Category: Sister Judy (Page 1 of 270)

It is good for all of us to have someone we can be honest with and open our hearts in self-revelation. We all have struggles and would find it strengthening to have someone listen to our heart and to pray for us. It is humbling but also freeing when we find we are still affirmed by them, even though there are areas in our life in which we still need victory. I remember when my small group didn’t just pray once for me in a specific area in which I needed inner healing, but several times before I had victory. It was so comforting during that process that I knew they were holding me up in prayer rather than judging me.

It is a wonderful gift we can give to one another when we listen and share struggles rather than conceal our faults. There’s something so freeing to know someone loves us, even when they know all about us with all our shortcomings. When we conceal our real selves and don’t let others know us, it is a lonely life. We miss out on what the Lord has for us to be for one another. We are told in James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” It is a beautiful thing to confide in and pray for one another and experience healing. Sometimes healing occurs just in the sharing as we voice it before another; we feel understood, supported and know we will be prayed for. Let us not be reluctant to share ourselves with another caring Christian.

The Lord wants to refine us and as it says in Psalm 66:10, “ For you, O God, have tested us as silver is tried.” The Message says, “He trained us first, passed us like silver through refining fires…pushed us to our very limit, road-tested us inside and out.” The Amplified says, “He wants to prove us, try us as silver is tried, refined and purified.” I’m sure all of us have experienced the heat of the refining fire, as our imperfections are burned. May only the silver remain that we will be ready for whatever He has for us next.

How many times might we hear Christians complain about how busy they are doing work for God? Maybe they don’t come right out and say it, but they are wishing to have more free time and not so many Kingdom responsibilities. We might ask ourselves what our attitude is towards doing work for Him. Do we feel we should be waited on rather than helping and serving others? I know when I worked for my aunt’s family, I didn’t sit down until the meal was served, or relaxed until after the children were bathed, prayers said and in bed. I only did what my aunt asked of me and knew that was my job. No complaints, it was what I was given to do.

As Christ followers, we are given work to do in light of the coming of His kingdom. We are to help the poor and vulnerable, show hospitality, care for widows and orphans, give generously as the Holy Spirit directs us, visit the sick and pray for them, preach, teach and share Jesus, etc. These aren’t just things to do if we feel in the mood to do them, but these are commands from our Lord. Even in our everyday jobs, we are to be lights and bring glory to our Master. Let us remember we are servants ready to do His will with joy.

Our lives were made for intimacy with the Lord, and we need faith to trust Him as we give up our own ego-driven lives to respond to a God-directed life. I think as we do this we will find that it often results that we are led to serve others, even when it is not easy or convenient. But when we obey and love God in loving others, our hearts are enlarged and changed. One day, Al and I spent much of the day with someone who has experienced loss, and the hours of listening were ones of great peace and blessings. I felt such an awareness of God’s presence and pleasure that stayed with me for some time. I wonder, why we don’t quickly respond to the Holy Spirit’s promptings all the time, for so much grace awaits to be poured out on us!

I have much to learn as I read what author Ruth Burrows has to say about allowing the Lord to transform our natural self-seeking into trusting self-abandonment. Maybe some days we sing with deep meaning, “All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live. I surrender all, I surrender all….” Sadly, there may be other days when we go our own way and we miss out on His peace and rest.

I also just read that parsley is much like clover and called the trinity plant, for the stem divides into three parts, just like the Trinity. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit also bring cleansing to us from the dirt and grime of the world, preparing us for what is ahead. The Lord removes even the memories of the pain we have been through and gives us hope for the future. We don’t have to keep grieving over our past, but instead thank the Lord for forgiving our past and freeing us for the future.

Sometimes the enemy brings up our past to cause us to focus on our failures to discourage us and leave us hopeless. But the Lord has washed us clean if we have repented and turned from our sin, so we can thank Him instead. Think of what the apostle Paul had to let go when He came to believe, for he shares in his letter to I Timothy 1:12-14, “I thank King Jesus our Lord, who gave me strength. He regarded me as trustworthy by appointing me to His service—even though I used to say blasphemous things against Him, and persecuted his people violently! But I received mercy, because in my unbelief I didn’t know what I was doing. And the grace of our Lord was more than enough for me, with the faith and love that are in King Jesus.” That is like the parsley: he forgot what he once did and went on to become used of God.

A simple song came to my mind that I have quoted before; “Change my heart, O Lord, make it ever true; change my heart O Lord, may I be like you. You are the potter, I am the clay; mold me and make me, this is what I pray.” I agreed with the Lord that there are deep things buried in my life that I might not even be consciously aware of, but that need to go. Just like those things in the drawers that were no longer useful and need to be discarded. I asked Him to reveal those things. God is using a book I am presently reading to reveal to me deep things from my childhood that I believed about myself but were not true. Those thoughts need to be let go, discarded and replaced by words of truth.

Some things might take some deep-down scrubbing like those pews that have been used for years. They required a scrubby and lots of elbow grease! There were times I almost gave up on dark marks that were resistant, but I came back to them after dealing with lesser ones. God knows what we are ready for and will bring to light what has been hidden from us when we are ripe and ready. Some things are painful at the time, but then also exciting as we deal with them and have new eyes to see the truth that sets free. God often puts people in our lives to help us see and process what He is doing, and that is also a gift from Him. He is making us into new creations, and I want to keep changing and growing until my last breath.

Hope you had a great weekend! Tonight is another party and this time it is a supper party for Halloween. Al and I are dressing up like Kansas State fans with KS shirts, (I have earrings to match) and we have a pumpkin lei to wear around our necks. I will need my exercise class this morning so I can eat more tonight.

But the Lord is awakening the young men today to their need for Jesus. They no longer want to be caught in the web of toxic masculinity, but want to know what it means to be a man and to be competitive, to date and marry, to protect and have a family, to work hard and to contribute. God used Charlie Kirk’s life and death to inspire young men to find meaning in life, to receive the Lord, and to become mighty warriors for His kingdom.

May our churches be ready for the young men that are coming, searching and want to know the way. J.T. Reeves writes that they need to be introduced to Jesus, not for being a political activist, a culture warrior, or a self-improvement guru, but one who died for them, wants to give them life abundant, meaning and empowerment as men. Welcome those who come, and older men: be mentors to the younger ones and an example of what it means to be a man of God. “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’ ” (Isaiah 57:15)