DAILY HOMILIES #power

Regardless of the magnitude of our sins, God never stops loving us; He never stops believing in our inherent goodness. Like the Father in the story of the Prodigal Son, God never gets tired of waiting for our return. If God were to treat us according to our wickedness, none of us would still be alive. (cf. Psalm 103:10). It is easy to point fingers at others for wickedness. However, the truth is that we would do worse things if we were in their shoes. Before you ask God to kill anyone you consider wicked, why not ask: “Have I killed my wickedness?”

In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). Jesus did not say, “Blessed are the timid.” There is a difference between meekness (humility) and timidity (being frightened). It is one thing to be humble, but a different thing to become afraid of the devil or ashamed of God.

Don’t be carried away by power, congratulatory messages, or excessive workload in your new office; dedicate the first day (or days) to prayer. Jesus applied this principle at the start of his ministry; he spent forty days praying and fasting alone in a desert.

ust as a single candle is never intimated by the darkness of an entire room, “No gree for anybody” means that we must never be intimated into sinning (even if this entails suffering). Some Christians are so timid of proclaiming their faith in public. Who says we have to blend in with the culture of immorality?

As much as asking for God’s grace in fighting temptations is important, we must never forget that grace builds on nature. God wants you to make an effort; that is, try to avoid danger and be wise. Your accuser is the devil; to conquer him, you must be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).

Are you a leader in any capacity? Are you a man or woman of God? Do you head a family, a church or a company? Know that your success highly depends on your closeness to God, active prayer life and willingness to listen to God’s voice daily. Left to your power and intelligence, you can do nothing.

Knowing the weaknesses of others should not make us puffed with pride, it should make us think of ways to help them up. This requires humility; humility to know that your level in life came not by your power but by the grace of God and others who helped you in the past.

As children of God, when we leave the Church, we are to realize that our time in the Church was a time of spiritual impartation. We carry something with us when we leave, something we cannot see physically yet it is real. More still, we even receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. We should never assume we are empty. We should consciously take what we have received and reached out to the sick; those who cannot come to church; those who do not yet believe in God; those who are passing through some difficulty or another.

Our Gospel passage today contains a lot of names; these are the ancestral line of Judah. Not every person in this genealogy was outstanding, in fact, some of them were terrible sinners who did unthinkable things. What does this tell us? That God can work through anybody. Stop looking down on yourself. Every saint had a past and every sinner has a future. Say Yes to God today and let your past pass.

If you lack self-control, it is not because you are powerless but because you have decided to divert your power to the wrong things. Every human being is powerful. God would not give us any commandments if He knew we are completely powerless against our bodily passions.

I feel ashamed when I see Christians panicking at the thought of witches and wizards or pastors exulting the devil in their sermons, literally putting fear in the minds of their listeners without also preaching about God’s power as greater than that of the devil. Today’s Christians are willing to ascribe every single negative event in their lives to the power of the devil (including headaches) but are very slow to praise and thank God for positive events in their lives.

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus tells us: “If you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name … ask and you will receive, that your joy may be complete.” The problem is, after asking, we refuse to drop our burdens completely with Jesus. We rise to our feet with heavy hearts as though we wasted our time praying. If prayer does not leave you joyful and happy, it means you haven’t prayed. Start all over again!