Tag: faith

A Second Chance

On By Judy GlasserIn March6 Comments

I’ve been there more than once – have you?

Situations where I wish I had a second chance – a redo.  When my heart is aching with regret and my head is rolling with things I shouldn’t have said or things I should have done but didn’t do, I wish I could go back.

If I had the chance to do it over, I would do it so differently!  Can I get a second chance?

What about you?  What’s on your list of should haves, could haves, would haves?

With people, there is never a 100% redo.  The deeds are done, the words have been said.  Forgiveness is possible but wiping out the memory is not.  The regrets can pile up.  Baggage from the past weighs us down as we drag it into our future.

One of my favorite things about God is that he can redeem these situations.   He can and he does make something good come out of them.  He teaches me to grow through these times – helping me mature as he molds my character and thinking.  When I ask for wisdom, he always gives it to me which helps me avoid situations where I need redo’s.

As I read about Rahab in Joshua 2, I can visualize this huge headline on it –

God’s Power of Redemption.

Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho when she met the two spies Joshua had sent into the city to check it out before the Israelites attacked.  Rahab made the courageous decision to put her life on the line for the spies when she hid them from the men the King sent to kill them.  She lied to the king’s men telling them the spies had gone out of the city so the kings men quickly went in pursuit just as the city gates closed for the night.

Meanwhile, the spies were safely hidden on the roof of Rahab’s house.  Rahab knew the Israelites were going to attack – everyone knew it and were very afraid.   When she begged the spies to save her family, they agreed because she had risked her life to save them.  Then Rahab helped the spies escape out of the city and sent them on a different direction from the men who were looking for them.

Later, we will read that Rahab and her family were the only survivors of the attack on Jericho.

It’s obvious that God saved Rahab for a purpose.  He had bigger plans for her.  After God gave her a second chance, she totally changed her direction – she married, had children and became part of the lineage of Christ.  A reformed prostitute was the great, great, too many greats to count,  grandmother of Jesus, God’s son, who came to save the entire world.

God is extremely serious about his redemption business.  He can redeem anyone.

Rahab’s story was obviously shared down through the generations as a popular redemption story because she shows up in the New Testament, “was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction.”  James 2:25.

A prostitute – used as an example of a righteous woman, related to Jesus.  Only God has that kind of love and power.

God is still redeeming your life and my life today.  I don’t have to be stuck in my failures and rebellion of yesterday.  By putting my faith in what Jesus did for me on  the cross, all of that has been forgiven.  I don’t have to be weighed down by the mistakes I’m making today – those have also been forgiven.  I don’t have to be worried or afraid about the things I might mess up in the future because all of it has already been forgiven.

Today I live in grace provided by Jesus, unconditionally loved by my heavenly Father.   I am free.

I am redeemed.

Thank you, Abba.

I’m Stepping In

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Stepping up.

Making the first move.

I often ask God to direct my steps.  My prayers regularly include requests for him to show me an opportunity to do what he wants me to do.

Because I’ll do it – I just want to know that its his direction and his timing.

And God responds.  Right before my eyes, he will give me an opportunity to do something he wants done or say something he wants said.

Every time one of these opportunities presents itself, I have to take the first step of faith forward, not knowing what the next step is and never knowing how this is all going to work out.

I just have to take that first step and obey.

I learned this from the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land.  God told the priests carrying the Ark of the LORD to go first.  God told them he would make a way for them but, first, they had to step into the Jordan.  “Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during the harvest.  Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing.”  Joshua 3: 15-16.

The overflowing water of the Jordan river was roaring down its path…..

and they had to step in.

An act of faith.  An act of obedience.

As soon as the priest’s feet touched the water’s edge, the water stopped flowing.  They had to commit and then they saw God respond.  In the middle of a rushing river, God opened up a path for them to the Promised Land.

It’s important for you and I to understand how this process works.  Too often we want to see God move in our lives but we haven’t stepped out in faith.  We want God to invite us to do great things but we haven’t stepped up to the plate on the things we already know God wants us to do.

For example, Jesus told us clearly, “Love God and love others.”  These are the two main things I need to be about – I already know that.  No question about it.  I find that when I’m focused on doing these things that God has already told me to do, I see God part the waters for me.  He blesses my last step and reveals my next step.

But the first step of obedience is mine.  The first step is your’s.

Where is God asking you to take that first step of obedience?  Go ahead – step into the water and watch it part in front of you.  It will be worth it.

I believe, Abba Father, so I’m stepping in.

It’s My Life

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

These are not just idle words.

I can’t read and soak in God’s Word without being changed. The Holy Spirit grabs my mind and heart and speaks truth into the depths of my soul. Transforming my thinking. Moving my heart. Growing my faith and trust in God.

As I was reading yesterday, God stopped me when Moses said to the Israelites, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you – they are your life.” Deuteronomy 32: 46-47.

I’m in my 11th consecutive year of reading the entire Bible and I can definitely say God’s Word is my life. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not perfect and I never will be this side of heaven. But reading God’s word, hearing God speak to me, feeling his love for me as he guides me – that’s my life.

I’m not a pastor, I don’t work at a church – I’m just an ordinary person who is sold out to God. He gives my life purpose and meaning. His truth grounds my life on the Rock, not on the shifting sand of our culture.

Do you have purpose and meaning in your life? Do you see God moving in your life and guiding you? Is your life grounded on something or someone other than God?

I can’t imagine any reason why I would not read the entire Bible every year for the rest of my life. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to miss a whole month of sitting down with God and letting him organize my thinking and plans. I can’t even imagine missing a week of opening God’s Word and soaking in his love and truth.

It’s my life.

Thank you, Abba.

Be Strong

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

It’s not a coincidence.

This is how it works when you and I are soaking in God’s Word everyday.

I am reading Deuteronomy 31 today and it’s a “God-incidence” that various combinations of the the words, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. The Lord your God will be with you’ are repeated 3 times in one chapter. The Israelites were getting ready to enter the Promised Land which is already filled with large armies of men who aren’t going to give it up their land easily. It was going to be a long-term challenge that would require strength and courage.

First, Moses spoke to all the Israelites and said,” Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.” vs 6.

Then, Moses summoned Joshua whom God had picked to be the next leader of his people and said to him in front of all the people, ” Be strong and courageous for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” vs 7-8.

Finally, God said to Joshua , “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you.” vs 23.

I’m hearing you, God. I’ve got my own ‘long-term challenge’ starting up and I’m going to need a lot of strength and courage from God. I have been writing this blog for over 10 years and it has been a big blessing in my life. Almost 6 years ago my world blew up when my son, David Glasser, who was a Phoenix Police Officer, was killed in the line of duty. About 6 months after his death, God told me to start another blog about the painful, uphill battle of picking up my broken heart and moving forward after losing a child – My Family Bleeds Blue.com.

Since then, many people have told me that I should write a book about this tough, tough road of grief and loss that I am on. My reply has always been that God told me to write the blog, I’m going to wait until he tells me to write the book. Well, he did that last week. It’s time for a book.

It’s a huge project. A long-term challenge. You can add me to your prayer list if you’d like.

I’m not the only one that God has given big challenges. There is a reason why you are reading this today. It’s a God-incidence. What big issues or projects are you facing in your life? Are there huge problems where you need strength and courage from God?

God is saying to me and to you –

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. The Lord your God will be with you.

Amen

Choose to Obey

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

God asks you and I, “Do you want to be blessed?”  He tells us how in Leviticus 26.

As I read this passage in his Word, this is what I hear from God –

If you are careful to obey my commands, I will shower my blessings upon you.

You will be fruitful and prosperous.

I will keep you safe.

I will bless you with peace.  You will sleep well – not fearful of anything.

I will remove all threat to your safety from your life.  Your enemies will fail.

Don’t worry about being outnumbered by the evil ones – I am on your side.  I will look upon you as my favorite child – providing for you and always being faithful.

My blessings will overflow in your life – one on top of another.

I will walk with you and live with you.  I will be your God and you will be my child.

I am the Lord your God who sent my only son to die for you so you might believe and live with me forever. I gave you freedom so you can choose to stand faultless before me.  You can choose to walk closely beside me everyday.  You can choose to love me and listen to me.

You can choose to obey.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Never Forgotten

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 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.

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 about how you and I care for them?

Please open our eyes and our hearts, 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.

You May Have Heard of It

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

You may even have felt that you were one –

a scapegoat.

This is where someone who is innocent is punished for something someone else did.  I know I have often heard this term used when a big corporation is sued for something they did and they fire a person with a relatively minor role in the situation who was just doing what their bosses told them to do.  The corporation does this so it looks like they took action to remedy the issue.  This minor player is a scapegoat – taking the blame for everyone else who had a hand in the bad decision.

Did you know that this term comes from the Bible?  Thousands of years ago the Israelites actually had a scapegoat.  God started this ritual in order to temporarily deal with the sins of the Israelites.  He told the head priest to lay both of his hands on the head of a goat and ‘confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion and sins of the people of Israel.  In this way, he will transfer the people’s sins to the head of the goat.’  Leviticus 16:21

Then the scapegoat was driven into the wilderness, carrying all the people’s sins with it.

Until the next time they sinned.

You can see how temporary this was.  I think God used this process to help make the people aware of all of their sins and to visually show them their sins had to be paid for and taken away.

This is a very clear message about how much you and I need a Savior.  Something had to be done about our sins.  You and I can’t rebel and disobey over and over again while having a personal relationship with a Holy God.  Someone had to paid the price and provide a way for us.

And his name is Jesus.

He is the Way.

And the Way is open for everyone.

Jesus paid the price for our sins – once and for all.  We are saved from the penalty and condemnation of our sin by recognizing our Savior and putting our faith in him.

You and I don’t need a scapegoat anymore.

We are saved through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross – erasing our past, present and future sins from God’s sight.

Thank you, Jesus.

This is How It Works

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

Do what is right and good.

I am reading the entire Chronological Bible for the 11th 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 but 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 11 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 consistently 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.