Tag: God’s love

Who?

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

Who are we imitating?

Who are we following?

‘Following’ has a different definition today because of social media.  But it still refers to our choice of people that we are letting have an influence on our lives.

These are the people we are giving permission to enter our minds and thoughts because we’re reading and listening to what they are sharing.  We are ‘following’ their lives.

Who are these people in your life? Are they the right people to help you grow where you want to grow?

Who are these people in my life? Are they leading me to places I should go? Are they helping me grow my integrity?  Are they helping me become more wise?  More caring?

The Israelites were not careful about who they followed. “They rejected his (God’s) decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statues he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. ” 2 Kings 17: 15-16.

Wow – worthless.

They picked the wrong things to follow. They imitated the wrong things and ended up on a very bad path.

That is not a path I want to be on.

Please give me wisdom in deciding who to follow, Abba Father

Do You Feel It?

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

He will be our peace.

Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Micah prophesied about the birth of Jesus saying that a ruler would come from Bethlehem, “And he will be our peace.” Micah 5:5.

Notice – it doesn’t say ‘a source of peace’.

Jesus is our peace. Period.

Do you feel that in your life? I do.

I don’t find peace in the things that so many people here on earth think are so important.

I have not found peace with money and success.

I have not found it in relationships other than my relationship with God.

Buying things has definitely not given me peace since things break and grow old – no longer shiny, no longer ‘the latest’.

I have not found peace in education and achievements.

I love to travel and experience new things but that is not where I find peace.

My relationship with Jesus is the only place I find real Peace. I feel it down in the center of my soul. No matter how crazy our culture gets, God is my Rock. He holds me steady within his arms when the whole world shakes around me.

I can trust Jesus with everything and he has a perfect love for me.  He has proven his love for me over and over in my life.  He who never sinned became sin for me on the cross so that the price for my sins was paid and I can live with him forever.

My eternal life with Jesus has already started on this earth –

He is my peace.

Do you feel it?

He is Good

On By Judy GlasserIn May2 Comments

As the sun rises each morning, I am reminded,

 God is good.

Every time I look at the faces of my grandchildren who start smiling when they are still super teeny, I am reminded,

 God is good.

My husband, Dave, and I are celebrating 45 years of marriage this Saturday and I am reminded,

God is good.

My calendar is filled with good times and special moments with people I love and I am reminded,

God is good.

I am completely confident in this truth –

My God is good.

During the dedication of the Lord’s Temple in 1 Kings, we read that “The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord.  Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: 

    “He is good; his love endures forever.”  2 Chron. 5:13.

I smile when I think about how  my voice saying “God is good”  joins with an enormous crowd of people who have praised and loved God down through the ages.  When I say these words, I am joining with all believers through all of history.  I hear the angels praising God with us, filling the heavens with gratitude through all eternity.

These words were true back when King Solomon built the temple and they remain true today.  When I became absolutely convinced that God is good, peace filled my soul  The truth is, no matter how bad or crazy or painful things in my life or in your life look or feel, God is good.  Our circumstances do not change this fact.

 God is good; his love endures forever.

I Need a Second Chance

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

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 the many things I love 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 Rahab’s story 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.

This all could have gone quickly bad for Rahab!  Reading this, I know God protected her.

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.

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.

Great Love!

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Do you feel it?

I do.

I see it in the gorgeous sunrise as God once again declares his faithfulness to me with the start of a new day.  I feel it in my 5 year-old grandson’s hug.  I see it in the smiles of my friends.  I feel it in the ‘love you’ from my husband of over 44 years.

It’s the great love God has lavished upon me. I love that ‘lavished’ word, don’t you?

God tells me that I am his precious child and he proves that by showing his love for me in a multitude of ways, every day. God moved in my life in big and small ways this last year. He did a miracle in the eyes of my husband after the doctors said the damage was permanent. He also somehow made a very large ice cream birthday cake for my daughter fit into my very small side-by-side freezer. God tells us to pray about everything, so I do. And he moves.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God.”  1 John 3:1a

It’s very encouraging to realize that the closer I get to God, the more of his love I feel pouring out over me.  As I’ve been reading and responding to the entire Bible each year for the last 15 years, I also feel his wisdom pouring out from his Word.  More knowledge.  More understanding.

I am his child!  How much more love and wisdom and knowledge and understanding does he have available for me?

There is no limit!

As 2026 quickly approaches, I am looking forward to seeing what God has planned for this next year.  New challenges.  More love. I’m ready knowing that God is going to walk beside me every step of the way.

Paul’s Prayer … and Mine

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Paul prays for us in Ephesians 3 and I respond –

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth derives its name.” vs 14.

You are awesome, Father.

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he will strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,.. ” vs 16.

Please give us your strength, Father.

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” vs 17.

Make your home in our hearts, Jesus, and teach us how to trust you more.

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with the Lord’s holy people to grasp how wide, and long and deep is the love of Christ…” vs 18.

Grow our roots deep in your awesome love, Jesus.

“and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of the fullness of God.” vs 19

Please help us feel and understand the perfect love you pour out on us each day.  Only you can make us complete, Abba.  The power to live a full life comes from you.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,…” vs 20.

We believe, Father, that you can do anything – things beyond what we can imagine –  and that you want to accomplish your plans through us.  We are your hands and feet here on earth.

“to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” vs 20.

Amen.  Love you, Abba Father.

Do You Feel It?

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

It burns.  Do you feel it?

As I read God’s Word, the truth burns through the mountains of lies and confusion that our culture is busy building up all around me.

I’m a thinker, not a feeler so reading and studying God’s Word rocks my world.  God’s word feels true.  It feels powerful.  It feels right and good.

The ‘feeler’ in me wakes up as God speaks to me through his Word.  My ‘feeler’ confirms for me that this is my Father God teaching me what he wants me to know.  As I listen, God’s words burn into my brain.  I feel the truth etching itself on my soul, creating a desire inside of me to know God better and love him more.

I know what the two men were talking about when they walked with Jesus after his resurrection on the road to Emmaus .  They didn’t know who he was at first, but when their eyes were opened, Jesus disappeared.  And they asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us when he talked with us on the road and opened the Scripture to us?” (Luke 24:32)

I can relate.  God’s truth has burned down to the center of my being and I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot!  This Truth gives purpose to all the craziness in this world.  This is Truth that I can hold onto as the storms of life rage around me.   This Truth is filled with light and love and grace and peace.

Yes, it burns.  And it is good.

Do you feel it?

What Are You Looking For?

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

They looked,

but they were looking in the wrong place.

Have you ever found yourself looking in the wrong place for something you wanted?  I have.  It’s a confusing experience.  Lots of disappointment.

After Jesus was crucified, he was buried and a large stone was rolled over the front of his grave.  Three days later, Mary Magdalene and several other women went to the tomb with burial spices to finish anointing Jesus’ body.  His body had been hastily placed in the tomb because he died right before the Sabbath so they couldn’t complete the work.

Now the women came to finish the preparation of his body for final burial.

Imagine their surprise when they saw the huge stone rolled away from the tomb with an angel sitting on it!  The soldiers guarding the tomb had fainted when the angel appeared so they were laying all over the ground in front of the stone.  

Then the angel spoke to the women, “Don’t be afraid.  I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.  He isn’t here!  He is risen from the dead, just like he said would happen.”  Matthew 28: 5-6.

Jesus was no longer in the grave.

He was alive!

He is alive!

Jesus left earth but he send the Holy Spirit who lives inside of each person who puts their faith in Jesus.  The Spirit guides us and encourages us – helping to transform us from the inside out.

Today, many people are still looking for what only Jesus can give.  They are looking for things like fulfillment, peace, guidance, purpose and love.  But our world continues to disappoint us with only fleeting glimpses of these things.

Jesus was, is and always will be The Way.  He guides me on the right path, teaches me his unchanging truth and has given me eternal life with him.  My eternal life has started here on earth and will continue when Jesus walks with me into heaven some day.

I have found the Way.

What are you looking for?

What’s My Top Priority?

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

Do you wonder about what God wants you to do?

Do you have various options but you aren’t sure which one is the most important?

A huge benefit of reading God’s Word every day is how clearly God answers these questions for me. God is constantly pointing out my priorities.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Mathew 22: 36-39.

These are the top two. I need to do these – all day, every day.

Earlier in Matthew, Jesus has some more clear directions to those of us who have put our faith in him.

“You are the salt of the earth.” Matthew 5:13.

“You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14.

Our dark world needs a lot of light, doesn’t it? How am I supposed to be light? I know I am Christ’s hands and feet on this earth. When I share his love and truth, I am spreading his light. When my life and attitude are different in a positive way from the darkness that continues to spread across our country, my life shines for Christ.

How am I supposed to be salt? I need to be engaged in my culture, sprinkling God’s love over the people around me. When I’m living my faith out loud I bring the flavor of Christ – his caring, forgiveness and truth – with me where ever I go.

When I have options and choices, these scriptures help me decide. Which option helps me show my love for God and love other’s the most? What choice is the best in making my life salt and light in my corner of this earth?

What about you? What does it mean to you when Jesus says you are the salt and light of the world?

He challenging us – are we accepting that challenge?

There is no time better than today to do it!

Please light up our paths, Abba Father, and guide our steps.