Past Devotions

Hawks!

by TerryLema

I love hawks. I love watching them soar in the sky. Every now and then one small hawk comes and sits on our fence, especially in the winter. I think he is attracted by all the little birds that frequent Bob’s bird feeder throughout the day.

Several years ago, just as I was beginning to notice the symptoms of these auto-immune diseases, I was on my daily three-mile worship walk.  I had gone about one mile and began to feel fatigued and doubtful I could finish. I headed for home and as I did a beautiful hawk began “making lazy circles in the sky” just in front of me. In my spirit, I heard the LORD say, “It’s going to be okay. I’m here.”

Since that day, I have been battling the auto-immune diseases and side-effects of the treatments. It has not always been easy and there are days I do fine and other days I want to withdraw from everything. The funny thing is, every time I walk or drive somewhere when I am feeling anxious or down, I see a hawk in the sky (or on the fence)!  When that happens, I am reminded of that first hawk, and God’s promise to me … “It’s going to be okay. I’m here.”

I know that sounds silly. But twice last week as I headed out for doctor appointments, and once this week on the way back from one, there were hawks in the sky as I drove. There were not any when I drove to the store, or the bank, or the pharmacy.

So, silly as it may be, I find God’s reassurance of His love, His protection, His presence with me in the sky, in a hawk making “lazy circles.”

I also find His reassurance in His Word, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” [Hebrews 3:5b HCSB]

God’s Word and His little reminders of it keep me going no matter what I might face. Amen

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Seek First

by TerryLema

I have been thinking a lot about my prayer life lately.  It certainly is not as vital as I want it to be. I wonder if I have been side-tracked in how I pray, or perhaps in my goals in praying.

Recently I read an article in an on-line magazine where the author called out Christians on the way they prayed for this last election.  One of the things he said hit home for my own prayer life.  He said that we should not have been praying just to get a result in the election. We should have been seeking God’s will, His heart, His desire, and His presence.

In other words, we should have been doing what Jesus told us to do in Matthew 6:33:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”

As I read the article and as I was reminded of this verse from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, I felt the Holy Spirit’s conviction that I have been drifting in my prayer life.  I have been seeking outcomes rather than God’s will and heart.  I have been giving God my plans and asking for His blessing on them.

I know that we can, and we should, bring our hurts, our wounds, our desires, and our dreams to God in prayer. I know we need to lay those things at His feet.  John in his first letter reminds us that we can have a confidence in coming before our LORD and asking … but John adds a caveat that I need to focus on more as I pray.

“Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”  [1 John 5:14 HCSB]

That caveat is that whenever we bring anything before the LORD, we need to remember in the end, His response will be “according to His will.” Amen.

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Seeking the Lost

by TerryLema

Ever been lost?  Maybe you were driving in a strange city or highway and you took a wrong turn. That was easier to do years ago before our phones and cars were equipped with GPS and a voice instructing us along the way. I remember getting turned around in a theme park once and going out the wrong exit into the wrong parking lot!  That took a while to find the car.

Maybe you have never been physically lost, but during these days and times we are living in you feel lost.  We have been self-isolating, staying away from others. We have not spent time with family and friends or even ventured into stores where we simply walk around in the “crowds” and smile at each other.  Loneliness is on the rise, in our children, teens, and the elderly.

Suicide rates are on the rise also, especially among teens.  Recently a 17-year-old football player in Florida committed suicide, despondent over not being in school and not being allowed to play football.  (Coaches often serve as the primary mentors for high school athletes.) The restrictions to keep COVID from spreading have had unfortunate consequences for many.

I think that is why the words of Jesus in Luke 19 hold out such hope in our troubled times.

People were offended that Jesus responded to and offered salvation to a hated tax collector named Zacchaeus. When His critics began to complain about His actions, Jesus reminded them of His purpose.

 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” [Luke 19:10 HCSB]

Jesus brought us many blessings through His sacrifice on the cross. He opened the way to the Father so that we now are no longer at odds with our Creator. He gives peace. Our joy is found in Him. His promises are “yes” and “Amen.” He promises us a future and we live in the hope of our eternity with Him.

Yes, Jesus’ life, death and resurrection brought all those blessings and more!  But, His purpose was so simple – to seek and save the lost. And perhaps the biggest blessing of all is that He invites us now to share His purpose.

 “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  [Matthew 28:18-20 HCSB

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Snarky

by TerryLema

Sunday was one of those days that held a myriad of things. First there was church and a message about peace. At the end I told the people gathered of my plans to retire at the end of this year. I turn 75 in December and I am sure I am hearing God correctly that it is time the church has a new pastor that has the anointing and energy to lead The Way to the next phase. My part there is coming to a close … and I’m getting excited to see what “new thing” God has for me.

In the afternoon I headed off to get my first COVID-19 vaccine. I was glad my primary care had enough vaccine for me (Bob got his last week). I want to go to California in late May to see my grandson graduate from high school.  This is the first step to making that happen.

Then in the evening I watched the Super Bowl. I have loved watching football for as long as I can remember. I love the game. Maybe because I love the game so much is why I was disappointed in the Super Bowl. I was so disappointed in just about everything that I got a bit snarky on Facebook while watching.

I did not like the rendition of God Bless America, or the National Anthem. Most of the commercials were dumb. The halftime show was ridiculous. I thought the officiating was horrible. Lost in all that nonsense was the game I like watching.

I am old enough to remember watching Super Bowl I … Green Bay and Kansas City. I think I have watched everyone since. I have seen them go from a game to an event to a dazzling money-driven around-the-world spectacular. And in that evolution, something has been lost. The core event has been overshadowed by fluff and flash.

It was not difficult as I prayed this morning to translate all that into my thoughts about the church. It had me wondering if we too have lost sight of the core event and given into fluff and flash.

John 3:16-18: “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.” [HCSB]

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Sometimes it’s the small things …

by TerryLema

I was reading through Exodus last week. I was just past what I often think of as “the good parts.” You know the “good parts,” those chapters that tell us about Moses and the things God did through him to get Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt. I love the accounts of the Passover, and the parting of the Red Sea. I love the giving of the commandments on Mount Sinai too.

Even when I get into the laws and ordinances I do okay. Where I bog down is in the instructions for the building of the Temple and all its furnishings.  All those cubits and overlays and where to fold curtains and how many rings.  Sadly, where I should pay attention, I drift.

But then, last week, I read a sentence that I have probably read many, many times, and I saw something I had never noticed before.  In the giving of the instructions for the building of the Ark, God included instructions for the poles that would be used by the priests to carry the Ark.

“Make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark in order to carry the ark with them. The poles are to remain in the rings of the ark; they must not be removed from it.” [Exodus 25:13-15 HCSB]

The part that leapt off the page is that instruction that the poles were to remain in the rings of the ark and not be removed.  Wow. What a small, seemingly insignificant instruction.  Yet not following that instruction may have caused an incident that people still puzzle over, an incident that caused a king to become angry with God, an incident which included the loss of a life.

That incident is in 2 Samuel 6 when King David attempted to bring the ark to Jerusalem. Was it because the poles were not left in the ark as God instructed that the Ark was placed on a cart, oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark, and God struck Uzzah for his irreverence?

What if the priests had followed the instructions? What if they left those poles in the rings on the Ark? Would they have been reminded when they decided to move the Ark to Jerusalem of what God said so long ago … the Ark was to be carried on the shoulders of the priests?

Wow.  A simple instruction about poles and rings. I think that there are no small things in God’s instructions.

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Blameless & Pure

by TerryLema

As I was reading further in Philippians, I came across another occurrence of the English word “blameless.”  I saw that word in Chapter 1 (which I wrote about yesterday), and then it occurred again in Chapter 2.  That made me wonder if it was the same Greek word.  Turns out, it is not.

The “blameless” in Chapter 1 is “aproskopos.”  It means “not causing to stumble, not stumbling.” It conveys the idea of free from harm or hurt, not offending nor causing offence.  Paul prayed in Chapter 1 for his readers to have increasing knowledge and discernment so that they could approve things that are superior and could be “blamesless” (not stumbling, not causing others to stumble).

Then in Chapter 2, Paul reminds his readers of more important items that they need to watch out for.

“Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.” [Philippians 2:14-15 HCSB]

Paul’s word for “blameless” in this passage is “amemptos,” and it means simply “free from fault or defect, above reproach.”

Oh, beloved, we are to be above reproach in all things. We are not to grumble or argue.  We are to be people of integrity and honesty, full of compassion and kindness and light.  We are to be different from the world.

Paul described the world in his day as “a crooked and perverted generation.” We could describe the world in our day the same way.  So, if we act like, or look like, or talk like the world … if we grumble and argue … how can we be light? How can we shine like stars?

Oh Father, help us to be light amid all this darkness.  Amen.

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Things that are superior …

by TerryLema

I do not know about you, but I am bombarded every day with so much stuff. It comes through the television, the online news pages, Facebook, emails, snail-mail, and a host of other avenues. It wants my attention. Often it wants my money too.

Just the other day I was invited to pursue hearing aids, burial insurance, life insurance, new windows for the house, lawn care, a new home, a new car … and that was just in the mailbox. The commercials on television were worse. The ads on Facebook popped up constantly. My phone rang with robo-calls telling me my auto warranty was up on cars we no longer own!

Bombarded from every side. Even as I am writing this, an ad for faster wi-fi flashed on my screen!  Perhaps that is why I was captured by Paul’s prayer for the Philippians.

“And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” [Philippians 1:9-11 HCSB]

Paul prayed for his readers to have a growing knowledge and discernment so that they could “approve the things that are superior.”

Then he described those things. He wanted his readers to be pure, blameless, filled with the fruit of righteousness. He wanted them to lead lives that brought glory and praise to God.

I really was struck by that phrase “approve the things that are superior.”

The world bombards us with things that are inferior. It demands our attention to stuff that will pass away with the using. It wants us consumed with consumerism. Our Father God wants us to grow in the knowledge of Christ Jesus so that we might live superior lives, consumed with the desire to know eternal things that will last forever.

Maybe we should all be praying Paul’s prayer – for ourselves and for each other.  Amen.

 

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By His Wounds …

by TerryLema

Recently, a local pastor and church had a healing service on a Sunday morning. Upon reading the announcement in Facebook, I commented that I wished I could be there, but I would be in my own church at that time. The pastor let me know they would pray for me … and let me know the following day that they prayed for me by name!  Last Sunday a visiting minister at The Way also prayed for me for healing.

I believe in Divine Healing. I know it happens because it happened in my family even before I surrendered my life to Christ. I heard doctors say, “we do not understand why there have been no more kidney infections,” when nothing changed except God’s intervention.

I know God can heal me. I am trusting that He will heal me. Isaiah 53:5 contains the promise of our healing in that marvelous chapter of the Suffering Messiah.

“But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.” [HCSB]

I know God can use medicine and science to heal, and I know that He can heal supernaturally.  I am claiming my physical healing at His Hand. I know that my healing may come in this life, and I know that if it does not, my healing is a certainty in the next life in His Presence.

My soul and spirit have been made alive by my Savior and LORD. Death has no hold on me. When I exit this life, by whatever means, I simply am escorted into the complete eternal life I now realize in part. I will then see not only my soul and spirit eternally alive, but I will be outfitted with a new body that will never experience pain or aging or death.

For now, I am claiming my physical healing each day. I am trusting Almighty God to complete His perfect plan in me. Amen!

 

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But God …

by TerryLema

Yesterday I wrote about verses that recently appeared in my Verse-of-the-Day. They are from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church.

“But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” [2:9-10 HCSB]

I was captured by those two little words, “But God.”  Oh, how many things in our lives are made wonderful with just the acknowledgement of those two little words – But God!

 I know it is probably a silly thought, but I think some of the best times in heaven will be when we learn what might or could have happened to us … “But God.” 

One of my favorite Scriptures is found in Romans 5:8. When I am reading Romans and get to that Scripture it makes me stop, catch my breath, and praise the One Who Loves Me So!  “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  [HCSB]

Then there is that wonderful “But God” in Ephesians 2:4-5 that always causes thanksgiving to our LORD: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!”  [HCSB]

And finally, no matter what life dishes out … I can sing with the psalmist, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.”  [Psalm 73:26 HCSB]

I say again … Oh, how many things in our lives are made wonderful with just the acknowledgement of those two little words – But God!

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Eye Has Not Seen!

by TerryLema

Sunday was a difficult day for me, as I mentioned yesterday. One of my auto-immune diseases was seeking to dominate everything. It was probably one of the worst days I have had in quite a few months.

Monday morning I had a scheduled doctor visit. He asked how I was doing. I told him what was better with the infusion treatments and reduced medication levels, and what was worse with the infusion treatments and reduced medication levels. I told him about my bad days and my good days, and all the in-between ones. I expressed (tactfully I hope) some of my frustration.

I love this doctor. He is kind, compassionate, and honest. After hearing me out, he honestly admitted that auto-immune diseases are extremely difficult to endure and to treat. He reassured me that he would not abandon me, but also reminded me that it could be a long haul toward remission and there were no guarantees that remission would come. He acknowledged my frustration and said he was often frustrated that he could not just “make it better.”

This morning my Verse of the Day gave me pause. “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’” [1 Corinthians 2:9 HCSB]

After reading the verse, I opened the chapter and read the verse that follows. “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” [2:10 HCSB]

Those two little words, “but God” blessed my soul mightily. My doctor, as kind, compassionate and knowledgeable as he is, can make no guarantees that good things are in my future. “But God,” my God, can.

Paul wants us to know the wonderful things God has prepared for those who love Him. While we cannot understand them with our natural minds, He has given us His Spirit who searches those deep things of God and now reveals them to us.

Oh, the things God has prepared!

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