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 41 of 276)

October 11, 2024

October 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Happy weekend to you! What gorgeous weather we have been having and the Paul Bunyan trail is just beautiful with color. But at the same time let us not forget those down south who are suffering from the hurricanes without water and shelter and food. 40 Million are without power.  Pray! Pray! and give to those organizations helping.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Feelings are important but they don’t trump God’s promises. In fact, our feelings can many times be fickle and the enemy loves to mess with them as we believe what he says over what God says. That results in us living in fear and anxiety.

Maybe we wake up one day with thoughts of dread for what is on our schedule. As we dwell on the “what ifs”, we find we get anxious and expect the worst to happen. But if we are wise, we will catch and reject the enemy’s tactic quickly and focus on what the Lord says. He tells us to ask of Him for Jesus said in John 16:22-24, “This is what I want you to do: ask the Father for whatever is keeping with the things I’ve revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and He’ll most certainly give it to you. Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks.”

We know it is God’s will that we choose to believe His promises over what the enemy is whispering to us. It is our choice to believe the Word and receive His grace and let go of the negative thoughts of doom. When fear tries to take over our thoughts we can make a shift and quickly ask the Holy Spirit for faith and right thoughts that line up with the Word.  Yes, like a couple days ago I woke up at 5 a.m. to send out over 100 e-mails ready to go and couldn’t get online. My thoughts immediately went, Oh no! Will I have to spend time with the Geeks today and waste my whole day! But I told Al the enemy is trying to get a foothold and I want to trust the Lord and not go with negative thoughts. Al tried things on my computer also, but we soon discovered our router was not working right and he put a call in to CTC and later that morning I was up and running again, along with a host of others having trouble. My heart was filled with such gratitude to the Lord.

Every time we choose to believe God rather than our feelings of the enemy’s forebodings, our faith becomes stronger. We are told to ask the Lord and to cast our care on Him, knowing He will either remove the problem or give us grace to go through it and make us stronger. Let us do the latter!

Challenge for today: Choose carefully and quickly to believe God’s promises over the enemy’s whisperings!
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

October 10, 2024

October 10, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you are mindful of God’s grace as you go about your day. Al will be going to men’s group and am going to make egg dishes and have a treatment this morning; this afternoon we have Bible Study. Our hearts go out to all those who have lost homes and loved ones during the hurricanes and let us all pray much.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Don’t we need to be reminded often of the wonderful gift of grace that God gives to us. We may like to meditate especially on grace and sing songs of grace when we have blown it in some sinful behavior or attitude. It’s like a wakeup call to the fact that we are all needy and sinful and need grace, every single day! But the good news is as Paul says in Rom. 6:8-9, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you’re not under the law but under grace.” When we know Him, we are all under grace and His grace brings us freedom, not to do just as we please, but the power to do His will from our hearts.
Recently I read Psalm 25 and in verse 7 David is asking the Lord “Remember not the sins (the laps and frailties) of my youth or my transgressions according to your mercy and steadfast love remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.” He is needing God’s mercy and grace which he could not earn but simply accept as a gift, His unmerited favor. Maybe all of us forget at times that God loves us, not because of what we do but for who we are in Him, for we cannot ever earn His love. Some think God loves them more if they try to do everything right…go to church, read their Bible every day, volunteer to help the poor etc. but that is not so. He loves us even when we don’t get things right, so why not rest from striving because He loves us unconditionally and perfectly. It is our pride that makes us feel we have to earn his love, for we were meant to simply receive it and let it fill our whole being. Like I read today, that nothing we do can make Him love us less, and nothing we do can make Him love us more.

In my own life when I fail and ask forgiveness, I realize more the depth of His love for He pours out His grace to me and looks at me as if I never did it. Isn’t that awesome?

Challenge for today: Read Eph. 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

October 9, 2024

October 9, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you wake to trusting the Lord for all things in your day. I plan to go to Exercise class and Craft class and later Bible study. Your question for this week is, when do you feel most vulnerable to the enemy and how do you respond and overcome? Sorry this is late as our router was not working this morning.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Are their times that we feel the enemy breathing down on us and fear takes hold as he attacks our minds and fills our thoughts with “what-ifs.” At such times what do we do? Do we believe his lies or are we like King David who turned to the Lord and wrote Psalm 56 when he was fleeing from Saul and was in enemy territory of the Philistines?

One thing I admire of David, is how honest and forth right he is with God. He tells his exact predicament and that he feels trampled and oppressed by his enemies. He knows they are waiting to get him, but he goes on to say that at such times he puts his confidence in God. In Psalm 56 verses 2-3 his words, “O Most High, when I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust I am not afraid; what can flesh do to me?” David turns his thoughts to the One who understands and can help him. He shares what is on his heart and how the enemy is twisting his words and finding ways to trip him up and even have his life. But he asks God to intervene and bring them down. He puts his confidence in God and with His help he will rely on Him to cause his enemy to retreat. He knows that God cares and has even kept count of his tears and put them in His bottle. David’s prayer reaches God for he is totally honest with Him and is leaning into Him.

When we are also in situations of fear, let us be like David who recalls how God is with him and puts his full trust in Him and gives praise. We will also find it helpful if we are in a tough spot, to remember how the Lord has been with us in the past and thank Him for His deliverance; but also, we can anticipate and praise Him for how He will do it now.

Challenge for today: When fearful thoughts come to you in your day, pray David’s prayer in Psalm 56:2-3.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

October 8, 2024

October 8, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you have a great day! I am still catching up around here and plan to do some cooking and baking, cards, studying etc.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Haven’t we all had times when we are surprised by the Lord? He speaks to us through our daily circumstances or maybe a word from a brother or sister who has no awareness that it is hitting a need that we have etc. I love that the Lord uses so many means to get through to us that surprises us.

While Al and I were in Iowa over the weekend to watch our granddaughter play soccer, we along with her parents, cheered for her and her team. It ended up 0 to 0 and we got to see Lily after the game and walked with her to her Kansas State team bus. Al and I went to find our car and then before going home we went once more to the stadium. But what had been filled with people just a short time before, was now completely empty. It gave me a rather eerie feeling for how quickly things changed. Now there was no crowd cheering, just emptiness.

My thoughts went to the end day when we will stand before the Lord and give account of our life. For those who know the Lord, we will only be judged by the works we have done or failed to do; but for those who have not received the Lord, there will be eternal judgment and being sent into the outer darkness of hell. Even though they had been cheered on by the crowds prior, they now have to stand alone before God who judges rightly. No more chances given, for the arena is empty of those who were on their side.

As I thought about this, I just prayed that I would not fail to share the Lord with others. They may be cheered on by others of the world now, but that is all going to pass away. Then one day they have to give account before the righteous judge. As it says in II Cor. 6:2, “Behold, now is the favorable time: behold now is the day of salvation.” So let us all not be silent, but share the Lord every chance we get.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to open up opportunities for you to witness of Him to all those around you and give you holy boldness.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

October 7, 2024

October 7, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Blessings on your new week. We are home again and enjoyed the weekend so much as we stayed with a friend in Iowa and had hours of catching up and fellowship together. Yesterday we also went to our former church in D.M for the service and then on to Ames to see our granddaughter play soccer. A fun weekend and many blessings.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
As the days are getting closer to the election, we see the division of our country and the need for unity. We may not agree with others, but we are to love them beyond our differences. I want to share Whitney Hopler’s fifth Prayer for Healing and Reconciliation of our nation.

“Dear God, our nation is in desperate need of healing and reconciliation. The wounds of division run deep among Americans. Only your love can bring true healing. We pray for a spirit of reconciliation to sweep across our land mending broken relationships and restoring unity. In II Chronicles 7:14, you say: ‘If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.’

God, we humble ourselves before you, seeking your face and asking for forgiveness for the ways we have contributed to the division and turmoil in our nation Please heal our land, God. Bring reconciliation between neighbors, within families, and across communities. Psalm 147:3 declares about you: ‘He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.’

We ask that you heal the broken hearts within our nation. Bring comfort to those who are suffering and mend the relationships that have been torn apart by political disagreements and social unrest. Teach us to love one another, even when we disagree. Help us to see beyond our differences and to recognize the inherent dignity and worth of every person. May your love be the power that heals our wounds and brings us together as one people, united in our desire to create a better future. Please help us to move forward with hope and resilience, trusting in your ability to bring about healing and restoration in our lives and in our nation Thank you, our living Father Amen.”

Challenge for today: Pray this prayer morning and evening.
Blessings on  your week and prayers and love, Judy

October 5, 2024

October 5, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
I am sending this out early for Saturday since we are leaving early in the morning for Indianola, Iowa to see a dear friend and stay overnight. Then on Sunday we will be going to Ames, IO to watch our granddaughter, Lily, play soccer along with her parents. We have wanted to get to see her play this fall and this was the closest game for us since she goes to Kansas State. We have enjoyed time with Mark here and celebrated his birthday at Poncho Lefties! Appreciate prayers for travels.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  Friendship is a beautiful gift from God and one we treasure. When two people have a special bond of trust, love, honesty, and loyalty, it also inspires greater friendship between us and God. True friendship in fact, comes from God and the flowing of His life through us. He is love and friendship is participating in that flow of His love.
Today it seems like there is a lack of friendship, especially in our youth, for so many are lonely and only relate through their phones. But true friendship is a commitment and takes time to sustain. We are all different from one another and yet we can share who we really are with one another. It takes commitment for it is not always easy to be there for our friend, and let’s face it, we all have to fight our own selfishness. In friendship we learn more how to give, to share, to let the other person be true to who God made them to be.                                True friends enjoy each other and have a deep trust level. If others say negative things about them, we know in our hearts, that it is not who they really are. Even if they have a lapse in judgment, they will ask forgiveness and want to make things right. They are comfortable to be around as they are full of grace.
 Since I have lived in many places in my lifetime, friendships are especially important. The Lord has always been faithful to give me special friends in each church we have been in, as I prayed for those who could be a soul friend. It wasn’t always who I thought they would be when we first arrived at a church, but in time He would reveal to me, and sometimes to the other person first.  It was especially important that we could pray together, share concerns, and speak what we thought the Lord was saying.
 God shares His life with us and He wants us to also share our lives with others. St Augustine said that “Friendship is the beauty of each soul,” I encourage you to take time out for friendship and pay the cost for it to blossom into all that God would have for you.

Challenge for today:  Pray for a soul mate and be open to whom God would send.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

October 4, 2024

October 4, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Happy Weekend! We have our son Mark here and going to take him out today to celebrate his birthday which is Sunday. We had hoped to be in N.C for his birthday but had to postpone; we are going to head to Iowa tomorrow morning to visit a dear friend and to see our granddaughter play soccer on Sunday.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Do we have busy days but often feel like we are not accomplishing much? Maybe you are like me, and before I get out of bed, I let the things I want to get done during the day run through my mind. But then I have to add, “Lord, what are your plans for my day? May I be willing to do what is on your agenda, not mine!” Sometimes I do accomplish what I set out to do, but not always, as the Lord puts in other things that I had not even thought of. But if I choose to go my own way, it seems like everything gets fouled up.
On Wednesday both Al and I felt uncomfortable about our plan to go to N.C. as many of the roads are closed and gas is not always plentiful as a result of Hurricane Helene. We prayed about it and I e-mailed our daughter-in-law to tell her we were canceling our trip there even though we wanted to come. What was so neat is that she called about a minute later as she had just gotten off the phone with Mark and they also had the same impression that we should not go at this time. We are all disappointed, but I was also excited to know that we all heard the Lord and He made it clear.
It is good when we can hold our schedules loosely in our hands and be open to God’s plans. Sometimes I am absolutely amazed at all He fits everything into my day with perfect timing. We are on this earth such a short time, in light of eternity, and He lets us choose each day if we want to do our will or His. When we live His way, we have purpose and life has meaning. But going our own way we seem to pay the price, not necessarily immediately but ultimately. We can’t just go by our feelings, or we may never do the necessary things in our day, for they may not appeal to us. When we wake up, we don’t need to ask ourselves if we feel like making the bed or making breakfast for the family, we can just do it and then go on to other things.

But even when we will to go God’s way, we need His help to do it. Left on our own we may not follow through or we may quit before we accomplish what He has instructed us to do. As we choose to do His will, He gives us grace and desire to follow it. In Proverbs 16:9, it says, “A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure.” Let us go God’s way and embrace His plans and find joy in His will.

Challenge for today: Choose to do God’s will and be quick to let go of your agenda for His.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

October 3, 2024

October 3, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you have an opportunity to serve today! This morning Al will be going off to men’s group and I have an appointment when he gets back and later Bible Study. Mark spent the night at the cabin with Kurt who arrived yesterday. Kurt stopped by with his new Ford Raptor 37 and took us for a ride! Emoji
Devotions from Judy’s heart
One night the Lord opened my eyes in a bigger way to the importance for our own spiritual health to serve others. I recently shared that a friend and I were to do one purposeful and prayerful love action a day for 2 weeks to express our love for the Lord. I read from Romans 15:2-3 where Paul says, “Each of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, ’How can I help?’ Jesus didn’t avoid people’s troubles but waded right in and helped out.” We have Jesus’ example for us to follow and we learn from Him to set aside self-pleasing and to build up others, strengthen them for their good.

Each day for me it was something different I felt the Lord would have me do, but I would like to share one instance in particular. I was asked by Jane to serve coffee for our Octoberfest Party, and many had signed up for it. I had told Al ahead of time that we needed to sit by another couple as I probably wouldn’t have much time to be with him since I was serving. (At the Birthday parties my helpers and I don’t usually get to sit down so Al eats with others.) When I got there that night to put the coffee on, help was needed to get the food ready and then to serve it to each one at the tables and about 5 of us helped. It didn’t take long and since Jane had told me to wait to serve coffee until dessert, I was able to enjoy supper with Al and another couple. After the live entertainment and fun, Al and I and many others stayed to help clean up and what I noticed was the joy, especially of Jane who planned the whole dinner and entertainment and got people to help. She is not able to be on her feet long and uses a cane and yet she bought all the decorations and ingredients for the food and assigned people to bake and do things. In the end, many people were used to serve, decorate, bake, help in various ways and we all had a most enjoyable time.

Serving is God’s way of helping our own hearts, as we all tend to selfishness. We need to set aside what we think will make us happy and choose to do what the Lord directs us to do that will leave us feeling fulfilled. It may be as simple as sending someone a card, making a meal for a sick friend, or bringing a word of encouragement to someone who is down.

Challenge for today: Set aside thoughts of self-pleasing and dare to ask the Lord how you can serve someone else today.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

October 2, 2024

October 2, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you will have a wonderful day! Kurt will be stopping by on his way to the lake today. I am going to do food prep and go to my exercise class and Crafts and later Mark is coming here from the Lake and will spend a couple more days with us.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
As we seek to follow the Lord, there are practices that can help us become more like Him and I would like to share some spiritual disciplines that John Mark Comer mentions in his book, Practicing the Way. These disciplines are “acts of loving obedience by which we offer our brokenness and bondage to God for healing and liberation.” (quote by Dr. Robert Mulholland).     1. Sabbath Rest. After working 6 days, doesn’t rest sound heavenly? If Jesus rested after creating the world, surely, He means to us to keep the Sabbath rest. Most of us are over-busy and need a day set aside to stop and rest and open our hearts to worship and delight in Him.
2. Solitude is also an important discipline and opens the way for us to commune with the Lord. Both Al and I are contemplative and spend time in quiet solitude each day. We all need those times to commune with the Lord.
3.Prayer is so important as we talk to God about everything that touches our life and also spend time listening and just enjoy being in His presence.
4. Fasting seems more difficult for as we yield our bodies to the Lord, we are breaking the power of our flesh and opening up to the power of the Spirit, as He increases our capacity to hear Him.
5. Scripture is an important way to be renewed in our minds and to think and feel like the Lord does. We can study and read slowly and prayerfully, out loud or alone, or listen to sermons etc.
6.Community is important for we learn so much in relationships to others who know Him. One church in Mora, MN has a fellowship over a meal each Sunday after the service for all to come.
 7. Generosity is our response to the outflow of God’s love and self-giving to us. As we give to others, we become participants in that divine outflow and experience great joy.
  8. Service to others gives us the opportunity to follow Jesus’ example in giving. It seems our own hearts get mended and freed of entitlement as we help and practice servanthood.
9. Witness is an important spiritual discipline for when Jesus left to go to heaven, his last words to us was to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them His commands. (Matt. 28:19-20) Our privilege is to tell others, and we will find our own hearts warmed and enlarged as we do.
Challenge for today: Choose one of the spiritual disciplines to put into practice today.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

October 1, 2024

October 1, 2024 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you make space in your day for the Lord. We had a fun party last night and the entertainment was a couple excellent accordion players, and a sing along to many familiar songs. This morning is women’s Bible study and this afternoon we are invited to friends for fellowship and prayer.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
In our spiritual walk, it is good to be spontaneous but also to have some spiritual disciplines to help us move in the right direction. It is kind of a balance of freedom/disciplines so we don’t veer off to one side or the other and can go at a good pace, not slowing down so much we atrophy or speeding up that we burn out. We can enjoy spontaneity but also need structure. When Al first approached me some years ago to teach with him about spiritual disciplines, I wasn’t sure I liked that word and would have rather called them something else. But I had to come to understand that disciplines are only a means to an end to become like Jesus.

I like what Dallas Willard says about them. “The disciplines are activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken, to bring our personality and total being into effective cooperation with the divine order. They enable us more and more to live in a power that is, strictly speaking, beyond us, deriving from the spiritual realm itself, as we ‘yield ourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God’”.

Our part is to slow down and make space for the Lord to do His work of transformation in our hearts. We can’t transform ourselves for even if we do all the spiritual disciplines, we may become self-righteous and controlling and forget we are to live by grace. The disciplines are simply an aid to help us in growing to be like Jesus. He empowers us by His Spirit and disciplines help us to access that power.

Tomorrow I will name some of the disciplines, many that Jesus modeled in his own life like prayer, fasting Sabbath, solitude, rest, scripture etc. But like John Mark Comer writes that “anything can become a spiritual discipline if we offer it to God as a channel of Grace… God works and we work. God has a part and we have a part.”

Challenge for today: Open yourself to practice a spiritual discipline that is new to you and allow the Holy Spirit to work in a deep way!
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy
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