Tag: christianity

Total Control

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Do you ever have doubts about God’s love for you? Or how much power he actually has? Does he hear us when we talk to him? Does he really control the universe?

God’s absolute control of everything is clearly shown in Joshua 10:13. Joshua had asked God for more time to win their battle over the Amorites. “So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies.”

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky for almost an entire day because Joshua asked.

The sun stopped. The universe stopped its regular course – the course it had been on for hundreds, possibly thousands, possibly millions of years.

When the Creator of the Universe heard Joshua’s request, he said “stop” and everything stopped.

I love these instances in the Bible where God exercises his total control over all things.  It is such a clear reminder of who he is.  How omnipotent he is. And how much he loves us and listens to us.

Later in the Bible, we will read about how Jesus calmed the storm because the disciples were afraid.  The wind and the waves stopped when he gave the command.  Because Jesus was in control. And he cared.

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We will also read in the New Testament about Jesus walking on the water out to his disciple’s boat.  Jesus created the water and he could make it do whatever he wanted.

Ten years ago around this time, I was in Israel on a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee when the wind started picking up.  It whipped through the open boat bringing a shimmer  of excitement.  It was easy to imagine the King of the Universe calming the wind or walking out on the water to our boat, just like he did in the New Testament!

I don’t know about you, but the fact that God is in control brings peace into my heart when our culture and our world goes crazy. This being an election year, I know I will be repeating this fact many times in my head to myself and out loud to others around me. I don’t trust politicians and their motivations. But I trust God, I know he loves me with a perfect love and he is working all things out for my good. He doesn’t always give me what I want, he gives me what is best for me.

Thank you, Abba Father.

The earth continues to revolve because that is his desire.

Thank you, Abba Father.

The bright sun rose in the sky this morning because of God’s love and faithfulness to you and to me.

Thank you, Abba Father.

I will take my next breath because my Father God is making that possible.  He provides the air.  He provides life to this body.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Gathered to My People

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

He died.

She passed away.

He was killed.

Before Moses died, God told him, “Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession.  There on the mountain you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.” Deut. 32: 48-49.

I like that.  It makes great sense when someone is a believer.  Moses’ people were in heaven.  His Father was in heaven.  And his Savior was in heaven.

This makes me ask the question – where are my people?

God has blessed me by giving me a family with a very long lineage of Christ-followers.   Many generations of my people are in heaven.  My son who was a Phoenix Police Officer killed in the line of duty is already in heaven.

The people I identify with here on earth are also Christ-followers.  These are my people.  They will be with me when I am gathered to my Father – when I am gathered to my people. 

I’m thinking about starting to use this phrase with believers instead of ‘died’ or ‘passed away’.  Some people wouldn’t get it but that’s ok – some people don’t get a lot of things.

How about you?  Are your people in heaven?  Is your Savior in Heaven?  If so, then he has prepared a place for you.

Will you be with me when all believers are gathered to our Father in Heaven?

I hope and pray that you will.

On the day you have already determined, I will be there, Abba Father.

It’s Important to God

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

It makes sense.  I see the connections and consistent messages.

One of the main reasons I love reading the entire Bible every year is the fact that I can clearly see the issues that regularly show up and this tells me what is important to God.

One of the topics that is a main theme throughout God’s word is how much God loves and cares for poor people.  From the beginning of time, the poor, oppressed and less fortunate in our midst have been close to God’s heart.

In Deuteronomy 24: 19,  we read, ” When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it.  Leave it for the the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”

At that time in history, showing any care for the poor was not normal behavior.  Usually the fields were picked a second time to make sure the landowner got every single grape or olive or stalk of grain.  They wanted it all for themselves – there was no thought of people less fortunate.

Sound familiar?  Our culture is not very different, is it?  We have houses and sheds and garages and basements and storage units full of stuff we’re not using.  Many of these are things that other people could use and would really benefit from.  But for that to happen we would have to be willing to give it away.

I recently saw a post on Facebook suggesting that, instead of giving up chocolate or TV or anything else that doesn’t benefit others for lent, maybe each day we could take one thing we own but don’t use and put it into a bag.  Then at Easter we could give this bag away to a charity or thrift store.

Maybe we could start right now by putting one thing we don’t use in a bag each day for the next 30 days and give it away. We probably have enough stuff that we could do that every day for the rest of this year and really make a difference in other people’s lives – and our’s. We could gradually clean out our garages and basements and storage units, letting other people actually use all that stuff.

We could develop a life-long habit of giving away things we own that still have value but we don’t use them. What do you think?

This is the idea God was introducing to the Israelites in Leviticus – don’t keep it all for yourself.  Give some away.

God speaks often and loudly in the Bible about how much he cares for the less fortunate people around us. 

Do you think he is happy with how you and I do our part in caring for them?

Please open our eyes, our hearts and our hands, Abba Father.

Always right

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Always fair.

Always right.

These are some of the characteristics of God that I use to filter everything through as I read his Word.  I may not understand everything God does but I know he is always fair and right.

As I read Numbers 27,  I can see how God breaks through the false thinking of that time when women were considered part of a man’s belongings and wealth.  Women didn’t own anything – they were ‘sold’ to men in marriage.

Zelophehad’s 5 daughters stood in front of Moses and the Israelite leaders saying, ” Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no sons?  Give us property among our father’s relatives.”  Numbers 27:4.  This wasn’t done. Women did not inherit from their fathers.  Moses was wise by not automatically following what is normally done when he took this question to God.

God is always right and fair so he said, “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right.  You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.” Numbers 27: 7.

By doing this, God revealed what he really thought about the current cultural norms of treating women less than men.  That isn’t how he sees things.

Sure, the head of the family clan (male) didn’t like it.  But he obeyed God and let the daughters inherit their father’s land.  The women were instructed to marry within their clan so that the land would stay within their group.

Just imagine this – 5 young unmarried women who would normally lack any kind of position in the community are now land-owners!  God’s love and care for his daughters is shining through – challenging this male-dominated culture.

And, I’m sure, as landowners, these young women had no trouble finding husbands.  I wonder if these marriages were a little different because they began in a more equal position?

This culture did not treat women equally, but God did.  He always does.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Hold Loosely

On By Judy GlasserIn February2 Comments

Stuff

Boxes of stuff.

Rooms of stuff.

Garages, sheds and basements full of stuff.

Stuff we’re not using but someone else would use it – if they had it.  Stuff that hasn’t fit us for many years but we still can’t give it away.  Stuff that’s broken and we’ve never found the time to fix it but we still keep it because we can’t part with our stuff.

God never meant for us to keep all of our stuff for ourselves.

God told the Israelites that their 50th year in the Promised Land was supposed to be a Year of Jubilee.  “Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all inhabitants.  It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan.”  Leviticus 25:10. During this year, all of the poor people who had sold themselves as slaves were supposed to be freed and all property which had been sold was given back to the original owner.  It was intended to be a year filled with redemption and freedom.

Does it surprise you that my research shows that there is no evidence that the Year of Jubilee was ever observed as God intended?

I’m not surprised.  Many of us like to hold our belongings and our stuff very close. A lot of us don’t want to give stuff away – if it has to go, we sell it.  We worked hard for these things.  We earned them.  Some of this stuff might be ‘worth something someday’.

Well, a lot of our stuff could be worth something to someone else who has less than us today if we could just loosen our grip on it and give it away.  Some of our stuff is broken and worthless and shouldn’t even be given away.  The bottom line –  we need to be able to let go of it.

The Israelites couldn’t do it, either, so they lost the chance to see God work in a supernatural way in their lives through celebrating the Year of Jubilee.  They didn’t experience the joy and freedom of having open hands when it came to their ‘stuff’.

God wanted the Year of Jubilee to be a holy year for the Israelites where they would see his provision for them as they gave the property back to the original owners and set the slaves free.

But there’s no evidence that it ever happened like it was supposed to.

I have been a semi-minimalist all of my life.  I don’t like clutter and I have developed a goal of trying to give away as much stuff as I buy so that things don’t accumulate.  But I’ll never forget being personally challenged by my ‘stuff’ many years ago when my husband and I decided to sell the house we lived in for over 14 years and go into Apartment Life ministry.  This meant we were moving to an apartment from the 4 bedroom, two-story house with a pool where our two children grew up.  We knew God was calling us into this ministry so it had to happen.

I remember walking through my big house packed with awesome memories and full of stuff crying with my hands open, asking God to help me hold all these things loosely.  We sold and gave away whole rooms full of ‘stuff’ and moved into the apartment where the small amount of things we had left fit very nicely.  What a great lesson about how much I had that I didn’t need!  Since then, my hands hold onto people and God tightly but I hold onto ‘things’ very loosely,

It’s a great way to live.  It’s awesome to see God obviously working in my life as I have more time and energy to spend loving him because my ‘stuff’ takes up less space in my life.

If your stuff owns you to any degree, take the challenge – start holding on to God tightly and holding on to your ‘stuff’ loosely today.

Please help us have ‘open hands’ for everything that is not about loving you and loving others, Abba Father.

The Transformation Continues

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

Reading.

Studying.

Listening.

Memorizing.

God has been seriously re-shaping my heart since I became a committed believer about 30 years ago.  When I was young, I had a close relationship with Jesus but it got lost in a season of rebellion and confusion about the truth in my young adulthood.  Six years of that messy time taught me how empty my life was without God.  I discovered that all the ‘fun’ and partying and working extra hard for ‘stuff’ was meaningless and a dead end.

So I re-committed my whole heart to God and I’ve been on this journey toward the truth ever since.

God tells us in Deuteronomy, “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.” Deut. 10:16.   Looking back, I see evidence that God is working on my heart, cutting away the parts that need to change –

  • He cut out the rebellious part of my heart.  Now, no matter what happens, my heart submits to God’s will.  He knows best.
  • God cut out the stubborn part.  I translate “stiff-necked” as being stubborn and God has softened my heart towards everything that is about him and comes from him.
  • God cut out any parts of my heart that were unbelieving.  I don’t have to understand it all to believe.  If God says it, it’s true.  God has taught my eyes to look beyond what is in front of me.
  • God has been working on the parts of my heart where I want to be in control.  I’ve gotten much better at trusting God – no matter what’s going on around me.  I know who is in total control and it’s not me.  Whenever I feel myself leaning into ‘control mode’ again, I know I need to step back and trust God as he orchestrates everything for my good.
  • My heart was shattered into a million broken, mangled pieces when my son, David Glasser, a Phoenix Police Officer was killed in the line of duty.  I can feel God molding a new heart inside of me out of the debris.  This heart is stronger with a much clearer focus on my forever home.

Circumcising my heart sounds painful but it has actually set me free from the lies and worries and fears that the world around us tries to impose on us.

And the transformation continues…..

Thank you, Abba Father.

It’s Supernatural

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

Have you experienced the supernatural movement of God in your life?

If you have put your faith in Jesus, you have.  You may not have recognized it.  Have you ever watched while something just ‘works out’?  That’s God.  You may have called it a coincidence but it’s really a ‘God-incidence’. 

We read in Deuteronomy 8: 2- ” Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you not your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during those forty years.” 

What?  The clothes of several million Israelites didn’t wear out in 40 years?

And their feet did not swell during the 40 years they wandered around in the hot, dusty desert walking everywhere they went in their sandals.   

No way! Only God could do something like this!

The Israelites were slaves before going into the desert so I’m sure they didn’t have a lot of clothes to start with.  They regularly had to pack up everything they owned and move it across the desert so I’m sure they didn’t own much at all.  And our very practical God realized that their clothes not wearing out would help simplify their journey.  Keeping their feet healthy also kept them moving.

So God took care of it – just like he takes care of you and me.  God is always right beside us taking care of the details.  Here are a few examples of how he has taken care of me in very practical ways –

  • A couple of weeks ago we were travelling and, out of nowhere, the idea that I may have made an error in my rental car reservation popped into my head.  It was not coincidence – God gave me a nudge.  I checked my reservation and saw that I had made a mistake that I could correct over the phone but it could have been a big mess when we tried to turn the car back in.  I give God all the credit for helping us avoid that hassle.
  • Almost every day God brings people into my life to encourage me and urge me on – one step at a time.  You know who you are.
  • It has been very obvious that God has his hand on the David Glasser Foundation we started to continue the legacy of my son who was a police officer killed in the line of duty.  God brings just the right people at just the right time.  He provides resources and donations that help us bless others.
  • Four years ago, God told my husband and I to move to Denver after living in Phoenix for over 40 years.  (Interesting, based on the section of the Bible that we are reading right now, that we lived in the desert for 40 years, isn’t it?) Now I can look back and see God had blessings lined up for us here, we just needed to obey.

Supernatural.

It’s really amazing to watch my all-powerful Father move and work out the details on my behalf.

Thank you, Abba.

This is How

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

Do what is right and good.

I am reading the entire Chronological Bible for the 14th consecutive year and I know there is a group of you who are reading it with me. It’s February so we’re still in the beginning of the Bible and today God highlighted a phrase to me that we have already read several times, ” Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may be well with you.” Deut. 6:18.

I definitely want things to ‘go well’ with me and I’m sure you are on that same page. God is telling me – and you – that he wants to guide us. He wants to light up our path. He wants to walk beside us when the trials of life on this planet try to overwhelm us.

The part you and I have in this is to do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight.

That’s my goal. I’m not perfect- no one knows that better than my Father God. It’s very clear to me that God doesn’t expect perfection, he desires that I admit my mistakes and sins to him with a humble heart and turn away from them.

I have found that it is much easier to do what is ‘right and good in the Lord’s eyes’ when I am reading God’s Word each day with my eyes and heart open to what he is saying to me. I am also finding a huge benefit from reading the entire Bible – not just a verse here and a chapter there. Reading God’s Word in Chronological order has helped it make sense to me. I tried one of those reading plans where you read parts of the Old Testament, New Testament and then a Psalm or Proverbs. It didn’t keep my attention. I lost my motivation. What I was reading didn’t tie together into a bigger picture.

The Daily Chronological Bible has kept my attention for 14 years. Because it is a Daily Bible, it has dates on the top of the pages which help give me the structure I need to keep going. I sometimes get ahead and other times I get behind but I keep moving forward. This Bible is not good for studying verse by verse because chapters are condensed and combined. But it is a great reading Bible.

Because I am consistently reading his Word, God is constantly talking to me, guiding me and teaching me his truth.

There’s no question in my mind that this is ‘right and good in the Lord’s sight.’

Thank you for your awesome Word to us, Abba Father.

Priorities

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

Did I love God first?

Or did he love me first?

God’s Word is very clear that he loved me first.  Before I was a tiny newly-fertilized egg inside of my mother, God knew me and loved me. 

As I read the words Moses said to the Israelites in one of his last addresses to them before his death, I am reminded of how this verse changed my life.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and will all your soul and with all your strength.” Deut. 6:5.

God challenged me over 30 years ago to put him first in my life.  I was what I would call a ‘cultural Christian’ at the time.  I went to church, served at church, gave to the church and said I loved Jesus.  But there were things in my life – like my family, my career and what I wanted –  that had a higher priority than God.  When I hit 30 and I finally reached all my goals of what I thought I should have and own at that age, I was surprised to find that I felt empty.  Over worked and over stressed.  And very empty.

Then God opened my eyes to this verse and challenged me with it.  I knew something had to change so I did some heavy-duty thinking.

What would it feel like if I loved God with all my heart?  What did I need to change so I could love God with all my soul?  What would my life be like if I loved God with all my strength?  How could I ignore the distractions of this world and the strong desire to do what I want to do so I could love God first?

The emptiness was eating me up so I took the challenge.  One step at a time, God showed me how to change my priorities and put him first.  I gradually put him first in every area of my life and I learned the huge lesson that the commands God gives us are for our own good.  As I moved closer to God, I watched him help me be a better wife, a better mother, a better employee, a better friend, a better neighbor, a better sister, a better daughter…you get the idea.  Everything was better because he was in the middle of it.

Is there an empty place in your soul that God is longing to fill?  Are you just checking the boxes in your Christian life or do you have a daily, intimate relationship with God?  Have you made the decision to put God first in your life?

God desires to be first in our lives because he wants to give us strength, peace and purpose for our journey.  It all gets better when God is in the middle of it.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Bigger…

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

and stronger.

As the Israelites prepare to enter the Promised Land, Moses tells them that God is going to “drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you.” Deut. 3:37.

The Israelites were going to be fighting against enemies with huge armies of men who had built tall walls around their cities.  And God was going to give them victory.  He was headed into battle with them – there was nothing to fear.

God is saying this same thing to me today –

and to you.

You and I have some big battles coming our way.  If we aren’t in the middle of one now, we probably don’t have long to wait.  That’s just how it is on this broken planet.

God promises those of us that believe in him that he will go with us and guide us through.  In some situations we will see a clear victory when we on the other side of this struggle and other times it’s what we learn and how we grow through the battle that makes us a winner.

But, with God, we always win because we are on the winning side.  God, our Father, has already won the war for us.  Jesus defeated sin and death for us.

As a believer, I know how this story ends for me.   When all of my trials and struggles are over here on earth, I’m going to my perfect ‘forever home’ in heaven.

Happily Ever After.

Thank you, Abba Father.