Category: March

Fear

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

It makes me anxious.

It makes me worry.

It makes me focus on ‘what if?”

My fears usually center around situations that I have no control over.  There is nothing I can do to get rid of these thoughts that fill my mind with dread –

except trust God.

He is in control.  He loves me and wants the best for me.  I believe that with all of my heart and soul.  He has proven it over and over.

When I remember to trust God with all of it, the fear goes away.  Confidence in my Good Father wipes out the anxiety and worry.  I say to myself, “What if I just let God handle this?” and the dread of what could happen disappears.  I know that, no matter what, God is going to walk beside me through it.  He has always been faithful in the past, he will always be faithful in the future.

The spies who Moses sent into the Promised land seriously missed this trusting in God idea.  They were scared – the people living in the Promised land were big and powerful.  Their towns were large with high walls around them.

The spies spread their fear through the rest of the Israelites until they became so scared that God tells us in the Bible that they cried all night.

Caleb and Joshua were two of the spies and their report was much different from the rest.  “Let’s go at once to take the land.  We can surely conquer it.”

What?  The people of Israel were trembling in fear and Caleb is saying they must go ‘at once to take the land’?  How could the response of Caleb and Joshua be the opposite of what the rest of the spies were saying?

The difference was that Caleb and Joshua trusted God.  It was not about the Israelites doing this on their own.  God had promised to give them the land, so God was going to do it.

They trusted God so they were willing to obey him in spite of how the situation looked.

How good am I at trusting God in those kinds of situations?

How trusting are you?  Have you been anxious or fearful lately?

Please help us trust you with all things, Abba Father.  Take away our fears and anxiety.

You Have Heard of It

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

You may even have felt that you were one –

a scapegoat.

This is where someone who is innocent is punished for something someone else did.  I know I have often heard this term used when a big corporation is sued for something they did and they fire a person with a relatively minor role in the situation who was just doing what their bosses told them to do.  The corporation does this so it looks like they took action to remedy the issue.  This minor player is a scapegoat – taking the blame for everyone else who had a hand in the bad decision.

Did you know that thousands of years ago the Israelites actually had a scapegoat?  God started this ritual in order to temporarily deal with the sins of the Israelites.  He told the head priest to lay both of his hands on the head of a goat and

‘confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion and sins of the people of Israel.  In this way, he will transfer the people’s sins to the head of the goat.’

Then the scapegoat was driven into the wilderness, carrying all the people’s sins with it.

Until the next time they sinned.

You can see how temporary this was.  I think God used this process to help make the people aware of all of their sins and to visually show them their sins had to be paid for and taken away.

This is a very clear message about how much you and I need a Savior.  Something had to be done about our sins.  You and I can’t rebel and disobey over and over again while having a personal relationship with a Holy God.  Someone had to paid the price and provide a way for us.

And his name is Jesus.

He is the Way.

And the Way is open for everyone.

Jesus paid the price for our sins – once and for all.  We are saved from the penalty and condemnation of our sin by recognizing our Savior and putting our faith in him.

You and I don’t need a scapegoat anymore.

We are saved through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross – erasing our past, present and future sins from God’s sight.

Thank you, Jesus.

I know that Voice

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Has this happened to you?  I’m in a crowded place where many people are talking and then one lone voice clearly sticks out of the noise.

I know that voice.

It’s somebody I know and I instantly recognize it and turn toward it.  In the past this voice has often been one of my children or my husband or a close friend.

That is also how it is for me with God’s voice.  His voice pierces through all the other voices around me.  Because I know him.

Little Samuel was just getting to know God in 1 Samuel so when he heard a voice in the middle of the night, he thought it was Eli, the High Priest.  So Samuel would run to Eli every time he heard this voice and Eli would tell him he didn’t call him.  The third time this happened, Eli realized that God was calling to the little boy.  Eli had heard God’s voice often so he told the little boy what to say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.”

And God spoke.  Samuel obeyed.

After that, God became Samuel’s constant companion as he grew up.

Have you heard God’s voice?

In my life, the more I study God’s Word and know what he says, the easier it has become to hear him.  I have heard him teach me and reveal truth to me for many years as I have read and studied the Bible.  I know his voice.

I have also been seriously memorizing chapters in the Bible for several years so I have God’s Word etched on my brain.  When he wants to give me direction and wisdom, he will highlight some of the verses I have written in my mind and speak to me through those verses.  There is no doubt who is speaking to me when he’s speaking God’s word.  And I know it’s the truth, not some whispered lies of Satan.

There are occasions when a person is speaking to me about something in the Bible and God will say in my head, “You know that’s not true.  You have read my Word and you know this is not what I have said.”  Sometimes God will give me an opportunity to ask where this person has read this in Bible so we can discuss it and sometimes I don’t get a chance to ask.  Either way,  God is helping me keep in line with his truth.

There are situations where God does the exact opposite.  Someone I’m talking with will share a new understanding or experience they had with God and it will immediately ring true in my brain – that’s  God!  And then I get to celebrate with this person because they are getting to know God better and they will continue to have more and more of these experiences when they stay on this path.

A critical part of creating this open communication with God is what happens after he talks to me.  I need to obey.  If I don’t listen and obey, I will not hear God as clearly next time.  Just like Samuel, I need to say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.”  And then I need to do what God says – that’s how it works.

God’s voice is the most important voice in my life.

I know his voice.

Do you?

Please open our eyes and ears, Abba Father.

I’m Waiting

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

I know what I want for myself and for others.  I know who is in control of everything.

So I pray to the Creator of the Universe.  My dad.

Right?

And God responds – yes, no or wait.  I like the ‘yes’. I don’t like the ‘no’.  And the ‘wait’ is the hardest answer of all.  I’m not good at waiting, are you?

Why wait?  Did he really say ‘wait’?  Is he ever going to change his answer to ‘yes’?

Hannah was in this same situation in 1 Samuel.  She was in misery because she had no children and she wanted a son.  Women at that time were looked down on if they had no children.  What’s wrong with her?  Other women picked on her.  And “this went on year after year”.

It sounds like Hannah was consistently ‘pouring out my soul to the LORD.”  “I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”  Lots of conversations with God.  She didn’t give up.  She kept asking.  “So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son.”

It might have seemed like God was saying ‘no’ to Hannah because it took years.  But he was waiting for the right time.

God knows the right time – I don’t.  So I have to wait.

This time of waiting is not wasted.  When I am faithful and tuned into him, he uses this time to grow my faith and grow my wisdom and grow my understanding.  I see that with Hannah – God was preparing her while she waits to be the mother of Samuel – a great man of God.

So I will wait.  I will pray for God’s will to be done in my life.  I will trust that, at the right time, he will give me what is best for me.  He has always been faithful in the past, he is faithful today and he will be faithful for eternity.

Thank you,  Abba Father.

When It’s Big…

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

and bad…

and scary,

even people who don’t love God will turn to him, pray to him, cry to him.  Because our souls know who he is even if our minds won’t acknowledge it.  He created us and the heart he molded inside of us cries out to its maker when we’re in significant trouble.

In Judges 10, the Israelites are on one of their downward spirals of sin.  They have stopped serving God and have started serving Baal…..again.  So God let the pagan kingdoms who also served Baal crush them and oppress them.

It was bad.

So the Israelites cried out to God and he replied, “Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen.  Let them save you when you are in trouble.”

Sometimes, as a Good Father who wants to teach us life lessons, God says that to us today.  If we have placed things other than God as our top priority, they are our gods.

There are situations where God lets us learn the hard way that money is not our security.  It disappears, it turns into a nightmare when we use credit, and the stuff we buy with it only makes us happy for a little while.  Have you and I learned this yet?

Relationships – people are flawed.  Unconditional love only comes from God.  My husband, my wife, my friends, my children cannot be my first priority.  God didn’t create it to work that way.  Have you and I learned this yet?

Careers – money, recognition, power, prestige often distract us from God.  Sadly, tragically, we can find that we were struggling so hard to climb a ladder that was up against the wrong wall.  At the end, there’s a huge, disappointing fall.  Have you and I learned this yet?

Anything we put before the One True God in our lives becomes a false god as we serve it and love it and focus on it.   These false gods will be no help when the bottom falls out of our lives.   Then our hearts will cry out to their Creator God just like the Israelite’s hearts did.

The Israelites had been taught well and they knew exactly what to do to get back in line with God.  They repented and got rid of their false gods.  And God responded by helping to deliver them from their enemies.  They still had to fight and struggle (consequences for their bad decisions) but God gave them victory.

God has told us he is a jealous God and he will not tolerate his people serving other gods.  When its big and bad and we need help, none of these false gods are going to of any use to us.

Have you and I learned this yet?

You are the only God in my life, Abba Father.

With Me

On By Judy GlasserIn March3 Comments

Every day…

Every situation…

Every trial…

The Spirit of the LORD is with me.

In the Old Testament, there were times when God would give his Spirit to someone when he had a tough assignment for them.  We read in Judges 9 that Caleb’s little brother, Othniel, became a judge for the Israelites.  God raised him up to deliver the Israelites from slavery to the King of Aram Naharaim.

“The Spirit of the LORD came on him” and he led the fighting men into war.  God’s Spirit made Othniel strong and courageous.

As believers today, we live under the New Covenant with God.  Now, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of each of us when we accept the salvation Jesus freely offers to each of us.

God’s Spirit is with me every minute of every day.  His Spirit wants to make me strong and courageous, too.

And loving,

joyful,

peaceful,

patient,

kind,

faithful,

gentle and self-controlled.

All of this is inside me – I just need to let God’s spirit have his way in my life.

If you are a believer, all of these great things are inside of you, too.  It’s time to nurture them and let the Spirit show.

Thank you for the awesome gift of your Spirit,  Abba Father.

Stepping In

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Stepping up.

Making the first move.

I often ask God to direct my steps.  My prayers regularly include requests for him to show me an opportunity to do something I think he wants me to do.  Because I’ll do it, I just want to know that its his direction and his timing.

And he does it.  Right before my eyes, he will give me an opportunity to do something he wants done or say something he wants said.

Every time one of these opportunities presents itself, I have to take the first step of faith forward, not knowing what the next step is and never knowing how this is all going to work out.

I just have to take that first step and obey.

So the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land is special to me.  God told the priests carrying the Ark of the LORD to go first.  God told them he would make a way for them but, first, they had to step into the Jordan which was running at flood stage.

The overflowing water of the Jordan river was roaring down its path…..

and they had to step in.

An act of faith.  An act of obedience.

As soon as the priest’s feet touched the water’s edge, the water stopped flowing.  They had to commit and then they saw God respond.  In the middle of a rushing river, God opened up a path for them to the Promised Land.

This is significant.  Too often we want to see God move in our lives but we haven’t stepped out in faith.  We haven’t stepped up to the plate in obedience of the things we already know God wants us to do.

Jesus told us clearly, “Love God and love others.”  These are the two main things I need to be about – I already know that.  When I am focused on doing these things,  I see God part the waters for me.  He blesses my last step and reveals my next step.

But the first step of obedience is mine.

Where is God asking you to take that first step of obedience?  Go ahead – step into the water and watch it part in front of you.  It will be worth it.

I believe, Abba Father, so I’m stepping in.

Courage

On By Judy GlasserIn March4 Comments

What does courage look like in my life?

What does it look like for you?

What do I need courage for?  What is God asking me to do that a little scary and out of my comfort zone?

I know God is challenging both you and me – it’s his nature.  As our Good Father, he wants us to grow and develop a strong, courageous character.  So he provides opportunities for us to be stretched.

Where is he stretching you?  If you don’t think he is, I recommend spending several hours with him as you read and meditate and listen to him speak to you through his Word.  You will come away from that time challenged by something – I guarantee it.

God gave Joshua a huge challenge by giving him leadership of the Israelite nation after Moses was ‘gathered to his people’.  They were finally ready to enter the Promised Land.  And they were facing the daunting task of conquering the land and taking control.

There seemed to be a lot of  valid reasons to be fearful and worried – except God had already declared victory.  “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you where ever you go.”

God was in total control – there was no reason to be afraid.

Have you ever experienced a situation like this where you knew you didn’t need to be afraid because God had already declared victory?

I had a major experience like this several years ago when I thought I had just caught a weird respiratory bug on a trip to the Midwest but then found out, when I finally went to the doctor and then the emergency room ending up in ICU, that I had a dozen blood clots in my lungs.  While the doctor in ER was explaining to me that this was a life-threatening situation, God spoke into my mind.  He told me that he had already taken care of this – I was not going to die from it.  I was going to have to go through all the tests and months of blood thinners and days in the hospital but God was going to go with me, every step of the way.

I was not afraid.  My doctor was amazed at my attitude – she kept reminding me that I was going through a life-threatening experience.  Four other doctors told me that this should have killed me – they were afraid for me.

God had already declared victory – there was no reason to be afraid.  I obviously didn’t die from it and I realized that God had given me a new story to share about his faithfulness and love and care.  He is still doing miracles today!

It was a truly amazing experience to watch God’s victory play out in my life right before my eyes.

So I have some knowledge of how Joshua must have felt when God told him that he had to lead the way in conquering the Promised Land and God would give him victory.  Joshua was going to have to wake up every day and show up, but God was going to be with him, making it all happen.

Where is God challenging you?  If he’s asking you to do something, he will be right there beside you helping you accomplish it.

Be strong and courageous.  Experience God’s victory in your life today.

Thank you, Abba Father, for the miracles you are doing right now in our lives.

Shower of Blessings

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Our world can be so disappointing – people lying to get ahead, just telling you and I what they think we want to hear.  Often, never actually intending to do what they say they will do.

God is just the opposite.

He always does what he says he is going to do.  He always keeps his promises.  He doesn’t always do things the way that we think he should but – then again –

he is God and we’re not –

he is perfect and we’re not –

we have a 3.5 lb brain while his is infinite, all-knowing and eternal –

You and I just need to accept that his ways are better than our’s.  I need to stand firm each day on the fact that God loves me and wants the best for me.

God and I have a personal relationship and he tells me about my part of this relationship and how he will respond in Leviticus 26:3 – 13, ” If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will….. ”

Okay, my part is to keep his commands and obey him.  In response, God says

he will bless my labor, what I do,

I will have food to eat and a safe place to live.

He will give me peace – I will lie down at night without fear.

He will remove danger and my enemies from my life.  I will have victory over  the evil that surrounds me.

God will look on me with favor and keep all of his promises.

I will prosper.  He will be my God and I will be his daughter.

I need to believe this and move forward confidently – with my head held high and my eyes focused on my Father.   Then I will receive these many blessings of obedience.

Amen.  May it be so, Abba Father.

Who?

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Who is in control of my life?

Who decides what I do with my time?  With my money?  Who is the director of my life – telling me when to go and when to stay?  What to say and how to say it?

The quick answer for us Christ-followers is ‘God”.

But let’s not just throw out this obvious answer and move on.  Let’s ask ourselves – is he?  Really?

What happened to your last paycheck?  How much of it went for God’s purposes?

Why did you rent this last apartment or buy the house you live in?  Did God direct you to make that decision because he has a purpose for where you live?

How about your job – did God lead you to that place?  Is he working there through you?  Or your main hobby – is God using that for his glory?  Or is it taking your time away from a deep, personal relationship with God?

The Israelites lived in a theocracy as they travelled through the desert and into the Promised Land.  God was King.  No one else told they what to do, where to go, what to eat, or how to dress.  God did all of it.

I want my life to be lived in a theocracy.  As I have grown to know God better and I’m able to hear his voice more clearly, he has gradually taken over in most parts of my life.

But not all.  I can’t honestly say he is the King of everything in my life.  I still have areas of self-centeredness and trying to be in control (total waste of energy because I am not and ever have been in control – neither are you, by the way).  Worry, fear and lack of patience with others are proof that these areas are not under God’s control.

I know I’m in the process of becoming what God intended me to be.  I know it’s a journey….

and I’m glad you’re on this journey with me.

I’m getting off the throne now, Father.  Please take your seat.