Tag: Jesus

This is the Way

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

Have you ever wandered away from God?

It’s easy to do – there are so many distractions.  It’s difficult to keep God at the top of our priorities when long lists of other things clamor for our attention.

So we wander. I have wandered.

I used to wander away from God pretty regularly.  I wouldn’t even it realize it until something bad happened and I would look up to God – surprised at how far I had drifted away from him.

I stopped wandering when my spiritual habits became the foundation of my life.  Reading and studying God’s word daily has moved from a ‘if I have time’ thing to something that is not optional.  Talking with God and listening to him as he helps me stay in line with him is not optional in my life.  Worshipping and serving God with my spiritual family is also not optional.  Tithing my time and treasures is not optional.   Others things have to be taken out of my schedule if my time with God is not happening.

When my life became grounded on my spiritual habits, the wandering stopped.  I am experiencing the blessings Isaiah told the people of Judah they would receive when they turned back to God –

God is gracious to me and always answers my call.  He has walked closely beside me in all of the tough times I have gone through here in this broken world.  He blesses me during these times – guiding me and teaching me. 

Whatever is happening, I hear his voice in my head saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21.

The key was making God my first priority.  That’s when everything changed.  That’s when I became rooted in his grace and mercy.  I became constantly aware of his perfect love for me.  I also became totally confident that he will be my loving and faithful Father all the way to the end of my days.

Are you looking for direction? Peace? Purpose? Joy?

This is the way,

Walk in it.


What’s the Goal?

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

Where do I want to be next year?  What do I want to have achieved?

Where do I want to grow in my life?

One of the most important things I’ve learned in my years on this planet is that I need to feed what I want to grow.  I can’t just wish it.  I can’t sit frustrated because nothing is changing if I’m not doing something to change it.

I need to take action.  There must be forward movement – one step at a time – towards my goal.

I am encouraged by Hezekiah’s story in 2 Chronicles of his vast and successful religious reformation of his nation.  One step at a time, working with the priests, he took his people who were far from God and led them back into obedience.  This is a great role model for us if our goal is to grow closer to God and grow in faithfulness.

Hezekiah’s first step was to cleanse the temple.  They purified everything in the temple and consecrated it.  What would this look like for you and I?  How about stopping habits that are not good for our minds and souls?  Stop reading articles, magazines, books that don’t feed what we want to grow.  Change our favorite channels on TV, our favorite music channels and our most visited websites.  Cleanse our minds and souls by using discernment in what we’re feeding them.

Then Hezekiah had the people gather together to use the temple as it was meant to be used – sacrificing to God and worshiping him.  For us, this means committing to meet with God’s people regularly – studying God’s word and growing together.  It also means making sure we are in line with God’s directions on tithing and giving of our time.  The Israelites gave so much back to God that there was plenty to share with their neighbors who needed help.

Next, Hezekiah invited Israel and Judah to come to the temple together to celebrate the Passover.  He invited his neighbors – just like God wants us to ask our neighbors to come with us to church or our small group or watch the worship on line together.

Then Hezekiah told his people, “Do not be like your parents and your fellow Israelites, who were unfaithful to the LORD…” 2 Chronicles 30: 7.

Do you and I have any people in our lives that aren’t good influences?  Do we need to pick different friends?  Different role models?

Hezekiah’s people attacked their idols – destroying them and getting rid of the distraction.  What are our idols?  What things in our lives make us too busy to spend time with God personally and with other believers?

We need to feed what we want to grow.

We read that God blessed Hezekiah and his people as they grew more and more obedient.  God gave them unity of mind as they all looked to him for wisdom and guidance.

I know I want God’s blessings in my life.  I want unity of mind, wisdom and guidance.  One of my main motivations for reading the entire Bible every year for these last 15 years is making sure I’m on a steady path of knowing and loving God more.

I know that I need to feed my relationship with God in order for those things to grow.  And God will be faithful in helping me – he always is.

 

Isaiah 9, 2025

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

Dear Father,

We ask that the people who walk in darkness today would see your great light.  Shine your light of love and grace on all those who are now lost without you.

Enlarge your kingdom on earth, Father.  We rejoice before you for you have broken the yoke of our slavery to sin.  You have lifted the heavy burden of guilt and shame from our shoulders through the death and resurrection of your son.  You have removed the oppression brought into our lives by our disobedience and rebellion.

For a Child was born to us. You gave us your son, Jesus.

We call him Wonderful,

Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace.

Those of us who have accepted your saving grace and have placed Jesus on the throne of our lives where he rules with justice and peace for all eternity.

Thank you for loving us this much, Abba Father.

What’s on the Inside?

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

It’s what’s on the inside that counts.

We can make ourselves look good and nice and religious on the outside.

But that doesn’t count unless we are letting God mold us and change us on the inside.

When we submit our hearts and minds to God, he will transform them.  Eventually, his redeeming power working in our lives will start to show on the outside.  What people see will be different.

Because we’re becoming more like Him on the inside.

June 13 2016 on the inside

This is why, in Joel 2, the Prophet Joel told the lukewarm people of Judah to ‘rend your heart and not your garments.’

They needed to genuinely give their hearts back to God – not just make a big show of tearing their clothes and weeping loudly in the temple.

God called them to rend their hearts – break open their hearts – and let him back in.

Then the transformation can happen.

God asks us to do the same today.  He wants us to open up our hearts to him and let his light shine in our lives.  To mold us.  To change us.

And we can choose to do this.

Today.

What are you going to choose?

His Whispers

On By Judy GlasserIn June1 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 not 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.

Which Path?

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

What does a life lived with integrity look like?

Having integrity means doing what we say we’ll do and doing the right thing even when it costs us something and no one would ever know if we didn’t do it.  It means being honest and not just talking a good line but living that out every day.

God tells us in Proverbs 10:9 “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.”

I’ve got to admit – there are times I really hate owning a mistake I made.  It would be so much simpler to tell a little lie about it and cover it up.

It seems easier to take a crooked path.

There are other situations where I don’t feel like taking care of a responsibility or doing ‘the right thing’. Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away.

It seems easier to take the crooked path.

Every once in a while taking a short-cut looks very enticing instead of struggling with all the work that is going to be involved to do something the right way.

It seems easier to take a crooked path.

For many years, Satan has enjoyed tempting me by giving me free stuff at stores – things that were somehow never rung up so I didn’t pay for them. I hate the hassle of bringing these things back into the store and asking to pay for them. Satan knows I really don’t want to get back in line and then explain that I didn’t pay for this the first time. I hate the strange looks I get from employees who are wondering why I am doing this weird thing – I had it all the way out to my car without paying for it, I should be happy, right?

It’s definitely easier to take the crooked path – just put the item in my car and drive away.

Just last week I received a letter from a lawyer who said that a woman with my last name passed away leaving a large amount of money and she had no relatives or will. He said that my profile was a close match to her’s and, with the same name, he would be able to create the proper documents to make me appear to be her heir. All he wanted was 10% of the money. Is this really happening? Lawyers are doing this? I immediately dropped that letter in the trash because I know God would not bless one penny of any money I would receive in that situation. And who knows what other dishonest things this lawyer had planned if I showed any interest? Nothing good would come from anything like this. It’s not right. It’s a crooked path leading to pain and serious consequences.

God tells me that the crooked path is dark with holes and cracks that will make me stumble and fall.  I’m kidding myself if I think people around me won’t realize that I lack integrity by sometimes choosing a crooked path. And I’m really kidding myself if I think God doesn’t know I took a crooked path.

God tells me the blessing of walking with integrity is that I will walk securely.  The path of integrity is straight and solidly built on the truth.  God’s light shines on this path and it is filled with his love, grace and security.

Each day, each choice, you and I have a decision to make about which path we’re going to take.

Living Right

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

Doing the right things. Making the right decisions. Saying the right things.

God uses an old fashioned term – righteousness – to describe these actions. It’s ‘living right”.

How do I know what is right?  The answer to that question is God’s Word is right.  It’s the truth. There are large sections of the book of Proverbs where God spells out what living right means. Here are a few –

“The desire of the righteous ends only in good, but the hope of the wicked only in wrath.” Proverbs 11:23.

“The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.” Proverbs 12:5″

“The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright.” Proverbs 29:27.

God speaks to me through the words, explaining them and helping me apply them to my life.  The Holy Spirit convicts me when my thinking gets off and my actions don’t reflect what I believe.

I’m so glad I have the role-model of Jesus.  I don’t have to try to look around me and try to find someone I want to imitate in order to ‘live right’.  I have Jesus.  This truth has often helped me move past major disappointments with people – especially people in the church.  I used to expect people who went to church to be a lot more ‘righteous’ than others until I realized that we’re all just people, struggling with our weaknesses.  If we are believers, God is gradually redeeming our lives but it’s often very clear that he still has a lot of work left to do.

So watching people – especially people who say they are Christians – I got confused and disillusioned.  Then I looked to Jesus.  Focused on him.  And the issues about imperfect Christians went away.

When Jesus was on earth, he gave imperfect people grace and love and spoke truth at the right time into their lives.  This makes me glad because I am imperfect – I need grace, love and truth. And I need to give other imperfect people grace, love and speak truth when God prompts me.

Jesus is my role-model. If he did it, it’s the right thing to do.

Fill It UP!

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

I used to feel an emptiness deep inside of my soul. There was a space in my heart and mind that a college degree, marriage to a great guy, two awesome kids, a big house, 2 nice cars and my dream career could not fill. I was looking for something to complete me and I couldn’t find it.

Have you ever been there? It’s a weird place filled with all the ‘stuff’ I ever wanted but haunted by a dark cloud of unhappiness.

I pause when I read about King Solomon dedicating the magnificent temple he built for the Lord in 1 Kings 8:11, and “The glory of the Lord filled the temple. “

I know what it feels like to have the glory of the Lord fill the temple. God tells me in the New Testament that the redeeming grace of Jesus changed my relationship with God and now my body is the temple of God. When I put my trust in Jesus, his Spirit came into my life and changed it forever. God’s love for me filled to overflowing the empty spot in my soul.

God has filled my life with his passion – just like he filled Solomon’s temple.

God has filled me with his glory – so that his love and light can shine out of me.

God has filled me with his power and joy. God gives me peace in spite of my circumstances. He opens my eyes and heart to his truth.

Are you looking for any of these things for your life? God’s arms are wide open for everyone who will accept his gift of grace and salvation. We can’t earn it. God gives it for free because it’s been paid for by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

God is the only thing that can fill the empty spot in our soul.

A Discerning Heart

On By Judy GlasserIn May3 Comments

Do you have any decisions you need to make? Are you surrounded by options that all look good? Which one do you choose?

Are you struggling with a relationship in your life? You don’t know what to do? Where to turn?

Do you ever feel overwhelmed? Sometimes I do. Everything is moving and changing so quickly…and its all just going to get faster. If you’ve been on this planet as many revolutions as I have, it’s extremely tough to keep up. I’ll admit it – I can use all the help I can get.

I’m sure King Solomon felt this way as he was talking to God in 1 Kings 3: 9, “So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.” 

God honored that request by making Solomon the wisest man who has ever lived.

Whenever I think about all the wisdom I need to navigate this world, I am reminded that God tells me at the beginning of the book of James that he wants to give me a generous amount of wisdom. I just need to ask for it. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” James 1: 5 & 6.

Did you catch that last part? God has promised so, when I ask for wisdom, I must believe that I am receiving it. I have to pray expecting an answer. After I pray, I need to focus on what God is saying to me in his word and keep my eyes open for confirmations of how he is guiding me. There are no such things as coincidences – they are God-incidences. God is answering as we watch things happen in our lives and associate them with our prayers. God is moving, he is orchestrating his plan. We can miss it and become a ‘wave of the sea’ if we’re not carefully attentive to what’s happening around us.

One of my regular prayers is asking for wisdom. Whenever I feel the twists of concern in my stomach or find myself in the middle of conflict or a difficult situation, I know where I can get wisdom for this situation. God has promised he will give me plenty.

And he has. God is always faithful. But it’s not a magic button and ‘poof’ I have the answer or my issue is resolved. God speaks to me daily through his Word and gives me direction. I have to listen to him and do what he says. Then I see how he is guiding me in the right direction and giving me wisdom – step by step. He never tells me the whole plan. I have to trust him as I take each step.

Do you have choices you need to make? Plans? Relationship issues that need to be addressed?

God has generous amounts of wisdom he is waiting to give you. Ask for it as you open your eyes and heart to him and his Word.

You’ll find it.

Need Directions?

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

Ever feel like you need arrows pointing to the right decisions to make? How about a guide to light your path on this journey of life that we’re on?

I would be very surprised if any of us said no to either one of these questions.  I know I would like a personal guide for each day.  What would it be like to get ‘Judy’s agenda for today’ from God on my phone?  It would give me a plan for the whole day so I could do exactly what God wants me to do today and make all the right decisions.

The reality is that God has already given you and me a guidebook for our lives. The Bible.

“Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path” Psalm 119: 105.

The Bible doesn’t have directions like ‘do laundry today’ or ‘buy groceries’. We can figure out those easy things on our own.

God’s Word tells me the important stuff like what my top 2 priorities are for each day – to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and to love others as much as I love myself.

When we put our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us. One of his purposes is to guide us into truth and show us what is false. When we read and study the Bible with our eyes and our hearts wide open, the Holy Spirit highlights the sections of God’s Word that we need for guidance today and he draws our attention to the truth that we need to know to make the right decisions for tomorrow..

God wants you and me to plug into his guidebook each day so we know what direction to go. Through his word he provides a lamp for our feet.

This is my 15th consecutive year of reading the entire Bible and I don’t know how I would take my next step without it.