Category: March

Watch Closely Now

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

I love it.

God is not limited by cultural rules.  He created justice, he is just and he acts justly.

Whenever we see God’s actions and directions not lining up with current culture, we need to take note of it.  We know that God is right and our culture is wrong in every one of these instances.  Sometimes it takes our culture thousands of years to catch up to what is right.

The historical account of Zelophehad’s daughters in Numbers 27 is one of my favorites.  We’ll call the Z’s daughters from now on  🙂

At that time in history, women were considered to be the property of men and most men had more than 1 wife.  When Z died without having any sons, Z’s five daughters asked to inherit his property.

What!?

That just wasn’t done.

Women didn’t inherit property.  They WERE property.

When Moses took this case to God, God directed him to give the property to the daughters as an inheritance.  He stipulated that they had to marry within their tribal clad so that the land stayed with in the family.  If you think about it, that makes a lot of sense since the land was physically divided by clans.  This kept everything organized as God had designed.

I bet there were many long and heated discussions by the male leaders of the families as they gathered around the campfire at night!  This story is only 4 paragraphs in the Bible but I’ll bet the arguments against doing this could fill up several scrolls if they had all been written down.

I’m sure the same concern came up that was discussed with King Xerxes later in the book of Esther.  If these women received this request now, they are just going to ask for more and more.  A dangerous trend was starting!  But we read that they made the right decision and obeyed.

It took thousands of years but – yes, women inherit and own property now.  As recently as the 1950’s women were generally considered not capable of inheriting and running large properties and businesses.  But way back in ancient times, God knew he had created women equal to men.  Different, but equal.  He set a spiritual leadership hierarchy in place that has everything to do with order and process and nothing to do with intelligence and aptitude.

And our culture has finally caught up to God’s truth….. in most cases.

Please help us live by your truth, Abba Father.

Everybody is Doing it……

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

But that doesn’t make it right.

Peer pressure can be a very strong influence in our lives and it can push us in a direction we don’t want to go.  It can give us ‘permission’ to do things that aren’t good for us, causing negative consequences to happen in our lives.

“Do not follow the crowd”.do-not-follow-the-crowd

God told the Israelites this thousands of years ago in Exodus 23.  And we have the same issue today.  When we see a lot of other people doing something, we can start to wander and think its ok.  All of these people can’t be wrong, can they?

Yes, they can be.

Yes, they are.

If I want to live a life of truth and integrity, I need to build my house on the Rock which is God.  He is the creator of truth.  He designed justice.  He knows everything.  The crowd has no effect on his right and wrong.

When I am in line with God, I am in line with how he created me to be.  I’m in line with ‘why’ I was created.  I was going to say that I’m in line with the universe but that sounds like the beginning of a song from the 60’s. 🙂

If I’m not building my house on the solid ground of God’s truth, it’s going to get washed away by the next storm.  A lot of the mess we see in our culture is the result of people’s houses getting washed away in the storms of their lives.  And there’s always another storm coming our way.

What is your life built on?

God’s truth?

Or the wavering, changing, untruth that defines our culture?

This is an important question for each of us to answer for ourselves.  It has eternal implications.

Thank you for your truth, Abba Father.

Justice For All

On By Judy GlasserIn March2 Comments

Equal Justice.

Due Process.

Our modern justice system was modeled after the laws which God gave Moses.   The culture at that time was filled with cruel kings who capriciously imposed evil and sub-human punishments upon their people.  The processes and procedures God set up brought a higher level of due process and equal justice than that culture had ever seen.

The Mosaic laws were meant to teach the value of life to the people and raise the level of ethical conduct within the Israelite nation.

One of the key words there is ‘ethical’ which means ‘how one should live’.  Our current culture has morphed that definition into ‘how I think I should live’ and ethics don’t mean anything with that definition.  When we lose a compass, any shared standard of ethics is also lost.  This explains a lot of the mess in our culture today.god-is-our-compass

Because our compass can only be one person – God.

He created us.  He knows how he designed it all to work.  He wants the best for us.  He is omnipotent – he can do anything.

There is nothing and no one else who knows us and loves us like God.

When I make him my compass, I am plugging into the Creator of the Universe.  It’s not what I think is right that matters.  What matters is what God thinks.

And so I read God’s word.  Study God’s word.  Memorize God’s word.  And I’m very serious about this journey towards the truth.

I’m very glad you are on this journey with me.

We love you, Abba Father.

 

The Giver

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

He gives us everything we have.

Our families.

Our jobs.

Our skills and talents.

Where we live.

Joy!

The air we breathe.

Our next heartbeat is a gift from him.

The Giver.

This is one of my favorite names for our Father God.

Because he gives…..

and gives.

He never get tired of giving the very best things to us, his children.

He gave us his only Son –

that we might have redemption and purpose here on earth followed by eternal life in heaven with the Giver.

In 1 Samuel 8, Samuel starkly contrasts the differences between earthly kings (and governments) and our heavenly king.  The earthly kings (and governments) just keep taking –March 28 2016 The giver

taking sons to serve in the army.

taking daughters to cook in the kitchens.

taking the best of the land and a tenth of all crops.

The earthly king takes a tenth of the flocks as well.

Eventually, everyone is a slave working for the earthly king.

Unlike our heavenly king who has given us everything.

Yes, he asks us to give some back.

But not because he needs it.

He knows we need to be able to give it.  We need to be able to put God’s kingdom before the other things we want to do with our money, time and possessions.

He knows whats best for us.  He wants the best for us.

Let our gratitude grow as we think about all God has given us!

Thank you, Abba Father!

Do What You Want

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

What a good description of how our culture makes decisions!

We just do what we want.

And then we wonder why we have problems and issues.  So much emptiness.

Just like the Israelites.

As we read through the end of the book of Judges, the Israelites are going from one bad decision to the next.

They are making idols and then killing each other over these man-made statues.

They slaughtered the tribe of Benjamin and then wiped out another tribe in order to get wives for the Benjamite survivors.

Craziness!

The book of Judges ends with this verse, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” ( 21:25).March 25 2016 do what you want

And their choices were causing all kinds of mayhem and problems.

This is what happens to us when we aren’t submitting to God.  When we’re just doing what we want.

In order to have the meaningful, successful lives that we’re looking for, we need direction and wisdom from God.

He created us.

He knows what’s best for us.

When we seek his will and obey him, we avoid the traps we encounter when we are  ‘doing what we want.”  We avoid the consequences for those bad decisions.

And, the longer we’re committed to this journey towards the truth, we gradually want more of the things God wants for us.  It might be a slow process, but God performs a supernatural transformation when we stay aligned with him year after year after year.

Please give us your direction and wisdom, Abba Father.

 

Redeemed

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Renewed.

Reconnected.

Reaffirmed.

Readjusted.

Reassured.

Realigned.

Rearranged.

Re-born.

Resurrected Lord!

Easter is – by far – my favorite holiday.ftdDSC_0558

There are definitely fewer distractions from the main reason for the holiday than with Christmas.  A visit from the Easter Bunny just isn’t that exciting.

Easter comes in the spring when the plants are blooming, the sun is shining and the cold, dark days of winter are behind us.  Yes, I live in Phoenix now so I’m not describing our beautiful, warm winters :).  But I grew up in the freezing northern area of the midwest, so I know all about dark winter days, weeks and months.

And then comes Easter!  We celebrate the redemption that Christ Jesus gave us by dying on the cross and rising again!  Hallelujah!

Satan thought he had won – what a fool!

It is finished.  The grave is empty and Jesus gives us victory over sin and death!  (picture is of an empty garden tomb in Jerusalem which is the right type and in the right place to have been Jesus’ tomb).

Thank you, Father!  Thank you, Jesus!

 

Let Them Save You

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

What keeps us from attending worship every week with our spiritual family?

What fills our calendars so we don’t have time to read, study and meditate on God’s word?

What keeps us too busy to serve God?  What leaves us no time to belong to a small group Bible study?

What are we spending our money on when we say we can’t tithe?

These things are our gods.

Because we are making them more important in our lives than the One True God – the creator and sustainer of the universe.

When we read in the Old Testament about the Israelite’s statues and altars  for various other gods, we think, “I don’t have any other gods.”

But we do.

We have a  lot of other gods if we don’t choose to put the One True God first in our lives.  We can be very distracted with serving and loving everything but our Father God.

Until something goes wrong.

Really wrong.

THEN we cry out to our Father God.

Just like the Israelites did in Judges 10.

And God told them to “Go and cry out to the other gods you have chosen.  Let them save you when you are in trouble.”(vs 14)March 21 2016 let them save you

Scary.

Because we all know why we don’t cry out to our other little gods.  They are powerless.

They can’t help.

So, if we’re smart, we cry out to our Father God.

If we want to get on the right path, we repent.

If we want to make the best choices for our lives, we turn back to God and get our priorities straight.  We put God first and all of the rest of the things we used to think were so important fall into line behind him.

And, just like he did for the Israelites, he comes to our rescue.

Because he loves us.

And he wants the best for us.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Are We Getting It?

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Are we watching?

What are we thinking?

As I read the account of Gideon in the book of Judges, I wonder what he was thinking when he threw out a fleece so God could assure him that he was going to save Israel though Gideon.

And not just one fleece – but 2!march 19 2016 are we getting it yet

Gideon had already talked with the Angel of the Lord who gave him a sign by burning up Gideon’s offering with the tip of his staff.

When Gideon obeyed God’s command to tear down the Baal altar and Asherah pole, God showed that he was with him by protecting him from the hostile crowd.

After that, the Spirit of the Lord came onto Gideon which was special, unusual at that time – a clear sign that God was with him.

And – still – Gideon had to throw out fleeces to make sure God meant what he said.

The Angel wasn’t enough?

We see a clear picture of God’s mercy and patience with Gideon – and with us – in this story.  God did not send down a lightening bolt to kill Gideon even though Gideon’s faith was so shaky that he had to keep testing God.

God didn’t give up on Gideon and go find someone else who would understand that a visit from the Angel of the Lord should be enough.

God patiently passed the fleece tests 🙂 so that Gideon could actually believe that God was going to do what he said he would do.

God is so patient with us!  He knows we are weak and he loves us anyway.

One of our goals on this Journey towards the Truth is to grow our trust and faith in God.  As we get to know and understand God at a deeper level, we should be able to obey him without having to throw out fleeces.  His directions and desires should become more and more clear to us the closer we get to him.

That’s the journey that we’re on.

Thank you for your guidance, Abba Father.

Don’t Take the Credit

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Sometimes we take too much credit –

for our marriages,

for our children’s accomplishments,

for success in our careers.

We get focused on us and starting thinking we did this – how great are we!?

The truth is, God gives us everything we have and every success we experience is a direct gift from him.

God made a point of teaching the Israelites this through their unusual ‘attack’ on Jericho.

They walked around the city for days, blowing their trumpets.  Really?  That’s not how you conquer a walled city, is it?

On the 7th day, they walked around 7 times and added a loud shout at the end.

And the walls of Jericho crumbled down.

I read an article a long time ago from a scientist who said he could prove that it was actually the pounding of thousands of feet and the piercing sounds of the trumpets which gradually broke down the structure of the walls.  So, when they added that last shout, the walls had become weak and they collapsed.

Possibly.

Our God invented science so he could have used it in this situation.

Either way, he made it happen.

It’s clear that God wanted the Israelites to start their conquest of the Promised Land with an entire week where they didn’t do any fighting.

They just obeyed.

They may have even felt pretty silly – big, strong warriors who had been preparing for this battle for a long time.

All dressed up for war.

Marching around the city.

Not doing anything they usually would do in this situation.

God was in control.

They just needed to do their part by obeying.

And God brought them victory.  He gave them success.

God wants to do the same for us.

He wants to give us victory.  And success.

When we do our part.aaaDSC_0310

Two years ago God have me the privilege of going to the Holy Land and I visited the new Jericho.  According to God’s command, the old Jericho was never rebuilt.  Archeologists have found the old city of Jericho’s ruins only a few miles away from the city that is now Jericho.

It’s a beautiful city – lushly green.  Not far from the Jordan River.  The picture attached shows Dr. Woodrow Kroll who was our tour guide reading to us from the Bible about Jericho as we overlooked the city.

aaDSC_0307The things God did in the Old Testament are very real.  We need to not get hung up on the ‘story’ part.  Jesus talked in parables that were not real in the New Testament but God’s interactions with people in the Old Testament were very real.  This is not folklore.  These places exist and there is tons of evidence which back up the events of the Bible.

God was in control them.

He is still in control.

Most of us have some kind of Jericho fortress in our lives that is keeping us from being everything God created us to be.

These are a wide variety of things.

My Bible study small group talked about perfectionism this week.  A lot of us spend much time and effort focused on trying to be perfect – and never making it.  Because it’s not going to happen this side of heaven.

We can lose sight of our purpose here on earth when we’re loosing sleep over every small detail.  Perfectionism can be a fortress in our minds which God wants to help us conquer.

And he can.

When we ask.

And when he gives us victory, we can give him all the credit.

Please give us victory, Abba Father.

Will I Step Out?

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

We want to see God move in our lives.

We pray.

We know he is on our side.

He walks with us and talks with us, and he tells us that we are his own – words from a great old hymn.

We ask him for his intervention in our lives and in the lives of others.

But how much do we trust him?

How far will we go to show that trust?

Often, in order for us to see God move in our lives, he leads us to a place where we need to step out in faith.

One of my favorite biblical illustrations of this truth is when the Israelites were finally ready to cross the Jordan river into the Promised Land for the first time.March 10 b 2016 step pout in faith

They had been waiting and planning for this for a very long time.

Joshua received these instructions from God, “the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you’ (Joshua 3:11).

And, as soon as the priests who were carrying the ark set foot into the Jordan, ‘it’s waters flowing downstream will cut off and stand up like a heap.” (13).

The Bible also tells us that the Jordan was at flood stage.  It was not the quiet river it was when I was there 2 years ago (picture).gDSC_0585

The water was raging out of its banks.

And – notice – the priests holding the ark were going to have to set their feet into the Jordan before it would stop and part for them.

How much trust did this take?

They obviously trusted God enough because they stepped into the flooding river and had front-row seats in witnessing God perform a miracle.

God often asks the same thing of us today.

Yes, we want to see him move in our lives and in the lives of others.

Yes, we are often asking for a miracle.

Do we have enough trust to step out in faith before we see him move?  Before we witness a miracle?

Even when its scary?  Messy?  Different?

Please grow our trust in you, Abba Father.