May 2020 be Toowayhon for you!

You heard me right, toowayhon! In Aramaic this word means blessed. I recently signed up for a study by Dr. Charles Stanley entitled Blessed to Be. The study is going to go in depth in the Sermon on the Mount throughout all of 2020.

So this morning I read various versions of Matthew 5:1-12, just to get my spiritual juices flowing. That is where I came across toowayhon, from the footnotes of The Passion Translation. Defined it encompasses being enriched, happy, fortunate, delighted, blissful, content, and blessed. It goes further to include having great happiness, prosperity, abundant goodness, and delight. Being blessed also gives us the capacity to enjoy union and communion with God.

Interchange the above words when you read the Sermon on the Mount for yourself. I liked this version.

3 “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

4 “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

5 “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

6 “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

7 “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

8 “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

9 “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

10 “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

11-12 “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

Then be toowayhon by God in this coming year so much that people come up to you and tell you your Spirit is showing!

I also want you to incorporate using toowayhon in a sentence today, thereby giving you an opportunity to share its meaning with someone.

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