Category: April

Psalm 57, 2025

On By Judy GlasserIn April2 Comments

Hear my prayers, Father, and show me your compassion.  I will hide myself in your shadow until my fears and worries go away.

I ask that you fulfill your purposes for my life.  I know the angels of heaven are fighting my battles and they will give me victory.

Your love and faithfulness never leave me, Father.

I am surrounded by the evil one who is trying to take pieces of me and devour me.

But I still praise you, God.  May your glorious light shine over all the earth.

My enemy sets traps for me – especially when I am weary and distressed.  The evil one digs deep pits in my path but then he falls into them himself.

I am confident in you, oh God.  My heart sings your praises.  I awake every morning with a song of praise to you.  Thank you for your love and faithfulness which has no end.

I praise you, Father.  May your glorious light shine over all the earth.

Psalm 63, 2025

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

O God, you are my God.  I am searching for you with all my heart.

My soul needs you.  My whole being longs to be close to you in this empty, weary and very confused world.  I treasure the precious time I get to spend with you.

I have personally witnessed your power and glory.  I praise you for your love which makes this life worth living.

I will lift my hands and heart up to you in praise for as long as I live.  Only you can fill the emptiness inside of me and make me sing for joy.

In the darkest part of the night, I remember how much you have loved me in the past and how much you have promised to love me in the future.  My heart sings for joy as I cling to your promises and feel your arms around me, holding me safe and securely to your side.

The Evil One and his team are all around me, Father, trying to ruin me.  But I know you are fighting my battles, God, and you have already won the war.

I rejoice in you, God.  All who know the Truth know you.  Liars will be silenced.

I will lift my hands in praise to you for the rest of my life, Abba Father.

Psalm 34, 2025

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

God is good – all the time!

I will share this great news with everyone I know.  Everyone needs to hear this – there is no one and no thing that compares to the LORD!

Say it with me – God is good, all the time!

When I talk to God, he answers me and takes my fears away.

The light of God’s love shines out of us, his children, and we are never ashamed.  When we are lost in a pile of problems that we created, we can call on God who rescues us.  His angel protects us and sets us free!

Try him and see!  God is good!

My Father God is a safe haven and a provider for me and for everyone who has faith in him.  Those who look strong on the outside are actually weak and empty on the inside if they don’t have faith in God.

God’s children have everything they need.

Listen to me –

respect and honor the LORD and you will live a life filled with good days.  Stay away from lying and all evil.  Be a peacemaker.

God watches over those who do what is right.  He hears our cries.  God is always close to the brokenhearted.

But God turns his face away from those who do evil.

When we have faith in God, we will still have trials but God walks beside us every step of the way – giving us peace and strength.

The wicked get what they deserve.  The LORD condemns anyone who opposes the people who love him.

God rescues his children – he is a safe refuge that is always available to us.

We praise you, Abba Father, for you are good!

Fighting Our Giants

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

We all have them –

things we battle against.

Sometimes its family members. Sometimes its our boss. Sometimes its our friends or situations in our lives. Many times its how to handle our finances.

A lot of the time, we find ourselves fighting against attitudes and desires that grow within us…

lies that have rooted themselves in our brains…

unwillingness to change….

rebellion against giving God first place in our lives.

What are your giants?

As we read historical account of David and Goliath, I noticed that the giant Philistine came out every day for forty days to take his stand against the Israelites. Our giants also make themselves evident very regularly.  They are persistent.  We can’t ignore them…..even when we try.

And, just like David, we need to put our trust in God and let him fight our battles.  We often forget what David knew and counted on – ” the battle is the Lord’s” (1 Sam 17:47).

David’s bold confidence in fighting his giant came from his absolute trust in God’s faithfulness.  As a young boy, he stepped up to fight Goliath while an army of grown men around him cowered in fear. David knew that God had been faithful before, he would be faithful again. 

I have also experienced God’s faithfulness over and over in my life.  He hasn’t always done what I wanted him to do, but everything he has done has worked out for my good.  Many things have worked out better than I could have ever imagined.

When I started to believe in the very depths of my soul that God wanted only what was best for me, my giants – one by one – were taken captive by God’s power and love.

There is only one way to successfully fight our giants – and that is with God leading the way.

The battle is yours, Abba Father.

No Hiding

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

No faking it.

You and I see the outside of people – what they look like, what they wear, where they live and how they act.

God has an entirely different perspective of us – he looks on the inside.  He knows my intentions, my motivations and desires.  He knows what I’m thinking – I don’t have to say anything.

When Samuel was picking who would be king after Saul, God said to him, “People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16: 7.  Knowing this is true challenges me as well as gives me confidence.  I’m glad God sees below my surface – he understands my true feelings.  He knows me better than any human being ever could.

But the fact that God knows my thoughts also challenges me.  Like many of us who have been on this road of faith for a long time, I have gotten better at not saying things I shouldn’t say.  But have I trained my mind to not think them?  Have I let God renew my mind so it doesn’t go where it shouldn’t go?  The honest answer is – sometimes.  There are areas of my life where it is difficult to control my thinking.  There are other situations where I find it pretty easy to leave it all with God.

For example, I found it very easy to ‘let go and let God’ in our pandemic a couple of years ago.   I was obviously NOT in control of anything about that situation so I simply turned any concerns or fears I had about that craziness over to God.  Meanwhile, I did my part of trusting God and obeying him – confident that he was in control of everything.

A woman in one of my Bible study groups recently shared about how much she worries.  She wakes up worrying and goes to sleep worrying – when she can sleep –  and she doesn’t stop worrying in between.  Wow!  I realized that I rarely worry.  When I do, I’ve gotten good at stopping my thoughts and turning the things I’m worried about over to God.  I have learned that my worrying is useless, it simply creates anxiety over things I can’t control.  My prayers, however, are very effective, giving my concerns to God who can actually do something about them.

I’m continuing to trust God with whatever is coming next and it’s comforting to know that God sees this  when he looks into my heart today.

I filter everything that happens to me through the facts that God is good all the time, he loves me with a perfect love and is working everything out for my good.

God has promised and he always keeps his promises.

I Know That Voice

On By Judy GlasserIn April2 Comments

Little Samuel’s story in the Bible is one my favorites.

He heard a voice calling to him in the night and he thought is was the Prophet Eli since he was living with Eli.  So Samuel got out of bed and ran to Eli saying, “Here I am”.

But Eli said, “I did not call, go back and lie down.”

This happened again and then the third time, Eli realized that it was God who was calling the boy.  This time Eli told Samuel, when he heard the voice, to say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:9.

When God spoke again, Samuel told him he was listening and God went on to tell Samuel what was soon going to happen.

I’ve got a challenge for you.  The next time you think you might be hearing something from God, say those same words, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.”  And then listen.  Listen to what is going through your brain.  Think about what you have been reading in God’s Word and how it applies to your life.  Think about coincidences that have been happening in your life and how they relate to what you’ve been reading.  Remember things that Godly people in your life have said to you recently.

I believe God is regularly trying to break through the cacophony of our culture – especially the electronic bubble where we spend a lot of our time.  He is trying to talk to you and me – guiding us, encouraging us, and teaching us.

Have you had the experience where you are reading God’s Word and suddenly a sentence seems to stick out of the page? It almost looks like it’s in bold print? You reread a phrase a couple of times?  You start to wonder what this means in your life?  Has that phrase always been there?  I don’t remember ever reading that or even hearing anyone talk about that before?  That is God stopping us.  That is God drawing our attention to something specific in his Word so he can speak to us.

That’s what God did today with me.  He stopped me as I was reading to remind me how much I like young Samuel’s story.  Because I know God, I know he is encouraging me to continue to learn how to hear him more and more clearly as I read his Truth.  My knowledge of God is growing and the more I know him, the better I hear him.

How can I be confident that it’s God that’s talking to me and not just my own thinking?  What God says to me will always be consistent with what he says in the Bible.  He will not contradict himself.

I am also 100% sure it’s God talking when he says something I’ve never thought of before and it’s consistent with what I have read in the Bible.  God confirms his guidance to me through my circumstances as well.  When it’s God talking to me, things happening around me will line up with what God is saying.  Sometimes it will be something my husband, my pastor or a friend says.  As I pray about what God is telling me, God will often open up my eyes to how he is moving around me and I’m be able to connect the dots.

When I take time to consider all of these things, God’s directions to me become really clear.

When I work at staying aware of the fact that God is trying to talk to me, it’s not hard to hear him.

I hear you, Abba Father

Who Am I?

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

Isn’t this one of the big questions we try to figure out as we travel this road of life?

Who am I?

Who are you?

If we don’t find the right answer to that, it can really sidetrack us and distract us. We can end up in places we never wanted to be. We can follow roads we really don’t want to go down.

As you look around the world today, do you see any of this action? I know I do. I see a lot of people who are lost in a mire of pain and bad decisions and grief.

God knows that we need an anchor. We need a light – his light – of truth in our lives. That’s what the Bible – God’s Word – is supposed to do for us. If we let it. God gives us a foundation to stand on when the waves of this world try to roll over us, when the pain of living in a broken world takes all the joy out of our lives, when getting out of bed in the morning and facing the day seems futile and useless.

There are way too many dark pits we can fall into if we don’t have the right guide. These pits have names like selfishness, hate, unforgiveness, cheating, lying, unfaithfulness, and the list goes on.

I agree with King David as I read the words he wrote in Psalm 8: 3 – 9 –

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all the flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim in the paths of the sea.

“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

This is what God created us to be. This is how he looks at those who believe in him. He knows our potential to be great people who love him and love others.

But it’s impossible to live right and become the people God created us to be by ourselves. It’s only when we put God in the center of it all that it works. Because that’s how he created us. That’s how he created everything – with him right in the middle.

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 40, 2024

On By Judy GlasserIn April2 Comments

When I became faithful in seeking you, God, you lifted me out of the slimy pit of my rebellion and sin.  You rescued me from the deep mud of my bad choices.  You pulled me out of the mire I created by trying to do things ‘my way’.

I am now solidly planted on you, my Rock.  I have a new song of  love and praise to sing to you.

I pray that many others will also decide to put their trust in you, God.

Father, you bless those who trust in you.  We are wise when we put you first in our lives and don’t follow the example of others who are only focused on themselves.

You have great things planned for us, the faithful.  You have done many awesome things – there is nothing and no one to compare you to.

You don’t want me to just read the Bible and go to church.  You want my eyes to be open to your truth.  You want my obedience.

You don’t want me to just give my money to the church – you want me to passionately care about the things you care about.

You don’t want me to close my eyes to pray and start down my list of requests.  You want a relationship with me.  You want a conversation.  Most of all, you desire listening ears and a softened heart.

Here I am , Lord.

I desire to do your will.

Please write your words upon my heart.

What My Soul is Longing For

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

What does it mean to be “like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season and who leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers.”? Psalm 1: 3.

This sounds really good.

I want to be like a tree planted by a stream – constantly being fed, never feeling empty,

I want to yield my fruit in season – do all the good things God has planned for me to do, always feeling right on target with the purpose God has for me here.

I want to avoid having my leaves wither – how can I live this marathon of faith well all the way to the end? No burnout, no wandering for me?

And I want to prosper – only in God’s eyes. I don’t need money, fame or people’s acceptance. I’ve got an audience of One. He’s the only one who counts.

God is very clear about how to make this happen in my life. Blessed are those “whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night.” Psalm 1: 2.

When God translates this in my brain I hear his encouragement, telling me to continue to read, study and memorize his Word. I’m in my 14th consecutive year of reading the entire Bible and he’s telling me to keep it up, I’m on the right track. I just don’t read the Bible, I blog about it so I have to think about what I read and apply it to my life. I find his truth as it applies to my life truly ‘delightful’. It’s just what my soul is looking for.

I also participate in different Bible studies throughout the year so I’m meditating on his word by myself in the morning and several times ‘day and night’ with other people.

God has given me a life-long goal of memorizing scripture. It took me over 4 years because I have a really terrible memory, but God and I partnered up and he has written 2 entire chapters of the book of James on my heart. He uses these words constantly to guide me and let me know he is right beside me.

No wonder I have lost that ’empty’ feeling I used to have! I’m blessed as I watch God grow his fruit in my life. I plan to be reading the entire Bible each year for the rest of my time here on earth so I can end this journey well.

And today, I can feel my Father God cheering me on.

Thank you, Abba.

Psalm 121, 2024

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

When I need help, the only place I can always find it is when I look to my God, the Creator of Everything.  He does not let me stumble.   God watches over me all day and all night – he never sleeps.

How great is the LORD who is always by my side!

I know that God takes care of me – every day –

as I come and go –

both now and forever!

Thank you, Abba Father!