Tag: blessings

Psalm 89, 2013

On By Judy GlasserIn September1 Comment

September 18 b 2013There just isn’t enough time to sing about your great love, dear God.

We want to proclaim your faithfulness through all generations – our own and all of the generations to come.  We know all about your faithfulness because we experience every day.

We declare to all of those around us that your love is a forever love – established in heaven – and it will never be shaken.

Your plan of redemption started in the Garden of Eden after Eve decided she wanted to be ‘like God’.  We wish we didn’t relate so closely to that as we try to control everything around us – also wanting to be ‘like God’.

You established King David’s line forever in your plan of love, adding your own son who is now seated on his eternal throne.

We join with the angels in heaven as we praise you, Lord. 

Holy, Holy, Holy.

No one on the earth or in the skies above compares with you.

The wise and holy ones all fear and respect you for you are Most Awesome.

You are All Mighty and your faithfulness surrounds you.

You rule over the sea.  You crush your enemies.

Everything is yours – from the north to the south.

Your throne is anchored by your righteousness and justice.  Love and faithfulness flow out from you.

You bless those of us who walk in the light of your presence, dear Lord.  We feel your blessing upon us, dear Father.

We can rejoice all day long because we know you.  We experience your righteousness.

You are our strength and our glory.  You work things out for our good. 

Our lives belong to you, our king, the Holy One of Israel.

our

Fire!

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

If we  saw a fire starting and knew people’s lives were at stake, we would scream “Fire!  Fire!  Fire! at the top of our lungs until help arrived and the people were saved.  We would, wouldn’t we?

September 3 2013God tells us in Ezekiel that we are the watchmen.  And when the watchmen see danger and destruction coming, they need to blow their trumpet to warn the people.  That’s their job. 

If the people heed the warning, they will be saved.  If not, they will pay the price.

If the watchmen fail to blow the trumpet and people’s lives are taken, the watchmen will also be held accountable by God for the deaths of the people.

Do we see danger and destruction coming for those who have not chosen Jesus as their Savior?  Do we see a truckload of physical, emotional and spiritual anguish rushing towards those who haven’t already started their eternal life with Christ?  Is eternal separation from all good things and God a big enough devastation for us to stand up and scream “Fire”? 

Now  is the time for us to get out our trumpet to warn the people.

We may not have tomorrow.

 

Lamentations 3, 2013

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

Thank you, dear Father.august 30 2013

Because of your great love for us, we are not consumed by the culture that swirls around us, trying to draw us into it’s very popular web full of lies and deceptions.

Everyday we experience your compassion as you love us in spite of what we do, not because of anything good that we’ve done.  

As the sun rises every morning, we see your light and feel the warmth of your faithfulness, dear Father.  We take our next breath because you make it happen.

You are all.

You are everything.

You are our portion for today.  For this hour.  For this minute.

You lavish your goodness on us when we place our hope in you.  When we seek you, we find you,,,,,,,,, and we find joy and we find strength and we find peace.

It is good right now to sit quietly……

and to meditate on your word as you speak to us……….

the glory of your salvation is growing within us,

Great is your faithfulness, oh God my Father.

Out of our rebellion…

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

Into a life filled with God’s blessings.

That is the restoration God promises to each of us just as he promised the Israelites in Jeremiah 32.

When we decide to stop fulfilling our personal will and desires and start listening to and living out the Words of Truth God has for us, we move from the land of God’s great wrath to the land overflowing with God’s goodness.

He will bring health and healing.August 22 2013

We will enjoy abundant peace and security.

Joy will return.

Prosperity will return.

We will dance again.

Our lives will be a well-watered garden – beautiful, fruitful, purposeful.

Let the dancing begin!

 

Where am I planted?

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

A tree planted by a stream of water spreads its roots out to the stream and is rewarded with a constant source of nourishment.  The heat doesn’t bother it and its leaves are always green.  The tree doesn’t have to worry about rain or no rain – its planted in just the right spot.  It grows fruit every time its in season.  The storms come but the tree’s roots are strong and well-nourished so nothing can blow it away.

Sounds really nice, doesn’t it?  God uses this example a couple of times in his word to us – this time it’s in Jeremiah and the same picture is given to us in Psalm 1.July 31.2

Because this can be us.  This can be our life.  We can choose to plant our lives very close to the Living Water where we will be rewarded with a constant source of truth, peace, joy, love and encouragement. We will live fruitful, purposeful lives.  When we live close to the Living Water, we don’t have to worry about rain or no rain.  The storms come but we are firmly rooted, never blown away.

It’s not a one-time decision.  It’s a daily decision.

We decide if we’re going to live close to God today.

And then tomorrow we need to make the decision again.  And every day after that.

It’s priorities.  We all have a long list of things we can fill our days with that draw us away from God.

God just has to be more important to us than those things.

As God moves up our list of daily priorities, our roots grow stronger and we become better and better nourished.  We begin to grow more fruit.  We don’t have worry about rain and the storms don’t scare us.

By the time God gets to the top of our daily list of priorities, we are experiencing all of the blessings God has for us as we are lavishly fed by his Living Water.  Life is not perfect but it’s as good as it gets here on earth.  We have a Rock, we have a Refuge, we have a Counselor, we have the Truth, we have a loving Father and an Eternal Savior.

We need to seriously ask ourselves – where am I planted?  We can honestly tell where we’re planted by how much of the Fruits of the Spirit we are experiencing in our lives.  Love, Joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.  How much of these do we have in our lives?  The closer to God we grow, we experience more and more of these fruits in our lives.  If we want more of these, we know the Source.  it’s our choice.

Thank you, dear Father.

Our High Places

On By Judy GlasserIn June1 Comment

What are our high places?

June 20 2013As we’re reading through Kings and 2 Kings, we read about good Kings who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  Some of them demolished idol worship everywhere within their kingdom and others destroyed most of it but left the high places.  And the people would continue to worship idols in the high places.

Do we have high places in our lives where we continue to worship our idols?  Pieces of our lives which we want to keep under our control and refuse to give over to God?

Some areas I  had a big and long struggle with but eventually gave over to God are:

My children.  It was a very big relief to finally understand that God loves my children more than me and my worrying over them did no good for anyone.  God is with them always – loving them and taking care of them.

My career.  It was also a big relief when I really understood that my career came from God.  I am where I am because that’s where he wants me to be.  When he wants me to be somewhere else, he’ll guide me there.  Meanwhile, all of my achievements and successes and promotions and pay increases come from him.

Our finances.  I never felt that we had enough money to tithe – until we started tithing.  Since we’ve started tithing, we always have enough money for our needs.  And whenever God decides that we need some extra, he sends us an unexpected check or makes some more hours of work available for my husband. 

God amazed me last year when I felt that he was telling me to plan a trip to Israel but I didn’t have the money.  So I asked him to show me how I was supposed to pay for it.  And he orchestrated an award for me at work which I didn’t even know I was nominated for.  The total of the award was the price of the trip including – of course –  a tithe of the amount.  He couldn’t make it more obvious, could he?

I have learned that, when I was trying to control these things, I was actually keeping them from coming under the blessing of my Father God.  Since I have recognized his Lordship in all of these areas of my life, he has consistently me in each of them – every day in every way.

Thank you, dear God!

Clothed in Scarlet

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

“When it snows, she has no fear for her household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet.”May 25 2013

I have read this verse in Proverbs 31 many times but I never ‘got it’ until now.  I love that about God’s word – no matter how many times I read it all the way through, I’m always motivated to do it again.  Because there’s more.  There’s something new God wants to reveal to me.  It’s his living word and he’s still talking 🙂

And I realize that snowing in biblical  times was probably a huge deal, something they weren’t prepared for.  It would create a lot of issues and problems.  A mother could be very worried about her family and what was happening to them during this time.

I realize that they were clothed in scarlet but they weren’t wearing red clothes.  She knew her family was covered by sacrificial blood which was the blood of animals back in those days and is now the blood of Christ. 

So when all of the problems and issues came, she didn’t need to worry.  Her family was safe in the arms of God,

Love it! 

And, as a parent, I regularly need to remind myself to ‘ live’ this.  I am blessed to know that my husband and grown children all have a personal relationship with Christ.  Even my little 2 1/2 year-old grandson knows that God loves him.

They are in his hands.

They are clothed in scarlet. 

And when the snow – or troubles – come,  I won’t have to worry.

Maybe I’ll ask everyone to wear something red for our next family picture 🙂

Thank you, dear Father.

The Secret….

On By Judy GlasserIn June2 Comments

of being content.

The secret of being satisfied.

“Whoever loves money will never have enough.” Eccl. 5

May 29 2013Studying God’s perspective on money changed my life.  My beliefs and views about finances were so skewed by everything the world had taught me that I needed to go through a financial Bible study several times before it started to sink in.

God owns everything – it’s all his.  He gives it to us to take care of and use and he only asks for a small portion back.

He doesn’t need our money.  He could rain gold out of the sky if he wanted to.  We just need to be able to put him ahead of money in our priorities.  Then we can joyfully give to support his ministries here on earth.

How much we make is not the issue – how much we spend is.

When I really understood that God owned it all, it became easier to tithe.  It wasn’t mine to start with – God gave it to me, I didn’t earn it like I thought I did.  It all comes from God, he deserves it all – he only asks for a little back.  As soon as we started managing our finances according to God’s word, he helped us get totally out of debt and, years later, he is still making sure we have everything we need.  I have lots of stories of situations where God provided just what we needed right when we needed it.

And that’s a key – I know that, right now, I have what God wants me to have.  If I’m ever going to learn to be content, I need to learn to be content with what I have right now. 

I love this saying – Happiness is wanting what you already have.

God has so richly blessed me with all of things I have already.  And he has given me so many more things that money just can’t buy.

Thank you, dear Father.

Jesus loves the little children….

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

All the little children of the world.church 2

I was reminded of this song recently when I had the chance to worship at Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia.   I felt very privileged to pray and sing and listen to God’s Word along with 2,000 Australians. And my understanding of God’s omnipresence felt like it expanded by several miles.

It was just like a pot of popping corn.  I started with a small layer of corn(understanding) on the bottom of the pot but, as the corn popped it started to fill up the pot.  Higher.  Bigger.  Pop, pop!  That’s what my mind felt like as I experienced the reality of God being the God of all of these Australians on the other side of the hemisphere.  I always knew this and believed it – I just had never felt it before.

church1Awesome!

His love reaches out to all of us.  His mercy covers all of our sins.  Redemption through his Son is the only way for all of us to make our way back to him.  He created each one of us and has a purpose for our lives.

We are all on this journey towards the truth together – all of the little children of the world.

Psalm 4, 2013

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

I know you answer me when I call to you, my righteous God.

You give me peace when I am stressed;

You have mercy on me and you always hear my prayers.

Why do we, your people, turn away from having a glorious relationship with you?

May 6 Psalm 4Why do we constantly try to control the world ourselves when we’re obviously so terrible at it?

How long will we love the delusion that we can know the truth apart from you?  How long will we love the delusion that we’ll ever be happy doing what we want while disregarding what you want?  How long will we seek happiness through money and possessions?

We have been set apart for you – you always hear when we call to you.

When we lay down at night and review the day, help us confess our sins

and make a commitment to walk closer to you……tomorrow and every day.

We trust you, dear Father.

Let your light shine on us, dear God!  You bring prosperity!  You bring joy!

Because of you I have peace.

Because of you, I can lie down at night at sleep.

I am safe within your arms.

Thank you, dear Father.