Obnubilate (Matthew 6:33)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is "obnubilate.” Jesus knew that when he was on earth that he had limited time. With some things pulling at people's time he realized that he must keep his message simple. The Sermon on the Mount is a representation of that simplicity. He said a lot by using very few words. Included in that was a simple command for people to follow.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

~Matt 6:33

My question is: what are the things in your life that give the most attention? Many of us have goals that we set before us, but they can be obnubilated, or clouded, with many other important tasks and commitments. I know that life is busy. My prayer this morning is that you take this commandment and realize that everything you do is focus on seeking after God. Everything else will fall in the place eventually. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but lucky for us and will continue to be simple.

Praying for you,

mo

Desire (Jeremiah 29:10-14)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “desire.”  On this most special time of Valentine’s Day I am reminded of Jeremiah and his relationship with the Lord. He understood God's love and what it meant for God to encompass his life and all of his endeavors. In a world that was uncertain, just like today, Jeremiah was set apart to serve God. God gave a promise to this young man and a nation, one that would be remembered for many generations to come.

When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

~Jer 29:13-14

My question is: do you search for God as stated in this passage? God promises that we look for him we will find him. Out of all of the emotions that we can experience in life, love is the greatest. God promises to continually restore you, no matter where you have been or what you have gone through. My prayer is that you seek God with all of your heart and let him encompass you with his love.

Praying for you,

mo

Kinchin (1 Corinthians 13:8-13)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “kinchin.” I was preaching yesterday and one of the verses that I used came from the passage for today's Scripture. I'm reminded often about the apostle Paul speaking to people in terms of spiritual maturity. Paul drove a pretty hard bargain, but he also knew the people had to develop in their relationship with God.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

~1 Cor 13:11

My question is: where are you and your relationship with Christ? There is no real wrong place to be within this process, as long as you are in the process. Just as we are born and grow to be an adult, so does our faith mature. Remember back to some of the ways that you acted when you were a kid, not knowing how the world worked. As you learned more about life, you began to reason differently. Once you were a kinchin, or child, and now you are growing into the next stage of your life. God wants to see you mature daily. Take some time today and reflects on how God has matured you in the past year. What can you do to keep this process alive and thriving?

Praying for you,

mo

Hent (Matthew 25:1-13)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is "hent.” There are some pretty cool parables in the Bible. Matthew actually takes an entire section to group together parables of Jesus. Whether or not Jesus actually sent them all specifically together is not really the point. The point is that Jesus had some really good to let people know in terms of living life correctly. And, it is amazing that all of these parables really make a ton of sense still even today. The parable below has to do a bunch with what it means for us to wait for Jesus with expectancy.

The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

~Matt 25:5-6

My question is: are you waiting for Jesus to come back with expectancy? What I mean is, the way that we act really tells a lot about who we are in Christ. Your actions make a ton of difference, both to believers and those who do not know Jesus. For believers, it helps people renew their faith and strengthen their resolve to follow Jesus. For those who are nonbelievers, it is almost doubly important for us to act according to the will of Christ. The reason for this is that the old saying is, "you may be the only Jesus anyone ever sees." It is time to hent, or seize, each moment for our God.

Alembic (1 Peter 1:3-9)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “alembic.” Peter's audience consisted of a lot of people who needed the healing hand of God. Although these people had not seen the Messiah, they could be touched and moved to relationship with him. Peter uses the analogy of a precious metal being refined by fire to make it more pure. This was a process that put a lot of stress on that precious metal to get rid of all of the bad stuff.

“These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

~1 Pet 1:7

My question is: are you allowing God to refine you through the fire? Just like with precious metals, when we are refined through the Messiah's fire we have a ton of stress and pressure put on us. That is what it means to be a Christian. The reason stuff hurts so much sometimes is that we choose not to stay the way we are. Every time you want to become better it causes you to go through pain, stress, and other stuff that you would rather not deal with. My prayer this morning is that you embrace the alembic of the refiners fire. He will make you knew again.

Praying for you,

mo