Tag: faith

A Christmas Blessing – Colossians 1, 2017

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

I have not stopped praying for you.

I have asked God to help you know and understand the purpose he has planned for you.  May his Spirit give you wisdom for the journey.

May you live a life that pleases our Father God – spreading love and joy everywhere you go.  May you grow in your relationship with God and become strong in your faith, having great endurance and patience.

May you gratefully praise our Father who has saved us and adopted us as his children.  We are his holy people who will live eternally with him in heaven.

Thank you, Abba Father, for rescuing us from darkness by giving us the free gift of salvation through your son, Jesus.

Please bless all of us this Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

A Bad Exchange

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Taking steps forward – not backward.  Growing in goodness – not growing in selfishness.  Softening my heart – not becoming bitter and cynical.

Change can be good – or bad.  It depends on how and what I’m changing.

I’m reminded of this as I read God’s word to me in Romans when the Gentiles rejected God.  “Their thinking became futile and their hearts were darkened.  They exchanged the truth about God for a lie.”

They changed – in a bad direction.  They became defined by worthless thinking and dark hearts.  They based their lives on lies, turning away from the One True God.  Then they took it a step farther – they encouraged others to do the same thing.

They became filled with envy, murder, strife and deceit.  They became slanderers and gossips, God-haters and boastful.  They had no understanding, no love, no fidelity and no mercy.  And they approved of their way of life.

Just thinking about what their days were like and how it must have felt to live like they were living turns my stomach.  What about you?

They lived worthless lives doing exactly what Satan would like all of us to do.  Satan could ignore them – they were sold out to his lies and they had given in to his schemes.  They were no threat to him.  His work with them was done.

Exchanging the truth for lies is always going to be a bad exchange.  I’m so glad we’re all on this journey towards the truth together so we can keep our compass pointed right at God.

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

His Child

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Redeemed from paying the price of my sins for all eternity.

Redeemed from trying to be ‘good enough’ to get into heaven.

Adopted by God.

I feel it –

don’t you?

Every moment, I feel God’s love – not as a servant or friend.  But as his child.

God tells us through  Paul in Galatians that he sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts and the Spirit calls, ” Abba, Father’.

Daddy.

This has a very special meaning to me because my earthly father went to heaven almost 40 years ago.  My heavenly Father has been my only Father here on earth for a very long time.

And my spirit calls him ‘Daddy”.

I know my Abba wants the best for me.  I know he can do anything – nothing is impossible for him.  He works good out of evil.  He forgives.  He is patient.  He loves me enough to discipline me……and comfort me.  He is faithful.

My identify as a child of God is the most important thing in my life.

Thank you for being both my earthly and heavenly Father for all of my adult life, Abba.

This Doesn’t Look Good

On By Judy GlasserIn December2 Comments

It looks like pain.

It looks like grief.

It looks harsh….

really tough.

Life happens to us and many times it doesn’t look good.  It’s nothing we would ever want to happen to us.  We would not choose this path in a million years.

Life like this keeps happening to me – I know it happens to you, too.  If you don’t have any trials in your life right now, just wait.  It’s not a question of ‘if’, it’s a question of ‘when’.

When things are looking bad, those of us who believe and trust in God can be confident that God is working through this trial to bring good into our lives.  He has promised, so it will happen if we remain faithful and obedient.

I see God fulfilling this promise as I read the book of Acts.  The believers are being persecuted for their faith.  This is bad – a lot of pain and loss and problems.  So the believers fled.   And they shared the Great News as they fled, spreading the truth into other countries.  They touched many people who had never heard about Jesus and grace and salvation.  Good – out of bad.

God has done this in my life.  Evil was done and God is reshaping the results to bring good out of it.  It still hurts.  It’s not easy.

But God is proving himself faithful once again by bringing good things and purpose out of my trials.

When things on earth don’t look good, Abba Father, please help us look up.

They Missed It!

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

But you and I don’t need to miss it.

Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane having a long, agonizing conversation with his Father about his crucifixion which was coming closer every minute.

Why did he keep going back to wake up his disciples?  He went back three times and they were asleep each time.

I think they were supposed to be learning an important lesson that night but they missed it.  Jesus was giving them a first-hand example of how we should respond to trials and tragedies in our lives.

Jesus talked with God all night.  He laid his human concerns and worries and fears at his Father’s feet – over and over and over.  For hours.  He let the love of his Father wash over him – pushing back the anxieties and concerns.

And did you catch the part where God sent an angel from heaven to give Jesus the strength to be obedient?

The disciples were asleep – but I’m not.

And I got the message.

In times of struggles and pain, I need to get as close to God as I can.  I learned this lesson years ago and I have found that it works – no matter what kind of nightmare I’m living through.  The closer I get to God, the easier it is for him to help me get through the darkness and hurt.  When I’m close, he can quickly wrap his arms around me, helping me to feel safe and loved.  When I’m right beside him, he it’s easier for him to guide me through the rough parts of this journey.

When I’m focused on him and his Word, I can see the angels he sends to give me the strength to be obedient….

and still.

This is what Jesus showed us in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And I know it works.

And now you know.

Please help us not miss this lesson, Abba Father.

How Can I Know the Way?

On By Judy GlasserIn November6 Comments

How do I figure out my next step?

How do I know who to believe?

How do I decide which way to go?

These are all tough questions with important answers.

Thomas asked Jesus this same question after Jesus told him he was going away to prepare a place for the disciples.  Thomas replies, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus replied, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

Jesus is the way.

I’m not going to choose the right path without him.  I’m not going to know what to believe unless I know the Truth.  I’m going to wander and end up places I don’t want to be if I don’t follow the Way.

It’s just that simple –

and that complicated.

I need to commit each day to following him,

commit each hour to believing in him,

and I need to commit each minute to trusting him if I really want to know the Way.

Please guide each of us in the right Way, Abba Father.

He Prayed for Me

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

And he prayed for you.

One of my favorite things about the Chronological Bible is we are reading about Jesus’ last days before his crucifixion in the week leading up to Thanksgiving.

It’s so appropriate!

The holiday reminds me to be thankful and God’s Word reminds me the most important thing to be thankful for – Christ’s sacrifice for me.

For God so loved the world…

Life everlasting with my Abba Father.

I love reading the prayer of Jesus in John 17.  He prayed for us!  “for those who will believe in me’ through the message of his disciples.

We know the Truth because the disciples faithfully shared with others the Truth they had seen and heard.   And we pay it forward by sharing what we have seen and heard about the Truth with others…

in gratitude for what Christ did for us.

May we be found faithful witnesses to your love and grace, Abba Father.

How Close Am I?

On By Judy GlasserIn November2 Comments

How much distance is there between God and me?

How far?

Mark tells us that Jesus was asked which of the commandments was most most important and Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

The man who asked replied, “You’re right!  I get it  now!  Loving God is more important than following all the religious rules, traditions and ceremonies.” (my version).

Jesus replied, ” You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

It’s like he said – “Good job, buddy!  You’re figuring this out!”  I’m sure Jesus had a smile on his face when he said this because Jesus was surrounded by people who weren’t getting it but this man was starting to understand the truth.

I pray that Jesus would say this to me if he was sitting next to me this morning. “You’re figuring it out, Judy!”  That’s what this journey towards the truth is all about.

Am I getting closer to God as I study his Word?  Am I letting God transform me as I put his Truth into practice in my life?

How about you?

Thank for this this journey towards the Truth – towards you, Abba Father.

Really Alive

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

We are all breathing.

Our hearts are pumping so we are all living.

But are we really alive?  There is so much more to life that just making it through the day.  There’s so much more that going to work everyday to pay the bills.  There’s so much more to life than buying that next new thing or going to that next new place.

Is my heart and mind and soul really alive?

One of my favorite names for Jesus is in John 8 when he calls himself the Light of the World. “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Really living is when we have this light of life.

We experience a whole new dimension here on earth when we choose to live in the light of life.  

God is moving.  He is making things happen.  He is loving us and caring for us.  He is moving mountains for us.  When we live in the light, we can see some of what he is doing right before our eyes.

We are really alive.

When we are in tune with God we can understand his strength and we can feel his love.  We can sense his presence right beside us – lighting up our world.

This is what it means to be really alive.

Jesus made his free gift of grace available to everyone – we just need to choose to walk in the light.  If you haven’t made that choice – today is a great day to accept salvation through Jesus.

He is waiting.

Thank you for making it possible for all of us to be really alive, Abba Father.

There Is No Other Way

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

No other path.

No where else to go.

This journey of faith is not easy.  The hills are very steep and the roads wind around blind corners where it’s impossible to see what’s up ahead.  And the valleys go down….

down…

into darkness……

But it’s never complete darkness.  No matter what is happening, God is always next to me, shining his light on the way I should go.

Sometimes I can’t see the light because I’m distracted – I’m looking away – at something else – like my fears, my worries or my grief.

But I just have to focus on him and God is there –

always.

He is faithful.

There are times when my eyes and thoughts wander, but they always come back to my Heavenly Father.  Because there is no other Truth.

There is no other perfect love.

There is no other direction to go in this world that will take me where I want to eventually go – home with my Father.

So I have to smile when Peter says essentially these same words.  Peter was watching as Jesus offended some of the people who were following by telling them the truth.  It wasn’t what they wanted to hear,

so they left.

Jesus turned to Peter and asked him if he wanted to leave, too.  And Peter answers, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of Eternal Life.”

I’m with you on that, Peter.

There is no one else to follow.  There is no other place I want to go.

There is no turning back.

So I move forward – trusting, growing and loving God.

Thank you for the truth, Abba Father.