Tag: its a journey

Worthless

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

Do I have a meaningful purpose for living?July 8 2014 worthless

Am I worth something?

When  I get up in the morning, am I going to accomplish anything of value?

2 Kings tells us that the Israelites chose to follow worthless idols and so….

they became worthless.

Following worthless idols caused their lives to be worthless.

Hmmmm….

What are the idols that surround us today?  Which ones lure us away from the one true God?

Success?

Money?

Fun?

Sports?

Relationships?

What we look like?

What our kids look like?

What our house looks like?

Fill the blank in this sentence and you might find your idol.

“I haven’t been to church lately because __________.”

It’s time to take a critical look at our calendar and bank account.

What do we spend most of our time doing?  Do we have time for Bible study?  Do we have time for serving God?

What are we spending our money on?  Does God get his portion?  Or have we already spent it on our various idols and there are too many bills to be paid?

Hard questions.  And possibly some even harder answers.

Dear Father, please help us find our worth in you.

The Highway of Holiness

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

Isaiah 35, 2014:

The blind will see and the deaf will hear.

The broken will become whole and shout for joy.

The earth will rejoice –July 5 Highway of Holiness

*water will gush in the wilderness.

* streams will appear in the desert.

* hot sand will become cool pools of water.

* bubbling springs will feed the thirsty ground.

* grass and plants will grow on the once barren ground.

And the Highway to Holiness will be there for all who are saved.

The unsaved won’t walk on it – the fools won’t go.

There will be no danger there.

Only the redeemed- those who have been rescued by God – will walk there.

They will enter their destination with singing.

Joy will never leave them.

All sorrow and sighing will disappear as gladness overwhelms them.

Thank you, dear Father, for the Highway of Holiness.

 

Pass It On

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

“It only takes a spark to get a fire burning.”July 4 Pass it on

Anyone remember this old camp song?

The words echo through my mind as I read in 2 Chronicles about the ‘spark’ provided by King Hezekiah.

He cleansed the temple, assembled the Levites, reestablished service in the temple and invited everyone to Passover – even his estranged brothers in Israel.  The holy festival had not been observed for quite a while.

Because of Hezekiah’s efforts, a large crowd gathered to celebrate Passover.  Many people in the crowd couldn’t participate because they hadn’t consecrated themselves.  They weren’t prepared – they had gotten out of the habit.

Hezekiah prayed that God would pardon all of them even though they could not participate.  And God answered his prayer.

The crowd celebrated and rejoiced for 7 days.  Hezekiah encouraged the Levites by telling them what a great job they were doing in leading the people in worship.

Everything went so well that they decided to celebrate for another week.  There was great joy in Jerusalem and all were blessed by God.

It only takes a spark and Hezekiah provided it.  He organized an opportunity for people to put themselves into the presence of God.   And they found joy.  They found forgiveness.  They found love.

The same is true for us.  Whenever we seek God, we find him – he promises us that.  And we find joy.  And forgiveness.  And love.

Could you use a little more of any of those things today?

Draw us nearer, dear Father.

Where Do We Find It?

On By Judy GlasserIn July, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Peace.

Do we find it when our To-Do lists are done?

When we have some extra money in our bank account?

Do we really ever find peace from the thoughts….. Bethlehem sign

the plans….

the fears….

the regrets….

swirling around in our heads?

The prophet Micah tells us that Jesus is our peace.

I always find it amazing that, over 700 years before Jesus was born, Micah and Isaiah prophesied so clearly and so accurately with so many details about the Messiah.

In Micah 5, we read that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.  There is very little peace in Bethlehem these days.  On my recent visit to Israel, one of the shopkeepers in Bethlehem asked us to pray for freedom for Bethlehem.  It is a very depressed and oppressed city.

Micah also told us that the Messiah would be a shepherd who would care for his flock with his strength and majesty.  The Messiah’s flock would be secure because of his great power over all the earth.

And Micah tells us the Messiah would bring us peace.

Please give us your peace, dear Jesus.

Call It What It Is

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

Today, as we read chapter 5, Isaiah looks us in the eye and says:

‘Trouble is coming to you who play with sin, acting like it’s not sin.

You’re deceiving yourselves.June 23 2014 Too Comfortable

You say that you don’t know what God, the Holy One of Israel, wants from you.”

(If Isaiah was in my livingroom right now, he would point at the Bible on my lap and tell me that I know 98% of what God wants me to know.  I just need to do it and God will tell me the rest as I go).

Isaiah says, ” You’re going to regret it whenever you call evil good.” ( we have a name for this – rationalization.)

“You will have trouble every time you say that darkness is light, every time you say that something bitter is actually sweet.

And you will regret every time you think you are wise and clever when the truth is – you’re not.”

Please help us stop the rationalizations, dear Father.

 

Too Comfortable

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

Are we too comfortable?

Too set into our religious routines? June 21 2014 Call it like it is

Too focused on our own schedules?  Our own happiness?

Too content in ‘living the good life’?

God appointed Amos who was a  just a shepherd to warn powerful and successful King Jeroboam about these very things.

Israel’s worship was meaningless to them and so it was meaningless to God.

They were enjoying their life of excess while the weak and poor that lived around them continued to be oppressed.

They were focused on themselves.  They just didn’t care about others.

God warned Israel that he would take it all away if they didn’t turn back to him.

Complacency, pride and empty worship did not please God.

Today would be a good day to consider our own lives.  Do any of these things describe us?  Have we started down a path toward any of these behaviors?

Please open our eyes, dear God. 

 

 

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.