Category: Sister Judy (Page 1 of 285)

Maybe we wake in the night and think of a presentation we have to give, and we start mulling over feelings of failure. What if we get questions we can’t answer, etc.? Soon we get anxious, and God is left out of our thoughts. How much better if we are aware of the Lord’s presence, ask for His wisdom and guidance, and thank Him that He will go before us and prepare the way!

We hear a lot about mindfulness today, and we need to be aware of what is happening in the moment. That means we pause, become still, listen and we are present. What helps us do this so we are more conscious of God’s presence with us?  First of all, we can pray before we even get out of our bed in the morning. Thank the Lord for the night and that He will be with us during the day. Then during the day, we can have conversations with Him as we drive to work, and any time during the day. We just lift short prayers, asking Him to direct our thinking even as we work. When we are home, we can meditate on Scripture and ruminate on what we read. Then as we reflect on it, ask the Lord to help us respond to it by seeking to do His will. He will tell us what we need to do next and give us power to carry it out.

Let us understand that God is not just wanting to deal with wrongs we have done, but wants to help us with what is really going on underneath in our thoughts, feelings and attitude. We may say we forgive someone, yet wish something terrible would happen to them to teach them a lesson, rather than praying for them to find the Lord. Our words often say one thing, but our thoughts and feelings may be those of judgment and even hate.

John Ortberg writes some helpful things that can help set us free to live in forgiveness, and begins by telling us to make a list of those we have hurt in an emotional sense, spiritually, physically or financially. Then we ask, how can God help us repair the damage so bitterness doesn’t grow in our own heart. Of course, we would rather make the list of those who have hurt us! But we are responsible only for ourselves and our hurtful words, etc. and must be willing to make things right, as we try to see our behavior through the eyes of the other. It helps to follow through by naming what we did, and give decisional forgiveness that agrees to not get even or hold their mistakes against them. When we put ourself in their place, we can better understand the situation from their perspective. Then Ortberg suggests offering forgiveness as a gift from the heart, for they are another person for whom Jesus died. In the long run, we may even see this situation helped us grow.

Woman have a unique role as a helpmate, but are also meant to display the glory of God. A woman Is a gift to her husband, and he is to protect, love, and provide for her. A wife is to submit to her hubby (not to all men). To submit is to lower self to make more for someone else. As a wife, we are to be our husband’s number one encourager. He needs our respect, and what we say has great power. When Joby preaches, he doesn’t ask the elders or parishioners how he did, but he said most important are the words his wife says. We don’t realize how much our words impact our husbands: we are either a lift to him, bringing encouragement, or a lid that holds him back.

Hopefully, our husbands can trust in us and that we are supportive, and not one to expose all of their weaknesses. We are not to be nagging or think our husbands should be the answer to all our insecurities. We are not to compare ourselves with other women, and it doesn’t matter what is important in the eyes of the world like certain labels, a certain look, or having the latest things. We are to rest in God’s finished work in us, for our security is in the Lord, not in comparisons with others.

For both husbands and wives, we are not to keep score, but to forgive again and again. Love never quits and says it is not all about me, but to walk the way of His love that is patient, kind and loving.

James learned in ministry how compassion breaks down walls and opens hearts towards those who may not think exactly like we do; and we can rejoice in the Lord together without seeing eye-to-eye on everything. Billy Graham told him to spend time with people he had been taught to avoid. And in doing so, he has learned much. He said God can sometimes mold us better through even our enemies who may be harsh and unkind; but we must be willing to take it to the Lord, for it’s His love that can lift us above barriers. James had times when the Lord supernaturally healed him of two masses in his chest. Up until that time, he had not given thought to healing. Later he prayed for his daughter who had asthma for years and she was also healed. But years later she died of throat cancer, and he came to know how God is still all loving even when he doesn’t do what we would desire.

Let us not judge others, but love them into the kingdom. If you want to read what God’s wondrous love can do, I recommend reading Living Amazed by James Robinson.

Challenge for today: Show God’s love to those around you today, and if given the chance, tell them of Jesus.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

God is a relational, and exists in a community of love as three distinct persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God also designed us to commune with Him and to receive from each other. He said it was not good for Adam to be alone, so He created Eve as his helper and for intimacy. He created all of us to connect and flourish emotionally and physically with others.

We can’t live fully alive if we don’t connect first with the Lord who gives us the power to engage, and designed us to give and receive from others. When we choose to live life without the Lord, our relationships may be self-serving and manipulative as a result. Or if we started out in life with a weak connection to parents, we may need help to overcome the obstacles. But the Lord can heal our hearts, giving us the capacity and power to trust and be open for healthy relationships, connecting at a deeper level.

Let us not settle for shallow relationships, but live more fully in relational connection with others. We were meant to have giving and receiving relationships and grow in our capacity to trust God and others.

Last Saturday, the continuous reading of the Bible began taking place in the White House which involves five hundred of our national leaders. President Trump read on Tuesday evening from II Chronicles 7. May we all be praying that revival will spark in our land. As we will celebrate our country’s 250^th birthday soon, let us remember how our nation was formed under God. An article by Dutch Sheets tells about four months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Second Continental Congress made a resolution that Friday, May 17, 1776 would be a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer. It was to be a time for the colonists to be repentant, asking God to bless America and restore peace. How great that our president chose May 17th also for this year’s “National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise, and Thanksgiving.” This will be a day on the Washington Mall to rededicate our nation as “One Nation Under God.” Just as the Lord heard the colonists’ prayers and gave them freedom from Britain, may we repent of how far we have strayed from God as a nation and come back to Him, repent and be formed into a nation under God again.