Jesus and Pilate are engaged in a tense conversation just before Jesus is led away to be crucified. In the English Standard Version, John 18:37 says, “… For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world — to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Jesus knew his purpose.

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Can you imagine a priest who cannot talk? Zechariah was such a man. As a result of challenging — instead of trusting — the message of Gabriel that his long ago prayers were being answered … that his wife would conceive and bear a son and his name would be John (Luke 1:13), Zechariah lost his ability to talk. Did Zechariah’s muteness and unbelief change God’s purpose for his life?

The Lord reminded Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;” (Jeremiah 1:5). That was true for Jeremiah; it was true for Zechariah; it is true for me and you too. Ephesians 1:5 reminds, “In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”

Because I have a good forgetter, I remind myself of these truths almost daily. Long before I was born God had a plan and a purpose for me and for you too. Sometimes it’s hard for me to trust; sometimes it’s very encouraging.

Back to Luke 1. Gabriel now visits Mary (verses 26, 27). Mary’s response differed from Zechariah’s challenge to Gabriel’s message. Mary’s was one of trust and also the desire for more understanding (verse 34). She reflected on Gabriel’s message (verse 29); she submitted to the miraculous (verse 38); she sought the company of an older, godly woman (verses 39, 40); and she deflected all the glory to God (verses 47-55).

Mary submitted to the miraculous purpose Gabriel was announcing to her. My response is more often, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) UGH! I need to grow!

“Nothing you see, is impossible with God.
Mary, you have nothing to fear. I have told you all you need to know for now.
You are more ready than you realize, stronger than you know.”
from Touching Wonder, by John Blase
(I read his book every December and never fail to hear from God.)

I want to be like Mary. I want to believe and act on the purposes of God for my life.

Two things hold me back, keep me stuck — fear and other good opportunities.

The last phrase of John 18:37 speaks to that fear, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” I’ve been hearing God’s voice through his word and through many friends.  I need to listen. I need to trust scriptures that I memorized years ago, like …

“fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Isaiah 41:10

I am an extrovert; I am a people connector; I am an idea person. That means it’s easy for me to offer ways to improve. And God has designed a purpose for me and if I’m going to live that purpose out, I need to pull-back!! Everyone does not need my ideas. I need to keep focused on God, to listen, to respond to him and not to all the other opportunities that lay in front of me.

My hyphenated word for 2021 — Pull-back. As I’ve continued to think about this, I added purpose.

Because of God’s purpose for me, I’m practicing pull-back.

What about you? What word has God given you for 2021?

Copyright, Sue Tell, January 2021

 

 

 

 

 

In Paul’s words to the Ephesian elders recorded in Acts 20, he offers this blessing,

“And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace,
which is able to build you up
and
to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Acts 20:32

In the fall and early winter of 2019 and 2020, God allowed me to spend many hours with my sister in Virginia who was in her final stages of COPD. In those days her faith was uncovered and her trust in God renewed. God allowed me to have a front row seat.

We quoted and prayed over the phone or in person scriptures that spoke of God’s love to us. God’s everlasting love in Jeremiah 31:3 was most often at the top of our list. “I (God) have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” I would pray that God would help us to trust that in the waning days of Barbara’s life.

In these very trying days, we experienced God’s word offering hope and building us up, in our faith just as Paul wanted for the Ephesians. And we experienced the inheritance that God had prepared before the beginning of time.

As I look in my rear-view mirror to last year, I greatly miss my sister. And I also am experiencing great peace. Her suffering is changing relationships and bringing the reality of God’s love to others. There are new things to pray for.

Once again, I’m reminded of Isaiah 55:8, God’s ways are not my ways. I need to take my eyes off the circumstances right in front of me, and re-calibrate my hope to the Word which is able to build up and give an inheritance.

“the LORD appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with and everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”
Jeremiah 31:3

The third verse of “Joy to the World” encourages, “No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He come to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, …”

 

As I’ve pondered the trying times (I hesitate to call them suffering) of finances, depression, and death, and the scriptures that I’ve recorded for you the past three weeks, God has led me to a new, deeper, and greatly encouraging understanding of John 18:36,37 which I will share with you next Thursday (Jan 28) which also led me to my word — or this year — two words for 2021.

Copyright, Sue Tell, January 2021

 

 

 

Our friendship with Sandy started when she was a student at the University of Illinois in 1972. She has been a gift to us ever since. Her heart for God and her love for others continued to shine through all the chapters of her life.

Jump ahead 27 years to 1999, a busy year for us. Bill served as one of the Vice-Presidents of the U.S. Navigators and in that role was directing the once every four years national staff conference. Hospitality was a big part of our lives and I made sure our guest room bed always had clean sheets. I love ministry and I’m a people connector; these were busy and good days.

As winter turned to spring, and then to summer, something seemed off kilter. The national conference now history had gone well. The campus ministries were getting ready to welcome another group of students. (Even though we weren’t ministering on a specific campus at this point, that segment of the Navigators has always held our hearts. We were tracking with them.) And the national leadership team — of which all the Vice-Presidents were a part — was preparing for the new fiscal year. Life’s busyness continued.

It started with physical symptoms, sleepless nights, racing heart, and worries. Our doctor started by treating the physical symptoms. By the end of September we realized that what Bill was experiencing was more than physical. By the end of October Bill’s depression was accurately diagnosed.

Once again, Sandy entered our lives. In one of the notes she sent our way, she shared Isaiah 33:6. God will be the stability of your times!!  Yes, God will be our stability. Not the medicines Bill was given, not the time off from work to recover, not the books we were reading, not the counseling, which we so much appreciated, not the new realities we found ourselves in, but God. Sandy could not have picked a better truth to share with us. I copied it into my journal on my prayer pages for Bill and have been praying over it ever since. That was over 20 years ago.

God showed his stability to us in his abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge as we traversed this new territory. We needed new knowledge. We needed that knowledge tempered by wisdom, which led to salvation. We were learning that when we lived appropriately in the presence of God (the fear of the LORD), we experienced the endless resource of Zion’s treasure.

“Oh, How abundant is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of the children of mankind!”
Psalm 31:19

Isaiah 33:6 has held us close as we walked with our sons in their major life transitions. It supported us through the 12 week hospitalization of our youngest (at the time) GRAND. It ministered to us as we made some major shifts in what our ministry looked like.

And then 2020, then COVID-19. Our ministry plans were changed; our travels to visit our kids and GRANDS was changed; how we went to church looked different; how we shopped for groceries was all new. But God was the stability of our times. Different and brand new circumstances challenged but didn’t change where our stability rested.

I’m so thankful for Sandy pointing us to Isaiah 33:6 all those years ago. God used it in our lives then and we’ve continued to experience the need for its truth now.

“and he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.”
Isaiah 33:6

 

Copyright January 2021, Sue Tell

 

The players in the Christmas narrative living with expectancy.

Our good friends from college, Bob and Patricia, were the first to bring this verse to our attention on the the card that accompanied their wedding gift. Then card, after card, after card came with the same verse written on the bottom.  Even Karen made a calligraphy of it that stood on our piano for many years. We knew God wanted our attention.

Our attention was the first step. This verse has come alive in deeper ways as I’ve prayed for other difficult things our family and friends are experiencing.

What stood out to us 48 years ago were the words, no good thing does the Lord withhold. Our wedding coincided with our first ministry years. We were in the very beginning stages of raising our support while Bill worked part time for Orkin and I served in the Navigator office. Our check book almost zeroed out at the end of each month. They were hard days. We desperately needed to know that the Lord would not withhold good which in those years we defined as finances.

God is faithful. We have heat in our home , bread on our table, and so much more!

After 48 years of quoting that scripture to myself, the wealth of its truth is transforming and leading me into 2021.

Psalm 84:11 is an identity verse. It’s not speaking about those who do something, rather those who are something; they walk uprightly . They are the righteous ones, the ones greatly loved. For those righteous ones, the Psalmist offers wonderful promises.

God is our sun. The light of the sun leads us on the path of life. Psalm 16:11 explains this more deeply. God’s path is joyful and offers pleasures forevermore. God gives the light of life. Psalm 23 tells me that God leads me in the path of righteousness.

Often I wonder, what is God’s will. What is the right path? I wonder that for our adult children these days and pray for them, God show them your will, your path for them which sometimes seems dark to me. As I pray God reminds me, He is the sun. He provides light. Rest in that truth, Sue!

God is our shield. God provides protection.  I am so thankful. It is too easy for me to charge ahead with a decision, not understanding what God might want. Even in the midst of my charging, God is protecting.

God bestows favor. Favor — this word has taken on deeper meaning in the last month as I’ve been meditating of Luke 1:28 and what Gabriel communicated to Mary. He called her favored one. The same Greek word is used in Ephesians 1:6 translated beloved.

God bestows honor. Because these are given to the righteous, they will not be turned into a source of pride. Honor often comes in the form of affirmation. I’m learning that affirmation helps me own who God created me to be.

Several years ago, a man I greatly respect said to me, Sue, you need to trust God for a national ministry. Nice thought, I thought. But I didn’t believe his affirmation. I also never forgot it. God bestowed honor on me through our friend. It took about 15 years before I really heard those words and owned them.

No good thing does he withhold. Good things are so much more than finances. I often squirm when I hear the ditty, God is good all the time; all the time God is good. Not that I don’t agree, rather I wonder, is the speaker trying to convince her (him) self of its truth. Or have they really stopped to think how they are experiencing it. In 2021, I want to experience the goodness of God, believe it, and be able to label it.

I will continue praying this verse regularly and looking to see God’s truth worked in my life. Will you join me?

 

Copyright, Sue Tell, January 2021