Category: June

Open My Eyes……….

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

so I may see God’s heavenly army

which is fighting for me,June 10 2013

protecting me,

surrounding me.

Elisha could see it.

When he looked at the hills surrounding him, they were filled with horses and chariots of fire.

But the servant couldn’t see it until God opened up his eyes.

Please open up our eyes, Lord!

We don’t have to be afraid.

Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

Everyday.

Jesus has promised us that he is with us until the day he returns.

And he has more than conquered the world.

Thank you, dear Jesus.

When Am I Really Going to Get It?

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

The battle is not mine, it is God’s.

Thousands of years ago, Jahaziel stood in front of all of the people of Judah and told them, ” You will not have to fight this battle.  Take up your positions, stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.  Go out to face them tomorrow and the Lord will be with you.

It’s just as true today as it was back in the time of 2 Chronicles.June 6 2013

I just need to take up my position, stand firm and watch God fight my battles.

My correct position is to put myself where he wants me.  He leads, I follow.

I stand firm by staying focused on the purpose he as given me and keeping my daily relationship with him strong.

And then he delivers me.

He’s done it before, he will do it again.

And again.

And again.

So why do I sometimes have doubts that haunt me in the darkest part of the night?  Why do I start focusing on my plans and purposes only to become frustrated and confused?

Why do I draw up battle plans and go full steam ahead just to be defeated once again?

I have the Lord of all of the Armies on my side ready to fight my battles for me.

When am I really, really going to get that?

Thank you, dear Father.  I face all of my tomorrows knowing that you are with me and you are for me. 

I Don’t Want to Miss It!

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

The whisper of God.

It’s not in the great and powerful wind as it tears apart the mountains and shatters the rocks.

It’s not in the earthquake or in the fire.

The spirit of God moves in our hearts and our minds…….a whisper.

Which we will miss if we don’t turn off the distractions and focus on him.

I believe God is trying to guide me and communicate with me all day.  I just don’t always listen well.  Sometimes I’m just not listening at all.

So many things in my life clamor for my attention and they all have much louder voices!

There’s no time to stop to listen for whispers, is there?

No, there’s no time to listen for whispers…..

unless we make the time.  Unless we put ourselves in places where he can more easily speak to us.

june 5 2013Like studying his Word.

Like worshipping with our brothers and sisters.

Like serving in his name.

Like setting aside time for a good conversation with him.

Because, when our little light flickers out and it’s all done, we’ll want to be able to easily recognize the voice that whispers to us here…….

As it guides us home.

Clothed in Scarlet

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

“When it snows, she has no fear for her household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet.”May 25 2013

I have read this verse in Proverbs 31 many times but I never ‘got it’ until now.  I love that about God’s word – no matter how many times I read it all the way through, I’m always motivated to do it again.  Because there’s more.  There’s something new God wants to reveal to me.  It’s his living word and he’s still talking 🙂

And I realize that snowing in biblical  times was probably a huge deal, something they weren’t prepared for.  It would create a lot of issues and problems.  A mother could be very worried about her family and what was happening to them during this time.

I realize that they were clothed in scarlet but they weren’t wearing red clothes.  She knew her family was covered by sacrificial blood which was the blood of animals back in those days and is now the blood of Christ. 

So when all of the problems and issues came, she didn’t need to worry.  Her family was safe in the arms of God,

Love it! 

And, as a parent, I regularly need to remind myself to ‘ live’ this.  I am blessed to know that my husband and grown children all have a personal relationship with Christ.  Even my little 2 1/2 year-old grandson knows that God loves him.

They are in his hands.

They are clothed in scarlet. 

And when the snow – or troubles – come,  I won’t have to worry.

Maybe I’ll ask everyone to wear something red for our next family picture 🙂

Thank you, dear Father.

The Secret….

On By Judy GlasserIn June2 Comments

of being content.

The secret of being satisfied.

“Whoever loves money will never have enough.” Eccl. 5

May 29 2013Studying God’s perspective on money changed my life.  My beliefs and views about finances were so skewed by everything the world had taught me that I needed to go through a financial Bible study several times before it started to sink in.

God owns everything – it’s all his.  He gives it to us to take care of and use and he only asks for a small portion back.

He doesn’t need our money.  He could rain gold out of the sky if he wanted to.  We just need to be able to put him ahead of money in our priorities.  Then we can joyfully give to support his ministries here on earth.

How much we make is not the issue – how much we spend is.

When I really understood that God owned it all, it became easier to tithe.  It wasn’t mine to start with – God gave it to me, I didn’t earn it like I thought I did.  It all comes from God, he deserves it all – he only asks for a little back.  As soon as we started managing our finances according to God’s word, he helped us get totally out of debt and, years later, he is still making sure we have everything we need.  I have lots of stories of situations where God provided just what we needed right when we needed it.

And that’s a key – I know that, right now, I have what God wants me to have.  If I’m ever going to learn to be content, I need to learn to be content with what I have right now. 

I love this saying – Happiness is wanting what you already have.

God has so richly blessed me with all of things I have already.  And he has given me so many more things that money just can’t buy.

Thank you, dear Father.

I’m Hearing a Voice

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

Have you ever read the Bible in chronological order?  This is the order it actually happened in history instead of divided by books?

I’ll admit that Kings is not one of the most interesting books in the Bible- a lot of bad kings, not very many good kings, and extremely few great kings.  I read through a chronological Bible several years ago and I was stunned by the passages we are reading right now in Kings.

When you  read through this chronologically, you get to understand how all of those prophets whose books are at the end of the Old Testament were interacting with these kings.  They were talking to these awful kings constantly telling them to stop their wicked ways and to turn from their evilness.  On and on and on.  God was trying to talk to these kings and get them back on the right road.  He was trying to help them do what was right and good.

The prophets spoke loudly and boldly and courageously.

The kings just didn’t listen.

They heard the truth, they were given the stop sign by God – they just didn’t obey.  And king after king fell into ruin and death and lost their dynasty…… because they refused to listen to the Voice.

Dear Father, please open our ears.  We want to listen to your voice

The Unknown God

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

How interesting!  Paul is talking to the Athenians and the Bible explains that the Athenians seemed to spend all of their time discussing the latest ideas.  Do you know anybody like that?

What is the goal for people who do this?  What is their purpose?  To be ‘in the know’?  To be in the ‘in crowd’ ?  To be in the ‘in crowd’ of people who are ‘in the know’?

Paul tells them that he has noticed they are very religious in every way.  That probably sounded like a compliment.

Paul tells them that he was walking through their many shrines and saw an altar that was designated for an ‘Unknown God’.

“This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about,’ he tells them.

The Athenians wanted to cover all their bases so they had filled the city with shrines to every known god and they had added one more in case they had missed any and that one was for the ‘Unknown God’.  Do you think they felt something was missing with all of their manmade gods?  Were they sensing that there was something more?

It’s awesome when Paul says, “Let me tell you about this Unknown God” and then goes on the explain how God is the Lord of heaven and earth.  He himself gives life and breathe to everything and he satisfies every need.  For in him we live and move and exist.  Their unknown God had sent his truth to them through Paul – now they had to decide whether to believe or not.

Amen!  Thank you, dear Father, for making yourself known to us!

Has this ever happened to you?

On By Judy GlasserIn June, Uncategorized4 Comments

A widow comes to Elisha in 2 Kings 4 and tells him that her husband who served as a prophet with him is dead.  Now a creditor was threatening to take her two sons as slaves.  (Good thing people can’t do that anymore if you’re not paying all of your bills!)

Elisha asks her what she has in her house.

What does she already have that she can use to help her get out of this situation?

I hear this message over and over in the Bible.  What do we already have that he can use to bless us?

All the widow has is a flask of olive oil.  So Elisha asks her to borrow as many empty jars as as she can.  Then she was supposed to pour her oil into the jars…. and just keep pouring.  When she did what she was told, the widow totally filled up all of the jars.  Now she had enough to sell to pay off her creditor with extra to live on!

God used what she had to take care of her situation and then he gave her extra.

I wonder how many times God wants to help us deal with our situation by using something we already have and then he is ready to kick in extra when we are obedient.

Has this ever happened to you?

Amazing!

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

”You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous –

how well I know it!

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.’ Psalm 139:13-14

The womb isn’t quite as secluded as it used to be.  Now we get to see some of the knitting as God displays his workmanship in creating another human being – awesome!

We praise you, dear Father, for our wonderful complexity!  We are reminded of your love and care for us with every breathe we take!

The Funny Things

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

I enjoy the funny things in the Bible because they show the human side of people and add genuine-ness to the stories. In Acts 12 we read about King Herod Agrippa persecuting believers and he put Peter in jail. This is definitely not the funny part because a lot of believers never made it out of jail alive.

But Peter did. An angel sprung him from jail and he went to the home of Mary, mother of Mark, where a bunch of his friends were praying for him. When he knocked, a servant girl came to the door but she was so  shocked and overjoyed to hear Peter’s voice that she ran back to the people who were praying without opening the door –  you just have to smile at that.
No one believed her when she told them that Peter was at the door – they told her she had heard a ghost. (Was this because they didn’t expect to see him alive again?)
Peter kept knocking until they finally answered and they were amazed to see him.
An interesting way to study the Bible is to put ourselves into the story as one of characters and think through what it would have felt like to be that person. Rhoda was the servant girl’s name. I wonder if she ever knew that her name was mentioned in the scriptures? Would she be honored or embarrassed by the telling of this story? Maybe she was so happy that Peter was alive that she didn’t care what was written about her? She probably couldn’t believe she had done that – that’s how I feel when I do something like she did.
She seems very real when we start thinking about her feelings and reactions, doesn’t she?
Because she was very real. Everything in the Bible is real.

Thank you, dear Father, for your revelation to us through your word.