Tag: blessings

Thanksgiving Prayer, 1 Corinthians

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

Thank you, Father, for the truth you have given us through Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.Thanksgiving 2015

We are grateful for your son, Christ Jesus, who brought your grace into this world for each one of us when we believe.

We ask that you enrich our words and inhabit our thoughts with your wisdom.  Confirm your truth in our lives every day, dear Father.

We are grateful for the gift of your spirit living within us as we eagerly wait for Jesus’ return.  Please keep us firmly rooted in you, dear Father – all the way to the end of our purpose here on earth.

Thank you for your faithfulness to us, dear God.  Thank you for the personal relationship we have with you.

We are blessed!

Amen!  Hallelujah!

Sword Fighting Class – Life!

On By Judy GlasserIn Sword Fighting ClassLeave a comment

We are memorizing Proverbs 3 together.  So many great promises from God!

“My child, do not forget my teachings but keep my commands in your heart for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the site of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.Proverbs 2 -13-3-11

Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruit of all your crops. Then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim over with new wine. My child, do not despise the Lords discipline and do no resent his rebuke because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father, the daughter he delights in.

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, who gains understanding. For she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies, nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand, in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways and all of her paths are peace. “Proverbs 3 to verse 25

Great job!  Here is the next verse:

“She is a tree of life to those who embrace her – those who lay hold of her will be blessed.”

Embracing wisdom = life.

Embracing wisdom = blessings.

And we know where wisdom comes from.  Our Father God.

When we seek him, call out for insight, cry aloud for understanding, search for it as for hidden treasure – God gives us wisdom.

As we take hold of wisdom by memorizing God’s word, we are being blessed.

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

 

Real Love

On By Judy GlasserIn October1 Comment

We humans don’t know how to really love each other. We love each other if the other person is being lovable.  We love each other when the other person looks right, acts right and smells good.  Our love quickly fades – proven by our divorce rates.  Our love quickly gives up when the going gets tough – proven by the number of one-parent families in our culture.

It’s too little, too late, too conditional.

Even at the best of times, our love is just a tiny drop of moisture compared to the ocean of love that God has for us.

We can never understand the depth and the width and the height of God’s love.

But we can believe.

And when we believe, we find the most important love relationship of our lives.Sept 15 2015 climbing a tall ladder

Here is an excerpt from the Experiencing God bible study that I’m going through with my small group right now.  Understanding and believing this truth forever changed how I look at God’s commands. How I read his Word to me.  It blew up my previous perception of God’s love and changed how I lived my life from that day on:

“God loves you deeply and profoundly.  Because he loves you, He has given you guidelines for living so you will not miss the full dimensions of the love relationship.  Life also has some land mines that can destroy you or harm your life.  God does not want to see you miss His best, and He does not want your life destroyed by foolish choices.

Suppose you had to cross a field full of land mines and a person who knew exactly where each one was buried offered to take you through it.  Would you say to him, “I don’t want you to tell me what to do.  I have free will!  I don’t want you to impose your ways on me”?

I don’t know about you, but I would stay as close to that person as I could.  I certainly would not wander off.  His directions to me would preserve my life.  He would say, ‘Don’t go that way, because that way will kill you.  Go this way, and you will live.’

That is the purpose of God’s commands.  He wants you to receive life and have it abundantly.  When the Lord gives you a command, He is trying to protect and preserve the best He has for you.  He does not want you to lose it.  When God gives a command, He is not restricting you.  He is freeing you.”

Thank you, Abba Father!

Sword Fighting Class – In Your Own Eyes

On By Judy GlasserIn Sword Fighting ClassLeave a comment

We’re being blessed as we memorize Proverbs 3 together:

“My child, do not forget my teachings but keep my commands in your heart for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

Trust in the Lord with all of your might and lean not on your own undertanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”Proverbs 2 -13-3-11

As we add this next verse, its interesting to me to see how it relates to last week’s verse:

“Do not be wise in your own eyes.  Fear the Lord and shun evil.”

If I had to tell you one thing that I’ve learned as I’m memorizing God’s word is that my past thinking and judgement had some big holes in it.  Not all of it, but enough that taking this verse literally is very wise for me.  I needed to realize that my thinking was not always in line with God and that I should depend more on God for my wisdom.  Not myself.

As God is etching his Word on my mind, he writing over some old, incorrect thinking and renewing my mind.  Adding his wisdom.

It’s changing me.

Preparing me for the next season of my life.

It’s growing my respect for God’s wisdom and increasing my awareness of evil so I can avoid it.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Audio file of my memorization of Proverbs 3 so far:

 

Flooded With Blessings

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

“Test me in this.”

God only says this once in his Word to us.Oct 5 2015 floodgates of blessing

He tells us to bring the whole tithe into his house.  When we do this, he promises to “throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:10).

Wow!  Such a great promise!

Don’t we want that to be true in all of our lives?

Those of us who have tested God in this have experienced these blessings.  When we are faithful with our wealth, God truly does throw open the floodgate of blessings upon our lives.

Sometimes these blessings take the shape of actual money with raises, promotions or even unexpected checks showing up in the mail. (This just happened again to me).

But the greatest blessings God pours abundantly upon our lives are from the things that money can’t buy.  Like joy.  Purpose.

Peace.

Oh, the peace that comes from knowing that God is providing exactly what I need is priceless.  The peace that comes from knowing that God is in charge of our bank account is supernatural.  The prosperity that comes from God is perfect – the right kind, the right time.

God wants us to be faithful with our wealth…

because it’s good for us.  It’s right for us.

And he will open the floodgates.

He has promised.

Thank you, Abba Father.

For Such a Time as This

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

Oct 3 2015 For such a time as thisWe wonder….

we get confused….

we worry……

we stumble down the wrong path and end up somewhere we don’t want to be.

Meanwhile, God has it all figured out.  He has promised that his master plan is to prosper us and give us a purpose.  He wants to shower us with his blessings.

If we ask.

If we seek his wisdom and insight for our lives.

If we listen and obey.

Queen Esther faced the possibility of being killed if she stood up for her people, the Jews.  Mordecai, her uncle, told her, “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (vs 4:14)

I believe that we all have many moments every day where God has planned for us to intersect each other’s lives ‘for such a time as this”.  He has something specific he wants me to say when I go to lunch with a certain person.  He has something he wants me to do when I’m going through the check-out at the grocery store.  He has something else he wants me to text to a friend – right now.

He has a purpose for my day today.

He has a purpose for your day today.

To know that purpose, we need to be in line with him.  We need to be listening,

and ready,

and willing.

For such a time as this.

We love you, Abba Father.

Greater Glory

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

The new temple of the Lord was completed……

but the older Israelites were saddened by how much ‘less’ this temple was compared to the past glory of Solomon’s temple.Sept 26 2015 b greater glory

God told Haggai to assure them that this new temple would be greater than the old one.

Because Jesus, the Son of God, was going to walk through this temple one day.

The Lord Almighty told the Israelites that in a little while he was going to “shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry lands.  I will shake all the nations and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory.” (vs 2:6,7)

Yes, God definitely shook up the whole earth when he sent his son to save it. Thank you, Father.  Jesus turned the entire religious community upside down when he spoke of unconditional love, unearned grace and life forever with God in heaven.  Thank you, Father.

Jesus offers a peace that passes all understanding to those who believe.  Thank, Father.

And he brought a greater glory to the temple and into the whole world than we have ever seen before or will ever see again….

until he returns.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Sword Fighting Class – A Favorite Truth

On By Judy GlasserIn Sword Fighting ClassLeave a comment

Its truly supernatural.  We are memorizing Proverbs 3 together and, as we faithfully review these scriptures everyday, God is writing them on our minds.  Such a great way to experience him working in our lives!

“ My child, do not forget my teachings but keep my commands in your heart for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.Proverbs 2 -13-3-11

Let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”

Today we add some very popular verses that you may have already memorized at one time.  One of the blessings I am experiencing by memorizing whole chapters is really seeing the context of verses like this – what God is saying in the verses before it and after it:

“Trust in the Lord with all of your might and lean not on your own undertanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”

This is such an awesome verse.  So much wisdom!

Trust with all my might!  What does that look like in my life?

Don’t make decisions based just on what I already know, my own wisdom and knowledge – what does that look like?

Always acknowledge him – I think that answers my last question 🙂

If I always check in with God, trusting him in all situations, constantly keeping my eyes on what he has told me and where he is leading me, I will be walking down the right path.

Thank you for how clear your directions are in your Word, Abba Father.

Audio file of my memorization of Proverbs 3 so far:

Sword Fighting Class – Love and Faithfulness

On By Judy GlasserIn Sword Fighting ClassLeave a comment

We are just beginning our journey of memorizing Proverbs 3.  More wisdom, more understanding, more insight – thank you, dear Father!  We are counting on God to etch these words on our hearts as we review them daily.  He has commanded this so it’s in his will and he will make it happen if we do our part.  We started with the first verses last week:Proverbs 2 -13-3-11

“My child, do not forget my teachings but keep my commands in your heart for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.”

And we’re adding the next verses:

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”

Let love and faithfulness never leave you……..

These words reverberate through my mind.

What a great life we will have when our thoughts and our actions are full of love and faithfulness!  Awesome!

God is telling us how to do this – we need to bind his words onto our lives and write them on your hearts.  As we do this, he is transforming our thinking which changes our behaviors.   He is promising that this will bring us a life full of love and faithfulness along with approval from others and from him.

Wow! These verses are jam-packed with fabulous promises!

Thank you, Father God!

Audio file of my verses.  I am working ahead so this is through verse 16:

Climbing a Tall Ladder

On By Judy GlasserIn September2 Comments

“Picture in your mind a tall ladder leaning against a wall.  Now think about your life as a process of climbing that ladder.  Wouldn’t it be a tragedy to ascend to the top and find you had placed the ladder against the wrong wall?  One life to live, and you missed it!”

When I first read this paragraph from Experiencing God many years ago, it startled me.  I’m a very goal oriented person so I was definitely climbing a ladder.  The thought that I could be climbing the wrong ladder caused me a lot of concern.  The fact that I could work so hard to get somewhere I didn’t want to be caused me to stop.  And seriously reconsider my priorities.Sept 15 2015 climbing a tall ladder

“Your walk with God (Father, Son, and Spirit) is the single most important aspect of your life.  If it is not as it should be, nothing else will function properly.”

“Scripture leads us to understand that God is saying, ‘ I want you to love Me above everything else.   When you are in a relationship of love with Me, you have everything there is.’  To be loved by God is the highest relationship, the greatest achievement,and the noblest position in life.”

God used these words from Experiencing God to help redirect my life onto the right ladder.  At that time I thought my success was going to come from my career.  God helped me understand that any success I would ever have – then and now –  would come through my relationship with him.

With him, everything else happens as it should, according to his will and his plan.

Without him, I was just working very hard and sacrificing too much as I climbed up the wrong ladder.

I am going through the Experiencing God study again – for the 4th time, many years later –  with my small group and I am filled with gratitude to my Father God.  He got my attention and brought his truth into my life at just the right time so I could switch ladders.  I am 100% confident that I’m now on the right ladder, the right path.

And this path going to take me all the way home, where my heart is.

Thank you, Abba Father.