Category: February

Who has Short Arms?

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

“Are my arms too short?’ God asks Moses in Numbers 11.  Sounds like kind of a strange question, doesn’t it?

And I know God is asking us that same question today when we don’t see him answering our prayers so we take matters into our own hands……..and mess everything up!

Do we think his arms are too short?  He’s not powerful enough?   God can’t take care of the problems we are facing?  He needs our help?

Many of us fail to see God intervene and answer our prayers because we go ahead and  ‘take care of it’, messing up what God had planned.  We don’t persevere long enough to experience the blessing.

If we really, truly want God’s will to be done, we need to wait on him for his perfect timing.

And pray.

And grow our faith by staying very close to him every day.

And – when he answers – it will be worth the wait! 

We know that your arms are not too short, dear Father.  Please help us trust you more.

Stop Giving……

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

we have enough. 

This is what Moses told the Israelites after he saw that they already had more than enough of everything they needed to make the tabernacle.  In Exodus 36:2-7, he send out an order to restrain them from giving more.

Really?  Have we ever been told by our church to stop giving because everyone was so generous that the church had more than enough?

As we read through Exodus and Leviticus, it’s easy to label the Israelites as whiney immature unbelievers.  Come on – if you haven’t said it, you were thinking it 🙂

But it appears that they have this giving back to God thing going on strong at this point in their journey.

What would our world be like if those doing God’s ministries had to ask people to stop giving because there was more than enough?  I know we would see a holy outpouring of God’s blessings because we can never outgive him.  He loves it when we trust him enough to give more than what our accountant thinks is wise.  When we are dependent on God, he has the opportunity to lavish his love on us and on others through us.

And what God gives back to those who are generous to others in His name can’t be bought with money.

Thank you for the joy we experience when we give back generously to you, dear Father!

It Takes Skill

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

Have you read the directions God gave to Moses concerning the tabernacle that he wanted the Isrealites to make?

They are extremely specific and detailed.  This was obviously very important to God.Ex 31

God chose who would work on this project with him by giving them wisdom and knowledge and ability to make everything that he had commanded them to make.

He does the same with us today.  When he asks us to do something, he will give us the knowledge and abilities we need to complete the task.  Maybe not right away.  We may have to hang tough through some struggles – that’s one of the ways he trains us.  

God promises that he will equip us when we step out in faith and follow his lead.  It’s after we step out and after we obey that we will experience his blessings.  We often want to see the blessing first but it just doesn’t work that way.  It’s through our faith and perseverence that God blesses us.

Thank you for your blessings, dear Father!

As the Darkness Spreads…..

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

we live in the light!

Just like the Israelites did in Egypt.Ex 10

As one of the plagues, Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky and darkness spread over  Egypt.  It was so dark that no one could see anyone else for 3 days.

Yet the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

It’s hard to ignore the darkness spreading through our culture today, isn’t it?  Turn on your TV and the immorality literally jumps out of the screen at us.  Respect for human lives is crumbling as the bullets fly.  Parents refusing to parent are ripping apart the fabric of our families.  The list is growing.

Yet Christ-followers live in the light of God’s truth and his mercy and his love.

Our future is as brighter than the sun.  Heaven has no need of a sun because God is there.  He is the source of all warmth and light and good things.  There is no darkness there.  Hallelujah!

And it’s a challenge to live like one who is in the light when we are surrounded by our world, isn’t it? We’re tempted to be sucked into the darkness, the confusion, the chaos.  It’s all around us….everywhere.

But it can’t touch us when we are firmly anchored on our Rock, who is God.  We are safe when we’re being held tightly in His grip – he’ll never let go.  When we live closely to God, his light shines into our lives and lights up our paths. 

In the midst of the darkness.

Thank you, dear Father.

Our Extra Day

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

What are you doing with your extra day?

This is the question my husband asked me a couple of days ago.  It took me a couple of moments to realize that he was talking about February 29.  Our extra day.  I’m  actually be in LA for some meetings today so it doesn’t feel like an ‘extra day’ but…..

Let’s talk about it.  What are you doing with your extra day?

I’ve got a couple of suggestions (I’m sure that surprises you 🙂

If you’ve been reading this blog but you haven’t joined us in reading through the Bible in 2012, I encourage you to start today.  Actually start with March 1 so you start out ahead!  God has some new and special things to tell us this year as we commit this reading and thinking time to him.

Or, if you started reading but got behind and stopped – your extra day is a great day to get started again.  Start on March 1 and you’ll be ahead, too!  This whole journey is about getting more of God’s Word buzzing around in our heads and our hearts.  It’s not meant to frustrate us or make us feel guilty if we get behind.  Just start back up  – it’s all good.

Here are our readings for March:

1 Leviticus 24:1-25:46; Mark 10:13-31; Psalm 44:9-26; Proverbs 10:20-21
2 Leviticus 25:47-27:13; Mark 10:32-52; Psalm 45:1-17; Proverbs 10:22
3 Leviticus 27:14 – Numbers 1:54; Mark 11:1-26; Psalm 46:1-11; Proverbs 10:23
4 Numbers 2:1-3:51; Mark 11:27-12:17; Psalm 47:1-9; Proverbs 10:24-25
5 Numbers 4:1-5:31; Mark 12:18-37; Psalm 48:1-14; Proverbs 10:26
6 Numbers 6:1-7:89; Mark 12:38-13:13; Psalm 49:1-20; Proverbs 10:27-28
7 Numbers 8:1-9:23; Mark 13:14-37; Psalm 50:1-23; Proverbs 10:29-30
8 Numbers 10:1-11:23; Mark 14:1-21; Psalm 51:1-19; Proverbs 10:31-32
9 Numbers 11:24-13:33; Mark 14:22-52; Psalm 52:1-9; Proverbs 11:1-3
10 Numbers 14:1-15:16; Mark 14:53-72; Psalm 53:1-6; Proverbs 11:4
11 Numbers 15:17-16:40; Mark 15:1-47; Psalm 54:1-7; Proverbs 11:5-6
12 Numbers 16:41-18:32; Mark 16:1-20; Psalm 55:1-23; Proverbs 11:7
13 Numbers 19:1-20:29; Luke 1:1-25; Psalm 56:1-13; Proverbs 11:8
14 Numbers 21:1-22:20; Luke 1:26-56; Psalm 57:1-11; Proverbs 11:9-11
15 Numbers 22:21-23:30; Luke 1:57-80; Psalm 58:1-11; Proverbs 11:12-13
16 Numbers 24:1-25:18; Luke 2:1-35; Psalm 59:1-17; Proverbs 11:14
17 Numbers 26:1-51; Luke 2:36-52; Psalm 60:1-12; Proverbs 11:15
18 Numbers 26:52-28:15; Luke 3:1-22; Psalm 61:1-8; Proverbs 11:16-17
19 Numbers 28:16-29:40; Luke 3:23-38; Psalm 62:1-12; Proverbs 11:18-19
20 Numbers 30:1-31:54; Luke 4:1-30; Psalm 63:1-11; Proverbs 11:20-21
21 Numbers 32:1-33:39; Luke 4:31-5:11; Psalm 64:1-10; Proverbs 11:22
22 Numbers 33:40-35:34; Luke 5:12-28; Psalm 65:1-13; Proverbs 11:23
23 Numbers 36:1 – Deuteronomy 1:46; Luke 5:29-6:11; Psalm 66:1-20; Proverbs 11:24-26
24 Deuteronomy 2:1-3:29; Luke 6:12-38; Psalm 67:1-7; Proverbs 11:27
25 Deuteronomy 4:1-49; Luke 6:39-7:10; Psalm 68:1-18; Proverbs 11:28
26 Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25; Luke 7:11-35; Psalm 68:19-35; Proverbs 11:29-31
27 Deuteronomy 7:1-8:20; Luke 7:36-8:3; Psalm 69:1-18; Proverbs 12:1
28 Deuteronomy 9:1-10:22; Luke 8:4-21; Psalm 69:19-36; Proverbs 12:2-3
29 Deuteronomy 11:1-12:32; Luke 8:22-39; Psalm 70:1-5; Proverbs 12:4
30 Deuteronomy 13:1-15:23; Luke 8:40-9:6; Psalm 71:1-24; Proverbs 12:5-7
31 Deuteronomy 16:1-17:20; Luke 9:7-27; Psalm 72:1-20; Proverbs 12:8-9,

Each Day

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

Each Day the  Lord pours his unfailing love upon me.

Each Day the sun rises to remind me of his faithfulness,

Each day he walks beside me – protecting me,

and guiding me.

Each day I feel his love and gentle spirit.

Each day he forgives me and removes my guilt.

Each day he brings new hope and purpose.

Each day and every night I sing his praises

and speak to him – the God who gives me life.

It’s a Personal Thing

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

We just read how the woman who had bled for 12 years just touched the hem of Jesus’ robe and she was healed.
In today’s reading we see a much different healing. Jesus leads the man away from the crowd and puts his fingers into the man’s ears. Then Jesus spits on his fingers and touched the man’s tongue. As we continue to read about Jesus’ healings, we’re going to see him ask people to wash themselves to be healed and other people will be healed just by Jesus speaking the words.
Interesting – all of these people are healed but their healing comes in different ways. It’s just like Jesus could look into the soul of each person and know what it would take for this person to believe and to be healed. It’s like he knew how each person was different – some needed to be touched, others just needed to touch him and still others had to see actions or personally do actions for it to make sense to them.
It’s like he knew each of them personally. It’s JUST like that, isn’t it?
Just like he knows each of us personally today.

Dear Father, we thank you for creating us each uniquely different in your likeness.  We thank you for knowing us and loving us in a special, personal way.

What do you already have?

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

Jesus is teaching a large crowd of people and the disciples are worried about the fact that it’s getting late and the crowd is getting hungry.    They want to send the crowd away to nearby villages to get something to eat.

Instead, Jesus tells the disciples to feed them.  He ignores their concerns about how much food it would take and asks them ‘ How much bread do you have?’

This is the same type of question God asked Moses in Exodus 4 when Moses said the elders of Israel would not listen to him.  God asked him ‘What do you have in your hand?”

What did Moses already have that he could use?  How much bread did the disciples already have?  In both instances, God wanted to use what he had already given them in order to fulfill his purposes.

I think the same is often true of us today.  We think we need more skills or gifts or talents in order to really serve God.  But God has already given us what he wants us to have and he asks us to use it in his name.

 God’s question for all of us today is “What do you already have in your hand that you can use to complete the work I have planned in advance for you to do?’

A Revelation

On By Judy GlasserIn February1 Comment

Mark tells us that Herod respected John the Baptist and liked to listen to him even though the things they talked about greatly disturbed Herod.
That’s a sure sign of the Holy Spirit working.
Have you had this happen to you? It’s happened to me many times.  Something catches my attention while I’m reading the Bible or listening to the Sunday message and then – BAM! – it hits me!  This is about me! This is God speaking about my life. A light goes on. Trumpets in my head blare out Tah-tah-da!
Sometimes its an awesome experience because it brings an understanding that I was searching for.
Other times having a light shine on something in my life is a deeply disturbing experience because it requires repentence and change. More than once I have walked out of church very angry because of the truth the Spirit had revealed to me about me and I just didn’t like it.
But not liking it doesn’t change the truth, does it?
Dear Father, we claim your promise that you will change us from the inside out if we let you. We ask you to renew our minds and transform our hearts.

It’s all about Believing

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

Today we read about the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. I thought it was interesting how many details Mark included regarding her suffering and all of the doctors she had fruitlessly spent her money on. He gives us a pretty clear picture of how her life had been filled with hopelessness and pain and frustration.

But she doesn’t give up. She believes Jesus can heal her. And Jesus does heal her – and tells her that her faith has made her well.
Right after that, Jesus tells Jairus to ‘just have faith’ and his daughter is healed also.
I visualize Jesus walking through the crowds, encouraging them to believe in him, to have faith. Yes, he’s healing people because he cares and he loves them. But the real reason for the healings was to point the way to his Father-to give glory to his Father. So that people at that time who saw it and heard about it would believe and have saving faith.
And so people like us who read about it and hear about it now would also believe and live by faith.

Dear Father, we do believe. Please grow our faith as we take this Journey through your Word together.