Category: Sister Judy (Page 62 of 267)

  Today I read from Matt. 15:8-9 (Message) when Jesus responded to the Pharisees and Scribes by saying, “These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it. They act like they’re worshiping me, but they don’t mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy.” We can just imagine how upset this made the Pharisees and Scribes who loved the applause of men and Jesus blew their cover. But are we also like them sometimes?

  Maybe we begrudgingly do something outwardly good but inwardly complaining and not doing it from a caring heart. God sees our heart and is more concerned with why we are doing things than what we do. I read today of how Jesus always responded by how His Father was directing Him. It wasn’t always convenient and there were many times He must have been so tired from people pressing in on Him and all wanting healing or their questions answered. After He got the news of his cousin John being decapitated, I’m sure He must have wanted to be alone as He grieved. He tried by slipping away by boat alone but someone saw Him, and word got out and the crowd walked around the lake to where He was. He didn’t hide from them but had pity and compassion and healed many all day long. Not only that but He fed the crowd before they went home. Jesus did it all to please His Father and His motive was love.

  Now we might ask ourselves how we would respond? I might have told the crowd to just give me some time and space to grieve since someone I loved died. But when we do what we feel the Holy Spirit is directing us to do, He will give us the energy and strength to do all that is needed; and I’m quite sure our hearts will expand with joy.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

I was reading from Psalm 124 today and it is a song that was sung by the Jewish people on their way to Jerusalem for a festival. I can only imagine how many problems that they may have had in their life but notice a few words of what they sing. “If God hadn’t been for us when everyone went against us, we would have been swallowed alive by their volent anger…We would have lost our lives in the wild, raging water. Oh, Blessed be God! He didn’t go off and leave us…God’s strong name is our help, the same God who made heaven and earth.”

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you have a wonderful day! It was a great win for the Vikings last night and a close exciting game. Today I am going to fry sunfish given to us by one of our friends from our Bible Study group!!!Also, going to make cookies for Al and do lots of food prep. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  As we get older, I hear people saying, “I can’t do all the things I use to do! My body is wearing out!” Our bodies do give out as we age and just recently, we have lost two men from our congregation who have been gradually declining and now are home with the Lord. But one day all of us who know the Lord will receive new bodies that will never wear out. Like it says in Phil. 3:20-21, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.” One day we will give up our earthly tent for our heavenly home. We can’t even imagine what that will be like.as we exchange our tent for a mansion in glory! If we are living when Jesus comes again, it will happen in the flicker of the eye, for we will be transformed into our glorious eternal bodies.

  When we have doubts and anxious feelings, we need to grab hold of the promises we have been given. We are not to live by our feelings for they are up and down but to find our security in the Lord who doesn’t change. Even when we have pain and troubles, may it not destroy our confidence in the Lord who will never give us more than we can handle with His help.\

 

  Let us rest secure, protected as if by the mountains that can’t be moved by our circumstances, but trusting His protecting hand until the day we are ushered home to glory and receive our eternal bodies.

  Challenge for today: Spend some time thanking the Lord for how He is preparing you for an eternity with Him.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy    

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Our walks on the Paul Bunyan trail are still so beautiful and full of gorgeous colors. Makes me wonder what heaven will look like! Today I go to my exercise class and hope to get some errands done. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  What is our attitude on Sunday morning as we prepare to go to church? Is it Lord, I am doing you a favor and going to church, even though I would like to sleep in and just take the day off. Or is it like King David who said in Psalm 122, “When they said, ‘Let’s go to the house of God,’ my heart leaped for joy.” That sounds like someone excited and looking forward to worship. This very Psalm is a Psalm of Ascent that Hebrew Pilgrims sang as they went up to Jerusalem for worship. Three times a year they made that trip to celebrate the festivals and it was a joyful time.

A simple song we use to sing in church that comes to mind, “We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord…. And we offer up to You the sacrifices of thanksgiving. And we offer up to you the sacrifices of joy.”

Let us gladly go to the house of the Lord and be united with others in worship to the Lord.

 

Challenge for today: Memorize Psalm 29:2, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.”

Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Happy weekend! We loved our time at the lake yesterday and were awed at the beauty of the brilliant-colored leaves all along the way. We enjoyed time with family, and it was a delightful day. Today I am going to clean and then shop for the Samaritan Purse shoeboxes. I love to watch the joy in the faces of the precious children receiving them.  

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  When I was a young girl, I remember how my mom would have devotions for us after the meal. We all memorized scriptures that she put on recipe cards, and in some way, they became indelibly imprinted in our minds and hearts. Often in my adult life those scriptures have spoken to me at a time that I have needed them. The Word is inspired and living and active and can bring change to our lives. Most of all our hearts can draw closer to the Lord as He speaks His Word to us.

  There are times we may be going through a spell when the Word of God does not seem to light up in our hearts and it may seem rather dry. Recently I read what Kristine Brown had to say to help us in such times. First of all, before we even open our Bibles, we can ask the Holy Spirit soften our hearts and to reveal things to us as we read the Word. He has so much He wants us to say to us if our hearts are open. She suggests reading a Psalm a day which seems to cover all the varied experiences we have and emotions that we deal with. I like to read one each day along with the other chapters in the Word.  I also use a devotional book or two as I often learn from other person’s writings and experiences. Kristine also writes that it is good to listen to the Bible read aloud. Like it says in Rom. 10:17, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God.” It is quite easy to hear the Bible read today as we can get Apps on our phones and listen to it when we go to work.  We can also read the Bible aloud to ourselves out as it is God’s love letter to us.  

 May we not neglect the Word of God but read with openness of heart.

Challenge for today:  Memorize or write down a meaningful verse of scripture and carry it with  you today.

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Devotions from Judy’s heart

The thought struck me as I was having devotions, do we really enjoy the Lord? I mean do we desire to speak to Him and share with Him all throughout our day, not because we have to, but because that is the desire of our hearts?

Challenge for today: Spend some time alone with the Lord and tell Him what He means to you and then listen to His words of love for you.

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

  Some of the things the Lord asks of us may not make logical sense to us but He has a plan and we are to trust and follow in obedience. It may feel at times that we are going almost the opposite direction of the desired outcome but then we notice it takes a turn and surprisingly all of a sudden. we are there. Or sometimes it is not unlike my cousin’s labyrinth whose path circles around and around and we feel like we are in the same place and not getting anywhere. But in reality, we realize we have all the while been coming closer to the center. Along the way it is good to get rid of any weights we have, so we can travel light without being weighed down.

  Sometimes it seems like He is taking us through the desert and we may long to be back in the honeymoon time with Him. But He knows when we are ready to be stretched and matured in new ways. It seems most of life is like a letting go of the familiar, the comfortable and entering into the new the Lord has for us. We are on a journey and must be good followers and let Him lead us wherever He would take us, lest we stagnate. When He says, move, let us move on, and not resist. Like the song goes, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back!” Even if no one joins us let us will still follow and put everything behind us and the cross before us!

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you wake to a sense of incredible peace. The question for this week is: What fear has the Lord helped you confront and overcome? 
Today I plan to make bread and go to my exercise class and craft class and Bible study at church. 

 Devotions from Judy’s heart

   Fear is a stealer of peace, and the enemy will use every means to try his hardest to instill fear in us. He often whispers to us, “What if….  What if you get sick? What if you lose your home? What if you make a fool of yourself in front of your peers?” The list goes on and on and fear can take hold and rob us of our peace. That is the intention of our enemy as he wants us to distrust the Lord and be controlled by fear.  

  There are so many “fear nots” in the Bible and we know that fear is not from God. It is a tactic of the enemy to cause us to doubt in the power of the Lord.  Instead, we are to face our fears in the power of the Spirit. I just finished reading in my devotions about how Joshua exhorted the people to not fear as they were up against 6 kings who joined their armies together to fight against Gibeon who asked for help from the Israelites. The Lord spoke to Joshua and told him not to fear as He was going to give every man into their hands, and He did. The enemy went into a panic, and the Lord caused the sun to stand still while the Israelites killed all of their enemies. Joshua’s words to his men are found in Joshua 10:25 (Amplified), “Fear not nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage. For thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”

   We are not to run from our fears but to confront them with prayer and faith, believing that God will take us through whatever it is that is before us. He is strong, He is all powerful, He will see us through! When I use to have to speak, I prayed fervently beforehand, as speaking to a group was a very fearful thing for me. Afterwards I was so full of thanksgiving, and I thanked the Lord all the way home. I had no doubt that it was only His power that got me through. We all have different fears to deal with, but we have a God who takes our fears and gives us strength and boldness to do the hard things. As the song by a priest, Robert Dufford goes: “Be not afraid. I go before you. Come, follow me, and I will give you rest.”

  Challenge for today: Give the Lord your fears and ask for courage to overcome them with His power.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

 

Dear Ones, 

May you wake to a hope-filled day! As I look out our BR window, soon the sun will come up and I am reminded of Mal. 4:2, “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.” This morning I have Womens Bible study and later we have friends coming for fellowship, pie and prayer!  

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  Our hearts go out to Israel as we get the reports of hundreds of people killed in the attack by Hamas and thousands injured. What can we do? We can pray as it says in Psalm 122, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” While reading on Crosswalk.com, I found several prayers that can help us as we hold the people up in prayer. I will include and combine a few short ones by Vivian Bricker:

 

“Dear Jesus, please provide restoration to the people of Israel and their nation. Please help them rebuild their cities and bring healing into their hearts. This is a difficult time for the Israeli people, and they need their restoration to come from you. We know you love Israel, Lord. Please give them the restoration they need physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In Jesus’ Name….. 

I had such an encounter on Saturday, and it left me knowing He was present in my day. I arrived at Aldi’s a couple minutes early so visited with a man who was already waiting in line outside. When the store opened, I busily started piling fresh fruits and veggies in my cart, including a stock of organic celery. That’s when this man approached me and asked for help as his wife had sent him to get organic miniature cucumbers. I didn’t even know they sold them, but I knew where to help him look and there it was. In the meantime, I put more veggies in my cart, including celery, not realizing I already had some. I didn’t catch that until I was bagging my groceries and wondered if I should go back and return one of the stocks of celery, but I didn’t want to get in line again. When I got home, I thought of the 94-year-old widow down the hall who appreciates fresh produce but doesn’t want to buy a whole bag of one kind of fruit or veggie for just one person. So, I bagged a few different fruits and wondered about the celery… but I put that in anyway, as I sure didn’t need two of them. I hung the bag on her door and later in the evening received a phone call from her, thanking me profusely, especially for the celery. She said she loves celery but never buys it since she can’t use up a whole stock of celery. After I got off the phone, I smiled and knew it was the Lord’s doing. He cared enough for a widow’s pleasure to let her know that He sees her. And he let me know He can use even my mistakes when given to Him. 

This is such a small encounter, but the Lord lets us know He is present in our day. He is all the while aware of us, touching us, loving us. As it says in I John 3:1, “What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s’ who we really are.” The Father loves to bless His children.

Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy