Category: August

Standing in the Gap

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

Ezekiel had a lot of bad news for Judah.  The only good news he had was that God would extend his grace to them if they would turn back to God. If they would stop rebelling.  But they didn’t listen.ugust 20 2014 standing in the gap

In Ezekiel 22, God tells Judah that he looked for someone to stand before him in the gap on behalf of Judah.  He didn’t want to destroy them.  He searched for someone who was faithful but he found no one.

We read a similar message from God in Abraham’s time when Abraham negotiated with God over the number of righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah as he tried to save Lot.  We also heard this during Noah’s time on earth.  God looked over all of the people on the earth and found one righteous man – Noah.

When God looks at our broken and rebellious country today, does he see us standing in the gap?  Does he see our lights shining brightly where we work?  Does he see our servanthood setting the example in our churches and our neighborhoods?

Are we a conduit of God’s love to the people around us?

If so, well done, good and faithful servant.

If not, why not?

 

I Changed My Mind

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

King Zedekiah ordered his people to free all of their Hebrew slaves.  There were strict limitations defined in the Law of Moses which required the release of the Hebrew slaves after 7 years.

So the people let all of their Hebrews slaves go free and they went to the temple to renew their covenant with God.  They promised.

And then they changed their minds.August 14 2014 I changed my mind

They enslaved the Hebrews again causing God’s anger to burn.  As a result of their disobedience, God told them he would give them over to their enemies and that their towns would be abandoned….a wasteland.

They made a promise but then they changed their minds pretty quickly, didn’t they?  It sounds like they were barely back from the big ‘renewing our promise to God’ ceremony at the temple when they decided to break it.

Do you think it got a little difficult for them?  They lost all of their Hebrew slaves – who was going to do all of the work?

Do it themselves?

I don’t think so.

They had made a huge commitment to God without really thinking it through.  It looks like one of those ‘everybody is doing it’ scenarios which is followed by a ‘what have we done?’ reality.

Do we ever do this?  Make big promises or commitments to God only to change our mind when it gets real and it gets tough?

God promises that he will be there for us when it gets real and it gets tough.  He is our strength when we are weak.  We just need to ask.  We need to trust.

Nothing is impossible with God.

Thank you, dear Father.

Finding God

On By Judy GlasserIn August2 Comments

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.” God says to us in Jeremiah 29.

He tells us we need to call on him.August 11 2013 Finding God

We need to come to him.

And we need to pray to him.

Then we will find him.

Thank you, dear Father.

This verse comes immediately after a favorite verse of ours, “For I know the plans I have for you, ” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

God wants to do all of that for us.

And how does he do that?

He speaks to us, he guides us, he changes us, when we call on him.

When we come to him.

When we talk with him.

We have to do our part and then God has a free reign in our lives to prosper us and to give us a future.

Thank you, dear Father!

When the Wicked are Winning

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

I don’t understand it.August 10 2014 Wicked are Winning

When bad things happen to good people.

When it looks like the wicked are winning.

We read about the Great Deportation in 2 Kings.  Nebuchadnezzar took all of the people of Jerusalem to Babylon.

Into captivity.

God’s chosen people.

Satan had to think he was winning at this point.

Nebuchadnezzar stripped the Temple of the Lord of all of its treasures and put all of it in the temple of Babylon.   The treasures Solomon had dedicated to God were now being used to honor and worship a wicked, pagan god.

Now Satan really had to think he was winning.

We know there were faithful believers in this crowd of Jews that went to Babylon – we just read about Daniel and his friends.  We can safely assume these believers were praying and repenting all of the way.

But God’s plan had been put in motion a long time before this actually happened.  We just read through many of the prophecies that predicted that this was going to happen.  It was the consequence for Israel’s habit of repenting and then rebelling again.  Over and over, generation after generation.

When it looks like the wicked are winning, the only thing I understand for sure is that God’s ways are not our ways.  His thoughts are not our thoughts.

And my faith stands firm  on God’s promises to us –

he loves us,

he wants the best for us,

and he is working it all out for our good.

God’s got this!

Hallelujah!  Amen!

 

Learn the Lesson

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

“Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?” declares the Lord in Jeremiah 25.

Learn a lesson.August 7 2014 Learn the Lesson

How good are we at learning lessons?

Learning involves changing.  Changing our thought process which changes our attitudes which changes our behavior.

Changing.

Some of us are scared of changing – not sure the change is going to be a good one.

Some of us are too stubborn to change – we think we’re just fine the way we are.

Some of us are too lazy to change – it takes an effort.

And there are plenty of other reasons and excuses we use to justify not changing.

God tells us over and over and OVER in his word that he wants to change us, renew our minds, transform us, cleanse our hearts.  He wants us to learn the lessons he is giving us…..and that requires changing.

In order to do that, we have to obey him.  Today, tomorrow, every day until we die.

We have to submit our will to his.

God is asking us today, “Will you not learn a lesson?”

Yes, dear Father.

Follow with Care

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

King Josiah brought about wide-spread religious reforms in Judah which included cleaning out the temples of anything related to idols or pagan worship.  While doing this, they found the Book of the Law of the Lord which had been given to Moses.  The king ordered that it be read to all of the people and then they all renewed their covenant with the one True God.August 2 2014 Follow with care

King Josiah brought all of the priests together and slaughtered them.  The priests had been given a holy position of authority and responsibility and they had led the people astray with it.  They not only told the people that idol worship was good, they led the worship and participated in all of the pagan rituals.

They led.

And the people followed.

The lesson for us is that we need to be very careful about who we are following.  And where they are taking us.Aug 2 2014 2 same one

I regularly hear of church families which have wandered down paths that have taken them far away from God’s truth.  With their pastor and church leaders leading the way.

We each need to know God’s Word well enough to be able to discern if our leaders start to veer off.  When we know the truth well, it’s much easier to tell what is false.

There are numerous issues in the Bible which are not totally clear so these are not the issues that should cause us alarm.  There are various  ‘theories’ and ‘positions’ regarding these unclear items.  Many of us choose a certain type of church because their view on an issue matches our view.

The denomination of churches which I was brought up in and joined when I moved to Phoenix doesn’t believe in the Rapture.  So I never heard of it before I became an adult and the Left Behind series came out.  The Bible isn’t clear so, selfishly, I’d like the Rapture to happen before the Tribulation so that I’m out of here. (If I went to seminary, I would say that I’m ”Pre-Trib”)   If none of that happens, I’m still on the original plan of dying before I get to heaven.

We can choose to believe what we want to believe about many of these issues – they don’t change our salvation.  If it was super-important, God would have made it super-clear.  Like John 3:16.  Salvation.  Clear.  John 14:6. One Way.  Clear.

Our pastors and church leaders have been given holy positions of authority and responsibility to lead and care for Jesus’ flock.

We have also been given a holy position with responsibility – to follow with care.

Help us know the truth, dear Father.

Our Confidence

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

We are blessed when we put our trust in the Lord.July 31 2014 Our Confidence

When we are confident in our relationship with him, we are like a tree he has planted right by the water.  Our faith grows like strong roots- stretching far out into the stream.

Then we don’t have to worry when the ‘heat’ comes – problems, discouragement, heartbreak.  We are always fed by God’s stream of water so our faith remains alive and strong.

We don’t have to worry about the drought – illnesses, loss of employment, broken relationships – because we are permanently attached to a constant source of Living Water.  As a result of this connection, we consistently bear fruit in our lives.

Jeremiah draws this picture for us in his 17th chapter and it’s just like the picture given us in Psalm 1.  Why does God keep giving us this image on how to be blessed?  Why is he etching these words so deeply onto our hearts?

HHmmmm.

Are we getting the message yet?

Thank you, dear Father!

The Challenge

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

“You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.” says Jeremiah as he talks to God.

He was talking about the people of Judah……July 29 2014 The Challenge

but could he be talking about us, too?

Do we talk about God while keeping our hearts safely out of his reach?

Do we read God’s Word without letting any of it soak in and change us?

Have we experienced God touching our spirit and renewing our mind recently?  Today?  This week? This month?  This year?

Are we stuck on giving God lip service when he desires to transform our lives?

What will it take for us to

open up our hearts…

take that next step…

stop talking about God and let him into our lives do something miraculous?

Today is the day, dear Father.

A Perfect Father….

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

disciplines us.

When we do things that aren’t right, God loves us and so he chooses to discipline us.  It’s for our good.August 23 2013

When we react well to his discipline by learning the lesson and not repeating our error, we grow more like Christ and our relationship with God is stronger.

But it doesn’t feel good to be disciplined.  It’s never fun. 

When God has disciplined me, it’s always been a tough lesson.  I have learned one very important thing about God’s discipline – I need to learn the lesson the first time.  Otherwise, the lessons grow bigger and more obvious and harder until we hit bottom and THEN we look up to God.  I think this explains many of the issues we see in our lives and in the world around us – people are not responding positively to God’s discipline and so the issue gets bigger and worse until people finally  turn to God.

I’m trying to avoid that situation by ‘getting it’ and repenting and changing my behavior the first time.  It’s not easy, but its  worth the effort.

I’ve been forgiven and I’ve changed but I still  experience the consequences of some of my old, bad choices.  I’m amazed how sometimes I’m still paying the consequences for bad decisions I made over 30 years ago.  It doesn’t seem fair until I realize that paying those consequences remind me of my need for a Savior.  They remind me of how much I have been forgiven making it easier for me to forgive others.  Dealing with the consequences for my old, bad choices reminds me of my continuing need for God’s redeeming power in my life.  It reminds me of how faithful God has been to me so far on this journey and it helps me trust him with my future.

And I am reminded that he disciplines me because he loves me.  He wants only the best for me.

Thank you, dear Father.

Out of our rebellion…

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

Into a life filled with God’s blessings.

That is the restoration God promises to each of us just as he promised the Israelites in Jeremiah 32.

When we decide to stop fulfilling our personal will and desires and start listening to and living out the Words of Truth God has for us, we move from the land of God’s great wrath to the land overflowing with God’s goodness.

He will bring health and healing.August 22 2013

We will enjoy abundant peace and security.

Joy will return.

Prosperity will return.

We will dance again.

Our lives will be a well-watered garden – beautiful, fruitful, purposeful.

Let the dancing begin!