The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation
In a world filled with a lot of talk, we want to have meaningful, biblical conversations with those God has entrusted to us. Join Tosha Williams and the Family Disciple Me ministry for Devotion Driven Discipleship conversation starters that will encourage you to "Seek Him Speak Him" in your own life.
Family Disciple Me is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Christian ministry dedicated to catalyzing Devotion Driven Discipleship in our own lives and homes as well as around the world.
For more information, visit familydiscipleme.org
The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation
WAYS TO PRAISE: Jubilee - Proclaim God's Favor // My Personal Story of Jubilee
This episode explores the significance of Jubilee, a concept that has profoundly shaped my life and faith journey as I mark my 50th year as a Christ follower. Celebrate alongside me (Tosha Williams) as I recount the unexpected joy of welcoming twins during my personal year of Jubilee. I hope my sweet Jubilee will inspire you to consider what God has done and is doing in your life! What's more, as we enter the Thanksgiving season, after you listen to this episode, then spend some time seeking the Lord guided by this conversation...
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Messiah’s Jubilee: “The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Isaiah 61:1-2a CSB
SEEK HIM: Devotion is Meeting with God in Our Own Lives! We all enjoy good news, and the good news of Jubilee is redemption, hope and freedom. As we look at “Ways to Praise," let’s seek the Lord about how He wants us to join the Jubilee then proclaim the good news of His favor to others!
- WHAT: What is God saying through this Scripture? Isaiah summarized what Jubilee is all about: healing, liberty, freedom, and goodness from God. “To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” is to let others know about God’s gifts, so they can be invited into these blessings, too. ~ What are some of the blessings listed in our key verses? Has God given you any of these this past year? Have you told someone else about this favor?
- WHY: Why does this Scripture matter? We all want blessing and goodness in our lives, and the way God gives these is through Jesus. This is good news we can experience with Him today as we seek Him. ~ In what ways does healing for the brokenhearted matter to you? What kind of freedom would you love to experience or see? What are you experiencing with Jesus today?
- HOW: How does God want us to respond to this truth? This Scripture says, "The Lord has anointed me to bring good news." This calling is on all of us who follow Christ, because He told us to go tell others everything He’s taught us (Matthew 28:20). So think about what He has done in your life this past year. Sharing your Jesus Story is one way you can proclaim His favor! ~ Have you experienced any blessings from God this year? What freedom, hope or redemption has He given you? How can you share this good news ?
SPEAK HIM: Discipleship is Making God Known to Others! There is so much to learn about the Jubilee celebration, but, for now, let’s focus on talking about the good news of God’s favor. To proclaim something is to make it famous so others can hear about it. As you consider the good news of all that Jesus has done in your life, how will you “praise the Lord” and make Him more famous this week?
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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.
Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org
This week, in our Ways to Praise conversations, we're going to talk about Jubilee Now. Personally, for decades I never really paid any attention to the concept of Jubilee in Scripture. Of course, I read about it every time I came to Leviticus 25 in my devotions and actually come to think of it. I suggested the name Jubilee to my husband way back in 1996 when we were choosing a name for the church we were planting, a church that we ended up naming Vanguard Church. But that aside, other than that brief interaction with the word Jubilee, the proclamation and the promises of Jubilee really meant nothing to me. I didn't understand it and I really didn't connect any dots from it. That is until I rounded the corner of my 49th year as a Christ follower.
Speaker 1:At that point, when once again I read Leviticus 25 about Jubilee, this time the words began to leap off the page at me as I began to understand all the implications and the promises and connections of the celebration of Jubilee. And whereas before Jubilee hadn't seemed so significant to me, now the words about Jubilee began to matter so much to my life. I began to look at Jubilee through fresh eyes and see it in a new way and as a way that was not just an ancient celebration, but as an invitation for this year in my life. So, as I began my 50th year as a Christ follower, I began what I have called my year of Jubilee. Thing is, to me, jubilee is an invitation to proclaim who God is and what he offers to us.
Speaker 1:Jubilee is a celebration of His character and the proclamation of His promises. So will you spend a few minutes with me here as we talk about Jubilee, as one of our ways to praise Jubilee is the proclamation of God's favor. So stick with me for a few minutes. I'm going to cue the intro, then I'll be right back to talk about Jubilee and along the way, I want to share a story with you about one way God surprised me with His favor and blessing this year. I praise Him, and I hope that Jubilee will surprise you with new ways to praise Him as well.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast. If you have a real relationship with Jesus, then you're in the right place to be encouraged, challenged and blessed as you seek Him, speak Him. The mission of the Family Disciple Me ministry is to inspire devotion-driven discipleship, which is something we believe every Christ follower can do. Discipleship starts with a conversation, so let's get going with that right now.
Speaker 1:This past January, I felt the Lord spoke. The blessing and favor of Jubilee over my life, spoke the blessing and favor of Jubilee over my life. January marked the beginning of my 50th year of being a Christ follower, as I had given my life to the Lord when I had just turned four years old. In the Bible, at the completion of the 49th year, the celebration of Jubilee begins. Leviticus teaches us all about the goodness that Jubilee brings. Thing is, jubilee is not just a private celebration. Jubilee is to be a proclamation of what God has done and is yet to do in the lives of those who seek Him. So for me, I proclaimed this year, 2024, my Jubilee year. I was so excited to see and proclaim the favor and the goodness of the Lord this year. Now, to be honest, the concept of Jubilee is a little bit complicated, but well, let me explain to you what I feel like the Lord has shown me about it as I've spent time seeking him In the Bible. Jubilee is a celebration of redemption, freedom, forgiveness and return. Jubilee is a time of God's favor, his healing and restoration. Jubilee is a time to pause, to rejoice, to proclaim the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord. In Scripture, jubilee happens every half century, starting with the completion of seven cycles of seven years. Jubilee is first talked about in Leviticus, chapter 25, and verse 10 says Leviticus, chapter 25 and verse 10 says you are to consecrate the 50th year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your jubilee. So there I was this past January, finishing my 49th year with the Lord. As I read through scripture, I felt him inviting me to consecrate my 50th year with him, to celebrate it and to proclaim the Jubilee.
Speaker 1:Now, at that point in January, my husband and I were looking forward to the births of two grandchildren. The first was due just a few weeks after that, in February, and the second grandchild was due in August. We were so excited about the favor and the goodness of the Lord this year. So, with that as the backdrop, I celebrated my spiritual birthday on January 20th and I published a podcast episode about it and was so encouraged about the idea and the uniqueness and the specialness of Jubilee.
Speaker 1:Well, two days later, something extraordinary happened. My son and daughter-in-law were expecting their first child, the one due in August. We knew they were having their first ultrasound and we were so looking forward to seeing our first glimpse of their baby. The afternoon of January 22nd they called. They FaceTimed me to show me the picture of our little one. Since we were on FaceTime, joshua held up to the screen the ultrasound picture and immediately my eyes saw the note baby B. I immediately started screaming with joy because if there was a baby B, that meant there was also a baby A and that meant we were having twins.
Speaker 1:That afternoon, joshua and Casey kept adding family members after family members to the FaceTime call. Casey kept adding family members after family members to the FaceTime call, and one after another. Everyone had the same reaction I did. When they laid their eyes on the words Baby B, they started screaming with joy, just like me, because that meant Baby A was coming as well. What a celebration of God's goodness and favor. Our family was so excited. Well, shortly after that, I flew down to Phoenix for the birth of our first grandbaby which is a story for another day and had a wonderful time down there with them, where we were so excited to welcome little Zion into the world, but also where we were all still just in awe of the fact that we had not one but two more babies on the way this year.
Speaker 1:Well, a few weeks later, our son, joshua, came to visit. One night. We were sitting next to each other on the sofa visit One night. We were sitting next to each other on the sofa, joshua had his laptop on his lap and I was just sitting next to him and we were chit-chatting back and forth and I happened to glance over when this message came through on his screen and it said what do you think about the name Jubilee? No, I wasn't trying to be nosy when I was sitting there next to Joshua, it's just that I happened to glance at that very moment when Casey texted Joshua about that really, really special name. I looked at Joshua in amazement, hardly believing what I had just read. Could it be possible that, out of all the names in the whole entire world, that they would pick this word, jubilee, to use if one of their babies turned out to be a little girl? Joshua responded to my questions with a twinkle and well, he told me that Jubilee was their top name. They were considering and I held that as the most delicious secret for weeks and months to come.
Speaker 1:I treasured the fact that my Jubilee year wasn't just to be a marker on a calendar or a really great impetus for ministry, as wonderful as both of those are. The celebration of Jubilee was potentially going to be a little person in my life. Well, fast forward and we did the gender reveal party. And well, joy and joy, we found out we were having a girl and boy. And joy, we found out we were having a girl and boy. And so that little baby bee became officially known as Jubilee. This grandma's heart couldn't have been more excited for all that God was doing in our lives, for the blessings he was showering upon us, for the goodness he was showing us in these lives. Jubilee, this tiny baby girl, represented so much to me. I couldn't believe, and honestly I still can't believe, that Joshua and Casey gave her such a meaningful name to me. But the thing is, just because we're in a year of favor and a year of celebration and a year of deep meaning doesn't mean that it's an easy season. And really this is the truth of Jubilee that it's goodness that's brought out of hard things, it's favor that's brought out of loss, it's beauty that's brought out of ashes.
Speaker 1:That's the theme that I see all over in scripture about Jubilee. You see back in Leviticus, chapter 25, god laid the groundwork for Jubilee. He told them that Jubilee was about freedom freedom to return, freedom to regain, freedom to repay, freedom to release, freedom to help freedom to return, freedom to regain, freedom to repay, freedom to release, freedom to help Freedom to redeem. But honestly, what does all this mean to us? How does this apply to our lives? How is Jubilee at all relevant to our 21st century world? The truth of all this can be hard for us to understand, so that's why I believe it's important for us to fast forward in scripture to see what else God's word has to say about this.
Speaker 1:And well, we arrived to Isaiah, chapter 61, where the prophet Isaiah wrote a passage that is both prophetic and poetic and helps us understand Jubilee a little bit more. I love how, in the Christian Standard Bible, it starts out with the header Messiah's Jubilee and it says this so you see, way back in the book of Leviticus, god established Jubilee as a time of celebration, as a time to proclaim His favor. But all of this isn't just found in a mark on the calendar or a date. Isaiah helps us understand that all of this is to be found in a person, and so fast forward another about 700 years from the time of Isaiah and we come to another season of Jubilee. During this time of the Lord's favor, the world got to meet that person that Isaiah was telling us about, and his name is Jesus. And there, during that celebration and proclamation of Jubilee, jesus walked into a place of worship called a synagogue in Nazareth and he picked up the scrolls of Isaiah. He found this passage, the very one that we're reading today, these key verses Isaiah, chapter 61, verses 1 and 2. He read these verses aloud and then he said this Today, as you listen this scripture has been fulfilled.
Speaker 1:Thing is, we all want blessing and goodness in our lives, right? We want the freedom and the redemption and the restoration of Jubilee, and we can try to go about getting these the world's way, or we can pay attention to what's being proclaimed and seek it God's way. Thing is, the year of the Lord's favor comes with Jesus. It came on that day in the synagogue and it comes this day to everyone who will listen. Jesus brings good news. Jesus brings healing and freedom and favor, and this isn't just a once in every 50 years occurrence, like ancient Jubilee. It's not even just a once a year occurrence, like Thanksgiving Jubilee.
Speaker 1:The year of the Lord's favor is something we can lean into and experience with Jesus every day. So has this happened in some way for you? Have you experienced some goodness from God this year? Have you been set free from some bondage? Have you seen God do something miraculous in your life? Has he healed your heart at all? Has he given you something to celebrate? Has he answered a prayer or provided some unexpected way? All of these are part of his promise of favor in the year of Jubilee, the celebration that comes through Jesus every day, his word says the spirit of the Lord.
Speaker 1:God is on me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. I love this so much. These are such rich and precious promises for us to experience and claim in our own lives. But it gets even better because as we seek him about these things, then our Lord, god, anoints us to speak him about these things and to deliver the good news of his favor. He doesn't want us to keep quiet about all the goodness of Jubilee, all the favor of the Lord, all the blessings that Jesus has for us as we listen to him and pay attention to him and follow him. God wants us to speak up about this because, truly, as we reread those words there, at the beginning of Isaiah 61, verse 1, there's this phrase that says the Lord has anointed me to bring good news. That was true of the prophet Isaiah, that was definitely true when Jesus read those words, and now that can be true for us as well, as we seek him, speak him, which brings me back to our baby Jubilee.
Speaker 1:She was born prematurely. She was brought by C-section into the world because she was starting to struggle in the womb. She was a tiny little thing, the tiniest baby I've ever held less than four pounds when she took her first breaths. The joy that she brought with her, though, was that God had already answered so many specific prayers for her life, and we knew we knew when she arrived that we were being entrusted with a miracle. Baby Jubilee represents so much to me in this, my year of Jubilee.
Speaker 1:She's about three months old now, and I believe that our little Jubilee, because of the very time of her arrival, everything about her. I believe that she is anointed to bring good news to a very broken world. I believe that God has sent her to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners. I believe that God has anointed her to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Her to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. She is a sign of that to me. She is a sign of that to our family, and I can't think of a better time for that in history than right now, when our world is more broken and divided as it's ever been. We live in a world that needs the hope of Jesus. He's the only one who can make the wars end. He's the only one that can bring true unity. He's the only one that can speak love that is life-changing. Everything else is a band-aid. Everything else is a pharmaceutical that can temporarily fix but doesn't have the cure. Jesus is the jubilee that this world needs.
Speaker 1:Oh, friend, as we're in this Thanksgiving season, my challenge for you, in this ways to praise conversation this week, is that you will spend some time in God's word. Maybe you'll start with Leviticus 25 and just read that chapter and ask the Spirit of God to speak to you through it. From there, I challenge you to fast forward to Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2, and seek Him in His Word, in that specific passage. Ask Him the questions what, why and how. Go through the process of digging in and listening to what he tells you and then, once he begins to speak to you, once he puts His finger on what it is in your life that he is pinpointing, then turn around and speak Him, tell somebody else what he's shown you.
Speaker 1:Don't be somebody who keeps quiet about the good news. Be somebody who proclaims the year of the Lord's favor, that is, the proclamation of Jubilee. I hope that you'll lean into this and you'll join me in this. What a privilege and an opportunity that we have to meet with God and make Him known. Oh, friend, enjoy this Thanksgiving season. Let your heart be filled with the goodness of God, and may you celebrate the Jubilee by proclaiming God's favor. So now go with God, be encouraged. So now go with God, be encouraged and be sure to encourage someone else with the favor that he offers to them as well.
Speaker 2:Thanks for joining us in this podcast episode. You can find the matching conversation guide in the show notes. To get the latest updates about the Family Disciple Me ministry, as well as word about our soon-to-be-released app, sign up to be the first to know at familydisciplemeorg. Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, help us get the word out by leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. God bless you, friend. Now go seek him. Speak him.