Tag: blessings

Sword Fighting Class- Expect His Next Move

On By Judy GlasserIn Sword Fighting ClassLeave a comment

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

If anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.  But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”

Great job on memorizing James 1!  We’re up to verse 7:James 1

“That man should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord.”

And that thinking is so wrong.  We receive everything we have from the Lord.  We’re believing the lies when we get sucked into our culture’s view – that we earn what we have and we deserve what we have and it’s all about us.

It’s all about God.  He owns everything and he decides what to give to us.

When we have this correct in our head, it’s not hard to give back at least 10%.  We get to keep the rest!

And God always answers our prayers and requests.  Sometimes its ‘yes’, sometimes its ‘no’ and sometimes it’s ‘wait, my child.  I have something better coming for you.”  That’s a hard one but it’s very cool later, when we see God revealing what he’s been working on in this area of our lives.  This perseverance thing really works.

So we live our lives expecting answers from God.  Watching for them.  Anticipating the best he has for us.  Listening to the Holy Spirit within us and responding in faith.  With trust.

With Joy!

If You Love Me……

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

keep my commands.Nov 14 2014 If you love me

God rocked my world through this verse in John over 25 years ago.

I always said I loved Jesus.  I had loved Jesus my entire life.

But was I keeping his commands?

Jesus wasn’t talking to me about all of the laws in the Old Testament or the 10 commandments.  He was pointing out his first and greatest command – to love God with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength.  And the second great command – to love others as I love myself.

I wasn’t doing great at putting God first in my life at that time.  Two active kids, a husband, a career that involved significant travel, a house, 2 cars, family, friends, going to church where I was a member of the choir – my calendar was stretched to a superhuman level already.  I didn’t see any slot where I could fit in more time with God.

But the Holy Spirit was persistent, convicting me BIG TIME that I needed to stop just saying I loved Jesus and start showing it by obeying his first and greatest command.

So I gave up some things, lowered my expectations of other things (like how clean my house was) and re-prioritized.  I got serious about Bible study – both on my own and with a small group – and started to put God first in my life.  One baby step at a time.

And a miracle happened!  Everything started to go better, run smoother, be more fun!  I realized that God wanted me to put him first so he could help me with everything else!  He wanted to help me be a better wife, a better mother ( he gets the credit for my 2 intelligent, mature and responsible grown children), a better employee, a better everything!

He put the pieces of my life together so that they made a great picture.   Before, the pieces just seemed to pile on top of each other – making me crazy……making me feel empty……making me unhappy.  God made sense of it and brought real joy back into my life.

Loving him first made me whole.

The a whole me was much better prepared to deal positively with the rest of my life – as long as I kept God at the center.

Six words changed it all!

Amazing!

I love you, dear Father!

How Far Are You….

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

from the kingdom of God?

In Mark 10, Jesus tells a man that he answered a question wisely when the man said that we need to love God first, with all of our soul, mind and strength.  Jesus said that the man was ‘not far from the kingdom of God.”Nov 11 2014 2 How Far are you

How far away from the kingdom of God are we?

Are we right in the middle of God’s kingdom – loving him with all of our soul, mind and strength?

Or are we picking a corner of God’s kingdom to hang out in – not ready to give him everything we’ve got?

Do we go to church each week but don’t make time to serve anywhere?

Do we read our Bible but not participate in any small group Bible Studies or classes at church?

What about the opposite?  Are we at church all of the time but we don’t make time to spend with God alone – just us two?

Do we tithe at church but are not willing to give anything above that when we’re asked to bring in toys for the community service project at Christmas?

Do we read God’s word but then forget it as we get on with the rest of our day?

Do we let the Truth of God soak into our souls and open up our hearts to the transforming power of the omnipotent King of the Universe?

Where are we in his kingdom?

Come to the Banquet

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

Our Father God has prepared a lavish banquet.  His tables are piled high with the very best he has to offer –

* love.Nov 11 2014 1 Come to the Banquet

* grace.

* purpose for our lives.

* joy.

* peace.

* contentment.

* blessing for our families and friends.

*forgiveness.

* wholeness.

*hope.

* provisions for all of our needs.

Everything is ready.  We just need to go to the banquet and accept all of God’s blessings.

Many of us have accepted God’s invitation, have felt his grace, his acceptance and his love.

But sometimes we have problems staying at the banquet – we wander outside to the patio and start to worry and fret, instead of sitting at his table filled with trust that he’s got this.

We wander upstairs to plan and plot and try to control our world instead of relaxing in God’s presence, knowing he’s in charge.

Or we concentrate on the dessert table when we really need to be diving into the meat God has for us in his Word.

We may get distracted by wanting to know all of the ingredients of every dish when God’s desire is that we “Be still …… and know I am God.”

We might leave the party early because we are so busy, our calendars are over-flowing.  We only penciled in one hour for God.  So we miss the fun, we miss the deep relationship we could have had with God if we took the time.  If we made Him our priority.

It’s possible to go to the banquet and accept salvation but miss most of the blessings God has for us here on earth.

Dear Father, Please help us to stay at the banquet, bowed and blessed at your feet.  Today.  And everyday.

I want to be…

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

like the Samaritan Leper.

He came back to Jesus after Jesus healed him.  He came back praising God in a loud voice.  He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.

He was one of ten lepers that Jesus healed in Luke 17 as he travelled to Jerusalem.

Jesus healed them all.

This man was the only one that came back to say thank you.

Jesus had redeemed the leper’s life from pain and death.  And the leper came back to show his gratitude for what Jesus had done for him.

Jesus did the same thing for you and me.  He redeemed our lives from pain, death and eternal separation from the only source of good things in this universe – our Father God.

For the rest of our lives here on this planet, let our first response be gratitude to God.

Dear Jesus, We are very grateful for all of the things you are and for what you have done for us.  Help us live lives full of gratitude, counting the blessings we have received from you each day.  Thank you.  In your redeeming name we pray, Amen.

The Best Exchange

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

It sounds daunting.  Nov 3 2014 the exchange

It sounds challenging.

It sounds like it’s too hard, too much.

We must deny ourselves….

– summit our will.

– decide to do what God wants instead of what we want.

It’s not natural.

Not normal.

It’s normal for us to look out for #1.

It’s natural for us to be self-centered and Captains of our own Universe.

But Jesus came and turned our universe upside down – inside out.

He tells us to deny our sovereignty over our space and submit to him in order to save our lives.

By denying ourselves and letting God reign as King of our Universe, we gain it all!

All of the important stuff.

The stuff that counts.

Forget the big houses, new cars, and money……that’s just stuff.

We’re talking about the most important things like ….

purpose for your life…

and peace…

and love….

And how about joy?

How much joy do you have in your life?

Everything good comes down from the Father of Heavenly Lights. (This is one of my favorite verses from James 1 that we’re eventually going to memorize in our Sword Fighting Class)

So we exchange our frustrating, disappointing, heart-breaking attempts to control of our life for God’s control of our life and he makes his dreams for us come true.

I love that exchange!

Don’t you?

Thank you, dear Father.

Full of Light

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

Our minds are marvelous, intricate things, created by God for our use and for his glory.

What are we feeding into our minds?October 26 2014 full of light

Because whatever we feed, will grow.

God tells us in Matthew 6 that our eyes are a lamp to our bodies.  If our eyes are healthy, our whole body will be healthy.

But, if our eyes are unhealthy, our whole body will be full of darkness.

Filled with darkness.

Do you ever feel like that?

Have you thought about what you’re feeding into your mind?

It’s hard to avoid the darkness that presses in from our culture all around us.

For some reason, God has developed in me a heightened sensitivity to the darkness around me and a clear awareness of the work that Satan and his team is doing.  As a result, I avoid most shows on TV, most movies and a lot of books.  Any music other than Christian music usually  has some lyrics that turns off the light and brings on the darkness.

We can be careful about what we feed our minds with when its our choice but we obviously can’t avoid it all as we live our lives in this world, but not of it.  God calls us to turn on the light and push back the darkness in our world as much as we can.

In order to do that, we need to be filled with his truth.  Filled with his love.  Filled with his light.

Please fill us with your light, dear Father.

 

A Healing Place

On By Judy GlasserIn October2 Comments

 

Jesus went to a pool called Bethesda and healed a man who had been an invalid for 38 years.  When the water of this pool stirred, the first person in the pool was healed.  This crippled man had no one to help him get into the water first, so he had waited…..and waited….and waited – for years.fDSC_0489

It may not be obvious on the outside, but we all have places in our hearts and minds where we need healing.  We need Jesus to touch those places and make us whole.  It may be an attitude, a lie we have believed all of our lives or a way that we think about a certain subject that needs to be healed.

I had the privilege of travelling to Israel this year and I saw the pool at Bethesda. (pictures).  There was something extremely calming and peaceful about this place.  And I knew I would be coming here in my mind for the rest of the my life when I needed healing from Jesus.

Jesus recently gave me a whole new perspective on food and what I should be eating through God’s Word to me in the Bible.  How I looked at food as it relates to what I believe about God has been incorrect my entire adult life and now I’m on the path of getting that part of my life lined up with what God wants for me.fDSC_0490

My mind has been renewed in this area.  I’ve been healed.  But I waited a long time.

Let’s not wait.  Let’s go to Jesus today and ask him for healing in our lives where we’re not in line with God’s Word.

Let’s go to the pool together.  I will help you get in. 🙂

Thank you, dear Father, for your Word to us.  We lift  up the confused, broken, rebellious parts of our hearts and minds where we need healing.  The places where we need to know the Truth.  As the Holy Spirit moves the waters of our spirit today, we step into the pool knowing it is your will to heal us.  We know that your desire for us is to continue to grow in becoming more and more like Jesus.

We commit to doing our part – reading your word, listening and obeying.  Obeying when it’s hard.  Obeying when we really, really don’t feel like it.  We will bow our knees, declare you Lord in this place in our lives, and we will obey.

For your glory, dear Father!

In the redeeming name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Blessed….

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.gdtDSC_0632

Poor in spirit – when we’ve tried everything else to make us happy, to make us whole, and we’re still empty – wondering if this is all there is. ( I’ve been there.)  So we turn to God and we find in him everything we’ve been looking for and more.  We are so very blessed!

Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.gdtDSC_0626

We mourn when we come to the realization of just how sinful we are.  We become aware of how we rebel against God’s direction to us every day and our soul grieves.  It’s a very bad feeling to really understand the truth about the sin within ourselves.  We have sin so deeply rooted within us that it takes a miracle to change it.

That miracle is Jesus, our redeemer!gdtDSC_0628

We are blessed when we face the truth about our sin which grows our desire for true transformation.

Jesus went up to a mountainside to teach the crowds about the blessings available for those who believe in him and obey.  When I visited Israel earlier this year, I felt the blessings of God flowing over me when we visited the Mount of Beatitudes.  It’s very beautiful and overlooks the Sea of Galilee.

Thank you for your abundant blessings, dear Father!

The Great News!

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

It’s all in John 3:16.  We should have this verse ready whenever we’re talking with someone who doesn’t believe because this verse includes all of the important parts of the Good News.

It’s an easy verse to memorize because the words reverberate around in our minds….

bouncing back and forth as we consider this astounding truth…..

God so loved us….October 23 2014 b The good news

so much….

God so love the world!  All of us….

even the unlovable….

and that’s very good because sometimes we are very unlovable.

He gave his Son…

for us……

he gave his Son for the unlovables…..

how much love does that take?

A perfect love……

an unconditional love….

a love we can’t find anywhere else…..

even though we look everywhere….

or hit bottom trying to do it all ourselves….

until we finally we open up our eyes and realize that God is what we’re looking for.

Whoever believes….

that’s me…

I believe….

I’m willing to stake my life on this truth.

My eternal life.

And whoever believes will not perish……

we were on the road to destruction…

we were going to hell for our rebellion…..

we all rebel, some more obvious than others, but it’s there…..

whenever we do something we want instead of what God wants…..

or whenever we don’t do something God wants……

even our thoughts count…..

so we deserved eternal separation from our Holy Father God.

But God intervened and sent Jesus to save the world!

And now believers are reconciled to God for eternity!

Our eternal life with our loving, gracious and perfect God has already started!

And the Best is Yet to Be!

This is the Very Best News anyone could hear!

Thank you for the truth of John 3:16, dear Father!