November 20, 2021

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying the weekend. So nice to have a sunny day and less wind for our walk. This morning I took out our Christmas decorations and cleaned, which takes much less time when you live in an apartment!   Tomorrow we go to Hackensack for Leif’s installation at St. Paul’s church. They are having  a brunch afterwards and we are looking forward to seeing old friends there as well. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Today, more than ever, we need a discerning spirit to know what is truth from what is false and misleading. The enemy is very much at work trying to deceive, especially Christians. He makes things sound good but has a twist in it so it is no longer truth. We desperately need the Holy Spirit to help us discern truth from error. He is our helper and it says in John 16:13 (God’s Word), “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into the full truth, He won’t speak on his own. He will speak what He hears and will tell you about things to come.”

It is important that we read scripture so that the Holy Spirit can bring to our remembrance a word when we are in need. Sometimes it is a particular verse that stands out to us and gives us guidance for the way we need to go. It could be a hymn or praise song that all of a sudden comes to mind. Or at times it can be like a specific word and we recognize that He is giving us instructions. Maybe we have experienced a time when we felt we were not to do something that we had planned, and then later found that the Lord saved us from a terrible situation.

One such missionary had a tough learning experience. He and his wife were overseas and it was the last night before flying home. He had a strong sense that he should not go to the service that night, even though he really wanted to go. He told his wife that he felt God was saying to stay back, but at the last minute decided to go with her. When he got there, he still had a very unsettled feeling and after visiting with friends, he went back to the hotel. On arrival he knew why he was told not to go. Their room had been ransacked and suitcases dumped out, their passports and visas taken, jewelry gone, and computer tampered with. He was heartbroken for he knew the Holy Spirit had tried to tell him and he didn’t obey. It was a lesson he will not forget and is now more careful to listen and obey, even when he doesn’t understand the why. It made me think of the words of a song.

“Holy Spirit come/ Make my eyes to see/ Make my ears to hear/ Make my mouth to speak/ Make my heart to seek and my hands to reach out and touch the world with your love.”

Let us all invite the Holy Spirt to help us to see and hear and then to obey.

Challenge for today: Pray the words of the song and ask for strength to follow in obedience even when you may not be able to connect the dots.