TerryLema

In Revelation 21 John describes the new heaven and the new earth.  He describes the New Jerusalem, that heavenly city as he is shown it. He notes that there is no temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. He also notes that the city does not need sun, nor moon to shine, for the city is filled with the glory of God and “The Lamb is its light.” [Rev 21:23 NKJV]

Light in Scripture often stands for joy, beauty, knowledge and the presence of the LORD. In that glorious city Jesus is the very center of it all.  Charles Spurgeon wrote: “The joy of the saints in heaven is comprised in this: Jesus chose us, loved us, bought us, cleansed us, robed us, kept us, glorified us: we are here entirely through the Lord Jesus.”

Someone came to my door recently and showed me a drawing of the last days and asked if it scared me.  I smiled and said, “No! I am longing to see King Jesus return!”

I want to walk those streets of gold hand in hand with loved ones who have gone ahead of me. I am longing to sit and talk with great saints of God about deep things of God. I am yearning to abide in a place where all evil has been banished.  More than anything else, I want to bask in the light of the Lamb.

I want to spend eternity saying thank you to the One who “chose us, loved us, bought us, cleansed us, robed us, kept us, glorified us….”

Thank you, King Jesus.

A Song of Ascents: “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD.’” [Ps 122:1 NIV]

It is Sunday morning. I am up early as usual. The first thing I do is grab my coffee, then head to my bonus room and pick up my computer. I upload and send out the daily devotion. Then I open my sermon PowerPoint and notes and review. I pray over what I am going to share and for those who will be present at church this morning to hear. Around 7 AM I’ll hit the shower and get ready. After a minimal breakfast, I’m out the door and heading to the church. I usually arrive a little before 8 AM. Service starts at 10:30 AM.

No matter how tired I am, or my mood, once I open the church doors and step inside I start to praise and rejoice. David wrote in his song how he delighted when he went with others who loved the LORD to the house of the LORD.

I know God is present with me on my couch each morning as I pray, praise and worship Him. I also know that our church building is just that – a building. It’s a tool, nothing sacred about its walls or doors. The delight happens when others join me to praise, worship and celebrate the LORD.  There is something beautiful about sharing my Sunday experience corporately, being in the “house of the LORD” with those who have become family because of our common faith in Christ Jesus.

Father, thank you for those who will come to the “house of the LORD” with me this morning.  Let our rejoicing in You fill the building with praise and worship, and bring honor to the name of Your Son Jesus. 

My grandson, Carter, and I went to lunch last Saturday and then to the new exhibit at the Boise Art Museum (BAM). The exhibit was a collection of modern art, including a Georgia O’Keeffe and a Jackson Pollock.  I don’t want to offend anyone, but I’m not a big fan of modern or abstract art.  I get little out of staring at a painting that is almost all black and wondering what I am supposed to draw from it.

The Jackson Pollock piece at the BAM was one where he used a stick to drop paint onto a canvas.  To me, it resembled the drop cloths I’ve seen house painters use.

I’ve heard that art imitates life … and I’ve also heard that life imitates art.  Which is it?  There appears to be some debate about what comes first and what follows. Either way, if modern/abstract art imitates life, or life imitates modern/abstract art, I think we are in trouble.

As believers in Christ Jesus, we are to imitate Him. We are also to seek out those leaders who speak the truth of God’s Word to us, look at their lives and imitate their faith. We are to consider great men and women of God of every age, because the One we are to imitate never changes. Faith in Jesus should look the same in godly leaders from the 3^rd century as well as the 21^st.

“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” [Heb 13:7-8 NIV]

A new school has been built at the end of the street where I walk.  I’ve been watching the building process for over a year; now it is done. Since the construction is completed and the landscaping finished, I expect to see the furniture, equipment and supply trucks starting to roll in.  The school is scheduled to open in August.  Soon the kitchen will be stocked, the library books on the shelf, desks and chairs in each room. Teachers will be setting up their classrooms.

Each day as I walk by I think about how lovely that building is. A lot of planning went into it, a lot of hard work also.  It is primed and ready to be opened and used. However, until that first busload of students arrives eager to explore and learn, the building is useless. It may look good, but it does no good sitting up there on the hill empty of learners.

Each day as I walk by I think about how our Bible is like that building, it does no good sitting unopened on a shelf or coffee table. All the wonderful treasures inside only come when we open it and eagerly explore and learn from it.

2 Timothy 3:16-17:  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. [NIV]

Thank you, Father, for giving us Your Word to teach, rebuke, correct and train us. May we search its depths and discover its riches every day. Amen.

Josh 23:14-15:  “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” [NIV]

“Not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed.” That was Joshua’s testimony at the end of his life.  He then went on to remind the tribes of Israel of what God had promised and how He brought those promises to fruition.  Every promise was fulfilled. Israel made it a lot harder on themselves than it needed to be because of their own stubbornness and rebellion. Still, God brought them out of bondage and into freedom in the Promised Land, just as He said He would.

Joshua then challenged them to live for the Lord and made the declaration that no matter what they decided to do, he and his household would remain faithful to Jehovah. [24:15]

Not one of the good promises the LORD our God has given us will fail either.  And while I’d like to think that I’ve done better than Israel did and made it easier on myself, I know that I’m a lot more like they were than I want to believe.  I, too, am stubborn and rebellious.  I can be pretty adept at murmuring and complaining too!

Still as God brought them out of bondage, so He has brought me (and you).  As God brought them into freedom, so He has brought me (and you) into freedom in Christ Jesus.  And as He took Israel to the Promised Land, He will bring His children (me and you!) into His presence in Glory!  None of His good promises, no, not even one, will fail to be fulfilled.  Hallelujah!  Amen.

I share much of my life in these devotions, the good, the silly, the difficult, and even the failures. I do that not to garner praise or sympathy but to remind all of us that while we are not perfect people, we are overcomers.  We may stumble, fall, fail or get knocked down, but we are never out!

John wrote that “everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”   [1John 5:4-5 NIV]

In his letters Paul often reminded people of his struggles. He was forthright in telling of how he persecuted the church, of how he pleaded with God to remove his thorn in the flesh, of his difficulties in ministry.  He did it to identify with his readers and to point them to Jesus. Paul was an overcomer precisely because he placed his faith in Jesus as the Son of God.

I have had to overcome a difficult childhood, my own personality flaws, my sins, circumstances and failures.  Many of you have had to overcome the same, or even worse.  We are overcomers because of Christ Jesus.

I encourage you to share your life with others, not just the good and great, but the silly, the difficult and the failures also. When they see how you have overcome all, they will ask, how?  Then you can tell them that it’s all because of faith in Jesus, the Son of God.

In John 17, Jesus prays with and for His followers. At one point in His prayer He prays for “all those who will believe in Me ….”  [vs 20]

I am always astounded that I am included in His prayer. You are also. Jesus prayed for us. He asked that the full measure of His joy might be in us. He asked that we might be protected. He asked that we might be sanctified by His truth.  (Read His prayer for you today in John 17.)

What blesses me most is found in verses 22-23: “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them ….”  [NIV]

“I in them.”  Jesus in me.  Say that with me, Jesus in me. Have you ever pondered all that means? Charles Spurgeon wrote of this verse, “This is no narrow pipe through which a thread-like stream may wind its way, it is a channel of amazing depth and breadth, along whole glorious length a ponderous volume of living water may roll its floods.”

“I in them.”  Jesus in us.  May we not restrict this flood of living water but instead by the power of, and our cooperation with His Spirit keep the channel uncluttered by doubt and sin.

Oh LORD, let your living water roll its floods through me!

I repeat myself. I remember in bible college one of the professors would constantly say, “Repetition increases remembrance,” as he repeated himself. I used to laugh at old people who would tell the same stories again and again.  Now I am one of them. I wonder why I repeat? Perhaps as we age we experience less so we have less to tell. Our adventures become less adventurous and our excitement less exciting. So, we repeat the things that were.

My college professor was right on; however, repetition does increase remembrance.  Peter thought so too.  In his second letter, he reminds his readers of their faith and the things he wanted them to add—goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. He also urged them to make their calling and election sure so that they would not fall.

Then he started to sound like my college professor, “So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body …. I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.” [2 Peter 1:12-15 NIV]

The things of the LORD need to be repeated. The world, the flesh and the enemy of our soul are loud and determined to erase biblical truths and the knowledge of God from our remembrance. Instead of always seeking new things to write or preach about, I need to be like Peter – it is right to refresh our memories of the biblical truth we already know.

Recently I was out walking early in the morning, listening and singing to the worship songs on my MP3 player. Amazing Grace came up and I was singing those old familiar verses. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me…. When we’ve been there 10,000 years bright shining as the sun….”

I thought about that wonderful reminder when we hear those words of God’s salvation and the marvelous future we shall have with him. Then I stopped; my thoughts had totally skipped over the middle verses. I heard God’s Spirit whisper … those middle verses are where you live right now.

“Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.” [Amazing Grace, John Newton 1779]

God’s grace, God’s amazing grace has brought us to where we are. God’s grace, God’s amazing grace will lead us home to Him.  That’s where we live, beloved, in the power and presence of God’s grace in our lives. His unmerited favor is stronger than anything that might come our way. His undeserved grace will embrace us and lead us every day in Him.  How could I have forgotten that truth?

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for reminding me that my past is covered with God’s grace, my future is promised in God’s grace, and my present is protected by God’s amazing grace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8UdgnQLC58

Ps 119:30-31:  “I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me. I cling to Your testimonies.” [NKJV]

The King James says, “I have stuck unto thy testimonies.”  Strong’s* says that the word for cling to or stuck is dabaq (daw-bak’); OT:1692:  a primitive root; properly, to impinge, i.e. cling or adhere; figuratively, to catch by pursuit. It is translated as abide, follow close, be joined together, overtake, pursue hard, stick.

Testimonies in the Hebrew is pretty much what testimonies is in the English—evidence, witness, proof.  We are to cling to God’s testimonies.

I recently read a biography of George Washington Carver. The author referred often to Carver’s constant acknowledgement of God as Creator. Carver would walk out in nature every day and find new evidence, a new witness of God around him. As part of Tuskegee Institute in its beginnings, Carver also taught a Sunday School Class. Carver had an ability to combine what he saw in nature with what he read in Scripture as testimony to God. The students loved his classes and swelled his audiences.

Paul made it clear in Romans 1:20 that God’s eternal nature and power are clearly seen in the world around us. God has not left us without a testimony of His existence and authority.  The next time you take a walk outside, look around, read His witness in Creation, visit a little with Him. I am sure you will be delighted!

*(Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)