Tag: blessings

Psalm 103, 2014

On By Judy GlasserIn May2 Comments

I praise the Lord with all that I am.May 2 a 2014

I can never forget all he has done for me –

he has forgiven all of my sins and healed my brokenness.

He has redeemed me from a life filled with darkness and emptiness.

He fills up my heart with his love and compassion.

He only gives me things that are good for me and renews my strength so I can face each day.

Have I mentioned how compassionate and gracious he is?May 2 b 2014

And he is so patient with me.

I feel his love pouring down over me and overflowing onto those around me.

He doesn’t treat me like a sinner.  His love for me is bigger than the sky.

He has made my sin disappear from his eyes through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus.

God is a compassionate father to all of us who love him.  He knew us before we were born.

We are like flowers in the field which bloom and  then are gone – blown over by the wind and gone.

But God’s love is never-ending for those who love him.  His promises extend out to the children of the faithful.

Thank you, dear God!

The Tomb is Empty!

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

Hallelujah!

My journey down the Via Dolorosa seeing each Station of the Cross where another horrible thing happened to Jesus culminated in a emotional visit to the garden tomb.ftdDSC_0549

Experts can’t verify that this is the exact tomb where Jesus laid for 3 days.  But it’s in the right place and it has the same  unusual layout that Jesus’ tomb had. 

It’s in a peaceful and beautiful garden – an oasis in the middle of noisy, crowded, tension-filled Jerusalem.  Did I mention that we heard machine-gun fire for several minutes while having lunch in Jerusalem that day?

It didn’t matter to me if this was the exact tomb……Jesus’ body isn’t thereftdDSC_0558 anyway.  He is risen!  And he lives inside of me and all who believe in him!  So it was even more glorious to realize that Jesus was there that day with me.  He was helping me understand what he did for me just a little bit more.  I experienced the depths of his love at a new level. 

And I was overwhelmed with gratitude for those in my life who had introduced me to Christ – specifically for my mother who lived a sold-out-to-Jesus life all the way up to her death.  What a great role-model!  What a great legacy!

So I celebrate my risen Savior today with new enthusiasm and new understanding.

Thank you, Jesus!ftdDSC_0564

Available for All

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

Not accepted.  Not included.  Born in the wrong place.

March 22 2014All of these describe Ruth, the widowed daughter in law of Naomi.  She was a Moabite.  The Israelites hated the Moabites.  She was a Gentile.  She was a young widow – a relatively worthless person in the community.

And she chose to go back to Bethlehem with Naomi.  She chose to become part of Naomi’s people.  She chose to love and serve Naomi’s God.

As we read on in the story, we see how God blesses her through these choices by giving her a new husband, a new family and a new son.

A Moabite, a Gentile, becomes part of the lineage of King David.  Which becomes the lineage of the Savior of the World, Jesus.

Jesus told us that there is just one way to heaven, one way to the Father, and its through him.  There is only one way but it is available to everyone.  Everyone is accepted.  Everyone is included.  And we were all born in the right place – here on earth.

Because God so loved the world that he sent his only son to die for us so that anyone and everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

He loves us all so very much!

Thank you, dear Father!

Wow!

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Wow!  Wow!

That’s the best word I can find that describes my experience in the Holy Land last week.

Wow!

I was trying to think of how to describe what has happened to me and I realized that I have experienced this before in my life.  I grew up in northwest Iowa where we had snow 6-7 months a year and only about 6 weeks of summer.  I had heard of places that didn’t get snow and I believed they existed, but it wasn’t until I moved to South Carolina that I actually ‘experienced’ a winter with no snow.  It totally changed my perspective.  I had believed that there were places that didn’t get snow but now I felt it, I lived in it and I loved it!  That’s the reason I live in Phoenix today:)

This is exactly how I feel about the Holy Land now.  I always believed it was there but now I have felt it, I have lived in it, and I have experienced it.  And I have a totally different perspective.

One of our praise songs in worship this morning was asking God to grow our faith so we would ‘walk upon the water.”The Sea of Galilee(2)

I was there – at the beautiful Sea of Galilee (pictured).  I cooled my feet in its waters, I took a boat ride on it and felt the wind pick up as a small storm moved in….

as it often does on the sea of Galilee….

as it did the day that Jesus calmed storm.

I was actually there – the same sea that Jesus and then Peter walked on.

Wow!

I also walked down a steep path on the Mount of Olives.  I saw the Garden of Gethsemane and the Kidron valley.  I floated in the Dead Sea and visited Jericho.

Some of the sites actually had excavations of buildings dating back to Jesus’ time – where he lived and where he walked.

We visited the Upper Room.  We walked down the Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering…. the path Jesus took as he dragged his own cross to his crucifixion.

We spent the afternoon at the Garden Tomb.  Descriptions in the Bible all point to it being Jesus’ tomb.  Of course, he’s not there because he is alive!  And he lives inside of us!  Hallelujah!

We visited Bethlehem which has a cave and a manger which, by descriptions in the Bible, is like the one Jesus was born in. 

We went to the Nazareth Village in Nazareth.  It’s an area the size of a small park that is set up like it would have been in Jesus’ time with people dressed like they would have been dressed and doing the things they would have been doing – shepherding sheep, carpentry and spinning wool.  The lunch we had there was food that was close to the things Jesus would have eaten at a feast.  Wow!

I dipped my feet in the Jordan River and climbed to the top of the Mount of Beatitudes.

We visited beautiful Caesarea on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

And  much, much more.

I have felt it and experienced it and it has changed me.

Just like God planned.

Thank you, dear Father!

 

My Pilgrimage

On By Judy GlasserIn March2 Comments

My pilgrimage to the land of my Savior is about to begin. 

God has called me to this journey.  He has told me that this trip will forever change how I read and understand his Word.  So I am very excited as I anticipate what that means.

Those of you who have been on this journey with me for a while know that God gave me a check to cover the cost of this trip.  He has made it very clear that he wants me to scratch this off of my ‘bucket list’.

I can’t wait!

So you won’t be hearing from me for about 2 weeks.

But when I get back, you can expect some new insights from me as God continue to take us on this journey towards the truth.

Please include me and my friend, Angela, who is going with me in your prayers.

Here I come, dear God!

Finish the Race Well

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Moses ran the race well all the way to the end.  He was obedient and strong in the faith to his last day.MMMMMMMMArch 9 2014

I want that to be my story and my legacy.  One of my other goals as I grow older is to become more and more Christ-like.  Not more and more crabby 🙂

Moses was a great man of faith.  We have a great man of faith living today – Billy Graham who recently celebrated his 95th birthday.  He is getting frail like all 95 year-olds and he was quoted as saying:

“One day you will hear that I have died.  It won’t be true.  Because I will be more alive after I leave this earth than I ever was when I lived on it.”

Amen!  Hallelujah!

Leviticus 26, 2014

On By Judy GlasserIn March2 Comments

If you obey me, I will grow much fruit in your life.  Your work will produce harvest after harvest after harvest.

I will bring peace to you and you will not be afraid.  I will remove the things that scare you and I will keep you safe.

When you face your enemies, I will be with you and you will have victory.March 6 2014

I will look on you with favor and I will keep all of my promises to you.  I will abundantly provide for all of your needs and I will always be with you.

I will be your God and you will be my people.

I am the Lord your God who has conquered death for you so you are no longer slaves to sin.  I have removed the burden of your sin and have adopted you as my sons and daughters.  You are now Prince and Princesses of a King.

These are the blessings of Obedience.  Amen! Hallelujah!

Unpopular

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

At a time when women were considered more of an item of property than an equal person, it is refreshing to see God give Zelophehad’s daughters the right to inherit their father’s property.March 2 2014

This just wasn’t done in this culture.  The sons inherited or the brothers or the male cousins.  Not the daughters.  As we read further in this chapter, I can just hear the male contingent of the family saying, ” But!  But! But!” and so we see God put conditions on the inheritance so it stays within the clan.

It’s a revolutionary decision.  And it’s just like God.  God always treated women well even when men didn’t.  He always weighed in on the side of the oppressed.  We see continuous examples of this throughout the Bible.  Jesus was an awesome example of this – he always stood up for the weak, the poor, the unpopular.

When we are making decisions about supporting the poor, the oppressed or unpopular, we never have to question what God would have us do.  It’s extremely clear.

God calls us to stand for those that are less privileged than we are.  Every time.

A Theocracy

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

In a theocracy, God rules.  He decides the laws and provides guidance for the people in all areas – politically, personally, economically.  There is little need for legislative or administrative groups in this type of government.  God is in control.

As we are reading through God’s laws in Number and Leviticus, we are watching God turn a slave population into a community.  He is giving them directions on hygiene and how to deal with each other in all kinds of situations.

God establishes a court system and defines what a crime is as well as assigning the appropriate punishment.

He also sets up regulations on matters of personal rights and responsibilities. 

As slaves, the Israelites had been under Egyptian law.  Now they needed their own civil laws in order to regulate daily activities and set up a working society.

Through it all, God was teaching them  how to be a holy and separate nation.

“One Nation under God.’

Sound familiar?

When I visited the presidential memorials in Washington, DC several years ago, I was deeply impressed by all of the scriptures engraved on the walls.  I was also reminded of how George Washington refused to be King.  He said that God was King.  So our founding fathers developed the president role.

Our nation began with God in control.  That is our heritage. 

Our nation is gradually wandering away from that but each of us still has the freedom to decide who is in control of our life.  Is is God?  Do we personally live in a theocracy each day?

It’s our choice.

 

Blessings

On By Judy GlasserIn JanuaryLeave a comment

May the God who has been my shepherd all of my life to this day bless you….jan 21a 2014

May the Angel who has delivered me from all harm also protect you.

May the strong hand of the Lord be on your life each day.

May the Almighty God help you and bring blessings to you from  all directions – from the skies above and the deep springs below, blessings in your heart and mind and blessing to those you love.

May your faith be a blessing to your family and to every life you touch.

Jan 21b 2014And our final blessing here on earth will be when we draw our feet up into our bed, breathe our last and are finally gathered to our people….

our people and our God who are already in heaven, waiting for us.

Amen!  Hallelujah!