you with the gift of praise – not communal praise but personal praise. Without the power of God we are powerless in all we do. So double your prayer time, and use half of it for praise. Keep praising until worship happens and the cloud of God's glory comes over you. When that happens, everything becomes crystal clear and simple.

In 2004 we were on a 2 day retreat with 75 people. During the morning praise we were given a scripture passage to pray with. As we did, the presence of God descended on that place. Many were weeping under that anointing, with lots of repentance. At that time one of the retreatants was given the lyrics and melody of a song:

Help me climb higher, higher on Your mountain
Hold me as I rise, rise beyond my being
As I feel Your presence surround me
Lord I come to worship on my knees.

Take me from my footprints to Your journey
Take me from my heartache to Your will
Take me from my feelings to Your presence
Take me to the clouds so I may see.

(Ed. This isn't all of the song, just the part I was able to write down.)

God, He is ready to touch anybody anytime.
It is He who will do the work.

At another time we had a village retreat for about 100 people. A special stillness came over us. Then an unusual word of knowledge was given about a bent leg. It was responded to by a mother of a girl who had been in a dreadful accident. The girl was prayed with and her leg was completely healed and restored.

Write Non Fiction In November : #WNFIN Day 8

The topic for today is inspired by last night's initial session of preparation for the Sacrament of Penance. I get why they call it the Sacrament of Reconciliation; it's more meaningful to the people of our time, but technically it is still the Sacrament of Penance, with three Rites of Reconciliation (First Rite, one on one; Second Rite, group preparation with one on one following and group thanksgiving to end it; Third Rite, general, many on one, for emergency use only).

After introductory discussions about God's love and how infinite and for ever it is, came a very frank look at what God expects our response to that love to be. i.e. 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord s our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.' Deuteronomy 6:4.

It is something that we are all supposed to take seriously, and yet it still comes as a bit of a shock when we go behind the familiar words and ponder what they actually mean and think about how to live them.

God's definition of an acceptable response is perfectly logical if we take the time to consider who God is, how completely dependent we are upon Him, and how much He desires our eternal welfare. For God only the best will do, and calling forth the best from us helps us to develop into the best selves we can possibly become. Every parent wants their child to make the most of their unique gifts and talents, and no parent is happy when a child settles for mediocre instead of fulfilling all his/her potential.

If you have had an experience of God's personal love, then such a full and complete response is normal and natural. But if you have been living a rather worldly life with God on the very outer edges of the picture (i.e. in case of emergency only) then such a required response is draconian and totally and unrealistically extreme.

Our personal preferences cannot change God's word. Ignorance of the spiritual laws that govern the universe is no excuse.

We only have to go back to the book of Genesis to see the difference between Abel who offered God in sacrifice the very best of his flock and Cain who offered the produce of his farming. If it had been the best of the produce Cain's offering would have been acceptable. It was a teachable moment where God invited Cain to do better, and Cain decided that getting jealous of his brother was far easier.

This is really radical stuff, especially for a mum looking for the quickest sessions to attend to fulfill her child's preparation for a sacrament.

It is radical for us too, because we have to stop and think whether we are giving to God the first and the best of our selves and all that we have. Most of us, myself included, are quite comfortable in what we have considered to be 'okay' to give to God – conveniently forgetting that God calls for our 'all' and not for our 'some'.

To see what living this 'all' for God, or as holier people have put it, 'all for the greater glory of God', is all about – we turn to the lives of the Saints. We need to pay attention not only to the St Francis of Assisi and the St Mary Magdalene types, but we also need to pay attention to how the holy people around us live.

Spotting them is easy, look for joyful people who are filled with thanksgiving and gratitude and who do not complain.

How would we measure up beside the stewardship challenge of giving God 10% of our time, talent and treasure? Time in prayer and voluntary service; contributing our skills to the welfare of the body of Christ; and the monetary fruits of our labours.

It is better to start small and grow incrementally than to go all in and peter out quickly.

How are we increasing the quality of what we give back to God? In some ways this is the greater challenge. We give, but is it our very best? How could we make it better, more intentional, more conscious and less habitual and routine? Where have we slipped into compromise and mediocrity?

We might rant and rail at this, and probably will – especially in times of feeling aridity and abandonment – but that doesn't change the fact that our long term (temporal and eternal) happiness depends on living 'all for God' and 'all of my best for God'.
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Like St Therese of Lisieux if we try to do our best in the little things and do them with great love, then eventually we will get there.

Write Non Fiction In November : #WNFIN Day 7
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The topic for today is experiencing God's love. Without a profound encounter with God's love nothing of the Christian life makes sense. However, once a person has experienced such an encounter, then everything makes sense, and what was once a chore becomes a delight.

The good news is...that there is always more. Whatever we have encountered of God's love, there is always more for us to encounter, and in new and deeper ways.

It stands to reason that the experiences of God at the beginning are usually powerful and life changing. As we grow and discover more about this God who loves us, those times of sensible encounter decrease and the times of encounter that are beyond feelings increase. For many people the hardest times are in the lengthening periods when the presence of God seems absent. But they are necessary, because how else do we and God find out whether we love Him for Himself or because of what He does and can do for us. When the testing times are over, He invites us to deeper levels of encountering His love.

In the testing times relief from the aridity of personal prayer comes from four sources, group prayer, lectio divina, time sitting with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and time spent with those who are suffering – either as a companion or in service to them.

So what are these encounters with God like?

Some are like everything at once, tears of joy, laughter, repentance, dancing, adoration, singing, amazement.

Some are a personal message with or without audible words, usually at unexpected moments. Change of direction and vocational calls can frequently be like this.

Some feel like a collapsing kaleidoscope where a whole manner of different things suddenly fall into place with astonishing clarity, and this confirms that you are in the right place, at the right time, for His kind purposes.

Some contain burning, tingling, and physical healing.

Some come in the form of visions and dreams of significance.

Some experiences we should be a whole lot more grateful for than we usually are…the ones where He lays a precise finger on the parts of our lives that are displeasing to Him as an invitation to ask His help to clean them up through His mercy and pardon.

Some are like a sensation that all barriers are gone and prayer is effortless and going straight to the heart of the Father.

Some are more external when the realisation happens that God has arranged everything 'just so' and the outcomes could have been much, much worse, and that you have been saved from those greater layers of disaster and that the outcomes have several unexpected silver linings.

Some can be profound encounters through a near death experience.

But whenever you go seeking encounters with God, or try to replicate the conditions under which the previous encounter took place….nothing happens. We can most certainly ask Him for an experience of His love, but we need to let Him be God and let it be in His chosen time and place and not when we think it should be.

We certainly love the extraordinary manifestations of God's love, who doesn't? But there are many ordinary manifestations that we usually overlook on a daily basis; the gentle breeze that refreshes and lifts your spirits, the beautiful bird that caught your eye and lingered for a while, the gift of a good night's sleep, an unexpected extra kindness or tenderness from a child or spouse, the unexpected meeting in an out of place location with someone who had been on your mind, the gift of meeting someone truly holy.

Evangelisation is meant to help people open up their hearts to God, so that He can encounter them with His love. Catechesis only makes sense and becomes fruitful after a person has had a profound encounter with God's love. Prior to that encounter you may as well have been speaking a foreign language to them.

So let's pray, firstly for a loved one, and then for ourselves.

Heavenly Father, I bring before You ……………….. He/she has yet to experience Your love, otherwise You would be the number 1 priority in his/her life and not the last on the list after many things more important and urgent to him/her. Only You can quieten down the other voices in his/her life long enough for Your cry of love to break through. Please tonight, tomorrow, sometime during the week ahead, grant them an experience of Your love that will transform his/her life. Please grant them all that he/she needs to respond wholeheartedly to You, and to place his/her life completely at Your service. Amen.

Dear heavenly Father, I know You exist, I believe in You, but it feels so long since I experienced Your love at the life-changing level. I want that. Thank You for being active in my life. I really appreciate how You have been taking care of me and my loved ones. But I feel like I am surviving on empty fumes. The exterior proofs of Your love are amazing, but my heart longs for something interior, deeply personal and profound. Please tonight, tomorrow, sometime during the week ahead please break through my darkness and let me experience Your everlasting love in a new and fresh way that leaves me amazed. For the sake of the people who You are bringing into my life who need to hear how You are acting now and not the barely remembered yet much treasured encounters of past decades, please come. I give You permission to show Your love to me in any way You desire. Amen.

Write Non Fiction In November : #WNFIN Day 6

It looks like we are going on a ramble again – yet another opportunity to trust that God will lead, and a hope that I'll be happier with today's efforts than yesterday's efforts.

I've been meaning to do a list of signs of hope that there are the better days ahead that we have been promised. So here it is, shrouded a bit to protect the protagonists.

A long-awaited publishing contract for someone I've been following online.
A little more traction on social media for someone close to me, including access to a previously closed Facebook group and some regular likes from an industry body.
The possibility of a romance that might lead somewhere for a daughter of a friend who has been praying for a long time.
News of a close-to-miracle pregnancy in an extended family that has been through many tough times recently.
Examples of God's providence with car purchase and tree damage.
News of a creative risking it all to go back to study and follow a prompting from earlier studies that ignited a passion.

They aren't the dazzling conversion stories we'd love to hear, but they are messages of hope that more of these new beginnings are on the way from the loving hand of God.
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Other things are more like pinpricks of light that haven't had the dots joined up yet. For example, making acquaintance with associates from lower high school who live nearby, and getting unexpectedly thrown back into teaching a sacramental programme lesson, and so far being able to keep the writing challenge commitment and gaining a few insights along the way.

At the same time there's plenty that's not right, and which sucks me under if I dwell on the cold light of day impossibilities of solving them. When you have done all you can do with the available resources at hand, following what seemed like the right things to do, and they've come to absolute nothing, then it is time to wait and watch for God to act – because everything else apart from that is just further wasted effort. Those absolute nothings only happened because God permitted them. Get enough of them in a row, and that's a cease and desist message.

For this I'll quote God's friend, St Claude de la Colombiere, 'When I see a Christian grief stricken at the trials God sends him I say to myself: Here is a man who is grieved at his own happiness. He is asked God to be delivered from something he ought to be thanking him for. I am quite sure that nothing more advantageous could happen to him than what causes him so much grief. I have a hundred unanswerable reasons for saying so. But if I could read into the future and see the happy outcome of his present misfortune, how greatly strengthened I would be in my judgment! If we could discover the designs of Providence it is certain we would ardently long for the evils that we are now so unwilling to suffer. We would rush forward to accept them with the utmost gratitude if we had a little faith and realised how much God loves us and has our interests at heart.'

Does it make it any easier to face yet another day of seemingly unanswered prayer? Not really, but it takes a bit of the sting out of it.

At the moment what I draw hope from is that if God is showing His hand in some of the 'don't sweat the small temporal stuff', then maybe, just maybe, the resolution of the truly important kingdom of God stuff is in the pipeline, and these are encouragements on the hard road of patience and waiting.

I've just finished reading a difficult book, 'Daughters of Shame' by Jasvinder Sanghera. Not that it was difficult to read, but the subject matter of what happens in cultures where forced marriages and honour killings are the norm is very confronting.

On another level the book chronicles how a volunteer organisation began to help victims of this culture find freedom and how step by gradual step it grew often as a result of pondering a specific situation and seeking solutions or by the right conversation with the right person at the right time.

It is these latter meetings that are often the game changer or the life changer, and reading through a conversion story or a story of someone who achieved at remarkable levels these kinds of 'orchestrated by God' meetings will be found. In many ways myself and my loved ones are waiting for these kinds of meetings to happen in our lives because they are signposts from God that we are on the right path (or will be)

St Raphael the archangel is the patron of such happy meetings. Back almost 26 years ago when things were very dark, it was the novena of prayer to St Raphael that was the last thing needed before breakthrough came.
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I'll add a PDF below for anyone who would like to know a bit more about St Raphael and seek his powerful aid and intercession: (2 x A4 pages)

May we all be given the grace to recognise these 'orchestrated by God' meetings when they come, and the grace to act on the holy promptings and opportunities that open up as a result of these happy meetings. May they be multiplied in our lives, so that the path ahead that God has prepared may be easier for us to both recognise and to follow. Amen.

The 18th of February 2017 was the 50th anniversary of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. #ccrgoldenjubilee2017 : It is what happened when students from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh came together with some of their teachers for a weekend retreat at a place called 'The Ark and the Dove'. Leaders from across the world gathered at The Ark and the Dove for a weekend retreat to celebrate all that God has done in the past 50 years. Those very inspiring talks were Livestreamed, but are no longer available for free online (www.somethinglikereal.com/ordermedia is where you can find them now).
 
As you might expect when people gather to call on God's name, and to praise and thank Him, He talks to them and reveals His purpose.
 
Here is the primary prophetic word that was given at the 50th anniversary retreat. It was first shared on the Friday evening 17 February, and considered so important it was shared again on the Saturday evening 18 February once people began to understand its significance. If you have ever read the life of Blessed Imelda Lambertini, you would have come across the adage, 'gifts are given on the eve of the feast'.
 
I apologise that it is only the bare bones of that word. I was going to go back and transcribe both of them properly, but I was too late.
 
Psalm 42: Deep calls unto deep. Go deeper. Call to Him from a place of great depth.
Genesis 7: In the second month, and on the 17th day of that month, that very day all the springs of the great deep broke through and the sluices of heaven opened. It rained on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. This is for good, not for destruction, so that the world may be filled with the presence of God as the waters cover the sea.
 
My initial interpretation: God wants to give us the second part very much, but it depends on us doing the first part. Think of the outpouring God wants to give like a huge balloon full of water. It is up to us to push deeper and deeper until it pierces. The deeper and more united we are across time and space and distance the better able we will be to pierce the balloon so that the torrent comes and not the trickle. But we have to get on our knees and call out our desperate need to God for the Holy Spirit. We have to feel and pray in our dryness for the Spirit's dew, we have to long for Him like for cool shade on a day of 45 degree heat. We have to be prepared to let the Holy Spirit groan our need in us. This is a privileged moment, we can praise Him any day of the week, but today His desire is that we ask and importune Him for this outpouring. The moment to obtain all He wants to give will soon pass. There are some things so big and so precious, that He can only give them to us if we ask. Asking makes a place in our hearts to receive. In the Gospels there are two things that Jesus especially asks us to plead for in prayer: vocations and the Holy Spirit.
 
My subsequent interpretation: When the sluice gates open, it takes a while for the dam water to reach the valley where the people live. We have to go deeper in our relationship with God if we want to become larger receptacles for His grace. Whenever we hear '40 days', don't we always think of Lent? That privileged time of our communal return to God in preparation for Easter, where we try to grow in prayer, in generosity and service, and in self-denial. They are our primary clues for going deeper. Pope Francis has particularly invited members of the Renewal to Rome to celebrate Pentecost with him. Instead of the big gathering happening at St Peter's Square, it is going to be at the Circus Maximus. Unlike St Peter's where there is really only one direction in and out, the Circus Maximus is a place where people can be sent forth from all directions. If you visit https://www.facebook.com/iccrsoffice or https://twitter.com/iccrsoffice the vibe is very strong that this coming Pentecost is momentous.
 
So how do we go deeper (apart from the traditional prayer, fasting and almsgiving)?
We have to go beyond where we feel safe and in control.
We can go deeper into listening to God with Christian meditation and Lectio Divina.
We can go deeper in our understanding of God through scripture study and reading the Catechism.
We can go deeper in prayer through time spent in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
We can go deeper by working on reconciliation with others and coming into unity with them in love. (CCC 1445: 'Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God.')
 
We can also learn a lot about going deeper by reading about what those first Duquesne students did, and doing the same.

In preparation for that retreat weekend they read the Acts of the Apostles, particularly the first 4 chapters. They also read The Cross and The Switchblade and They Spoke With Other Tongues
Every time they met together they prayed the Veni Creator Spiritus, an ancient hymn to the Holy Spirit.
Reflecting upon the Acts of the Apostles, David and Patti wanted to renew their baptismal promises, but the others weren't interested. Yet they stood their ground together and did it anyway. They were the first two God led into the upper room chapel.
They were led to pray a prayer of surrender: “Father, I give my life to you. Whatever you ask of me, I accept. And if it means suffering, I accept that too. Just teach me to follow Jesus and to love as He loves."
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For more detail, read this inspiring account: https://www.ccrno.org/TestimonyPGM.htm
 
Because I had read 'Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire' a few months ago, I was more aware of what this 'deep calling on deep' needed to be. I highly recommend it. It is the story of a young married pastor of a church in Brooklyn, New York, a church in serious danger of closing. 'When I was at my lowest, confounded by obstacles, bewildered by the darkness that surrounded us, unable even to continue preaching, I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He can't resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need Him. Our weakness, in fact, makes room for His power'. He told the Lord that he would rather die than merely tread water throughout his career in the ministry…always preaching the power of the Word and the Spirit, but never seeing it. In his need and acknowledgement that he was well and truly out of his depth as a pastor, God answered him with a promise: 'If you lead My people to pray and call upon My name, you will never lack'.
 
18 February is a feast day of St Bernadette. St Bernadette wrote, 'You want to pray like a saint, I invite you to pray like a beggar, like a pauper before God'. When Our Lady at Lourdes asked her to drink from the stream, first Bernadette had to dig, and to dig, and go deeper some more, until first the mud came and then the clear spring water. Inspired by her example let us go deeper and call out to the Lord until the Holy Spirit flows as torrentially as He desires to.
 
Mary, Mother of Jesus, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, Mother of the New Pentecost, pray for us

Below is a print friendly version of this blog-post:

Over the Christmas and school holiday season many of us had conversations with friends and family who call themselves spiritual but not religious. What do they mean by this? How can we get through to them?
 
If they mean, 'I still pray mostly, read my bible and try to be kind to others, but don’t want anything to do with Sunday worship and religious denominations' then you could respond like this:
Well let's go and see what an authentic response to God looks like in the bible.
In the Old Testament if people were touched by the Spirit of God they were given a mission that would benefit God's people: Samuel, David, Daniel, Joseph, Esther, Moses, Solomon, Elijah, Gideon etc. So what's your mission, and how are you living it out?
In the New Testament when the Spirit of God touched them they were impelled to be baptized and join the Christian community, Acts 2:41-47. When God does something amazing in your life, just offering Him your own thanks and praise is not enough…you want thousands to join you in those prayers, and even that many would be hardly enough. So it might be time to question just how real your spiritual experiences have been, yes?
 
If they mean, 'All that really matters is me and Jesus. We're doing fine. He feels more real to me down the beach or walking through nature than in a stuffy church with stuffy people' then you could respond like this:
That's really weird. In the bible when people find Jesus He is rarely alone, usually there's Mary and Joseph, or 12 Apostles, or 72 Disciples, a synagogue full of people or a crowd. Why then do we hear God say so often, 'You shall be My people and I will be your God' and not 'You shall be my person'? Why does St Paul go on and on about us being members of the Body of Christ? Loving someone means loving and cherishing the people and things important to them. Revelations 21 talks of the holy city, the new Jerusalem being the bride of Christ, and Ephesians 5 says that the church is the bride of Christ. How can we possibly say that we love Jesus if we avoid getting to know and love His bride? As for 'doing fine', that's sort of hard to tell. Someone in intensive care looks like they are doing fine compared to a body in the morgue, but may not look so fine if they stand next to an Olympic athlete. So you need to go where the athletes-in-training are, and you will find them at various levels of fitness at Church. When we think of what Jesus did for us, forsaking heaven and taking on our human nature in order to suffer and die grievously to obtain pardon of our sins, 'doing fine' from our perspective might not be doing enough from the perspective of Jesus. Then again, the bible didn't fall out of the sky fully formed, and you would never have known about Jesus unless untold people passed the Good News down the centuries through many cultures and generations to get to you. Without the church you would not have Jesus. It sort of means that church not an optional extra, and that we need to be 'plugged in' so as to do our part to pass the Good News down to the next generations and cultures.
 
If they mean, 'I believe that human beings are more than flesh and blood, that there is a spiritual part of each person that needs to be nurtured and there are lots of ways to nurture our spiritual sides without having to believe in a supreme deity and without going to church' then you could respond like this:
Truth, beauty and goodness certainly nurture our spirits, and we need lots of experiences of them to remain healthy. But have you noticed, the human heart always wants more? There is a God shaped hole in our hearts that only He can fill, and we are – as St Augustine says – restless until He does. If you are more aware of spiritual things, then you are aware that there are benevolent spiritual influences and malevolent spiritual influences abroad in our world. Good is at war with evil. The forces on both sides are formidable. What kind of defense do you have against malevolent spiritual influences? There's more safety in numbers than for person alone.
 
Some of those conversations might have included: 'Could you please stop talking about God so much?' This question is actually an opportunity if you handle it right. Why? Because most people will respond with indifference, or just ignore or tune you out. If someone asks you to stop, then something you have been saying has hit a nerve – which means that it is highly probable that the Holy Spirit has been working on them. This means you can ask them gently, 'What have I been saying that has made people uncomfortable?' Which will give you an indication of where the hit nerve is: for example guilt at neglecting God, abortion, relationships outside of marriage. To which you can reply, 'I think you misunderstood me, or only heard part of the conversation: here's what I was trying to get across and the context of it….' Or 'What is it about …… (insert topic) that is painful for you?

It could, of course, just be a general complaint about a perception that because you always include something 'holy' with a gift or Christmas card or birthday wishes (eg scripture quotation, prayer card etc) that they think that you think that their lives aren't good and need fixing. Here's your chance to say, 'Well, that's not my intention. I am sorry you feel that way. I find these things helpful in my own life, and because I want the best for my friends and family I share them around. You are not being targeted. Everybody I care about gets them.'
 
So don't let these verbal objections - a.k.a. opportunities for meaningful conversation - pass by. Keep gently digging until the real reason surfaces, and then with the help of the Holy Spirit deal with it. It may need an apology, or an explanation, or a clarification, or a vocal prayer asking God to heal or assist whatever hurt or need has been uncovered. Most of all listen as best you can, and only give advice if it is asked for.
 
If your family and friends include people from other Christian traditions, then eventually conversation will swing to why they are so certain of getting to heaven, and why you should be too. The 'Once saved, always saved' is a very comforting notion, but it doesn't really stack up against scripture. But we live between the Now and the Not Yet, and Catholics express it this way: I am saved, I am being saved, and I hope to be saved. The biggest salvific event in the bible prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus, was God freeing His people Israel from slavery in Egypt and getting them to the promised land. On that journey each one of them had been saved from slavery in Egypt, and they travelled as a community to where God was leading them. If someone separated from the community, then they had no hope of getting to the promised land. Some of them died on the journey without reaching God's promises. Some of them forfeited the promised land by disobedience and lack of trust. But they could all truthfully claim that God saved them from slavery in Egypt - however to be fully saved they had to do more than stand still once they were outside Egypt's borders. Anyone on that journey of salvation could say, 'God has saved me from Egypt, God is saving me from Egypt, and I will be fully saved from Egypt when I reach the promised land.' Not only was remaining with the community essential, the manna God sent every day was essential too – and Catholics see in that an archetype of the Eucharist.

Salvation is a coin with two sides, we are saved from something and we are saved for something. The further along the journey we go, the more what we are being saved for matters.
 
If 'Once saved, always saved' is true, then 2 Peter 1:10-11 doesn't make any sense:

'Brothers, you have been called and chosen: work all the harder to justify it by good deeds. If you do all these things there is no danger that you will ever fall away. In this way you will be granted admittance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.'

If St Peter considers that there is a real danger of falling away, then there is a real danger of falling away and we have to engage our whole selves and our whole lives in God's service if we are to gain entry to His eternal kingdom. God saves us, and saves us mightily when we ask Him to become the Lord and Saviour of our lives, but He cannot give us the fullness of that salvation unless we do our part to co-operate with His grace that wants to make us holy and perfect and able to enter that kingdom. Nothing impure, unclean and imperfect can enter Heaven (cf Rev 21:27)

May the Holy Spirit always give us His answers when these conversations crop up in our lives.