Tag: blessings

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!

He Prospered

On By Judy GlasserIn JanuaryLeave a comment

‘The Lord was with Joseph so he prospered’.

Just like Joseph, God is with us and, at every opportunity, he blesses us and prospers us.Jan 18 2014

Sometimes it feels to me like I did all of the work so I prospered myself.  But then I’ve also had times when I’ve worked really hard and I didn’t receive any obvious ‘prospering’ from it. 

So it makes sense to me that it’s not the work itself that is prospering me – it’s the favor of the Lord – his will.

I’ve had several very clear instances recently where God clearly prospered me – just because he wanted to, not because of anything extra special that I did.  If you have been on this journey with me very long, you may remember a year or so ago when I felt that God was telling me he wanted me to go to the Holy Land.  It was very clear to me that he wanted me to go – he wants to forever change how I read and study his Word through this trip.

But I didn’t have the money for it so I asked him how I was going to pay for it.  And every time he reminded me that I was supposed to go, I reminded him – show me the money :). 

A couple of months later I won an award at work that I didn’t even know I had been nominated for.  It came with a check that was the amount of the trip (plus a tithe, of course).

Nice!  The trip has been rescheduled a couple of times and now I am less than 60 days away from going to Israel to experience all that God has planned for me!

I feel like a very rich woman when I think of my little grand-daughter  who is on her way – she’ll be here at the end of March.  I’ve wanted a grand-daughter for a very long time and I feel very prosperous in ways that don’t involve money as I think of all of the ‘girl’ fun we will have in the coming years.  She is definitely a very precious gift straight from the heart of God.

God prospered me again several weeks ago when I found out my position at work had been upgraded.  Out of the blue.  I’m doing the same thing I always do – giving it 100% and adding value.  It’s all God – he decides when the awards and promotions come.

And we prosper according to His will.

Thank you, dear God!

 

It’s Hard to Find

On By Judy GlasserIn JanuaryLeave a comment

Innocence.

Adam and Eve lived in a time of innocence.  There was no shame in their world, no immorality, no darkness.

They were naked and they walked with God every day – innocent.Jan 1 2014

No sexual undertones, no bawdy jokes stepping on the line of inappropriateness, no snickers and side-ways glances.

Sometimes, when I look around at our culture, it really feels like the innocence is gone.  I happened to catch about 3 seconds of the Star Trek crew watching Miley Cyrus’ video on somebody’s post on Facebook.  I bet I don’t even have to say which one – if you have seen it, you know what I’m talking about.

Apalled.  That was my reaction.  Our culture has hit a new low.

It reminds me of how I visualized the Baal worship in the Old Testament when they had temple prostitutes.  After the Baal worshippers became desensitized to all of this sexual activity, they started sacrificing their babies to their gods.  What’s next for our culture? 

The continuing saga of Sodom and Gomorrah.

How marvelous it is to turn away from all of that and dive back into our Father’s word to us.

His truth.

Where his light shines through the darkness and his grace covers the rotting smells of our culture’s immorality.

Jesus has already triumphed over evil.  It just doesn’t always look like it here on earth.

Thank you, dear Father, for helping us stay focused on you through your word.

Hello, 2014!

On By Judy GlasserIn JanuaryLeave a comment

Do you feel it?

Do you see it?

The sun rose again this morning – bringing us light,

bringing us warmth.

Reminding us that our faithful Father has once again given us another day.

A day to talk with him.

A day to love him.

A day to serve him.

Another beginning.

What new things is he planning for us this year?

What turns and curves is our journey going to take?

We know that God is going to help us know him better.  He promised that we will find him when we seek him.

Dear Father, We are excited to begin another year of our relationship with you.  We look forward to this year with high expectations.  We know you have so much more to teach us!  You also have so much more love to lavish upon us….and we’re ready!  We begin again with a renewed committment in our journey towards the Truth – towards you..  We will face the challenges of this year with confidence because you will be right beside us.  We thank you in advance for the wonderful things you have planned for us.  In the awesome name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Note: I have some posts left from the end of our reading in 2013 which I’m going to post on my blog throughout today but not on Facebook.   If you usually check these out on facebook, you can catch them on my blog if you’d like.

More to know

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

We could study God’s word all day everyday and there would still be more to know about Christ. 

After our purpose on earth is ended, we’re going home (YIPEEE!) to heaven where we will live with Christ into eternity.  I’m confident that we will continue to grow in our knowledge and experience of Christ in heaven – forever – and we will never know it all.   There will still be mysteries.

Wow!dec 15b 2013

I’m comforted by the fact that I don’t understand it all here on earth.  I only have a 3 1/2 lb. brain – if I could understand everything about God, he wouldn’t be much of a god.  I like that fact that I can’t fully comprehend

* his omnipresence

* his holiness

* his righteousness

* his omnipotence.

I’m trying very hard to understand his grace so that I can live it every day.

We struggle to try to understand the Trinity – how complicated!

And I can visualize God smiling on us as we confuse ourselves by trying to fit his ‘Otherness’ into our human box.  He knows he’s only told us Trinity 101 – it’s actually much more intricate and supernatural – we’ll never understand it.  Ours 3 1/2 lb. brains just aren’t going to handle it.

So, this is where faith comes in.  We believe it because we trust in God.  We know God is perfect.  We know he wants the best for us.  He proved this by sending his best – Jesus- to die for us AND to show us how to live.

So we believe.  And we walk by faith, not by sight.

Yes – we gradually unravel some of the mysteries of Christ.  And there are so many more to go!

This brings me to share my decision to continue this journey with you through God’s word in 2014.  I have learned so much these last 2 years by blogging through the Bible – I don’t feel like I can stop!

The Joy!

The Comfort!

The Truth!

The Value of taking the journey.

I have also really enjoyed the ‘story’ feeling of the Chronological Bible so I’m going back to the beginning with this one.

I hope you will continue on the journey with me!

God has a lot more to say to us in 2014 and I’m REALLY looking forward to it!