Past Devotions

Sleep, Blessed Sleep …

by TerryLema

I do not sleep well. There are multiple reasons why. I know the medication I take for the auto-immune diseases can often produce insomnia. There is also the fact my sleep is frequently invaded by pain. But I think the worst thing is the inability to roll over (often a symptom of the disease). Because I cannot roll over, I must sit up and then change positions. I do that often during the night, more often on nights when I am struggling with pain and trying to find a comfortable position.

To me, uninterrupted sleep is a memory from the past … as well as a desire for the future!

I am blessed, however, in the middle of the night when the aches are winning and sleep is elusive. I am blessed because I know the LORD is not asleep either.

Psalm 121 describes “The LORD our Protector,” and it promises us that our Wonderful LORD will never be slumbering when we need Him.

“He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.”    [Psalm 121:3-4 HCSB]

Whether I am having a good night of sleep or one where I am awake much of it, the LORD will not be slumbering but watching over me. Whether I am having a good day or one that is not, I need not worry, the LORD is not asleep but watching over me.

The LORD is my Protector, he neither slumbers nor sleeps. Hallelujah!

 

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I am sure of this …

by TerryLema

I was saved when I was 26 years old, married, pregnant with my second child. I already knew some of the basics of Christian doctrine, that our God is Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. I knew that Christ died for me. I knew that I had a responsibility to know, love, and serve Him.

What I did not have was a personal knowledge and relationship with God, and I did not know how to “know, love and serve Him.” I had tried many times before and failed miserably.

Then someone came into my life who showed me that I was “doing” it all wrong. I was trying to “do” all the things that Christ had already “done” for me. I simply needed to receive God’s salvation through grace by faith. By “doing” that, I could know, love, and serve Him the right way.

Shortly after getting saved at the age of 26, I memorized my first Scripture.  “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 1:6 HCSB]

I had no idea at the time how often I would bolt back to that Scripture for the confidence, the reassurance, that my God would complete what He started. I had no inkling when first saved how life would play out, what trials would come my way, what illnesses, what griefs I would have to bear.  The future was still an unknown for me.

Ah, but it was not unknown to God. He knew every day of my life. He knew how often I would need to be reminded that what He had begun, He would complete.  He gave me that Scripture first in my life knowing I would need it the most. Bless His Holy Name!

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Rounding the Corner

by TerryLema

“I am getting better.” That is a sentence from a book I am reading about the two auto-immune diseases I am currently battling. (“Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Giant Cell Arteritis—a Survival Guide” by Kate Gilbert)

It is the book which has given me the most information about these diseases in one place. In addition to being a book about the diseases, it is also a book of hope. Gilbert reminds sufferers that there is a good chance they will recover from this disease, that it can go away as quickly as it came, and that our daily mantra should be, “I am getting better!”

I have also been praying and others have prayed for and over me for healing. I am trusting that God will heal me. (“by [Jesus’] stripes we are healed…” Isaiah 53:5b)

While I wait, I do what the doctors tell me to do, I research, I work toward healing. I know that God will heal, whether it is divinely or through the medical means He provides.

There have been times I felt like I had “turned the corner,” but those times have proven to be just a temporary time away from the symptoms, which soon returned. As I thought and prayed about “turning the corner” this morning, I realized that life is just that, a series of “turning corners.”

We never know what is around the next corner. For some of us it may be healing. For others, it may be difficulties or trials. We may experience a season of good times or we may experience a season of troubles.

The one thing we can build our foundation on is the knowledge that we are not alone. Whatever lies around the next corner, Jesus will be there too.  “I will never leave you or forsake you.” [Hebrews 5:1s]

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Receive

by TerryLema

Friday morning I spent some extra time in bed. I am usually up each morning between 4:30 and 5:30, but that morning 6:30 shown on the clock when I finally rolled out of bed.  It was one of those mornings when I realized at waking that I had no pain, so, I just stayed still and enjoyed that for about an hour. I knew as soon as I started to move something would start to hurt.

As I laid there, a song we had sung in church the previous Sunday was winding through my mind. It is a song that I love, but one that I do not think is immensely popular – well, maybe it was years ago before I first heard it.  It is titled, “Receive,” written by Nicole Binion.

The part of the song that kept repeating that morning was the chorus, “LORD, I receive your love, here in this moment. Your mercy flows like rain, on my heart dry and broken I receive Your love today. It’s hard to believe but all I must do is receive. Sweet mystery, sweet mystery, all I must do is receive.”  

The Scriptures brim with the wonderful things we receive from our Father in Heaven.  There are things like inheritance, and love, and salvation, and compassion, and mercy. In fact, one of my favorite Scriptures of all time contains that little word “receive.”

1 Peter 2:9-10: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” [HCSB]

Once we had nothing. Now we have everything in Christ Jesus our LORD. Once we were nothing. Now we are a chosen, royal, holy people who belong to Him. Once we existed in darkness, now we live in His marvelous light. And we did nothing to earn these things, nothing to deserve these things, we simply received them by faith in the Son of God.

Sweet mystery, sweet mystery, all I must do is receive!

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Moving On

by TerryLema

I was on staff at a church and working in a Hospice in California in 1993 when we pulled up stakes and moved to Idaho. California was taking a long time coming out of her current building recession and Bob was having a difficult time finding work and getting paid for the work he did find. He heard Idaho was booming at the time, it was the home state of our pastor, so off he went to check it out. In a matter of days, I was told we were moving to Idaho.

There was a gentleman in the church who came up to me and told me I should not go; it would leave a large hole in the church that could not be filled. I told him that he was wrong, that it would be like throwing a rock into a quiet pond. There will be some initial ripples, but soon the ripples disappear, and the pond becomes still again.

I doubt very much if you went back to that church today you would find more than just a small handful of people who even remember me, and the hospice I worked at would be the same.  People, organizations, even churches move on.

All that came flooding back to memory the other morning when I opened my daily verse. “For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name when you served the saints—and you continue to serve them.” [Hebrews 6:10 HCSB]

That verse touched my heart deeply because I am facing another leaving. This time I am leaving “The Way” in Middleton, Idaho, at year’s end. This leaving is different in that I am not “going anywhere else.” I am not moving to another town, or another state or another ministry. I am moving to another time in life, exiting active ministry.

I pray I have provided the people of “The Way” with a strong scriptural foundation. I pray that even if they forget me, they will not forget the LORD who means everything to me.

I rest assured that even though people, organizations and churches move on, God has promised that He will not forget our love and our service. He will not forget anything we have done for Him! What a joyous promise! Amen.

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Wisdom’s Source

by TerryLema

James has a lot to say about wisdom. We know from other places in Scripture that God looks at those who reject His plan of salvation as “foolish,” and those who accept it as “wise.” We also know that even after coming to Christ Jesus for salvation we are going to need a lot more wisdom to handle life in this world as models of Christ Jesus our LORD.

In his opening chapter James reminds us we can go to God and ask for more wisdom, and that God will not only grant it, but He will also grant it without criticizing us. We just need to remember to ask!

In chapter 3 James talks about two differing types of wisdom. He first describes the type of wisdom we do not want and tells us it comes from three different sources. “But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t brag and deny the truth.  Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil.” [vs 14-16 HCSB]

The sources of this unwanted “wisdom” are the world, the flesh, and the devil. “Wisdom” from those sources produces envy, bitter ambition, pride, lies, disorder, and every kind of evil.

But James does not just leave us there wondering about where to find good “wisdom.” He tells us. “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy.” [vs 17 HCSB]

God provides a “wisdom from above,” His wisdom given us through the indwelling Spirit of Truth. When we have that “wisdom,” it produces peace, purity, gentleness, mercy, obedience, and other good fruits. There is no partiality nor hypocrisy contained therein.

We can know the kind of “wisdom” we have in our lives by what it is producing in our lives.

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Wisdom’s Gentleness

by TerryLema

Wisdom for spiritual maturity and growth is given to us through the Spirit of Truth who indwells all those who have surrendered their lives to God by faith in Christ Jesus. Still there are times when we need to acknowledge that we are lacking in spiritual wisdom, and James 1:5 reminds us that we can go directly to God and ask for it – and He will grant it without criticizing (or even reminding us how we may not have used the wisdom He granted before!).

James will dive a bit deeper into wisdom in Chapter 3. He begins that section of his letter by talking about how difficult it is to control the tongue. He ends that section talking about the wisdom that is from above.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.” [vs 13 NKJV]

I love how this wisdom, described in the NKJV as “meekness of wisdom” is described in the HCSB.  “Who is wise and has understanding among you? He should show his works by good conduct with wisdom’s gentleness.”

“Wisdom’s gentleness!” The word is prautés and it means just that – gentleness. It is derived from the root “pra-“ that emphasizes the divine origin of this meekness or gentle strength. It expresses power with reserve and gentleness.

Our good conduct, our behavior exhibited to those around us must contain wisdom’s gentleness. It is never to be arrogant or divisive. It never puts others down, but instead is designed to show truth with compassion and kindness that lifts others up.

May we always have and demonstrate wisdom’s gentleness in our daily walk with God. Amen

 

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One Who is Wise

by TerryLema

Thinking (and writing) about “stupid” yesterday had me thinking also about wisdom. There is much about wisdom in our Bibles. There is an entire book dedicated to wisdom, Proverbs, and there are also stories about the wise and foolish throughout the Scriptures.

We know that in Scripture, God does not order mankind along the lines of stupid or intelligent. He ranks as wise or foolish. Psalm 14 describes wise and foolish.  Verse one tells us about fools, “The fool says in his heart, ‘God does not exist.’”   Verse 2 tells us the definition of the “one who is wise” as “one who seeks God.” [HCSB]

We could say it this way … there are only two kinds of people, lost or saved. Either we are fools who do not acknowledge God, or wise in that we do come to God on His terms. But in addition to being “one who is wise” as “one who seeks God,” there is the added component of the “wisdom” that is needed for spiritual growth and maturity after salvation.

In the New Testament, the letter of James references that wisdom a number of times. Perhaps the one we are most familiar with is found in James 1:5: “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him.” [HCSB]

There are two critical parts to that verse. The first part is our responsibility; the second part is God’s.  It is our responsibility to acknowledge that we lack wisdom and need to ask God for it.  That phrase, “if any of you lacks wisdom,” could really be translated, “since you lack wisdom” because we all do.

None of us have the wisdom within us needed for our spiritual maturity in Christ. We must go to God for it. The world might classify us as “stupid” or having “intelligence” on the genius level, but none is born with spiritual wisdom. That is where the second part of this verse is so vital, “God…gives to all generously and without criticizing.”  It is through the power of His Spirit of Truth indwelling us that we are given the spiritual wisdom we need to follow and to serve Him.

So let’s ask!

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Stupid … ?

by TerryLema

I have often told a story that happened when Marcus, my grandson was little. His mother was trying to get him to not use the word “stupid.” Using that word was usually accompanied by a bit of timeout in a chair as a reminder. Bob and I were visiting when Grandpa Bob called something “stupid.” That immediately lit up Marcus, who insisted that Grandpa Bob needed to enjoy the time out chair too.  It took a bit of cajoling, but he did sit in that chair for a few minutes.

Lately, however, I am not sure if I can find any other word to use for some of the things I have been seeing. “Stupid” means “having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense.” Really, is there any other way to describe some things?

I watched a couple videos of the recent gas shortage on the East Coast. One woman was putting gas in a grocery bag, which she then put inside another, then another, tied the handles and put in the trunk of her car. Another was filling up what looked like small plastic tubs.

The other day I turned on the TV to catch the early news and got the tail-end of Judge Judy. I was convinced after five minutes that “stupid” really is often the best adjective.

Then there are the reality shows. I do not watch reality shows, of any kind, period, but at times I cannot help but see the commercials for them. Again, “stupid” rises to the top of the adjective list.

As I watched some of the real-life videos, the commercials for reality television and the people appearing before Judge Judy, two things came to mine. One was a meme I saw on Facebook that said, “Let’s remove all the warning labels and let stupid wipe itself out.”

The other was from Proverbs 3:35: “The wise will inherit honor, but He holds up fools to dishonor.” [HCSB]

Oh LORD, let me be found wise! Tomorrow “Spiritual Wisdom!”

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