Canaan's Rest

Canaan’s Rest represents a quiet place “set apart” for the purpose of hearing God's voice, growing in intimacy with the Lord, and being renewed in soul and spirit.

Month: January 2024 (Page 3 of 4)

January 11, 2024

January 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope your day is filled with love and peace. Al will be going off to meet with a couple men, and I plan to be busy in the kitchen and also go downstairs for donuts and later to Bible Study.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  Our life is brief as we are on this earth such a short time. We want our life to count, and at times we probably all wonder if we really make a difference. It’s important that our life is lived by faith in the Lord and shaped by the Word and that we listen to the Holy Spirit; otherwise, we wander aimlessly about like a person without a compass or a mission.
Now what we feel God is saying to us, does not always make sense to our natural mind and we have to decide if we are going to listen and obey or go by our natural instincts. I can only imagine how Abraham felt when God told him to pick up everything and go to a land that He would show him. He didn’t name the land so telling Sarah about the move must have been doubly difficult. But he obeyed even though he didn’t understand at the time.
  Recently I woke in the night and some words came to me for someone who is close to leaving this earth. It was distinct words, “This is a holy time, and I am preparing a place for you and will take you unto Myself that where I am you will be with Me forever.”  That was it and I went to my desk and wrote in the dark so I would remember it. The next morning, I got a card and wrote the message down and then put it on the door of the recipient. I had not been thinking of this man before going to bed, but I felt God was speaking in the night and I needed to be obedient. Then yesterday afternoon when I was downstairs for Crafts, I got the news that this man had died in the morning and is now with the Lord who prepared a place for him.

  Each day the Lord speaks to us and wants to use us and as John Wesley said (1713-17 91)

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

May our lives count for the Lord for all the days we have on this earth and one day we will join Him forever in glory.

Challenge for today: Each morning when you wake, ask the Lord what He has for your day and obey.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

January 10, 2024

January 10, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
May you wake to a day of peace and joy. This morning Al will be doing a service next door and I plan to go to my exercise class. This afternoon is Crafts and Ann may come and tonight is Bible study.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
How do we view the Bible? Do we really believe it is the Word of God, that it is a word for us today? Some think it is only a good piece of literature, some think it is not true or maybe not relevant for today. But it is important that we view it as God’s love letter to us, and not only read it but let it read our hearts as well.

I am reading the book of Jeremiah and he wrote down what God spoke to him to preach to the people for 23 years. They were not good listeners for they had wandered away from God, and Jeremiah was scoffed at and put in prison. Even then he had his friend Baruch write down what he dictated to him and it could be read to the people. Earlier when Josiah became King of Judah, he had the Book of the Law read to him. He tore his clothes in repentance when he realized how far they had strayed from God and even worshiped other gods. He humbled himself before the Lord, repented and then read the Book of the Covenant to the people. He promised to keep His commandments and statutes with all his heart and soul also and covenanted before the Lord to follow His ways.. (II King 23) The people all joined in as well.

But Josiah’s son, Jehoiakim, did not respond in the same way when he became king. When itt was told him that Jeremiah’s scroll had been read by Baruch, he commanded that it be sent for and read. But His response was one of ridicule and he took his penknife and every few columns read he would cut them off and toss them into the fire. He didn’t take the word seriously and joked and ignored the truth of the words. As a result, God spoke that his corpse would be thrown in the street and left unburied, exposed to the sun and freezing night. (Jer. 36)

What a difference in the responses made to the Word! Josiah obeyed and helped the nation return to God and they were blessed. Jehoiakim scoffed at it, and died as the nation went into exile. God’s word is powerful and it can’t be suppressed, discarded or destroyed and it is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12). May we not make light of the Word but read and meditate on it and let it do its work in our hearts,

Challenge for today: Go to the Word with an open heart and let it read you!
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

January 9, 2024

January 9, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope your day is filled with joy! More snow yesterday and very beautiful but also harder doing our walk. Today we are having friends over, the ones that were to come last week but had to cancel because of sickness…so double joy today!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  Would others say we are a generous person, or would they consider us a “tightwad”, you know, a stingy person! When we come to know the Lord, we discover that are incredibly rich for we have been forgiven, made free, and loved beyond words. No matter if we live in a tiny old house in a non-exclusive area, yet we can consider ourselves rich because of what we have received from the Lord. Whether we are poor in the eyes of the world or rich, we can all know the joy of giving to others, whether it be in giving of our time, our attention, or $. God loves when we delight in giving. Jesus said in Luke 6:38, “Give away your life: you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessings. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”

I read a devotional by author Alicia Searl who writes on how we can be generous in the new year. When we give to others we are blessed as well as the receiver, and our hearts enlarge as transformation takes place in us. She writes about ways we can be generous and first names generosity with our time. That may be the more difficult one, as needs come up that aren’t always at a convenient time, and we have to drop what we are doing. It could be only taking time to listen to someone who has lost a loved one, or inviting someone for coffee that is going through a hard time. But the Holy Spirit will direct us, and we need to respond as He prompts us.

We also need to be generous with random acts of kindness to others. It can be little things like a smile to the tired cashier at Target or bigger things like serving at a soup kitchen. Each act of kindness not only meets the needs of others, but also fills our hearts with joy.

 Alicia also writes we need to be generous with our gifts and talents that the Lord has given us.  We have all been given gifts at birth and as we flow in them to others, we feel fulfilled ourselves. It can be the gift of speaking truth to others, serving them, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, and showing mercy. (Rom. 12:6-8) May we let the Lord reveal our gifts and then put them to use!

Another way to give is often a struggle for many but it is giving of our means, our money, our tithe! We may be the answer to another person’s prayers when we respond to their need when led by the Spirit. Let us not withhold when we have the power to give and have been given everything we possess. Let our eyes be open to the needs around us and may we be cheerful givers and also grateful receivers when we have need.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to open your eyes to the needs of others and respond as He directs.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Online Influencers

January 8, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Aaron Renn wrote an op-ed recently in the Wall Street Journal wondering why men turn to online influencers instead of traditional institutions and authorities. He pointed out five ways this is taking place:

  1. Online influencers (OI’s) are men speaking to men, whereas many (if not most) mainstream figures writing on men’s issues are women;
  2. OI’s treat men as ends, not just means… viewing men as important in their own right;
  3. They also provide an aspirational, appealing version of manhood in ways mainstream figures don’t;
  4. OI’s give practical, actionable advice to help men improve and attain their goals;
  5. They create community.

Renn believes traditional institutions can re-create the online influencers’ success: “They can have men talking to and about men.  They can acknowledge that men are important in themselves… They can craft an aspirational vision of manhood that includes elements of sacrifice and service.  They can build men up with practical insights and advice, even when the truth is unpopular.  And they can crystallize community around them.  None of these things are objectively hard to do.”

In my passion to speak to the masculine soul, I take to heart Renn’s comments that men are not merely a means to an end (godly husband and father) but also as an end in themselves (being a man of God).  It seems that many of the messages men get from the dominant media come primarily from women.  Men are told that their roles need to be “instrumentally good” and enable women to fulfill their life ambitions.  But what men sense is that “they don’t matter until they become a problem for somebody else that society actually cares about.”  Renn references Richard Reeves pointing out during the UN #HeForShe Summit that men’s issues (increasing suicide rates, educational underachievement, etc.) can easily end up in grievance politics.  Reeves stated that if problems like these are not addressed, “they can turn into grievances, and grievances are weaponized… We have a responsibility to take those problems seriously.”

My heart’s prayer with this blog is to speak to the masculine soul, treating manhood not just as a “means” but as an “end” as well.  When I started writing in 2009, I wrote a blog entitled “Themes for the Wildman Journey” and used Prov. 4:23 as a theme verse: “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”  I wrote, “This simply means that wildmen have come to the point in their lives when they know they have to pay attention to their hearts (soul)… I can say with deep conviction that men need to band together to deal with their soul lives.”

On that note, is it possible that too many men have seen the media, online influencers, or maybe even their own mothers or wives unduly influence the nature of their masculine soul and shape it in an unhealthy way?  I believe along with Renn that men need to build community and let the Lord define who they are.  Men need “soul care” groups to find healing, support and encouragement from other men, where they can will look to Jesus for inspiration and courage as men trying to find their way in modern society.

My journey of wholeness as a man has been going for many years.  I’m continually inspired by Psalm 71:18, “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.”  And I sincerely pray that this blog will provide “practical, actionable advice” from a man who cares about the “soul life” of men.

January 8, 2024

January 8, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Al and I had a beautiful walk yesterday in the fresh snow. This morning I am doing food prep and going to Aldi’s and my exercise class.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  Do we have ready hearts to receive the messages God has for us each day? Or are we off on a fast track and at the end of the day we slump over and fall asleep as we pray? We are beginning a New Year, and may we seek what is most important in life. We are here for such a short time and then enter into eternity which is forever and ever. Life on earth is only the prelude and why give so much attention and focus on what will all pass away.

   I am learning so much as I study the life of Jeremiah and he shares how for 23 years he got up early and listened to what God would say to him and then gave the message to the people. He was very consistent and did not bank his early rising on the response of his message to the people or he would have quit long before. But instead of sleeping in, he rose early and listened to the Lord and passed it on until late at night. (Jermiah 25:3) He was not applauded for the messages he gave, but rather abused and mocked but he didn’t let it detour him. One such time he got discouraged and God said to him if he was tired from running a footrace how would he race against horses. (Jer. 12:5) It shook him out of his funk, and he responded with “I want to run with the horses!”

  Like Jeremiah we just do one day at a time. We get up and obey and meet with the Lord. Our life may not be a bowl of cherries either, but our part is to get up again and listen as the Lord speaks to us. How many times we get distracted and off course and we may be ashamed of our actions but God’s grace and love and forgiveness are always waiting for us. Yes, we will blow it in this New Year many times but as it says in Lamentations 3, His mercy and grace are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.
  Challenge for today: Ask the Lord for a ready heart to receive and respond to what He has for you each day.
  Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

January 6, 2024

January 6, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Happy weekend to you! I woke to fresh snow today and looks more like winter now. I plan to clean and bake today. I am blessed by so many of you answering the questions I sent out yesterday as you start the New Year. So neat as the words given were all different for each of us.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
 Freedom is many things and as I concluded reading Lewis Smedes book on Forgive and Forget, I see how forgiving is freeing and much stronger than hating. Hate may give us energy for a time as we think of how to get even with someone that hurt us but when the ordeal is over, it leaves us weaker than before and saps our energy. Forgiving on the other hand has many strengths which Smedes names and helps us to see.
  Forgiving equips us with realism by helping us to face what really happened, and calling the evil what it is, rather than masking it and not dealing with it.  Forgiving is also confrontational as we let the person know that what they did was wrong. We can’t completely forgive if we don’t face up to what the person did and let them know how it hurt us. Forgiving is also freedom as we can choose to begin again with someone who has hurt us or even live with an uneven score. Forgiving is not forced as no one else can make us forgive.
  Smedes also recounts that Love is the ultimate power behind forgiveness. That doesn’t mean we are pushovers that people just walk over, but we respect ourselves enough to set limits on what we allow others to do to us. We also refuse to falsely blame ourselves for what they did to us. When we love and respect others, we let them be accountable for their own actions. As we love someone and are committed to them, we may get hurt again but we don’t give up but forgive again.
  But if we are truthful with ourselves, there is good and bad in each of us and we are not as innocent as we may think. Sometimes we set ourselves up to be hurt by our attitude or actions. We can even ask ourselves, if we were in their circumstance, would we do any better or would we possibly do what they did. There but for the grace of God go I. As it says in Col. 3:13 that we are to bear with one another, forgiving one another as the Lord has forgiven us.
   Let us freely forgive that a new beginning would be created for them and for us.
 Challenge for today: When vindictive feelings come for someone who has hurt you, pause and thank the Lord He has forgiven you, and then forgive that other person.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

January 5, 2024

January 5, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones
Hope you wake to a sense of wonderful peace. Today I am sharing an e-mail I received from a friend and spent some time answering for myself. Hope you will do the same and if you want, you can share the word or phrase God gave you for 2024. My word is Deeper! My desire is to go deeper with the Lord and be a better listener also in this new year.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  I received an e-mail a couple days ago from a dear friend who described how her pastor started out the New Year with a Guided Prayer Service for their church. When I read it, I thought it’s much like what I reflected on before the New Year, and how wonderful it would have been to be there for the service.
 My friend is still left pondering some of the questions, but this is what she had to say to describe the service: “No worship to start our time. We were encouraged to bring our bibles, journal and pens. The pastor gave us 6 questions! One at a time and the pastor shared a little bit about each question and after each question we were to ask the Lord how he would speak to our hearts and journal. They played quiet worship music during our journaling and quiet time. We were free to take our communion as we felt led. Here are the questions:

1. Jesus what word or phrase is going to define 2024 for me?

2. Jesus what do you want my spiritual life to look like this year?

3.  Jesus how can I better steward my soul this year?

4. Jesus how can I be a better steward of the body you have given me?

5.  Jesus what does relational health look like for me this year?

6.  Jesus how can I be generous with what you have blessed me with this year?

 I would like to challenge each of us to ask ourselves these questions and be quiet before the Lord and listen to how He would speak to us. May we get in touch with our heart’s desire and ways we can draw closer to Him and be changed from the inside out. Lord, open our hearts to receive your love in greater measure and our eyes opened with a willingness to change!

Challenge for today: What question causes you the most concern that a change is needed in your life and ask for God’s help.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

January 4, 2024

January 4, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you start your day well and follow what the Lord has for you. Al is soon off to men’s group, and I have cookies ready to bake. Today is Donut Day and Bible study, and errands to run.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  Oh, how easy it is to jump into the day with fear that we won’t get done all the things that are waiting for our attention at work or demands on the home front. The enemy whispers to us that we don’t have time to spend with the Lord and we better just run ahead and do what needs to be done. But so often we will find that everything takes us longer when we are going in our own power rather than if we had had just spent that time with Lord and given Him control. When we rely on the Lord and put everything into His hands, we walk in trust that God’s wisdom and His plan is far better than ours. Faith is not in a hurry for we wait in trust that the Lord will guide our steps.
 Pastor Mark Roberts who writes on Crosswalk.com shared his struggle with so much to do but remembers the scripture from Psalm 143:8, “Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you do I put my trust.” I know from experience that it is important to start my day with hearing from the Lord in His word and letting Him guide my day with His love. Roberts wrote a prayer that may be helpful for you as well, if you struggle with skipping time with the Lord to dive into your work.
 “Gracious God, you know how I am sometimes. I’m so focused, so preoccupied, so anxious about work that I skip my morning time with you. I know in my head how foolish this is. But my heart keeps saying, “Get to work or you won’t get it all done.” Forgive me, Lord, for thinking I can do my work on my own, without relying on your grace and guidance. Forgive me for neglecting my relationship with you. Forgive me for trusting more in my own efforts than in your amazing grace.
Dear Lord, help me, I pray, to spend time with you each morning. Help me to be reminded of your steadfast love for me. Help me to have renewed confidence in you so that I’m able to entrust everything to you, including my daily work.
As I trust you, Lord, teach me the way I should go at work. Show me what’s best. Refine my priorities. Grant me your wisdom. Help me to work, not with frantic anxiety, but with the joy that comes from knowing you are God, and you are always with me. Amen.”
Challenge for today: Pray this prayer each morning and see what God will do!
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

December 3, 2024

January 3, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you have a delightful day! I am going to my exercise class and to crafts and to Bible Study today and in between I hope to do some organizing.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  Have you ever noticed how sometimes disappointments can turn into surprises in disguise?

I had such an instance yesterday as I was dressing to go to Bible study and planned to wear my new tan boots that I bought last month with Christmas money. But I couldn’t understand it when I tried to put them on, for they were both for my right foot! Unbelievable! I knew I would have to make a trip to the mall later, and that the salesperson might profusely welcome me as he obviously couldn’t sell the other pair of left-footed boots. He recognized his mistake long ago but didn’t know who he sold the boots to. We had a good laugh as I was outfitted with a right and left boot, so I decided to shop since I was already at the mall. I discovered a store I had never been in before and it was overflowing with many secondhand things. I browsed around piles and piles of goods and was about to leave when I spotted a large floral box full of cards. I love, love, love cards and use many, not only for relatives and friends, but 11 birthdays just this month at our apartment complex. This box was only $10 and had dozens and dozens of cards and all categorized for occasions. I also found a wooden box to be used in organizing small medical things and smiled all the way home. I thanked the Lord for the mishap on my boots that had sent me to the mall to find the waiting treasures.

Of course, we don’t all know so quickly why a present disappointment can be a blessing in the long run, but we can still give it to the Lord when it happens. He knows! Sometimes He may be keeping us from something that would harm us or postponing something we are not ready for. When we are His children, we know He wants what is best for us and will help us to grow closer to Him. Rather than complain when things don’t happen like we had desired, we can place our hope and trust in Him. I read today from I Cor. 13:13, “Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of all is love.” When we really believe His love for us, we don’t have to have all our questions answered in the now, but we trust and know He is God and does for us what is best.

Challenge for today: When disappointments come, stop and give the situation to the Lord and thank Him for how He will work things out.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

January 2, 2024s

January 2, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you will have a wonderful day! I have Womens’ Bible study at church this morning and then friends coming for pie and coffee and fellowship this afternoon. Emoji
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  As the New Year is here and the Christmas tree is put away etc., I like to do some deep cleaning of the cupboards and the closets and high places that are dusty. I can’t do it all in a day or two if I am to be thorough and it takes persistence to keep on going.
   It reminds me of spiritual housecleaning which is far more important, and Richard Hotchkin writes on Crosswalk.com, “Out with Clutter and Clatter.” I’m sure we can all identify with clutter in our homes, those piles that take up space and can become an eyesore. We had a neighbor years ago who had so much clutter, you couldn’t walk through her house and eventually it had to be bulldozed to the ground. Now we may not be that extreme but I’m sure we all have habits, relationships, comforts etc. that take up space in our hearts. Clutter is anything that gets in the way of our relationship with the Lord. Hotchkin goes on to also describe clatter as thoughts and words that don’t sound like Jesus; you know, complaining and negativity and thoughtless remarks. They need to go also, so we can make room for the Lord and all the new things He has for us as well. Sometimes what we hang onto might not seem bad in itself, but if it consumes our time and thoughts, it is clutter. I often reward myself, after writing a devotional by playing a quick game of Scrabble online; but if I spent the day doing that, it would be clutter and get in the way of my relationship with the Lord. For each of us the clutter and clatter may look different, but we all need to deal with it.
  I have news for you though; each time I finish one room in the apartment, I notice that other rooms and cupboards and closets need attention; it is a continuous project. But it is God’s grace and love for us that the Holy Spirit reveals those things in our lives so we might get rid of them and make room for Him. Paul says in II Cor. 5:17 that we are a new creation in Christ and the old has passed away and the fresh and new has come! Let us not hang on to the old that takes up space! Like the words of the familiar song that Emily Elliott wrote in 1864,” O come to my heart, Lord Jesus; there is room in my heart for Thee.”
  Challenge for today: Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you your clutter and clatter, and to get rid of it!
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

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