Thoughts! This is my first trial blog. I don't know what will happen, but I am willing to try. So, my blog today deals with "Ruach." I am wishing and hoping that "Ruach" will blow your way...or if you like, blow you away!, or in the words of a song my dad used to sing: "May the Bird of Paradise blow up your nose!" :) No matter how you like it, I pray that the Holy Spirit will blow over us all soon and very soon! You'll find more about my devotion to "Ruach" on my space www.myspace.com/ruah2u Yes, it's ruah there in the URL, because in my earlier days I used Wikipedia to find the Hebrew word "ruah" which I found meant wind, or spirit, and "sometimes" the Spirit of God. But recently, while teaching a Confirmation class, I found the correct Hebrew word that I really wanted to share - "Ruach", and more precisely "Ruach-El". I wish you the Holy Spirit of GOD.
The Spirit blows where He wills, but His will is unity! (Topic of: http://www.cinews.ie/article.php?artid=2384 ) Of course, I am speaking and writing about Christian unity, because I have learned that it is a unity that neither I, nor any other human at this point in history can cause. In Matthew 10:34-36, Jesus said:
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes shall be they of his own household.” And I say, "been there, done that!" My own household has been Christian, but of different divisions...thank God, we are still all Christian, and have learned to love one another in spite of our differences. But it hasn't always been that way, and I still pray and will continue to pray until my final breath for our unity.
I have seen and heard and witnessed all types of denominational evangelists proclaim and try to control the "Ruach" with words such as "the revival is upon us"; try to call down "fire" from heaven upon the gathered congregation; yell and scream as if he could command the "Ruach" blow where He did not want to blow...and then see that same flock go out of the church cutting each other off in a mad haste to get to the highway first. I am not speaking of everyone of course, but if the "Ruach" had really come in the fire of that so called evangelist, then I believe there would have been no question as to His coming...."ALL" WOULD HAVE BEEN CHANGED INSTANTLY! We would ALL have been on our knees, crawling to the Lamb...through the Ruach...because of the Will of the Father, Abba! We would have ALL been as Peter, James, and John were at the Transfiguration...flat on our faces. The Holy Trinity is ALL IN ONE, a Mystery that is so hard for us humans to get our brains around. However, I truly believe that this Mystery is His/Their exact hope for us - ALL IN ONE, HIS CHURCH, HIS BRIDE...not a dis-membered Bride, but a ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, and APOSTOLIC BRIDE. I am reminded of an encyclical of Pope John Paul "the Great" (Hope it happens!)....translated: "That They Be One" http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25051995_ut-unum-sint_en.html
How does this happen...this elusive butterfly of Unity? Our Church has been praying for it for as long as I can remember...and that's some 60 years. How does she, this dis-membered Bride, become One Wholesome Witnessing Unity? Well that is the purpose of this blog...write to me, tell me how? What's your take on this whole issue? Something deep inside of me says it does not come from external sources, but from the little mustard seed that is growing in each Christian heart. The Kingdom of God Jesus says is in us...all of us that proclaim to be His. I somehow believe that this mustard seed needs to watered, that the soil must be toiled and softened, that the weeds must be cleared, so that this little mustard seed can grow. Only Them, through the Ruach-El can do the watering. We must pray, and beg, and adore, and praise, and worship, and open the door of our hearts to Him, He who knocks, and wants to sup with us. His Supper is just as it was, I believe, 2000+ years ago at the Last Supper. His command, "Do this in memory of Me", is His Bride's only recipe, and critical to the life that lives withing her, as she waits for His return. For without this, His Manna of the New Testament, she would surely have died a long time ago, maybe with the invasion of the Visagoths, or Romans, or Gauls, or....you might know history better than I...add an invasion army that could have wiped her off the face of the map eons ago. I am sure there is an evil force readying for the intended blow as I speak these words, but I trust in THE WORD, and rest assured that our Church will be there until the ends of time, and He will surely not leave me as an orphan.
IMHO "Revival" will come only when all who love Him, will finally submit to Him (see Pastor Alex Jones or Pastor Neil Babcox's stories on my space), surrender to His Will, obey Him from instant to instant in the center of their beings (a new innocense), and carry Him in their hearts from moment to moment. This, I think, is our Impossible Mission, that will only come to pass when our hearts are softened by Ruach-El, and the groaning within us will not be contained, causing us to pray, Abba, Abba, Abba! Please help us! It will come when all Christians can once again come together in ONE totality, in humility, and recognize the power and glory of the Church Jesus left for us so long ago. Until then, some of us will say, "there He is..." in the Pentecostal Revival, or the New American Revival, or in the this and that revival...oh, look, what power...but which of those revivals and churches upon churches have lasted as long as His Church has lasted...for the past 2000+ years? He said, and I believe He meant, that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. I ask you, which institution has lasted for the past 2000+ years, with an army like that of the Vatican guards? NONE! It, or she, the Bride, is a miracle in herself...because of His Words...no one else's...for He is the Word that John spoke of in John 1:1-5. Be careful whose words you believe for there are false prophets out there that I have seen and witnessed, and they surely can "tickle your ears", as He had foretold. Try to remember always, He is neither in the loud music, nor in the puffed-up egos of those deluded and self-proclaimed evangelists, but in the small, still voice that becons from within you, from that little mustard seed, that is right there in the center of you.
Wake up Church! Watch...and be on the look out...have enough oil...and keep your lamp ready.
Love in Christ,
Greg
