Pastor Terry Lema's Daily Devotions
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Afterlife?

by TerryLema March 2, 2022

Every morning my online news page has a poll. It is not always a heavy-duty one but is often lighthearted. Last Sunday’s poll began with the question: “Do you believe in an afterlife?”

My answer choices were “yes,” “no,” and “I don’t know.” So, of course, I selected a resounding “YES!”

That question was easy. The next one, however, not so much. “Do you think your afterlife is determined by how you lived?”

My answer choices were again “yes,” “no,” and “I don’t know.”

As a Christian, I needed another choice – maybe even a different question. I needed that question to read, “Do you think your afterlife is determined by how your LORD Christ Jesus lived and died?” Then I could answer with a resounding “YES!”

I cannot live righteously on my own. All my feeble efforts at holiness and meeting the standards of God fall far short. My afterlife is not determined by how I lived; it is determined by my one right response to the invitation of God to surrender my life to Him.

I have righteousness because of God’s grace and mercy. I will see my Father God because of the sacrifice of His Son.

In truth, there is only one way to God, one way to worship Him, and Jesus died on a cross to open that way, that life to us.

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” [John 14:6 HCSB]

March 2, 2022 0 comment
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Our God

by TerryLema March 1, 2022

Quarterback Tom Brady retired. Well, maybe. He retired from the New England Patriots a few years ago, but then came out of retirement to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now he has retired from the Bucs, but only he knows if he will stay retired.

Tom Brady won seven Super Bowls, six with the Patriots and one with the Bucs. Most label him “The GOAT.” The GOAT means, “The Greatest Of All Times.”

Last year a new business (a donut shop) opened near us. The sign on the strip mall said, “GOATstar Donuts.” I drove by that sign for months before it dawned on me what it meant. “Greatest of All Time Star Donuts.” (I don’t know if they are the greatest, but they are good!)

One of the psalms I read today was Psalm 70, a psalm of David. David, the king aligns himself with all those who are poor and needy. He seeks the help of God for salvation and the defeat of his enemies. Then he reminds all those who have experienced God’s salvation to declare “God is Great!”

“Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let those who love Your salvation continually say, ‘God is great!’” [Psalm 70:4 HCSB]

We are to rejoice. We are to be glad. We are to continually say, our “God is great!”  And maybe, we should amend that just a bit to “Our God is the GREATEST OF ALL TIME!” 

He has no equals. He has no rivals. There is no other God like our God! Let’s shout it for all the world to hear!

1 Samuel 2:2: “There is no one holy like the Lord. There is no one besides You! And there is no rock like our God.”

March 1, 2022 0 comment
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It Remains

by TerryLema February 28, 2022

Recently I went to a church in Boise for the first time. I have known the pastor for a while, but never been to Sunday service. The service opened with a reading from Psalm 103 that declares God’s love for us.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in faithful love…. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love…. But from eternity to eternity, the LORD’s faithful love is toward those who fear Him. [Psalm 103:8, 11, 17 HCSB]

One of the worship songs was “One Thing Remains.” That one thing, the song reminds us, is God’s love. As the chorus says, “ [God’s] love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me.”

I needed that reminder. Do you?

Too often we impose our attributes on God instead of allowing God to impress His attributes on us. Because we fail and give up on ourselves at times, we think God gives us on us also. Oh, we know with our heads that God will never run out on us, but our hearts experience something far different. Our ears too often bend to the message the enemy of our soul likes to promote – “how can God love you when you …?”

1 John 4:8 declares that “God is love,” and throughout Scripture God and His love are described as “faithful.”  God’s love never fails us, He is compassionate and gracious to us. God’s love never gives us on us, He is slow to anger and rich in faithful love. God’s love never runs out, from eternity to eternity He loves us.

That is the message we need to be reminded of each day and to remember always.

February 28, 2022 0 comment
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Be Still

by TerryLema February 27, 2022

War. Inflation (Food, Gas, Cars, Electricity, Rents seeing the highest rates). Unpredictable pandemic. Tainted Olympics (Restrictions, Boycotts, a Doping Scandal). Supply Chain Issues (Empty Shelves). Education (Masks, Curriculum, Recalls). Rising Domestic Violence and Drug Use.

Overall, I cannot say 2022 has had a stellar beginning. Perhaps that is why one of my morning daily verses served as a great reminder. “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” [Psalm 46:10 NKJV]

The Holman Christian Standard renders it, “Stop your fighting—and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.”

Psalm 46 is a song about God our Refuge. It begins with the declaration of God’s provision and presence in times of trouble, and ends with that reminder to stop, be still, and know who God is.

Looking around us now, the world could be described with one word—turmoil. (Turmoil means a state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty.) But if we look at history, there are very few times when the world has not been in a state of turmoil.

Turmoil insists on our attention. It saps our energy and depletes our mental and emotional stability at the same time it demands we run and strive endlessly without purpose. Turmoil loves to see us off balance and hopeless.

God, however, tells us to stop the endless running and be still in His presence. He tells us to “know” that He is God and that He alone is and always will be exalted. Our Father wants us to rest in Him, no matter what is going on around us. Maybe today is a great day to stop, be still, and memorize those first few verses of Psalm 46.

“God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with its turmoil. Selah” [vs 1-3 HSB]

Amen & Amen.

February 27, 2022 0 comment
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Surprised by War?

by TerryLema February 26, 2022

Russia has invaded Ukraine. We have sent soldiers (our precious children) to the NATO countries bordering Ukraine (with a promise that they will not be sent into Ukraine but will only protect NATO countries in the event the war expands).

War is doing what war does, destroying, maiming, and taking lives. Refugees are fleeing into surrounding countries. Sanctions are supposed to hurt Russia but will also hurt those nations that make the sanctions. Prices for gas and everything associated with the price of gas will rise. Eventually, most of the world will feel the effects of a war instigated by one man.

Are we surprised by war? Do we think that people and nations are too civilized or sophisticated to initiate a war in our age?

We shouldn’t be. God saw long, long ago before the flood “that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time.” [Genesis 6:5 HCSB]

God even went on to express His sorrow: “the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” [vs 6, HCSB]

Only one thing has the power to change the hearts of men and women and that is the sacrifice and salvation provided by God Himself through His Son on the Cross.

In Jesus’ first coming, He provided personal peace in the hearts of those who accepted His invitation to “come.” Now we have “the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, [to] guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 4:7 HCSB]

 But it will not be until Jesus’ second coming that the world will see peace. “He will settle disputes among the nations and provide arbitration for many peoples. They will turn their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nations will not take up the sword against other nations, and they will never again train for war.” [Isaiah 2:4 HCSB]

 Amen, Come Quickly, LORD Jesus!

February 26, 2022 0 comment
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Why is it?

by TerryLema February 25, 2022

Why is it some nights when sleep eludes that the mind begins to roll back and do funny things, like make a list of your life’s most embarrassing moments. Last night.

The first one that popped into my head was my sophomore year in high school. I tore a ligament in my knee playing basketball, and was helped to the nurse’s office, where it was determined I needed to see a doctor and my dad was called.

Now in 1962 gym uniforms were not as cute as they are now. Mine was green, one-piece bloomers with elastic at the knees. It is not something anyone would want to be seen wearing. They put me on a stretcher and called someone to help my dad carry me from the nurse’s office to the back of her station wagon. The boy who showed up was the star quarterback of the high school varsity football team, on whom I had a crush.

My dad had the head of the stretcher, my “crush” had the foot. Going through a doorway my dad rapped his knuckles on the frame and dropped the stretcher. So, me, in my green bloomers, knee wrapped in ice, slid not so gracefully off the stretcher and hit the floor, where I then had to be “reloaded” by my “crush” and father.

It was not my best hour and why in the world would I, 60 years later, still be remembering it in the middle of a sleepless night?

To answer my own question, it is both human nature and the prompting of the enemy of our soul to always bring up embarrassments and our sins. I have done a lot of stupid stuff in my life, far more embarrassing than this silly moment. I have sinned. I have spoken out things that should have been left unspoken and done things that should have been left undone. I remember and the enemy of my soul remembers.

But, my God has promised not to remember. In the New Covenant He has promised, “For I will be merciful to their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins.” [Hebrews 8:12 HCSB]

That does not mean God is “forgetful.” It means that when we are under the protection of the salvation of Christ Jesus, our sins will never be held against us (remembered). Hallelujah! Amen!!

February 25, 2022 0 comment
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Retrieving the Provision

by TerryLema February 24, 2022

Phil 4:12-13:  I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through Him [Christ] who strengthens me. [HCSB]

One final thought on the secret of contentment. Paul wrote, I am able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The strength is there, the provision for all things is present and available in Christ Jesus.  Like so many other things of God, however, the problem lies not with the provision but with our retrieving and living in the provision.

Too often we face situations in life with nary a thought of God’s provision.  We whine first, pray second.  We react first in our flesh before giving a thought to the spiritual. Our emotions, which we have allowed over the years to dominate, spring to life immediately.  We only see need, hunger, and want, and we neglect the provision God already has available.

That is where the learning comes in.  We must learn to live every moment in God’s provision, in Him who gives strength for everything.

Learning is always a choice.  We can remain ignorant and be blown about constantly by the circumstances of life, or we can learn to be content and then we are able to do any and all things through Christ.

 

February 24, 2022 0 comment
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Plenty

by TerryLema February 23, 2022

Phil 4:12-13: “I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance [plenty] or in need [want]. I am able to do all things through Him [Christ] who strengthens me.” [HCSB]

Paul reveals the secret to contentment—I am able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me. In any and all circumstances our dependence must be placed in Him.

Notice, Christ is our strength not just in the times of want but also in the times of plenty.  That seems odd, doesn’t it?  We expect Christ to be our strength in the times of want. When we do not have enough, we immediately turn our eyes toward Him to provide all we lack.

Yet Paul includes the idea of Christ being our strength in the times of plenty as well.  There is perhaps no more dangerous a position than plenty.  When we have plenty of money, plenty of opportunity, plenty of provision, plenty of success that is when we are inclined to believe it is because of our own doing.  Our eyes turn away from Christ onto ourselves.  We lose our thankfulness.  We lose our dependence on Him Alone. Pride begins to invade.

Paul had experienced the spectrum of want and plenty.  He found the secret to being content rested in dependence upon Christ in either.  Christ provided the strength. Paul was instructed and Paul learned to handle every situation and all the various and different temptations and challenges that came with each.

May we also learn as Paul learned to depend totally and completely on Christ in times of plenty and in times of want.

February 23, 2022 0 comment
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Learning to be Content

by TerryLema February 22, 2022

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” [Philippians 4:12-13 NIV]

Different translations render the phrase “I have learned the secret of being content” in various ways.  The KJV says, “everywhere and in all things I am instructed,” while the NKJV translates it this way, “everywhere and in all things I have learned.”

The Holman Standard (which I love), agrees with the NIV that there is a secret … “In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content.”

 So, what is the secret of being content?  Well, first notice one thing.  Being content in any and all circumstances does not come naturally.  We are instructed in contentment, and we are expected to learn it.  Learning contentment comes through experience and cooperation with the Holy Spirit of God, not a how-to set of instructions.

The secret of contentment is not really a secret in the way we think of that word either.  It is not something to be kept to ourselves. It is something to be shared.

The secret of contentment is Christ Jesus.  It is a secret to those who do not know Him, but a revealed secret to those who accepted His call to follow.

More about the secret tomorrow.

February 22, 2022 0 comment
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The State of Being Happy and Satisfied

by TerryLema February 21, 2022

Paul wrote to the Philippians church that he had learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.

Phil 4:12-13: “I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.” [HCSB]

Contentment.  Merriam Webster defines it as the state of being happy and satisfied, which is pretty much what the Greek word means also.

The idea of being content, happy, and satisfied when we are well fed and living in plenty is easy to comprehend. Nothing like a big meal in a great restaurant, or a full tummy, with more food in the fridge, freezer, and cupboard to underpin contentment.

Great to also have money in the bank, health in the body, a great job and loving family to spur contentment on.

It’s those other situations when there isn’t that much food around, or much money in the bank, health in the body or love in the family that eat away at the edges of contentment until it is replaced with anxiety and fear.

Paul, however, shared his secret for those times especially.  I can do everything through him who gives me strength.  I have been pondering that secret recently and what it means for our daily lives.

More tomorrow.

February 21, 2022 0 comment
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Pastor Terry Lema

Pastor Terry Lema has been married for 53 years, and has 3 children and 3 grandsons. Terry graduated from Trinity Bible College, and and recently retired as Lead Pastor at The Way Church in Middleton, Idaho.

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Pastor Terry Lema's Daily Devotions
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