TerryLema

This year the Thanksgiving Holiday is going to be different for Bob and me. We have almost always had our children and grandchildren together on this one day. That won’t happen this year. Both sons will be spending the holiday in other places, one in Nevada, the other in California.

We will, however, have our daughter and her family with us.  Rather than cooking, we are talking about going out for dinner. I can honestly say I can’t remember ever spending thanksgiving in a restaurant!  I may have, I just can’t recollect it.

Change is a fact of life. We want things to remain the same, to always hold to the same family traditions, but that isn’t always possible. Many times, we must make new family traditions.

David makes a promise in Psalm 9 that the LORD reigns forever, that He has established His throne, that the LORD is our refuge and stronghold, and that He has never (nor never will) forsake those who seek Him. [vs 7-10]

The Thanksgiving Holiday may be different for me this year, but the things for which I am thankful have not changed. Father, thank you that …

“Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”  [vs 10]

Today is my friend’s birthday.  We were not sure in August that she would celebrate this one; she was so sick. God, however, has allowed her to remain with us. She still is in the recovery process, but she is here!  I can reach her with a phone call; I can visit when given the opportunity. God must have known how much we needed to be able to reach out to her, to hear her voice, her laugh, to know her love and her prayers for so many.  I am so thankful!

I am so thankful for friends.  Merriam-Webster defines friend as “one who is attached to another by affection or esteem.”  In the Greek it is the word, philos, (fee’-los), and it means the same thing.  The word “fond” is part of that definition.

God called Abraham friend [Isa 41:8], and Moses also [Ex 33:11].  Jesus said that we were His friends when we do what He commands [John 15:14].

I know God loves me … I know God loves me!  He loves me even though I am not worth that love. I don’t always do what pleases Him, still I know He continues to love me and through His Spirit continues His work in my life.

But, to think that God is also fond of me contains a certain sweetness.  It’s not that I can do anything in my own strength to deserve that affection or fondness. To me, it is the simple assurance that I am, at least for this moment, obedient and doing what He commands. It means I can feel His pleasure.

Thank you, Father, for Your love for me that never wavers, never falters or fails. Thank you, Father, that there are those times that I can feel Your pleasure, when I experience deep in my soul your affection for Your child. Amen.

I remember my former pastor Jim Gardiner always saying that it is easier to get people to love God than to get people to allow God to love them.  Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, “Indeed, our chief defect as Christians is that we fail to realize Christ’s love to us.”*

I often write about the love of God shown in Christ’s sacrifice for us. I think I often write about it because I am often thinking about it!  It always shakes me to my core to think about God loving me, a sinner. That verse in Romans 5 says it all to me. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [vs 8 NIV]

This past Saturday we celebrated Veterans Day. It has been proven far too often that members of the Armed Forces will lay down their lives for their comrades in battle. But I wonder how many would lay down their life for their enemy? That is not what you do for your enemy.  Yet, that is what God did for His.

In sin I lived until the call of the Gospel reached me. I was God’s enemy. I neither acknowledged Him as Lord of my life not had any desire whatsoever to serve Him and then His love flooded my heart, His grace took hold of me and faith arose. For the first time in life perhaps, I understood what “love” was. God loved me. He proved it to me in His offer of Christ’s sacrifice for my sin.

Oh, beloved of God, let us never as Lloyd-Jones wrote, “fail to realize Christ’s love to us.” Let us not doubt how much He was willing to give so that His enemies might become His children. Let us never fail to proclaim His love in this life so that others might come to know Him.

*Martyn Lloyd-Jones (The Unsearchable Riches of Christ [Baker], p. 219)

I was listening to a song on my MP3 player as I drove to work.  It was “Even If” by Kutless. One of the opening lines in the song says, “So when the heartache hits like a hurricane/That could never change who You are.”

The chorus goes on to proclaim, “Even if the healing doesn’t come and life falls apart and dreams are still undone, You are God, You are good, Forever Faithful One, even if the healing, even if the healing doesn’t come.”

That could never change who You are.  How true! Too often we allow life to change our perspective of who God is, instead of allowing God to change our perspective of life. God made a profound declaration in Malachi 3:6 that should ground us forever in Him.  He said simply,  “I the LORD do not change.”

Nothing is strong enough to change who God is, nothing, not circumstances, nor heartaches that hit like hurricanes. Nothing is strong enough to change God’s plan for our life. Not the sin of man, the hurt inflicted by another, free will, natural disasters, nothing is stronger than our God. What He has promised, He will do.

He is Good, Good Father. He is Forever Faithful.  Thank you, Father. Nothing in my life is bigger or stronger than You. Amen.

James 1:17:  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  [NKJV]

Every morning when I get up I start the coffee, plug in my phone to charge, and let Miss Molly Magee the rescue cat out of the laundry room where she sleeps in her beloved basket on the dryer. She follows me to the kitchen demanding attention, first a belly rub, then a small handful of treats in her bowl.

When the coffee is done I pour a cup and head to the bonus room. My computer and books are there. My favorite quilt is there also, and Miss Molly’s favorite blanket next to mine. I send out and post these devotions on line and on Facebook. If I’m going to work I have about one hour to spend there, on Saturdays I’m there much, much longer.

Whether I’m there for only an hour or longer, Miss Molly joins me. She curls up on her blanket, fusses a few minutes to get comfortable and then falls asleep while I write or read. One thing she always does though is put a paw or two on me.  She must be touching me someway or she can’t settle down and rest.  If I shift, she stirs and waits and then re-connects.

As I’m watching her sleep now, facing me with her paw on my arm, I marvel at how peaceful she is. She’s connected to the one she loves by a touch. She could spend the whole day next to me. And I think, “Lord, I could spend the whole day here with You. Touching You in Your Word, praying to You, listening for Your Voice.”  

I know that in a few moments, I need to shift my focus to the things of life that must be done today. Still, I know that throughout the day I need to be like Miss Molly, I need to re-connect and once again touch the One I love.

“It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night….” [NIV]

Veterans Day 2017. It’s a day when we celebrate and remember all those who have served in the Armed Forces. My husband did. He’s a proud former Marine.  He attends the Veterans Day Parade every year in downtown Boise and loves to get with others who shared like experiences.

My father never served in the military, although he was a young man during WWII.  He tried to join but was told he was too valuable at home as a shipfitter. He worked at the Mare Island Naval Yard on the wounded ships returning from battles in the Pacific. After the war he went to the Philadelphia Naval Yard to help restore the Navy’s fleet.  I think one of his greatest disappointments in life was that he couldn’t serve. I don’t think he ever realized how valuable his work was.

1 Samuel 30 tells the story of the time the Amalekites raided Ziklag where David was staying while he waited for the kingdom to become his. While David and his fighting men were away, the Amalekites carried off all who remained in the city. Upon his return, David and the men set off to reclaim what was theirs. Some of the men became exhausted in the pursuit and stayed behind with the supplies while others continued.  Those overtook the Amalekites and rescued their own. When they returned to where they had left the supplies some didn’t want to share the spoils with those who had remained there.  David, however, set an ordinance in place.  “The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” [vs 24 NIV]

Oh, beloved of God, we too will share. Not only will we share in the inheritance in Christ Jesus – as if that isn’t enough – we will also share in the kingdom rewards. We can’t all be missionaries or have powerful ministries, but when we’ve given even a little of time or money or prayers, we will have a share in what is done to bring God’s kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. Whether you have guarded the supplies or “went down to the battle,” all will have a share.

Saturday night I was watching the BSU-Nevada football game. For once the game was on early and I could stay up to see the end. I’m not into listening to announcers analyze everything and go over and over what I can see happening myself on the screen. So, I plugged my earphones into my computer and headed to YouTube to listen to songs that touch my heart.

As I listened to what has become my favorite, “Hallelujah Praise the Lamb” by the Talley Trio, I could literally feel my spiritual heart soften and become tender once again.

When I look around I see so much injustice, so much hurt, danger, and evil. I see people oppressed by the enemy of their soul. I see the enemy getting a foothold in their lives, causing them to question God’s love for them. I see them loathing themselves and coming under condemnation, instead of understanding the conviction of God’s Spirit to restore and heal. And I cry, when?  When, God, will you set things right? The waiting can often harden my heart.

Yet as I listened to “Hallelujah Praise the Lamb” I remember that the Lamb of God purchased for us “mercy, grace and love that knows no bounds.” And that “though guilty and condemned I now am free.” And “forever I’m forgiven for Christ the Lord has risen and risen with Him we shall one day be.”

When I remember those things, as that song reminds me, I know it is going to be all right. My heart can sing His praise again! As I listened, I heard God whisper the promise, the same promise He makes in Revelation 6:11 to the ones martyred during the tribulation.  They were told “to wait a little while longer” for Him to make it all right.

Thank you, Father, for the sure promise that there is coming a time when You will make it all right, and wrong will be banished for ever. Help me to spend my “wait,” my life, for Your Kingdom. Amen, come quickly Lord Jesus.

When I went to work on August 31, I had not touched a piece of candy in six months. There is a large glass candy jar just a few feet away from where I sit. To enter and exit the room I must walk right by it.  Since August 31 I have touched many a piece of candy.

I determined that come November 1 I would not touch any more. Since then, I have discovered my lack of willpower.  I can get through most of the day, but when everyone else starts raiding the jar in the early to late afternoons, I fall to temptation.  My will seems to be overpowered by the smell and sight of chocolate. My job will only last another couple of months, so I can’t do too much harm to my diet, can I?

There is one area though where I must see my will rise to the occasion.  Ps 69:30 declares, “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.” [NIV]

I will praise.  I will glorify God.  I will come to Him laden with thanksgiving for His wonderful ways. I will. Everything about life in this world tries to undermine our will to praise our God. Our aging bodies, our forgetful minds, our busy schedules, our circumstances, our hardships, our poverty, our sickness, our losses all work to make us concentrate on them and forget to praise our God and Savior.  We can’t, however, allow that to happen.

I will praise.  I will glorify God.  I will come to Him laden with thanksgiving for His wonderful ways. I will. It is in praising Him that we find the strength to overcome our aging bodies, our forgetful minds, our busy schedules, our circumstances, our hardships, our poverty, our sickness and our losses.

I come today, Father, into Your presence with thanksgiving and praise.  Bless Your Holy Name. Amen

I suppose by now most everyone has heard about the shooting in the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a small close-knit farming community. Monday morning the death toll stood at 27, but many more were injured, some critically. The gunman’s motive turned out to be a personal one not a religious one. But that doesn’t change much for the dead or injured, or their grieving families

I heard one news broadcaster say Sunday evening that except for perhaps daycare centers, a church is the softest of targets. People come to pray and worship, they leave their doors open and invite strangers into their midst. He’s right.  Few have armed guards or metal detectors.  And yes, we do invite strangers into our midst. There is no pre-screening of candidates for salvation’s invitation.

As American Christians we have enjoyed relative safety and freedom for centuries. But lately there seems to be a shift in that environment. Recently, I even received an invitation for a seminar on employing security measures in churches. There are probably things we can do, but shy of locking our doors or stationing armed guards at the entrance, I doubt we can guarantee safety.  But we cannot be afraid either.

The evil in this world wants us afraid, afraid to meet, afraid to bring our message of Christ’s salvation to others. The enemy would have the voice of God’s church silenced. As I prayed for Sutherland Springs I was reminded of Psalm 46.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging….

The Lord Almighty is with us, The God of Jacob is our fortress. [vs 1-3, 11 NIV]

Father, You alone are our refuge and our strength. It matters not what man does to us in this life, we trust that in You we are safe and secure.