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.

Page 83 of 357

August 1s9, 2023

August 19, 2023 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Happy Weekend to you! We are going on our walk in a few minutes as it is just going to keep heating up today and I have to stay out of the sun. I cleaned already and am busy fixing salmon and halibut given to us. What a treat! 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
   In the days ahead it is going to be imperative that the Body of Christ be closely knit together if we are going to be able to stand against the onslaught of the enemy. We can see more each day of the animosity towards the church of God and how we are losing freedoms that we have held in the past. We can’t stand alone but we can stand strong together to make a difference. Paul says in Eph. 4:4, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling.”
  But that doesn’t mean we all come from the same mold and similar denominations but rather that we embrace the truth of the gospel, believing Jesus died for us, rose from the dead and will come back for us one day. We don’t have to capitalize on the differences that some churches emphasize, and others may not, but rather to see our common ground in Christ. We are only one part of the stream that flows from the cross and many others who join along the way, of those that embrace Christ. Each has something to contribute and broadens the stream and enriches our lives and helps us become more balanced. I came from an evangelical background, but I have enjoyed dipping into the other streams and especially embrace the contemplative in my present life. I love to be alone in our bedroom where my desk is, and spend time in quiet and seeking to hear the Lord, reading contemplative books and the lives of those who are led by the Holy Spirit etc.
  But for all of us we are to be open and receptive to all other streams and unit with others. In the future we may need the ministry of those who show compassion and give care, or we may be called to missions to share the gospel to a diverse group, or we may sense the need of power of the Holy Spirit to help us stand against accusations against us. We are to be open, stretched, always learning and open to the new things the Lord has for us.
  Let us not try to go it alone but to join with others and be strengthened together to stand in the difficult days ahead.
Challenge for today: Ask and learn from other Christians that aren’t just like you!
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

 

August 18, 2023

August 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Happy weekend to you! Today Al and I are going to celebrate our birthdays which is midway between both of them in August. We are going to good restaurant in Crosby and to the Christian bookstore, where I suspect Al will spend his birthday money!Emoji
Devotions from Judy’s heart
 Sometimes we read words that seem to just describe what we have been thinking and perhaps mulling over. Gina Smith, author and writer, wrote on “How to Find Joy in the Daily Grind.” Perhaps her description is of many of us who do the same routine things day after day, often without even thinking, and one day we question what is it all about anyway. Often it hits on those special birthdays like turning 40, or 60 or when we have little ones and do repetitive things each day; we wonder what we have accomplished and if it is important in the grand scheme of things.

 We may ask ourselves if we have wasted our lives and need improvement or are we just where God would have us be in His timetable?  God wants us to share our days with Him, even in what we might call the daily grind, the endless tasks and meetings at the office, the many interruptions with young children. Gina challenges us to partner with the Lord in all of these things and do what He has orchestrated for us. With Him by our side we find purpose in it, even in the smallest things for the Lord sees the end from the beginning. I think of Billy Graham’s mom and wonder if she realized when he was a just a wee boy, that she was helping form the life of one who would be a man of God and bring millions to the Lord. We have no idea what long range things will happen when we are partnered with the Lord.

  Our work itself should be a witness to others when we do it heartily as unto the Lord. Paul said in Col. 3:23 (God’s Word), “Whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly as though you were working for your real master and not merely for humans.” If we barely squeak by in doing our work, it is not much of a testimony of who we serve. When we connect with the Lord, praying throughout our day, we can experience His help and have purpose in our doing. We need to remember the big picture, and as we serve others like our family, that we might bring glory to Him. May all we do point back to the Lord for He is in everything throughout our day.

 Challenge for today: Offer your day to the Lord and bring glory to Him in the big and the smallest tasks.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

 

August 17, 2023

August 17, 2023 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you have a day full of blessings! Today is Donut day here and I have a Donut waiting for Al when he comes home from Men’s group. This morning we also have a parade of antique cars that will be on the service road behind our apartment, along with shopping and brats. This afternoon is Bible Study and then tonight I have Women’s Bible Study so the day is full of good things. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  It’s one thing to have a great knowledge of the scriptures but it is quite another thing to live it out in our actions. The Pharisees could recite long passages of the Word and were steeped in the law but their actions and attitudes were often not in sync.  What about us? Can that often be said of us as well that we have a good talk, but not always a good walk!
  Today I was reading of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Colossae and he tells them he has not stopped praying for them and says in Col. 1:9-10, “We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through every kind of spiritual wisdom and insight. We ask this so that you will live the kind of lives that prove you belong to the Lord. Then you will want to please Him in every way as you grow in producing every kind of good work by this knowledge about God.” When others look at our lives, what do they see? Do we live lives that express our love for the Lord and concern for others.
   Luke writes about the early Christians that met together after Jesus resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. They had a single purpose and were joyful and humble and ate at each other’s homes, shared what they had, gave to the poor, and went to the temple each day. (Acts 2) Their lives were a living testimony to others that they knew Jesus. Would others say that about us? Can they tell just by observing our lives and seeing our fruit that we are Christ’s followers?
  When our number one desire each day is to please the Lord and to bear fruit, our lives can attract others to want to know the Lord. So many are looking for peace and for joy and not finding it in the world. May we be a living witness of the love of the Lord and share Him with others by our words and how we live our lives.
  Challenge for today: Ask the Lord for opportunities to share His love in ways that help others  desire to know Him.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

August 16, 2023

August 16, 2023 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you enjoy this day and let the sunshine of His grace fill you! I just made Starch free choc chip cookies and soon going to my exercise class. Tonight, is Bible study at church.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
How many of us doubt God’s goodness at times in our lives when things may not be going so well. We may think, where are you God? We say we believe but then we begin to doubt and wonder if He really has our best interests at heart? It takes faith and trust that what is happening now, will one day bring us to a good place.

  It’s important to be honest with ourselves and tell God how we really feel, for it is no secret with Him. We might end up saying, “God, right now I wonder if you really care for me and why this is happening to me!” Or we might also confess to a trusted spiritual friend that we are struggling in our faith or that we are dealing with a pride issue or whatever is going on in our hearts. As we are vulnerable and honest, the Holy Spirit is at work and we will recognize our need for grace. When I think about it, as Christians we are just people helping point others to His grace and to receive His mercy. We should not be shocked for if we are honest, those very things we see in others are also stuck in our own hearts.

  Every day it is good to ask the Holy Spirit to show us our hearts, especially those parts that need to come into the light. If we are to be honest and not hiding from ourselves or others, we can admit our sin areas of pride, anger, unforgiving attitudes etc. Of course, our own pride doesn’t want us to focus on our own sinfulness, but rather the sins of others. Inward pride may be harder to deal with for if we do something outward for all to see, we can more easily admit our failure. But secret hidden sins seem to grow in the shadows and how much better if we confess them to the Lord or another close Christian. Maybe there is envy as we want what others have and think God is holding out on us; or maybe there is jealousy, malice, anger, greed or resentment. We may struggle more with anger and for someone else it may be jealousy but whatever it is, we need to spend time before the Lord and ask for help to face those things that hinder our closeness to Him. Like it says in I John 1:9 (Message), “On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—He won’t let us down; He’ll be true to Himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.”

 Challenge for today: Don’t excuse your sin but humbly and honestly admit your sin and ask for His forgiveness and then thank Him that He is a good God!
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

 

Numbering My Days

August 15, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This blog reflects on the personal journey of one who has tried to follow the Lord for the past 65 years.  At my age, one spends time looking back in the rearview mirror, even while yearning to finish strong.  The Psalmist reminds me, “Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty.  But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.” (Ps. 90:10 NLT). I have now reached eighty, and am experiencing the swift passing of time.  The Psalmist then prays, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom” (v. 12).  My continual cry is to have wisdom to pass on to the next generation.

Elsewhere, the Psalmist prays, “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered – how fleeting my life is.  You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.   My entire lifetime is just a moment to you, at best, each of us is but a breath” (Ps. 39:4-5 NLT).  As I go to more funerals, I am more acutely aware of life’s brevity.  

My prayer is that I might finish strong.  God knows my numbered days: “You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Psalms 139:16).  At a recent funeral for a  Christian woman from our apartment building, I sat quietly meditating before the service.  I sensed the Lord giving me a three point directive for the rest of my days. 

Why share these with you? Perhaps because who I am becoming in “the fourth quarter” can be expressed in these three directives.  They are simple, not weighted down with obligation and detail, viewed more as being than doing. At my stage of the journey, I can give my emotional and spiritual energy to these three things.  I have learned that the older we get, the simpler life really becomes. 

1) “Cherish your wife.”  This advice was given to me many years ago by my mentor, James Houston.  Cherish means to “protect and care for; to keep in one’s mind.”  In my relationship with Judy, I am to cultivate our oneness in marriage with the utmost care and affection.  Ecclesiastes 9:9 – Message  encourages me to, “Relish life with the spouse you love each and every day of your precarious life.  Each day is God’s gift.”  God has given us 57 years together to grow in the Lord.  Cherish each day with your wife; there are not that many left.  

2) “Point people to Jesus.”  I take this second, direct, and simple point to mean my whole being.  Words, actions and attitude are meant to reflect the presence of Christ.  I desire for people to be ready to meet Jesus when they die.  Remember, I live with seniors and lead a study for “the gray hairs” – as I call us. May my life give off the aroma of Christ. “Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.  Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God” (II Cor. 2:14-15 NLT).  

3) “Act like a man.”  Wow.  When I was a young man, acting like a man was rather simple and straightforward.  Not anymore. There was general consensus about what is means to be a biological man, even with little awareness of the masculine soul.  My life as an “old man” is to reflect the “tough and tender” nature of Jesus – with a more mature understanding of the masculine soul.

August 16, 2023

August 15, 2023 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope your day is full of peace and your heart open to all that the Lord has for you. We plan to have friends over for coffee and fellowship. Today I am sharing a story from Facebook that I laughed so hard when I read, but there is also good truth in it. Emoji 
Devotions from Judy’s heart 
  I read the following short story on Facebook, and it spoke to me of all the things we may not understand when we go through challenging times and question the Lord.
“A pastor asked an older farmer, decked out in bib overalls, to say grace for the morning breakfast.
‘Lord, I hate buttermilk’, the farmer began. The visiting pastor opened one eye to glance at the farmer and wonder where this was going.
The farmer loudly proclaimed, ‘Lord, I hate lard.’ Now the pastor was growing concerned.
Without missing a beat, the farmer continued, ‘And Lord, you know I don’t much care for raw white flour’. The pastor once again opened an eye to glance around the room and saw that he wasn’t the only one to feel uncomfortable.
Then the farmer added, ‘But Lord, when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love warm fresh biscuits. So Lord, when things come up that we don’t like, when life gets hard, when we don’t understand what you’re saying to us, help us to just relax and wait until you are done mixing. It will probably be even better than biscuits. Amen.’
Within that prayer there is great wisdom for all when it comes to complicated situations like we are experiencing in the world today.
Stay strong, my friends, because our LORD is mixing several things that we don’t really care for, but something even better is going to come when HE is done with it. AMEN!”
  We all go through tough times, and we may wonder where the Lord is in it all. But like this story unfolds, we need to be patient and wait and trust Him even in the midst of it all. Like David said in Psalm 27:14, “Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.” Let us stay strong even before we know how the Lord is working out our situations and trust Him completely.
  Challenge for today: When going through your next difficult time, trust and thank the Lord that He is working it all out in His timing.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

 

August 14, 2023

August 14, 2023 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you had a great weekend! Rain today and cooler but is going to heat up again this week. Today I am off to Aldi’s and to my exercise class and want to do some food prep. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  Al and I had a funny experience one day recently. I was making him his favorite cookies and he was hoping for the biggest one to have with his coffee at 8 a.m. I saved him a warm one and put the rest in the freezer and also put another cookie for me to have by the coffee maker. At 8 o’clock Al poured his coffee and was walking to his study with his outstretched hand carrying 2 cookies like they were a trophy. I asked him what he was doing as he had my cookie too, and he had presumed that I had put both cookies there for him. Wrong, but we had a good laugh!
  I thought about it in a spiritual way of how we can all get caught up in presumption and assume things to try to force God’s hand. Some sins kind of sneak up on us but presumptuous sins are more willful and deliberate. We become careless and presume to know better than God. We may even get to the place where we don’t think sin is a big deal, but it is!
  King David must have known that he was susceptible and prayed in Psalm 19:13-14, “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.” He must have realized he was susceptible to willful sins. You may also remember the story of Uzzah in the Old Testament when the ark was being carried on a cart and started to fall. He assumed God wouldn’t care if he touched it, which was a definite no no! But when he did, he was struck dead. That is a big price to pay for presuming!
  We may presume in smaller ways like thinking what God gave to us yesterday He will give us today. Not necessarily so. Marc LaCour writes how different presumption is compared to faith. Presumption starts with an assumption and faith begins with a promise. The example he gives is that faith says God will give us this day our daily bread; presumption believes the bread must be hot and buttered. Although it may be, God doesn’t have to do it our way. Another example given is that of presumption wanting to manipulate the outcome but faith waits for the Lord to act. Like Moses who murdered an Egyptian to free his people, it only hindered the process to freedom. When we walk in faith, we wait for God’s timing and for God to do it His way!  
Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to keep you from presumptuous sins and be willing to wait for His
 answers.  
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

August 12, 2023

August 12, 2023 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you are enjoying the weekend! Today looks to be sunny and we got some rain yesterday along with a little hail. I am cleaning this morning and baking cookies and doing lots of food prep. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Everyone needs love! All around us are signs of love and beauty and it is love that binds our hearts to others. I don’t know about you, but my love is not big enough to encompass all those around me for my love is so imperfect and selfish. It is not hard to love people who love us and want the best for us, but it is a struggle to love those who treat us badly and speak evil of us. Our love runs out, but we have a source that never runs out.
  Jesus’ love is like no other for He loved those that despised Him and spoke lies about Him and even crucified Him.  His love is greater than words can express and reaches to the lowest hell to save all. I want to love more like Him and going to bed one night, I prayed that I could see others more through His eyes. The people that give us the most trouble are the very ones that need love the most. That’s why we need to see beyond the outward and minister to the hidden person within. Only the Lord can give us that kind of love!
  When an expert in the law asked Jesus what he had to do to be saved, Jesus answered in Luke 10:27 (God’s Word), “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and will all your mind. And love your neighbor as you love yourself.” We first have to love God and receive His love before we can really love others. Only then can we see those around us through His lens and have self-sacrificing love for them.
  When God’s supernatural love flows through us, we recognize it is Him and not our own selfish love. We want the best for others, we want to see them healed and restored and forge ahead. Every time we feed the hungry, welcome newcomers, clothe the poor, encouraging the weak, we are expressing His love in tangible ways. Let us ask to see other’s needs as He sees them and give out of a heart of His love,
  Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to see others through His eyes and express His love as the Holy Spirit leads you. 
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy 

 

 

August 11, 2023

August 11, 2023 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Happy Weekend! Another lovely day and our son and daughter-in-law and another couple just stopped in on their way to the lake for the weekend. I have been busy in the kitchen this morning freezing beans etc. and taking care of all that I received last night. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  I woke up early and occasionally there is a song playing over in my mind and this day it was the doxology that is often sung in many churches. I silently sang it back to the Lord and thought of all the ways the Lord has blessed me. “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” This song was written way back in 1674 by an English cleric but it expressed what was in my heart today.
  The Lord is so worthy of our praise as He is the source of all our blessings, the biggest being his death on the cross for our sin, down to the smallest blessings of each day. Just last night a friend brought over 2 big bags full of fresh produce from her sister’s garden and also salmon and halibut her husband caught in Canada. It has been quite some time since I have been able to have a garden and to pick fresh produce as we live in an apartment now; and I can’t remember the last time I had that kind of fish all cleaned and ready for the pan. I couldn’t wait to get to my kitchen this morning to begin cooking! I also felt I wanted to share some of what I was blessed with to an elderly widow who I know appreciates fresh garden produce; I crept down the hall and left it outside her door and when I knocked, I quickly disappeared. Her gift is also from the Lord who prompted someone to give to me! Think of how the chain of blessings can go on and on when our hearts are moved! We don’t receive the credit but simply the Giver! I only gave what was never mine in the first place. That’s the way it is with God’s blessings!
   Let us all experience the joy of receiving His blessings with thanksgiving in our hearts. as we name them and express gratitude back to Him. But let’s not stop there but be stirred to also share with others… I think we will find our joy will be multiplied and the other persons blessed!
  Challenge for today: As you have freely received thank Him and then freely give to others.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy.

 

August 10, 2023

August 10, 2023 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you have a wonderful day! It is Al’s birthday today and there is a banner on our door and more cards it seems, every time we open the door. Al is at men’s group, and I just made Gluten free cookies for church and meatloaf for us. We have Bible study this afternoon so will wait to go out for dinner another day. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart 
  It is likely all of us have been hurt by someone close to us and we felt the wounds and at times let them fester. We all had to make a choice if we wanted to let the pain eat away our joy or if we would forgive the hurt that we may not have deserved, and let our heart heal. I am reading a book by a professor who was at Fuller seminary, Lewis Smedes on “Forgive and Forget, and it is causing me to go to a deeper level in how I deal with hurts. Whenever we open ourselves up to others, we are vulnerable to hurts and they are healed by forgiving the one who wounded us.
  Some may choose to deny the pain as we don’t want others to have that much power over us to hurt us. Or we may not admit the pain out of fear that we may end up hating the people that are to love us rightly, like a parent. Sometimes people hurt us believing they are just being fair or because they may feel we deserve it. Some hurt is caused unintentionally or a spill-over of the chaos in the other person’s own life. Or maybe a doctor makes an error that severely changes our life even though it wasn’t purposeful, and we are left to forgive.
  Smedes writes how annoyances and slights are superficial and we just need to shrug them off and go on with our lives. That is different from serious hurts like disloyalty when a husband leaves his wife for another woman, or betrayal when a friend treats us like the enemy, or brutality when a woman is raped by a stranger.  Those things that cause us deep pain we will need to practice forgiveness. As it says in Col. 3:13, “if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”
  If we refuse to forgive, we end up with passive hate that does not wish the offender well; in fact, we may wish them harm as in aggressive hate which becomes like a malignant growth in our body until we deal with it and go on to be healed. When we deny those hateful feelings, it leaves us cold, and we feel sick inside. Hate will only grow, and we need to instead forgive the one who has hurt us. Smedes describes it as spiritual surgery inside our own soul for we cut away the wrong done to us so we can see the enemy in a new light and detach the person from our hurt. We let it go like a trapped butterfly set free. Through the eyes of forgiveness, we see their own hurt and release them. One day when we notice that we actually wish them well, we realize that we have begun to forgive. Even if the other person does not respond, we are free and healing! Let us not hold on to hurt, anger and hate, but forgive and be set free.
Challenge for today: Check your heart to see if you can wish someone well that has hurt you in the past; If not, ask the Holy Spirit to help you let them go and to forgive.
  Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

 

« Older posts Newer posts »
Email Subscription

Lists*

© 2025 Canaan's Rest

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑