"Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Dad (Bob Morrow), Mom (Guylene Morrow) and me (Carolyn Ocheltree)

This is me and my mom, Guylene Morrow. We think we look a lot alike!

My dad, Bob Morrow, and me, with the ram's horn he and my mom brought back from Israel.

"Sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers." Leviticus 25:9-11,41 (NIV)

"Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
'The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them,' Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'" Luke 4:14-21 (NIV)

Yesterday, my father asked Steve and me to visit him and my mom. Our relationship has been separated since April, 2003, nearly 13 years. Steve and I separated ourselves from my family because we did not want to be part of covering up some very serious family sins. I was blamed for being a troublemaker and a divider of the family. Steve and I made the separation in order to state that we would not continue the cycle of abuse and perpetuate family sins.

On Wednesday, January 27, 2016, my dad, Bob Morrow, called Steve and said he was sorry for the division in the family. For the first time since April of 2003, there was no blame thrown in our direction.. Just a simple apology and an invitation to come visit him and my mom. We went as soon as Steve got off work last night.

This is the 70th Year of Jubilee since the Year of Jubilee was commanded by God, through Moses, in the wilderness. This is the 40th Year of Jubilee since Jesus was on earth. I have been proclaiming freedom wherever I go since the Year of Jubilee started, on the Day of Atonement, in late September of 2015. I have been encouraging people to boldly ask God for restoration of broken family relationships, for forgiveness, healing and redemption. And, as Jesus said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:21)

--Posted by Mama O

No pain, no gain!

This Sunday concludes our 3-part January series on "Spiritual Disciplines". January is typically the month when we commit to self-improvement. We start diets and exercise programs, we launch "Read Through The Bible in One Year" plans, we start organizing our personal areas. So, it seemed like an ideal time to address some of the less popular, but necessary topics in our Christian walk.

In our first discussion we looked at the biblical meaning of "love". We may not think of love as a "discipline", but more as an emotion or feeling. But, the kind of love described in 1 Corinthians 13 must be diligently maintained with discipline. Learning patience and kindness and a lack of egotism are not warm fuzzy feelings. They are hard work.

Why was love the first of the spiritual disciplines? Because love is THAT important. Without love, all other disciplines are useless. Without love, we are like a man who emerges from his house at midnight to bang on pots and pans. Our actions and our noise are misplaced: wrong time, wrong context. Our words hurt instead of help. Our actions are resented rather than appreciated.

Last week we addressed fasting and prayer (I noticed attendance was extremely low that day!). Fasting is a way of investing ourselves, personally, into our prayer lives. When we deprive ourselves of food for a time, we are putting some "skin in the game", making it personal. God is not obligated to do as we ask, even when we fast, but our fasting allows us to see and hear God speak and move in ways that we might otherwise miss.

This week, we will discuss a variety of spiritual disciplines including listening, prayer, humble service, covenantal community and simplicity, among others. We will explore the concept that "less is more". Do we really need all the junk we accumulate through the years, physically or emotionally? A good thorough cleaning might be in order for our personal spaces: our homes, our offices and our emotional life.

Wear your spiritual workout clothes. Be ready to sweat. Remember class, "No pain, no gain!"

See you Sunday morning at the gym, called Room 700.

--Posted by Mama O

Six Things Fasting Does For Our Prayers

"For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you. But this kind (of demon) does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Matthew 17:20,21 (NASV)

Jesus' disciples had been trained in spiritual healing and casting out demons and had been practicing God's medical mercy on many people when they were approached by a man and his son. The son was given to seizures, akin to epilepsy. When the disciples applied their training to the boy, his seizures continued. The disciples consulted with their master as to the reason.

Jesus responded with an encouraging lesson on faith and some further instruction, in advanced spiritual healing techniques. Apparently there are some strongholds of the devil that do not respond to ordinary methods. That's when more serious spiritual weapons are necessary. And fasting, paired with sincere and repentant prayer, is one of those advanced weapons.

What kind of strongholds might need those advanced spiritual weapons?

1. A long-standing grudge
2. An addiction
3. Unbelief
4. Prejudice
5. Childhood hurts
6. Abuse

We will study six things that fasting does for our prayers in Ocheltree Group this week. If you would like to do a little preliminary study, please read these passages, shared in a sermon by Dr. Adrian Rogers:

1. Fasting strengthens our prayers: Joel 2:12; Jer. 29:13
2. Fasting subdues self: Ezek. 16:49
3. Fasting stays the judgment of God: Jonah 3:5,10; Jer. 18:7,8
4. Fasting stops God's enemies: 2 Chron. 20:3,4,24,29
5. Fasting seeks God's guidance: Acts 13:2
6. Fasting shatters strongholds like bitterness, resentment, fear and bad habits: Isaiah 58:6

--Posted by Mama O.

The Greatest Of These Is Love

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV)

January is the month when we are most likely to get our lives back in order. We

1. Start reading the Bible all the way through
2.Join a gym
3. Start a diet
4. Reorganize our personal space
5. De-clutter
6. Quit smoking
7. Start reading Moby Dick
8. Vow to cut back on social media or television viewing

...And the list goes on....

I, personally, am an enthusiastic advocate of New Year's resolutions. As the old adage goes:

"Failing to plan is planning to fail."

I believe life has natural rhythms and the New Year is one of those annually occurring opportunities to get a fresh start.

In the spirit of fresh starts, I will be teaching a three-part series on "Spiritual Disciplines" in the Ocheltree Shepherding Group during January. We will address some serious disciplines, the kind we would expect from full-time monks or nuns or Jason Locke: prayer and fasting, obedience, service, community, active listening, hope, simplicity, stability, balance and hospitality.

But, without a solid and stable foundation of love, these disciplines will function more like weapons that hurt people than like tools that help them. That's pretty serious.

We will discuss the biblical definition of love and the opposite of love. (Hint: read 1 Corinthians 13; 1 John 3:17,18; 1 John 4:18 and 2 Timothy 1:7).

I look forward to a spiritually healthy 2016, built on the solid foundation of LOVE!

--Posted by Mama O.