Tag: blessings

Robbing God

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

“Test me in this.”  There is only one place in the Bible where God says this.Oct 5 Robbing God 2014

He’s talking about his directions to us to give him back a small piece of everything he has given us.

When we are faithful in tithing, God throws open the floodgates of heaven and pours out his blessings upon us.

God challenges us to test him because he always responds.

He challenges us to give back a portion because our trust in him needs to grow to the point where being faithful is more important to us than the money.  God needs to be a higher priority in our hearts than what this money could buy.

This is important for our happiness.  We won’t have the peace, contentment and joy that God wants for us until we can gladly give back a portion.

I have to admit – it took God and my husband awhile to convince me of this.  I always felt that we didn’t have enough money to tithe.  Other people who had a lot more money could tithe – but not us.  When the topic came up, I always hoped that someday we would make enough money so we could tithe.

Foolish thinking!

I have realized a very crucial truth in this area – if it’s all about having enough money, there will never be enough.

God tells us in Luke – if we’re not faithful with a little, there is no way we’ll be faithful with a lot.

God wants us to find peace and contentment with what he has already given us.  When we are faithful, he pours out the blessings that money can’t buy.

When we follow God’s directions for our lives, we are putting ourselves under the umbrella of his blessing.  If we don’t follow his directions to us in the area of money, we are holding our wallets out from under the umbrella of his blessing.  The result is that God will not bless our finances.  We will have constant money issues until we bring our wallet back under the umbrella by getting in line with God’s direction for this area of our lives.  His direction is to sacrificially tithe and to give offerings above our tithe.

Because we love God.  He’s more important than the money.

And we trust him.  God’s got this.  We can even test him.

Thank you, dear Father.

Think About It…..

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

Consider it…..

Give it careful thought.

This is the direction given by God to the Israelites about their priorities.  They had been very busy building nice houses for themselves and they had put off rebuilding God’s temple.Sept 26 2014 Think about it

The temple continued to lay in ruins while the Israelites went about their normal lives.

They were planting a lot but only harvesting a little.

They were eating, but they were never full.

They drank, but it was never enough.

They put on clothes, but they were never warm.

They were earning money, but it immediately disappeared into a purse full of holes.

God was telling them that he was withholding his blessings from them because their priorities weren’t right.

What about us?

Is it time to re-evaluate our priorities to make sure they are matching up to God’s?

Are we experiencing all of the blessings God has for us?

* Contentment because what God has already given us is enough?

* Fulfillment because we know we are busy completing God’s purpose for our lives?

* Peace because we have given God control over our lives and we’re trusting him?

* Joy because we are experiencing the love God has for us every day?

* Strength for each day and every situation because our lives are built on our Solid Rock?

God has these blessings along with a storehouse more, just waiting for us.

We thank you for your abundant blessings, dear Father!

 

They Couldn’t Do It!

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

They tried to find something to charge Daniel with but they couldn’t do it.  They found him to be trustworthy, without corruption or negligence.Sept 22 2014 They couldn't do it

This reminds me of the prayer Jesus prayed for us.  In the garden, he prayed for ‘those who would believe’ because of the disciple’s obedience in spreading the Good news.  That’s us! He prayed that we would live in unity with him and with each other.

Jesus prayed that the world would look at us and then be able to believe in him.  He knew we weren’t going to be perfect.  But he also knew that, after his sacrifice on the cross, we were going to be redeemed.

And there should be obvious proof of that redemption in our lives.

We have been forgiven and now we can forgive others.

Our Father God lavishes his love on us and now we can love others.

We have been richly blessed and now we can bless others.

Yes, we are redeemed!

And the people around us should be able to tell it because we forgive, we bless and we love.

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.

Finding God

On By Judy GlasserIn August2 Comments

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.” God says to us in Jeremiah 29.

He tells us we need to call on him.August 11 2013 Finding God

We need to come to him.

And we need to pray to him.

Then we will find him.

Thank you, dear Father.

This verse comes immediately after a favorite verse of ours, “For I know the plans I have for you, ” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

God wants to do all of that for us.

And how does he do that?

He speaks to us, he guides us, he changes us, when we call on him.

When we come to him.

When we talk with him.

We have to do our part and then God has a free reign in our lives to prosper us and to give us a future.

Thank you, dear Father!

The Highway of Holiness

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

Isaiah 35, 2014:

The blind will see and the deaf will hear.

The broken will become whole and shout for joy.

The earth will rejoice –July 5 Highway of Holiness

*water will gush in the wilderness.

* streams will appear in the desert.

* hot sand will become cool pools of water.

* bubbling springs will feed the thirsty ground.

* grass and plants will grow on the once barren ground.

And the Highway to Holiness will be there for all who are saved.

The unsaved won’t walk on it – the fools won’t go.

There will be no danger there.

Only the redeemed- those who have been rescued by God – will walk there.

They will enter their destination with singing.

Joy will never leave them.

All sorrow and sighing will disappear as gladness overwhelms them.

Thank you, dear Father, for the Highway of Holiness.

 

The Two-By-Four

On By Judy GlasserIn May1 Comment

You wanted it, so I’m letting you have it.

This is what happened to the people of Judah when they stopped following God.  They chose false gods, they set up shrines with male prostitutes and they did the opposite of what they knew to be right.June 2 2014 consequences

So God let them go and experience the consequences of these choices.  “You have abandoned me; therefore I now abandon you to Shiskak.” who was the King of Egypt.

The people then repented and admitted to God that they were wrong so God relented and didn’t let the Egyptians destroy Judah.  But they did become subject to Shishek so that they could learn from their mistake.

God deals with us in much the same way today.  He lets us experience the consequences of our decisions so we can learn.

If we’re honest with ourselves, when things aren’t going well for us, we can often trace our current situation back to bad choices we have made.

Yes, God forgives us of our sins.  And, because he is a great father, he also teaches us lessons we need to learn.

One of my goals in life is to learn God’s lessons the first time so that he doesn’t have to keep teaching me the same lesson over and over.  Whenever we have the same type of issue consistently coming up in our lives, it’s a clear sign that we just aren’t learning.  We aren’t changing our behavior.  It’s been my observation that the issue will just keep growing and growing and growing until it becomes a two-by-four which hits us over the head and now we have to deal with it.  We have to quit avoiding it.  The issue becomes so large that we can no longer look the other way. That’s the two-by-four.  Most of the time, we had opportunities to deal with the issue when it was much smaller.  But we waited..we avoided…we ignored.

Dear Father, please help us learn BEFORE you have to hit us over the head with a two-by-four to get us our attention.

 

 

How Happy!

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

The Queen of Sheba travelled over 1200 miles on camels through a hot desert that was inhabited by roving groups of bandits just to check out King Solomon.  She had heard about his enormous wisdom and wealth.  Now she need to see it for herself.May 15b 2014

After spending a considerable amount of time with Solomon, she told him that he was even more wise than the reports she had heard.  ‘How happy your people must be!” she exclaimed and then she praised the God of Israel who had delighted in Solomon and made him king.

Whenever I read in the Bible about people who are wise, I am reminded of James 1 where God tells us that we only need to ask for wisdom and he will give it to us.

That’s what Solomon did – he asked for wisdom and God gave it to him.  God gave his so much wisdom that King Solomon is still acknowledged as the wisest man who ever lived.

Our Dear Heavenly Father.  Thank you for your word to us.  When we seek you, we always find you. 

Today we ask for wisdom, dear God. 

Wisdom to make the right choices.

Wisdom to say the right things.

Wisdom to set our priorities right so that our lives are about the things that you care about.

And we ask for an extra measure of your wisdom.  We ask that the people around us be positively affected by our wisdom.  We’d like them to be happy because of our influence in their lives just like the people who lived with Solomon and experienced his wisdom.

You have promised you will give us wisdom if we ask, so we are asking expectantly today. 

We know that you train us when you give us gifts like wisdom.  We are anticipating that you will put us in more situations where we need wisdom so that we can turn to you and learn. 

Please help us always to turn to you and learn, dear Father!

Thank you for your transforming power in our lives!

In the awesome name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Psalm 20, 2014

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

May the Lord always answer you when you call on him.May 6 2014

May he protect you.

May he send his mighty army of angels down from heaven to help you and support you.

May he remember all of the things you have done in his name and to his glory.

May he give you what you desire and make all of your plans succeed.

We all want to celebrate with you as God helps you succeed and have victory in the most important areas of your life.

May the Lord answer your prayers.

And this I know:

The Lord gives success to those who love him.

He answers them by using the mighty power in his hands.

Some people trust in themselves or in their bank account or in the stuff they own.

Not us!  We trust in God alone.

Others may fail, but not us.  Because God lives inside of us and we can stand firm!

Lord, give us victory in you when we call!  We’re watching for your answer!