Tag: peace

Great Joy!

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

The angels had such good news to tell the world on the night Baby Jesus was born!

They told the shepherds to not be afraid – their news as going to create great joy for all people.Oct 20 2015 great joy

Great Joy!

For all people!

For all time!

The shepherds found Baby Jesus in the stable right where the angels said he would be.  And they praised God!

Simeon realized that his wait for a Messiah was over when he saw the Baby Jesus in the temple.  And he praised God!

Anna also recognized the Baby Jesus as the one who would redeem Jerusalem.  And she praised God!

We have great joy today because the Baby Jesus was born!

The Messiah!

He came to save all of us from our sin!

He brought peace into our world of chaos and anger.

He brought grace so he could replace our guilt and shame with his love.

He brought wholeness for our broken and empty souls.

He brought light into our dark and lost lives!

Today we join with the shepherds and Simeon and Anna in praising God for sending his son for us!

Thank you, Abba Father, for such Great Joy!

Flooded With Blessings

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

“Test me in this.”

God only says this once in his Word to us.Oct 5 2015 floodgates of blessing

He tells us to bring the whole tithe into his house.  When we do this, he promises to “throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:10).

Wow!  Such a great promise!

Don’t we want that to be true in all of our lives?

Those of us who have tested God in this have experienced these blessings.  When we are faithful with our wealth, God truly does throw open the floodgate of blessings upon our lives.

Sometimes these blessings take the shape of actual money with raises, promotions or even unexpected checks showing up in the mail. (This just happened again to me).

But the greatest blessings God pours abundantly upon our lives are from the things that money can’t buy.  Like joy.  Purpose.

Peace.

Oh, the peace that comes from knowing that God is providing exactly what I need is priceless.  The peace that comes from knowing that God is in charge of our bank account is supernatural.  The prosperity that comes from God is perfect – the right kind, the right time.

God wants us to be faithful with our wealth…

because it’s good for us.  It’s right for us.

And he will open the floodgates.

He has promised.

Thank you, Abba Father.

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.

What Are You Looking For?

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

Are you looking for peace in your life?

Are you searching for a purpose?July 18 a 2015 what are you looking for

Are you wanting more joy in your life?

Do you desire to make a difference in this world?

Do you have a broken part of you that needs fixing?

Do you have a piece of you that is lost and needs to be found?

Are you  desperately looking for someone who will love you?  Real love?  Not the kind that fades away and is gone?

A genuine relationship with God can give us all of these things.

In Isaiah 55, God tells us to come to him when we are thirsty for anything.  He can give it all to us at no charge.

God points out that we spend a lot of money  buying things that don’t fill our needs.  We work very hard in order to get these things but they don’t satisfy us.

If we listen to God, we will not only have what is good for us but we will ‘delight in the richest of fare’. (vs 2)

‘The richest of fare’ – unconditional love, God’s purpose for creating us, joy, peace, wholeness and grace.

When we go to God with our wants and desires, we will find everything we’re looking for – and much more.

We will be delighted!   🙂

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

From That Time On and Forever

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

We are living in Forever.

I love reading Isaiah as he prophesies about Jesus 700 years before Jesus was born.June 29 2015 From that time on and forever

Because all of his prophecies came true:

For unto us a child was born,

Unto us, God’s son was given.

He is called Wonderful,

Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace.

There is no end to the greatness of his governing of the world.

There is no end to the peace he freely offers us.

He is King!

He reigns over his kingdom today.

He established his kingdom with justice and righteousness.

From now and on into Forever.

Dear Father,  We are your light for the people who are walking in darkness today.  Please open their eyes to your light of love.  Your light of joy.  Your light of forgiveness.  Your light of redemption and restoration.  May your light shine out through us.  Please help grow our faith and our witness so that your kingdom on earth will be enlarged.  We know we are free when we accept the salvation that your son, Jesus, brought to earth.  Help us share that freedom, dear Father.  Shatter the yokes of sin that are holding our friends, family and neighbors captive.  In the redeeming name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

 

He is Faithful

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

Do you have days where it feels like there are problems and challenges coming at you from all sides?

I do.March 31 2015 he is faithful

Issues come up at work.

Difficulties arise in my personal life.

These are also the times where I get a tooth ache or a cold.

Or I get a flat tire on my car.

And the washing machine stops working.

And the dog starts having a weird cough.

I know you’ve been there, too.

One of the blessings of being adopted by God as his child is knowing that we can reach out to God in the middle of all of this mess and he will give us peace.

He will give us strength.

We know from etchingJames 1 onto our minds that, when we persevere under trials by asking God for wisdom, he will always give us in a generous amount and we grow and mature.  We become complete.

God is always faithful.  David knew this.  We read in 1 Samuel that God had rescued David from the paw of a lion and the paw of a bear so David was confident that God would give him victory over Goliath.

What are the Goliaths that we’re facing today?

Dear Father, we ask for the bold confidence David had as we face our own Goliaths.  We know you are faithful.  You have always taken care of us in the past.  You will always love and care for us in the future.  Please help us live each day with that confidence – with that attitude – knowing you are helping us fight our lions, our bears and our Goliaths.  We love you, dear Father.  In the awesome name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

May the Lord Bless Us

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

God gave this benediction to Aaron to bless the Israelites thousands of years ago.  Today, God repeats this blessing over us as we read his Word:

The Lord Bless You and Keep you,Feb 24 2015 My the Lord Bless you

* Bless us with his abundance.

* Bless us with the constant knowledge of the Holy Spirit living with us.
* Keep us close to him, our lives resting in his hands.
The Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you,
*when God’s face shines on us, we feel the warmth of his love.  We see the light of his goodness.
* the freedom of God’s grace replaces our feelings of guilt, shame and regret.
* God’s grace gives us rebirth – we are new creations.
The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
*when our relationship with God is good, his face is turned toward us and we are within his will, under his protection and guided by his hand.  The result is peace – peace that passes understanding because it’s not dependent on our circumstances.  We get this peace by being close to God.
Thank you for abundant blessings, Abba Father.

 

As God’s Chosen People

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were God’s chosen people.  Under the New Covenant in the New Testament, the church is God’s chosen people.december 14 2014. God's chosen people.

Not the church building.  The people of the church.

We are the church.

And Paul gives us clear directions in Colossians about how we – as God’s chosen people – will act when we let the Spirit of Christ live out loud in our lives.

God’s chosen people –

– are clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

– bear with each other, forgiving each other as our Father has forgiven us.

– love one another in a way that provides perfect unity.

– let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.

– wisely let the message of Christ inhabit our minds, our teaching and our praise.

We live a life defined by gratitude, giving thanks to our Father God.

So be it – Amen.

Come to the Banquet

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

Our Father God has prepared a lavish banquet.  His tables are piled high with the very best he has to offer –

* love.Nov 11 2014 1 Come to the Banquet

* grace.

* purpose for our lives.

* joy.

* peace.

* contentment.

* blessing for our families and friends.

*forgiveness.

* wholeness.

*hope.

* provisions for all of our needs.

Everything is ready.  We just need to go to the banquet and accept all of God’s blessings.

Many of us have accepted God’s invitation, have felt his grace, his acceptance and his love.

But sometimes we have problems staying at the banquet – we wander outside to the patio and start to worry and fret, instead of sitting at his table filled with trust that he’s got this.

We wander upstairs to plan and plot and try to control our world instead of relaxing in God’s presence, knowing he’s in charge.

Or we concentrate on the dessert table when we really need to be diving into the meat God has for us in his Word.

We may get distracted by wanting to know all of the ingredients of every dish when God’s desire is that we “Be still …… and know I am God.”

We might leave the party early because we are so busy, our calendars are over-flowing.  We only penciled in one hour for God.  So we miss the fun, we miss the deep relationship we could have had with God if we took the time.  If we made Him our priority.

It’s possible to go to the banquet and accept salvation but miss most of the blessings God has for us here on earth.

Dear Father, Please help us to stay at the banquet, bowed and blessed at your feet.  Today.  And everyday.

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.