Category: October

Stay Focused

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

Issues.

Problems.

Disruptions.

Distractions.

There are times when I am challenged on every side.  Does this happen to you?

And it happens more often when I’m trying to do something good, stretching out of my comfort zone to help others to do something God is asking me to do.

We know what this is, don’t we?  Spiritual warfare.

We know who this is – Satan.

He doesn’t like it when I’m trying to do something good for other people – especially because God is involved.  So Satan throws up roadblocks and distractions whenever and however he can.

As I read about Nehemiah’s constant problems while leading the Israelites in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, its easy to see how much Satan didn’t like what Nehemiah was doing.  Nehemiah ran into issues every step of the way – their Samaritan neighbors discouraged the workers by constantly taunting them, the rich people acted unfairly towards the poor people causing a lot of distractions, and then their neighbors started to threaten to attack them.

I think its significant that Nehemiah wasn’t scared or discouraged by any of this.  He wasn’t whining or trying to blame anyone.  He was not distracted from the goal God gave him to rebuild the wall.

He prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”

He didn’t ask God to get rid of all of the problems.  He asked for strength to take care of them with God’s help.

And the wall around Jerusalem, which had laid broken in pieces for many, many years, was rebuilt in 52 days.

“With the help of our God”.

Please strengthen my hands, Abba Father.

 

 

How Do I Prepare?

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

When something big is going to happen in my life, what do I do to prepare?

I’m a planner so my preparation is often focused on lists of to-do’s and steps to get it all done.

It makes me pause when I read Esther’s response after the famous words of her uncle, ‘For such a time as this.”  Her first reaction was to gather all the Jews and ask them to fast with her.  She still decided her strategy and planned banquets.  But her first response was to get God right in the middle of it.  The fasting would help all of them remember exactly who was in control and who had the power to deliver them from the disaster that was coming.

That’s a good reminder for me.  The lists and the planning can wait.  When big things are coming my way, my first response should be acknowledging to God my need for his guidance and participation.

“For such a time as this”.

Please remind me when I forget, Abba Father.

 

Let Me Be Strong – Zechariah 8

On By Judy GlasserIn October2 Comments

Let my hands be strong in doing your work, Father.

Let my feet be strong as they follow you in the right path.

Let my brain be strong as it makes you and your will my priorities, Abba.

Let my heart be strong in its devotion to you.

Let my ears be strong as they filter through the lies of my culture to understand and live out the truth of your word, Father.

Let my lips be strong in pleasing you and speaking love to others.

Let my eyes be strong as they focus on you, Abba.

Let my legs be strong to carry me through this earthly place of sin and evil and pain.

Let my arms be strong as I lift them toward heaven, stretching up as you reach down to touch me – to touch my life.

Let my knees be strong as I kneel to thank you for your faithfulness and love, Father.

Let my soul be strong, Abba, as I live confidently on your promises each day – every day – until the day you bring me home.

Please keep me strong, Father.

 

Carefully Consider

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

My priorities are important to God.  When he tells me, “love me first”, he means it.  If I miss that, I can expect consequences.

God explains this to us in Haggai when his people had their priorities messed up. “Give careful thought to your ways.  You have planted much but harvest little.   You eat but never have enough.  You drink, but never have your fill.  You put on clothes but are not warm.  You earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

God’s people were selfishly putting their own work in front of finishing God’s temple and they were paying the consequences.

Painful consequences.

I don’t want these words to describe my life so I need to carefully consider my priorities.  I need to choose God first and prioritize his purposes and his plans.  That’s the only way I’m going avoid harvesting little or feeling like I never have enough.

When I can change my self-centered thinking to God-centered thinking, it’s not hard to stay in line with his priorities.  I know he loves me with a perfect love.  He wants the best for me and nothing is impossible for him.

After careful consideration, I choose God.  I choose his priorities.

Amen, let it be so, Abba Father.

In the Beginning

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

Where were you in the beginning?

Where was I?

I’m in my 6th consecutive year of reading through the entire Bible and I just realized that Genesis 1 and John 1 both start with the same words, “In the beginning,”

Genesis 1 tells us what God and the Holy Spirit were doing ‘In the beginning’.  John 1 tells us what Jesus was doing ‘In the beginning’.

God had a plan for you and me ‘In the beginning’.  He knew when we would be conceived and he knows the date and time of our last breath here on earth.  Of course he knows that – he has Jesus scheduled to come and walk those who believe in him and trust in him home.

God loves us and had a purpose for us right from the beginning.  God reminds me of his love and grace and plan for me as I look at my new granddaughter’s first picture. 

She ‘began’ only 5 months ago.  God is molding her tiny fingernails and stretching out her little legs as you read this.  He has a plan for her.  He knows the date and time she will come out to meet us and he has already determined her final day on earth.  He loves her and is caring for her right now in her mother’s belly.

God was with her in her beginning.

God was with me in my beginning.

And he also was with you when you began.

Take a moment to feel his loving arms wrapped around you.  We were in our Father’s heart and hands ‘in the beginning’.  We are still there today and every day.

Please hold us close, Abba Father.  Thank you for loving and taking care of my teeny new grand-daughter.

For Such A Time As This

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

God challenges me with these words as I read the book of Esther.

For such a time as this.

Now.

This next step.

Today.

Esther’s story is a very good example of how God orchestrates opportunities and invites us to be a part of what he is already doing.  We would be missing an important point if we thought this is the only opportunity God gave Esther.  There were many more, this is just the one he told us about because it’s a significant example of how he works to complete his will through her.

And how he works to complete his will through me.

And through you.

Today.

Today is ‘for such a time as this’.

Today I will be given opportunities to partner with God in what he is accomplishing in this world.  He has made it clear to me that this blog is one of my assignments.  So I continue reading the Bible every year, listening to him and sharing with you what he says.  And I’ll do that until he tells me to stop.

Recently, God has started sharing with me insights into how he is pursuing some of the people in my life who haven’t chosen to accept his free gift of salvation yet.  It’s very interesting to watch him work.  I know he’s opening my eyes so I am more aware of my role and better prepared when my opportunity and ‘time’ comes.

There is a reason I’m still breathing today.

There’s a reason you’re still breathing.

For such a time as this.

Open our eyes, Abba Father.

 

Short – Lived

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

Being inconsistent is the definition of being mediocre. Have you heard this definition of mediocrity?

This makes sense!  If I’m good at something once in a while but not all the time – that averages out to mediocre.

This is important to understand because, if someone tells me I’m good at something, I’m actually only going to be good at it if I’m consistently good.   If I’m good and then not good and then good again and then poor, I’m inconsistent.  And I’m mediocre.

This applies to my relationship with God as well.  One of my goals is to have a very good relationship with God.  In order to do that, I have to be consistently good in my walk with him.

I am reminded of this every time I read about people in the Bible who get all excited about God because he did a miracle and then – in the next paragraph – they are back to their old ways.  The excitement and the emotion are suddenly over – and so is the interest.

Daniel tells us about King Darius who was so happy God had saved Daniel from the lions he issued a decree for all of his people telling them to ‘fear and reverence the God of Daniel.”

That’s great! 

But there is no evidence that any one in Babylon actually listened and turned to God.  No one.

We read many examples in the Bible of people who had this spiritual inconsistency.  This mediocre relationship with God.

Very sad.

That’s not my goal.

Please guide us in being consistent and faithful in our relationship with you, Abba Father.

I Need Strong Hands –

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

to do what I’m supposed to do,

to complete the plans God made for me before I was born.

“Let your hands be strong.”  God spoke these motivating words thousands of years ago to the workers who were rebuilding his Temple and he is also saying them to me today as I read his word.

And now to you.

We will need strong hands to complete our purpose here on earth before our Father takes us home.

We need wisdom.

We need discernment.

We need to persevere.

We need strength and knowledge.

It’s a great thing that all of these come from God because writing that long list wore me out and caused a little anxiety.

It’s a lot.  And its tough.  But I’m in it for the long haul…

and it really is a long haul.  The older I get, it is becoming more and more clear how challenging this long haul is going to be.

My husband and I just moved out by the mountains and –  as the sun rises in my new backyard – God reminds me once again that he has my back.  He is here.

He is my Rock.

He is beside me every step of this long haul.

And he has given me strong hands to do his will.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Move My Heart

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

When my heart is moved, I am motivated.

Ready to go.

Willing to go.

God tells us in the beginning of Ezra that he ‘moved the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia.’

I love this because Cyrus was not a believer.  He was a pagan king.  But he moved when God moved his heart.

Cyrus released the Israelites to go back to Jerusalem.  He was moved to release them so they could rebuild the temple of God.

The king was also moved to give back 5400 articles of gold and silver that had been taken from the temple of God before it was destroyed.

God moved his heart so a pagan king orchestrated and sponsored the rebuilding of God’s temple.

I have to smile.

That’s my God.

He uses everyone and everything to accomplish his will.  Even those who don’t believe in him are under his authority and direction.

His will be done.

And I want to make sure I’m right in the middle of that – don’t you?

Please move our hearts, Abba Father.

I Ask

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

I make requests.

I intercede.

I come to God with my concerns.

I have the privilege of talking with the Creator of the Universe – not because I am good.

But because God is good.

This picture is the wall of my garage – the first thing I see every time I get back to my house and open up the garage door.  It’s a great reminder – something I need to remember every day no matter what my circumstances.

Daniel says in his prayer, “We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.”

I can’t earn God’s love.

I can’t work and save myself.

I can never be ‘good enough’ on my own.

I can’t look in the mirror to see what I’m worth – I have to look to the cross.  Jesus died so that I don’t have to be eternally separated from God because of my rebellion and sin.

This kind of mercy deserves a faithful heart.

This kind of grace deserves a heart that is submitted to His will.

This kind of love deserves a life lived in gratitude.  My life.

Amen, let it be so, dear Jesus.