Tag: Joy

With Me

On By Judy GlasserIn March3 Comments

Every day…

Every situation…

Every trial…

The Spirit of the LORD is with me.

In the Old Testament, there were times when God would give his Spirit to someone when he had a tough assignment for them.  We read in Judges 9 that Caleb’s little brother, Othniel, became a judge for the Israelites.  God raised him up to deliver the Israelites from slavery to the King of Aram Naharaim.

“The Spirit of the LORD came on him” and he led the fighting men into war.  God’s Spirit made Othniel strong and courageous.

As believers today, we live under the New Covenant with God.  Now, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of each of us when we accept the salvation Jesus freely offers to each of us.

God’s Spirit is with me every minute of every day.  His Spirit wants to make me strong and courageous, too.

And loving,

joyful,

peaceful,

patient,

kind,

faithful,

gentle and self-controlled.

All of this is inside me – I just need to let God’s spirit have his way in my life.

If you are a believer, all of these great things are inside of you, too.  It’s time to nurture them and let the Spirit show.

Thank you for the awesome gift of your Spirit,  Abba Father.

Celebration = Loud

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

When the wall around their city was finally finished, the people of Jerusalem rejoiced because ‘God had given them great joy.” Nehemiah 12:43.oct-13-2016-celebration-loud

Everyone celebrated!  All the men, all the women and all of the children.

And we read in the Bible that the sound of Jerusalem’s celebration could be heard far away.

That’s really loud!!

They were so filled with joy that they couldn’t keep quiet.

And this is not unusual in the Bible – God’s people celebrated a lot!  They had joy!  They worshipped God!  They were loud!

Can you even imagine how loud it was then the heaven’s were filled with thousands of angels singing for joy and praising God?

So where do we sometimes get the idea that our weekly church family celebrations and worship should be quiet?

There is certainly a time and place for reverence and meditation when we get together.

But there are also many reasons for joy and excitement and celebration as we worship together and are blessed.  Our traditions should enhance our worship, not restrain it.

Thousands of years ago, God’s people showed us how to express our joy, celebrate and worship God.

And it was loud 🙂

Please give us joy, Abba Father!

Psalm 30, 2016

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

I just can’t stop praising your name, today, Lord!

You lifted my problems and worries off of my shoulders.

I called your name and you healed my soul.april 16b 2016 psalm 30 2016

My spirit was dead and you saved me.

Sing with me, all believers!

Praise our Holy God!

His anger is focused on the Evil One.

We, the redeemed, are already living forever with him.  We are his favorite children!

Yes, we still have struggles and trials while we live on this earth.

But, through them all, our Father God walks closely with us and gives us joy.

Most of the time, I feel secure.  “I will never be shaken.”

But – sometimes – I feel far away from God.  I feel alone and afraid.

So I cry out to you once again – end my loneliness!  Get rid of my fear!

Pour out your grace upon me.

Help me, oh Lord.

Yes!  You turn my wailing into dancing!

My sadness is removed and I am filled with joy because I can sing your praises!

Lord, my God, I will praise you forever!

No More Dry Bones

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

You have breathed life into us, dear Father.Sept 2 2015 no more dry bones

Your breath of love has filled our empty and hurting hearts.

Your breath of forgiveness has removed our burden of guilt and shame.

Your breath of redemption has given us a new hope…a new purpose.

You give us strength.  Your power lives in us through the gift of your Holy Spirit who guides us and speaks truth into our hearts and minds.

You have clothed us in new robes of righteousness which we did not earn.

You have released us from our slavery to sin.  We celebrate our freedom to gladly serve you!

You have given us joy.  You have given us peace.

Through you, we have been reborn!  Thank you, Abba Father!

We are no longer dry bones.

Under Seige

On By Judy GlasserIn August1 Comment

Do we ever feel like we’re under siege?  Lots of things going wrong?  New problems piled on top of old problems with no end in sight?

In Jeremiah 32 we read that the siege ramps were built up around the walls of Jerusalem and the Babylonians were coming up over the city walls on these ramps attacking the Israelites on all sides.cropped-eedsc_03962.jpg

God said to Jeremiah,” I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for me?” (vs 27 )

In the middle of the battles, God promised restoration and healing to the Israelites.  Just like he promises restoration and healing to us today.eeeeeecDSC_0452

God told the Israelites that their joy would return.  And he is telling us that today.

As we look at our own situations, these promises of God might be hard to believe.  We just can’t see how God will heal our situations.  We don’t feel like our joy is ever going to return.  How can it?  Look at what’s happening in our lives!

God is asking us today – “Is anything too hard for me?”

Our answer to that can change our whole perspective on our situation.

God is in total control of it all.  He can do anything.  He loves us and wants the best for us.

If we believe this, then we need to live like it.  We can face today because God is here and he will be faithful to his promise of healing and restoration.  We can face tomorrow because we trust that God is there and he has promised that our joy will return.

Nothing is too hard for God!

Thank you, Abba Father.

(Pictures are from my visit to Jerusalem last year.  The second picture is of a model of what Jerusalem looked like when Jesus was there)

Do We Want Success?

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

Do we want things to work out well for us?

Do we want to have purpose and meaning to our lives?

Do we want success that is not defined by how much money we have?  June 20 2015 do we want success

Do we want success that is defined by how much faith and wisdom we have?  How much joy?  And peace?

We read the same formula for success over and over in God’s word.  It can’t be said any clearer than in 2 Kings – as long as Kind Uzziah sought the Lord, God gave him success.

All REAL success comes from God.

As we seek him with all of our hearts, he gives us the desires of our hearts.

It’s that simple.

And it’s that hard.

Because we’ve got this sin thing going on that distracts us.

Sin tells us that it’s all about us.  We get confused and we think we can do anything if we try hard enough – focus on it – give it everything we’ve got.

Sin tells us that we make our own success.  Sin gets us wrapped up so tightly with our own achievements that we miss the main player in this drama –

God.

God is the writer, producer and director of the movie of our life.

When we look to him for direction, we’re going to find success.  The movie will be a success.

His kind of success – success that money just cannot buy.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Psalm 16, 2015

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

When I am close to you, I feel safe, my God.

You represent everything that’s good in my life, dear Father.April 29 2015 Psam 16 2015

I love to spend time with people who love you, God.  Those who are too busy running after their own desires will never find their security in you.  They will only suffer the consequences for their choices.

As for me, I refuse to consider anything in my life to be more important than you.

You are everything I need, dear Lord.

I can rest in you.

I want to be exactly where you want me to be.  That is where I find joy.

Thank you for teaching me your truth.  I am writing your words on my heart so your truth can guide me day and night.

With you, I have nothing to fear.

So I sing praises to you, secure in your love and grace.  I know you will never abandon me.  You walk close beside me every day.

I am filled with joy knowing that you are with me today, tomorrow, forever.

Thank you, Abba Father.

The Best Exchange

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

It sounds daunting.  Nov 3 2014 the exchange

It sounds challenging.

It sounds like it’s too hard, too much.

We must deny ourselves….

– summit our will.

– decide to do what God wants instead of what we want.

It’s not natural.

Not normal.

It’s normal for us to look out for #1.

It’s natural for us to be self-centered and Captains of our own Universe.

But Jesus came and turned our universe upside down – inside out.

He tells us to deny our sovereignty over our space and submit to him in order to save our lives.

By denying ourselves and letting God reign as King of our Universe, we gain it all!

All of the important stuff.

The stuff that counts.

Forget the big houses, new cars, and money……that’s just stuff.

We’re talking about the most important things like ….

purpose for your life…

and peace…

and love….

And how about joy?

How much joy do you have in your life?

Everything good comes down from the Father of Heavenly Lights. (This is one of my favorite verses from James 1 that we’re eventually going to memorize in our Sword Fighting Class)

So we exchange our frustrating, disappointing, heart-breaking attempts to control of our life for God’s control of our life and he makes his dreams for us come true.

I love that exchange!

Don’t you?

Thank you, dear Father.

Want a Challenge?

On By Judy GlasserIn Sword Fighting Class2 Comments

It has come to my attention (I love how God does this) that I need to get back into memorizing scripture.

For many years, I was very committed to memorizing God’s word and etching it onto my heart.  I loved it because I suddenly started to hear God talking to me much more often and a lot more clearly.

He stills does this today. When I need to hear his voice and I don’t have a Bible close at hand, he reminds me of a scripture that I have memorized. He talks to me like this all of the time.

And it’s obviously time for me to get more of His word written on my heart.

Would you like to join me?

Several years ago I decided I wanted to memorize James 1 but I didn’t get very far.  I love this portion of scripture because it starts with “Consider it pure joy” .  God talks to us in this passage about how to be more wise and how to deal with trials.  He also tells us that every good and perfect gift is from him, the Father of the Heavenly Lights.

My life could use some more of his heavenly light – how about yours?  Would you like to hear God speak to you more often?  More clearly?  Writing his words on your heart is a tried and true method of improving your communications with God.

Let’s start small.  This is a marathon, not a sprint.

One verse a week.

I’m not planning on posting these to Facebook so, if you want to take this ‘sword fighting class’ with me, make sure you sign up as a follower of my blog so you receive the emails.

There’s no time like the present – here we go!

James is actually a letter so it begins with greetings and salutations.  We’ll start with the good stuff – verse  2.

James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers (and sisters), whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.James 1-2

Note: As I memorize these, I add words such as “and sisters” above.  God told me it’s ok :). He is also speaking to women and adding these words helps make it more personal for me.  Your choice.

Say this verse 3 or 4 times a day and you’ll have it written on your heart by next week.

Then we’ll add the next one.

God’s direction on how to become more wise is coming up!

Robbing God

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

“Test me in this.”  There is only one place in the Bible where God says this.Oct 5 Robbing God 2014

He’s talking about his directions to us to give him back a small piece of everything he has given us.

When we are faithful in tithing, God throws open the floodgates of heaven and pours out his blessings upon us.

God challenges us to test him because he always responds.

He challenges us to give back a portion because our trust in him needs to grow to the point where being faithful is more important to us than the money.  God needs to be a higher priority in our hearts than what this money could buy.

This is important for our happiness.  We won’t have the peace, contentment and joy that God wants for us until we can gladly give back a portion.

I have to admit – it took God and my husband awhile to convince me of this.  I always felt that we didn’t have enough money to tithe.  Other people who had a lot more money could tithe – but not us.  When the topic came up, I always hoped that someday we would make enough money so we could tithe.

Foolish thinking!

I have realized a very crucial truth in this area – if it’s all about having enough money, there will never be enough.

God tells us in Luke – if we’re not faithful with a little, there is no way we’ll be faithful with a lot.

God wants us to find peace and contentment with what he has already given us.  When we are faithful, he pours out the blessings that money can’t buy.

When we follow God’s directions for our lives, we are putting ourselves under the umbrella of his blessing.  If we don’t follow his directions to us in the area of money, we are holding our wallets out from under the umbrella of his blessing.  The result is that God will not bless our finances.  We will have constant money issues until we bring our wallet back under the umbrella by getting in line with God’s direction for this area of our lives.  His direction is to sacrificially tithe and to give offerings above our tithe.

Because we love God.  He’s more important than the money.

And we trust him.  God’s got this.  We can even test him.

Thank you, dear Father.