Swimmingly (Psalm 116:6)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “swimmingly.”  One of the guys that I have been doing business with for years knows that I am involved in the swimming world, and have been for most of my life.  Every time he meets me, whether it has been one day or one month, he always asks if life is going swimmingly.  It cracks me up.  It is good to have friends that know the important pieces of your life.  God is a friend to us in much the same way.

The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.

~Ps 116:6

My question is: how do you live your life?  There is much that the Bible has to say about living our life in a simplistic matter.  We are to do a certain number of actions, the most important of which is to serve God.  Sometimes we get caught up in the complexities of life, and forget that God is a simple and direct God.  I can’t promise that life will always go swimmingly, but we can rest assured that God will continue to act in simple ways to help us serve him in the best way possible.  My prayer is that you reach out to God and live a simple life, and both the easy and difficult times.

Praying for you,

MO

Accidence (Ephesians 2:6-10)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “accidence.”  There is a lot of stuff that we need to know in life.  It seems like you are always trying to stay ahead of the learning curve.  With all of the technology, changes in education or business or whatever, we need to be focused on staying at the top of our game.  The apostle Paul knew what it meant to connect with others at a deeper level… it seemed he was always at the top of his game.  As his life became more in-depth and complicated, he made sure that the word of God stayed simple and easy to understand.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

~Eph 2:8-9

My question is: is your life simple, or complicated?  The good thing is, no matter what the answer is to that question, God can fit in somewhere.  It’s good to know that we don’t really have to work our way into God’s favor.  We have been given grace from God because we choose to believe.  So, my prayer is that you take hold of this full faith and let God bestow this gift upon you.  God’s grace is one of the essentials, or accidence of our faith.  Allow the Maker to work in your life… that you might boast in his power in your life.

Praying for you,

MO

Germane (1 Peter 5:6-11)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “germane.” The people in the old church needed to understand they were called to eternal glory with God. Because of this, they also needed to endure hardships in light of the grace that God had bestowed upon them through the Son. It seems that no matter what time in history we look at, people are always dealing with stuff that piles up on their plates, causing them to lose sight of God's call.

"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

~1 Peter 5:10

My question is: are you letting JC restore you... and are you allowing him to do so regularly? I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in the hardships that we are facing that we fail to remember that Jesus paid a much bigger price for you and me; and because of that he is able to restore us. Even though we mess up a bunch, Jesus still promises to come back and restore us. You would think that following him and doing his will should be a simple, or germane, fact of life. But you and I must continually look inward and remember that Jesus is called us to suffer only a little while before we are one day in glory with him.

Praying for you,

Mo

Cantrip (2 Corinthians 11:1-4)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “cantrip.” When the church was first constructed in the old days it was very fragile.  The evil one had schemes up his sleeve to keep the believers from following God’s word. The writers of each of the books of the New Testament knew that they were up against a great battle, both in the physical realm as well as the spiritual. In this passage today the apostle Paul gives us the reason we must always keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

~2 Cor. 11:3

My question is: are you the type of person that makes the gospel more difficult than what it could be? I guess what I'm saying is that many of us rely on our own instincts and knowledge to make God's words more applicable to our lives. When in fact what we really should be doing is keeping God's word simple by following it… and that's it. My prayer is that you do not make God's plan for your life more complex, and that you do not believe the cantrip, or sham that the evil one presents. It is when we take our eyes off of Jesus that we leave the simplicity of the word.

Praying for you,

Mo

Elucidate (Matthew 13:47-53)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “elucidate.”  Jesus often told stories to make a point during his ministry.  It seemed that when he tried to make a simple statement sometimes the people did not understand.   Jesus did know expect people to be perfect, but he did expect them to listen to the point of the story and become better.  When necessary, the Savior spoke in stories to help others understand his message, and did what he needed to clear up any misconceptions of what he was trying to say.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad.”

~Matt. 13:47

I love the way that Jesus started out his parables.  You could always tell that he was going to make a simple point out of something that could’ve been very complex.  My question is: how are you when speaking the words of God to others?  Do you elucidate, or make clear, the gospel?  My prayer is that each of you takes the opportunity that God gives you and spread his word.  Do it with love and let God do the rest.

Praying for you,

mo