DAILY HOMILIES #power

Self-control or self-discipline is not something we acquire from the blues; it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit; that is to say, self-control is one of the manifestations of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. Hence, to be more self-controlled, we must pray constantly for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Jesus started with prayer, and all through His public ministry, Jesus never joked with prayer. He would rise early in the morning, go to a quiet place to pray (Luke 4:42), and at the end of the day, after dismissing the crowd, he would go again to a lonely place to pray. (Matthew 14:23, Mark 6:46). He would even spend a whole night praying (Luke 6:12). When you are prayerful, a certain aura goes with you; you don’t need to shout or make noise. Your very presence in any space is already a threat to demons. Jesus did not break a sweat dealing with the demon-possessed man. As we often say: “power pass 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.