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TerryLema

Set His Face to Go

by TerryLema

Eight days to the Day of Resurrection Celebration (what we call Easter Sunday). If things remain as they are right now, we will still be under a Stay-At-Home directive on that date, April 12. That doesn’t mean Easter is “canceled,” but it means the celebration of it will be postponed a few weeks.

Postponing the celebration doesn’t in any way alter the absolute truth that nearly 2000 years ago, our Savior and Lord, Christ Jesus rose from the grave! Since then every day is Resurrection Day; we just choose to commemorate it once a year.

Our commemoration of that Day of Jubilee and Hope is always a special day. This year we will probably participate with others at an on-line church service. For The Way, we intend to make our first Sunday back together our Celebration Sunday. We’ll have our worship and service, we’ll have a great Back-Together-Lunch and we may hang around the building and tell stories of our lock-down days, the earthquake, or the great toilet paper scavenger hunts. And then we may just worship and sing our praises some more before we all go home.

Let’s remember, in the days leading up to that celebration just what it cost Jesus to give us our life of Jubilee and Hope. His sacrifice was great. The cost He paid was beyond reckoning.

Luke reminds us that Jesus walked toward the cross. “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” [9:51 NKJV]

The cross was not a surprise to Him, neither was it thrust upon Him by others. He knew what was ahead, which makes what He did for us even more wonderful.

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Daily Bread

by TerryLema

I have been thinking about the prayer Jesus gave His disciples (The LORD’s Prayer) and I’ll be writing a bit more about what is contained in it over the next weeks, but today I want to look at just one part.

In our backyard are six evergreen trees. Winter, spring, summer and autumn they are filled with little birds. The birds call them home. About six feet away sits a platform on the fence that Bob has set up as a bird feeder. We go through a lot of bird seed each year, especially in the colder months. During some seasons we only need to replenish it about twice a day, other seasons require much more.

The birds always minister to me. They sing. They sit on the top branches and enjoy the sunshine when it hits the trees. They flock to the safety of the inner tree when they sense danger nearby. They hold on during the wind and remind me that “A bird can sing on a branch that swings because she knows how to fly!”

Lately, however, they’ve reminded me of how Jesus told us to pray. “Give us day by day our daily bread.”

 The birds are not panic-driven. They know when the sliding door opens in the morning that they are about to get a fresh supply. They tweet at us and sing and grow louder and louder as we get closer and closer to their feeder. When we walk back and shut the door that is their signal to flock to the feeder for their fill.

This same scenario plays out multiple times during the day. They know we are bringing them their “daily bread” and even before it hits the feeder, they are serenading their thanksgiving.

We are dependent upon God for our daily bread. Not just physical bread, although our supply and resources are based solely in Him for everything we need, but also for our daily spiritual bread. The birds remind me to come to Him each morning for everything I need – both in dependence upon Him and thanksgiving to Him.

Daily Bread!

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Earthquake!

by TerryLema

I was sitting in the big living room recliner Tuesday evening here in Caldwell, Idaho, when I wondered how the vibrator got turned on – immediately realizing this chair doesn’t have a vibrator! The vibrator was six miles deep up in the mountains a hundred miles from us and it was vibrating at 6.5 on the Richter scale.

It happened while we were watching the evening news, so news anchors in the area were scrambling to find the epicenter and rating and how far away it was felt. Finally, one local anchor commented on people being scared saying, “I guess it all depends on whether you built your house on a rock or on the sand.”

Oh my. When you get news anchors paraphrasing Scripture it’s like being in the Twilight Zone.

The Scripture he was referring to is Matthew 7:24-27: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

These are certainly strange times, beloved. All kinds of things happening around us … even the ground shaking as an exclamation point that we really have little control. As we struggle to contain a novel virus, practice social distancing and heed the stay-at-home directive, even the very ground under our feet acts as it will without regard for how we feel.

When everyone around us is reacting with fear, we must remember that we have built our house on The Rock, Christ Jesus. And, “There is no Rock like our God.” [1 Sam 2:2]

Amen & Amen

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Moment by Moment

by TerryLema

One of the most difficult parts of this stay-in-place COVID-19 isolation order isn’t the staying home part, it’s the uncertainty of when this ban will be lifted. The President has recommended that it now go through the end of April. And I guess the corresponding worry is just who will decide it’s over and what will be the determining guidelines.

So, we wait, and we wait some more, and we do the best we can in the meantime.

We are living what Solomon described in Proverbs 13:12a: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.”

I have read that proverb many times, but this morning my attention was drawn to that word, “deferred.” Deferred means to put off to a later time, it doesn’t mean destroyed. Solomon recognized that as he finished the proverb with “but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Soon the ban to gather will be lifted and that deferred hope will become a fulfilled longing and a tree of life to us.

In the meantime, there is a hope that is not deferred. David, Solomon’s dad, posed the question, “But now, Lord, what do I look for?” and then he gave the answer, “My hope is in you.” [Ps 39:7]

Our hope to gather may be deferred, but our hope in God is with us every moment of every day. We know His promises. We know He keeps His promises. We know that He is Almighty God and our Rock that is above all Rocks!

That is our moment-by-moment hope. “Jesus, my hope is in You.” Amen

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Calls to Me in My Weakness

by TerryLema

Music always ministers to my soul. I hear a song about my LORD and suddenly my heart soars into the heavenlies. It seems that no matter what is going on around me, when I hear a song about my Jesus, I meet Him there.

One of the simplest of songs is what we often consider a song for children. “Jesus Loves Me.”

Verse 1: Jesus loves me! This I know / For the Bible tells me so /Little ones to Him belong /They are weak, but He is strong. [Chorus] Yes, Jesus loves me / Yes, Jesus loves me / Yes, Jesus loves me /The Bible tells me so.

That song is more than just a children’s song … it is the very essence of our heart’s faith. Jesus, God’s very Son loves us so much He didn’t just agree to die for us, He chose to do so. Even in His darkest moment in the Garden of Gethsemane when He was so overwhelmed with grief that He felt like He would die right then, He reaffirmed His decision to obey the Father’s will and die for the Father’s children. [Mark 14:32-34]

When I am reminded of that love that calls to me in my weakness, I move once again into His embrace. There I am safe and am strengthened.

This morning, rather than listen to my words, listen to the words of “Jesus Loves Me.” My favorite rendition of this is by Marshall Hall. You may not like it; it is a bit different … but you can’t help but be touched deep in your soul by the audience’s reaction. It’s not a reaction to Marshall Hall’s singing. It’s a reaction to the realization that they are loved by a Wonderful Savior.

Here’s the link:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Jesus+Loves+me+you+tube%2c+marshall+hall&&view=detail&mid=439B305201A851F741E6439B305201A851F741E6&rvsmid=B4FD7246F56A2EF15893B4FD7246F56A2EF15893&FORM=VDRVRV

 

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The Hollow of His Hand

by TerryLema

Mosie Lister. You may not know that name, but hopefully you know some of the songs he’s written. One of my favorites is “Then I Met the Master.” I especially love the Booth Brothers rendition of it, which you can find on YouTube.

But this morning, the Mosie Lister song that ministers to my soul is, “Till the Storm Passes By.” The opening verse and chorus goes like this: In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face / While the storm howls above me, and there’s no hiding place / ‘Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry / Keep me safe till the storm passes by. [Chorus] Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more / Till the clouds roll forever from the sky. / Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand / Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

It seems every time the news comes on or there’s an update from CDC or government, the storm howls a bit louder. Every time a new death occurs from COVID-19, the thunder crashes again. It seems no one knows when this storm will end. We are told to stay at home, and in Idaho that directive ends on April 15, but if you are like me, there’s this nagging feeling that wonders if they will extend it past that original date. We can hunker down for three weeks, but what if it becomes six or even nine weeks. How will that “shelter-in-place” affect our spiritual and emotional well-being.

It is then I sing those last lines of Mosie’s chorus, “Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand, keep me safe till the storm passes by.” And when I sing that chorus, I remember the words of Jesus.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” [John 10:27-30]

I listen to the voice of the Shepherd. I follow Him. I shall not perish. And nothing, no one, can take me out of the hands of my Savior and my Father.

Be comforted, beloved, storms end, God’s care for us never does.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Till+the+Storm+Passes+by+Grace+Thrillers&&view=detail&mid=F6E71848C26ECF66805EF6E71848C26ECF66805E&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DTill%2Bthe%2BStorm%2BPasses%2Bby%2BGrace%2BThrillers%26FORM%3DVDMHRS

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Does Not Disappoint

by TerryLema

I was reading Alton Garrison’s book, “A Spirit-Empowered Church*” for our Act2Journey at The Way when I came upon these words: “We know faith is a process—comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. The more Scripture you get inside you and the more you believe it, the more faith you will have. Faith is almost educational in nature. But hope is emotional. You can’t educate people into hope. Yet even in our darkest moments of disappointments and heartache, the Spirit of God can renew our hope.”

Then Garrison quotes Paul in Rom 5:3-5 “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

This is a difficult time as we walk through this COVID-19 pandemic. We are isolated. We are forbidden to “gather.” The relationships that we often depend upon in our daily walk aren’t there. As I got up this morning I was sad as I remembered I wouldn’t be heading over to The Way building to set things up for all the people I love who would normally “gather” at the 10:30 AM service.

My faith in God is not diminished. We serve an Almighty LORD. If anything, faith is stronger because many of the things of this world that distracted me are gone…I’m locked away with just my LORD.

But I miss my brethren. And I know that they probably miss me. My hope diminishes just a bit. So, my beloved, this morning I pray for you and for me that through this time of distress, we persevere. That our character will be shaped by our faith, and that character strengthened in faith will produce hope. And that Holy Spirit given hope will invade our emotions – and when it does, it will not disappoint us! God bless you this Sunday!

*Influence Resources

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7:14 PM Prayer

by TerryLema

2 Chronicles 7:13-14: “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 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 will forgive their sin and heal their land.” [NKJV]

Many Christians leaders are calling for a day of fasting and prayer tomorrow, March 29. They are also asking Christians to stop at 7:14 PM every night during this crisis and pray 1 Chronicles 7:14. That certainly seems a prophetic word since we are in the midst of a “pestilence” in our land.

We can’t gather in our buildings in most places across this nation. We are to self-isolate to prevent the spread of this COVID-19 pestilence. But I have learned over the years that there is no time nor distance in the power of the Holy Spirit and prayer.

So, let’s join the world and set a timer on our phones, watches, Kindles or whatever to remind us to stop what we are doing at 7:14 PM and pray and repent and humble ourselves before the LORD our God Almighty.

The United States is a great nation, one of the greatest in history. Our people have invented more, done more, that we probably even realize.

Still, there is much for which we need to repent. We are a divided nation under the control of greed and covetousness. We are a nation that sheds the blood of innocents every day. We are a nation that often disregards the poor and the marginal of our society. We spew hate from our media and social media. Many of our churches have become bastions of complacency and heresy.

God promised, however, that if we seek His face, if we turn from our wicked ways, He will hear and forgive and heal our land. 7:14 PM Prayer. Amen.

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Vulnerable Warrior

by TerryLema

When did I go from being the “energizer bunny,” working a job, pastoring a church, running around all the time to do things for others … when did I go from that to being “the most vulnerable of our society?”

I laughed at a meme on Facebook that said something like “when you are thinking about caring for the elderly and then you realize you are the elderly.”

At 73, during a COVID-19 crisis, I am the most vulnerable. Vulnerable as applied to me means age, two auto-immune diseases, medication that lowers resistance to infection, and now Type A blood. (It’s been discovered, apparently, that Type O blood is more resistant to COVID-19 and Type A more susceptible.) And the hits just keep on coming.

Well, society has labeled me “the most vulnerable” but I sure don’t feel that way, and I don’t see myself that way. Inside I’m 35. I don’t like retirement or sitting around. I have no plans to while away my “latter years” doing nothing. Why?

The LORD’s return could be any day now and there is still too much to do before His Second Coming. Honestly, I don’t believe in “The Rapture” but I am sure looking forward to the LORD’s Return to re-claim this earth as the Kingdom of God Omnipotent. I want to be ready; I want others to be ready, I want all to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

The time is short. We just may be in the precursor of the tribulation Jesus described in Matthew 24. When I see my Savior’s face, I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things.” [Matt 25:21 NIV]

So yes, society you may go ahead label me The Most Vulnerable. But I hope my God sees me as A Mighty Warrior for Him. And His opinion is the only one that matters!

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God Sets the Lonely in Families

by TerryLema

I took a walk the other day before our cold, rainy weather returned. Walking around the neighborhood is about all one can do with this social-distancing order in effect. I left my earbuds and music at home since I wanted to connect with people who might also be out and about (of course, maintaining the 6-foot separation rule).

There’s one larger home that I frequently walk by. It often has five cars parked in the driveway or on the street in front of the house. Four of those cars are different model Toyotas. One is a Honda. I tend to notice things like that.

As I walked by on my most recent walk, all five cars were there. It made me wonder how one becomes a Honda in a home full of Toyotas. Then I began to speculate, “is the Honda the rebel or are all those Toyotas rebels.” “What came first, the Honda or the Toyota?” My brain gets crazy like that some days.

That’s all silliness. Except … yep, there goes my brain again. I thought about choosing Christ Jesus as LORD. When I came to know my Savior, I was surrounded with people who did not. I was that lone Honda amid all the Toyotas. Eventually, most of the people around me changed. Some came to know the Savior also, and some who did not rejoice with my choice simply went away.

God began to surround me with a family of brothers and sisters who now had the same Father and the same LORD. God took me from being the lonely one and put me in a family, His family.

I have always loved Psalm 68, especially verses 5-6: “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing.”

God did that for me (and you). He put me in His wonderful family, He brought this prisoner of sin and rebellion into a life of joy and freedom. Amen.

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