Category: Sister Judy (Page 98 of 277)

Dear Ones,

Happy weekend as you prepare for Christmas! We had a party yesterday for December birthdays and today our women’s group is going out to The Landing for lunch and fellowship. I hope to get some cleaning done first. We have our children’s Christmas program tomorrow which is one of the highlights for me each Christmas, as children seem to tell the Christmas story often better than us adults. 

Dvotions from Judy’s heart

  How wonderful it is to be with people who exude the fragrance of Christ. We can sense the aroma of the sweetness of God’s presence on them and feel strengthened by just being with them.  I run a diffuser each day in Al’s study and our bedroom and I put different kinds of essential oils in them. It not only smells good but it sends a mist that can help kill bacteria and viruses, lift our spirit, and even oxygenate our cells. 

   When we spend time in the Lord’s presence and in His word, our lives are affected and we change and become more like Him. We let go of those stenchy things that are not pleasing to Him, and soon we notice a sweet fragrance results. It is not us, for in us dwells no good thing, but it is His love and nature that He is pouring into us and through us to others.

   It says in II Cor. 2:14-16, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?”

   Just like the diffuser we are to be fragrant dispensers of his love to others. We tell them what we have experienced but don’t try to dump the whole load on them. We have only to remember someone sitting next to us that seems to have used up their whole perfume bottle and it is overwhelming. We need to be gentle in our sharing. The diffuser sends out a steady flow of the oil fragrance and likewise we are to be consistent and let His love flow out of us to others without hindrance. But like Paul said, our fragrance isn’t always received well and to some we are a deadly aroma for they refuse the Lord.

   But let us not be deterred but let His fragrance through us fill the air and bring glory to Him.

Dear Ones,

Happy weekend! Hoping to get out this morning to get the cake at Costco for our monthly birthday party this afternoon. It is truly a winter wonderland, and Al and I walked in the snow yesterday although we had to go slower. Hope you are enjoying preparations for Christmas.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  Today we live in a polarized culture that is full of anger. We see pictures online of angry mobs, road rage, ransacking of stores, and even beating of innocent people that happen to be on the street. Anger seems to be fueled by the media and it makes anger seem normal and justifiable. As Christians we know that there is righteous anger but most of what we see and experience in ourselves is not righteous anger and can be destructive.

   The apostle Paul said, “ Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil.” (Eph. 4:26) James also says that our wrath does not accomplish the righteousness of God. (Jas. 1:20) So where does anger come from and what do we do with it? I am reading a chapter in John Michael Talbot’s book on anger and it gets me thinking of my own life. I don’t get angry often but as Al might say, I can get frustrated when watching the news and angry when things are reported falsely.

    Talbot says that anger comes from attaching our ego, and sense of worth, and enjoyment to objects, people, or projects. We have to let go of our old self nature and bring it to the cross in order to get free of anger. Sometimes we may think if we were in a different environment, it would solve our anger issues. One monk thought he could get rid of his anger by moving out of the monastery to a cave; but he discovered that his anger surfaced in getting angry at objects, like his jug of water that tipped over.

  It’s not good just to excuse ourselves when we are angry when corrected, or maybe belittled or injured by others. We must be open to recognize the anger that is in us, and be willing to forgive and let go, so that we may be healed. If we don’t, we will become bitter which results in poisoning us, for then we will fail to recognize the goodness of God. Talbot says the cure is praise of God in accepting and receiving forgiveness

  Let us not hide our anger but deal with it so that no bitter root will spring up in us.

Challenge for today: When thoughts of anger come to mind take it to the cross and let go that you may be healed.

Dear Ones,

  Hope you wake to a day full of God’s surprises. Have you ever been surprised by an unexpected road the Lord took you on and later thankful for how it turned out?  Perhaps we have all had those times and it is important to listen and go His way and not ours. 

We had a fun party here at Northern Lakes last night with so much food, games and prizes, and caroling. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  How focused are we to seek the will of God in our lives and then do it? Maybe we feel we have taken some side roads and veered off at times from the path God wants us on. All of us can get distracted and also influenced by others and sometimes we find we have missed an opportunity God had for us and we try to get on track again.

  When I was doing my homework for Women’s Bible Study and it is on the book of Ruth, I noted how she followed God’s plan for her life. She was a Moabite woman married to an Israelite man who died and left her a widow. She could have gone back to her home country and people but instead she went into the unknown of a new country and people with her mother-in-law.  She followed God’s plan for her life and didn’t get sidetracked and later married Boaz and became the great-grandmother of King David.

   Sometimes we miss the best God has for us when we get distracted by something good but not God’s best. We need to listen carefully and well for it could be that the good is the enemy of the best! Each time Al got a call for another church we had to pray and seek God’s will. One time it was for a church in Hawaii and the kids and I all said, Surely that is the will of God!! But of course, we knew it was our flesh responding to what seemed like an opportunity to spend our days on the warm beach!

  For many of us it would be hard to uproot and move across the country to a new job or perhaps to a foreign country; but it takes praying and listening and seeking to hear the Lord so we can discern His will. It doesn’t always seem logical or practical but later when we look back, we can see His hand moving us just where we need to be. As it says in Heb. 10:36 (ESV), “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised” Let us not settle for what is comfortable but seek to do His will.

   Challenge for today: Listen carefully and follow in obedience to what you hear the Spirit saying to you.

Dear Ones,

  Hope you had a good weekend and also time to be refreshed. We enjoyed time with our retreatant as we shared and prayed and ate together. Our hearts were blessed. This morning is Exercise class and  baking, and later this afternoon we have a Holiday happy hour party here that is really more of a dinner with casseroles etc. 

Sad loss for the Vikings yesterday!! . 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

   Joy is an obvious mark of a Christian, at least it should be, for we personally know the Joy Giver. When we know the One who loves us unconditionally and gave His life for us, our joy comes from a deep place. We are containers of His joy and the joy of the Lord is our strength.

  Recently several people in different groups I have been in have shared how happy they are and that they have everything they need. One shared how wonderful each day is as she starts her day with a cup of coffee as she looks out at God’s creation and enjoys the birds and all that He has made. Life is simple and rich. Another one who always seems to wear a smile said how blessed she was and had everything she could possibly need in her life of 90 years. In the same week another related how she finds joy in closeness to the Lord as she talks aloud to Him when going about her day. Her husband has asked at times, who she is talking to! Her heart overflows with joy.  I read today from Genesis 33:11 when Jacob tells his brother who he hasn’t seen for 20 years, “God has dealt graciously with me and I have everything.” He didn’t need anything more for his container was full.

   How about us? Are our hearts full of the joy of the Lord or are we downcast because we want more like someone else has, or we think we need ideal circumstances for joy to bubble up. Joy is found in the person of Jesus and as we know Him intimately, we can live joyously in His presence and spread His joy to others. No one can steal our joy, not negative comments, not stresses or difficult circumstances. Our joy comes from the deep well of knowing the Joy Giver.

  Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to make you a good carrier of His joy.  

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying the weekend as you make preparations for Christmas. Our retreatant friend came yesterday and wonderful to have time to listen and share together how God is moving. Many of you have prayed for him when he had his kidney transplant and it is such a miracle to see how well he is doing now. A big PTL of His healing power! What an awesome God we have!

Devotions from Judy’s heart

   Do we enjoy life and seek to delight in the Lord each day? I mean really enjoy life and are contented and more than satisfied?  Like David said in Psalm 16:11 (ESV), “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  The Lord wants to keep pouring more and more of His love and joy and peace into us, and the more space we make for Him, the more He can pour of Himself into us.

  Perhaps we need to ask the Lord to show us what things we no longer need in our lives so that we have a larger capacity for Him. We often crowd Him out with the clutter and busyness of our lives. I have only to think of my packed closet and how there are many things I need to get rid of. Maybe some items were those that I gravitated toward at a younger age but not appropriate for my mature years!; or some that were never the right color and made me look pale and tired. Time to get them out of my cluttered closet and make room to enjoy the ones that befit me now and make room for the new!

   True contentment comes with knowing the Lord in an intimate way. The enemy tries to circumvent that and whispers what we lack.  Just like Adam and Eve in the perfect Garden of Eden…Satan tempted them to believe that God was holding out on them and that they needed to taste the forbidden fruit. But that was not so and he tells us lies that we need this or that in our lives in order to be satisfied and fully content. But that too is a lie for the Lord Himself satisfies the desires of our hearts, and not a bigger house, glitzy wardrobe, or an impressive job. He satisfies the desires of our hearts if we give Him room. Rather than ruminate over what we think we need, let us trust that the Lord will give us all that will satisfy the longings of our heart.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to remove those things from you that take up space that He desires to fill.

  Then song goes on to say that we have room for pleasure and business, but do we have room for the one who died for us. Today is a time of grace as He calls us but if we keep ignoring Him, our heart gets cold and the time of grace will pass. Jesus warned his disciples that in the last days, most people’s love will grow cold. (Matt. 24:12)

   Every day we are to open our hearts to Him and as David prayed, let it be our prayer from Psalm 27:8 (God’s Word), “When you said, ‘Seek my face,’ my heart said to you, ‘O Lord, I will seek your face.’” David goes on to ask the Lord to teach him His ways and to lead him, as he waits in hope.

  Let us swing open our heart door to the Lord who wants to be the center or our lives and fills us with so much love and joy that other things fade away.

  Challenge for today: Put the Lord first in your life and let everything else revolve around Him.

Blessings on our weekend and prayers and love, Judy