Category: September

Get Me Out of Here!

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

I really enjoy reading this chronological Bible – it reads more like the continuous  historical story is was rather than skipping back and forth over hundreds of years.

Right after the recounting of Job’s suffering and restoration, this Bible inserts Psalms which were written by Israelites who were exiled and in captivity.  These psalms are full of ‘whys’ and ‘get us out of here’ along with confessions of the sins that brought them to this place.

How often do we experience this same thing?   We make bad decisions, we make wrong choices, we do what we want to do instead of what God wants us to do and our actions take us to a place in our lives that we don’t like.  This is not where we want to be.  We don’t want to stay here.  Why am I here, God?  Get me out of here!

Just like the Israelites, we need to confess our disobedience and turn back to God.  We need to stop the rebelling and let God help us start moving in the right direction.  It won’t happen overnight….but it will happen.  God has promised that he will work it all out for those who love him.  But we need to listen and obey – that’s our part.

When we really trust God, our hearts can be full of praise – in any situation.  We see that with the Israelites as praise to God sometimes broke through all of the questioning and complaining – like this part of Psalm 44.Sept 18 2014 questions and Complaints

Let’s join them in praising our Father God today!

You are our King and God who has given us victory from generation to generation!

You give us strength to push back our enemies!

Because of your power in our lives, we can trample the darkness all around us.

We don’t put our trust in our own strength or in our own wisdom – they will not bring us victory.

Only you, dear Father, can win the battles for us.

Only you can beat out the forces that we fight each day – both seen and unseen.

We want to boast about you all day long!  To everyone!

We will praise your name forever!

We love you, dear God!

It Explains So Much!

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

He is roaming the earth…going back and forth on it.

He has a very large team of spirits who watch us….figuring out when we are weak so they can whisper lies and temptations into our ears.Sept 8 2014 it explains so much

They tell us just enough truth to make it sound good and then they twist some lies into it.

These evil spirits help us rationalize away our sins of our lives.

They help us blame others instead of taking personal accountability for what we say and what we do.

They make bad things look ok (as long as we don’t think about it or pray about it too much).

By appealing to our rebellious side with its sinful desires, they can make darkness look like light and selfishness look like self-preservation.

When we read the book of Job, we get a front row seat to the spiritual battle which is going on right now in the heavens.  It starts to make sense that several of the angels who are mentioned in the Bible by name are leaders of the heavenly army.  They are in a constant battle for us – defending us and pushing away the darkness.

I’m sure Satan doesn’t like it whenever we read the Bible but especially the book of Job.  We read how he challenged God directly and was SO WRONG about Job.  I’m sure Satan loved the parts where Job’s friends were so confused.  They thought this was all happening to Job because of unconfessed sin in his life.  Wrong!

And Satan really liked it when Job’s wife gave up, told Job to curse God and die.

Satan won a couple of battles but he lost the war.  And that pattern will be repeated over and over until the end of time.  We see evidence of Satan winning some battles today – child pornography, homelessness, human trafficking, starvation and terrorism, etc.

But he will not win the war!

Because Jesus has already defeated Satan!

Jesus is victorious!  And through faith in him, we also become victorious!

When we are obedient to him, he can help us win our day to day battles with Satan’s team.  Through our obedience, he is also able to continue the process of transformation – turning our sinful desires into a stronger desire for the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

When we put our trust in Jesus, we are in a win-win situation!

Thank you, dear Jesus!

Temporary Insanity

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

The God who created all of the universe holds it in his hand right now.  It all stays together giving us light and breath because he wants it to.

He created the gravity that keeps us walking upon this earth.  We know why the sun is just the right distance from the earth.  God made it that way so we have heat and light but we don’t become a big ball of fire.

He is a God of order and reason.  The sciences and mathematics were created by him – that’s how he works.

There are no mysteries to him – he knows it all. Sept 7 2013 Temporary insanity

And this all-powerful God wants to have a personal relationship with us.  With me.  With you.  That’s why we were created.

He wants to lavish his love on us.  He desires to give us the best this life has to offer.

So why do we rebel?  Why do we choose to do our own thing while turning away from the best the God of All Things has for us?

It must be temporary insanity.  That’s the only thing that makes any sense at all.

In the 4th chapter of Daniel, we read about King Nebuchadnezzar going temporarily insane.

But when he lifted his eyes toward heaven, his sanity was restored.

This sounds like a very wise idea.  When we’re lost in confusion, doubt or despair.  When we don’t like the place we’re at or the road we’re on.  Let’s life our eyes to God and ask him to restore our sanity.  Ask him to be our light.  He promises he will always be there for us.

Thank you, dear Father!

God Made You Special….

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

and he loves you very much.

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading these words to my granddaughter, Eden, from a Veggie Tales book we own.  She is a fabulous 5- month old 🙂

Eden loved the book.  She was cooing and kicking her legs – really enjoying the pictures along with the little song it plays with the same words.Eden 5 months

And I began to think about how she had just come from God.

She had recently felt his hands molding her in her mother’s womb.

She had felt his power move inside of her when her tiny heart began to beat.

God had just designed her sparking blue eyes and her surprisingly deep and loud laughter.

He had recently combined a calm spirit with a sweet attitude to give her a personality that makes her fun and easy to take care of.

One of my goals in life is to make sure she never forgets how special she is and how much God loves her.

Because we can easily forget how much God loves us, can’t we?  When did the joy and excitement of anticipation  morph into adult worry and stress? As our responsibilities  and concerns grow into adulthood, it’s sometimes hard to remember that God made us special and he loves us very much.

Some of the other words of this Veggie Tales book are – ‘when you look in the mirror, you’ll see his touch.’

So…..go look in the mirror.

See his touch.

Remember how much God loves you.

How special you are to him. Today.  Right now.

We love you, dear Father.

Living Our Faith Out Loud

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

Think about the top official person of whatever you’re really interested in – the President of the United States, the Governor of your state, the Mayor of your city, the Commissioner of the National Football League :).  Imagine this person on TV announcing to everyone that ‘We are here today to give praise to the God of (your name).  (Your name) trusted in God and he came through for them.  So I am passing a new law that no one anywhere can say anything against this God.  For no other god can do what he did.”

This is bringing glory to God in a big way!  And this actually happened after Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego put their lives on the line in order to be faithful to God.Sept 7 2014 Because We Trust him

Very few of us get involved in a such a dramatic test of our faith.  But we have little tests all of the time.  Someone asks us a question where we could bring up God or not.  What to we do? Avoid the subject?  Not bring it up?  Or bring it up?  Let people who that we love God.

What do we choose?

As often happens when I write a blog like this, God challenged me 2 days ago about this same issue.  I was ordering a salad in the café in the office building where I work…I was in a hurry…lots of people I didn’t know standing around.  I often talk to the manager and he was taking my order.  When he was done, he asked me what plans I had for the weekend.

My plans this weekend were to be a group leader in an all-day discipleship training at church yesterday and go to church again today.   And fit in some time to get my hair done.  I was going to sound pretty ‘churchy’ if I shared my real plans, wasn’t I?  In front of all of these people?

I had already started this blog and I was immediately convicted about my second thoughts on sharing what I was really going to do.  So,  I told him the truth.  And he smiled and said he was planning to go to church Sunday, too.  How nice!  Now we have something more in common.

Little tests.  Small unexpected challenges to share what we’re REALLY doing or how we REALLY feel.

Please help us grow in being able to always live our Christian lives out loud, dear Father.

He Will Deliver Us

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

“God will deliver us” Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego told King Nebuchadnezzar when they refused to worship the King’s gods or the gold image the King has set up.

They were confident that God was going to take care of them.  First, they said God will save them from what the King wants to do to them – throw them in the fiery furnace.

And then they said, “But even if he does not”, they still refused to worship anything but God.Sept 5 2014 Because we trust him

Even if he does not – because sometimes God’s deliverance of us is to take us out of this world.

We struggle with death because our perspective is so different from God’s.

When the people we love die, we feel grief and separation.  We sometimes wonder how God could let this happen.  When great Christians and missionaries die, we sometimes wonder why God ‘let’ this happen, they were accomplishing such great things for God!

God’s perspective is very different.  When those who love him die here on earth, they are alive with him in heaven – forever.  He ‘delivers’ them from the pain and brokenness of this life into a perfect life with him.  They receive the prize.  It’s not something he ‘lets’ happen, it is all done according to his will.

A year after my mother went to heaven, I got 12 blood clots that went to my lungs and 5 doctors confirmed that this should have killed me.  But it didn’t.  God told me right away in the emergency room that I wasn’t going to die from this – he had already taken care of it.

As a result of this experience, I got a very up close and personal new understanding of God’s omnipotence.  All of the scientific facts said that I should have died.  But God said ‘No’ and it didn’t happen.

God’s total and complete omnipotence gives me peace about my mother’s death, my own death when it happens and all death.  Death happens when God says and not before.  God ‘delivered’ my mother at his designated time.  And that was the right time for her.  I wouldn’t want anything other than God’s best for her.

He will ‘deliver ‘ me at the right time for me.  It’s already determined.  He has already decided and it will happen.  Until then, I need to fulfill the purpose he has given me.  It’s the reason why I’m still here.

Amen!

Hallelujah!

The Watchman

On By Judy GlasserIn September1 Comment

On my trip to Israel earlier this year, we visited a Nazareth village which is set up to show us what Nazareth looked like when Jesus lived there.

A watchman was placed high on the hill overlooking the village and the land surrounding it.nn watching over Nazareth

Ezekiel explains the watchman’s duties in his 33rd chapter.  He says the watchman needs to blow the trumpet to warn the people when he sees danger coming.  If he blows the trumpet and the people don’t heed the warning, they are responsible for their own deaths.

BUT, if the watchman sees the danger coming and doesn’t blow the trumpet, the watchman is responsible for their deaths.

What does this mean for us today?

We don’t have watchmen……or, do we?

We definitely have danger all around us.

When I read this, God reminds me that I am a watchman for the people around me.  I know the truth.  And I know what danger looks like.  So I need to sound the alarm when I see danger coming.

I wish it was as easy as sounding the trumpet.  It’s much harder today to warn others of danger coming their way.  Our culture is  more independent than that of the Israelites and many people don’t understand that God still holds us accountable for each other.

So how do we make sure we’re doing our job as watchmen?  We have a great role model in Jesus who used equal measures of grace and truth.  He didn’t judge people (except for the religious leaders who should have known better).  He didn’t condemn people who were in danger.  He communicated truth with love.  So people could listen.  And understand.  And avoid the danger.

Thank you, dear Jesus.  Please help us do the same.

Who Are Our Enemies?

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

The Bible often tells us how God helps us conquer our enemies.  In our world today, our enemies may not be as obvious as in Biblical times.  No one is throwing a spear at us…..or, are they?

In Ezra 4, the Israelites are rebuilding the temple after their exile to Syria and their enemies are discouraging them and making them afraid to go on building.September 24 2013

Discouragement.

Fear.

Do we have people in our lives who discourage us?  People who tell us we should be afraid?

These are weapons of our enemies and they are very clear weapons of our chief Enemy – Satan.

Satan loves to whisper discouragement into our ears.  He loves to bring discouraging people into our lives so that they can help him speak lies and negativity into our minds.

Satan loves to make us afraid.  It’s not a coincidence that God tells us so many times in his Word to not be afraid.  Satan loves to make us fearful – then we’re defeated before we’ve even begun.  Fear handicaps us, it haunts us, it can consume us.

Yes, we have many enemies.  And God promises us that he has already conquered them.  When we walk closely with him, we can also be conquerors.

Thank you, dear Father!

Nothing is Impossible….

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

with God.

Such wonderful mysteries – how God works his will in our world!September 25 2013

Through God’s influence, Persian rulers helped to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.   They not only freed the Jews to go back to their country, the rulers paid for the restoration in full  through the royal treasury.

When God wants something to happen, it happens.  He is in complete control even of those who don’t believe in him.

You would think that finishing the temple would be easy at this point.

Not when the people of Israel themselves were part of the problem.

They were not working on rebuilding the temple because they were consumed with their own issues.  They were experiencing drought and famine so they were focused on themselves, not on God.

God tells them through the prophet Haggai that they were planting much but harvesting little because their priorities were wrong.  They were not caring about what God wanted them to do so God was holding back the rain and he wasn’t blessing their crops.  They could plant twice as much and they weren’t going to reap any more until they got their priorities straight.

Does this ever happen to us?  Are there times when we are working hard and then working harder and then even harder but we reap very little for all of our efforts?

Maybe these are the times we need to re-evaluate our priorities.

Are we in a drought because we’re neglecting to focus on God and his purpose for our lives?

God speaks to us today through Haggai just like he did so long ago to the Jews when he says, ” Give careful thought to your ways.”

There is good news about the Jews.  They responded positively to Haggai’s words and they changed their priorities.  The work began again on re-building the temple and they experienced God’s blessings on all of their efforts.

Please help us to respond in the same way when we are in a drought, dear Father.

 

The God of Daniel

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

September 22 2013It’s amazing how much Daniel and his faith influenced King Darius.

The king could easily see Daniel’s integrity and faith.   He didn’t want to put Daniel in the lion’s den.  He was tricked into it.

King Darius couldn’t sleep that night as he worried about Daniel and the lions.  He was overjoyed when Daniel was still alive the next morning and he made sure everyone knew it.

King Darius was so impressed by Daniel’s faith that he issued a decree telling the people in all parts of his kingdom that they needed to honor and fear the God of Daniel.

What a witness Daniel had!  The light and truth of God shown through Daniel so clearly that the King saw it.  And the King knew where this was coming from.

May our witness shine as brightly, dear Father!