Tag: truth

A Wise Woman

On By Judy GlasserIn April2 Comments

We’ve been hearing a lot from God about wisdom lately, haven’t we?  James 1 was full of directions to us regarding wisdom.April 15 2015 a wise woman

And now, in 1 Samuel, we read the story about a wise woman who saves a city.  How does she do that?

She was wise in her approach to Joab, she didn’t let emotions get in the way, and she had a good suggestion which she was willing to follow-through.

She speaks truth into the situation.  Joab is going to ‘take down’ the city in order to get one man.  The wise women spoke to Joab, reminding him that this was a peaceful city with a strong history of faithfulness to Israel.

And Joab agrees to just take the man and leave the city alone.

Just like that.

A wise woman speaking truth saved the lives of the people living in that city.

Please give us wisdom, Abba Father.

Completely Wrong

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

“God doesn’t give us any more than we can handle.”december 1 b Completely misquoted

I’m sure you’ve heard this – and you might have said this before.

It’s not in the Bible.  The verse that is being misquoted is in 1 Corinthians:

“And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

What?  This isn’t even about struggles or suffering.  It’s about temptations.

And that makes sense to me.  In my experience, God often gives us more hardships and problems than we can face by ourselves.  When these things happen, we are driven to reach out to him, depend on him and he gets us through them.

So, every time I heard someone use this misquote, I knew it was wrong but I just figured out why its wrong.  It’s not in the Bible.

This is a great example to all of us about how we need to be grounded in the truth.

Another saying I hear sometimes is ‘God helps those who help themselves.’  Not in the Bible.  God actually talks to us often about loving others and serving others.

Have you heard any other quotes that sound like they are from the Bible but they’re not?

We know the truth when we read and internalize God’s word to us.   Knowing the truth sets us free from the lies!

Thank you, dear Father!

Think About It…..

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

Consider it…..

Give it careful thought.

This is the direction given by God to the Israelites about their priorities.  They had been very busy building nice houses for themselves and they had put off rebuilding God’s temple.Sept 26 2014 Think about it

The temple continued to lay in ruins while the Israelites went about their normal lives.

They were planting a lot but only harvesting a little.

They were eating, but they were never full.

They drank, but it was never enough.

They put on clothes, but they were never warm.

They were earning money, but it immediately disappeared into a purse full of holes.

God was telling them that he was withholding his blessings from them because their priorities weren’t right.

What about us?

Is it time to re-evaluate our priorities to make sure they are matching up to God’s?

Are we experiencing all of the blessings God has for us?

* Contentment because what God has already given us is enough?

* Fulfillment because we know we are busy completing God’s purpose for our lives?

* Peace because we have given God control over our lives and we’re trusting him?

* Joy because we are experiencing the love God has for us every day?

* Strength for each day and every situation because our lives are built on our Solid Rock?

God has these blessings along with a storehouse more, just waiting for us.

We thank you for your abundant blessings, dear Father!

 

A Perfect Father….

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

disciplines us.

When we do things that aren’t right, God loves us and so he chooses to discipline us.  It’s for our good.August 23 2013

When we react well to his discipline by learning the lesson and not repeating our error, we grow more like Christ and our relationship with God is stronger.

But it doesn’t feel good to be disciplined.  It’s never fun. 

When God has disciplined me, it’s always been a tough lesson.  I have learned one very important thing about God’s discipline – I need to learn the lesson the first time.  Otherwise, the lessons grow bigger and more obvious and harder until we hit bottom and THEN we look up to God.  I think this explains many of the issues we see in our lives and in the world around us – people are not responding positively to God’s discipline and so the issue gets bigger and worse until people finally  turn to God.

I’m trying to avoid that situation by ‘getting it’ and repenting and changing my behavior the first time.  It’s not easy, but its  worth the effort.

I’ve been forgiven and I’ve changed but I still  experience the consequences of some of my old, bad choices.  I’m amazed how sometimes I’m still paying the consequences for bad decisions I made over 30 years ago.  It doesn’t seem fair until I realize that paying those consequences remind me of my need for a Savior.  They remind me of how much I have been forgiven making it easier for me to forgive others.  Dealing with the consequences for my old, bad choices reminds me of my continuing need for God’s redeeming power in my life.  It reminds me of how faithful God has been to me so far on this journey and it helps me trust him with my future.

And I am reminded that he disciplines me because he loves me.  He wants only the best for me.

Thank you, dear Father.

Where am I planted?

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

A tree planted by a stream of water spreads its roots out to the stream and is rewarded with a constant source of nourishment.  The heat doesn’t bother it and its leaves are always green.  The tree doesn’t have to worry about rain or no rain – its planted in just the right spot.  It grows fruit every time its in season.  The storms come but the tree’s roots are strong and well-nourished so nothing can blow it away.

Sounds really nice, doesn’t it?  God uses this example a couple of times in his word to us – this time it’s in Jeremiah and the same picture is given to us in Psalm 1.July 31.2

Because this can be us.  This can be our life.  We can choose to plant our lives very close to the Living Water where we will be rewarded with a constant source of truth, peace, joy, love and encouragement. We will live fruitful, purposeful lives.  When we live close to the Living Water, we don’t have to worry about rain or no rain.  The storms come but we are firmly rooted, never blown away.

It’s not a one-time decision.  It’s a daily decision.

We decide if we’re going to live close to God today.

And then tomorrow we need to make the decision again.  And every day after that.

It’s priorities.  We all have a long list of things we can fill our days with that draw us away from God.

God just has to be more important to us than those things.

As God moves up our list of daily priorities, our roots grow stronger and we become better and better nourished.  We begin to grow more fruit.  We don’t have worry about rain and the storms don’t scare us.

By the time God gets to the top of our daily list of priorities, we are experiencing all of the blessings God has for us as we are lavishly fed by his Living Water.  Life is not perfect but it’s as good as it gets here on earth.  We have a Rock, we have a Refuge, we have a Counselor, we have the Truth, we have a loving Father and an Eternal Savior.

We need to seriously ask ourselves – where am I planted?  We can honestly tell where we’re planted by how much of the Fruits of the Spirit we are experiencing in our lives.  Love, Joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.  How much of these do we have in our lives?  The closer to God we grow, we experience more and more of these fruits in our lives.  If we want more of these, we know the Source.  it’s our choice.

Thank you, dear Father.

Let’s Boast

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

We aren’t boasting about our wisdom, dear Father.

Any wisdom we have comes from you.

We aren’t boasting about our strength, Holy God.

Our strength to even breathe comes from you.  It all comes from you.

We aren’t boasting about our riches, Omnipotent Creator.

Whatever we have has all come from you.

We only boast about knowing you.

You have chosen us, we are yours.July 29 2013

You have opened our eyes so we can see you.

You have opened our ears so we can hear you.

We experience your kindness in our lives every day.

We depend on your justice as you rule the universes.

We claim your gift of grace and become righteous in your eyes through the death and resurrection of your Son, our Savior, Jesus.

We boast about you, dear Father.  We delight in you.

Don’t Be Fooled

On By Judy GlasserIn JulyLeave a comment

It’s all around us.

DeceptionJuly 27 2013

Lies

Our culture is in a huge state of confusion. 

Is this right?

Is that wrong?

Or is everything right?

And nothing wrong….

Unless you get caught?

Such confusion.

We have a barrage of voices spewing their opinions, perspectives and misinformation out across our world every day, all day.  They tell us there is peace when there is no peace.  They tell us something is right when it clearly isn’t right.  They tell us something is wrong when it simply doesn’t match up to their lifestyle and choices.  They tell us what they want us to think.

How does anyone know the truth?

There is only one way to know the Truth and it’s through God’s Word to us.

There is no confusion when the Holy Spirit guides us into understanding God’s Word.

The Bible may not be super-clear on all of the less important issues because they are less important.

The important items are crystal clear.  We may not like to hear it, but it’s crystal clear.

And these truths don’t change.

Just like God doesn’t change.  The Alpha and Omega, Beginning and the End.

Jesus called himself the Truth – there is no confusion about that. 

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me – our Journey Towards the Truth.  This Journey will end some day when we are face to face with the Living Truth.  Amen!  Hallelujah!

Are We Listening?

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

How it really happened.  That’s what I love about reading the Bible chronologically.

It’s such a different experience to read through the Old Testament and hear the words of the various prophets speaking directly to the kings in context.

The kings of Israel and Judah had prophets coming at them all of the time speaking the words of God.  Sometimes the prophets were screaming the words of God. 

Hosea married a prostitute who was repeatedly and blatantly unfaithful to him.  Why?  To illustrate God’s perspective as he watched the Israelites prostitute themselves with other gods over and over.

The prophets did anything they could to get the kings’ attention.

But the kings didn’t listen.

They refused to change their behavior.  They didn’t repent and turn back to God.

We now have the huge advantage of having the Spirit of God living inside of us.  God doesn’t need to send prophets anymore – he speaks directly to us.

But there’s still the same question – are we listening?

We’ll Never Know……

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

how often God protects us.

But I caught a glimpse of God’s protection recently as I was driving to work after my regular 6 am Bible study group April 19 2013meeting every Thursday morning.  We had been discussing the topic of how often God protects us but we never know it.

As I drove down Thunderbird road, I saw a car just like mine – same color, same model, looked like the same year.  We just bought this car and I’m still really enjoying how different it looks from my last car.  So I kept peeking over to the next lane to see how it looked.

I was stopped by a red light and the other car zipped through on the yellow so I didn’t see it anymore.  As soon as the light turned green, I realized that the traffic was suddenly going a lot slower.  Great!!  That’s all I needed.  I still had a long drive to work.

We were inching our way up to the freeway when I saw what the hold up was.  The car that looked just like mine had been rear-ended in the middle of the road and it looked like more than just a little fender bender.

That could have easily have been me.  And maybe it would have been if God had not protected me.

I’m not saying that God protects me from all car accidents – I’ve had a few.  I believe that God protects me from some bad things while permitting other bad things to happen.  There is a comfort in that for me.  When bad things happen, I know that God has let them happen for a purpose.  He wants to use this situation for my good and for his glory. 

Just like David says in Psalms 5, I find refuge in my Father God and rejoice.

Holy, Holy, Holy

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

We’re singing along with the angels in heaven as they surround the throne of God – that’s what I think about whenever we sing ‘Holy, Holy, Holy” in a worship song.April 9 this one 1 chron

Our voices rising to heaven in perfect harmonies with the multitude of angels who sing praises to God 24/7/365.

We need more songs with those words in them 🙂

As I read 1 Chronicles, I realize that King David organized the first worship services and we follow his directions every time we join with our family of Christ to worship God.

David told the priests to minister regularly, doing what was needed.

He told Obed-Edom, Hosah and the sons of Jeduthum that they were greeters at the gates.

He asked others to present the offerings regularly.

Heman and Jeduthun ( whose sons were also serving as greeters) were responsible for the band – the trumpets and cymbals and other instruments.  David told them they were to give thanks to the Lord whose goodness endures forever.

We re-enact David’s plans for worshipping together every week.

We join with our faithful ancestors from throughout the ages in worshipping our awesome God.

Love it!  Thank you, God!