Author

TerryLema

Jesus is FOR me!

by TerryLema

Jesus, He loves me, He loves me, He is for me

Jesus, how can it be, He loves me, He is for me

Those words are part of the lyrics of “Jesus Loves Me” by Chris Tomlin.

Paul asks a question in Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Then he goes on and asks even more questions, concluding that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  [Read Romans 8:31-39]

For me, the most wonderful thought in that section is contained in the short phrase “God is for us.”

The USA is all wrapped up in politics in anticipation of an upcoming Presidential election.  Politicians are out trying to garner who is for them and for their agenda.  They want our vote.  They want our commitment to their platforms and principles.  They want us to be for them and them alone.

When I consider that small phrase “God is for us” it takes my breath away.  God is for us, not against us.  We have His vote, His commitment to our life.  He that began that good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. [Philippians 1:6]

As a new Christian so long ago, I was aware of what I was apart from God.  So unsure if I could ever become what He wanted me to be.  Every time I began to doubt that I would ever be what God wanted, ever be conformed to the image of His dear Son, God would remind me that He is for me … and that He is committed to complete the work He began in me.

“My Jesus, how can it be, you love me and are for me!”

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Our Wit’s End

by TerryLema

Oswald Chambers wrote “When we come to our wit’s end, that’s when we come to God’s wisdom.”

That’s food for thought. Maybe we should come to our wit’s end a little sooner than we usually do and get to God’s wisdom faster!

Ps 111:10: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His instructions have good insight. His praise endures forever.” [HCSB]

The fear of the Lord is only the beginning of wisdom.  Just the beginning.  But it is the most necessary part.  We must fear, reverence, respect, worship, respond to, and see the Lord first before we can begin to partake of His wisdom.  Reverence for the LORD opens the door. But something must come after that.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us. The Spirit leads us in all righteousness, explains things to us, shows us the Savior, and opens God’s precepts to us. Our will, however, also plays a part. We must follow his precepts to have good understanding for God’s wisdom to grow and flourish in us.

Ours should be a constant and consistent seeking of God’s wisdom, and a persistent following and outflow of His precepts and principals. Our churches should be filled with men and women possessing godly wisdom and understanding.

Sadly, that is not always the case.  There are many who are at their wit’s end but failing to partake of God’s wisdom.  Church leadership must emphasize reverence for the LORD.  If we focus on flash and ignore fruit, it will be to our detriment.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

The Hits Keep Coming

by TerryLema

How often we hear the phrase, “And the hits just keep on coming!”

I got curious about the origin of that phrase. It originally meant that someone had a series of hit songs or that a radio station kept playing the hits songs. It now has evolved into different meanings depending on the context or tone. It can mean, “one bad thing after another is happening,” or “one good thing after another is happening.”

I talked to someone recently that was experiencing the negative of that phrase. One thing after another challenging life and emotional stability. It is difficult when one problem compounds upon another, when one loss follows another.  But those times do happen in this world—one wave of tribulation following another.

As disciples of Christ Jesus, we can, however, experience the positive of that phrase. Blessing upon blessing.

David, in Psalm 23, wrote, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.”

The NLT expands that last phrase, “my cup overflows with blessings.”

I think that is exactly what David meant. Our cup overflows with the blessings of the LORD. Yes, in Christ Jesus, “the [good] hits just keep on coming.” Amen & Amen.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Anchor

by TerryLema

I woke up the other morning thinking about anchors. Why? I am not sure. I just woke up and anchors were the first thing on my mind.

An anchor has a purpose. It stabilizes and secures. According to Wikipedia, “An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα (ankȳra).”

That’s great for ships. It is even greater for Christians because we too have an anchor that secures us when the winds of trouble assail, or the currents of modern thought threaten to overwhelm.

Hebrews 6:18-20: “So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us.” [NLT]

We hold on to the hope God has given us as part of our salvation. That hope anchors us. It goes through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary where Jesus now resides. That hope anchors in Him, the one who is our Living Hope.

How important that is! Everything in this world seeks not to stabilize us but to weaken us.

The enemy of our soul does not want us secure – he wants us destroyed.

Our own sinful nature often succumbs to lack of focus and tries to set us adrift.

But the anchor holds! It holds because it is secured in the Solid Rock, God our Rock, Christ Jesus our LORD.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

JUNK

by TerryLema

One week ago, I emptied my Junk Mail folder in my email. This morning, I had 729 junk emails. In one week, 729 emails that were nothing but junk and phishing expeditions. I had everything from how to eliminate toenail fungus to buying metal roofs. I had people telling me I “won” prizes – all I had to do was send them money. I had people trying to steal my identity with “links” to other sites that were fraudulent replicas of sites I visit – to purchase items or pay bills. J-U-N-K!

I never click on a “link” in an email. If it says it is from Amazon and “your prime account has been suspended because…” I go directly to Amazon to see if that is true. It never is. So the email goes to the Junk Mail folder and I try to “block” that sender. It seems they always come back because they use a different “sender” account.

You must be so careful about what arrives in your email inbox.

You must be so careful about what tries to invade your heart and mind in this world also.

Philippians 4:1-8 gives some practical counsel to believers. It is the type of counsel we should remind ourselves of frequently. It reminds us to stand firm and to help our co-workers to do likewise. It reminds us to rejoice always in the LORD and to be gracious to everyone. It reminds us not to worry about anything, but to lift our concerns to God with thanksgiving.

Those verses also tell us that when we do those things, “the peace of God, which surpasses every thought will guard [our] hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” [HCSB]

Then it tells us to focus not on the evil but on those things that are honorable, pure, lovely, and commendable.

If we do learn those things – and do them – then the God of peace will be with us. And He will guard our minds against the J-U-N-K of this world. Amen.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

King of My Heart (Bethel Music)

by TerryLema

I love the new music that I am hearing in church now. At the same time, I have been reading Facebook posts about the doctrine in them is not as good as the doctrine in the old hymns (which I do love also!). But as I listen to some of the modern music, I cannot help but find some pretty good doctrine in it also!

One of my favorite songs is “King of My Heart.” (Bethel Music)

Let the King of my heart be the mountain where I run

Psalm 18:2: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my mountain where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

(Let the King of my heart be) The fountain I drink from

Psalm 36:8-9: “They are filled from the abundance of Your house; You let them drink from Your refreshing stream, for with You is life’s fountain.”

 Let the King of my heart Be the shadow where I hide

Psalm 91:1: “The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.”

(Let the King of my heart be) The ransom for my life

Matthew 20:28: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.”

Oh, He is my song!

Psalm 9:2: “I will rejoice and boast about You; I will sing about Your name, Most High.”

Oh, yes, I will rejoice for You LORD GOD are my song!

 

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Lavished Love

by TerryLema

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”  [1 John 3:1 NIV]

The KJV says how great is the love the father has BESTOWED on us, and the new Holman Christian Standard says how great is the love the father has GIVEN us.

I like the NIV translators best.  I think they must have been feeling like I feel today.  That English word lavished means bestowed, but it also means heaped, poured, smothered with, showered, covered, and loaded!

Nothing like being showered with the love of our Father God.  The closest thing I can compare to in my life is the love I have for my three grandsons.  I love spending time with them. I love taking them places and showing them new things.  I love giving them gifts.  I love smothering them with hugs and kisses.  As great as my love for them, God’s love is even greater for me and you.

Jesus put it this way, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” [Matt 7:11 NKJV]

How much more?  So much more!  So much more than we can even think or imagine.  And Luke 11:13 tells us these good gifts come to us through the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit comes to us through the sacrifice of God’s Son.  God’s Son comes to us through that great love that the Father has lavished on us.

My praises rise to you today, Father, for Your great love.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

When I Remember

by TerryLema

It was hot when we went to bed last night, and hot when we got up this morning.  I am so looking forward to autumn, my favorite time of the year. I love the days where I run neither the A/C nor the heater, days when I can leave windows open all day and feel the crisp, cool breeze flow in.

There is something about fall aromas which bring back childhood memories, playing in the leaf piles, catching fireflies in the evenings, riding bikes with neighborhood friends.

Memories.  Amazing what can trigger them.  I remember the first winter after we moved to Idaho following decades in sunny California.  I went outside and it was snowing!  The fragrance in the air, the snow on my face, suddenly I was a little girl back in Pennsylvania trying to catch snowflakes on my tongue.  Must have looked quite silly in my work clothes and heels!

I remember buying Jergens hand lotion … again after decades … and suddenly that original almond-cheery lotion had me in the arms of my Aunt Dee, long since gone home to be with the Lord. Aunt Dee was the one woman in my childhood who was stable and whose love I never doubted.   Memories.

Paul often spoke in his letters of remembering people, and almost always tied that to his prayers for them.  He wrote to Philemon, “I always thank my God when I mention you in my prayers.”  [Verse 4 HCSB]

The Lord will remind us of people for which He wants us to pray.  And sometimes He reminds us of people, like my Aunt Dee, who have moved from this life into His presence.  Then I am reminded to be thankful that I was so blessed to have them in my life.  Memories.

 

0 comment
FacebookEmail

A Song of Asaph

by TerryLema

I woke up at 4:30 this morning.  I usually wake up still singing my songs in the night.  Not this morning.  There were no songs in the night last night.  Just a bunch of crazy dreams and unsettled feelings and thoughts. I awoke with a lot on my mind. The Lord took me to Psalm 77, a song of Asaph.  Asaph sounds like he was having the same kind of night I had.

He begins, “I cry out to God; yes, I shout. Oh, that God would listen to me! When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord. All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted.” [vs 1-2 NLT]

Then Asaph begins to remember, not the troubles in the night, but the wonderful ways of the Lord.  He thought of times past, he remembered his songs in the night.  Asaph remembered the deeds of the LORD … the miracles of long ago.

He decided that instead of meditating on the things that brought him discomfort in the night, he would meditate on the works of God and all His mighty deeds.

His conclusion:  What god is so great as our God?

I cannot deny there are challenges in my life at present.  There are things that attempt to wipe out my songs in the night.

I must re-direct my meditations from the challenges to the greatness of our God.  Then the songs will return!

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Learning Christ

by TerryLema

The Greek word “manthano” means to learn or understand.  Paul used it in Ephesians 4 where he was talking about the old man (what we were before) and the new man (what we are now that we have been reborn in Christ).

“But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus.”  [Ephesians 4:20-21 NKJV]

Paul reminds us that it is not simply the doctrine of Christ that we have learned, but Christ Himself.  And it is not just getting to know the person, it is applying the knowledge of Christ as we walk.

This learning Christ changes us.  We walk differently than we did before.  We are no longer bound by the old nature, with all its lusts and futilities, ignorant of God and alienated from Him.

Now we are being moved into maturity.  Our minds are renewed by what we are learning of Christ.  Our new man is moving in true righteousness and holiness.  We think differently, we act differently, we are different.  At least that is what is supposed to happen.

The Bible is very clear that we have a part in our maturing.  God has a plan for us to mature (to be conformed to the image of His Son).  Christ is the way of maturity. The Spirit guides us along the way of maturity. We provide the will to embrace maturity.

Without the involvement of our will, we will never learn Christ.

0 comment
FacebookEmail