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Devotions

by TerryLema

As I came back from my worship walk the other day, I was singing the Easter Song by Keith Green, mainly just the chorus. “Joy to the world He [is] risen, Hallelujah, He’s risen, Hallelujah, He’s risen, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!”

As I was singing, I heard the LORD whisper, “you are singing ‘He is risen,’ are you living ‘He is Risen?’”

Don’t you just love it when God decides to unexpectedly answer that prayer that you prayed months ago?

You remember that prayer: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer.” [Psalm 19:14 HCSB]

And of course, in that moment, I also remembered what Pastor Laura said, that sometimes God asks us a question to change our perspective.

God calls us to know Jesus is Risen from the dead. He calls us to be able to tell others about Jesus risen from the dead. He calls us to celebrate and sing about Jesus risen from the dead.  But, perhaps most importantly, God calls us to live in the resurrection life given to us when Jesus rose from the dead.

Paul reminded Timothy, “Keep your attention on Jesus Christ as risen from the dead.” [2 Timothy 2:8 HCSB]

Sometimes doubts assail us, or fear invades. Sometimes life discourages and hopelessness floods in. But in all things, Christ is Risen(!) and we are to keep our attention on our Risen LORD, living always in “He is Risen, Hallelujah!”

 

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Serious, Disciplined, Persistent

by TerryLema

Last Thursday morning I accepted an invitation to pray. The invitation came in the form of an announcement at the Sunday service at Christian Faith Center (CFC) Caldwell. “Prayer across all CFC campuses @ 9 AM Thursday!”

That announcement actually just gave the time and location of the invitation.  The invitation to pray is found throughout the Scriptures, as well as the attitudes we need to have regarding praying.

 “Now the end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and disciplined for prayer.” [I Peter 4:7 HCSB]

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.” [Romans 12:12 HCSB]

Peter reminds us that we need to be “serious and disciplined,” while Paul tells us we must be “persistent.”

Praying is difficult for many reasons, otherwise, why would we be warned to be serious, disciplined, and persistent if it was easy.

The enemy of our soul hates it when we pray and will put every obstacle in our way to keep us from gathering in prayer. Our own natural man also hates it when we pray and will convince us that our prayers don’t matter, or that we are too busy, or that “it’s boring!”

Praying together and having the Almighty God of the Universe in our midst (where two or three are gathered) is one of the greatest privileges given to men and women. It is an invitation we should be so honored to receive AND respond to.

 

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Light and Darkness

by TerryLema

The Bible gives a clear picture of the attitudes and actions of the last days. Paul tells Timothy in his second letter that the last days will become increasingly difficult.

“Know this,” Paul writes, “Difficult times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power.” [3:1-5a HCSB]

Proof of this is all around us. Our movies, television shows, and online media all reflect it. Our evening news reports it. Our educational facilities are confronted with it. No matter where we turn, the darkness that is to characterize the last days is expanding around us.

How often have we heard (or even uttered) the phrase, “The world is getting darker.” And yes, it is getting darker. But where the darkness increases, light shines brighter. And our God is ALL LIGHT!  

“Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.” [1 John 1:5 HCSB]

Are you noticing how God’s Light is shining brighter against the darkness? Revivals or renewals are springing up, young people are responding to God’s invitation of salvation, churches are being reborn. After all, darkness does not stand a chance against Light.  Darkness has no ability to overcome Light.

“And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.”  [Ecclesiastes 2:13 HCSB]

Light, beyond all doubt, has the advantage!

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BirdSong

by TerryLema

“The birds of the sky live beside the springs; they sing among the foliage.” [Psalm 104:12 God the Creator, HCSB]

We have a cedar tree in our front yard on the side of our house. It has grown higher than the roof now, and wide enough to fill the space between the house and the fence. It was the first tree we planted when we moved in.

Lately, that tree is full of birds, little birds. (I think they are nesting now.) Whenever I exit our front door, I can hear the birdsong coming from that tree. Often, I will walk around the front of the house to get a bit of fresh air and the birds will sing all the while I walk.

Hearing them sing always reminds me of Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?” [HCSB]

That Scripture is a reminder that we are not to worry or be anxious about our lives. Whatever happens, whatever circumstance arises, whatever situation changes, God knows. And He not only knows (and knew before it happened) but He also cares. And He not only cares but is able to provide for us just as He does those little birds.

As I listen to the birds singing, I imagine that they are praising their Creator. I imagine they are thanking Him for His care. And as I listen, I want to add my voice to theirs, praising my Creator and thanking my LORD.

“I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live.” [Psalm 104:33 HCSB]

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Songs in the Night

by TerryLema

Have you ever woken up in the night and had a song—or just a piece of a song—running repeatedly in your mind. Often it is a song we have heard on television, either a show or especially a commercial.  Remember, “My bologna has a first name, it’s O S C A R. My bologna has a second name, it’s M A Y E R?”

(You might find that resounding in your sleep tonight if you tried singing it in this devotion.)

Psychologists call this “involuntary musical imagery” (INMI)—more commonly known as “earworms.” These “earworms” play in a loop in an estimated 98% of people in the western world. I know they happen to me all the time. I’ll wake up after a couple hours sleep and a song will be looping, back to sleep and it is still looping.

That is one of the reasons I love to go for walks each day and listen to my worship music as I walk. If I walk and listen to my worship music, singing my praise to the LORD in the daytime, the songs that “loop” while I sleep are much more likely to also be praise and worship to my King.

Psalm 42:8: “The Lord will send His faithful love by day; His song will be with me in the night—a prayer to the God of my life.” [HCSB]

This morning I woke to “The Goodness of God” looping in my mind. What a lovely way to sleep and to wake up in the morning.

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by TerryLema

Sometimes in the evening I play a game on my phone called Match 3. I only have one game on my phone. I usually play it when I am tired of reading, or when Bob is watching a western before bed. It is a rather mindless game.  Because I will not pay money to buy the game, it contains ads. I usually pay little attention to the ads.

There is one ad, however, that did get my attention. It is for a keto gummy that – according to the ad – will make you lose weight without dieting or exercise. In fact, according to the ad, you can lose like 60 pounds in just 3 weeks.

I have struggled with my weight all my life. I have been on a lot of different diets and eating plans. I have never lost 60 pounds in just 3 weeks, and I doubt chewing one gummy a day would accomplish that.

Truth in advertising? Not hardly. But in our society, I doubt we expect truth anymore. We certainly do not always get truth from politicians, or news broadcasts, or scientists, or educators, or manufacturers, or corporations, or banks – need I go on?

The one place we should always expect truth, however, is from our churches, but unfortunately, even there, truth is sometimes corrupted.

When Moses went back to Mt Sinai to get the second set of stone tables (after breaking the first ones when he found the people idolizing a golden calf), “God came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed His name YAHWEH. Then the LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed: ‘YAHWEH—YAHWEH is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth.’” [Exodus 34:5-6 HCSB]

Our LORD is compassionate. Our LORD is full of grace. Our LORD is patient. Our LORD is faithful. Our LORD is loving. and our LORD is truth. We need to be very careful when speaking for Him, because He will not allow His truth to be compromised.

 

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Me, Me, Me!

by TerryLema

The other day I turned on the television as I headed into the kitchen to begin preparing dinner. I sometimes listen to the local news as I work. Too early for the news, I ended up listening to Judge Judy for a time. And I could not help wondering … are people really that dumb?  (They must be … because Judge Judy seems to be making a good living off them.)

Judge Judy was ruling on the case of a mother suing her daughter for breaking a window to get into the mom’s house, around $500. It sounded like a trivial thing for a parent to sue a child over until that mother’s child began to talk.

The daughter was 22 years old, with two children by two separate men and had moved back into her mom’s house. Mom set some rules, rules the daughter broke when trying to get into the house after spending the night with a boyfriend.

After listening to this daughter argue with Judge Judy about her rights and needs (she did not even pay rent), I realized she would make the perfect poster child for “Entitled.” Entitled means believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment. It means thinking that the world and everything in it revolves around you.

Unfortunately, entitled is a sibling of sin. It was the reasoning the serpent used in the Garden of Eden when he approached Eve. He asked her about eating from the trees in the garden and when Eve responded that they could eat from every tree except one, the serpent responded that she was entitled to eat from that one also.

“In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [Genesis 3:4 HCSB]

The serpent convinced Eve she was entitled to disobey God, Eve convinced Adam. And with that choice, sadly, sin, death, and judgment entered humanity. Only the sacrifice of God’s Son would be enough to overcome what that original “entitled choice” cost us.

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God’s Love & Faithfulness

by TerryLema

One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 92. It speaks of God’s love and faithfulness. It has become much more to me as I have gotten older, especially verses 12 to 15.

“The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the LORD, they thrive in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green, to declare: ‘The LORD is just; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.’” [HCSB]

I love that part about bearing healthy and green fruit in “old age.”

When I stepped down from active ministry at the end of 2021, I thought I would just retire, spend my time maybe writing a little, but not doing much. After all, I have two auto-immune diseases, which combined with the medications, leave me often fatigued and hurting. I have every excuse to just rock away my “old age.”

But know what? I’m bored. I am not made to sit and rock away my “old age.”

Now suddenly, I am eager again to be in the “house of the LORD,” I am looking to once again “thrive in the courts of our God.”  And that excitement has brought a renewed energy to my soul (and hopefully even my body!).

Psalm 92:4: “For You have made me rejoice, LORD, by what you have done; I will shout for joy because of the works of Your hands.” [HCSB]

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A Desire Fulfilled

by TerryLema

I have been thinking a lot about last Sunday. In the morning many of us from The Way Middleton went to CFC services, some in Caldwell and a few at the main campus in Nampa. That is where we will be spending our Sunday mornings while the building in Middleton is being refurbished. It will hopefully be completed late summer or early fall.

Last Sunday night, some of us gathered at Pastor Laura’s home. We shared our experiences. I shared a bit of my excitement about seeing so many young people that were so happy to be in the house of the LORD that morning at the CFC Caldwell campus.

I could not share all my excitement, because I could not yet put it into words. I have for so many years wanted to see our church in Middleton packed with young people praising God. I guess I just never knew how to accomplish that … or perhaps it just wasn’t God’s timing (or my mission to fulfill?).

But now, with just a taste of what it might be like, I can hardly wait for the property renewal to be done. I want to be on the CFC Middleton campus and watch what God is going to do. I want to see that building full of people, young and old, this generation and the next, praising and serving God.

I want to see the dream fulfilled. I want to see what I have hoped for and desired for at that Middleton campus come to life. I guess I will need some patience while they work on the property … but oh, I sure hope they work fast!

Proverbs 13:12: “Delayed hope makes the heart sick, but fulfilled desire is a tree of life.” [HCSB]

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According to …

by TerryLema

I went back today (after I wrote Sunday’s devotion) and reread Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3. One small phrase stood out. It is “according to …” found in Ephesians 3:16.

Paul prayed, “I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit ….” [3:15-16 HCSB]

As of April 2023, Elon Musk’s net worth is estimated at $180 billion. Of course, that is a big drop from what he was estimated to be worth in November 2021 ($320 billion). Elon Musk could write me a check out of his net worth, and it could be a pittance, maybe $1.50 out of $180 billion. But if he decides to write me a check “according to” his net worth that will be a far different story.

God doesn’t just give us out of the riches of His glory – a little bit here, a pittance there. God never skimps. He is never stingy. He is not tight-fisted.

He gives us according to the riches of His glory. The strength and power we receive in the inner man flows from His glorious riches through His Spirit and it is everything, all, to the fullest extent of what we need.

And there are some prayers which God will always respond to with a resounding “Yes!”. One of them is to ask Him to strengthen our inner man with power through His Holy Spirit. That is a “Yes!” prayer.

Of course, our part is to admit that we need God’s strength and power and to ask. If we do not acknowledge the need, God will not force His riches in glory upon us.

 

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