Past Devotions

End-Time Church

by TerryLema

Shortly before Jesus’ death, His disciples approached Him privately and asked about what would precede His return.  ‘Tell us … what is the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” [Matthew 24:3 CSB]

What followed is a list of natural disasters and wars that is familiar to anyone who has been in the church for any length of time. In verses 9-13, Jesus also tells them that persecutions and martyrdom await those who live during that time. There will be betrayals and the love of many will grow cold, but, amazingly, at the end of that section is a beacon of hope in verse 14.

“This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.”

Amid all the terrorism, war, persecution and natural disasters, there will be an end-time Church of Christ Jesus that will finish the Great Commission.  This end-time church will have the fullness of the Power, Presence and Person of the Holy Spirit in her midst. The Spirit will pour His power upon this end-time church again and again so that she will burn with passion and zeal and a love for Jesus.

This awakened church will be gripped by the Spirit, empowered and bold. She will speak truth with a call that will travel across our globe with a fervor that may not have been seen since that first church in the Book of Acts. Truth and holiness will be welcomed in her midst.

Joel 2 promises that this end-time awakening will come to all, to men and women, to the young and old. It will not be limited to pastors or prophets, as all will receive the Spirit’s outpouring. Then as they remarked about Peter and John in Acts 4:13, “When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus,” they will know that we, too, have been with the LORD.

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The Unexpected 2020

by TerryLema

The first half of 2020 is behind us. What a beginning it was! Now as we head into the second half of 2020 the predictions of what may come are even more dire in many places. Who would have thought as we celebrated this new decade on January 1 what we would face in just a matter of months? The whole world was turned upside down by the unexpected.

Yet, as I am often reminded, our Father God is not surprised nor taken aback by the “unexpected,” for He knows all things. He knows even the things that “might” happen.

One of my favorite passages of reassurance is found in 1 Samuel 23. The Philistines were attacking the city of Keilah and God sent David to rescue them. When Saul found out what David did, and that he was still in Keilah behind barred gates, he planned to trap him there.

David inquired of the LORD and asked two questions. The first, “Will Saul come?” God’s answer: “Yes, he will.” [v10-11]

David inquired again, “Will the citizens of Keilah hand me and my men over to Saul?” God’s answer: “They will.” [v12]

That, of course, never happened because David took God’s warning and fled the city and escaped with his men. God warned David about what would happen unless David heeded the warning. God knew Saul’s plan, as well as the thoughts of the citizens of Keilah even before they thought them!

Omniscience (big theological word) for the truth that God knows all things. That big theological word is vitally important to us as we walk through each day. We know we can trust that God will not be surprised, nor taken aback, by the unexpected that we might encounter. Praise His Holy Name.

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God’s Precious Thoughts!

by TerryLema

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”  [James 1:17 CSB]

Everything God creates is productive, just, and good. Everything God does has value and loveliness.  He does everything in love and concern for our best and eternal interests. He wants us to flow with the desires of His Holy Spirit so that we will agree with His purpose worked out in our lives.

God never seeks to harm us.  He will, however, not force us to love Him and He’s given us free will to reject Him and will allow us to live (and die) with that choice, But, that has never been His purpose for our eternal good.

One of the most beautiful songs ever written is Psalms 139. Take a moment to read it. One thing you notice immediately is that it contains no negative undertones. It is an entirely positive outpouring of how we are in the care of God – we are remarkably and wondrously made, God is always with us, He knows our deepest thoughts and desires and loves us still!

To me, the most beautiful verses are 17 and 18: “God, how precious your thoughts are to me; how vast their sum is! If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with you.”

Our Father is thinking about us all the time. Think about that! God, the Omnipotent One, the All-Knowing One, thinks about us. Of the billions of people alive on this planet now … God thinks about me and you—about each one of us individually. What a remarkable truth.

I sing with the Psalmist … “God, how precious your thoughts are to me!”

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The Value of a Human Soul

by TerryLema

In Mark 8, Jesus asked the great question … “Who do you say I am?” [v29 CSB]

Peter, of course, gave the great response, “You are the Messiah,” and then moments later turned around and said something foolish causing Jesus to rebuke him.

Jesus used that moment to teach his disciples about His purpose in coming and His upcoming death at the hands of the elders, chief priests and scribes.  Then He invited the crowd to not just listen, but to join Him.

“Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it.  For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life?  What can anyone give in exchange for his life?’” [vs 34-37 CSB]

Jesus asks the crowd, and us, two profound questions. The first, what good is it to gain everything in this world and yet lose your eternal life, and the second, what does anyone have that could be exchanged for that eternal life?

How valuable a human soul! If lost, not even everything in this world can buy it back.

God values a human soul far more than we do. We look at the lost, at the openly hostile to everything sacred, and we write them off as unredeemable, or not worth the effort to pray for or witness to. Yet, I truly believe that God up until that last breath they take, does not write them off. He grieves for their choice to reject Him.

Do we?

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That Incredible Truth!

by TerryLema

As I was walking the other day, I thought about how much we are loved by our Father God. The words of Romans 8 began to flow through my mind with each step, with emphasis on the word separate.

“Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Rom 8:35, 38-39 CSB]

As I walked, I thought about God’s love. Paul asked first, “Who (or what) can separate us?” Then he answered his own question … nothing can. There is nothing in this life, nor the next, that is able or will be able to separate us from the love of God that we have seen demonstrated in Christ Jesus our LORD.

Since that walk the other day, there have been several times when the love of God just overwhelmed me—once in the car as I was driving to a prayer meeting, once as I sat leisurely in my big lounge chair reading, another time when I was simply walking around the house. Out of the blue, I could simply sense God’s presence with me. I had done nothing at those moments to seek Him, He simply came to me.

And that beloved, is truly the most incredible of all truths. God seeks us. God wants us. It all originates in Him.

I have been struggling physically. What is going on in my body is not going to kill me … probably. It does, however, make everything I do more difficult. I, like so many others, battle fatigue and pain, and the side effects of medications. Too often that claims my focus. Then, as if a veil parts for only a moment, I sense God’s love and presence overshadow me. When that happens, it all becomes all right. He is with me. He loves me.

To know, to sense, God’s love for us will overwhelm every earthly problem we ever may face. His love is all we need.

 

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Signs Everywhere

by TerryLema

Everyone has a sign. They hold them up religiously during protests and gatherings. They know that everyone also has a camera and if their sign is right on or raunchy enough, someone is going to take a picture and it will end up on some form of media.

I have seen a lot of hideous signs and graffiti with the recent rioting and looting and anarchy in our street, but I saw a sign posted on social media recently that I cannot get out of my mind. It was held by a man with a smug look on his face. As I read it, I could literally feel my stomach churn and my chest get heavy. It read: “When Jesus comes back, kill him again.”

I cannot describe how difficult it was to write those words just now. I can still see the haughty look on that man’s face. My immediate reaction was to ask God for judgment. I wanted to see the look on his face when Jesus does come back in might and power. I wanted to see how arrogant he would be when he is made to kneel before the King of Kings and LORD of Lords.

Then, I realized that was not the attitude Jesus would have. He sorrowed over the Rich Young Ruler who rejected Him. When He hung on that cross, He forgave those who crucified Him. He restored Peter who denied Him. He called Paul, the one who persecuted the beginning church (the one who might have held a sign up like this man) and turned him into the greatest Apostle-missionary of all time. Jesus would have prayed, likely is praying, for this man’s soul.

These are the signs of the times, beloved. There is much hatred for our LORD in this world, and that hatred seeks to wound or destroy all those who place their faith in Christ Jesus as LORD. But we cannot let it damage our hearts nor twist us into something we are not to be. We must forgive, we must intercede for the lost.

We must be like our Savior and King. He was compassionate to the lost, comforting to the hurting. He spoke truth. He forgave. Yes, there is coming a time when He will also distribute justice and judgment, but beloved, He does not call us to judge our world, He calls us to offer hope and to intercede for the lost and to forgive as He forgave. Justice and judgment are in His Hands.

“They will give an account to the one [Christ Jesus] who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.”  [1 Peter 4:5]

 

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Reverence for God Almighty

by TerryLema

Uzzah. Ananias and Sapphira. Those names bring up two events, one in the Old Testament and one in the New, that often leave us puzzled or confused. If you read the story of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6, you know that Uzzah was one of the priests charged with bringing the Ark of Covenant to the city of David. As a priest, he should have known how the Ark was to be transported on the shoulders of priests. Instead the Ark was placed on a cart and when the oxen pulling the cart stumbled, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark.  For that, “the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there next to the ark of God.” [v7 CSV]

Well, that was the God of the Old Testament, and surely the God of the New Testament is more lenient and gracious regarding irreverence. We might believe that except for the account in Acts 5 of Ananias and Sapphira.

Shortly after the new church was formed, Barnabas, known as the son of encouragement, sold some property and gave the money to the apostles to be used for the poor. Ananias and Sapphira, not wanting to be outdone, also sold some property. When they brought a portion of the profit to the Apostles, they led them to believe it was all the profit. Lying to the Holy Spirit brought about the immediate judgment of God and a quick trip to the cemetery. Verse 11 tells us when that happened, “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.”

 These events highlight the consequences of irreverence. They also highlight the fact that we serve a God who is dangerous and not safe. God will not be mocked. If we sow to irreverence, we will reap judgment.

Part of me, when I read these two stories, always wonders what the church would be like if men and women both behind and in front of the pulpit today—who knowingly disrespect God—suffered the same immediate consequence.  Then I think great fear would seize the church, and, maybe, we would be that pure and holy Bride God has called us to be.

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Those Who Wait

by TerryLema

I am weary as I write this, bone weary. Between the auto-immune diseases trying to gain control of my body, and the medications trying to gain control of the diseases, I am fatigued by the battle for supremacy. I am also weary of mind, trying to grasp what is going on in the world around me and around the world. The fight for control of our thinking, our work, our vote, our health, our freedom has left me wondering what might be around the next corner that is even worse.

Just because I am weary of body and mind does not mean, however, that my spirit is the same. In fact, as the body and mind flails, my spirit is stepping up. I am even more dependent upon God’s Spirit to uphold me. I am even more determined to allow Him to pour out His strength and power upon me. I am even more committed to not allow the things of this world to be my focus, but instead to search the deep things of God in pursuit of Him.

The daily Bible verse that was delivered to my email this morning says it all … “but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.” [Isaiah 40:31]

That is such a familiar verse, we have said it, probably memorized it, and even sung it. if you have sung it, you know that at the end of that little chorus the author added a prayer, “Teach me, LORD, teach me LORD, to wait.” [link below]

I do not know if the author added that prayer as just a nice ending to the song, or if he realized that in order for us to live Isaiah 40:31, we would have to be taught how to wait no matter what was going on in us and around us. We do not “wait” very well naturally (think long lines to check out, traffic jams). We must learn to wait.

I also chuckled a bit over that last line this morning … the author of the song repeated it … “Teach me, LORD, teach me LORD, to wait.”

I know in my life that prayer is not a one-and-done prayer, I’ve repeated it often. Teach me, LORD, to wait. I’m repeating it again this morning.  Teach me, LORD, to wait.

 

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=They+that+wait+upon+the+LORD+chorus&ru=%2fvideos%2fsearch%3fq%3dThey%2520that%2520wait%2520upon%2520the%2520LORD%2520chorus%26qs%3dn%26form%3dQBVR%26sp%3d-1%26ghc%3d1%26pq%3dthey%2520that%2520wait%2520upon%2520the%2520lord%2520chorus%26sc%3d3-35%26sk%3d%26cvid%3dFBCA902B3F2844D69DD421A4FE1F764B&view=detail&mid=8ED62A628FF66F155C9D8ED62A628FF66F155C9D&&FORM=VDRVRV

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I AM KNOCKING

by TerryLema

“See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” [Rev 3:14-22]

The last church Jesus addresses in the “now” part of His Revelation to John is the Church at Laodicea. It has often been called the Lukewarm Church because she is neither hot nor cold. If I had been given the opportunity to name her, I would have called her “The Pathetic Church” because she does not even know that Jesus is missing from her midst. He’s gone but she keeps doing her thing.

This church was concerned with her prosperity. “For you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.”

 This church had drifted far from the Acts 2 Church. The believers of that church was concerned with far different things than their own personal prosperity. “Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need.”

The Acts 2 Church did exactly what Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18:22: “Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

To me, the prosperity gospel is one of the worst teachings in modern day. I can find no words of Jesus that tell us to store up treasures on earth. And, when our personal quest for prosperity overpowers the truth of the Gospel in our personal lives or our corporate lives, we will end up like the wretched church at Laodicea—unaware that Jesus is no longer with us but standing on the outside waiting to be invited back in.

There is nothing inherently wrong with wealth, until it becomes a greater pursuit than simply following Christ Jesus wherever He leads. Then it can turn deadly.

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We Do Not Give Up!

by TerryLema

As much as is wrong with the church today, there are still things that are good and true. “I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” [Rev 3:7-13]

God has always had a remnant, faithful believers who no matter the cost remained genuine before Him. He had them in the Old Testament, and He has them in the New. While the church may seem shaky as a whole, there are those who still have a “little power” and will use that to stay strong in the Gospel and true to the Word no matter the cost.

The church at Philadelphia represents people who do not quit.  Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4 about the hardships and afflictions that he and his companions had suffered:  “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair;  we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.  We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body.  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh.”

 Despite all that he says twice, “we do not give up.” [v4, 16]

Beloved, no matter what we see happening in our world today, we cannot give up. If we do, who is left to proclaim hope?

Athletes speak of “leaving it all on the field.” They mean giving every ounce of strength, courage, and fight on their fields of play. It speaks of doing what they have to do with never a thought of quitting, no matter how tough the opposition, or how difficult the course. Beloved, as the Church of Christ Jesus, we need that same attitude. We need to leave it all on our field of play. I want to hear the LORD of Glory tell me one day – “you did not give up!”

 

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