Tag: faith

If You Were Wise

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

We are in one of my favorite sections of the Chronological Bible.  This is where June 17 2014 if they listened.some of the prophets seem much more relevant to me because this Bible has them speaking God’s word directly to the kings who were actually ruling at the time.

Hosea spoke to 5 kings from both Judah and Israel.  Hosea tells them God offers them acceptance and forgiveness if they will repent and be faithful.

Hosea tells the priests they have been rejected by God because they have led the people into idolatry.  When Israel’s repentance only lasts a short time, Hosea points out their deceitfulness.

Hosea predicts captivity for Israel when they experience the wrath of God and their kingdom is destroyed.  The book of Hosea ends with a promise of forgiveness from God if they will turn back to him.

Hosea says to them (my version): “If you were wise, you would have figured this out.  You would understand that God is right and you should be following his directions for you.”

But they didn’t listen.  Instead, rebellious Israel continued down their path of destruction which took them into captivity and slavery.

What about us – you and me?

What path are we are on today?

How well are we listening?

Is it time for us to turn back to God?

Are we following God’s directions for us?

Dear Father, Please give us wisdom.

 

He Brings Peace

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

It happens over and over and over – when people get their relationship right with God, they find peace.June 13 2014 he brings peace

When Jehoiada took over control of the Kingdom of Judah for the child-king Joash, he once got rid of Baal worship by smashing the altars and idols, and killing all of the priests.  Jehoiada also reorganized the responsibilities of the temple according to David’s original directions.  They were to present the burnt offering with rejoicing and singing.

The gatekeepers also made sure no was that was unclean entered the temple area.  The good thing about the gatekeepers needing to discern whether someone was ‘clean’ or not was it gave them a way to tell how serious someone was about their faith.  The directions they had to follow to stay ‘clean’ enough to go to the temple were extensive.   So someone would have to be very intentional about staying ‘clean’.  The negative side of this would be like what happened in the story of the Good Samaritan.  In that instance, the religious people passed by a person in need because it would have made them ‘unclean’.  The right thing to do would have been to get ‘dirty’ and help the person in need.  Being legalistic about God’s directions can sometimes make us blind to the real message God has for us in his word.

Jehoiada was very aware of what God wanted as he protected the child-king and pointed the people of Judah towards God.  When a king who was following God was seated on the throne, the city was calm and the people found peace.

We can experience this same peace when we place God on the throne of our lives.  Even when the circumstances of our lives are not great, God is with us, and, when we let him take control, he can give us peace.

Thank you, dear God.

Surrounding Us

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

We are surrounded by them.  When we are afraid and need help, we just need to ask God to open our eyes.June 10 they are surrounding us

When God opened Elisha’s servant’s eyes, he saw that the hills around them were filled with the Army of God.

God promises the same to us.  He is always with us and his army is ready to go to battle for us.  Sometimes they are already in the midst of a battle for us and we just don’t know it.

Other times we know it.  When our lives are really messed up with conflict everywhere we turn, we can stand firm.  We know God and his army are fighting for us.

Sometimes things happen that are clearly an attack of Satan.  A couple of years ago in my office several very weird things started happening and mean, name-calling emails started flying around from ‘anonymous’ sources.  In the midst of it, Satan showed me very clearly that he was behind it all.  This was his plan.  He thought he was taking charge.

Somehow, the fact that Satan was so blatant about it made it easier for me to remember that the battle was God’s, not mine.  And God worked it all out for my good – just like he has promised.

God and his army stand ready to defend us – we just need to open our eyes.

 

Jonah’s Prayer 2014

On By Judy GlasserIn June1 Comment

When it all hit the fan, I decided to call out to you, God….

and you answered me.June 16 2014 Jonah's prayer

My choices took me to a deep, dark place in my life,

far from you.

But you still heard me when I prayed.

I tried to run from you – a very bad decision.  And now you’re letting me pay the consequences as waves of darkness and regret wash over me.

I feel like you are very far away, dear God.

Even so, I am going to look for you, watch for you, call out to you.

I keep sinking….

down,

into the cold,

deep,

sadness.   This is where my choices have taken me.

But I know you are here, Lord God.

And you will lift me back up into your arms.

When I was lost, I remembered you and I turned back to you, God.

I’m not like those other people who idolize money, success or fame.

I praise you with a joyful heart, my God!

I am here to do your will.  I will do what you have asked me to do.

Warnings Ignored

On By Judy GlasserIn June1 Comment

Hear this!June 12 Warnings Ignored

Wake up!

Mourn!

Despair!

Grieve!

Wail!

Sound the alarm!

The prophet Joel was trying to wake up the clueless people of Judah.  They had wandered back into worshipping all of the false gods that surrounded them.  They took their eyes off of the One True God and he was not going to let them ignore him very much longer.

So Joel spoke warning after warning to the people of Judah.  He pled for them rededicate their hearts to the Lord.  God promised his compassion and grace if they would return to him.  He promised to pour out his spirit upon them if they would call upon his name.

There were some sparks of rededication but they really didn’t change.  They continued down the path towards God’s punishment.

Do we receive any warnings?

What if our finances become all messed up and we’re sinking into debt.  Is that God letting us know that we need to get our finances right with Him so that he can bless us?

What if our relationships are getting all messed up and  it’s just getting worse and worse.  Is that God telling us we need to get our relationship straight with him so he can help us change and grow in our wisdom of how to deal with others?

Maybe this isn’t the right thing to do.

I don’t think I should be saying this.

What am I doing?

How did I get here?  This isn’t where I want to be.

These are some of the warnings God sends into our minds today.  He doesn’t have to speak through prophets anymore because he lives in the hearts of those who believe in him.  And he speaks these warnings into our minds…..

so we can listen…..

and respond…..

and turn back to him….

and he can pour out his love, compassion, strength and wisdom upon us.

Come, dear God.

Our Eyes Are On You

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

” We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”June 6 2014 our eyes are on you.

These are the words of King Jehoshaphat as he stood before the assembly of Judah praying to God about the vast army that was coming to attack them.

The next day, they went out, faced their attackers and God won the battle for them.

God promises us the same victory in our battles today…when we let him fight them for us.

Our battles today have names like sickness, debt, bad relationships, loneliness and addictions.

But the strategy still works – we need to keep our eyes on God.

When we focus on God and love him, he will guide us and work it all out for us.  He has promised.  Our part is to stand firm in our faith, listen and then do our part.

The battle is not our’s.  It’s God’s.

Thank you, dear Father.

He Whispers

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

God often whispers to us.  And we don’t hear him because we fail to quiet our minds and quiet our hearts and quiet our lives so we can hear.June 5 2014

We wonder why he’s not answering our prayers.  We wonder why we feel like we’re confused – with no direction.  We feel a little lost.  Sometimes we feel a lot lost.

All of this time, God is whispering his guidance and his love into our ears.

If we are listening.

If we are still and can open up our ears with faith and trust that God is speaking.

Because he is.

Thank you, dear God.

 

Not An Option

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

King Jehoshaphat of Judah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  He removed all evidence of false gods from the land.  He got rid of the rest of the male shrine prostitutes and he removed the high places and Asherah poles which were used to worship false gods.June 4 2014

Jehoshaphat sought the God of his father and followed God’s commands.  As a result, God made him very prosperous.

King Jehoshaphat didn’t stop there.  He sent officials and priests out to teach the people the commands of God.  It was not enough that the king was a good leader and that he followed God himself.  He understood that God’s word was for all of the people.  They all needed to know God and follow him.

Because of Jehoshaphat’s faithfulness, he became very wealthy and powerful.  God gave his kingdom a time of peace.

I have talked to some parents who have told we that they don’t want to force their beliefs upon their children.   They want their children to choose for themselves what to believe.

This is a very dangerous idea.  What they are really doing is handing Satan and his team an empty mind to play with and influence.  And they are not following the directions God gave to us over and over in his word to teach our children.

I was talking with a woman in church many years ago who was sad because her 10 year-old son wouldn’t come to church with her.  I told her that not going to church was not an option for my children.  I’m the parent, right?  So I decide what a 10 year-old does or does not do.  It’s different when they become adults – it becomes their decision.  And they make their decisions based on the truth that they were taught when they were kids.

Teaching our children and our grandchildren about God is not an option for those of us who believe.

 

 

 

The Two-By-Four

On By Judy GlasserIn May1 Comment

You wanted it, so I’m letting you have it.

This is what happened to the people of Judah when they stopped following God.  They chose false gods, they set up shrines with male prostitutes and they did the opposite of what they knew to be right.June 2 2014 consequences

So God let them go and experience the consequences of these choices.  “You have abandoned me; therefore I now abandon you to Shiskak.” who was the King of Egypt.

The people then repented and admitted to God that they were wrong so God relented and didn’t let the Egyptians destroy Judah.  But they did become subject to Shishek so that they could learn from their mistake.

God deals with us in much the same way today.  He lets us experience the consequences of our decisions so we can learn.

If we’re honest with ourselves, when things aren’t going well for us, we can often trace our current situation back to bad choices we have made.

Yes, God forgives us of our sins.  And, because he is a great father, he also teaches us lessons we need to learn.

One of my goals in life is to learn God’s lessons the first time so that he doesn’t have to keep teaching me the same lesson over and over.  Whenever we have the same type of issue consistently coming up in our lives, it’s a clear sign that we just aren’t learning.  We aren’t changing our behavior.  It’s been my observation that the issue will just keep growing and growing and growing until it becomes a two-by-four which hits us over the head and now we have to deal with it.  We have to quit avoiding it.  The issue becomes so large that we can no longer look the other way. That’s the two-by-four.  Most of the time, we had opportunities to deal with the issue when it was much smaller.  But we waited..we avoided…we ignored.

Dear Father, please help us learn BEFORE you have to hit us over the head with a two-by-four to get us our attention.

 

 

It All Connects

On By Judy GlasserIn May1 Comment

The wisest man who ever lived made a bad decision which led to another bad decision which caused him to make another bad decision.  These choices took him far from where God wanted him to be.May 27 2014

Marriages to foreign women were forbidden by God because these wives often had great influence with their husbands and would encourage them to worship foreign, false gods.  The culture at that time was filled with false gods of every kind.  The Israelites were the only ones worshipping the True God.  God wanted them to stay separate so that they stayed true to him.

Solomon made a  series of very unwise decisions by marrying a foreign wife and then a another and then another.  And it happened to him – his wives lured him away from the True God.  He started following the detestable gods of his wives.  He even built temples for these various false gods.  The wisest man in the world made some very unwise choices that caused him to become a fool.

It all connects.  The first decision led to the next which caused the next.  Solomon needed to avoid that first bad choice…..but he didn’t.  As a result, God ended David’s kingdom with Solomon.May 27 2014

Proverbs 20:26 reads, “A wise king winnows out the wicked; he drives the threshing wheel over them.”  Solomon didn’t winnow out the wicked, he married it.

Proverbs 4 tells us to avoid the path of the wicked, turn from it.  Wise words.  Words Solomon – and us – should follow.  If Solomon had done what he told others to do, his legacy would not be marred by his foolishness at the end of his life.

Solomon’s choices led to his own self-destruction.  His story challenges us to stand firm and strong on the truth of God all the way to the end….which is really only the beginning.