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Devotions

They Really Do!

by TerryLema

I had one of those days last Sunday.  We had just rolled over to Daylight Saving Time. I had my annual rant about how I hate time changes. It was, of course, a Sunday, so I went to church after one fitful night where I dreamed about trying to set clocks ahead and about how awful I would feel all day with less sleep. One of those days, right?

God, however, had more for my day than just my annual grumpy. Instead, He spoke to me several times as I listened to the message Pastor Laura brought. It was from 1 Kings 18, about Elijah being told by God to go to King Ahab and gather all Israel to Mt. Carmel—that included the prophets of the false gods Baal and Asherah.

Three things touched my soul profoundly. The first was that God’s timing is perfect—even when it comes through difficulty.

God opened my heart and mind to show me His perfect timing. I thought I would pastor The Way for many more years. I was walking three miles a day, had tons of energy even at 72. In fact, someone in the congregation called me the “Energizer Bunny.” Then in a matter of weeks that changed, and two auto-immune diseases struck. Fatigue and pain became a constant companion.

At the same time, God was calling Pastor Laura to be a senior pastor.

As I look back, God’s timing was perfect. I do not know if the transition to Christian Faith Center (CFC) Middleton would ever have happened had it not been for my getting out of the way and Pastor Laura stepping in. I do not know if we would ever have had the opportunity to reach the lost of Middleton like we will now, except for having CFC adopt us.

This was decidedly one of those Romans 8:28 times. “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.” [Romans 8:28 HCSB]

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We Do Love! We Do Grace!

by TerryLema

I have been pondering a bit on my church being adopted by Christian Faith Center (CFC). We will be changing our name from The Way Middleton to CFC Middleton. We will be transitioning over the next months.

Don’t you like that word transition? It is a less threatening way of saying “change.” We all know what most think of “change.” We will be changing, however, and that is both threatening and exciting.

CFC is a big, modern, growing church. The Way is small and not very modern. We will be adopting much of CFC’s outlook, philosophy, and vision. At first glance, it seems that we have nothing to really offer, except for a building in a city where commercial buildings are scarce.  But I wonder if that is true.

Yes, we have a building. But we have much more than that. There is a plaque in the foyer of the church which expresses what we really have to offer. It reminds me every time that I walk through those doors that we are much more than a building … we are a church that is truly family—a family that loves, that does hugs, that gives grace to all.

A new attendee at The Way told me recently, I have never felt such love as when I walked through the doors of this church. Then she said, “I hope that doesn’t change after we become part of CFC.”

The Way has always sought to give God’s greatest treasure (His grace) to the least deserving—which is every one of us. I trust that will be the heart of CFC Middleton too. We can relinquish all that temporal, external stuff in the change, but we must keep a strong grip on the heart of a family that loves, hugs, and gives grace to all.

“By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” [John 13:35 HCSB]

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Pardoned!

by TerryLema

Last Saturday after watching golf and listening to the evening news (yes I watch golf and even have a favorite golfer), Bob and I watched an old Gaither video, Let Freedom Ring. It was recorded at Carnegie Hall not too long after the 9/11 attack.

The last song on that recording is “Let Freedom Ring,” sung by the then Gaither Vocal Band. I love the song and I love that rendition. There is one line in that song that always digs down deep into my heart. “When my Lord bought freedom with the blood of His redemption, His cross stamped pardon on my very soul.”

My soul has an official stamp. “Pardoned!”

Pardoned means the excusing of an offense without exacting a penalty, and the release from the legal penalties of an offense.”

Christ Jesus took my sin, my shame, my guilt, and my punishment on that cross. He paid all my debts that I owed from my sinful ways to a Holy God. He set me free. Then with His blood that flowed down that cross, He stamped my very soul so that throughout this life and into eternity, I bear that marvelous proclamation “Pardoned!”

“In [Christ Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” [Ephesians 1:7 NKJV]

All because of God’s great mercy and the riches of His grace! Hallelujah!

“PARDONED!”

 

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Yuck!

by TerryLema

It is that time of year again. This is what I call “Yuck Saturday.” It is the day we have to turn our clocks for Daylight Saving Time. We lose an hour of sleep tonight. I will be out of sorts tomorrow because I have one of those internal clocks that can time my response to something in my oven down to less than 60 seconds.

It will take me nearly a month to readjust to the time. And since I am a morning person, who goes to bed by 9 PM, flipping that clock ahead one hour puts the sunshine where I do not want it and takes it away from where I do (the morning).

And to be honest, how does adjusting a clock on the wall save daylight? We will get the same hours and minutes of daylight whatever the clock says! I wish they would pick a time and leave it. Eventually I will get used to it.

Now that I have had my yearly tirade … I admit that resetting those clocks to spring forward and fall back remind me about our future found in Revelation 20.

One day we will live in that eternal city. That “city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” [vs 23 HCSB]

Those who will abide in that eternal light are “only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” [vs 27]

Got your name written?

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Good News

by TerryLema

I was reading an online article by the Idaho Stateman on food prices for 2023. It began with “Looking ahead, there is good news and bad news for 2023.”

Then it told us both the good news and the bad news. “The good news: Food prices are expected to grow more slowly in 2023 than in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The bad news: Food prices are still expected to rise above historical average rates in 2023. The Department of Agriculture expects food prices to increase by 7.9% by the end of the year.”

I do not think the good news is all that good. The bottom line is food prices are still rising. I knew that just from watching the cost of my typical grocery order. And while we did get a social security increase, it did not cover what we lost over the past year. And if we get another one next year, it likely won’t cover what we lose this year.

The world has far more bad news than good. And that has always been so. But God … don’t you just love all the “But God” thoughts in Scripture! … But God has always had Good News.

When Adam and Eve blew it in the garden and brought sin and death into the human race, God provided a covering for them.

When God called Abraham’s people out of Egypt and made them into a great nation, God provided that nation with the sacrificial system to cover sin so that they could maintain their relationship with Him.

And then, the highest “But God” came to all when He sent His Son to die for us. “But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” [Romans 5:8 HCSB My favorite “But God” Scripture!]

And the greatest irony of all? … that Good News came to us while we were still His enemies!

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Discouraged?

by TerryLema

I have two email accounts. I get a daily verse in each. One such verse last week was out of Joshua 1, “Be strong and courageous.”

 After reading my daily verse, I decided to go back and read the full chapter. Joshua is commanded four times in that chapter to “be strong and courageous.”

God commands him three times in verses 6-9, and the people command him in the closing verse 18. Each time there is a slightly different emphasis. He will need to be strong and courageous because he must distribute the land, he must observe the whole instruction of Moses, and he must lead even when there is opposition in his own people.

It was the command to “be strong and courageous” in verse 9, however, that engaged my thinking this morning. “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged [dismayed], for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” [HCSB]

Joshua needed strength and courage to battle both fear and discouragement. We often understand the need to have strength and courage when fear arises, but God also reminds Joshua that he will need strength and courage when faced with discouragement.

That OT word translated dismayed or discouraged means “to be shattered.” There are so many things in this life, so many things that spring up suddenly that can dismay or discourage us. I battle two chronic diseases. Sometimes they are under control and they influence my daily life only a little bit, and sometimes they exert themselves in greater measure and they influence my daily life a lot.

It is easy to allow discouragement to come in. It is then I need to remember God’s command to Joshua to “be strong and courageous,” and “to not be afraid or discouraged [dismayed],” AND to also remember the source of my strength and courage, “for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

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Secure

by TerryLema

We moved into our house in 2007. It had been a long time since we owned a house, living in many rentals since selling a home in California in the 1980’s. While we live in a subdivision, our backyard borders a large irrigation ditch. We planted cedars along our back fence years ago and they have grown quite tall and given us a sense of privacy.

Because of the trees and the irrigation ditch, we have acquired a colony of feral cats. Over the years the colony numbers have varied from many to just a few. In the winter, when the ditch is dry, and the ground often freezes, we provide a bit of food and a bowl of water. It’s an offering to the cats who have kept the rodents away from our home for years.

This year the colony is small. There are four cats who are spending the winter in our back yard. The trees provide shelter from rain and snow, and our yard gets the morning and afternoon sun. I often look out back and see them soaking up the sunshine or huddled together against the wind and cold.

Those four little cats are secure in our yard. They know they have food to eat and water to drink. There are no enemies here. They can live without fear. Those little cats often remind me of the security we have in our LORD.

Hebrews tells us of that secure hope we have in Christ Jesus our High Priest forever. “We who have fled for refuge have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus has entered there on our behalf … because He has become a High Priest forever ….” [6:18b-20 HCSB]

Secure. The Greek word is sometimes translated as unshakable. It comes from a word meaning “to walk where it is solid.”  Our life, our hope, is solid, it is an anchor for our lives in the inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, where our Savior and LORD dwells. Amen & Amen.

 

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Plans!

by TerryLema

Last Sunday was a difficult day in some ways and a day of praise in others. Pastor Laura of The Way Middleton announced to the congregation that our small church would soon be part of Christian Faith Center (CFC) in Nampa. Our new name will be CFC Middleton.

The transition will begin in a few months and probably take a few months, with an ‘unveiling’ sometime in early Autumn. The goal of both churches is to reach Middleton with the Gospel of Christ Jesus. There is both a sense of excitement and the grief that comes with change – even good change.

I truly believe this is an answer to years of prayer for our church and our community. I believe it is of God. But … I still must recognize that as I see the familiar give way to something different, I will mourn the loss.

The morning after the announcement my daily verse was a confirmation from the opening verse of Isaiah 25:1: “Yahweh, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.” [HCSB]

“Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.” Long before I ever came to that little church in Middleton, long before we changed the name to “The Way,” long before we ever prayed for revival, for souls, for our church and city, long before … God had plans formed according to His perfect faithfulness for what would happen there.

God did not quite answer in the way I expected Him to, but then it is my responsibility to fit into His plans, not His responsibility to fit into mine! 

LORD, I will exalt You, I will praise your Holy Name for all You will accomplish in our Middleton community. And in my own heart. Amen

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What is Required?

by TerryLema

There is a familiar verse in the book of the prophet Micah.  “Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness [mercy], and to walk humbly with your God.” [6:8 HCSB]

This is not a formula for salvation. Salvation has always come through sacrifice. In the OT, forgiveness came through the sacrifices of animals, the atonement for sin rolling ahead once more until the entire sin of the world was taken to the cross of Christ Jesus. There the final solution for sin was wrought through the sacrifice of God’s Chosen One.

Micah, when he uttered those words was addressing a people in covenant with God. When we take those words to heart, it is because we too are in covenant relationship with God. Jesus called it the New Covenant in His Blood. No one can act justly, love mercy, or walk humbly with God unless they are in relationship with Him!

To “act justly” is to show true religion. God gave Ten Commandments that set His Holy Standards for our relationship to Him and to others. We cannot achieve salvation through them, but they still set the criteria for our hearts in how we are to connect to Him and our neighbors now that we have salvation through Christ Jesus our LORD.

To “love mercy” is to freely and with great grace and love be willing to show kindness to everyone.

To “walk humbly with [our] God” means to live in that everyday awareness of His presence in our lives, to exercise a spirit of humility before Him. As John the Baptizer said it, “He must increase, I must decrease.”

Lord, grand us by the power of Your Holy Spirit, to live and walk like this every day! Amen.

 

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Then One Day …

by TerryLema

Every day someone carried him to the temple and placed him by the gate Beautiful so that he could beg from those entering the temple complex. Every day, day after day. He had been lame from birth and this was his life. [Acts 3:1-10]

One day as he saw two men approach, he did what he always did. He asked for help. Only this day would be different. “Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, ‘Look at us.’” [HCSB]

So, he did, expecting to get from them what everyone else had given him every other day of this life. “But Peter said, ‘I don’t have silver or gold, but what I have, I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!’”

And just like that, this moment changed him forever. He could feel the strength arising in his feet and ankles. He jumped up, stood, and started to walk. Then he went into the temple with Peter and John, walking, and leaping, and praising God beside them.

Beloved, there are many people like this lame man around us. They may be whole in body but are broken in their souls. They go about their lives each day thinking nothing will ever change, nothing can ever change. They have looked to the world and found nothing but a mere pittance of help.

We need to be Peter and John and give them what we have. We have Christ Jesus. We have hope. We have life in Him. We can be that “one day” in their lives when everything changes forever—when they are no longer begging but walking, and leaping, and praising God.

“What I have, I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk” with God!

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