Category: December

Faith Is….

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

confidence in what I do not see.

I don’t see God, but I feel his love.  I see him moving in my life…

arranging the pieces…..orchestrating his plan.

I hear his voice…

through his written word and when he speaks into my mind.  Sometimes he speaks through others.

I experience his strength while I’m struggling with the issues and questions of today.

Every morning, as I witness the sun rising in the sky, I am reminded of God’s faithfulness to me.sunrise

Right now, he is holding the world together….for me.  The gravity he created is keeping my feet on the ground.

He is providing my next breath.

I rest in your love, Abba Father.

 

Growing Through It

On By Judy GlasserIn December4 Comments

Trials in my life have brought me pain…

and much heartbreak…

and an ocean of tears.

But they have also helped me grow in my faith.  As I have persevered through my current darkness toward the light, God has kept his promise by constantly being right by my side.

After asking God for wisdom for this journey, I find that he has given me insight and knowledge when I need it to make decisions and take next steps.  I have no doubt that God hears all of my prayers and is in the process of answering them in a way that is best for me and my family.

But it is extremely hard to consider this all joy as James tells us to do in his first chapter.

Maybe in years to come I will consider some of this trial as joy.

a-sparkDon’t get me wrong – there are small sparks of joy now.

Sparks of  ‘this is why’.

Sparks of ‘God is moving mountains’.

And my trust – our trust – is growing as we have had to hold onto God with both hands as we figure out how to move forward.  There is some joy in that.

I trust that he has the best planned for me and my family.   Trusting brings hope and peace and strength.

Please help us to continue to grow, Abba Father.

Fan the Flame

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Our passions….

burning inside of us.

The things we really care about.

When we are believers, God give us a passion for him and for his kingdom.  It’s our job to grow it and let God transform us so that we gradually become more like Jesus.

Paul tells Timothy – and us – in 2 Timothy that the Spirit God places inside of us gives us power.

God’s Spirit gives us love.

He gives us self-discipline.

We are meant to love God and follow him with power and self-discipline for the rest of our lives.

Paul tells Timothy – and us – to fan the flame of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which God has deposited within each believer.fan-the-flame

How are you fanning the flame?  What do your spiritual habits look like?

Maybe you regularly go to a Bible-believing and teaching church.  Great!  Do you participate?  Or just watch?  Do you go all of the time or once a month?

Fan the flame.

Maybe you read your Bible.  Great!  Do you read it daily or once in awhile?  Are you letting God transform you through his Word?  Are you listening and obeying?  Are you closer to God than you were a month a go?

Fan the flame.

Maybe you’re a part of a Small Group Bible Study.  Awesome!  Do you participate every week?  Do you meditate on the things you study, pray over them and let God change you?  Are you more like Jesus now than you were 6 months ago?

Fan the flame.

Just doing these activities is not the goal.  The goal is to let God into our hearts and minds so that he can change us from the inside out.  We fan the flame through our spiritual habits.

And God transforms us.

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

How Wide….

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

how long

and high

and deep

is the love of Christ?how-wide-and-long-2

Paul  prayed to God, asking that the Ephesians – and us – would know this love.

And be filled with this love.

So we can be strengthened with the power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us.

For this reason, Paul knelt down before his Heavenly Father to pray.

As we kneel before him now –

Dear Father, we thank you for how wide and long and high and deep Christ’s love is for us. 

We know it.

We feel it.

As we quickly rush into the Christmas holiday, please help us remember what we’re celebrating – Jesus’ birth.  And also help us remember his death and resurrection.  His sacrifice on the cross for us is why we can talk with you right now.

Thank you for the gift of your son, Abba Father.  It is in his name we pray to you today.  Amen.

Peace On Earth

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Peace.

Where do we find it in our world of busyness and problems and violence.

Where is it?peace-on-earth

How do we get it?

Is it even possible anymore?

Are we creating a culture where there is no peace?

I think some of us have adopted life styles that don’t include peace.

Because Jesus is our peace.

Knowing him, following him, loving him brings us peace.

Paul tells us in Ephesians that we who were once far away have been brought near to God by Jesus’ sacrifice.  As believers,  we have all been given free access to God.

We have an opportunity to have a personal relationship with Creator of the Universe.

Through Jesus, we can find peace within us.

Because God’s Spirit lives within us.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Don’t Waste Your Time

On By Judy GlasserIn December2 Comments

Watching TV for hours.

Staring at our phones.

Playing video games.

Organizing our lives so we can catch every game – baseball, football, basketball, whatever game is on.

None of these things are bad….unless we do them a lot.

So much wasted time.

I have a new understanding this year of how very short our time here on earth really is.our-life-so-easily-snuffed-out

We are a flame that can be snuffed out in an instant.

We are a flower that blooms and then quickly fades.

We are but a whisper in the winds of time.

Let’s not waste it.

Paul encourages us in 1 Corinthians 15 to give ourselves ‘fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain’.

This is my favorite verse in God’s word.  I love the fact that nothing I do for God and with God is a waste of time.  All of it has eternal value.  That’s extremely encouraging to me.

When I think of all the time and effort and concern I’ve spent on things that were temporary and fleeting….

wasted time.

None of us have time to waste.

Please help us keep focused on you, Abba Father.

The Way

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

The Way we should begin our day.

The Way we should end our day.

The Way we should live our lives.

In Acts 19 we are told that people were starting to call Christianity ‘The Way’.

I like it!our-treasure-map

The Way to love.

The Way to joy.

The Way to find purpose.

The Path.

The Direction.

The Way to what we’re all looking for.

Unfortunately, we can be easily distracted and lose our Way.  We can start thinking that ‘stuff’ will make us happy.  And then we become obsessed with ‘more’.

Or we start thinking that a person would make us happy – a new boyfriend because the current one doesn’t know how to make us happy, a new wife because the current one isn’t making us happy, a new church because the pastor in our current one isn’t making us happy.

We can get lost in thinking our job or career should be making us happy so we spend too much time there trying to be successful and ‘happy’.  Maybe one more raise or promotion will do it?

It’s easy to get lost in all the ways we see others searching for happiness.  I made a bunch of mistakes myself going down the wrong roads, looking in all the wrong places but never finding ‘The Way”.  My Way.

Until I focused on my personal relationship with God.

“Love the Lord with all your heart, all your mind and all your strength.”

It’s The Way.

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

Ignorance

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

We don’t know.

We’re confused.

We’re not sure what we believe.

OR what we believe is not based on the truth.

The Apostle Paul would call this ignorance.

Ignorance isn’t a very PC word these days – it sounds judgmental and condescending.

But it’s really just a lack of knowledge and information.who-do-you-say-i-am

This was a great description of the religious group Paul was talking to in Athens in Acts 17.

And its a GREAT descriptor for many people today.  They just don’t know.

A lot of very smart people have their heads full of a mishmash of half-truths about religion and God that they have received from other also uninformed people.  Or – even worse – they believe the lies they have read on media and social media.

They don’t know.  They lack accurate information.

By definition – they are ignorant.

Paul stayed in Athens for quite a while so he could teach in the synagogue and reason with this group of religious people.

Some sneered.  They didn’t listen and they remained ignorant.

Others listened, studied the scriptures themselves and believed.  And they knew what they believed.

How much do you know about God?

How much have you researched and studied for yourself?

Listening to pastors and teachers is great but that’s just the beginning of our personal journey toward the truth.  It’s the first step.

God wants to talk to us and teach us himself through his word.  Daily.

So we can know the truth.

So we can know God.

And be known.

Please open our minds, Abba Father.

They Could Not Be Stopped

On By Judy GlasserIn December1 Comment

They were cursed.

They were threatened.

They were hunted.

They were jailed.

They were whipped and beaten.

They were killed.

But they could not be stopped.

Gamaliel advises the Sanhedrin in Acts 5 – if the activity of the disciples “is of human origin, it will fail.  But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

The verdict is in.jesus-was-not-of-human-origin

Jesus was not of human origin.  His Great Commission for his disciples – then and now – to go into all the world and preach the Gospel making new disciples was not of human origin.

When they tried to stop the Good News of Jesus from spreading, the Pharisees found themselves fighting against God.  You can see for yourself how well that worked.

How many believers are there in the world?  How many churches?

How many Bibles do you have in your house?

God was not stopped…..

and he will not be stopped.

We know the end of this story.

We love you, Abba Father.

Our Gift

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Power

Truth

Boldness

Guidance

Comfort

Encouragement

The gift of the Holy Spirit came down upon the believers after Jesus ascended into heaven.  This is the same gift we receive today when we trust in Jesus and accept him as our Savior.purple-gift

The power of the Spirit of God dwells within us…

Guiding us – if we’re listening – in the way we should go.

Helping us make the right choices, avoiding the traps laid out in front of us by the Evil One.

He helps us discern the truth – a very difficult task in our culture today.

The Holy Spirit gives us boldness to share the Good News of the Redeeming Love of our Savior with our family, friends, neighbors and everyone in our sphere of influence.

The Holy Spirit encourages us when our journey gets tough and we experience the trials of existence on this planet.

The Holy Spirit comforts us in a way no earthly being can comfort us.  Our Creator wraps his arms around us, drawing our broken pieces close to him and lovingly mending us into a stronger person when we trust in his goodness.

The Gift – more valuable than anything we could have ever imagined to ask for.

The Spirit of God living within us.

Thank you for the Gift, Abba Father.