Category: Sister Judy (Page 58 of 267)

  So why do we doubt or think that others are worth more? The enemy loves to tell us others are more gifted, better looking, more successful, and surely, they are worth more. But we need to view ourselves, not with self-doubts but in light of how Jesus sees us. He willingly gave His life for us, so He must have felt we were worth a lot. How many of us would give our lives for another? When I see a new born baby being loved by parents and adored by grandparents, it helps me take in my own worth. That baby doesn’t do anything to earn love; in fact, the baby demands a lot of time and attention. But the baby can’t do anything to prove his worth, only let himself be loved. We need to accept our place as His beloved child and receive His love that sets us free to be who He made us to be. It’s almost too good to be true! The Lord doesn’t compare us with others, as there is only one like us ever and we are a unique person of His creation.

  In faith we need to open our hearts and receive from the Lord as He desires to pour out His love on us and tell us how precious we are as His sons and daughters. No one else is a threat to us, as He shows no favoritism, and His love is unconditional. Since He loves you also, I don’t need to fear He won’t have enough love for me for He is love!  As Jer. 31:3 says, ” I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

 We have a choice to make and His love gives us the right to forgive ourselves and let healing happen. Author of Forgive and Forget, Lewis Smedes, says you will know when this happens as you will feel one with yourself again. The split is healed and whatever you did before will no longer cause you to reject yourself for the ultimate miracle of healing has taken place.

  How about us? Do we grovel over something we did years ago or do we know that His love covers that as we spell it out and ask forgiveness. We are made new and healing comes as we believe God’s power to forgive and heal us. I get excited just writing about this. We don’t have to live with ourselves mulling over past sins, wishing we had not done something, but rather with grateful hearts that we are forgiven and made new. We may respond by praising Him and by doing acts of love for others with a freedom that comes only from Him.

Happy weekend to you! Won’t be long until Christmas. Today I hope to do some baking. Any day we may hear a knock on our door to let us know we need to be gone out of our apt while they put in a new floor in our kitchen. Each apt is being done so we are starting to empty out things on the floor of the closets and pantry to get ready. 

   Giving teaches us things and most importantly that God is faithful, and we can trust Him to meet our needs. We may think that if we give away money or gift items that we may not have enough for ourselves, but I have found that when I give to others, I often get back a bounty. But even when we don’t see returns right away, we read stories of people who were helped as children and later they end up helping the very one who helped them earlier in life and have now fallen into poverty. But above all, we are putting our faith in God who is our provider, and we can depend on Him.

Becky helps us see how easy it is to get so focused on self and the world revolving around us, that we forget about those in need. In fact, we may come to the conclusion that we need more and are never satisfied. But when we give of ourselves, our time, and possessions to bless others we feel more thankful and satisfied. Our eyes get opened that life here on earth is temporary and whatever we have has come from the Lord in the first place. We need to close our ears to what our culture tries to tell us is important and instead give freely to bless others. Jesus gave us His unselfish example of giving all for the glory of His Father, and that was His very life. We become more like Him as we share with others, not only physical gifts but our time and especially the Good News.

We are also reminded that as we give, we see our need for each other and share and receive from others. We are not an island unto ourselves but we may have what someone else is in need of and at other times they provide what we need. We are a family, and we all have gifts to be used for others to benefit them. We don’t have it all together, but together we have it all! Everyone has something to contribute so let us have open hearts to not only give but to receive what the Lord would give us through someone else. As each of us gives we are blessed and become more like Jesus.

  There are times we may tell someone that we will pray for them, but do we forget, or do we follow through until that request is granted according to God’s will? I find that with so many of you that receive my daily devotions and ask for prayers, that I have to write them down in a journal or I will forget. It helps me to just pause for a moment when a request comes and send up a dart prayer right then. Afterwards I can write it down and refer to it in my daily prayers. The list that Al and I pray together for each morning is quite long and we also each have our own list that we remember in our individual times with the Lord.

   For some of you it may be most helpful for you to put requests on your mobile phone or your computer or calendar but do whatever works best for you, that will remind you to pray. We are to bear one another’s burdens and praying and interceding for others is powerful. I think we will find it changes us as well, when we lift others in prayer.

  We are told to pray without ceasing, and to also give thanks. Paul tells Timothy in I Tim 2:1 (God’s Word) “First of all, I encourage you to make petitions prayers, intercessions, and prayers of thanks for all people.” That means even our enemies. Jesus made time for prayer and often went away by himself to pray. How much more do we need to take time to pray.

  I think it is so uplifting when someone tells me they are praying for me and a specific need. I have to say that there are times I can actually sense the prayers of others as I know I would not be as calm in a difficult situation without them.  There is a peace and comfort that I know comes from Him through the prayers of others.

  Nothing we accomplish in life is worth comparing to knowing the Lord. In fact, the apostle Paul had lots of credentials and could have bragged about them, but he said he was throwing them out with the trash, because of Christ. In Phil 3 (The Message), he says “Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant-dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him.” He goes on to say he gave up inferior stuff to know Christ and to experience His resurrection power.

 Knowing the Lord and serving Him is far more important that getting to the top of the ladder of worldly success or accumulating great riches. Those things will one day all pass away but trusting and loving and serving the Lord has eternal value. If we live in His love, we will experience deep down joy and a sense of being fulfilled. As we share His love, it seems to multiply our joy. We can begin by practicing His love at home through sacrificial serving of one another. Sometimes it is costly, but it has eternal rewards reaps peace and blessings. Ajith Fernado wrote, “Love is going to be our preoccupation for eternity. Our present lives are but a training ground for the opportunity to fully experience and apply love.”  May we love Him and also share that love with others He puts in our lives.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to show you any areas of compromise in your life and make a full commitment to the Lord.

Happy weekend to you! I am soon going to bake Choc chip cookies on a stick and then go to get my haircut. There was a mix up in scheduling yesterday as Al had his teeth cleaned and his extraction isn’t until Monday at 10. 

  Challenge for today: Seek the Lord first and listen carefully to how He would direct you. It is not your job to fix everyone or everything!
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy