Tag: Bible

My Ancient Prayer

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Paul prayed words like these over the Colossians thousands of years ago and today I pray them over you and I:

Dear Father, please fill us with the knowledge of your will by giving us wisdom and understanding through the Holy Spirit.

May we live a life that pleases you.  Help us do good works which bear much fruit for your Kingdom.

Guide us, Father, as we grow closer to you.  Please strengthen us with your power and might, giving us great endurance and patience as we run this race of faith.

Thank you, Abba, for adopting us into your Kingdom of light.  We lift our praises to you for rescuing us from the slavery of sin and darkness.  You have bought us and we live eternally in the presence of the Son you love, our Savior, who redeemed our souls.

You are an awesome Father who has listened and answered the prayers of your children for thousands of years.  We know you are listening today.  We love you. 

In the redeeming name of Jesus we pray, 

Everyone agreed and said, “Amen”.

24/7/365

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Five more days until Christmas.

Five more days before we celebrate Jesus’ birth.

Well, that’s not really true.  We actually start celebrating the birth of our Savior way before the 25th of December.  We are celebrating him when we put up our Christmas lights.   Jesus is the Light of the World.

We begin celebrating when we start buying gifts for one another.  Jesus was God’s perfect gift to us.

We start celebrating Jesus’ birth when we invite friends and neighbors over for Christmas festivities.  Jesus loved us first and wants us to share that love with others every day – not just on Christmas.

My celebration of Jesus’ birth can’t be limited to just one day or one month.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life for me every day.

He is my hope.   He fulfilled God’s promise of grace providing a way for me to have a personal relationship with my Abba Father.

So I celebrate Jesus’ birth and life every day.  I am grateful for his death and resurrection every day.  I look forward to seeing my Savior standing next to my Father in heaven someday.

And Christmas is still a special time for me because the rest of the world joins in to celebrate.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.

A Very Bad Trade

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

If I watch enough of today’s news….

and read enough Facebook posts….

and hear enough ‘discussion’ on talk radio or podcasts……

I will be very confused on what is true.  I won’t know what’s really going on.  I will hear some opinions that I agree with (so they are right 🙂 and other’s I don’t agree with (so they are obviously wrong).

If I listen to all of these voices, my own perspective will lean one way…..

and then the other.   Oh, that sounds good – I’ll climb on that bandwagon!

Look around!  This is happening every day.  If I had to pick one word that I think describes our current culture the best, I would have to pick ‘confused’.

Paul nails it in Romans 1, “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised.  Amen.”

There are way too many loud voices in our world spouting all kinds of lies.  Since we are so digitally ‘connected’ these lies continue to spread and start to look like something people generally believe.

It’s scarey.  Because it’s still lies, no matter how many people believe it.

I am reminded of what is true whenever I sit down with my Bible in my lap.  It gives me the chance turn off all of the voices around me and listen to God speak truth into my head and heart, feeding my soul.  God’s words cut through the cacophony and confusion, providing a solid foundation that does not change as the winds of the world shift and swirl around me.

God is my compass and he is the solid ground I stand on.  His Word is my map which he is using to point out to me – one step at a time – the path that is taking me home…

where I will praise my Creator forever.

Amen.  Let it be so, Abba Father.

Don’t Waste Your Time

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

I’m amazed by how much time some people spend on trying to predict the end of the world.  There are whole religious groups that keep coming up with a new ‘date’ when Jesus is coming again to earth.

I know other people – and not just a few people – who study Revelations excessively, tearing it apart and memorizing it in an effort to figure out the final events leading up to Satan being thrown into his eternal lake of fire.   Yep, Satan is finally going to get his reward for messing around in our lives, lying to us and distracting us.  That’s my favorite part of Revelations.  And it will happen after Jesus comes back so I don’t have to watch for that –  he will have all of my attention.

All of this effort people put into predicting the end of the world doesn’t make sense to me.

Jesus told his disciples (and us) that it is not for us to know the date and time the Father had chosen for his return.  What part of that don’t we understand?

Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians that ‘the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night’.  After reading this, my conclusion is that all the predictions are going to be wrong.

All of them.

I shouldn’t waste my time on them.  You shouldn’t waste any time on them, either.  Trying to figure out the events leading up to the end of the world is not how God wants me to use my time here on earth.  I have personally learned a huge lesson on just how short my time is here – I’m a whisper.  I need to use that time well.

Paul goes on to say, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

THIS is what I need to be doing.

Encouraging others.  Building others up.

Loving God.  Loving others.

Jesus was very clear on how we are to spend our remaining days here on earth.

The end will come when nobody expects it.  Don’t worry – none of us will miss it because……

 

Please help us focus on the right priorities during our short time here on earth, Abba Father.

 

I Have Received the Message

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

A message has been sent to me and to you.  And part of the message is to pass the message we hear on to others.

Paul tells us in Acts. 23, “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.”

I have heard this message because God sent it to me.  You have heard this message because God sent it to you.

When I heard this message and accepted God’s free gift of grace, I became free.  My eternal life with God started right away – while I am still here on earth.

Life here on this broken planet makes more sense to me the closer my relationship with God becomes.  God’s blessings flow down on me despite my circumstances here in this place where Satan prowls.

After receiving the message, I have the responsibility to pass it on to others.  That’s what I’m doing.  And I will continue to do this until the day that Jesus takes my hand and I step into heaven.

This same message of grace and freedom has been sent to you.  Have you accepted it?  Have you passed it on?

Please help us share your Great News with others, Abba Father.

What’s Next?

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

I know God is in control.

My entire life, I have experienced the goodness of God and his faithfulness.

I trust God’s promises that he is working things out in a good way for me.

It’s just hard to see the good sometimes.  It’s difficult to understand how God will accomplish his plan through the circumstances he has orchestrated in my life.

As I’m reading through Acts 10, I just have to stop and underline, “While Peter was wondering about  the meaning of the vision.”

Peter had just seen a vision of a sheet coming down from heaven containing all kinds of animals which Jewish law forbade him to eat. “Then a voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat.”  Peter responded that he had never eaten any of these unclean animals.  And the voice replied, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

This happened 3 times before the sheet was taken back up to heaven and didn’t appear again.

What was that all about?  The law about not eating unclean animals went way back to Moses’ time.  Surely God wasn’t changing the law after hundreds of years?  What was going on?

I’ve been there.  I am there.  I know God is working his purposes out in my life but I see things happening that just don’t make sense.  Then I’m left wondering about the meaning of what just happened – just like Peter.

And, while I’m wondering – just like Peter – God starts to reveal his purposes.  While I’m wondering, God opens my eyes to the next step of his plan.

One of the next lines in this scripture is “while Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you.  So get up and go downstairs.  Do not hesitate to go with them for I have sent them.”

Do not hesitate.

I have experienced the Holy Spirit actually talking to me in my mind – explaining what is happening.  More often, he will direct my attention to what’s happening in a way that opens my eyes to what God is doing and the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place.

The Spirit told Peter, “Do not hesitate.”  That takes a lot of trust.

This account of Peter’s experience encourages me.  God was changing the law and he was accomplishing it through Peter’s immediate obedience.  God was teaching Peter very important lessons regarding his plan for the Gentiles.  God was flipping Peter’s religious world upside down, making him lead the way into this new and controversial area.

Peter obeyed.

And the Holy Spirit poured out upon the the Gentiles through Peter’s words.  Everyone believed and was baptized.

Peter would never be the same.  He didn’t know any of this was going to happen when he started getting the vision.  He just hung in there, believed, trusted and obeyed.

Just like I need to do when I’m left wondering what God is doing.

Just like you need to do.

Please help me be obedient, Abba.

Suffering

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

I’ve never talked to anyone who liked to suffer.

It feels like being a child of God should equate to an easier life filled with beautiful moments.  But that’s not reality.  Life on this earth is heart-breaking and painful – even for the children of the King.

At least we’re in good company.  Look at the suffering of God’s perfect son – Jesus.

And the suffering of the apostles.  In Acts 5 we read that the apostles were whipped by the Sanhedrin for teaching the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ and then released.

“The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”

Rejoicing because they were worthy of suffering disgrace for Jesus?  What a surprising attitude!  The apostles are role-modeling for you and for me a life that is totally sold out to Jesus.  They had given up all the joys and comforts of this world and had fixed their eyes on heaven.

Amen.  Let it be so with us, Abba Father.

Words that Changed My Life

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

They challenged me.

They held me accountable for what I had been saying my entire life.

These are the words Jesus said in John 14:

“If you love me, keep my commands”.

I had been saying I loved Jesus since I was old enough to talk.  I was brought up in a Christian family who lived out their faith in a small Christian town.  For much of my childhood, I thought everyone was a Christian because everyone in my life went to church.

I remember seriously being in love with Jesus when I was younger.  I read my Bible and talked to him all of the time.  Somewhere along the way, I slipped into being more of a ‘cultural Christian’ than actually having a relationship with God.  I went to church, I served at church, I gave money to the church, I participated in small group Bible studies and I talked about loving Jesus but God really didn’t have a big place in my daily life.   My Bible was gathering dust, but I still said I loved Jesus.

Then the Holy Spirit convicted me with these words, “If you love me, keep my commands.”  He made it clear to me that he wasn’t talking about the 10 commandments in the Old Testament.  Jesus had fulfilled all of the old law and given me two new commandments.  Only two.

The first – I need to love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my mind and all my soul.

The second – love others as myself.

These are it.  Everything else falls under these two commandments.

The Holy Spirit told me, if I really loved Jesus, I would strive to keep these two commandments.  If I didn’t start sincerely trying to obey these two, I needed to stop saying I loved Jesus.

I was blown away!  I had never taken the commandment to love God first seriously.  I was a wife and a working mother of two small kids at the time.  I had so many responsibilities and things to do I just couldn’t imagine adding all the stuff it would take to love God first!

But there was no way I was going to stop saying I loved Jesus.  No way.   I knew it was a part of who I was at the center of my soul.  So I was going to have to go for it and figure it out as I went.

It didn’t take me long to realize, when I put God first, he helped me with everything else.  He grew me into a better wife, a better mother, a better daughter and sister, a better employee, a better boss, a better friend – he made my entire life better.  Putting him first in my life made my existence so much more meaningful and ‘worth it’.  He filled the empty spots in my heart and made me whole.

When I put God first in my life, he taught me how to love others.  As my life filled with his love, it overflowed to those around me.  I didn’t have to try to obey the second command – it naturally happened as the love of my Father transformed me from the inside out.

One verse piercing my soul through the Holy Spirit changed the tragectory of my entire life.  It put me on the path on I am on today – my Journey towards the Truth.

Thank you for joining me on this journey

Thank you for loving me first, Abba Father.

What’s the Answer?

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

How can I help make this world a better place?  Wow!  That’s a big question.

How can I hep those who are hurting and feeling all alone?

How can I, just one person, really make a difference in my neighborhood, in my circle of friends and in my family?

My son, David Glasser, was a Phoenix Police officer who was killed in the line of duty on May 18, 2016.  He left behind a legacy of love by reminding us how important it is to tell each other ‘love you’ and to show it.

And I have discovered that love is the answer.

Love is a gift given to all of us directly from our Father God.  Jesus spoke very clearly about love in John 13, “Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Before he was killed, Davey made sure he said ‘love you’ to everyone when he said good-bye to them.  As a police officer, he also persuaded his squad to say ‘love you’ to each other before going out on their calls.  Now we all understand what a blessing it is that these were his last two words he ever said to each of us.

Davey knew how important love was and he was great at saying it.  Even more important, he was great at showing people – all kinds of people – that he loved them.  This was his legacy of love.  And honoring his legacy has helped all of us through the many dark and painful days that have followed his death.

There is a supernatural magic in love that I had never experienced before these last 2 1/2 years.  Jesus knew this thousands of years ago when he told us –

‘Love one another’.

Thank you for giving us such a clear answer, Jesus.

Worried

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

Anxious.

Not sleeping.

Grumpy.

On edge – ready to snap at the next person who looks at us wrong.

Does this describe you at times?  I know I can go here if I’m not aware of where my mind and attitude are wandering..

Do you remember the biblical account of the disciples in their boat in the middle of a huge storm on the lake?  I visualize all of  them trying to row against the giant waves that were breaking over their boat.  The waves were filling the boat with water and almost capsizing it.

That’s you and me.  Worrying.  Anxious.  Fighting the waves all on our own…….and losing.

While Jesus sleeps in the corner.

Jesus never sleeps now but he does wait sometimes to get involved in a situation until we ask.   Throughout his ministry, he constantly told listeners to see and to knock and to ask.

But do I always remember that?  I wish my answer was yes because I know Jesus is always there to help me solve my problems.  He wants me to recognize my need for him at the beginning of the trial and ask for his intervention.

Before their boat totally sunk, the disciples finally got it and woke up Jesus.  That’s all they needed to do – he took it from there by supernaturally calming the storm.

Why don’t I always remember this when waves start rocking my world?

Why don’t you always remember this when the night is dark and long with worries and anxiety?  Are there waves breaking over the edges of your boat right now trying to swamp you?

Have you ‘woken up’ Jesus?

Thank you for your faithfulness, Lord.