Past Devotions

So are you!

by TerryLema

I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What did you think when you read that? Was the first thought that came to your mind … full time, pulpit, pastoring ministry in a church?  Or was your first thought … “so am I.”

 It should be the latter.  The Greek word for minister is diakonos. That comes from diako which means to run errands. Minister simply means “servant.” I could just have easily begun this devotion with the sentence “I am a servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul advised Timothy: “If you point these things out (godless myths, lies, deceiving spirits) to the brothers, you will be a good minister [servant] of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.” [1 Timothy 4:6]

There is another Greek word we should consider when we speak of being servants of the Lord. It is the word doulos. It means simply “a slave.”  Paul used this word in 1 Corinthians 4:5: “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants [slaves] for Jesus’ sake.”

 A servant is usually paid staff. A slave is owned by someone. We are both paid servants of Jesus Christ, in that we will receive rewards for things we have done with eternal value; and, we are slaves of Jesus Christ, owned by Him, bought with His precious blood.

I am a willing servant and surrendered slave of the LORD Jesus Christ. I am a minister of the Gospel.  So are you!

 I can think of no higher calling, can you?

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Jesus is Walking By

by TerryLema

Jesus and His disciples were headed to Jerusalem. He had already told them that death awaited Him there. The hour had come for darkness to reign, and for His own people to despise and reject Him as they called for His execution.

Mark tells us that as Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city of Jericho, “a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’”  [Mark 10:46-47]

Bartimaeus’ shouting got the attention of those around him, who promptly rebuked him and told him to be quiet. That response only got Bartimaeus to shout a little louder until finally the LORD Jesus heard him and stopped. Jesus commanded that they bring him closer.

Knowing that Jesus heard his shouts, and now wanted to speak to him, Mark says Bartimaeus threw his cloak aside, jumped to his feet and went to Jesus. When Bartimaeus met Jesus, his blindness became a thing of the past.

The world wanted Bartimaeus to shut up, but he would not. Instead of quieting, he grew louder. And because Bartimaeus would not quiet, healing came, light invaded his darkness.

Beloved, Jesus is walking by … are we going to remain quiet? Are we going to heed the world to quiet or will we follow the example of Bartimaeus and get even louder?

As for me … I’m shoutin’!  Savior do not pass us by! Amen

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Very Courageous

by TerryLema

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” [Joshua 1:9]

That command to be strong and courageous was given twice to Joshua at the command of God in Deuteronomy. [31:6, 23]

It was given to Joshua three times by the LORD in the opening chapter of the Book of Joshua and echoed once by the people back to Joshua.  In Joshua 1:7, God even added the adjective ‘very.’ “Be strong and very courageous.” [1:6, 7, 9, 18]

They were at the border of the Promised Land. Moses was dead. Those who had experienced the power of God in the Exodus from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army were dead. Joshua knew the kinds of people (giants) that were across that border. He was one of the 12 spies sent there earlier to survey the land, and 1 of only 2 who brought back a favorable report. Caleb was the other.

Now they had arrived and the job to take the land … without the power of Moses behind him … was all Joshua’s. God wanted Joshua to know with a certainty that while Moses was not there, He was.  “….for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

 God wanted Joshua to understand that what made Moses the powerful man of God that he was, was the Presence of the LORD God with him. Now that same Presence was with Joshua to enable him to also be that powerful man of God.

And what did Jesus say to us?  “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [Matt 28:20 NKJV]

Be strong, church, and very courageous. We are in a land of giants!

 

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Not one inch!

by TerryLema

Anger is on the rise. Anger is on the rise on our roadways, in our politics, in the lyrics of our music, on social media, and sadly, even in our homes. One of the fastest growing segments of homeless populations is women and children escaping domestic violence.

I grew up in an angry household. My dad had a quick temper, and my mother had a temper with a long memory. I had, or should I say, I have a temper also. I have learned to a certain extent to curb that temper, although it will still flare when I am stressed or tired.

Thoughtful spiritual growth is a theme in Ephesians 4. Amid Paul’s exhortation on spiritual maturing are his thoughts on anger. And they tell us three things.  “In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” [Eph 4:26-28]

First thing Paul reminds us “In your anger do not sin.” Anger is an emotion, yes, but anger itself is not a sin. It is what we do with our anger. There is a righteous anger … like what I see stirring in the abortion debate. Jesus was described as angry at the hardness of people’s hearts, yet He was without sin.  Anger, however, left unchecked or expressed the wrong way can become sin.

That is Paul second thought. “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” In other words, deal with your anger immediately.  Find healthy, spiritual ways of dispelling it. If you do not, anger will begin to take root, which leads us to Paul’s third warning … anger left unchecked gives “the devil a foothold” in your life.

I do not want to give one inch of my spiritual life to the devil, so I have learned, and am continuing to learn, to allow the Holy Spirit to show me how in my anger not to sin.

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New Every Morning

by TerryLema

One of the first things I do every morning is go to my kitchen and get the coffee started. It is all set up the night before, so I simply pour the water into my Bunn coffeemaker, shut the lid and in about two minutes I have a pot of steaming hot coffee. The second thing I do (during that two minutes while I am waiting for the coffee to brew) is to take the prior day’s kitchen towels and wash cloths and toss them in the laundry basket.

I like to begin the new day with fresh towels. (My husband, on the other hand, could use the same towel for a decade without it ever seeing the laundry basket.) I am very careful in my kitchen. I scrub the sink regularly, sanitize the disposer, make sure the counter tops are clean. I use a separate cutting board for raw meat. I wash my hands frequently when handling anything I think might contaminate.  We rarely get any type of stomach bug and I think my efforts in the kitchen contribute to our health.

As I took fresh towels and cloths out of the drawer this morning, I was reminded of God’s promise to us. “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’” [Lam 3:22-24 NKJV]

The LORD’s compassions and mercies are fresh every morning. No matter how used and soiled we may get by life, when we wake each morning God is there to be our “portion.” His is a “portion” that never runs out, enough for each day and refreshed again each morning.  We can be assured when we place our trust in Him that He will never disappoint, never disappear, never fail us.

“Great is Your faithfulness, O God!”

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Jumpin’ for Joy!

by TerryLema

At one point in Jesus’ ministry, he took 72 disciples and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. When they completed their assignment, they came back to Jesus to report. They were extremely excited, as we all would be, that even the demons had “to submit to us in [Jesus’] name.”

Jesus’ response was that He had given them all power to trample the power of the enemy, but if they were going to rejoice it should be rejoicing that their names were written in heaven. [Luke 10:1-20]

Then Luke reports Jesus began to pray.  “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.’” [v21]

Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, praised His Father. That Greek word for “full of joy” means “to jump for joy, be exceedingly glad, and rejoice greatly.”

What made Jesus jump for joy? His Father’s pleasure in revealing great spiritual truths to those who come to Him as little children. It was not the wise, the religious counsellors, the kings, the rulers, or the priests who saw the power of the enemy submitting to the name of Jesus, it was the common, every-day people who came to Jesus and trusted Him when He sent them out “like lambs among wolves.”  [vs 3]

Beloved, it may seem like we are “lambs among the wolves” and that the wolves have all the power, but when Jesus sends His lambs into the battlefield, He gives them all the power they need to trample the works of the enemy. And while we rejoice in that, our greatest rejoicing – our jumping for joy – comes because our names are written in heaven.

 

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Knowing Eternal Life

by TerryLema

As Christians, we have eternal life now. When we came to God through Christ Jesus our LORD and Savior, our souls and spirits were made alive in Him. Our bodies, unfortunately, are still subject to the results of rebellion and sin, but we have the promise that they too will one day be reborn into eternal life.  That is something that as I age, I desire more and more.

Jesus, shortly before His death, prayed for His own. That prayer was not just for those who were gathered around Him at the time, that prayer was for all those who would come after them in faith believing.

“This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent—Jesus Christ.” [John 17:3 HCSB]

It is our great and wonderful privilege to know the “Only True God.” Jesus says that by knowing God we have eternal life. Knowing God means that eternal life is now … not just some promise for the distant future. We are made eternally alive right now!  What a blessing to live in the realization of that truth.

But there is another truth that blesses my heart even more.  Paul reminds us that not only do we know the “Only True God,” but the Only True God knows us! 

“But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.” [1 Corinthians 8:3 HCSB]

God knows us, our name, our weaknesses, our failures, our delights, our passions, our desires. He knows what we need. He knows what we are going through. In spite of all my faults, He not only knows me, He loves me.

What on earth can compare with that?

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Safety!

by TerryLema

I apologize for getting all maudlin yesterday as I wrestled with God about my abundant hatred of death. I know that for those who place their faith in Almighty God through Christ Jesus, Savior and LORD, death is merely the conveyance into His Presence. There our bodies will experience the eternal life already enjoyed by our souls and spirits now. And Psalm 23 promises that as we walk through that Valley of the Shadow of Death, we will be comforted by the rod and staff of the LORD, our Shepherd.

The Gospel of John, Chapter 10, begins with Christ Jesus reminding His disciples that He is that Good Shepherd. He tells them that He will lay down His life for His sheep. It is a beautiful picture of the care we receive as His sheep.

Contained within that word picture of the Good Shepherd is an image that always brings joy and comfort to my soul. It is found in verses 27-29.

“My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. [John 10:27-29 HCSB]

Two things comfort me in Jesus’ words.  First, that we will never “perish.” We may have to pass through a shadow of death, but we will never “perish.” We will enter into the Presence of our Father, knowing who we are and Who He Is!  What great delight!

In the meantime, Jesus reminds us also that nothing can snatch us out of His Hands and the Hands of our Father. The image is of cupped hands, one underneath us, and one covering us. Inside those magnificent, all-powerful, compassionate, and loving Hands, we are safe.

No one, nothing, is strong enough to over-power our Father and Savior. Today I rejoice in that! 

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The Valley of the Shadow

by TerryLema

Last week was a tough week.  I spent some time with God telling Him how much I really hate death.

I am all too familiar with death. I was seven when my precious Aunt Eva died. I was taken to her service and up to her casket where I kissed her. I was eight when my Grandfather died and attended his funeral too. I drove our neighbor to his lung cancer radiation treatments when I was sixteen and watched him slowly dying in my car. I was a hospice chaplain for years and got to know many new people each year, all of whom died. Yes, I am all too familiar with death.

As a Christian, I know that when we die, we move in the blink of an eye from this life to our eternal one, purchased on the cross by Christ Jesus our LORD. Still, I hate death.

Death is a foreign entity in God’s creation. It came as the punishment for disobedience, the end result of condemnation for sin. It is the last enemy we will see completely abolished.  [1 Corinthians 15:26]

There is something inside us that senses God’s intent is for life, and when death strikes our bodies, we fight it. All last week, I wrestled with God in prayer, reminding Him how much I truly hate death. Then on Saturday morning, when I opened one of my Verse-of-the-Day emails, to my surprise I found this:

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” [Psalms 23:4 NKJV]

Even as we face the last enemy we will ever face—God is with us. His rod and His staff comfort us as we move through that valley. When we get to the other side of death and look back, I think we will find merely a “shadow of death” as we enter into that glorious presence of God.

I know all that with all my mind and my heart. Yet, I still really hate death.

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Keep Ablaze!

by TerryLema

Yesterday I thought about the fact that as Christians, we are not to quit. “There is no quitting in Christianity.”

Paul in one of his last letters reminded young Timothy that Timothy was not to quit. “Therefore, I remind you to keep ablaze the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands.” [2 Timothy 2:6 HCSB]

Just like Timothy, we are called to finish our race, not just begin one. We are called to be faithful to the end, not just at the beginning. We are called to endure during tribulations and challenges so that we might gain character and produce a proven hope.

How is that possible?  With all the problems and ills of life, with all the trials that come our way, how is it possible to overcome the fear and “keep ablaze the gift of God”?

Well, Paul did not just tell Timothy not to quit, he told him how not to quit. First Paul reminded Timothy that fear is not of God, then he tells him what God has made available to overcome fear and “keep ablaze the gift of God.”

 “For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.” [2 Timothy 2:7 HCSB]

We must recognize that fear does not come from God. What comes from God is power, love, and sound judgment. As we turn to God and appropriate His power, His love, and the sound judgment that comes from the Holy Spirit, we are made able to throw aside the fear with which the enemy threatens to overwhelm. God always provides what we need – even what we need to keep walking our walk with Him.

Of course, that means filling our hearts and minds with His Word, and learning to walk in His Ways, not our own. Amen

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