Tag: its a journey

Blinded

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

I can be so blind!

Blinded by the immediate.

Blinded by what everyone else thinks.

Blinded by my routines and habits.

Blinded by worry.

Blinded by trying to control things in my life.

Do you ever feel this way?

There are times when its a major struggle to open my spiritual eyes…

open my mind….

open my heart…

to the truth….

to a different reality – God’s reality.

Sometimes I can be just like Elisha’s servant in the Bible who was afraid of the huge enemy army which surrounded the city they were in. Elisha wasn’t afraid. He knew something the servant didn’t know. Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord, so he may see.” 2 Kings 6: 17.

And when the Lord opened the servant’s spiritual eyes, he looked up and saw the hills around Elisha full of horses and chariots of fire. God’s army.

Elisha was not worried – he knew the truth.  God had his back and there was no cause for alarm. Elisha understood and trusted in the power and faithfulness of his Father God.

His eyes were open.

When my eyes are open, I can see God moving around me. I can feel the strength he gives me to face each challenge that comes my way. I can rest in the knowledge that he has his army fighting my battles and he is working all things out for my good. I can see his light guiding me towards the next step of my journey.

He is my powerful and faithful Father God.

Are your eyes open?

A Whirlwind

On By Judy GlasserIn June1 Comment

It’s hard to understand.  Dying seems like such a permanent thing here on earth.

But it’s not permanent.  My death on earth is when my body stops functioning, but my soul – the core of who I am – does not die.   Your soul doesn’t die, either.  Our souls live on – eternally in heaven if we have accepted salvation through Jesus or eternally separated from God in hell if we aren’t saved.

As I reach the fall season of my life, my body reminds me daily that it has a specific shelf life and there will be an end.  I have already started my eternal life – this first part is on earth, the second part will be my forever home with my Father.  I’m amazed at how many people call these man-made shelters we live in here on earth their ‘forever home’.  Not me – my forever home is much, much better than this one and it’s waiting for me when this part of my journey ends.

The prophet Elijah is one of two people in the Bible whose bodies didn’t die. Elijah and Elisha were walking together when, “suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.” 2 Kings 2:11.

I would love to go to heaven that way – now you see me, now you don’t!  But I believe my journey home is going to be a lot less dramatic.  When I breathe my last breath, Jesus will be holding my hand and he will walk my soul into heaven with him, leaving my body behind.

No chariots of fire.

No whirlwinds.

Just joy.

I will finally be in my forever home.

Thank you for preparing a place for me, Abba Father.

His Whispers

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

If I’m not careful, I’ll miss it.

God speaking to me.

Just like with Elijah, God doesn’t speak to me in a terrible blast of flying rocks or in an earthquake or in a fire.  “”The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’  Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was no in the wind.  After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was no in the fire.  And after the fire came a gentle whisper.”  1 Kings 19:12

God often speaks to me in a whisper – a faint breeze of truth and light that flits through my mind.  I have to stop, concentrate and reach out to catch it.

If I’m not careful, it’s gone. If I’m not purposefully opening up my spiritual eyes and mind, the spark moves on.  And I’m left wandering, ‘When God is going to answer my prayer?   When will I see him move?’

Do you ask yourself these questions?  Are you listening for his whispers?

When I am quiet,

when I am focused,

when I don’t let distractions derail my time with God, I hear him loud and clear.

God’s Word is alive – he will underline passages (you wouldn’t see it but I do), he will change the font of a sentence to bold to get my attention or he will read the words to me in my head to make sure it’s his voice I hear, not my own or anyone else’s.

There are situations where he simply opens up my eyes to how he has already answered my prayer.  He has taken care of the issue and moved on.  Keep up, Judy!

That’s when I realize how much I miss when I’m not quiet,

when I’m not ‘zoned in” enough to hear the whispers and feel his breeze of truth ruffling the pages of my Bible.

Please open my eyes, open my ears, Abba Father.

He Is Not Like Us

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

God is never tired, he is never impatient, he is never distracted, he is never busy.

We are made in God’s image – little glimpses of him show up in each of us.

But he is not like us.

This fact brings me a lot of peace and confidence. I desire to be more like Jesus. I am eternally grateful that he is not like me.  He has none of my weaknesses or failings. I am glad he is not limited like I am with a 3.5 pound brain. I appreciate the fact that I don’t understand everything about God. If I could, he wouldn’t be my God.

Sometimes God tell us about his emotions in the Bible – anger, sadness, and joy.  All of his emotions are perfect – for the right reason.  They are not like our emotions which are self-centered and can often cause us to say and do wrong things.

When Elijah mocked the priests of Baal in 1 Kings, he was trying to point out the godlessness of their gods.   When Baal didn’t respond to priest’s requests,  Elijah said, “Shout louder! Surely he is a god. Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 1 Kings 18: 27. This kicked the Baal prophets into a frenzy of shouting louder and slashing themselves with swords and spears.  They often did this trying to get a response from Baal.

I grimace when I imagine this scene of four hundred and fifty bleeding prophets of Baal – crying out to a manmade statue.  Looking for answers. Looking for hope.

How futile!

How broken!

How lost.

When I take a look at the world which surrounds me today with overwhelming violence and lies and confusion, I say the same thing –

How futile! How broken! How lost.

Jesus came to bring his light of truth, grace and salvation to everyone who would believe. He is the only answer.

He lives within each believer and he has commissioned each of us to be his light in our part of this dark and broken world.

Dear Father, Please help us shine your light brightly right where we live, work and play.

Slaves

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

We all have things we are committed to – things we spend a lot of time and energy on along with a big chunk of our money.  Things like careers, houses, cars, sports, watching television, shopping, exercising, the latest gadgets and video games can fill our hours, leaving little or no room for a relationship with God.

If we lived back in Biblical times, it would be said that we are a slave to these things.  We choose who we serve and when we put anything above God in our priorities, there are negative results.

King Rehoboam, the king of Judah, led his people in turning away from the One True God to serve idols – all kinds of idols.  Since the people were unfaithful to God, God let King Shishak of Egypt capture Judah.  The people then realized their sin and God saw.  As a good father, he let them pay the consequence of their sin which meant the King of Egypt became their king but God promised to give them deliverance soon.

In 2 Chronicles 12:8, God said, “They will, however, become subject to him (the King of Egypt), so they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”

When we choose something other than God to be slaves to, we also pay consequences, such as – large debt, broken relationships and lack of purpose and meaning in our lives.  When we turn back to  God, he promises to deliver us from this misguided slavery.  It may take a while. We will pay some consequences.  It will probably take some real effort and work and commitment on our part.

But God, our good Father, is faithful.  He will deliver us.

Thank you, Abba Father.

It’s Not Working

On By Judy GlasserIn June1 Comment

I’m an achiever. I like to get things done. I’m also a planner and organizer so I can make sure they get done.

There have been situations in my life in the past where I have struggled and worked and persevered to make something happen only to discover that it wasn’t the right thing. It didn’t work out.

So disappointing. Have you been there?

As my faith in God has grown, I have realized that I want God’s plans for my life to become reality, not my own plans. The truth is he knows everything, he has the power to do anything and his plans are perfect.

Mine aren’t.

So now I talk to God about what he wants, watch to see where he is moving and then join him in what he is doing. Does it surprise you that great things happen when I do this?

I’m not surprised.

Does it surprise you that sometimes I forget to do this?

I’m not surprised.

As I’m reading King Jeroboam’s story in 1 Kings, I am reminded of some of the disappointments I had when I was trying to do things my own way. Jeroboam was setting up his own kingdom in Israel without asking God what he wanted and Jeroboam was making a lot of bad decisions. But he persevered and made everything happen just like he wanted it.

Then, one day, the king stretched out his hand to command his men to seize the prophet of God (another bad decision) and his hand shriveled up.

Wow! That got Jeroboam’s attention!

Jeroboam knew exactly who shriveled up his hand so he said to the prophet of God , “Intercede with the LORD our God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” 1 Kings 13: 6. This was a good decision – God instantly restored the king’s hand.

God doesn’t usually make hands shrivel up today but he is constantly trying to guide us down the right paths so we make good decisions. Since I’m a planner and organizer and doer, I have to be careful to listen to God and not just use my own skills to make stuff happen. Even when I’m sure I’m on the path where God wants me, if things just aren’t working, I’ve learned to stop and look to God – is he trying to redirect me? Did I misunderstand? – before I just push through to make it happen.

Years ago I decided that, before putting a big effort into climbing a wall, I’m going to make sure it’s the right wall.

When I am keeping my eyes on God, studying his Word and spending time with him, he shows me when I’m getting off track. I ask him to open doors or close doors – somehow show me if I’m going down the right path or not.

And he does. There are times when he opens my eyes to a different next step than I was planning. In other situations, he encourages me and I know I’m supposed to keep moving forward even when the going gets tough.

By focusing on what God wants – not what I want – God doesn’t have to try hard to get my attention. It’s a great way to avoid climbing the wrong wall and experiencing nasty consequences.

No shriveled hands here.

Thank you for your truth and guidance, Abba Father.

Meaningless

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, ” completely meaningless.”  Ecclesiastes 12:8.

Do you ever feel that way?

Obviously this emotion is spreading rapidly through our culture today as we see the suicide rates drastically rising and mass shootings multiply.  To many people, tomorrow seems to be meaningless and not worth sticking around for.

“Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”  Eccl. 2:11

King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes.  He was uber rich and  the wisest man who ever lived and yet, this is what he wrote at the end of his life.

Pretty depressing, isn’t it?

The futility of pleasure – fleeting and never gives us lasting  contentment.

The meaninglessness of work –  we put so much effort into work to achieve recognition and so we can own things we want – then we leave it all behind when we die.

The injustices of life – evil is very real.

The futility of wealth – those who love money will never have enough.

The limits of human wisdom – “No one can really comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all of their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.” Ecclesiastes 8:17.

Death comes to all – “The same destiny (of death) awaits everyone, whether righteous or wicked, good or bad.” Ecclesiastes 9:3.

At the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon eventually gets to the good news.  Solomon’s final conclusions tell us what will bring true meaning to our lives.

He says to enjoy life while obeying God – real freedom and happiness come exclusively from God.  Evil and injustice will always in a part of life on earth.  We should live in faith knowing God wins in the end and will judge all things.

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, tells us that meaning and purpose will only be found by being faithful to God.

That alone is not meaningless.

Too Easy

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

It’s just too easy to wander away from God.

I know because I wandered away for several years when I was a young adult.    I moved away from home and gradually filled my calendar with activities I knew were not the best for me.  The people I met while doing these activities weren’t interested in a relationship with God so we never talked about him.  My whole lifestyle changed to ‘looking for love (and fun) in all the wrong places.’

It was easy.

Several years later, I woke up (with a lot of nudging from the Holy Spirit) and realized I was not where I wanted to be.  Don’t get me wrong – I had worked hard and gotten everything I thought I wanted – everything I thought would make me happy.

But I wasn’t happy.  I was empty.  I had a huge hole in my life.  I needed a meaningful purpose for getting up every morning beyond feeding the kids, paying the bills and getting my ‘to-do’ lists done.

It took me awhile to figure out that the aching hole in my life was where God was supposed to be.  I’m sure the Holy Spirit had to work very hard on me to get me to see that.  My relationship with God at this point had melted into nonexistence.

I realized I missed God.  I missed my spiritual family.

I’m extremely grateful that the Holy Spirit helped me identify my real need and desire so I could get back on track.  My relationship with God has given me all the purpose and joy and success that I was looking for.

I’ve seen many Christians wander away –

  • their Bible starts gathering dust on a shelf.
  • social activities on Saturday nights make sleeping in on Sunday mornings more important than worshiping God with their spiritual families.
  • their week becomes too busy with other things so they drop out of small group Bible studies, leaving their Christian friends behind.
  • Some Christians stopped going to church during our pandemic and have never gone back.  It is just so easy to wander away from being a part of a church family like God directs us to be, so easy to watch church in our pajamas on Sunday and check it off the list, ignoring God’s words in Hebrews 10: 24 – 25. “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

I am reminded that this can happen to anyone when I read about the end of King Solomon’s life.  “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.”  1 Kings 11:4.  He was the wisest man who ever lived and he lost it.   Unbelievable!

God had even told Solomon when he was younger not to marry foreign wives because this would happen.

Solomon was warned and he still wandered.

I feel like God is warning me – and you – today through his Word.   I must be diligent about keeping my priorities straight.  When attitudes and activities start to draw me away from God, I need to adjust my focus.

I wandered away once.  I’m determined not to do it again.

 

Foolish

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

What was this person thinking?

I can’t believe this person wrote that! I can’t believe they did that!

There are times when I feel surrounded by a large number of people who are not thinking, not using logic, and not caring about the facts. These people seem to be reacting purely out of emotion – making no sense.

And sometimes its hard not to respond back in the same way. It would feel good – for a minute – to blurt out my own emotional response….but then I would regret that I was acting just like they were. Without thinking. That’s not good.

God generously gives you and I some wisdom in this situation in Proverbs 26:4, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly; or you yourself will be just like him.”

Yep, when I answer a foolish statement with my own emotional, foolish statement, I am on the wrong track. The right track is to look to God for wisdom and discernment. And to keep my mouth closed until he gives me the right answer.

God tells me in Proverbs 9: 7-9 to forget about correcting a fool. Their response will be to insult me, abuse me and hate me. But a wise person learns from correction and grows wiser.

That’s the kind of person I want to be – a wise person who is learning and being transformed by the truth of God.

Proverbs is full of God’s wisdom regarding all kinds of situations we find ourselves in…

especially when we are dealing with fools.

Soaking it In

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

Solomon gave us an enormous amount of wisdom in Proverbs but it’s in such small, short statements that I find it hard to make sure I’m absorbing it – not just reading it and moving on.  I want God’s Word to soak into my life – changing and transforming me.

One of the many things I like about the Chronological Daily Bible I read through every year is the proverbs are grouped by subject matter.  This helps me slow down and consider the overall message God is giving me about each topic.

For example, God talks to us often in Proverbs about the actions of fools versus the actions of the wise.  This list highlights the temperament of each.  As I read them and think about them, I see these comparisons:

The fool – 

*gets annoyed quickly.

*shows their insecurities through their quick temper.

*jumps in on mean and evil schemes.

*stirs up conflict and commits many sins.

*wants to control other people.

*hasn’t learned their lesson so don’t rescue them.  You’ll just have to rescue them again.

The wise –

*respects and honors God, avoiding thoughts and actions that aren’t consistent with God’s Word.

*does not encourage conflict, calms a quarrel.

*has self control.

*does not make friends with hot-tempered people.

*does not associate with those who are easily angered.

God is pointing out us that the wise are involved in the world around them while maintaining a focus on living out the word of God.  They are not quick-tempered because they have self control.  They don’t ignore quarrels, they calm them.  And they don’t regularly hangout with hotheads.

Wise.

Take an honest look – which list are you on?