Month: November 2016

They Didn’t Take It…..

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

he gave it.

The religious leaders created elaborate plots to take Jesus’ life.

But they didn’t succeed.  Because he willingly gave it.they-didnt-take-his-life

He went to the garden where he knew he would be arrested.  He offered no resistance and permitted no violence.  After ‘he gave up his spirit’, John tells us the earth shook, the curtain in the temple tore in half and bodies of holy people who had died were raised to life.

All of creation reacted when their creator gave up his life here on earth.

The religious leaders tried very hard to snuff out the Light of the World.

But they accomplished just the opposite.

They played right into God’s plans to redeem the world.

They helped make Jesus famous.  Before his crucifixion, he was known as a unusually knowledgeable carpenter who healed people.

After this death and resurrection, his identity as the Messiah spread throughout the world and we’re talking about him today… every day.

They didn’t take his life – he gave it.  For us.

For God so loved the world.

Thank you, Abba Father.

In Agony

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

There are times when words just can’t express…

the pain our heart is experiencing…

the confusion going on in our minds….

the emptiness we have in our spirit.

Jesus prayed in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (picture) the night he was betrayed.eeeeeDSC_0418

He experienced the anguish we feel.

He understands our pain.

As he prayed, God sent an angel to strengthen him.

I believe God still sends angels into our anguish today.  Sometimes its an actual touch from heaven.  And sometimes he sends other people to be ‘God with skin on’ for us.  To help us through the night.  To offer prayers and support.

In some situations, it’s all the above.

Because God knows and he cares.

He sent an angel to his son because Jesus’ friends were sleeping.  They weren’t aware of what was going on.  But that didn’t stop God from providing care for his son.

Nothing stops God from loving us and taking care of us.

Nothing.

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

 

I Will Have Many Trials

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

Heart-ache

Despair

Broken Relationships

Hatred

Emptiness

Jealousy

Confusion

Loneliness

And much more.

We all experience these trials,

in some variation,

at different times,

sometimes several at the same time…

making it hard to see the light.

Hard to see anything good.

Hard to make it through the day.

Jesus tells his disciples –  and us – in John 16 that we will have many trials.

Some of these trials are consequences for bad decisions we have made.

And some of them happen to us because we live in a broken world which is increasingly influenced by the Prince of Darkness.

Most of you know that the level of trials in my life took a big jump up this year.i-will-have-many-trials

Yes, I will have many trials.  I have a new, painful understanding of that reality.

And I have a choice to make in how I respond to these trials.

I can choose to get lost in self-pity and focus on what I have lost.  I can get stuck on the edge of the big hole in my life and let the rest of my life be about what I no longer have.

Or I can choose to let God grow my faith through these trials.  I can let him become even more real in my life – a strong anchor in the storm, my faithful shepherd who lovingly leads me beside still waters and restores my soul.

I am choosing to ‘take heart’ like Jesus tells us to do.  I am choosing to believe that Jesus has already claimed victory over evil and this is all part of his plan.

I have come to understand much more clearly now that this world of sadness and hatred and lack of respect is not my real home.

Heaven is.

And Jesus has prepared a place for me there.

If you are a believer, he has prepared a place for you as well.

Until then, we will have many trials.

Please help grow our faith, Abba Father.

What’s Inside?

On By Judy GlasserIn November4 Comments

How do I look?

What do I say?

Do I go to church regularly?

Am I in a small group Bible study?

Am I serving at church?

We often focus on the outside and the activities on our calendars.

What other people see.

But God focuses on the inside – our hearts, our minds and our souls.eidtted-blue-heart-in-eye

In Matthew 23, Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites because, on the outside they look clean and nice, but on the inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

Wow!  Self- indulgence.  That’s the American dream, isn’t it?  To have what we want when we want it.  It’s obviously not God’s dream for us.

Jesus commands the Pharisees to clean up the inside and then the outside will also be clean.

Going to church is good – unless we’re just there to see and be seen.

Being a part of a small group Bible study is good unless it turns into a social club not centered on growing our relationship with God.  I’ve known about small groups that have turned into gossip cliques filled with negativity and judgement of others – especially the leadership of their church.  That is the total opposite of the purpose they should fill in our lives.

Serving at church is good as long as we balance it so we still have time to spend with God to grow our personal relationship with him.  God ‘busyness’ can easily distract us from what God really desires – our attention.

When we give God the chance to work in our lives, he always starts on the inside – redeeming our souls, changing our thoughts, opening and softening our hearts.  When we are in a close relationship with God, we don’t have to worry about the outside.  As God transforms what’s inside of us, it gradually begins to show on the outside.

How much transformation have you experienced this last month?  This last year?

Please open our hearts to you, Abba Father.

Light It Up!

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

Lights shining in the darkness, showing the way.

Light streaking through the sky as the sun rises.

Light sparkling off a lake.

Nothing shines and sparkles without light.

i-am-the-light-of-the-world“I am the Light of the World” Jesus said in John 8.

Amen!  Hallelujah!

He lights our way – showing us where to go.  We never have to walk in darkness.

In this same section of John, Jesus says that we judge him by human standards – that’s why we can sometimes be so blind.

We can be so wrong.

We can be so lost.

Evaluating Jesus in human terms just confuses us.

He is God.

We just have to trust in that and believe – we will never understand completely.

When we open our minds to someone as different and huge and perfect as Jesus, he lights up our thinking.  All of the possibilities in heaven and on earth become real.

Open your mind!  Let Jesus light it up!

Thank you, Jesus!

Come…. Now Go!

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

Jesus calls us to come,come-to-me-then-go

receive his gift of grace,

accept his leadership of our lives,

accept his love and freedom….

and then he tells us to Go!

Share the Good News with our family.

Share what we’re learning with our friends.

Share the truth with our neighbors.

Share our new joy and purpose with everyone we come in contact with.

He did this very same thing with his apostles in Matthew 9.

Why?

Because people need to know.

Then – and now.

The light of the world has come!  There is no longer a reason to remain in the darkness!

Jesus has answers to all of our questions.  He gives us joy!

Contentment!

Comfort!

Purpose!

What else are you looking for?  Jesus has it.

Come and see!

Drenched in Pain

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

The rain came –lightning_electricity_night_242819_l

it drenched us with grief and pain.

The streams rose –

we were threatened on every side with deep loss and sadness.

The winds blew –

beating on us every day.  Reminding us of what was lost.

The storm broke our hearts.

It changed our lives – sending us in a direction we never wanted to go.

The powerful storm moved us to a place we never wanted to be.

the-storm-beat-against-the-houseBut our house did not fall…..

because our lives are built on the Solid Rock that Jesus told us about in Luke 6.

His name is God.

And he was there through the storm – holding us, guiding us, loving us – never letting go of us.

He is with us still – comforting us, loving us, showing us the way.

The storm came, but our Foundation could not be shaken.

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

 

 

Phenomenal!

On By Judy GlasserIn November2 Comments

The Sea of Galilee is a very beautiful sea.

gdtDSC_0632It’s really not that big.

I had the privilege of spending a day there 2 years ago.   It was tranquil and calm – until the wind picked up.  In the New Testament, we read of several storms rolling in over this sea and I experienced how quickly our boat went from perfectly still to  significantly rocking.  I can imagine how fast those storms could grow and become threatening.

It’s a gorgeous sea – but it’s just water.

So how could Jesus walk on it?  That’s impossible!

Isn’t it?

Nothing that we know or can understand explains this.

It’s just water.gdtDSC_0639

But its water that was brought out of nothing by the Creator of the Universe.

And this water obeys his commands.  It’s not the same as when you and I obey.  We are created in God’s image so we have a brain.  We have to think, to decide, to act.

The water just responds to its Creator.

I’m pretty confident if some of today’s geniuses of science could have been studying the water that Jesus walked on, they would have witnessed the molecular structure of the water change for just a few seconds as Jesus’ foot touched it.  Science would be able to tell us what happened but it would never have been able to explain why it happened.  It would be labeled an unusual phenomenon.

But we know who did it.

God created science.  And he can use it freely whenever he wants.

It wasn’t ‘just water’ when it was in God’s hands.

The same is true of you and me.  We’re not ‘just’ men, women, young adults, teenagers or children when we’re in God’s hands.

Something supernatural is going on when we trust in God, because his spirit comes to live inside of us…

and we become phenomenal!

Thank you, Abba Father!

I’m Laying By The Healing Waters….

On By Judy GlasserIn November6 Comments

fDSC_0489waiting to be healed….

wondering when its going to happen…

wondering if its going to happen.

All of us have some part of our life that is bruised or broken.

It’s not always a physical thing.  Many times its emotional or spiritual.

And so we lay next to cripple at the Pool of Bethesda….hoping to be healed.

I had the privilege to visit this tranquil, beautiful place 2 years ago.  The peace I felt in that spot was magnified by the conflict and tension that defines the city of Jerusalem.  If felt like nobody living there liked anybody else.  The air was filled with ‘you don’t belong here’ hatred.

But not at this pool.

It was quiet.

Smaller than I had imagined from reading about it in John 5.fDSC_0490

I wish I could go back there now – to lay at the side of the pool, waiting for healing.  A tragedy in my life this last year has taken away a big chunk of my contentment and joy.

And I want it back.

I know I can’t go back to the pool right now – maybe some day.  But I know where to go to be made whole again.

My Abba Father is in the process of healing my brokenness.  It’s not easy and not something I thought I would ever experience.

I am thankful for my healer.

I am waiting by the pool, Abba Father.

I Know Who You Are

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

They had no doubts.

Whenever a member of Satan’s team encountered Jesus, they knew exactly who he was.

i-know-who-you-are“I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” cried the demon as Jesus cast it out of the man in Mark 1:23.

Every time a demon saw Jesus, they declared that he was the Son of God.

They knew about his power.

They knew about his perfection.

And they knew who his Father was.

They also knew all about the righteous anger Jesus had for the evil they were creating and encouraging on earth.  So they were afraid of him.

They knew the truth.

Do you know the truth?

Have you accepted the fact that Jesus is the Son of God?

Do you believe in his power to redeem you and set you free?

The demons had no doubts.  We shouldn’t have any either.

Thank you, Lord Jesus!