A Jubilee Year...

Lately I have experienced some of my most informative times with the Lord as I sit at the side of my wife before she gets up in the morning or in the evening after she is tucked in for the night!  I am not sure if that sounds funny to any of you or not, but it makes sense when you consider that this is the time of day or night when I am totally focused on the Lord as I confess the Lord’s will for healing over her, as it is clearly stated in His holy Word.  It is also one of the few times each day that I feel like we are totally connected in our stand of faith.

I can hardly explain the good feelings that arise inside of me as Piper will suddenly get understanding of something I have just read by smiling, nodding her head or saying a word or term of agreement!  It is during those times that I am also reenergized in my spiritual and physical commitment and strength to our goal… no matter how long it takes to receive the fullness thereof.

As I mentioned yesterday, it has been during these morning and evening times that the Lord has been speaking to me about the good things that He has in store for us in 2015.  Many times I’ll jot down a quick note and then study out what He has spoken to me during my morning study times alone with Him at the kitchen table.  As I followed this vein this morning, I was led to Psalms 65:11 where the author writes: “You (Papa God) crown the year with your goodness and richness overflows wherever you are.” (God’s Word ©)

When you connect that promise with Jesus’ words to us in Luke 4:19 when He declared that He was anointed “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (KJV) you can’t help but want to jump up and down in joyful expectation for the New Year we have just entered into.  At least I found myself wanting to jump up and down… you might be a bit more reserved than me!  I tend to be a very expressive person when the anointing of the Lord falls.  I can still remember the night a large group of us took hands and stood in prayer during a special evening service in the sanctuary of the Baptist Church that my wife and I served in for the first eight years of our marriage.

As the Pastor led us in a hymn of praise I was so overtaken with emotion that I raised my hands high unto the Lord, only to get the surprised glances of just about everyone else in that very conservative group of believers.  But you know… it didn’t matter.  What mattered to me was my need for humble and intimate communion with Papa God… and to their complement, I think everyone in the room understood, even though it wasn’t a form of worship that was actively practiced (yet) at that church.

Psalm 65 tells us of how Papa God is planning on crowning or encircling our New Year with His goodness and allow His richness to overflow wherever we are with Him!  Luke 4:19 calls it “the acceptable year of the Lord” which the Cambridge Bible declares is “a type of the true Jubilee of Christ’s kingdom.”  And if you remember when Jesus taught us what to pray in Matthew 6:10, He instructed us to request, “Thy kingdom come, They will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”  That all sounds like it is pointing to good things in our future, wouldn’t you agree?

Of course this goodness is not something that is simply poured out upon us without any thought or purpose.  If I understand my Bible, it comes as a result of our increasing knowledge of and obedience to His Word and our faith in Him which is a result of our expectations of His faithfulness and love as well as in the integrity of His Word.  When I was sharing Luke 4 with Piper at her bedside yesterday morning, I found myself saying that “this is the acceptable year of the Lord… It is the year we accept His promises and the year that He accepts our humble, obedient, faith filled taking hold of what He has said in His Word.”

Is this the year that you will accept what He has said in His Word to be true and acceptable for you?  Is this the year to reenergize your spiritual and physical commitment to Him and His Word within your daily lives?  If so, then He promises it to be a Jubilee year for you.  “A year of universal release for your person and property.” (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary)  You may not understand what all that means or entails for you at this point of the year… but you have to admit… it will sure be a lot of fun finding out!  Have a great day.  Stay ever more deeply in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What part of His Jubilee am I expecting today?”