Tag: blessings

We Are Free!

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

Free from guilt.

Free from never being good enough.

Free from emptiness.

Free from wondering why we’re here.

Free from trying to be in control when we know we’re not. (Or are you still operating with the misconception that you’re in control?)

And the list of our freedoms goes on…

Jesus tells us in Luke that his Father sent him to proclaim freedom for the prisoners.

That’s us.

Without Jesus in our lives, we are held prisoners by our past, our present and our future.

But Jesus came to set us free!  We just need to accept his gift of redemption and follow him.we-are-set-free

Then we are truly free.

Yes, we still struggle.

Yes, we still do things and say things we wish we hadn’t.

Yes, we still have questions and issues in our lives.  We have pain and sorrow.

But we know who holds the key.  He knows the way.  He has already won!

He is walking right next to us in this world and he will be walking right next to us into the next.

We are free in Christ Jesus!

Truly free!

 

 

I’ve Got Your Back!

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

When we want to accomplish something big, it takes a team.

One person can only do what one person can get done.

But when a group of people join energy and brainpower to tackle a goal together, unexplainable synergy happens and their efforts are multiplied.

Success rolls in when a team of people are engaged, committed to working together and helping each other achieve a goal.

And when God’s involved – there is a supernatural factor that is truly astounding to witness.  Projects turn out much better than planned.  Blessings pile up.  We see our faith growing as, together, we experience the power of God in our lives.

Has this happened to you?

I’ve experienced this many times and its exciting every time it happens.

As a result, I love reading the historical account of Nehemiah leading the Israelites in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem.  The Jews were being attacked regularly by their enemies who didn’t want them to complete the wall.  They were very discouraged.

Nehemiah refused to stop building.  He knew that he had been sent back to Jerusalem to lead this project so he couldn’t stop.  He organized the men into teams – half of them did the work while the other half watched the worker’s backs with spears, shields, bows and armor.  They protected their brothers with everything they had.

Working together,

protecting each other,

they accomplished the goal together.

They could not have done it without each other.

Our Spiritual family is like this.  We need each other.  Each one of us needs to use our spiritual gifts in order to build each other up and fulfill our purpose of reaching others for Christ.

We watch each other’s backs – loving and forgiving each other in supernatural ways.

And we love those who don’t know Jesus yet…blue-blob-ive-got-your-back

while our Spiritual family supports us and cheers us on.

We can do this, because He first loved us…

and He has our backs.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Test Me

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

“Test me in this.” God says to us in Malachi 3.test-me-in-this

It’s the only place in the Bible where God challenges us to test him.

He wants us to check him out.

Because we will find that he is faithful.

He promises 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 will not be room enough to store it” (3:12)

This is not about money.

The real question is – who is God of my life?

If possessions are my god, I will not have enough money to tithe.  If ‘stuff’ is too important to me, I will never have enough money to tithe.

But- if the One True God is the God of my life, I will have enough.  I will have more than enough.

Just ask anyone who has put God in the center of their finances and has made a habit of giving a tithe back to God from their first and their best.

They can tell you story after story about God’s faithfulness in return for their faithfulness.

Checks come in the mail from places where we weren’t expecting any checks.  Do you want to see strange ‘rebates’ and ‘overpayments’ coming to you in the mail?  Become faithful with your tithing and you’ll start seeing them.

Repairs on our houses or cars that should have been very expensive suddenly cost two digits.  Don’t ask me how.  God just makes it happen.

Other generous people who are following God’s leading will give us cars and money and possessions just when we need them.

When we are faithful in giving to him, God opens the floodgates.  And many of the blessings he gives us are things that no amount of money can buy – like peace and joy and purpose.

If you haven’t tried it,  go ahead! Test God!

Thank you for your many blessings, Abba Father.

 

Where Does It Come From?

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

Sometimes its all just too much.

Our calendars are full.

Our bank account is empty.

The pile of stuff needing our attention keeps growing.

Where can we find the strength to face another day?

God is our strength.oct-2-2016-where-does-it-come-from

He has a huge storehouse of strength that he wants to give us.  We just need to ask and receive.

God desires to bless us, his children.  He wants us to have the strength for the things we need to do …… and for fun things, too!

He loves us.

He wants to care for us and help us and guide us.

We just need to plug into his power.

Could you use a little extra strength today?

He’s waiting

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

 

Persistent Knocking

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

Our conversations with God are often filled with requests.  And, throughout the Bible, God tells us over and over to come to him with all kinds of requests.  He tells us to lay our cares at his feet and leave them.

One of my favorite parables is the story of the Persistent widow.  She knocked and knocked and continued to knock on the door of the unjust judge until he finally took care of her issue and gave her justice so he could get rid of her.  As Jesus told this story, he then tells us ‘how much more’ our heavenly Father loves us so we should have no doubt he will take care of our concerns when we ‘knock on his door’.

I have used this ‘persistent widow’ method in the middle of several stressful situations in my life.  These were times where I needed to make a decision and I needed an answer from him so I knocked on God’s door until he answered.  This meant that I prayed about this issue every time it entered my head – easily 50 to 80 times in a day.

I found that many of these times, God changed my perspective as I prayed and listened.  He has actually changed my perspective in the middle of these stressful times more often than he gave me a direct answer.  By the end of some of these days, my understanding of what was going on was drastically different at the end of the day from when I started that morning.  That’s so ‘like’ him, don’t you think?

So now I don’t usually pray for a specific answer- I pray for understanding of what is  going on and directions for how to move forward.

In Chapter 9, Daniel reminds us in his penitent prayer that we don’t make requests of God because we are righteous.  We don’t make requests because we have done a lot of good things so now its God’s turn to pay us back.

We don’t make requests because we’re ‘good enough’.

We’ll never be good enough on our own.

We can make our requests of God because he is merciful.  We can make requests because he is full of grace.

We can make requests because he loved us first and sent his Son to die for us.  Jesus makes us good enough.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Psalm 89A, 2016

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever.

I will tell everyone about your faithfulness to me.sept-18-2016-psalm-89a

I am confident that your love for us has no end.  You say in your Word that we, as believers, are your chosen ones.  We are a part of your church which is the Bride of Christ.

We join with all creation to praise you, LORD!

No one and nothing compares with you.  You are more awesome than all who surround you.  You rule over the sea and the waves.  The heavens and earth are yours and everything in them.

You created the north and the south.sept-18-2016-psalm-89a-b

You are powerful and strong.

You define justice and righteousness as well as love and faithfulness.

We are blessed when we walk in your light and truth, LORD.

We rejoice all day long because we know you.  You are our strength and our protector.

We will sing of your great love forever, Abba Father!

Great Faithfulness

On By Judy GlasserIn August, September2 Comments

We are not consumed by our sadness…

or our problems..

or the chaos in our world.

Because God is always loving and caring for us.

One of my special joys in reading through the Bible every year is when we read words that were used in the old famous hymns.  I was raised in a musical, conservative Christian home so these hymns bring back precious memories.

We read in Lamentations 3 that God promises to be faithful to us.  August 30 2016 Great Faithfulness

And, as the sun rises each morning, I am reminded of his promises.

His compassions never fail – we receive more grace and love every morning.

He is never late ( even though it can sometimes appear that way to us).

He is never tired.

He is never distracted.

Whenever doubts about God enter my mind, all I have to do is look back.

And I see God’s faithfulness to me day after day, year after year.

Even when I wandered, God never left me.

He never stopped loving me and caring for me.

Just like he cares for me today.

And I know I can count on him to love me and care for me all of the rest of the days I walk on this earth…and on into heaven.

Great is your faithfulness, oh God, my Father!

Our Heart Condition

On By Judy GlasserIn August3 Comments

What’s the condition of my heart?

Is it soft?

Is it big?

What’s the condition of your’s?

Writing about the size of our hearts reminds me of one of the Glasser Family’s Christmas traditions.  We watch ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” every year.  The Grinch was very concerned about the size of his heart so he often measured it.  He wanted a small heart so he wouldn’t feel anything or care about anybody else.

What about us?

Do we want a small heart?  A hard heart?August 16 c 2016 Heart Conditions.

God talks to us often about the condition of our hearts.  In Ezekiel 11, God promises restoration if we will repent –

  •  if we will turn from focusing on what we want,
  • if we will turn away from our need for control,
  • if we will turn away from the things that keep us so busy that we don’t have time for God,
  • if we will turn away from whatever is holding us back from loving God with all our heart, soul and mind.

When we turn to God, he promises he will give us an undivided heart – a heart centered on him and his love and his grace.  He promises he will bring a new wind of his spirit into our lives – giving us purpose and meaning.  He promises to replace our heart of stone which is rebellious and self-centered with a heart devoted to obeying God.

When we do this, we are his people and he is our God.

When we’re committed to God, our hearts are big and open to things God loves and cares about.

What is the condition of your heart?

Please grow our hearts, Abba Father.

Full of Radiance

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

We all like to hear good news.

A baby is born.

We got a raise.

Our child got an A in school.

Good news.

There is not better news than the Good News Jesus brought to us when he came to earth.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.” John 3:16.

Great news!  News that needs to be shared!

Jesus tells the disciples and us several times in the New Testament that he came to make us fishers of men.

That’s why we’re here.

Jesus’ last direction to us before he went home to heaven was to Go!

Go and make disciples.

Of people of all nations.

Teaching them everything he has taught us.

And he will be with us through the end of our life here on earth so he can walk with us into heaven.

Amen!

Towards the end of every service at my church, the Good News is shared. Everyone hearing this Good News is given the opportunity to accept God’s gift of salvation.

During this time, I can feel the cloud of God’s presence filling our church.

Yes, God is there all of the time.

But, as his plan for saving us from eternal death is explained, I can feel an extra sense of his presence.  I feel God’s blessings coming down, covering us with his approval as his Good News spreads out over my church family.

Ezekiel describes something much like this in his 10th chapter. “The cloud filled the temple and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the LORD.”August 16 2016 c filled with grace

The Good News of God’s grace radiates through my church family every service.

Redemption.

Salvation.

Love.

Purpose.

The glory of the LORD is never more evident than when we are doing what he has called us to do.

The Good News.

Who can we share it with today?

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

 

 

We Stop Too Soon

On By Judy GlasserIn August1 Comment

We love reading God’s promise that he has a plan for us – plans to prosper us, to give us hope and a future.

Awesome!  We’re feeling great as we read this in Jeremiah 29.August 11 a 2016 we stop too soon

But, if we stop there, we stop too soon.

Because God goes on in the next verses to tell us HOW he is going to do this.  He goes on to tell us our part of this plan.

He tells us that, when we call on him, when we come and pray to him, he will listen.

When we seek him with all of our hearts, we will find him and he will fulfill his plans to prosper us.

He will give us hope.

He will give us a future.

God has a part in this plan and we have a part.

Too often we focus on God’s part and fail to do our part.

Or we can just become lukewarm about doing our part……and then wonder why we have such a unfulfilling relationship with God.

Let’s ask ourselves a tough question today – are we faithfully doing our part of God’s plan?

What would our lives look like if we were seeking God with all of our hearts?

Are there changes that need to be made?

Please open our eyes, Abba Father.