Category: Sister Judy (Page 40 of 267)

We are in a different place each day and what was perfect to meet yesterday’s needs may not fit for today. We need to seek God each day and find what He wants us to feed on, for He knows what our day will hold. We are fortunate in our country to have Bibles available to us, but in countries where Christians are persecuted, Bibles have to be hidden or they are confiscated.

Let us ask ourselves if we hungry for the Lord and want to hear from Him each morning as we awaken? Just because we ate spiritually yesterday doesn’t mean we won’t be hungry today. We need to feed daily on His Word and drink from His flowing stream of living water. We should daily seek to have our hunger satisfied and our spiritual thirst quenched. As it says in Psalm 42:1-2a “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Our souls suffer hunger and thirst and it is only met in the Lord and we need to continually seek Him and not just once in a while. One time long ago, Al and I were in a ghost town in Colorado and we could find no water. I was so thirsty and we had to wait and wait and I ended up with a terrible headache. How I had longed for a glass of cold water and suffered because of the lack of it. Let us not be negligent but every day ask the Lord to feed us and give us His living water.

Challenge for today: Satisfy your hunger and thirst for the Lord by spending time in your day alone with Him and receive all that He has to give you.
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

Happy Weekend to you! Some of you may be starting to celebrate the holiday this weekend and some next weekend. Since the 4th comes in the middle of the week, we plan to go to the cabin next Thursday and Friday and spend both nights at the lake. Kurt and Grant are stopping by today on their way to the cabin to celebrate this weekend.
Devotions from Judy’s heart

Maybe we quickly pass over scriptures that are familiar and wonder if there is anything new that the Lord has to teach us through them. But that is much like eating too fast and not savoring the taste. I am guilty of that and need reminders to slow down, meditate and just sit with certain portions of scriptures.  The Lord has a banquet for us each day, if we pause and savor what He is giving us. David prayed in Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the person who takes refuge in Him.” He was in a tough place when he prayed that and surrounded by the enemy; but he wanted the Lord to open his eyes to the Lord’s goodness and his mouth to taste of Him. That is also an invitation to us to try the Lord, experience His goodness, and taste of the new things He has for us. Let us remember to bow in prayer before we eat and ask for an open heart and a willing spirit to taste all that He has for us.

Challenge for today: Be open and try the new things the Lord has for you today and give thanks.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

The Lord has given us armor to put on each day and each part is important. I pray for myself and family early each morning and visualize putting each part of the armor on. All pieces of the armor are important and especially the belt of truth. In Eph. 6:14 Paul said, “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth”, in order that we can stand firm. Writer, Alisha Headley wrote a prayer to help us uproot the lies of Satan and I want to share with you.

Dear God,
Thank you for providing us with your Word, the Bible, so that we can access truth in a world full of lies. Thank you for the wisdom your Word provides us. Holy Spirit, please remind us to read and give us the passion to seek out Your Word daily. Forgive us when we lean on truth from other things or people rather than relying on your truth, which is the only truth. Please allow your truth to sink deep into our hearts so that we can discern a lie the moment it enters our minds. Help us to tighten our belts of truth each day as we study your Word. We know that we have an enemy and that there will be daily battles, but we praise you and thank you because you have already won the war. Thank you for the wisdom in your Word and for the promise of life that we can cling to this side of eternity. We praise you for loving us and equipping us each day.
In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen

Eugene Peterson writes about the difference between religion and spirituality, and he gives the distinction. Religion is mostly what we do, our efforts to maintain some sense of responsibility before God. We can do some things for God that actually separate us from Him if we are doing it in our own power. But Peterson says Spirituality is mostly what God does and is a work of the Holy Spirt in making Jesus alive in us. It may result in acts of love and compassion and bring us to repentance. We don’t need the latest technology or any gimmicks to draw people to our churches but rather God’s Word preached with conviction, prayer offered, and time to listen.

David prayed in Psalm 86:11-13, “Teach me your way, O Lord, so that I may live in your truth. Focus my heart on fearing you. I will give thanks to you with all my heart, O Lord my God. I will honor you forever because your mercy toward me is great. You have rescued me from the pit of hell.” The Message translation asks God to work in us, “Train me, God, to walk straight; then I’ll follow your true path. Put me together, one heart and mind; then, undivided, I’ll worship in joyful fear. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you, dear Lord.”

When we honor and reverence God with our whole heart, He is free to work in our lives and in our relationships and our serving etc.

Hope you wake to a beautiful day! We are having friends over this afternoon, and I have a 5- layer dessert made for us, which Al and I both sampled already! 

I was reading this morning of what the prophet Hosea says as he comes to a close in Hosea 14:9, “Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those with discernment listen carefully. The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them.” Wouldn’t we all have to say we need to pay attention to what the Holy Spirit is saying, rather than what our eyes see that may glimmer and look good. Before making big decisions, we must pray and carefully listen for how God is leading. There may be times others ask to do something that seems harmless but there is a caution in our spirit, and we need to listen to that. Something doesn’t feel right. The Lord sees the whole picture and gives us a warning, even though we may not have a good reason to give. I remember what one of our kids said when not getting something desired, “I get tired of you listening to the Spirit!”  Sometimes we may later find out the reason the Lord says no, but even when we don’t, we need to listen.

How do we become more discerning? It is something we should desire for otherwise we can get “hood winked” and manipulated by others and go down wrong paths. We can ask for discernment to perceive what God is saying and not the enemy.  I think He loves to grant that request. We need to be in the Word, so we know what is spelled out already as wrong, but also so our heart is open to hear. Of course, we need to also be quiet and listen or we won’t be able to discern what the Spirit is trying to show us, and instead get influenced by the world. More than ever before we need discernment as there is so much going on that may glitter in our culture but leads to death.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord for discernment and be open to how the Spirit will direct you.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy