Tag: God’s Word

Psalm 139, 2021

On By Judy GlasserIn May2 Comments

You know me well, LORD.

You know where I am and what I’m thinking about.  You know where I go and when I stay – you know all of my habits.   Before any words come out of my mouth, you know what I’m going to say.  You walk close beside me, with your hand guiding me.

I will never totally understand you – you are too awesome!

I know I am never alone – you are always with me.  Where ever I go – you are already there.  My life is in your hands.  You are constantly guiding me, protecting me and loving me.

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I feel alone and everything seems very dark.  But you are there –

you are always there.

Darkness is not dark to you.  Your light shines through.

I know you created me, dear Father.  You knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you for how unbelievably wonderful you are!

You create masterpieces!  I know – because I am one of them.  You knew me before anyone else.  You saw me.  You formed me.  And you made plans for my life before I was even born.

Your plans are precious to me, God.  Please show me the path you have designed just for me.

I want to spend all my days with you, Abba Father.

(This picture is my grandson- Jackson.  We got to meet him last year on August 1st.)

Psalm 1, 2021

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

I know the joy of not following the advice of unbelievers,

refusing to spend a lot of time with those who do not honor God,

and avoiding groups of people who have no respect for God.

I delight in God’s Word.  When I am focused on my relationship with God, I am like a tree planted along the riverbank, fed each day, all day by the Living Water.  Jesus grows fruit in my life as he gives me love and wisdom and strength.

This is not true of those who rebel against God.  Their lives are scattered by the wind – they will be judged and condemned by God.  Unfortunately, when nonbelievers leave this earth they will be forever separated from the One they refuse to believe in.

Each day, God watches over all of his children with love and grace, but the path of those who don’t have faith in Jesus leads to destruction.

Amen, Abba Father.

Psalm 121, 2021

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

When I need help, the only place I need to look is to my God, the Creator of Everything.  He does not let me stumble.   God watches over me all day and all night – he never sleeps.

How great is the LORD who stands by me all day and all night!

I know that God takes care of me – day and night –

as I come and go –

both now and forever!

Thank you, Abba Father!

Psalm 86, 2021

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

Let’s join with King David in his prayer:

Hear me, LORD, and answer me, I need you.  I am a faithful servant who trusts you – save me.

You are my God, have mercy on me as I call out to you all day long.  I trust you, God.  Please give me joy.

You are so good.  When I walk close with you, your love and forgiveness overwhelm me.  There is no other god like you.  Everything you have created joins together to worship you.  You are great and marvelous.  You alone are God.

I want to learn all about you, LORD, so I can build my life on your truth.  Give me an undivided heart which is focused on loving and honoring you.

I will praise you, God, with all my heart forever.

Each day I feel your great love for me.  Keep me safe.

I am surrounded by arrogant and confused people who don’t believe in you, God.  But I know you are a compassionate and gracious God, overflowing with love and faithfulness.

Open my eyes to what you doing, God.  Have mercy on me just as you have given mercy to those who have gone before me.  Show me your goodness, LORD, so that others around me will see what a great God you are.

Thank you for your help and comfort, LORD.

Amen.

Psalm 71b, 2021

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

‘As for me, I will always have hope;

I will praise you more and more.”

I can talk about your goodness and your grace all day long, Lord, even though it’s often hard to describe how great you are. I tell everyone I know about you.  I share with them how awesome you are!

All of my life, God, you have taught me your the truth. I know you well and I tell others about how marvelous you are. I am fulfilling my obligation to pass on your truth to the next generation – to those who are coming behind me.

I know you will be walking closely beside me for the rest of my days. 

You are perfect!  Your greatness fills the universe and never ends!  There is no one like you, God!

Yes, I have had bitter trials and troubles in my life.  But you were always there to guide me….

and comfort me….

and restore me.

I will never stop praising your faithfulness, my God! I will sing praise to you! I will shout for joy!

You have saved me and I cannot stop talking about you! No one and nothing can truly harm me when I have you!

Thank you, Abba Father.

Everything

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

Everything I have comes from God.

Everything you have comes from God.

I really believe this. Do you?

When I came to the point that I sincerely believed this, it totally changed what I do with my time, money and talents.  I believe that this is what God is going to be talking to me about on judgement day. I am a believer and God has forgiven my sins for all time because of Christ’s death on the cross. It would be against God’s nature to bring up my sins on judgement day – what was the cross for? But God’s Word tells me in several places that Jesus is like the owner of the company who gave his servants – including me – resources and talents before he went off on a long journey. When he comes back, he will hold his servants – including me – accountable for how well we stewarded what he left with us while he was gone..

On Judgement Day, God will give me an evaluation of what I have done with all he has given me.

King David’s declaration in front of all of his people has made this passage in 1 Chronicles 29 one of my favorite. In my head, I imagine King David standing in the middle of huge piles of gold, silver, bronze and precious stones he was accumulating to be used in the building of the Temple of God.

I see David standing in the middle of this fortune with his hands raised to the sky as he acknowledges in front of everyone that all of this – and everything – comes from God.

Let’s join him (my paraphrase) –

We lift up our praise to you, Lord, our God and Father, forever!

You have all the greatness..

all the power…

all the glory…

all of the majesty..

and all of the splendor!

Everything in heaven and on earth is yours.

You, oh Lord, own everything and are in control of it all!

Any wealth or honor we have comes from you.

You rule over everything!

Only you are able to give strength and power to us.

Now, our God, we give you our thanks and we praise your glorious name!

Thank you, Abba Father!

Psalm 23, 2021

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

My Lord protects me. I have everything I need. He provides for me and fills my life with his supernatural peace.

He gives me joy and strength for each day.  Through his Word, he directs my choices and decisions.

Even when I am going through tragedies and tough trials, I am not afraid.  I know God is right beside me. He is guiding me. I feel his arms wrapped around me, comforting me.

No matter what is going on, I know God loves me. He is faithful and he wants the best for me.

I am precious to him – I can feel that in my soul.  My heart overflows with thankfulness.

I know, Abba Father, that your love and goodness will never end.  You will be with me all of my days here on earth.  And you will be walking right beside me when I leave earth to enter heaven.

Where I will be with you…

Forever.

Thank you, Abba Father.

A Deadly Snare

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

King David’s son, Absalom, had beautiful hair.  It was thick and long and gorgeous.  He cut it once a year, then weighed it so everyone would know awesome it was. Pretty extreme, right?

I wonder how often Absalom stopped to look in the mirror to admire his hair?  (Did they have mirrors back then?  Maybe shiny pieces of metal that reflected back their image?  Or maybe the guys looked into their swords?)

If he made this big deal about his yearly hair cutting, I would image that he was extremely proud of his hair, don’t you?  I’m sure it was a constant source of compliments for him.

And then we read in 2 Samuel 18 that Absalom was riding his donkey under a tree in the midst of battle when his hair got caught in the tree.  He was pulled from his donkey and was left hanging in midair by his hair while his donkey just kept on going.  While Absalom was dangling there, unable to defend himself, Joab plunged his sword into Absalom’s heart and killed him.

Only really thick hair would be able to do that, right?  If Absalom had thin hair or even regular hair, this wouldn’t have happened to him.

The thing he was so very proud of became a snare that caused his death.

So the question to you and I today is – what is the thing in our lives that we are most proud of?  Do we need an attitude adjustment before we find ourselves in a snare?

Are we already caught in a snare?

Dear Father, we are so blessed to have you in our lives lavishing us with your mercy and your love.  We confess any personal pridefulness.  Please help us be most proud of you and what you have done for us.

Psalm 51, 2021

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

I ask for a pure heart, O God! I want my life to be focused on you.

Keep me close by your side and grow your spirit within me. Bring back the joy I felt when I first asked you to save me. Give me a faithful heart so I stay near you. Then I will tell others about your saving grace and I will share the truth you have revealed to me.

Please lift the burden of my guilt from me, O God, and I will sing of your goodness forever. When I open my mouth, Lord, let it be to praise you.

I know you don’t want me to just ‘show up’ at church because it’s the right thing to do. I know you don’t want me to give money to the church just because it’s the right thing to do. I know you don’t want me to read the Bible just so I can check it off of my reading plan for the year.

You want my heart to be broken open,

repentant,

humbled,

willing to be filled with your truth.

Amen. Let it be so, Abba Father.

Show Me a Sign

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Make it black and white.  Can I hear a voice?  I need to know.

There are so many decisions to make and I want to make the right choices.  What should I do?

A good Christian friend once told me to ‘throw out a fleece’ like Gideon did when I have decisions to make. I thought about it.   In God’s word, I read that God sent an angel to tell Gideon that “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior”,  ” Am I not sending you?”, and  ” I will be with you”. Joshua 6: 12-16.  But Gideon still wanted a sign to prove that it really was the LORD speaking to him.  So God proceeded to ‘pass’ Gideon’s tests.

When my friend suggested I throw out a fleece, it just didn’t feel right to me.  I’m pretty sure that I would be instantly convinced if an angel came and gave me a message from God.  You know the angels God sent were so big and impressive that usually the first thing they said was “Fear not”, right?  This is not a normal-sized average-looking person.  I think I’m tuned in to God well enough that I would automatically believe what this huge, supernatural creature said.

It doesn’t feel right to ask God to jump through a bunch of hoops before I obey him. It makes more sense that Gideon did this because he  lived under the Old Testament covenant – he was not ‘redeemed’, Christ had not come yet and he didn’t have God’s Spirit living inside of him.  But I do.

The Holy Spirit speaks to me and guides me into truth – if I’m listening.  God’s Word is alive and the Holy Spirit uses it to help me make decisions.  I have God’s Spirit inside of me every moment of every day – why do I need a sign?  I have found that I don’t need to throw out any fleeces if I’m regularly listening to God’s voice and spending time with him.

In my experience, God not only speaks directly to me, he also lines up circumstances around me to confirm what the Holy Spirit and God’s Word are saying to me.  I don’t have to ask for something more – I just need to keep my eyes and ears open.  His answer is there.

Every once in a while, I hit a deadline on making a decision and I haven’t discerned God’s answer yet.  I have found that when I totally submit whatever the situation is to God – meaning I don’t care what the answer is, I just need to know what he wants me to do – he helps me organize my thoughts and I realize he’s been trying to guide me in the right direction, trying to show me the way.  I’ve just been distracted and clueless.

No fleeces involved.

Black and white.

No more questions.

Thank you, Abba Father.