TerryLema

I am sitting here this morning thinking about how blessed I am. I am also thinking about how God knows what I need even before I do.

Looking back, I realize I was turning into a bit of a hermit, content to just stay at home and read, watch a little television, walk a bit, write a bit. I looked forward to going to church and weekly prayer but did not do much of anything else.

Yep, I was becoming somewhat of a hermit. However, things have changed. My son met a lovely young woman with four children. They are getting married at the end of June. His life has changed greatly. But so have Bob’s and mine.

My “hermit” status has changed, and I love it! If I had not realized that before, last month proved it true. During one week I went to two flag-football games, a birthday party, and a high school graduation ceremony. I also went to the local premier of my son-in-law’s movie!

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, talked about prayer. In Matthew 6:5-8, He told His listeners not to pray as the hypocrites to be seen, but to pray quietly to God. Then He reminded them that “… your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.”  [Matthew 6:8b HCSB]

My Father God knew I needed to get back to living outside this house – even before I did! My social life needed to be more than just doctor appointments and a monthly trip to Costco!

 God knew just what I needed, and He brought gladness back into my life. Yes, I am so blessed in Him!

“I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”  [2 Tim 1:12]

I am convinced He is able to keep what I have committed into His Hands. Paul had committed everything to God from the moment He met the Master on the Road to Damascus. He had turned over his dreams, his desires, his understanding, his health, his years. All had been placed in the hands of Christ Jesus.

Now he stood close to death’s door. He was facing martyrdom and knew it. It would be understandable to waver a little – after all Paul was not supernatural, he was human as we are. It would be reasonable if he looked back as well as looked at what was facing him in the immediate future and wondered if it was all worth it.  Would he have regrets, would he wish he had done some things differently, or would he even wonder if he had taken the correct path through life.

It is evident as he writes to Timothy that Paul was assured that he had taken the correct path. He was, in his own words, convinced. He knew intimately the One in whom he had entrusted everything. And that knowledge persuaded him he had done the right thing.

His Savior and Lord, His Master was able to take it all – Paul’s dreams, desires, understanding, health, years, and now even his death – and guard it against any thief or corruption. When Paul entered the very presence of the Lord, it would all be waiting for him. Every reward, every crown, every praise from the Master would be his.

We, too, have entrusted everything into the hands of our Savior and Lord. Jesus is guarding all we have committed. Like Paul, when we enter His Presence on the other side of the veil, rewards, crowns, and praise will be waiting for us. PTL.

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” [2 Tim 1:6-7]

The letters to Timothy are believed to be the last ones Paul wrote from prison before he was martyred. How he loved Timothy! He remembered Timothy in his prayers, he longed to see him, and he remarked about Timothy’s sincere faith in the opening words of his letter.

What we also learn from Paul’s opening remarks is that Timothy was perhaps a bit timid. Paul knowing that he was soon to be martyred and would be leaving the Gospel in the hands of the younger men wanted to make sure they were as on fire for God as he was. There wasn’t room for timidity.

Paul tells this young man to “fan into flame” the gift God had placed on his life. He reminds Timothy that God has provided all that he needs for ministry … power, love and self-discipline are his through the Holy Spirit.

Fire needs two things, oxygen and fuel. Remove either and flames will be reduced to embers and will eventually go out.  But as long as there is even a hint of fire left in those embers, fire can be fanned back into roaring flames with just a little oxygen and a little fuel.

We need to make sure we are fueling the fire of that gift of God in our lives, and we need to make sure we are allowing the Holy Spirit to breathe power into it.

To know, love and serve Him brings eternal happiness.  The one thing that never changes about living life in this world is that everything changes.  Change is a constant companion. We either learn that early or we will be constantly frustrated and upset. Change affects the small things and change affects the big things.

I spent weeks looking for a good protein bar, one with high grams of protein and low grams of carbohydrates, and no sugar alcohols. Most high protein bars have lots of protein, but they also have too many carbs, some I’ve seen have as many carb grams as three slices of hearty bread. And the ones with low carbs are often supplemented with sugar alcohols which I can’t digest.

I was so happy when I found one that exactly fit my needs.  And I enjoyed it for about two months and then they quit making it. When I asked why it was no longer stocked, they told me that the company was “improving” it. Change.

If only change would remain on that miniscule level, but it doesn’t. Often the change we must adjust to is accompanied by loss and grief. We lose loved ones, financial stability, employment, health. Those types of changes can rock us for a long time.

God promises us that when we know, love, and serve Him in this life, we will have eternal happiness in the next. It’s hard to image a happiness that is never affected by change or shaken by loss, but that is the promise our God has given to those who love Him.

“And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” [Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18]

To love Him is to serve Him.  I often think of Joshua’s words, “as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” [Josh 24:15]

Joshua understood that serving is a choice. We can choose to serve or not.  We can choose how to spend our lives. It is as simple as that. Joshua made the choice for himself to serve the Lord and he included his household in his declaration.

Can we make this kind of choice for others? No, and I don’t think Joshua forced those of his household to serve God either.  I think he exampled his choice before them, and he instructed them in the knowledge and love of the Lord.

Eventually, every person must make their own choice about how their life will be spent. The choice becomes easier when we know and love the Savior. We see His choice to exhaust His life for us.  Jesus said that He “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” [Matt 20:28]

When we truly appreciate all that He did to ransom us, we will want to lay down our lives in service to Him. Read Philippians 2:5-8 today and ask God to open that passage up in your heart and mind in all its glory.

Thank you, Jesus. Amen

To know Him is to love Him. Have you noticed that often the more you know someone the less you like them?  The old adage ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ is often true. We usually put our best foot forward when we meet someone for the first time. We cover our flaws; we hide our imperfections. Eventually, however, all those things we wish we could bury forever rise to the surface. People are then known by what they really are.

That adage, “familiarity breeds contempt,” cannot be applied to God, however. In fact, the opposite is true. The more we get to know God, the more we love Him. And the more we love God, the more we want to know Him!

Paul commands us to live a life of love in Ephesians 5.  He says the example for that life of love is Christ Jesus Himself.  “…live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” [Eph 5:2]

When we come to know, deeply know, the love God has for us as shown to us in Christ’s sacrifice, the more we will love God.  This One who loved us while we were still sinners, who sent His own Son to bear the awful penalty of our sin becomes our All in All.

Father, words cannot express my love for You. Thank you for all You have done to bring me home to You. Amen.

God made us to know Him. In the book of Jeremiah, God promised that He would watch over the small group of exiles sent into captivity in Babylon, the remnant of Judah. He promised that He would bring them back to the promised land. He made one other promise. “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD.”  [Jer 24:7 NIV]

God wants us to know Him. Hebrews 8 reminds us that God gave a New Covenant, and in that New Covenant He will give us hearts and minds that know Him.  “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” [Heb 8:10-11]

As Christians, we are reborn under the New Covenant, the one sealed by the blood of God’s Son on the cross. God puts His laws in our minds and our hearts. His desire is that all know Him, personally, intimately.  We aren’t just to know OF HIM. A lot of people know OF HIM, but do not know Him.  After all, James reminds us even the demons believe there is a God. And that knowledge makes them shudder with fear.  [2:19]

We are to KNOW HIM, as Father, Savior, Redeemer, Lord. Our lives are to be spent knowing Him in ever-greater measure. The greatest search in our lives, our greatest pursuit, is to know our wonderful Lord and Master.

God, create in me a desire to know You more!  I want knowing you to be the all-consuming desire of my life. Amen.

Today is Memorial Day. Memorial Day is the day on which those who died in active military service are remembered. It was traditionally observed on May 30 but now officially observed in the United States on the last Monday in May.

President James Garfield wrote: “For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.”

Unfortunately, Memorial Day is now seen as less a day of honor and more as the beginning of summer and vacations. Last Friday was the busiest day TSA has seen. More than 2.9 million air travelers set a record for the highest number of air travelers screened in a single day. And while the skies were busy, the roads were even more so.

There will be ceremonies across the nation honoring our fallen military, but largely they will go unnoticed except by a few in comparison to those who flood our campgrounds, parks, and beaches.

Yet, it is vitally important that we do notice those who gave their lives. If we fail to remember what our national freedom cost, we will fail to preserve our freedom at all costs!

(And as a reminder, Galatians 5:1 proclaims our spiritual freedom and what it cost. “Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.”)

Let us never forget and always honor those who sacrificed their lives for us! Both for our national freedom, and our LORD and Savior for our eternal spiritual freedom. Amen.

“Do you believe you were created for more?”

Every now and again I get an email advertisement that has a subject line that captures my attention.  The one above did just that.  I deleted the email along with most of the others trying to sell me something. Still, that subject line did garner my attention.

Were we created for more? If so, what is that “more?” To understand the “more,” we should probably address the foundational question. Why were we created?

I grew up with the Baltimore catechism, a series of questions and answers about Christian beliefs. One of the first questions: “Why did God make you?” The answer: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.”

Wow. God’s divine purpose for us is to know Him, love Him, serve Him in this life, and be happy with Him eternally. I am not sure there can be anything “more” than that.

Perhaps the question should not be, “Do we believe we were created for more?”  It should be, “Are we now living up to God’s glorious purpose for us?”

 “For we are God’s workmanship….”  [Eph 2:10]

Acts 13:2-3: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”  [NIV]

Work. Toil. Sweat. Labor. Drudgery. PASSION!

There is a work that becomes a passion; it is the one to which the Holy Spirit calls us. Barnabas and Paul were called for a particular work. The church anointed them for that work and sent them off to complete it.

In the next chapter, they will return to Antioch and report back what happened on this missionary journey.  “On arriving [in Antioch], they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” [Acts 14:27 NIV]

Work that is done for God becomes a passion. Surely, our bodies grow weary at times. Surely, we may face opposition. Surely, the work may be difficult and hard.  We may find that we have “toiled” in the heat of the day, but there is something that energizes us when we work our passion. The power of the Holy Spirit in us enables us to keep going and keep thriving.

We may not be called to go to foreign places as missionaries like Barnabas and Paul. We may not be called even to work in the church or Christian organizations. But we are all called to a work for God, wherever it is performed.

We have been “set apart” by the Holy Spirit. That PASSION! should consume us until we are spent out.  Amen.