Tag: obedience

Amazing!

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

God moved in the heart of Cyrus, the pagan King of Persia, to set the Israelites free from captivity and exile.  King Cyrus also paid for the rebuilding of the Temple of God in Jerusalem.Sept 23 2014 Amazing

Amazing!

God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, right?!

Nothing is impossible with God!  He can make anything happen!

If God can move a pagan king’s heart to this extent, how much more can he move and grow the heart of someone who really loves him?  Someone who wants to show him how much they love him?

Someone like me?

Someone like you?

Dear Father God, We love you!  We love your Word to us!  We love this journey towards the Truth that we are all on together!  We want to know your Truth – please open our minds, Lord.  And move in our hearts so that our obedience is also amazing so that others will believe.  In the redeeming name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

 

 

He Will Deliver Us

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

“God will deliver us” Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego told King Nebuchadnezzar when they refused to worship the King’s gods or the gold image the King has set up.

They were confident that God was going to take care of them.  First, they said God will save them from what the King wants to do to them – throw them in the fiery furnace.

And then they said, “But even if he does not”, they still refused to worship anything but God.Sept 5 2014 Because we trust him

Even if he does not – because sometimes God’s deliverance of us is to take us out of this world.

We struggle with death because our perspective is so different from God’s.

When the people we love die, we feel grief and separation.  We sometimes wonder how God could let this happen.  When great Christians and missionaries die, we sometimes wonder why God ‘let’ this happen, they were accomplishing such great things for God!

God’s perspective is very different.  When those who love him die here on earth, they are alive with him in heaven – forever.  He ‘delivers’ them from the pain and brokenness of this life into a perfect life with him.  They receive the prize.  It’s not something he ‘lets’ happen, it is all done according to his will.

A year after my mother went to heaven, I got 12 blood clots that went to my lungs and 5 doctors confirmed that this should have killed me.  But it didn’t.  God told me right away in the emergency room that I wasn’t going to die from this – he had already taken care of it.

As a result of this experience, I got a very up close and personal new understanding of God’s omnipotence.  All of the scientific facts said that I should have died.  But God said ‘No’ and it didn’t happen.

God’s total and complete omnipotence gives me peace about my mother’s death, my own death when it happens and all death.  Death happens when God says and not before.  God ‘delivered’ my mother at his designated time.  And that was the right time for her.  I wouldn’t want anything other than God’s best for her.

He will ‘deliver ‘ me at the right time for me.  It’s already determined.  He has already decided and it will happen.  Until then, I need to fulfill the purpose he has given me.  It’s the reason why I’m still here.

Amen!

Hallelujah!

I Changed My Mind

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

King Zedekiah ordered his people to free all of their Hebrew slaves.  There were strict limitations defined in the Law of Moses which required the release of the Hebrew slaves after 7 years.

So the people let all of their Hebrews slaves go free and they went to the temple to renew their covenant with God.  They promised.

And then they changed their minds.August 14 2014 I changed my mind

They enslaved the Hebrews again causing God’s anger to burn.  As a result of their disobedience, God told them he would give them over to their enemies and that their towns would be abandoned….a wasteland.

They made a promise but then they changed their minds pretty quickly, didn’t they?  It sounds like they were barely back from the big ‘renewing our promise to God’ ceremony at the temple when they decided to break it.

Do you think it got a little difficult for them?  They lost all of their Hebrew slaves – who was going to do all of the work?

Do it themselves?

I don’t think so.

They had made a huge commitment to God without really thinking it through.  It looks like one of those ‘everybody is doing it’ scenarios which is followed by a ‘what have we done?’ reality.

Do we ever do this?  Make big promises or commitments to God only to change our mind when it gets real and it gets tough?

God promises that he will be there for us when it gets real and it gets tough.  He is our strength when we are weak.  We just need to ask.  We need to trust.

Nothing is impossible with God.

Thank you, dear Father.

I’m Not Stubborn!

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

I’m not stubborn!July 28 2014 stubborn

I’m not stubborn!

These words make me smile because it brings back a memory that is now precious of my daughter when she was a  small, very determined, 5 year old.  Her older brother would tease her about being stubborn and she would yell these words loudly and repeatedly – proving his point.

But she couldn’t see that.  Her mind was closed to the idea that her behavior was anything other than acceptable.

She was just a little girl with a lot to learn.  She has since grown into a beautiful, extremely intelligent, still very determined young woman who hasn’t said these words in a long time.

Just like us – we don’t say the words.  But do we have this attitude?  Can we take down the self-protective walls that we’ve built in our minds and take an honest look at our behavior?  Is there a stubborn streak there?  I know I can be stubborn.  In the past I would have said it was because I was always right but God has already shown me the error of that thinking 🙂

Jeremiah tells us in his 7th chapter that God accuses Israel of being stubborn.  He has commanded them to obey him but they do not listen.  They ‘follow the stubborn inclination of their evil hearts.’

Ouch!

Our stubbornness leads to behavior that does not please God.

Please open our eyes to our stubbornness, dear Father, so we can let you transform it into obedience.

Really?

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

God promises to use Gideon to save Israel and Gideon still has to test God by throwing out a fleece – not once but twice?March 19 2014

Why?  God always keeps his promises.  Did Gideon just not have enough faith to take God at his word?  He had to see God jump through some extra hoops before he would obey?

Yes, God responded BOTH times but I’ll bet he wasn’t smiling.  This an another example of just how much patience God has with us.

I believe in asking God for guidance when the next step isn’t clear.  I believe in asking him to give me the opportunity if I’m supposed to speak to someone about something God has revealed to me.

But, when he has clearly told me what he was going to do, he’s  looking for obedience, not tests.  There doesn’t need to be any fleece throwing in those situations.

The more we know about God, the easier it is to hear him.  As we grow closer we get to God,  his whispers are enough to get our attenion.  I’m so glad you’re on this journey with me because that is where we’re going – closer to the source of all Truth, closer to God.

Draw us nearer, dear Father.

If You Love Me…..

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

Keep my commands.

This verse is one of the spiritual markers in my life.  About 25 years ago, the Holy Spirit broke through a barrier in my mind and sunk these words deep into my heart.

Nov 14 2013If I loved Jesus, I would keep his commands.

Of course I loved Jesus!  I had been saying this my entire life!  Longer than I can remember!

But was I keeping his commands – doing what he said?

Umm.  Some times.  A little of it.

So, did that mean I only loved Jesus a little bit?

I felt like I loved Jesus a lot but my level of committment and obedience just didn’t line up with that.

If I really loved Jesus a lot, then I needed to be doing a lot of what he said.

Or stop saying I loved him.

Wow!  A bunch of things in my heart and in my life needed to change!  I wasn’t a bad person but I was definitely trying to be my own little god by attempting to control the world – or at least my own little corner of the world.

My need for control needed to go.  Worrying need to go – worrying is not trusting.  How I used my time, talents and treasures needed to line up with God’s will, not mine.

As my life has gradually gotten more in line with God’s plans and purposes for me, the fact that I really love Jesus has become much more obvious.

It all comes down to one word – obedience.

Thank you in advance, dear Father, for giving me the strength, the wisdom and the courage I will need for the rest of this journey.