Pentecost—What Does It Mean for Us? ; For audio only PPN
Pentecost—What Does it Mean for Us? Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner helps you discover and accept the fullness of the grace of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit as she explains how the fire of the Holy Spirit manifests in our lives with power and grace. Patti Brunner is a personal witness to the manifestations of signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit and will help you surrender to also accept God’s Love from this Advocate sent to the Church.
BLOG
What starts in us, the fire of the Spirit in us, has come down to us from those in the Upper Room on that First Pentecost. The tongues of Fire that came upon them continue to come upon us.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. Today’s episode is Pentecost-What Does It Mean for Us? I’m your host, Patti Brunner.
The Holy Spirit is here within us. The Holy Spirit has drawn us to be here whether we realize it or not. As we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost we renew our desire to enter more deeply into the awareness of the Holy Spirit within us. We ask the fire of God’s Love to manifest within us, in our actions and thus through us manifest in our Church. In God’s great plan, the Church then ministers to us in our great need. Through the Sacraments of the Church the Holy Spirit takes up a dwelling place within us and we become a living tabernacle. The Sacrament of Baptism reveals God as “Abba-Father”, and we are his children. As in Romans 8: “16The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
When the Holy Spirit entered the world of sin, God’s love overcame sin through the Blood sacrifice of Jesus. That is now for all time. God the Holy Spirit dwells in the baptized. Let that soak in. The Living God now dwells within you. The feast of Pentecost celebrates that moment when the Triune God took up residence within us through the Holy Spirit and everything changed as the Kingdom was established on earth as it is in heaven!
This moment in scriptures is described this way: tongues of fire and tongues of ecstatic praise! Over and over, as the Holy Spirit joined with man the sign of an explosion was witnessed by the use of praising in tongues. And then other gifts of grace were released: Understanding, healing, miracles, (and) prophetic utterances—when the mind of God was known without doubt or fear, where eyes and hearts were opened to truth. And the Church was formed from the wisdom of God to share everything that Jesus taught and did for us that we might follow the Way and the world might come to know, love and serve God.
As we prepare tonight to once again welcome the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives we choose to surrender our hearts to God. We cannot be the same; we have been changed by God dwelling in us.
Release your freewill to God. Surrender to God’s desire to love you. Say it: “I surrender to Your Love, my God! I surrender to your Most Holy Spirit! Come Holy Spirit! Enkindle the fire of Your Love in me and I shall be renewed!
Although the Holy Spirit is within every baptized person, our free will choices can lessen the effect of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we are confirmed by the Bishop we ask for the Holy Spirit to activate our faith that we might share it with others. The Spirit always provides the grace we need and invites us to surrender to that grace.
Tonight the Spirit has drawn you deeper into grace. We are to come before the presence of our Lord and Savior not just to adore him—He is worthy of our adoration—but to come before Him with an open heart to receive the Presence of the Holy Spirit.—The Fire of God’s Love!
The fire of the Holy Spirit will burn away all barriers of fear and doubt. The fire of the Holy Spirit will melt our hearts to be one with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
As you allow the Fire of the Holy Spirit to dwell within your heart and mind, you will fall deeper in love with Jesus, the Word of God. As the Fire of the Holy Spirit dwells in your heart the gifts of grace will manifest and you will fulfill your commission to heal the sick, raise the dead, and handle deadly things placed in your path by the destroyer known as Satan.
In the last discourse of Jesus at the Last Supper, the Gospel of John emphasizes Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit. John 14: Jesus says, “16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, 17the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans.”… “26 The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—[Jesus says] he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you”… John 15:26“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.”
How does the Spirit testify? By grace! By power and love! By signs and wonders!
Before his Ascension, Jesus says to us in Mark 16: “17 These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. 18They will pick up serpents [with their hands], and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
According to Luke, Jesus said, Luke 24: “49I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Jesus told them in Acts 1 4… “to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; 5 for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the holy Spirit.”” And so, after the Ascension, the disciples gathered together in prayer to welcome the promise of the Holy Spirit. And on the first Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon them like tongues of fire!
The Ascension of our Lord released our inheritance of the promise of God. It is now waiting for us to take what is given; to use—and to repent the times we have rejected it to follow our own way rather than the Way of the Lord.
The Holy Scriptures through the Holy Church reveal how the Spirit is among us, joining us in unity.
In the Acts of the Apostles and letters of the New Testament we can see how the early Church became one mind and one body; first, as they cared for the temporal needs of one another, and then how they were willing to lay down their lives to share their faith with others.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit they were guided to share their faith in difficult situations. If you remember, before Paul’s conversion experience of encountering the risen Lord, he was on a mission to arrest and stop the witnesses of Christ through violence if necessary. After the Lord said to him, “Why do you persecute Me?” Paul realized the truth. But it was not confirmed until the Holy Spirit spoke to Ananias and sent him to speak to Paul. This was a difficult situation for Ananias, indeed! But the grace of the Holy Spirit quieted his mind and heart and through the peace that surpassed all understanding he brought truth to Paul. [He laid hands and prayed for the Holy Spirit to come upon Paul] and it was affirmed by the signs and wonders of the healing of his eyesight.
Later on, Paul himself was sent into difficult situations by the Holy Spirit. Yet the Holy Spirit gave Paul and all those who spoke of their faith to others the words to say. And hearts were melted. The Holy Spirit, who in Jesus Christ brought signs and wonders of healing, miracles and the discernment of spirits, also brought signs and wonders to the people through those who stepped forward in faith, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit.
What does that mean for us?
It means a lot. It means that we can expect that the Holy Spirit will stay with us. And with the Holy Spirit we can have the peace that surpasses understanding in good times and bad. That expectant faith means that when we pray for the help of the Holy Spirit it will be as Jesus tells us in Luke 11 “9ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
It means that Scripture will come alive for us! The Lord gave all scripture to you to take into your own heart and for you to share with others. The fire of the Holy Spirit opens our minds and hearts to the truth of the Word like the disciples on their way to Emmaus, and then reminds us of the Word as the “Sword of the Spirit” to use in battle against the Enemy. And, the Holy Spirit teaches us how to pray!
And, as I have personally seen, there can be a manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives in the form of charisms—gifts of grace—that build up the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12 gifts of Word, of Power and of wisdom are given to us, the Church, to bring healing, understanding and love to others as we ourselves also benefit. I have witnessed the Holy Spirit use extraordinary gifts of prophecy, tongues, knowledge, wisdom, interpretation of tongues, healings, mighty deeds, discernment of spirits, and faith that can move mountains. And, as Paul taught, “to each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit”.
These things are truly wonderful and build up the Church, however, the key of Pentecost is the love given by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals God’s love, creating union with God. There is a moment in conversion of heart and mind that you know that you know that God loves you.
“As the Lord comes into your heart and mind, the work of the Holy Spirit can transform your attitude.
As you are docile to the work of the Holy Spirit within you, the grace will manifest and the good news, the Gospel, will be known by your lives. Scripture tells us that not only will the Holy Spirit remind us of everything that Jesus said and did, the Spirit will also give us the words to say. As the Spirit leads us to all truth, the Holy Spirit will manifest in us the gifts of grace. By gifts of wisdom and understanding not only will we know God, we will be able to share our knowledge with others by word and deed. By the gifts of healing and counsel not only will we be healed but we shall bring the Lord’s healing to others in need. By the Holy Spirit’s gift of prophecy we shall hear the voice of God in our hearts and minds, we will hear his voice in scripture, and we will hear his voice through the teachings of the Church. And when we repeat what we hear, the Truth and wisdom of God will echo on the hearts and minds of others and they will receive the benefit of our gifts of grace and open their own hearts to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. What starts in us, the fire of the Spirit in us, has come down to us from those in the Upper Room on that First Pentecost. The tongues of Fire that came upon them continue to come upon us.
Ask the Lord to stir the fire of his love within you, right now! Let the fire of the Holy Spirit burn the dross of fear and compromise. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit burn the dross of complacency and doubt! Come Holy Spirit! Enkindle the fire of your Love! And we shall be renewed! Renewed in the fire of your Love!
Pray with me the Prayer of the Holy Spirit: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of us your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth Your Spirit and we shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.” Amen.
As I conclude my reflection I pray for you to have the fire of Pentecost right now! I want to share Paul’s prayer for the readers of his letter to the Ephesians. [3: 14-19] Paul prayed: “14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. ”
You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit; I’m Patti Brunner. We invite you to check out our website PatriarchMinistries.com and watch the other videos on our YouTube Channel. Be sure and subscribe to find us easily. And then come back for more, because with the power of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit, there’s always more! Amen.
