"Becoming a Servant of the Saints"

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3 NIV).

It was a mild evening in June and so we thought we would have our house church meeting in the back yard. We celebrated the Lords Supper and my husband sang a new song that he had received from the Lord that day while driving back home from a neighboring city.

After the Lord’s Supper and after my husband shared a little bit about what the Lord had placed on his heart, we had a barbeque and continued to enjoy our fellowship. My husband cooked the meat and I brought out all other items that were needed to have a relaxed evening. As I was serving the people I remembered that about 33 years ago I had learned this profession and now at church I was doing the same thing. As the evening went on I was getting tired from serving others. My attitude was not the same anymore and my humility was nowhere to be found. I had to talk to the LORD in the kitchen. I said, “Help me Jesus to see like you see. I need to change my attitude right away.” He instantly replied to me with these simple words, “Serve these Saints.” These three words kicked in right away like a gear shift and as I went outside again He opened my eyes to understanding. Yes of course, the Saints are at our house and I get to serve them! Wow, what an honor, what a privilege and what a great opportunity!

I tell you, this perspective will change your whole attitude in serving others. The next time you meet a child of God, stop for a moment and remember that this person is a Saint of the Most High. Take this as a great opportunity to grow in humility, in respect, and to become a loving servant. You be surprised to see how many Saints you actually know!

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

Suzanne Tanner

"Love Makes Everything Grow”

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life for evermore” (Psalm 133: 1-3 NIV).

Another spring time had arrived and to my great joy the plants were springing forth again. I could recognize these sweet little green things making their way through the soil. The time had obviously arrived for them to come back to life. The temperature had started to increase preparing the soil to be a fertile ground and the rain poured down from heaven did what it was called to do. Now everything was growing very well and very fast.

I think that love will create in you the very same thing! Because when you experience the warmth of love that is expressed through the unity of believers your soul and spirit will automatically begin to grow. This kind of love will create in you a fertile ground for your personal growth - a place where life, freedom, peace and safety can prosper in abundance. As you leave your solitary life behind you will come to know the blessing that the LORD bestows on you as you make this your choice today.

Have a wonderfully blessed day!


Suzanne Tanner

"The Beauty of the Bride"

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready”(Revelation 19:7 NIV).

A friend of ours is getting married soon. He has known his wife to be for quite a while now. She had been his girlfriend but when he asked her to be married to him, she became his fiancee. Her position from being just girlfriend changed and she became a bride to be.

As I met her recently I was just so surprised and amazed at the same time to realize this change in her position. Although she was still the same person, I had the impression as I was observing her that she had become something special. It was as if she had been lifted out of her “normal” position of being a single woman and had been crowned with a wonderful worthiness that comes from being a bride and wife. She was more beautiful than usual, she was so radiant, and she resembled a princess, you know somebody that was hand-picked and utterly loved by her husband to be.

The Body of Christ which is made out of all born-again believers needs to be reminded that she is indeed the one and only fiancée of the Lord and the soon to be bride of the King of Kings. She is hand-picked, utterly loved by her bridegroom Jesus Christ, and stands in waiting for her King to come back and take her to become His wife.

So let us reflect this joy today that we are chosen by Jesus to be His bride, and let’s get ready in waiting and in expectation that He will soon come back to be married to us. Hallelujah! What a glorious future awaits us!

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

Suzanne Tanner

“Born Again”

“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28-29 NIV).

Now that we have a dog we get to take on responsibility for him that also includes consequences. One of the things we need to do now is take him out for his bathroom routine under all weather conditions.

One morning it was raining and thundering so heavily and both of us, our dog and I didn’t really want to go out and get wet, but we had to. Everything was soaking wet, our dog, my coat, the yard, everywhere were little puddles. It was a nasty day and we were glad to get back inside that morning and dry ourselves off. I thought it would be a rainy day and rain all day, but it didn’t. The rain subsided very quickly and when I went out again the sun was shining and there was a freshness in the air, as if the rain had been a cleanser and had washed away all darkness, dirt and heaviness. Later on that morning as we went to church I experienced the same kind of freshness amongst the fellowship of the believers. I felt like I was born-again, the same kind of sensation when I received Jesus as my Lord and savior in 1995.

You know there is a distinct freshness that comes from being born-again. It is a moment where all heaviness, dross, despair and hopelessness is washed away by the power of the Holy Spirit. As He pours himself out on you the heavenly gift of revelation begins to take place in your life and a hope that is anchored in God is birthed in you. It is my prayer for you that you would experience the same kind of freshness each day of your life and be revived in Jesus Name!

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

Suzanne Tanner

"The Wide Scope Of The Father"

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he love.”(Ephesians 1: 4 – 6 NIV)

I made an interesting observation as we recently attended an 8 week Discipleship Training in Switzerland. Our leaders’ 7 year old son David was outside and surrounded by a group of his best friends. To my surprise he was sitting on the driver’s seat of his father’s car, an elegant dark blue English car that had been donated to the ministry. What surprised me even more was that David was holding his father’s cell phone in his hands which had been loaded with a children's computer game for him to play with.

And so David was so tickled as he was sitting in his father’s car in the driver’s seat and proudly showing all of his friends what kind of exciting game he had on his father’s cell phone. I think the father himself was not watching his son. He was somewhere in the house talking to some people and must have been totally confident about letting his son have so much freedom.

As I observed this scene with wide open eyes I had to chuckle a little, since this scenario of giving your child a wide space and granting your child this kind of precious trust and love was not something I had experienced a lot in my own child hood. I couldn’t help but think that this is exactly the type of freedom that the Father in Heaven wants to give you as His sons and daughters. You know He loves you so much that He even gave His only Son so that you would have a meaningful life, a life that would overflow with grace, freedom and peace.

You not only have a generous Father that blesses you as His Child, but also a Father that has a big heart for you. He wants you to enjoy the things He has given you and His trust in you will relax you and you will start to enjoy the wide space that surrounds you all the time as a chosen child of the Most High.

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

Suzanne Tanner

"Be An Originator!"

“I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong” (Romans 1:11 NIV).

I work as an on-call classroom teacher at a daycare center here in town. One of the many things I get to do is to teach small children the alphabet. They use colorful foam mats that look like puzzle pieces which they attach together to help them eventually form a word.

One day as I was watching these kids playing with these foam mats I yearned for them to know that they were children of the King of Kings. So to make this project a little bit more adventurous and playful for them I took these elements and showed them how with only 6 mats they could make a cube. Then I took one mat out which left a space and placed it on their little heads telling them that this was their crown and that they were all princes and princesses. I guess they thought this was a great new idea and so they ran around in the whole classroom showing off their crowns. Many months later as I was working again in this same classroom, I was amazed to see that they were wearing their crowns. They took what I had showed them, put their crowns together all by themselves and had even shown others how to do it.

In that moment my heart was so glad. I never thought that they would take this idea and reproduce it. I had originated something in them and left an inheritance behind in their precious lives. Believe me, you can do that too! You can originate things and impart it to others. All you need is the love for others like the Apostle Paul had for his beloved churches. Then let the LORD direct your imagination. I tell you, as you see it being reproduced in others your confidence will grow strong. You will know that you have been called to be an originator, one of the many wonderful characteristics of the creator of all things, your heavenly Father.

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

Suzanne Tanner

"Full Exposure"

“And the LORD was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD" (1 Samuel 2:21).

For quite some time I have been very interested in planting. With the help and insight of God I got to plant a lot of seeds, and then I waited and watched for them to grow. It’s a fascinating project I tell you! I learned that I needed a spacious container and good soil for my seeds. Then I would water them day by day and expose them to some light. And indeed, the seeds died and were born again and rose after a while into something green that pushed through the soil and started to grow. After a couple of weeks however, I noticed that my plants were not growing very well. I needed some help and I found it in my husband. He took the pots and put them right on the window seal for them to be exposed to more sun. From the rising to the setting of the sun my plants were now exposed to so much light that after the first one or two days I already recognized a significant growth. I realized that the pot, the soil and the watering were a good thing, but the full exposure to the sun was the ultimate requirement for my plants to grow properly into their destiny.

And this is exactly what you need as well! The word of God is essential and is a seed that is planted in your heart. That’s a good thing, and it will grow in you, but what causes the greatest growth for you is when you walk in the presence of the LORD. This is how Samuel became a mighty man of God and his destiny as a prophet and a judge for the nation of Israel was born. I encourage you today to make it a point in your daily walk with Jesus to expose yourself fully before Him. As you open your heart to Him and develop this sweet communion with Him, you will grow up to become a mighty testimony of God’s purpose for mankind.

Have a wonderfully blessed day!


Suzanne Tanner