Readings begin with the Covenant of Abraham and end with the Covenant of Jesus. The Covenant of Abraham required him to ‘walk before God in faithfulness and be blameless” God rewarded Abraham with long life, children and land. The Covenant of Jesus requires us to deny ourselves, take up our Cross and follow Him. Lent is a time to examine our own relationship with God. How have we:
· Denied Our self?
· Taken up our Cross? and
· Followed Him?
Self-examination: What Spiritual Prison of Rebellion Have I Put Myself In?
Lent is a time of preparation for the Easter Celebration. We have six weeks to examine our lives, identify sins that need to be repented and go through the process of repentance, confession, absolution and acceptance of Christ's forgiveness. One way of examining our lives is suggested by the readings for today. Peter mentions the rebellious dead as being "spirits in prison' (1 Peter 3.19). We may be putting ourselves in an eternal spiritual prison when we are disobedient and rebel against the Baptismal covenant. We need to review the Ten Commandments and the seven deadly sins and ask ourselves which of these prisons we may be in.
The Readings open our eyes to an Epiphany moment of realizing how dangerous healing and deliverance ministry can be. There is a wonderful line in C.S. Lewis’s story "Prince Caspian". This is a children's story that deals with the struggle between good and evil. Jesus is represented as a lion. Lucy, the youngest girl asks, "is he dangerous?". The reply comes back "Of course he's dangerous". The Gospel reveals a very dangerous side of Jesus that has been almost lost in our time: (One of my manuscripts 7 lost spiritual truths)
· Isaiah reminds us that spiritual authority comes from God and is dangerous
· Paul warns us to be careful in our spiritual lives
· Jesus teaches us how spiritual authority works in healing and deliverance ministry
1. Spiritual authority comes from God
Epiphany moments are a time when we suddenly see something we have not seen before. We are called and anointed by the Holy Spirit to do something new. Jonah is called to go and proclaim a disaster for Nineveh. Paul warns the Corinthians the end time is near, and Jesus calls His disciples to leave their old life and go out and make disciples.
This is the hardest part. We are all very attached to the comfort of our established lives.
· Need a motivation – impending disaster, end times
· Jonah is told to proclaim the fall of Nineveh – he has no idea God’s plan is to get them to leave their lives of sin
· Jonah is angry with God for relenting – learns humility and compassion
· My own push came in the form of a political termination at the height of my career as a professional librarian – I was President of the Library Association of Alberta
The Readings teach us how to cope with the spiritual darkness around us by following Jesus example if being a light in the darkness. We don’t see a lot of happy faces around us. The snowflake generation is in rebellion against God, confused and lost in materialism, drugs, alcohol and depression. The Good news is that we have hope and joy. Jesus has come to save us from this fallen world and guide us into an eternal life of joy that has already started and can only get better.
Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus both at Christmas and in the End Time. We are certainly in an End Time scenario now with Gog and Magog involved in hot wars against Israel. Preparation begins with repentance so we will be found “spotless, blameless and at peace with Him” (2 Peter14). Repentance is the doorway to Spiritual Life in Christ.
