A New Year Blessing for You

LoveLetter January 2022

Hello Friends,

January! A new beginning, and a New Year Blessing. I pray that today and throughout this year, you would experience God’s goodness and the abiding peace of His presence as you continue to walk with Him, standing firm in your faith, knowing that He is able in every circumstance, to make a way where we can’t see one. He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is faithful, strong and mighty, and He is full of love and favor toward us, His children.

Numbers 6:24-27

In Numbers 6:24-27, God instructs the priests to bless Israel with this blessing: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” So they will put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.

This blessing put God’s name on them. God’s name is on us too. We are sons and daughters of God.

Galatians 3:26

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith (Galatians 3:26). So then this blessing is for us too. The blessing ends by giving us His peace or shalom.

Shalom means: wholeness, completeness, safety, security, health, peace, prosperity and increase.

SoI pray this New Year Blessing abounds toward you. I bless you with the Shalom of the Lord and pray that 2022 will be full of God’s favor toward you, and that the unsearchable riches of His love will be an overflowing fountain, running into, and filling up every area of your life.

News on the Homefront

Kids are back at school, life is getting back into a routine and full-swing, but I still feel like there are new things coming. There is a ‘newness’ that I feel in my spirit. According to the Jewish Calendar, this year 2022/5782 is a Shemitah year, or a ‘year of rest’ that comes every 7th year. One writer says then, that we are literally witnessing the end of something, and the beginning of something else. We will pray expectantly and wait to see how this year unfolds. But we will start out with Shalom. —which also means ‘rest.’

Word of Encouragement

The word being highlighted to me today is Longing.

Longing:  strong, persistent desire or craving, especially for something unattainable or distant. A search for the etymology of Longing gives us “to yearn after,” “grief for” and literally “ to grow long, lengthen.”

Does it sometimes feel like the wait has grown too long? We believe that someday, everything will be made right. But what about how Now feels? How do we live in the ‘not yet’ without losing our hope?

Mark 5:25-28

Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.  (KJV) For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole (Mark 5:25-28).

The Greek word used here for whole is sṓzō (σώζω), it can refer to literal or figurative deliverance or protection, or rescue; it can be physical healing; and it can mean, as it does here, to be made whole, or complete.

Her disease; your circumstance; my struggle…these create within us a deep awareness that we are in need. They highlight our vulnerability, our lack of control, and create the growing sense of longing on the inside that everything Wrong would be made Right. If we dig deep, we find that our longing is for so much more than merely a change in our circumstance. We long deeply for The Redeeming of All Things, don’t we? I know I do.

Because of her condition, this woman would have become an outcast for twelve years, considered ‘unclean.’ So she was not only living with an incurable disease, but with the pain of rejection and isolation, and the disappointment and loss of hope as no one was able to help her. Her disease had brought suffering and brokenness into every area of her life—her health, her relationships, her reputation, her emotional well-being, her sense of belonging, maybe even her hope and desire to have a family.

A Complete Personal Restoration

She, like you and me, needed more than just a physical cure. Every area of her life had been ravaged by her disease— She needed every area of her life to be restored to wholeness.

She needed CPR: a Complete Personal Restoration.

How had she learned to recognize Jesus as the One who carried God’s Power to make her whole? How was her faith so strong? What had transpired over those twelve years?

Healing Power

As she touched His garment…healing power was released through Jesus. She knew it, and Jesus knew it, and He turned to make a connection with her—to speak to her heart— in that moment.. Listen to how Jesus answers her: 

Mark 5:34

Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. Mark 5:34

Jesus uses two different Greek words for “whole.”  Notice which one He uses first:

1.  Thy faith has made thee whole (sṓzō). This was her word! She didn’t say it out loud, but Jesus knew her heart. Her longing was first and foremost for sṓzō— restoration to wholeness.

2. Jesus last words to her are: And be whole of thy plague. This “whole” is hygiēs which means “sound (in body), or restored to health.” So here, at the last, He is saying, be physically healed.

Every word He speaks is full of purpose and reveals priority, which by the way, reflects the order of our true need as well. Let’s read it again:

Mark 5:34

Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. Mark 5:34

First He affirms her as a Daughter of God—she belongs.

Then He connects her faith to her sṓzō. She longs for a complete personal restoration. Jesus says to her Yes, be completely restored. But I believe He is talking about more than just physical, emotional and relational restoration. Because He highlights her faith, I believe He is revealing and answering her deepest need —her spiritual need for salvation.

Next, he tells her to go in peace. Peace here is the Greek word eirḗnē which carries implications of safety, security, prosperity, peace, quietness, rest. Sound familiar?  Both Greek words sṓzō and eirḗnē are closely related to the Hebrew word Shalom: restoration to wholeness, peace, and rest. Jesus blesses her with Shalom! 

And finally, He gives her a clean physical bill of health— you are hygiēs (sound in body).

Sṓzō, Shalom, and Healing

First sṓzō—(salvation, personal restoration) then Shalom—(abundance of blessing God has for His children), then physical healing. 

So there it is.. Wow. I am just taking it all in… I want to add here by the way, that I did not know any of this was coming when I “blessed you with the Shalom of the Lord” earlier…isn’t that amazing?

And to be honest, this word of encouragement is as much for me as it is for anyone. In fact, if everyone reading this could just pause for a quick minute to pray and bless me with the Shalom of the Lord right now, that would be so great. I’m not kidding! Do it! 🙂

Your Faith Has Saved You

One more story that I think is worth mentioning… Jesus used the same words when the woman came to the house of Simon the Pharisee, and anointed Jesus’ feet with an expensive oil, washing them with her tears, kissing them, and drying them with her hair. She was the woman whom Jesus said ‘loved much because she has been forgiven much.’

Luke 7:48

And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. Luke 7:48

Luke 7:50

And then He said to her, Thy faith hath saved (sṓzō) thee; go in peace (eirḗnē). Luke 7:50

To both women, Jesus speaks just a few powerful, meaningful words. I believe that in both cases, there were many layers of meaning in His words, spoken to them in love.

Our Blessed-beyond-this-realm Reality

Sometimes we want the temporal to shift or change in the hope that it might take away the ache that we feel as we wait for the Redemption of All Things.  But we are eternal beings living for a little while in a temporal realm. We are the Redeemed Sons and Daughters of God and we already belong. (Interesting that ‘belong’ ins linked in origin to ‘long’) He has already saved us and restored us to wholeness. Now He is in a process of bringing us up into seeing and understanding our own blessed-beyond-this-realm reality. 

(A great resource for this—I’ve been enjoying this devotional soaking set called Becoming the Beloved by Graham Cooke. It’s free on Youtube, or you can buy it for your music library. Definitely worth a listen!)

What powerful, meaningful words does He want to speak to us today? And what are some layers of their meaning that specifically reach your heart as you sit and commune with Him? 

Prayer Requests

Please reach out to me with anything I can pray with you about. You can reply to this email or click the little blue email icon below to send me an email—I look forward to hearing from you!

Heart Matters

1. What is your heart longing for? Make a list of your disappointed longings. If there is a desire for some circumstance in your life to change, ask Holy Spirit to help you to dig below the surface, and identify the deeper longing of that desire.  For example, if you are longing for deeper friendships, ask What is it that you are looking for, or hoping to find in those deeper friendships? 
2. Ask Holy Spirit to speak to you about the things you are longing for. Pray and then write a letter to yourself from Jesus… How would Jesus address you? What important things would He want to say to you, even as you continue to face your disappointed longings?
3. Meditate on the meaning of Shalom. (wholeness, completeness, safety, security, health, peace, rest, prosperity and increase.) God wants to bless you with all of this. How does it feel to know that this is His heart toward you? Are there any of these words that seem like they are being “withheld” from you in some way? If so, write about it. Then pray that Holy Spirit will highlight or speak to you specifically about this particular word(s) or aspect of Shalom. Remember that His heart toward you is always good.

 

Love,

Chalis