Tag:

Death

From Death to Life …

by TerryLema

This morning I was drawn to that magnificent passage of Scripture in Ephesians 2:1-10, labeled in my Bible as “From Death to Life.”

Ten verses describe what we were before Christ and what we are after surrendering our lives to Him. Take a moment and read those first ten verses in Chapter 2. They begin … “And you were dead ….”

Three verses describe how we were dead. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were dead as we walked according to the ways of this world. We were dead as we obeyed the ruler of this world (the enemy of our soul). We were dead as we lived and surrendered to all our fleshly (sinful) desires and thoughts. We were dead and under the wrath of God.

Then the most marvelous two words ever found anywhere appear and begin verse 4 … “But God ….”

We now live in all the things implicit in those two words … “But God ….”

Do you see what we now live in?

Verse 4: Mercy and God’s Love

Verse 5: Life and Grace

Verse 6: Relationship with Christ Jesus in the heavens

Verse 7: Kindness

Verse 8: Salvation, Grace, Faith – God’s gifts to us

This is what we were created for! To be His. To flow in the good works He has prepared for us!

If your soul is not soaring into the heavens as you read Chapter 2:1-10, read it again!

 

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Power Over Sickness and Death

by TerryLema

I am meditating on the power and authority of Jesus seen in Luke 8. First, His authority over the natural world when He calmed a violent storm with only His word. Then, His authority over the spiritual world when He commanded a “Legion” of demons to leave a possessed man.  Those who witnessed these events were overtaken with fear.

But Luke does not end with Jesus’ power over the natural world and over the spiritual world. He has two more incidents to report.

After leaving the region of the Gerasenes, Jesus returned to the other side of the lake. There he was immediately confronted by a grieving father, Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, whose only daughter, 12 years old, was at death’s door.  He pleaded with Jesus to come to his house. [vs 40-56]

Jesus consents, but as they travel to Jairus’ home, a woman suffering with a chronic bleeding condition that left her “unclean” for 12 years touches the hem of Jesus’ robe in faith and is healed. Jesus stopped, immediately recognizing what happened, and seeks in the crowd for the person who had anonymously touched Him. Initially everyone denies it, but Jesus was not moving until He discovered who touched Him.  (Can you imagine what was going through Jairus’ mind during this delay?)

Finally, the woman confesses, and Jesus announces, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” [vs 48 HCSB]

They get to Jairus’ house and Jesus tosses out the hired mourners who think the child is dead. He then takes the child by the hand and tells her to get up. She does. And “Her parents were astounded,” Luke reports. [vs 56 HCSB]

In Luke 8, Jesus, exercised authority over the natural creation, over the spiritual world, and finally over sickness and death. He astonished everyone who witnessed that authority. I pray we too are astonished and amazed by our Wonderful Savior and LORD.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Today I choose …

by TerryLema

Last week I walked into a bakery shop. An unbelievably good bakery shop. The selection was amazing. Every kind of cookie, pie, donut, cake, bar, and cupcake. On the other side of the bakery was a case that had savory items. I found quiche, meat pies, and lasagnas. This was my first time in the store.  I was overwhelmed. There was simply too much from which to choose.

It took me 15 minutes, but I ended up walking out with a veggie and ham quiche. I do love quiche.

David tells us that our LORD has presented us with a choice also. In Psalm 25, David reminds us that God offers us much. He lists some of things God offers, i.e., truth, salvation, compassion, faithful love, goodness, grace, rescue, forgiveness, refuge, deliverance. Then he tells us we have a choice.

“The Lord is good and upright; therefore, He shows sinners the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. All the Lord’s ways show faithful love and truth…. Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will show him the way he should choose. He will live a good life.” [Psalm 25:8-10, 12-13 HCSB]

God will show us the way we should choose, but He will not force us to choose His way.

He will allow us to reject all the good things he offers us. He will allow us to remain in our sin and dead state if that is what we want. It is called free will. Of course, that free will means we also will live with the consequences our choice carries.

However, if we choose wisely, David assures us that “[We] will live a good life.”

That “good life” will be ours both here and in eternity. Amen & Amen.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Life and Death and Viruses …

by TerryLema

I was thinking about life and death the other day. We apparently are experiencing a third wave of COVID19 in Idaho and there are always the “warnings” that people who are old or compromised are most at risk. I am old – not as old as some but old enough to fall into that risk category. I also have three, yes three, auto-immune diseases which affect my risk factors, one of which has the potential for blindness, strokes, aneurisms. Thinking about life and death is not such an odd phenomenon for me.

For a couple hours the enemy was trying to install fear in my heart about leaving the house, exposing myself to “the virus.” Then I realized what was going on and who was trying to influence my heart. I remembered that no matter what happens to my body, I have life in the name of Jesus.

“But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.” [John 20:31]

Life in Jesus’ Name. That life given to me by the Son of God when I placed my faith in Him and surrendered to His LORDship is eternal. It cannot be taken from me because it is provided and guarded by the One in whom all power and authority resides.

Yes, my body might fail … yes, my body will fail. It may fail from age, from disease, from a virus, or from an accident. It may fail today, tomorrow, or in two decades. But life … the life in His name, cannot fail.

Will I do everything I can to avoid risks while I am most vulnerable now – of course. Not because of fear of death, but because I do not think my time of ministry is done yet. When it is, I will take my eternal life and go to see face-to-face the One who provided it.

What a glorious day that will be. Amen & Amen

0 comment
FacebookEmail

I Gave Up …

by TerryLema

I take prednisone, not because I want to, but because it is one of the only meds that will control the symptoms of the two auto-immune diseases that want to dominate my body. Prednisone has its own symptoms, however, loss of bone density (which I have avoided so far), thinning hair (got that), moon face (on its way), and the delightful prednisone insomnia.

I usually fall asleep right away but wake throughout the night. Sometimes I just take a sip of water, roll over, and can go back to sleep. That is not always the case, and on those nights when sleep eludes, I will pray, read, move to the couch, surf the web, or outline a devotion or message. That was a recent night.  I thought about those beautiful green pastures and still waters promised by our Good Shepherd.

I have often heard about all the things people think we must give up when we come to Christ. In the middle of the night God reminded me of that one big sacrifice we must make … the one I wrote about yesterday.  When we enter the sheepfold through the Good Shepherd, we give up death.

The Good Shepherd makes us leave death at the door and He gives life upon entry into the sheepfold. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 6:23 HCSB]

We give up death and everything associated with it. Condemnation is sacrificed. Judgment is turned over. Shame and guilt are laid down. We give up darkness, fear, anxiety, insecurity, loneliness, alienation from God. Yes, we certainly do give up a lot.

And because He now fills us with His Spirit of Life, we have that lush promise that “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead …  will also bring [our] mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in [us].” [Romans 8:11 HCSB]

I am rolling around in the opulent green pastures of life today. My body may go one day to the ground, but I have life, life, LIFE in Christ Jesus. I left death on the other side of the door to the sheepfold.  Amen!

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Life or Death

by TerryLema

The Children of Israel had reached the Promised Land after forty years in the wilderness. The generation of people that had witnessed the Hand of God in their deliverance from Egypt were all gone. A new generation was standing at the border waiting to cross the Jordan. Moses takes this opportunity to teach this new generation the uniqueness and worthiness of the God of Israel.

One of the things Moses puts before them that always resounds in my heart is found in Deuteronomy, chapter 30. “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.” [vs 19-20 NIV]

Choose. What an amazing word. Our Creator, who has every right to force complete obedience and loyalty from His creation instead give us the right to “choose” Him or reject Him. We can choose life, or we can choose to ignore His invitation to life and have death instead. We can choose to embrace His blessings that come with surrender and obedience, or we can relinquish those and allow the curse of sin and death to reign in us.

Life often does not allow us to choose, it chooses for us. We can do everything possible to stay healthy, and yet find that a disease or disability has “chosen” us. We can be careful with our finances, and still suffer loss when an economic depression “chooses” to manifest in our world. We can find our lives turned upside down when someone we love “chooses” to leave. We can obey every law and then suffer when another “chooses” to run a stop light.

Those very facts make it all the more amazing that the God of this Universe, the Creator of All Things gives us the opportunity … the right … to make the most important of all decisions. He allows us to “choose” life and blessings by choosing Him, or death and curses by rejecting Him.

Right now, today, where I live, I cannot even “choose” to go to a salon and get a haircut – that choice has been removed. Yet the Living LORD of Life allows you to “choose” to follow Him. Think about that.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

We’re All Gonna Die!

by TerryLema

Christopher Bullock, an English actor and dramatist, uttered the following quote in the satire “The Cobbler of Preston” in 1716: “Tis impossible to be sure of anything but Death and Taxes.”

Yep, we got both. And when it comes to death and taxes, the accompanying emotion is often fear. That’s what we are seeing all around us now. We have a FEAR-pandemic. It’s spreading around the world. People are afraid of the coronavirus because they are afraid of death.

No one wants to die. There is something ingrained in our DNA that fights death tooth-and-nail. We were created for life. Death is an enemy, a part of the curse of sin. We hate it. Even Christians hate it, as they should.

But hating it as part of sin’s curse and fearing it are not the same thing. Christ Jesus conquered death, and all who come to Him have eternal life. Now we eagerly wait for that final enemy, death, to be forever destroyed. [1 Cor 15:20-28]

In the meantime, we live in the promise that “we walk by faith, not by sight,” and that “to be absent from the body [is] to be present with the Lord.” [2 Cor 5:7-8 NKJV ]

Whatever kills us sends us home to be with our LORD and Savior Christ Jesus. What a marvelous opportunity this FEAR-pandemic is to show the world a face of courage and joy that comes from our salvation in Christ!

0 comment
FacebookEmail