Tag: faith

He Will Deliver Us

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

“God will deliver us” Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego told King Nebuchadnezzar when they refused to worship the King’s gods or the gold image the King has set up.

They were confident that God was going to take care of them.  First, they said God will save them from what the King wants to do to them – throw them in the fiery furnace.

And then they said, “But even if he does not”, they still refused to worship anything but God.Sept 5 2014 Because we trust him

Even if he does not – because sometimes God’s deliverance of us is to take us out of this world.

We struggle with death because our perspective is so different from God’s.

When the people we love die, we feel grief and separation.  We sometimes wonder how God could let this happen.  When great Christians and missionaries die, we sometimes wonder why God ‘let’ this happen, they were accomplishing such great things for God!

God’s perspective is very different.  When those who love him die here on earth, they are alive with him in heaven – forever.  He ‘delivers’ them from the pain and brokenness of this life into a perfect life with him.  They receive the prize.  It’s not something he ‘lets’ happen, it is all done according to his will.

A year after my mother went to heaven, I got 12 blood clots that went to my lungs and 5 doctors confirmed that this should have killed me.  But it didn’t.  God told me right away in the emergency room that I wasn’t going to die from this – he had already taken care of it.

As a result of this experience, I got a very up close and personal new understanding of God’s omnipotence.  All of the scientific facts said that I should have died.  But God said ‘No’ and it didn’t happen.

God’s total and complete omnipotence gives me peace about my mother’s death, my own death when it happens and all death.  Death happens when God says and not before.  God ‘delivered’ my mother at his designated time.  And that was the right time for her.  I wouldn’t want anything other than God’s best for her.

He will ‘deliver ‘ me at the right time for me.  It’s already determined.  He has already decided and it will happen.  Until then, I need to fulfill the purpose he has given me.  It’s the reason why I’m still here.

Amen!

Hallelujah!

The Watchman

On By Judy GlasserIn September1 Comment

On my trip to Israel earlier this year, we visited a Nazareth village which is set up to show us what Nazareth looked like when Jesus lived there.

A watchman was placed high on the hill overlooking the village and the land surrounding it.nn watching over Nazareth

Ezekiel explains the watchman’s duties in his 33rd chapter.  He says the watchman needs to blow the trumpet to warn the people when he sees danger coming.  If he blows the trumpet and the people don’t heed the warning, they are responsible for their own deaths.

BUT, if the watchman sees the danger coming and doesn’t blow the trumpet, the watchman is responsible for their deaths.

What does this mean for us today?

We don’t have watchmen……or, do we?

We definitely have danger all around us.

When I read this, God reminds me that I am a watchman for the people around me.  I know the truth.  And I know what danger looks like.  So I need to sound the alarm when I see danger coming.

I wish it was as easy as sounding the trumpet.  It’s much harder today to warn others of danger coming their way.  Our culture is  more independent than that of the Israelites and many people don’t understand that God still holds us accountable for each other.

So how do we make sure we’re doing our job as watchmen?  We have a great role model in Jesus who used equal measures of grace and truth.  He didn’t judge people (except for the religious leaders who should have known better).  He didn’t condemn people who were in danger.  He communicated truth with love.  So people could listen.  And understand.  And avoid the danger.

Thank you, dear Jesus.  Please help us do the same.

They Said No

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

Why did they ask if they weren’t going to listen?

The remnant of Judah pled with Jeremiah to ask the Lord for direction.  They said, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we don’t act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tells us.” August 31 2014 They said no 1

So Jeremiah asked God and he told the people of the remnant to stay where they were – do not go to Egypt.  They would die by the sword there.

The people went to Egypt anyway.  And the swords of their enemies killed them.

If they were just going to do what they wanted, why go through this ‘big show’ of asking God?

We see a clue to their behavior when they tell Jeremiah that they will do everything the Lord your God tells them to do.

Later they changed that to ‘our’ but – which one is it?August 31 2014 They said no 2

We can tell by their actions that our Lord God is not their Lord God.  They didn’t listen to him.  He told them exactly what to do and what not to do and they did what he said not to do.

He obviously was not the Lord of their lives.

The proof that Jesus is really the Lord of our lives is when we say, “Yes, Lord.”

If we say anything else, we are not making him Lord of our lives.

It’s as simple……and as challenging…..as that.

Please help us always make you Lord in our lives, dear Jesus.

Tossed by the Wind

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

August 27 2014 Tossed by the windKing Zedekiah went to Jeremiah several times to find out what God wanted him to do.  The King even promised to protect Jeremiah with an oath which included, ” As surely as the Lord lives, who has given us breath.”

King Zedekiah knew about God and he obviously believed God had power.  He searched for God’s direction.  But then he still didn’t do what God told him to do.

James described a double-minded man in the beginning of his letter in the New Testament.  This man is like a wave, blown and tossed about by the wind.

This man sounds just like King Zedekiah.  Yes, there were big waves of conflict and deportation and death crashing around Zedekiah.  He responded to this by constantly checking in with Jeremiah to see what God was saying.

But then he went off and just did his own thing anyway.

Does this sound familiar?  Do we check in with God on Sundays and then go do our own thing the rest of the week?  Do we ever have serious thoughts of obeying what we hear from God?  Letting God change us?  Transform us?

Do we take significant action in order to get our faith solidly anchored on God, our Rock, so we’re not longer influenced and moved by the waves of our culture and the circumstances around us?

God promised to help us become single-minded people who know the truth.  All we have to do is ask.  We need to seek him with all of our hearts, souls and strength.  And we will find him.  Because he is always there.

Thank you, dear Father.

Frightening Words

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

“The time as come for me to act.  I will not hold back; I will not have pity, nor will I relent.  You will be judged according to your conduct and your actions.”August 21 2014 Amazing grace

These words send a shiver down my spine.  God spoke them to the people of Jerusalem as the Babylonians attacked and the siege which would send the Israelites into captivity began.

I am SO grateful to be living in the time of God’s grace.  Jesus’ sacrifice now covers all of our sin, shortcomings and failures.

When God looks at us now, he sees us as his children and he lavishes his love on us.

We don’t have to pay for our sins like the Israelites did because Jesus died for our sins- once and for all.  By his wounds, we have been healed.

So the right response for us is to live in a perpetual state of gratitude for what God has done.  We all have circumstances and situations in our lives which aren’t perfect but our redeemed identify in Christ is secure.  Our future is already decided.

The end of our story goes like this,

“And they lived happily ever after in heaven.”

Amen!

Hallelujah! 

 

Standing in the Gap

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

Ezekiel had a lot of bad news for Judah.  The only good news he had was that God would extend his grace to them if they would turn back to God. If they would stop rebelling.  But they didn’t listen.ugust 20 2014 standing in the gap

In Ezekiel 22, God tells Judah that he looked for someone to stand before him in the gap on behalf of Judah.  He didn’t want to destroy them.  He searched for someone who was faithful but he found no one.

We read a similar message from God in Abraham’s time when Abraham negotiated with God over the number of righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah as he tried to save Lot.  We also heard this during Noah’s time on earth.  God looked over all of the people on the earth and found one righteous man – Noah.

When God looks at our broken and rebellious country today, does he see us standing in the gap?  Does he see our lights shining brightly where we work?  Does he see our servanthood setting the example in our churches and our neighborhoods?

Are we a conduit of God’s love to the people around us?

If so, well done, good and faithful servant.

If not, why not?

 

I Changed My Mind

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

King Zedekiah ordered his people to free all of their Hebrew slaves.  There were strict limitations defined in the Law of Moses which required the release of the Hebrew slaves after 7 years.

So the people let all of their Hebrews slaves go free and they went to the temple to renew their covenant with God.  They promised.

And then they changed their minds.August 14 2014 I changed my mind

They enslaved the Hebrews again causing God’s anger to burn.  As a result of their disobedience, God told them he would give them over to their enemies and that their towns would be abandoned….a wasteland.

They made a promise but then they changed their minds pretty quickly, didn’t they?  It sounds like they were barely back from the big ‘renewing our promise to God’ ceremony at the temple when they decided to break it.

Do you think it got a little difficult for them?  They lost all of their Hebrew slaves – who was going to do all of the work?

Do it themselves?

I don’t think so.

They had made a huge commitment to God without really thinking it through.  It looks like one of those ‘everybody is doing it’ scenarios which is followed by a ‘what have we done?’ reality.

Do we ever do this?  Make big promises or commitments to God only to change our mind when it gets real and it gets tough?

God promises that he will be there for us when it gets real and it gets tough.  He is our strength when we are weak.  We just need to ask.  We need to trust.

Nothing is impossible with God.

Thank you, dear Father.

Finding God

On By Judy GlasserIn August2 Comments

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.” God says to us in Jeremiah 29.

He tells us we need to call on him.August 11 2013 Finding God

We need to come to him.

And we need to pray to him.

Then we will find him.

Thank you, dear Father.

This verse comes immediately after a favorite verse of ours, “For I know the plans I have for you, ” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

God wants to do all of that for us.

And how does he do that?

He speaks to us, he guides us, he changes us, when we call on him.

When we come to him.

When we talk with him.

We have to do our part and then God has a free reign in our lives to prosper us and to give us a future.

Thank you, dear Father!

When the Wicked are Winning

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

I don’t understand it.August 10 2014 Wicked are Winning

When bad things happen to good people.

When it looks like the wicked are winning.

We read about the Great Deportation in 2 Kings.  Nebuchadnezzar took all of the people of Jerusalem to Babylon.

Into captivity.

God’s chosen people.

Satan had to think he was winning at this point.

Nebuchadnezzar stripped the Temple of the Lord of all of its treasures and put all of it in the temple of Babylon.   The treasures Solomon had dedicated to God were now being used to honor and worship a wicked, pagan god.

Now Satan really had to think he was winning.

We know there were faithful believers in this crowd of Jews that went to Babylon – we just read about Daniel and his friends.  We can safely assume these believers were praying and repenting all of the way.

But God’s plan had been put in motion a long time before this actually happened.  We just read through many of the prophecies that predicted that this was going to happen.  It was the consequence for Israel’s habit of repenting and then rebelling again.  Over and over, generation after generation.

When it looks like the wicked are winning, the only thing I understand for sure is that God’s ways are not our ways.  His thoughts are not our thoughts.

And my faith stands firm  on God’s promises to us –

he loves us,

he wants the best for us,

and he is working it all out for our good.

God’s got this!

Hallelujah!  Amen!

 

Learn the Lesson

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

“Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?” declares the Lord in Jeremiah 25.

Learn a lesson.August 7 2014 Learn the Lesson

How good are we at learning lessons?

Learning involves changing.  Changing our thought process which changes our attitudes which changes our behavior.

Changing.

Some of us are scared of changing – not sure the change is going to be a good one.

Some of us are too stubborn to change – we think we’re just fine the way we are.

Some of us are too lazy to change – it takes an effort.

And there are plenty of other reasons and excuses we use to justify not changing.

God tells us over and over and OVER in his word that he wants to change us, renew our minds, transform us, cleanse our hearts.  He wants us to learn the lessons he is giving us…..and that requires changing.

In order to do that, we have to obey him.  Today, tomorrow, every day until we die.

We have to submit our will to his.

God is asking us today, “Will you not learn a lesson?”

Yes, dear Father.