St Peters RC Church Hamilton

When, Holy Spirit led, we belong entirely to our Saviour Brother.  

“God walks with all of humanity, the good people and the evil people, because in His list (see Matthew 1 v 1-17) there are saints and there are criminal sinners as well. There’s so much sin here. But God is not frightened by this: He accompanies us. He walks with His people.” (Pope Francis)  

“ ‘Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world…the One who will baptise with the Holy Spirit…He is the Chosen One of God’.” (John 1 v 29, 33, 34 NLT)

Why is there so much sin when we have the Lord Jesus, ever intended to be our Saviour Redeemer, the Divine Healer. It has to be to do with us, we ignore, forget or do not believe in the victory of the †. 

O Lord, holy Father, this is tragic, when Your beloved Son both lived and died for our salvation. Then in His resurrected holiness, is only too ready to share with us, sending the Holy Spirit for this purpose.

Are we blind to the reality of satan? Do we consider him outdated? Certainly he is not outwitted. “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5 v 8 NAJB)

May the Holy Spirit of truth make us wise about this. Otherwise we are in danger of sliding down further into the catastrophe of immorality, all the confusion sinfulness causes.  

Only recently we claimed the victory of the †, and Christ Jesus risen to be amongst us. All believers are an Easter people, empowered to do spiritual battle. May we do so!  

I ask that we  “Take up the shield of faith, with which we can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one,” (based on Ephesians 6 v 18) in his all out battle against Christ Jesus.  

Let us not be afraid to name and claim the Saviour, the One who was willing to give up His life at the †, to win us forgiveness. Surely this is the turning point of our experience.

Evil cannot win, will not win, for the victory of the † is for all times and all peoples. We are only asked to pray and believe we have a Saviour and build up a friendship with Him.   

It is never too late to begin to do this, so let the world start now, for that is how satan will be defeated, “…if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body,” (based on Romans 8 v 13) all those selfish, driving, faith denying and defying passions. 

We need a Healer and we have one in our Saviour. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons (daughters) of God.” (v 14) There is no other way, we have to go the way the Lord Jesus taught us. 

He told us to pray and believe, that He would then send “ ‘…another Helper that He may abide forever’,” (John 14 v 16) in and amongst us. 

This is the truth which speaks to us, the truth that cannot lie. Therefore the problem of evil has to live with us, for we can be granted a Saviour and Sanctifier as soon as we ask for this blessing. 

What a blessing we are given. For all thanks and all praise ever be to the all loving, ever forgiving Trinity. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death.” (based on Romans 8 v 2)  

We have become partakers in Christ Jesus’ victory at the †. This is our passport to freedom when we listen to the living Word of truth and act upon it. 

“ ‘These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world’,” (John 16 v 33) so we can become more than conquerors when we claim we have a Saviour. 

The pressure, stress, anguish, oppression, tribulation, adversity, difficulty and dilemma in the world, can all be attributed to our failure to respond to the conquest over all that is evil. 

O Lord heavenly Father, I am so sorry that this should be the case. I repent of my part in this necessity for Christ Jesus’ suffering and †to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.   

May our understanding of life become fuller, deeper, more enlightened by turning to the Spirit of truth as we pray. We need a change in our disposition of heart and mind so we are not defeated before we start. 

The Lord Jesus, our Brother who is the world’s Saviour, exercised all His love for us out of love for You, Lord God, so He could and does claim the victory of the †of our salvation.  

We need continuous spiritual training, therefore we need the Holy Spirit of wisdom and truth, the faith Builder, enabling us to know the Lord Jesus as our personal Saviour, not just a vague concept of rescue, nor wishful thinking. 

It is through the rescue at the †of Your beloved Son, dearest Father, that we receive Your grace and power in daily life. Come, Holy Spirit, Life Giver, make us anew through our Saviour. 

Call us out of the darkness into the wonderful light of the Lord Jesus, He who is the light of the world already shining. It is indeed a tragedy when this light of love, of holiness, is obliterated by our sinfulness, which is of course, exactly how satan intends.  

We must fight this enemy, fight to win. We must look to our Saviour, name Him, claim Him, make Him our worship, seek His fellowship and accept the grace of His holiness shared with us.

When we gather together, even in so small a number as two or three, the Lord Jesus tells us that He is with us and will ever remain with us until the end of the world. This is life’s real blessing, thank You, Father God.

May we come to find You really and truly present in sacred Scripture, in each other and in the blessing of the sacraments, especially that of the Holy Eucharist, where the victory of the †is re-enacted before us.  

 You come to us as the Healer Saviour, the One able to redeem us from all our sinfulness, as You send us the purifying Spirit to enlighten our mind and impact upon our heart to make us no longer fettered by our sinful nature. 

We are a new creation when we move through each day with the Master at the helm of our life. May we then not lose sight of the promised land of heaven, but wholeheartedly undertake the truly satisfying, life enriching journey in faith, under His power of holy love and care shown. 

The Lord Jesus says “ ‘ I have manifested Your name to the (wo)man whom You have given Me out of the world’.” (John 17 v 6) all for the sake of our redemption. Let us then not be lost to this truth, discount it for any reason, for the resulting outcome is significant. 

Guided by the Holy Spirit of wisdom and truth, “ ‘They were Yours. You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You’.” (v 6, 7)  

This is the crux of the matter, we must recognise and respond to the truth as placed before us in Christ Jesus, the Saviour. “ ‘I have given them Your word’.” (John 1 v 14) Oh what power of love is at work for us!   

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You never, ever fail us, for as a pilgrim people en route to our homeland in 

Heaven, we “ ‘…are not of the world’,” (v 16) just as our Saviour is neither. 

Let us then be fully blessed by the living and abiding presence of holiness, claiming the victory of the †. “ ‘For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth’.” (v 19)  

This is Your amazing gift to us, the new life no longer under sins’ condemnation, the fresh start we receive in Christ Jesus, possessed and blessed by Your Spirit in all His holy power. 

This is our hope which is more than hope, for it is our claim, our belief, our certainty that we are being made holy. Let us then all be one in faith, in trust in prayer, living to give glory to the Trinity, according to the power of holy love. I ask this “ ‘That the love with which You loved Me’,” as the Lord Jesus states, “ ‘May be in us and He in us’.” (based on v 26)   

This indeed will be the final and full conquest of the †, that perfect love which casts our fear, “…because as He is, so are we in this world’,” (1 John 4 v 17) enabled to love truly and win against satan. What a real  victory! Amen.