Category: April

Caving In

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

Or should I call it making the ‘popular’ choice?

In 1 Samuel, Saul disobeyed God by keeping some of the ‘stuff’ that they took from the Amalekites after defeating them.  When Samuel pointed this out to Saul, Saul rationalized the sin by telling Samuel that they did this so they could give the best of the sheep and cattle to God.

Samuel then tells Saul,” Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD?….Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” 1 Samuel 15:22,23.

Well, THEN Saul admitted that the real reason he kept the plunder was because he was afraid of how his men would react if he destroyed it all like God wanted him to do.

The bottom-line in this story is Saul didn’t trust God.  He didn’t believe God had his back.  He got all wrapped up in being a hotshot king that everyone looked up to and he didn’t want to put any of this hero-worship into jeopardy.

So Saul made the ‘popular’ choice rather than the obedient one.

Do I ever do that?  Do you ever do that? Are we ever more concerned about what other people think than what God thinks?  Do we fail to take the more Godly position on issues sometimes because it may not go over well with others? 

We probably all do, sometimes without realizing it.

If my goal is to be obedient to God, I’m going to need to make what God thinks a higher priority than what people around me think.

Pleasing God trumps popularity here on earth – every time.

Please help me show my love for you and faith in you by obeying you, Abba Father.

I Know That Voice

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

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

Psalm 71b, 2021

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

‘As for me, I will always have hope;

I will praise you more and more.”

I can talk about your goodness and your grace all day long, Lord, even though it’s often hard to describe how great you are. I tell everyone I know about you.  I share with them how awesome you are!

All of my life, God, you have taught me your the truth. I know you well and I tell others about how marvelous you are. I am fulfilling my obligation to pass on your truth to the next generation – to those who are coming behind me.

I know you will be walking closely beside me for the rest of my days. 

You are perfect!  Your greatness fills the universe and never ends!  There is no one like you, God!

Yes, I have had bitter trials and troubles in my life.  But you were always there to guide me….

and comfort me….

and restore me.

I will never stop praising your faithfulness, my God! I will sing praise to you! I will shout for joy!

You have saved me and I cannot stop talking about you! No one and nothing can truly harm me when I have you!

Thank you, Abba Father.

Everything

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

Everything I have comes from God.

Everything you have comes from God.

I really believe this. Do you?

When I came to the point that I sincerely believed this, it totally changed what I do with my time, money and talents.  I believe that this is what God is going to be talking to me about on judgement day. I am a believer and God has forgiven my sins for all time because of Christ’s death on the cross. It would be against God’s nature to bring up my sins on judgement day – what was the cross for? But God’s Word tells me in several places that Jesus is like the owner of the company who gave his servants – including me – resources and talents before he went off on a long journey. When he comes back, he will hold his servants – including me – accountable for how well we stewarded what he left with us while he was gone..

On Judgement Day, God will give me an evaluation of what I have done with all he has given me.

King David’s declaration in front of all of his people has made this passage in 1 Chronicles 29 one of my favorite. In my head, I imagine King David standing in the middle of huge piles of gold, silver, bronze and precious stones he was accumulating to be used in the building of the Temple of God.

I see David standing in the middle of this fortune with his hands raised to the sky as he acknowledges in front of everyone that all of this – and everything – comes from God.

Let’s join him (my paraphrase) –

We lift up our praise to you, Lord, our God and Father, forever!

You have all the greatness..

all the power…

all the glory…

all of the majesty..

and all of the splendor!

Everything in heaven and on earth is yours.

You, oh Lord, own everything and are in control of it all!

Any wealth or honor we have comes from you.

You rule over everything!

Only you are able to give strength and power to us.

Now, our God, we give you our thanks and we praise your glorious name!

Thank you, Abba Father!

Psalm 23, 2021

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

My Lord protects me. I have everything I need. He provides for me and fills my life with his supernatural peace.

He gives me joy and strength for each day.  Through his Word, he directs my choices and decisions.

Even when I am going through tragedies and tough trials, I am not afraid.  I know God is right beside me. He is guiding me. I feel his arms wrapped around me, comforting me.

No matter what is going on, I know God loves me. He is faithful and he wants the best for me.

I am precious to him – I can feel that in my soul.  My heart overflows with thankfulness.

I know, Abba Father, that your love and goodness will never end.  You will be with me all of my days here on earth.  And you will be walking right beside me when I leave earth to enter heaven.

Where I will be with you…

Forever.

Thank you, Abba Father.

A Deadly Snare

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

King David’s son, Absalom, had beautiful hair.  It was thick and long and gorgeous.  He cut it once a year, then weighed it so everyone would know awesome it was. Pretty extreme, right?

I wonder how often Absalom stopped to look in the mirror to admire his hair?  (Did they have mirrors back then?  Maybe shiny pieces of metal that reflected back their image?  Or maybe the guys looked into their swords?)

If he made this big deal about his yearly hair cutting, I would image that he was extremely proud of his hair, don’t you?  I’m sure it was a constant source of compliments for him.

And then we read in 2 Samuel 18 that Absalom was riding his donkey under a tree in the midst of battle when his hair got caught in the tree.  He was pulled from his donkey and was left hanging in midair by his hair while his donkey just kept on going.  While Absalom was dangling there, unable to defend himself, Joab plunged his sword into Absalom’s heart and killed him.

Only really thick hair would be able to do that, right?  If Absalom had thin hair or even regular hair, this wouldn’t have happened to him.

The thing he was so very proud of became a snare that caused his death.

So the question to you and I today is – what is the thing in our lives that we are most proud of?  Do we need an attitude adjustment before we find ourselves in a snare?

Are we already caught in a snare?

Dear Father, we are so blessed to have you in our lives lavishing us with your mercy and your love.  We confess any personal pridefulness.  Please help us be most proud of you and what you have done for us.

Psalm 51, 2021

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

I ask for a pure heart, O God! I want my life to be focused on you.

Keep me close by your side and grow your spirit within me. Bring back the joy I felt when I first asked you to save me. Give me a faithful heart so I stay near you. Then I will tell others about your saving grace and I will share the truth you have revealed to me.

Please lift the burden of my guilt from me, O God, and I will sing of your goodness forever. When I open my mouth, Lord, let it be to praise you.

I know you don’t want me to just ‘show up’ at church because it’s the right thing to do. I know you don’t want me to give money to the church just because it’s the right thing to do. I know you don’t want me to read the Bible just so I can check it off of my reading plan for the year.

You want my heart to be broken open,

repentant,

humbled,

willing to be filled with your truth.

Amen. Let it be so, Abba Father.

A Direct Line

On By Judy GlasserIn April2 Comments

Have you noticed?

It appears that some people have a direct line to God.  When they call (pray), God always responds.   Stuff happens.

I believe it’s true – some people have a direct line to God.

Why?

Because they pray in line with God’s will.  When I pray for what God wants to give me, I always get it.  He has promised me.

God tells me in James 1, when I pray for wisdom, I always get it – in generous amounts.  When I pray for more of the Fruit of the Spirit, the Spirit that lives inside of me helps grow and nurture those things.  When it’s God’s will for me, he says yes every time.

The key is praying God’s will.  What does God want?  What is best for his purposes?

To do this, I need to know God well.  I need to have his word etched on my heart and mind so that it’s how I think.  And – this can be a tough one – I need to put what he wants ahead of what I want.  There are times when God reveals to me through his Word what he wants done in a certain situation.  Other times, I simply pray Jesus’ prayer, “Thy will be done.”

I can’t give God a list of things I want and expect him to say yes to everything.  But when I pray for what God wants – knowing and trusting that what he wants is always best –  it happens.

This doesn’t mean I don’t ask God for things I want.  He tells us to pray to him all the time on every occasion about everything.  It does mean that the answer will not be ‘yes’ if I’m praying out of line with his will.

In 1 Chronicles, King David was trying to bring the Ark of God back to Jerusalem but he was running into big problems.  One of his men died because he touched the Ark to steady it.  That scared David so he left the Ark with a local family and went on to Jerusalem.  There, he realized the issue with the Ark  was “we did not inquire of him (God) about how to do it in the prescribed way.” 1 Chronicles 15:13b.

So David consulted God and, when they did it God’s way, they were successful.  David danced with joy in front of the Ark as it entered Jerusalem, the City of David.

When I ask God to do things his way, my direct line to God is wide open.

And the answer is always ‘yes’.

Thank you, Abba Father.

The Journey

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

9 years.

I’m in my 9th consecutive year of reading the entire Bible. A couple years after I started, I changed to the Daily Chronological Bible and it has helped fuel the fire God has placed inside of me to read his Word. Every day. Every year. Several of you have been on this journey with me for quite a while – thank you!

I have a passion for knowing what God has to say about everything. I have learned that its very important to know what God says about a certain topic throughout the Bible – one or two verses just don’t give me the message that God intended. When I read the entire revelation of God, the dots start to connect and I begin to understand the bigger picture.

After my 4th or 5th year of reading the entire Bible, I realized that I could start to point out when someone said something they thought was in the Bible but its not. When I hear something like that, I usually ask the person where that is in the Bible in case I missed it. More often than not, they can’t find it in God’s Word. Exposing the truth like this continues to fuel the fire inside of me.

I appreciate the entire journey through the Bible. The Old Testament used to be a little hard to get through but the Chronological Bible helps a lot by condensing several repetitive sections into one so I only read all the laws once, I only read all the details about building the temple once, etc. It’s significant to me that it takes 9 months to read the Old Testament in the Chronological Bible and only 3 months to read the entire New Testament. This shows the importance to God of the Old Testament. And it tells me I should be reading and studying the Old Testament just as much if not more than the New Testament. Since I’ve started doing this, God speaks just as clearly to me from the Old Testament as he does the New Testament.

Because it is condensed, the Chronological Bible is a great reading Bible, but not a good Bible to study. When I’m studying God’s Word, I get out my study Bible.

I have some favorite parts in the Chronological Bible. I’m in one of them right now so I thought I’d take a break in the journey to share some of the things I really love about how this Bible is organized.

I’m reading David’s story right now and the Chronological Bible places the Psalms David wrote into his story at the time he wrote them. David tells me in Psalm 56 all about his thoughts and fears right after I read about him being captured by the Philistines in Gath. I read in Psalm 34 of David’s gratitude to God for taking care of him after reading how David pretended to be insane and King Achish let him go. I hear David’s prayer in Psalm 142 as I read about him hiding in the cave to avoid being killed by King Saul.

Later in the Chronological Bible, it is organized so that some of the minor prophet’s writings are placed next to the story of the king they talked to. It all makes more sense.

In the New Testament of the Chronological Bible, I find myself reading about Jesus’ sacrifice for me on the cross right around Thanksgiving time. It’s so appropriate and helps me focus my gratitude on the most important thing that has ever happened to me and to our world.

Then right after Thanksgiving comes Christmas and I will be reading Revelations. Wow! When Christ comes again, it’s going to be better than the first Christmas for those of us who have put our faith in him.

And then, on January 1, I start again. In the Beginning….

And the Journey Towards the Truth continues.

Thank you for your Word, Abba Father.

Psalm 142, 2021

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

David wrote this psalm as he hid in a cave from King Saul who wanted to kill him.  If he wrote it today, it might sound a lot like this.  Do you need to say this to God right now?  

I cry out to the Lord today!

I need your know you care about me, dear Father.

Here are my complaints and troubles –

I am tired….very tired.

I feel lost….very lost.  You know the way – please show me.

I can’t trust the people around me.  They are my problem.

Look!  There is no one here to help me.  There is no one I can count on.

No one who cares.  But I know you care, Lord.  I can count on you – you are always on my side.

I desperately need you to hear me….

and rescue me!

I’m stuck in my problems and issues – they are too big for me.

Set me free, Lord!  Get me unstuck!

And I will give you all the credit.

Everything good in my life comes from you.  You are so good to me!

Thank you, Abba Father!