Category: December

Children of the Promise

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

We are Abraham’s offspring.

We are his children by faith.

We are children of the promise.dec 8 2015 children of the promise

Paul explains to us in Romans 9 that Abraham gave birth to the Jewish nation by the physical birth of Isaac.

But Abraham’s offspring are those who believe.  Those whose faith is in God.  These are his children.

As children of the promise, our roots go way back into ancient Biblical times.  When our new year starts in just a couple of weeks, we will be turning back to ‘In the beginning’ as we start with page 1 of the Bible again.  The Old Testament. Some people question why we study the Old Testament.  Why do we memorize it?  Why is it important to understand God’s words to us in the Old Testament?

Because that is where we come from.

Who we are was created in the Garden of Eden.

The sin and violence which fills our TV screens today is the same rebellion against God that fills the pages of the Old Testament.

We get the chance to know more about God as we read about his interactions with our biblical ancestors before the Light of Jesus full of truth and grace came into our world.

These are our roots.

Where we come from.

Children of the Promise.

Thank you, Abba Father.

A Weapon Of Satan

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Sometimes we are weighed down by guilt.

Guilt about things we have done.

More guilt about things we should have done but didn’t.Dec 4 2015 eagerness to do the right thing

This dark, depressing pressure of guilt should remind us that guilt is a weapon of Satan.  He uses it to keep us focused on our sins, tied to the past – held back from the joy that comes from grace of God.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul tells us that Godly sorrow comes when the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins.

Godly sorrow brings repentance and leaves no regrets.

Godly sorrow brings an earnestness and eagerness to get right with God.

It brings indignation that we have strayed – that’s not who we are anymore.

It brings alarm because we realize we’re doing things we don’t want to do and we’re anxious to change.  We’re longing to get back on the right path.

We evaluate the choices and decisions that brought us to this place so that we don’t make them again.

We are ready to make things right.  We want to make amends.  We have a strong desire to do the right thing.

The darkness and depression of guilt is not Godly sorrow.

When we are convicted of our sin, God wants us to move forward.

He wants us to eagerly repent and get back on the straight path.

Godly sorrow helps us turn toward the light and find our joy once again.

Because we repent.

We change.

And we are reconciled.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Grow Up!

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

That’s the challenge.

To become mature in our faith.

To know God.

To understand his word to us and to apply it to our lives.

To discern the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives as he reveals truth to us.  As he convicts us of our sin and points out things we need to let him change in us.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that, when he became a man, he stopped talking like a child, thinking like a child and reasoning like a child.

How about us?

Have we made the decision to grow up?Dec 2 2015 grow up

To put away childish behavior and become an adult in our faith?

Have we stopped making excuses for not putting God first in our lives – his first and greatest commandment?

Just like Paul, we’ll never fully know God this side of heaven.

But we are fully known by him.

He sees any of the childish behavior left in us.

He hears all of the excuses.

The rationalizations.

He sees all of the time we waste on foolish things.

He knows our heart…our motivations.

And he loves us anyway.

He desires a personal, daily relationship with us anyway.

Now that’s REAL love!

Thank you, Abba Father!

Lukewarm

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

As the final Revelation begins, John is writing to the 7 churches.  The message that reverberates through my mind is his word to the church of Laodicea –dec 28 2014 lukewarm

Don’t be lukewarm.

Be hot.  Or cold.  But not lukewarm.

He sounded pretty disgusted with this church – saying he would ‘spit’ them out of his mouth.

They were rich and they were acting like they had everything they needed.  But John called them pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

And then he offers them the truth.  He calls them to repentance and reminds them that Jesus is always ready to forgive them and redeem them.

Lukewarm is not a good place to be.  Jesus came to earth to save us and transform us into beacons of light in a lost and broken world.

‘Okay’ is not what we are called to be.  The Holy Spirit wants to set a fire burning within us as we seek to know and love our Abba Father.  As we learn to love and care for each other in Christ’s name.

Is there a fire burning in our hearts?  A fire that burns hot?  A fire that keeps us passionate about following Jesus on this journey towards the truth?

Turn up the heat, dear Father!

 

This Is Why

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

“For the Word of God is alive and active.” Hebrews 4:12December 23b 2014 This is why

This is why we spend hours reading and meditating on God’s word to us.

He speaks.

He acts.

He penetrates our minds with his truth – rearranging some of our thoughts and shining a light on others so we can see the lies and discard them.  He adds his truth to our thinking and sets us free.

He judges the attitudes of our heart….

softening the places that have become hard,

opening the parts that have become closed,

bringing his light into the dark areas.

He gives us life, light, joy and peace!

Amen!  Hallelujah!

A Legacy

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

As Christmas cards rolled into my house this year, I became more and more aware of the strong Christian legacy my grandparents created in my mother’s family.Happy birthday Jesus

My grandparents had 16 children in a farm-house in Iowa.  They came over from Holland as teenagers and became homesteaders in Iowa – the original “Little House on the Prairie”.   I’m the youngest of I-forget-how-many grandchildren.  One time I tried to count my first cousins and there were over 50 of them.  I’ve never really figured out how many 2nd cousins I have.

All of my aunts and uncles as well as my parents have passed away.  Hebrews 12 talks about them – they are part of the great cloud of witnesses that cheer us on from heaven.  The fact that they all created a Christian legacy in their families was very evident by the stream of Christmas cards we received celebrating Jesus’ birth and praising our Father God who sent Jesus as a gift of grace to us.

There was not one mention of Santa Claus anywhere.  Not that Santa is bad – he’s just not the focus of Christmas in our family.

A legacy of strong faith in God runs deep in my family.  It’s a blessing that is being handed down from generation to generation – each generation personally accepting salvation and passing it along.  This family skipped the ‘handing down’ of silverware, furniture or jewelry.  They chose to pass along a most important family heirloom – how to live a life faithful to God.

I have been richly blessed by this legacy and continue to pass it along to my children and grandchildren. (The picture is from this Christmas – my grandchildren and I singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.)

If you weren’t born into a family legacy of faith, you have the awesome opportunity of starting one for your family.  They all started with someone –  you are it.

And our cloud of witnesses in heaven cheer us on as we throw off everything that hinders us from running the race of faith with perseverance.

Thank you, dear Father, for the legacy of faith in my family.

So Confusing

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

 

Our culture is filled with confusion.  That’s my favorite word for it.Dec 23 2014 So confusing

Lies are everywhere and large groups of people believe these lies.

Sometimes I’ll be in the midst of a large number of people when something really wrong happens and, when I look around, I realize that no one else looks like they think this is bad.  If its sexual in nature, people snicker and laugh, just like they did in Junior High.  I often feel like our culture is stuck in Junior High when it comes to sex.

People are so confused.

Even Christians.   We get distracted.  We get off-target.  We are never going to be perfect this side of heaven so we’re all hypocrites at times.  We say we are Christians but sometimes do very not-Christ-like things.

Hebrews 3 tells us the key to avoiding getting lost in this confusion.

Fix our thoughts on Jesus.

Jesus is our perfect role-model.  He was never a hypocrite.  He was God made flesh.

I have found this key to be extremely helpful to me.  Because the behavior of Christians can be very disappointing.  The things they say.   The things they do.  If I’m looking to them as role-models, I’m going to see the hypocrisy and I will be confused.

When I look to Jesus as my role-model, I find that I have a lot more understanding and grace for Christians who are on the path of faith like I am.  Jesus loved the broken and lost and confused.  He spoke truth and love.

He is the example of what God created us to be….before sin got in the way.

When we fix our thoughts on Jesus, our thoughts are in the right place.

Thank you, dear Father, for our perfect role-model – Jesus.

Contentment

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Being content.

It’s an attribute rarely seen in our culture.

Paul says in Philippians 4 that he has learned to be content in whatever circumstance he is in.

Contentment is definitely a ‘learned’ feeling – it doesn’t come naturally to many of us.  We are surrounded by a gigantic marketing industry which constantly barrages us with ‘bigger, better & more’ messages.  We just lived through the largest marketing push of the year.  It’s very clear that we all need a new car, a new computer and a new cell phone.  And we need it now :)!Davey, Grandma and me at Christmas

Learning contentment is one of my goals and my mother was a great role model for me.  She didn’t have much worldly wealth but she was rich in happiness as she lived her life in close relationship with God. (The picture is one of my favorites – my son’s first Christmas.  He’s 33 years-old now.)

As I work on learning contentment, I remind myself that God has given me everything I have.  This is my portion and I need to be a great steward of it.  That’s how I can honor and delight my Father God.

When my thoughts are filled with counting my blessings, I feel that I have more than enough.  I have been abundantly blessed and I am content.

Unfortunately, I don’t always stay in the Land of Contentment…..but I know how to get back to it.  When I find myself straying down the ‘bigger, better, more’ aisle, I know I need to spend more time 1 – on – 1 with my Abba Father so he can get my desires lined up again with his.

And – poof!  I’m back in the Land of Contentment!

It’s supernatural!

It’s God!

Thank you, dear Father!

Our New Self

On By Judy GlasserIn December2 Comments

 

We need to put on our new self……

become the person God created us to be – righteous and holy.Dec 15 2014 our new self

New attitudes.

Different behaviors.

Take off our old, selfish, sinful thoughts.

“Be made new’, Paul tells us in Ephesians 4.

In our minds.

In our hearts.

This is a life-long process for all of us.

We each has a lot of ‘old’ that needs to be put off and ‘new’ that needs to be etched in our mind so that we can be transformed.

So we stay on this journey towards God, putting off the old and putting on the new.

We let God renew our minds with the truth.

And we become more and more like Christ everyday, every month, every year.

That’s the goal.  As we race into January of a new year, lets commit to letting the Holy Spirit shift our transformation into turbo gear next year.  Out with the old – in with the new!  2015, here we come!

Please guide us, dear Father.

As God’s Chosen People

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were God’s chosen people.  Under the New Covenant in the New Testament, the church is God’s chosen people.december 14 2014. God's chosen people.

Not the church building.  The people of the church.

We are the church.

And Paul gives us clear directions in Colossians about how we – as God’s chosen people – will act when we let the Spirit of Christ live out loud in our lives.

God’s chosen people –

– are clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

– bear with each other, forgiving each other as our Father has forgiven us.

– love one another in a way that provides perfect unity.

– let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.

– wisely let the message of Christ inhabit our minds, our teaching and our praise.

We live a life defined by gratitude, giving thanks to our Father God.

So be it – Amen.