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.

Category: Sister Judy (Page 100 of 277)

November 24, 2022

November 24, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
A blessed Thanksgiving Day to you! May all our hearts, hands and voices be filled with gratitude, thanks, and praise to  the One who has done wondrous things and in whom this world rejoices; Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love and still is ours today. May your day be filled with praise and thanksgiving! 
Thank you for prayers for our trip as we arrived safely after a wonderful visit with a dear friend in D.M. We enjoyed a yummy supper at Kurt’s and an evening of catching up and games. This morning will be preparation for a thanksgiving feast and our hearts are filled with so much gratitude, joy and thanks. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart 
   Thanksgiving is a time to remember. Too often we forget the goodness of the Lord and go on with our lives without thought for the amazing things He has done. We are told often in scripture to remember as when the Lord told His people in Duet. 6:!2 (God’s Word), who were about to go into the Promise Land, “Be careful that you don’t forget the Lord, who brought you out of slavery.” It is important that we also remember where we came from and how the Lord has freed us from the power of sin. Or like David, we can praise Him from our hearts as he said in Psalm 103:2, “Praise the Lord, my soul, and never forget all the good He has done”; David goes on to name how the Lord heals, forgives and rescues, and crowns us with mercy and compassion, filling our lives with blessings. Wow!
  Too soon we can forget what God has done in the past .and focus on the negative. We must be more intentional about remembering and thank Him when memories come up of what He has done in our lives in the past. We can thank Him with songs of praise, prayers of thanksgiving and maybe even keeping a praise journal where we can write in those times of remembrance.
    One of the experiences that came to my mind was years ago when we were living in Des Moines and taking the family to grandma’s for Thanksgiving. The car (not an SUV), was packed with all 5 of us and a dog and we no more started and noticed that Interstate 35 was getting slippery. It wasn’t long before we started seeing cars in the ditch and soon semitrucks. We always prayed before a trip but I think we prayed all the way to Minneapolis. We counted over 200 cars and trucks and when we were about half way there, we wondered if we should turn around and go home. But that would mean going back on the same slippery roads and we kept going. When we finally arrived, our hearts were so grateful and I’m sure as we shared at the table what we were thankful for, we all felt so grateful the Lord took us safely there. I will always remember that trip, and when things seem to get stormy, we know Who we can depend on!
  Perhaps you remember times when the Lord took you out of a tight situation or healed you or lifted you out of a depression etc. It is reason to give thanks with a thankful heart.
  Challenge for today: Share a time you remember that you experienced the Lord’s hand, touching you in a special way.
Blessings to you on this Thanksgiving Day and prayers and love, Judy
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November 23, 2022

November 23, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
I am sending tomorrow’s devotion out tonight as we are going to leave very early in the morning for Kansas, and my computer is getting packed now. We plan to stop in Des Moines where Al can browse at Barnes and Noble and I am going to meet with a dear friend. Then on to Kurt’s in Olathe where we will spend Thanksgiving. Appreciate prayers for our safety and health. May each of you have a grace-filled Thanksgiving! 
Devotions from Judy’s heart,
   God’s grace is something that just amazes me and I am especially cognizant of it when I am most in need of it… like when I blow it!  The truth is that we are always in great need of His grace, but sometimes we are not aware as we should be. It is a precious gift that is too often taken for granted.
  God seems to put people in our lives that exemplify His grace that is hard to miss. You can probably think of many examples of those around you. Just recently at the funeral of my aunt we had time with her grandson’s family. They have 8 children and the youngest one is 6 years old but has been sick all her life. She has Trysomy 5 a dilation of the 5th chromosome which is rare, only 50 other known cases in the US.   Jencyn is in the hospital about as much time as she is at home. Since Chris is a youth director and has a big family, life is busy and full of challenges. But each time we see him and his wife, they don’t look stressed but calm and peaceful. The other children love Jencyn and the one who recently got married had her in the wedding, while in her stroller. There is so much love and grace evident in the whole family and it speaks to us all of God’s grace.
  Our strength is in the Lord and not in ourselves and we all need to remember our total dependency is on Him. God’s power shows up most in our weaknesses, when we truly know we can’t go in our own power. Like Paul said in II Cor. 12: 10 (Message), “My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.” He goes on to say that he quit focusing on his handicap and began appreciating the gift for he experienced Christ’s strength moving in on his weakness. The more we know we need Him the stronger we become and develop in His likeness. We are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves us!
   Challenge for today: Thank the Lord for His grace to you and praise Him even in your weaknesses.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

November 22, 2022

November 22, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you wake to a wonderful day. This is early again as I will off to the dentist to get my crown this morning! Not sure if I will be back in time for coffee and choc covered cherries. Yesterday was a blessed day at the funeral of my aunt whose life was lived for the Lord and who served Him in so many ways. The relatives filled one whole side of the church and we all have been blessed by His love expressed through her life to all of us.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  As we approach Thanksgiving Day, our hearts become more aware of the gifts we have been given from above. But every day should be a day of thanks-giving for we cannot even begin to count the blessings we have received. Living in America we are more prone to think we deserve not only our basic needs being met but wealth, comforts, and possessions, as well. If we don’t have as much as others around us, grumbling is heard, rather than gratitude.
   I wonder how our Thankful List would compare to others in a different culture. In closed countries, we might have on our list that we were able to gather with another Christian in secret to pray together, or that we have a Bible to read when undetected, or just basic food to eat that day. We have been given so much and yet our list might be short and filled with things that will one day just fade away.
  When we went on mission trips to Mexico, what hit me most was the joy and gratitude the Christians had, even though they lived in what we would call a shack, not always knowing where their next meal would come from, and lacking any conveniences. When I got home from such trips, I felt overcome and distracted by all I had, and desired to give more to others.
   No matter where we live or how much we have we all can be filled with thankfulness for what the Lord has done for us. Whether or not we have lot of the world’s goods, is not an indicator of our joy, but rather that Jesus saved and loves us and wants to share His presence with us. He also gives us His Holy Spirit to guide us and fill our hearts with joy.
   How can we not be filled with thankfulness and praise, for He is so deserving of it. As it says in Psalm 107:1 (God’s Word), “Give thanks to the Lord because He is good, because His mercy endures forever.” Every day it is good to just spend time in thanksgiving and prayer even before asking Him for needs we might  have or telling Him our concerns. This will often lead us into worship of Him, and our own problems seem to shrink as we come to see the greatness of His power.
  Challenge for today: Live in gratitude and start a thankful list and keep adding to it each day.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

 

November 21, 2022

November 21, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you had a good weekend. This is being sent to you early today as we are leaving this morning for Battle Lake for the funeral of my aunt Rhoda. We were there not long ago for her grandson’s funeral; he was young and she was 97, but now they are in glory! 
We were blessed by the Thanksgiving service last night and testimonies shared by many…. also the variety of pies afterwards!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
   How many of us can say we feel chosen and wanted and loved? I never asked my parents if I was planned but they already had a son three years old and another that was one and a half when I was born. I could have been a surprise!  And yet I arrived on God’s time table and I was told they were thrilled to have a daughter. But whether our parents planned for us or not, each of us were chosen by the Lord and valued. I love to think of the words of Zeph. 3:17b (ESV), “He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.”
  I am reading Ann Voskamp’s book,“Waymaker,” and she encourages us to let our hearts be joined to the Lord and to let Him love us. She also shares her story of her own marriage and making a commitment to love her husband for the rest of life, much like the Lord wanting our hearts to also be joined with him like in marital oneness. It is a safe and secure place for He won’t let go of us as he said in John 6:38 b(Message), “And once that person is with me, I will hold on and won’t let go.”
   We learn quickly to live in forgiveness, for we are imperfect beings who sin and fall. But hopefully we grow in being more self-less and discover that only the Lord can totally satisfy our heart’s longings, not any human. Ann shares that self-forgetfulness is the essence of happiness and we feel more connected to Him when we have a diminished sense of self. She charts the way to love which is to lay down our plans, agendas, and will and lift up the will of another.
   Just like in a dance, our part is to move with the Lord and follow His leading. We desire to know His heart even as He fully knows ours. This is not an intellectual knowing but a relational heart knowing. When we are fully known, no matter what happens in our lives, we feel secure in Him. Let us press on to know the Lord in deeper ways and let ourselves be known by Him.
Challenge for today: Spend some time expressing your love for the Lord, and if you are married also expressing your love for your mate.
May you have a blessed day and prayers and love, Judy

 

November 19, 2022

November 20, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Many of you did not get my devotional yesterday and so I am resending. If it happens again go to canaansrest.org for it. Sorry as we are having some trouble with our web site. 
Hope you are having a good weekend. It is a cold day so may be walking in the underground as we did yesterday. This morning I cleaned our apartment and hope to shop this afternoon. We are having our Thanksgiving service tomorrow night and having lots of pies afterwards. Al can hardly wait!!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
   Where are the people of integrity today? There is so much falsehood and twisting of the truth to fit agendas that we don’t know what to believe or who to believe. But that should not be so if we are a child of God, He calls us to be truthful, to be honorable, and to have a pure heart, not to be false.
   Purity is important to God for it is mentioned many times in the Bible. Of course, only the Lord is pure, faultless, and without any contamination. But God wants us to be like Him and reflect His image; He wants us to also have pure hearts that seek to know Him intimately. In His Sermon on the Mount, He told us that blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8) God is so holy that we can only come before Him in Jesus’ righteousness. As it says in II Cor. 5:21 (ESV), “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
   The truth is we can’t live pure lives on our own but only come to Jesus in faith and ask forgiveness and cleansing. Then we are washed clean and the Lord looks at us as if we have never sinned…that means all of the sins we have ever committed and remembers them no more. Wow!
   When the word purity comes up, we often think first of chastity, refraining from premarital sex, even though the culture is saying anything goes. And if married, purity would mean not cheating but keeping ourselves only for our mate. It is God’s will that we honor Him with our bodies and that includes our thought life, our speech and our actions as well. In I Peter 1: 22 we are told to “Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” It is helpful to spend time in the Word together and to pray together and to put the Lord first and others second and selves last. The world’s way of thinking of yourself first, doesn’t work as we see the mess our culture is in. Let us remember David’s words in Psalm 24:6-8, “Who shall ascent the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessings from the Lord and righteousness from the God of His salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” Let us be people of integrity with hearts of purity that shine out in the darkness of our world.
Challenge for today: Put God first in your life and ask Him for a pure heart like His.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

November 19, 2022

November 19, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones
Hope you are having a good weekend. It is a cold day so may be walking in the underground as we did yesterday. This morning I cleaned our apartment and hope to shop this afternoon. We are having our Thanksgiving service tomorrow night and having lots of pies afterwards. Al can hardly wait!!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
   Where are the people of integrity today? There is so much falsehood and twisting of the truth to fit agendas that we don’t know what to believe or who to believe. But that should not be so if we are a child of God, He calls us to be truthful, to be honorable, and to have a pure heart, not to be false.
   Purity is important to God for it is mentioned many times in the Bible. Of course, only the Lord is pure, faultless, and without any contamination. But God wants us to be like Him and reflect His image; He wants us to also have pure hearts that seek to know Him intimately. In His Sermon on the Mount, He told us that blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8) God is so holy that we can only come before Him in Jesus’ righteousness. As it says in II Cor. 5:21 (ESV), “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
   The truth is we can’t live pure lives on our own but only come to Jesus in faith and ask forgiveness and cleansing. Then we are washed clean and the Lord looks at us as if we have never sinned…that means all of the sins we have ever committed and remembers them no more. Wow!
   When the word purity comes up, we often think first of chastity, refraining from premarital sex, even though the culture is saying anything goes. And if married, purity would mean not cheating but keeping ourselves only for our mate. It is God’s will that we honor Him with our bodies and that includes our thought life, our speech and our actions as well. In I Peter 1: 22 we are told to “Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” It is helpful to spend time in the Word together and to pray together and to put the Lord first and others second and selves last. The world’s way of thinking of yourself first, doesn’t work as we see the mess our culture is in. Let us remember David’s words in Psalm 24:6-8, “Who shall ascent the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessings from the Lord and righteousness from the God of His salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” Let us be people of integrity with hearts of purity that shine out in the darkness of our world.
Challenge for today: Put God first in your life and ask Him for a pure heart like His.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

November 18, 2022

November 18, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Happy weekend to you! Today is party day here and soon we will be going to Costco to get the Birthday cake. I am also going to make soup. Yesterday’s Bible study group was special in many ways as we spent the time singing and sharing and praying. We all come from different backgrounds but our common denominator is the Lord. I think most had tears in our eyes too as we sang songs that perhaps were sung at services for our loved ones etc. It was a very blessed time and gathering together makes us stronger.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  Connect! Connect! The enemy is always trying to divide us but the Lord would have us connect and unite. Satan knows there is great power when Christians are united in Spirit and he does everything he can to cause division. He wants to separate us! But may we not fall prey to his tactics.
   So much today is virtual but let us not lose the importance of being physically present. In Heb. 10:24-25 (God’s Word) it says, “We must also consider how to encourage each other to show love and to do good things We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming.”
  The Message translation says we should be inventive in ways we can encourage love and help others out, not avoiding actually worshiping together so we can spur one another on.
  We need one another and all of us can use to know that others are standing with us. Al and I meet regularly with another couple to pray together and we go away each time feeling refreshed and strengthened. All of us need the encouragement of others standing with us in faith, and it gives us hope; then when the answers come, we can also rejoice together and give thanks to the Lord. It seems our own hearts are made lighter when we also bring encouragement to others.
  Let us gather with other believers to worship together, pray together, laugh together and unit as one in the Lord. More than ever before we also need to meet together and pray for our nation, that we would be humble and pray and seek God’s face and turn from wicked ways, so that the Lord will hear and forgive us and heal our land.
   May we not live our Christian lives in isolation and separation but use every opportunity to connect with other believers in faith and hope.
Challenge for today: Find new ways to spend quality time with other believers.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

November 17, 2022

November 17, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you are having a great day. This morning I made egg dishes and got out our decorations for Christmas, since we are going to be gone for Thanksgiving. This afternoon we are going to have a Praise and Thanksgiving sing-along instead of our regular Bible Study. Afterwards I am going to take a friend shopping. The sun is out today and so beautiful with the snow out my window as I write. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  God uses each of our lives to help make known something about His nature. Because we are each unique and not like anyone else in the world, we carry within us something that will display a part of Him to others around us. We are all given particular gifts and talents that he uses to also point others to Him. We don’t need to compare our gifts with others or belittle our gifts for each of us have unique qualities that He can use; it is important that we play our part, which really matters.
    Through us the Lord can bring healing to others. Perhaps we are one who carefully listens to others and takes their needs, together with them, to the cross. Maybe we are usually upbeat and can bring a ray of sunshine to lighten the darkness of one who is depressed. Or we are a truth-teller that speaks out what is wrong that it can be delt with.
   It says in I Peter 2:9-10 that we are chosen instruments to do His work and speak out for Him. God works through us to bless others, and often we are not even aware of it
   Have you noticed that the more you give out to others, the more joy you have? Those that hide their candle under a bushel or neglect to do the works of love, miss out. Jesus died so we would no longer live for ourselves bur for Him. II Cor.5:15
    It’s important to listen to the Lord so we can be doing His works in His timing and set aside our own self-will. Jesus wants to shine through us and as the children’s song goes, “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam to shine for Him each day. In every way try to please Him, at home, at school, at play…I will ask Jesus to help me, to keep my heart from sin. Ever reflecting His goodness and always shine for Him.” May others know Jesus better because we beam a part of His loving nature to those around us.
   Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to use you in new ways to help others know Him and love Him.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

November 16, 2022

November 16, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
 Hope that you have a peaceful day. There is more snow falling today and winter is really here. This morning I did food prep and made Al’s favorite cookies and soon going to my exercise class. Then Craft time and tonight is Bible study and maybe a walk inbetween on the trail. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  When Al and I travel we like to go to monasteries and to spend time in the quietness there. We have also done personal retreats in the past and taken time to enjoy silence with those who have left the noise of the world to draw closer to Christ. They have renounced possessions, relationships, and even themselves to be possessed by the Lord. We found no TV’s blaring or cell phones going off, but a holy atmosphere where Jesus is the focus and hearts are seeking to hear Him. 
  I read an article recently by Andrew Arndt about the desert fathers and mothers who left their comfortable confines to discover how to live for the love of God and neighbor, and to renounce those things that come against God’s kingdom. We have much to learn from their example. What is so evident first of all is the emphasis on a clean heart and to rid ourselves of everything that comes contrary to love for God and others. Love is God’s way and it takes shape in Christian community. Even those in the dessert lived under a common discipline with a superior and often met on Sundays for common worship. Abba Anthony the Great said, “Our life and our death is with our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.” We may think we are so loving but avoid getting close to others, even in our churches. We can’t keep people at arm’s length if we are to be known and also to express His love to others. John says in I John 4:12, 16, “But if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us, for God is Love and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
   Desert fathers also teach us that love must be willing to lose. They choose poverty which is voluntary and means letting go of all that we possess. I use to give gifts at Christmas to three nuns we knew at the monastery but I also realized they wouldn’t keep it to themselves that it would be shared and given to others. We must all let go of what we possess and give what we cannot keep to gain that which we cannot lose.”.
   Challenge for today: Express God’s love in a new way today.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

November 15, 2022

November 15, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you wake to a day of joy and some fun too. Al is going to get fitted for a crown this morning and this afternoon we are invited to friend’s for fellowship and prayer..and always a delicious dessert.Emoji The question for this week is, when is the last time you had a wonderful fun day full of joy and laughter and came away feeling lighter? What was the occasion? 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  We have a Heavenly Father who is not only strong and mighty but also fun. So often we miss that part of Him and can become overly serious, so much so, that we feel guilty having a good time. But I have always thought that as His children we should have more fun than those in the world as we have a clear conscience and are forgiven.
    I was reading an article by Pastor Mark Roberts about how we have a fun God. Yes, He is holy but He is also the One who gives us deep joy and laughter. When Jesus walked on the earth, he went to celebrations and even provided the best wine at the wedding. And the Father of the prodigal didn’t hesitate to have a super party with feasting when His lost son returned.
  Wise King Solomon said in Eccl. 2:24-26 (ESV), “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from Him who can eat or who can have enjoyment.”   We have so much to celebrate for the Lord has filled our hearts with His joy.
   Recently we have had birthday parties, weddings and soon we will be going to Kurt’s for Thanksgiving.  There are so many occasions in life to celebrate and enjoy and to have fun. How do we expect non-believers to be attracted to the Lord if life is dull and boring? King David knew that true joy is found in the presence of the Lord (Psalm 16:11, and after all, He created us and knows us best.
We might ask ourselves today if we need more fun in our lives and what things can we change that hinder us from a full, fun life? We better get ready for one day, as it says in Revelation19, we will be present at the greatest party of all times, the Marriage Feast of the Lamb!
  Challenge for today: Ask the Holy Spirit to free your heart for more fun and joy in the Lord.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

  

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