Category: October

I Am Well Pleased

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

These  were the words of God coming out of the heavens during Jesus’ baptism.

This is one of my favorite moments in the New Testament because Jesus hadn’t started his ministry yet.  He hadn’t DONE anything yet to earn God’s favor.October 22 2

He just ‘was’.

He was God’s son and God was pleased with him.

Just like God is pleased with me because I am his daughter.  Through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, he made it possible for you and me to become children of God just like he was.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, God adopts us as his own – his precious child – in whom he is well pleased.

It’s true……..and its a miracle!

Thanks you, dear Father!

Prepare the Way!

On By Judy GlasserIn October1 Comment

The voice of one calling in the wilderness.  Prepare the way for the Lord!

John the Baptist spoke truth into people’s lives and helped prepare their hearts and minds for the time when they would meet their Savior.

Whose voice is calling out now?  Who is speaking to the wilderness of lonely, broken and lost people all around us?

Who is preparing the way so that the Spirit of God can touch these people with the truth?

This is supposed to us …….our voice.October 22 c2013

God has called us to be his witnesses on our block, in our neighborhood, in our city and where ever we go.

He has lavished his love upon us so that it can overflow to everyone around us.

He has given us the opportunity to hear and believe the truth and it’s not just for us.  We need to share it.

He has washed us clean with his mercy and grace.  We know it, we feel it.  Now we need to share it.

Let every valley be raised up and filled with His Light!

And our mountains of problems and issues leveled out by God’s hands.

Our crooked and confused paths made straight.

The love of God will smooth the rough road ahead of us.

And ALL people will see and understand God’s Salvation!

Amen!

Hello, Wise Men!

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

We’ve read through the Old Testament – congratulations!

I’ve met many Christians who have told me that they avoid reading and studying the Old Testament and they have a variety of reason for this.  I have only one thing to say about that – they are missing out!

As we just witnessed, God has a lot to teach us in the Old Testament.  The treasure is plentiful.  And it’s obviously important to God because 3/4 of his entire revelation to us is in the Old Testament.

Chronologically, biblical history is silent for about 400 hears between the OT and the NT.  A lot of things were happening during this time but God must have decided that those things were not an integral part of his love story to us so they weren’t included in his word.

The New Testament begins with the four gospels and the story of Jesus’ birth.  Angels filled the sky as they announced the birth of the newborn king to the shepherds.  Simeon and Anna were blessed for their faithfulness by having the opportunity to personally meet the Baby Jesus.October 21 2013

And the Wise Men made a very long journey following a star – they knew something big was up.  When they saw Jesus they were overjoyed.  They laid down their treasure before him and worshipped him.

Everytime I read this, I am amazed once again at how the religious people of the time totally missed the whole thing.  The Pharisees and Sadducees were so wrapped up in all of their laws that they missed the fulfillment of prophecies made 700 years before.  We know they knew the scriptures – that was their life work!  They had all the head knowledge but they couldn’t see what was happening right in front of them because their eyes and hearts weren’t open to God.   If they knew God as well as they knew the scriptures, they would have been worshipping Jesus right along with the Wise Men.

They had it all wrong – knowing the scriptures but not knowing God is meaningless.  Our goal is to know and experience God through his word. 

Dear Father, please help us keep our eyes and our hearts open to you!

A Test……

On By Judy GlasserIn October, UncategorizedLeave a comment

that God always passes.

God tells us in Malachi 3 that, when we bring our whole tithe to him, he will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there won’t be enough room to store it.

Have you tested him?

If you have, then I’m sure you’ve experienced the same thing that the rest of us who have done this have experienced.

God always keeps his word.  The blessings start rolling in, pouring out and multiplying.

Sometimes its actual money – an unexpected check, rebate or promotion.October 5 2013

Most of the time the blessings are things that money just can’t buy.  Things like joy, contentment, improved relationships with family and friends, a clear sense of direction and purpose.

And there’s an additional blessing of knowing that we are handling our finances in a way that honors and pleases God.

This is the only place in the Bible where God challenges us to test him.

He knows that it’s so easy for us to want to be in control of our money – even when it’s clear that we’re really messing it up.  Money can quickly become the god we are slaves to as the debt rises and the god of ‘more’ takes control.

God doesn’t want that for us.  He wants us to live a life filled with joy and freedom – freedom to serve him.  We can’t do that when we’re slaves to money.

So he challenges us to let him take control.  Because he loves us and he wants the best for us.

Thank you, dear Father.

For Such a Time as This

On By Judy GlasserIn October, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I am always inspired by Queen Esther’s story.  Lots of drama, lots of intrigue but she listens to her Godly Uncle and responds to God’s call upon her life.

God’s calls us to use the gifts and talents he has given us to meet a need in the world around us.

It’s true for all of us who love God.

When I was younger, I thought only pastors and missionaries received a calling from God.  I’m not sure where I got that from because it’s clear throughout the Bible that God calls each believer to faithfully respond to him with a ‘yes’ and fill a need around them.  Its not a vague, general calling – he has a specific need all picked out.

And it’s now.  For such a time as this.

God makes us aware of it at just the right time.  If we’re listening.  If we’re watching what’s going on around us.  If we’re meditating on his word.

As we walk down this path of faith, our callings also change.  We receive a new, ” For such a time as this.”  And then later we get a different “For Such a time as this.”

But there’a always a purpose for us.  When we have nothing else to do here, God brings us home to heaven.

If we’re still breathing, we have a calling, a purpose, something planned out by God for us to do.

For Such a Time as This.

Don’t Miss the Point

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

They refused to pay attention.September 28 2013

They turned their backs.

They covered their ears.

They hardened their hearts by refusing to listen to God.

This made the Lord Almighty very angry.

Then God said, ” When I called they did not listen,

so when they called, I would not listen.”

Our Father God is the same today as he was several thousand years ago when he said these words to the Israelites through his prophet, Zachariah.

He expects us to pay attention.

He expects us to open our ears.

He expects us to soften our hearts by listening to him as he speaks to us through his living word.

Then he will listen.

So Unreliable

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

One of the most unreliable things we trust in is money.

We think we can buy happiness with the bigger house or the new car or the new pair of shoes.  And when we buy them, we are happy….for a time.  And then we get something else on our mind that we think we have to have in order to be happy.

Paul is talking to Timothy about how unreliable money is and that our trust needs to be in God.  God gives us everything we need to make us happy.

Then Paul says that rich people need to use their money to do good, being generous with those in need and always being ready to share.  By doing this, they will experience true life!

We know that Americans are the richest people on the planet.  But how happy are we?  How many of us are experiencing true life?

What’s wrong with this picture?

Legacy=Choices=Legacy

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

Timothy was a fortunate young man who received a legacy of genuine faith from his mother and his grandmother.  He was obviously brought up in a home which had at least two very strong role-models for him.

He also clearly chose Christ for himself as he followed in his mother and grandmother’s footsteps.

Many of their prayers for Timothy were answered as he was mentored by Paul and began his own ministry.  He was young but he had courage because of the rock-solid faith that had nurtured him.

Paul also tells Timothy to ‘fan into flame’ of the spiritual gift that was given him.  Timothy was now responsible for his own growing faith.  He had been given a great start and now it was going to be his choices that determined the direction of the rest of his life.

This reminds me that, no matter what kind of start we were given on this path of faith, our choices today determine our direction for the rest of us lives.  We may not be as young as Timothy 🙂 but we still have choices.  And they determine how we spend our time and how we spend our money – and that’s where our hearts are.  And that’s the legacy that we will leave behind.

Dear Father, we ask that you guide us into making choices that bring us closer to you.  We want to leave a legacy of faith.

My Plans for You are…..

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

for you to wait.

We often quote the scripture in Jeremiah 29 where God tells us that his plans for us are good and not for disaster, to give us a future and a hope.  We love to claim this promise and all of the blessings it includes.

Have you read this in context?  In the sentence right before this, God is telling the Israelites that they would be in Babylon for seventy years and THEN he would come and do all that he had promised.

70 years!

Not 1 year, or even 10 years!  70 years!

We want it now, don’t we?  If not today, then tomorrow will have to do.  So often God asks for our obedience first and THEN he arrives with his blessing.  He was doing this with the Israelites in Jeremiah’s time and he’s doing this with us right now in our time.

First we obey and THEN we experience God’s pleasure with our lives.

Dear Father, please help us obey you today so that we might live in your blessing….we trust that your timing is always perfect.

Lip Service

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

The Israelites remembered that God was their rock in Psalm 78 and that he had redeemed them

But all they gave him was lip service.

Their hearts were not loyal to him.

Just giving God lip service………like-

Often telling people we’ll pray for them but rarely talking with God on their behalf?

Wanting to read the Bible more often but not making any significant changes in our calendar to make that happen?

Always ready to talk about God to other Christians but then regularly clamming up about him when we’re around people we aren’t so sure about?

Routinely going to church on Sunday but not letting God have room to really change our lives in between?

Dear Father, we desire to give you so much more than lip service!