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faithful

O Come!

by TerryLema

The season is upon us!  Everywhere we turn we are invited to partake of food and drink, shopping, partying, and cheer.  Unfortunately for many of us we don’t need the food or drink, we can’t afford to shop, all partying does is accentuate what we have lost or don’t have, and cheer?  Well cheery is definitely not how we are feeling.

How do we celebrate the wonderful meaning of Christmas without being caught up in all the expectations and demands that also accompany the season. I think we must strive to keep it simple. Difficult to do? Certainly! But it is necessary.  The message of the season is Christ—a celebration of the One who came to set us free.

The words of that old carol, “O Come, All Ye Faithful” help us to understand the value of keeping Christmas simple.

“O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant! O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem! Come and behold him, born the King of angels.

 “Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning; Jesus, to thee be all glory giv’n! Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.

 “O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!”

We are to simply come. We are to see the One who is the Reason for the Season. And we are to adore Him.

We keep our eyes, our thoughts, our desires, our hearts set on “God with Us,” Emmanuel, and Christmas really is very simple.

Come.

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It Remains

by TerryLema

Recently I went to a church in Boise for the first time. I have known the pastor for a while, but never been to Sunday service. The service opened with a reading from Psalm 103 that declares God’s love for us.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in faithful love…. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love…. But from eternity to eternity, the LORD’s faithful love is toward those who fear Him. [Psalm 103:8, 11, 17 HCSB]

One of the worship songs was “One Thing Remains.” That one thing, the song reminds us, is God’s love. As the chorus says, “ [God’s] love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me.”

I needed that reminder. Do you?

Too often we impose our attributes on God instead of allowing God to impress His attributes on us. Because we fail and give up on ourselves at times, we think God gives us on us also. Oh, we know with our heads that God will never run out on us, but our hearts experience something far different. Our ears too often bend to the message the enemy of our soul likes to promote – “how can God love you when you …?”

1 John 4:8 declares that “God is love,” and throughout Scripture God and His love are described as “faithful.”  God’s love never fails us, He is compassionate and gracious to us. God’s love never gives us on us, He is slow to anger and rich in faithful love. God’s love never runs out, from eternity to eternity He loves us.

That is the message we need to be reminded of each day and to remember always.

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Fifty-four Years

by TerryLema

Today Bob and I have been married 54 years. Bob always joked that we picked that day so he would remember when our taxes were due. It has turned out to be the other way around. When the taxes are due, he remembers it is our anniversary!

It has not always been easy. I always joked that while we never talked divorce, we did consider consulting hitmen on occasion.

Some of the years were better and some worse. We have been richer and poorer. We have been healthy and we have seen sickness. Old age is creeping in on us with all its difficulties and now at 81 and 74, we require a lot of patience and love just to get through many days.

We have moved 22 times in those 54 years and made the leap from California to Idaho, to California again for two years, and back to finally settle in Idaho.

We raised three wonderful children. We now adore and enjoy three precious grandsons.

Somewhere in those 54 years we both came to know Christ Jesus as Savior and LORD. I went to Bible College. Bob worked hard in construction to support us, not the easiest nor most comfortable and stable way to earn a living.

We can see the past but have no idea of what the future might hold.

And through it all God has been faithful.

“God is faithful; you were called by Him into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” [1 Corinthians 1:9 HCSB]

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Faithful

by TerryLema

I was found by God in my hiding place in August of 1973, almost five decades ago. God had been calling, and I had been running. Finally, with nowhere else to turn, I surrendered my life into His Hands. I can say without one shred of doubt, I have never regretted that decision.

Has it always been easy to serve the LORD God Almighty? No, of course not. There have been times when it has been difficult to obey. There have been times when I have struggled with what God asked. There have even been times when I have not been as faithful as I should have been.

Yet despite my struggles or even my lack of fervency, God has been always been faithful to me.  He was faithful when He was pursuing me – never giving up on me. He was faithful when I was first learning to walk with Him. He was faithful whether I was traversing a dark path or a lighted roadway.

And I know that as I have aged and have entered a time of life when I am dealing with physical limitations and difficulties, God has and will continue to be faithful to me. Whatever I face, be it remission or extended times of disease, whether it be life or death, God will strength me to the end. That is His promise to all His children.

“[God] will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful.”  [1 Corinthians 1:8 HCSB]

When I one day stand before my LORD and Savior, Christ Jesus, I know I will be there because God has brought me there by His love, His mercy, His grace, and His faithfulness.

The most marvelous cry of the Christian has been and remains … “God is faithful!”

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My God, How Amazingly Wonderful You Are!

by TerryLema

As I was combing my hair a few mornings ago, I was reminded to read the Psalm sequence for that day. I mark that sequence in my Bibles every time I get a new one. Five Psalms per day, so Psalms 1-5 on the first day of the month, Psalms 6-10 on the second day, reserving that wonderful long Psalm 119 for the 31st day. I began reading the psalms like this in the 1980’s! They have taught me so much—how to pray, how to worship, the wonderful character and love of my LORD.

The Psalms God directed me to that day were Psalms 36-40. When I opened my Bible to read, I did not get past the first one. Psalm 36, written by David, is labeled in my Bible as “Human Wickedness and God’s Love.” The opening four verses and the last two are directed at Human Wickedness. Verses 5 through 10 are all about God’s love.  (Suffice it to say, those are my favorite.)

Human wickedness is summarized simply. “There is no dread of God before his eyes, for in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to discover and hate his sin.” [v1a-2 HCSB]

Then David tells us that the wicked person’s words are malicious and deceptive, and their actions are unwise. They have stopped doing good and have set themselves on evil paths. They even spend nights thinking of more maliciousness.

Suddenly David turns his attention from wicked persons to the LORD, and his vision soars. “LORD, Your faithful love reaches to heaven, Your faithfulness to the clouds. Your rightness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments, like the deepest sea.”  [v5-6a HCSB]

Stop and read that again. What a wonderful, faithful, holy God we serve. David goes on in the remainder of those middle verses to describe just a few of the blessings that flow from our wonderful, faithful, holy God. If you have a moment, open your Bible and read Psalm 36. Savor the words and the descriptions about our LORD. Meditate on how David’s words apply to your life today … no matter what you are facing!

God’s promises! God’s Faithful love! God’s righteousness! Amen.

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Vulnerable Warrior

by TerryLema

When did I go from being the “energizer bunny,” working a job, pastoring a church, running around all the time to do things for others … when did I go from that to being “the most vulnerable of our society?”

I laughed at a meme on Facebook that said something like “when you are thinking about caring for the elderly and then you realize you are the elderly.”

At 73, during a COVID-19 crisis, I am the most vulnerable. Vulnerable as applied to me means age, two auto-immune diseases, medication that lowers resistance to infection, and now Type A blood. (It’s been discovered, apparently, that Type O blood is more resistant to COVID-19 and Type A more susceptible.) And the hits just keep on coming.

Well, society has labeled me “the most vulnerable” but I sure don’t feel that way, and I don’t see myself that way. Inside I’m 35. I don’t like retirement or sitting around. I have no plans to while away my “latter years” doing nothing. Why?

The LORD’s return could be any day now and there is still too much to do before His Second Coming. Honestly, I don’t believe in “The Rapture” but I am sure looking forward to the LORD’s Return to re-claim this earth as the Kingdom of God Omnipotent. I want to be ready; I want others to be ready, I want all to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

The time is short. We just may be in the precursor of the tribulation Jesus described in Matthew 24. When I see my Savior’s face, I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things.” [Matt 25:21 NIV]

So yes, society you may go ahead label me The Most Vulnerable. But I hope my God sees me as A Mighty Warrior for Him. And His opinion is the only one that matters!

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Unexpressed Needs

by TerryLema

I’ve spent the last five days thinking, talking, and writing about last week’s Prayer Summit. I shared with the church on Sunday what I’ve shared in these devotions. After today, I’ll be writing about something else, putting the Prayer Summit to rest, but, there is a part of me that in all the thinking, writing and talking I’ve done that has still been unable to express what is deep inside.

Sunday night we were watching an XFL game, sort of. Bob had it on, and I was half listening to it as I rested in the big living room lounge chair. I was tired from the busy week, wanting to just curl up in my blanket and vegetate. Deep inside my spirit I was sensing something I couldn’t yet put into words. I still can’t.

Part of me wanted to cry before the LORD, part of me simply wanted to rejoice. I think I was simply overwhelmed in soul and spirit by the absolute, loving, faithfulness of God. Moses said of him in Deuteronomy 7:9: “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”

The Psalmist wrote: “For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.” [Ps 33:4]

And Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” [1 Thess 5:24]

And while my word is not the inspired Word of God, this morning it does come from a personal experience with the Faithful God. I did not know what to expect at the Prayer Summit. The Faithful God, however, knew exactly what He would give me there … and He was faithful to my deepest needs that I had not yet even been able to voice.

Thank you, Faithful God, for your gracious, wonderful faithfulness to us. Amen & Amen.

 

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Blessed is the one

by TerryLema

After Jesus healed the Centurion’s servant and raised the widow’s son in Nain, word got back to His cousin, John the Baptizer, of all that Jesus was doing. John had been arrested by Herod and was in jail, soon to be executed. I think John knew that he would not emerge out of this prison alive, so John sends two of his disciples back to Jesus with a question. “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” [Luke 7:20]

Jesus’ response is tender and loving. “At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, ‘Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.’” [v21-23]

John the Baptizer was a great prophet, but he was also a man. He was sitting in prison, no longer the firebrand roaming the countryside, calling people to repent and pointing toward the Messiah to come. This must have been a very difficult time for him. Perhaps he wanted to make sure that when he acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah that he was correct. Perhaps he wanted to push Jesus to reveal Himself as the Messiah. Whatever his motives in asking Jesus should we expect another, he did nothing more than what we probably would have done had we been in the same situation.

Jesus’ response is kind and compassionate. First, He continues to do what He’s been doing, curing, healing, setting people free. Then He sends John’s messengers back to him with a reminder out of the book Isaiah that the Messiah will do exactly what Jesus is doing. And finally, Jesus reminds His cousin to hang in there … “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

John was at his lowest point in life. But Jesus did not rebuke him, nor harshly remind him that he himself had once acknowledged Jesus as Messiah. He simply said, stay the course. It may be difficult now, but there are abundant blessings for the ones who remain faithful.  

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