Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Colossians 3:17  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

In the summer of 1970, I was in my last quarter at Michigan State.  I had been a Christian less than 2 years and was going to be married in September after graduation.  I had seen and experienced genuine miracles since becoming a Christian, but nothing like what the Lord did one summer day.

Donna was in Lexington, KY working at a Christian ministry.  Randy, a college friend offered to drive me down for a weekend to see her.  This meant missing a Botany Taxonomy 4 hour lab on Friday.  The instructor said that if I helped set up the plots on Thursday afternoon for the field work, I could miss the lab on Friday.

The weather was rainy on Thursday.  After helping the instructor and some others set up the plots, Randy picked me up.  We were located next to an expressway entrance.  We no sooner got on the expressway and cars began honking and pulling off the road!  There in front of us in a field to our right was a tornado, touched down and coming right at us – several hundred yards away!!

At that moment, the Spirit of the Lord came down in the car and I came against the tornado in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and commanded it to disintegrate in Jesus’ name and it disintegrated – right in front of us!  It did not jump up into the sky – it just disintegrated – poof!  We praised the Lord all the way to Kentucky and back.

On Monday I was in class waiting for it to begin and telling the other students (college seniors and grad students) about the tornado we’d seen.  A little voice in my head said to tell them the rest of the story.  So I took a deep breath and told them exactly what happened – as I just described it here.  They knew I was a Christian, but when I said how the tornado just disintegrated they all lost it – big time!

Amidst the laughter and uproar, I sat there thinking “Oh Lord…”.  But then the instructor entered the room and came over to where she lectured.  I looked up at her and asked her if she had seen the tornado on Thursday afternoon.   Her answer stunned the class and stopped all the laughter and ridicule.  She said, “Yes we all did.  And it was the strangest thing.  As we were standing there watching it, all of a sudden it just disintegrated!”

I cannot help but think of one of my favorite professors there at MSU who was Jewish and an atheist who I witnessed to after this experience.  He felt he could explain away most of my testimony – BUT….  I can remember him looking at me and saying with a serious thoughtfulness, “I don’t know what to do with the miracles.”

Psalm 37:4  Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Yesterday we looked at I Kings 3:5 where the Lord appears to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”   As we proceed, it is important to remember that this is not a test – in terms of a right answer means acceptance and a wrong answer rejection.  It is the “quality” of our answer, in the context of our lives and our relationship with the Lord that is important.

Today’s verse is remarkably similar to the scenario we have been considering.  We simply change the question from, “What do you want me to give you?” to the Lord asking you, “What are the desires of your heart?”  If you’re like me, that can be a tough question to accurately answer.  The difficulty isn’t being able to verbalize an answer, but lies in whether the answer I give truly reflects my heart.

But this verse does something wonderful.  It tells you how to get the desires of your heart – whether you are aware of what they are or not.  The key is to delight yourself in the Lord.  Consider it an “if, then” situation.  If we delight in Him, then He will give us the desires of our heart.

This is a wonderful “trap” He has set for us.  When we focus on delighting in Him, He transforms our motivation and our desires.  We become caught in the wonder of delighting in Him – that becomes a major desire of our heart!  We find ourselves caring less and less about getting anything.

The focus changes from us to Him.  We become thrilled with the realization that delighting in Him is something we can grow in.  The more we delight in Him, the more we are able to delight in Him.  Delighting in Him, and all that entails, can become the desire of our heart!

1 Kings 3:5  At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Suppose when you went to bed tonight the Lord appeared to you in a dream and said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”  What would you ask for?  Do you know?

Some answers to this question are better than others.  Solomon’s answer (1 Kings 3:6-9) was pleasing to the Lord and He specifically noted some of the things he didn’t ask for.  I don’t think that Solomon was trying to please Him; he was just answering the question as honestly as he could.  The Lord was pleased with his honest answer.

That honesty is what we need to look for within us.  What answer truly reflects where we are?  What might we learn about ourselves by our answer?  We can submit our answer to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to show us anything we need to see.

Years ago when I was a young Christian, I wanted a supernatural ministry, but I was unaware of a problem I had.  One night in a dream, Jesus took me to a river nearby and told me to pick up the cloak that was there by my feet (just like Elisha in 2 Kings 2:13).  He told me to strike the water with the cloak, so I did.  The river immediately parted just like it did for Elisha!

Jesus then asked me if I saw anyone else around or were we alone. I saw no one else; we were alone. He then asked me how much it meant to me. With that question came the painful realization that it didn’t mean as much because I wanted people to see me do it. I wanted to be recognized as a man walking with the power of God.

The wonderful thing is that I didn’t feel condemned or put down.  I was embarrassed but mostly I experienced the loving touch of someone who was for me and wanted me to be free of anything that would hinder me.  In my repenting He affirmed me – I was His!  Fortunately God is so good and kind at showing us our faults and weaknesses and helping us to repent.

Note: Correction – One month from this coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and begins the season of Lent (March 1).  It is a wonderful time to focus on repentance.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes to see the things we need to repent of.

To be continued…

Romans 12:13  Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

In the spring of 2010 when the greater Nashville area experienced severe flooding, the churches played a huge role in bringing relief and assistance to those who were victims of the flood.  Some areas received as much as 26 inches of rain in 36 hours.  The motivation of the churches wasn’t to receive recognition; it was a spontaneous response to the obvious crisis that descended upon this region.

While applicable to major disasters, today’s verse particularly speaks to the needs we Christians have in our daily lives.  It speaks to us about the importance of being aware of the needs in the lives of Christians around us and helping to meet them.  Widows, the unemployed, the sick, those in financial distress, family crises, accidents, the hungry, – the list of needs goes on.  The Lord wants to use us to meet the needs of one another.  This is another powerful attribute that must characterize who we are

Last week we began looking at the verses starting with Romans 12:9.  They contain a list of righteous attributes that identify God’s people.  In order for the church to be what God intends it to be, these attributes must characterize it.  That means they must characterize us!

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.

I have underlined the phrases that form a consistent thread running through these verses.  They are all other-oriented – and all positive in nature.  They reflect Christians loving one another in practical, useful ways.  They reflect the body of Christ living out a lifestyle that is most attractive; a lifestyle of salt and light.  Such lives will cause people to become thirsty for God.

Unfortunately we allow our lives to become self-oriented.  We allow the business of life to deprive us of rich opportunities to bless and be blessed – to see and become aware of needs in other Christians’ lives, and to help meet them.  One example of this: instead of extending hospitality to others, we assume they prefer a motel – thus missing the blessings hospitality bestows.  The more we do these things, the better and richer it becomes for us and those around us.  May our lives richly reflect these wonderful attributes that glorify our Lord.

Romans 12:12  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Several years ago on three successive days I received a wonderful email and phone calls from three dear friends who had me on their hearts.  Those contacts were beyond encouraging – they were tokens of kindness from the Lord.  At that time I had been without a job since the end of October and my search hadn’t produced one yet.  There had been a great job opportunity that I thought for sure was going to be mine, but the Lord had that door close.  (As I later learned, God closing that door was a real gift to me!)  In the ongoing job search I hadn’t been without hope but sometimes we flounder because the results seem to be in hiding somewhere.

The first of those 3 days was a very difficult day and later in that afternoon I received the first of these communications from a friend I’ve mentored and is like a son to us.  WOW – what a blessing it was.  Then the next morning another friend called because the Lord had put me on his heart for two days.  We had been involved with Afghanistan together.  The message and encouragement he spoke to me were priceless.  Then the third day, while writing a devotional, a third friend called, concerned about us.  He was a soon to graduate student at the college we had been with.  Three days – three major touches from the Lord through friends.

Then there is the treasure contained in today’s verse – which so powerfully declares how we are to live no matter what is going on.  I’m thrilled with the encouragement God has given me through friends.  All of that just enhances my focus upon Him and the power of His Word.  Our Lord gives us hope and enables us to be joyful in it.

Life is filled with trials and He enables us to develop patience (one of the fruit of the Spirit) in the midst of it.  He teaches us to pray and through spending time with Him we want to pray more.  On top of all that we learn that these concrete actions have an ever greater reality to them.  They are specific expressions of our love for Him.  We love our Lord by being joyful in hope.  We love our Lord by being patient in affliction.  We love our Lord by being faithful in prayer.  And, each of these actions are things that we can grow in.

There are those around us who need to be encouraged.  We need to ask the Lord to show them to us so that not only will they be encouraged by our contact, but also by this wonderful scripture.  Help them remember the power of prayer and to see that they too can have joy and hope and patience in the midst of all they’re going through.  God will provide us with the opportunities to share our faith as we live out these qualities each and every day.  God wants to use us to show them Himself.  We get to be the frame and He is the picture!

Romans 12:11  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

This morning when I was asking the Lord about today’s verse, I was reminded of some friends of ours.  Their home is in the north where the winters are long and cold – like below zero.  They heat it with a wood burning stove.  Having a bonfire in the fireplace once a week, while nice, just doesn’t do it.  They have a wood supply and habit patterns that include tending that stove so it produces heat around the clock; day after day.

If they want the house to be a comfortable temperature, they maintain the stove and all it involves.  Their physical bodies are constantly aware of how well they are doing or not doing.  When the temperature in the house is comfortable, their ‘bodies’ are ‘quiet’.  But let the temperature drop in the house (somebody forgot to put wood in the stove) and their bodies start ‘communicating’!  Can’t you just imagine being busy and all of a sudden your ‘body’ speaks up and saying, “Excuse me!  We are shivering and turning blue.  Put some wood on the fire!!”  Ignore it some more and it says, “The pipes are going to freeze to say nothing about us!”

At this point we look at the goose bumps on our skin; notice that we are rubbing our hands trying to warm them up; the ‘rice-buddy’ around our neck isn’t keeping us warm – so we go tend the fire.  Again, we don’t build a bonfire, we just add wood to the stove to produce the needed warmth.  A fact of life is that our bodies are very difficult to ignore; they can get our attention.

In a similar manner, we must learn to pay attention to our spiritual condition.  It, along with the Holy Spirit, will communicate that our ‘fire’ is getting low.  Unfortunately, it is much easier to ignore our spirit – and the Holy Spirit – than it is a shivering physical body.  Today’s verse in The Message reads, “Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master.”  We must train ourselves to tend to this because it is far more important than physical warmth.  Tending this ‘fire’ is a daily thing – not something done once or twice a week.

We cannot be the people we must be – that He wants us to be – if we don’t.  The Amplified Bible states the phrase in a wonderful way, “…be aglow and burning with the Spirit…”

Romans 12:10  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Being devoted to something is pretty normal in our society.  People are devoted to families, sports teams, hobbies, TV, Facebook, Twitter, etc…  Today’s verse points us in an important direction.  The Lord expects us to be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  This is something we do as part of Jesus’ command for Christians to love one another.  In John 14:34, 35 Jesus declares, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Isn’t it wonderful to be loved?  Isn’t it a blessing to have friends who are caring and devoted?  Think of the richness of relationships we have with those who live out this verse.  Think of individuals that you know who exemplify this truth.  Their lives engender appreciation and gratitude within us.  We are to be the same kind of people. We have the opportunity for others to experience the devotion and love flowing through our lives.  We get to be blessed by being a blessing to them.

One of my favorite verses is Matthew 5:15, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  When we are genuinely devoted to one another in brotherly love, the result is our Father in heaven being glorified.  What a thrilling thought that others will glorify God simply by seeing us live the lives He wants us to live.  Not only that, but loving one another is primary evidence that we are Jesus’ disciples.

When I read of honoring one another I think of humility.  What a refreshing quality that is!  The Message presents another thought on humility, ‘Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.’  We get to honor and defer to others.  Bless them.  Take the lesser seat – not grudgingly, but joyfully.  Be other-oriented rather than self-centered.  One of the great blessings of this process is the heartfelt gratitude we develop.  The more we become what God intends us to be, the more gratitude we have for His kindness and grace.

Romans 12:9  Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Imagine for a moment someone you love speaking this verse to you; carefully and lovingly, not rushing or reading a list, but focusing upon each thought.  These and the next few verses in Romans 12 present a picture of who we are to be.  They identify the attributes that must characterize our very being.  We get to discover what they each mean and partner with the Holy Spirit to work them out fully in our lives.

Today’s verse raises all manner of questions:

1. What exactly is this love that must be sincere?  Is it feelings?  Is it actions?  How do we know that what we think is Godly love, really is?  Does God’s word define it for us?
2. What exactly does it mean for that love, whatever it is, to be sincere?
3. What is evil?  Are God and the world (our culture) on the same page when it comes to identifying evil?  Where do we look to find out?  Might we consider something okay that God considers evil?  What does it mean to hate evil?
4. What exactly is ‘good’?  Who defines what is good?  How does one cling to what is good?

The point that I’m getting at is that we must be careful not to use worldly wisdom in determining the answers.  Here are two other versions of today’s verse to give us some additional insight – and also raise some more questions:

“Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good.” (The Message)

“[Let your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good.” (Amplified)

Do we ‘run’ for dear life from evil?  Do we ‘loathe all ungodliness; turn in horror from wickedness’?  Picture the contrast of being around someone wearing delightful cologne, where the fragrance is attractive and draws a response of “oooh, I like that!” – and being around someone with body odor that makes us move away, it repels us.

How do we do these things in a way that honors God; in a way that attracts people to God rather than repelling them from us.  Jesus spent a lot of his time with sinners.  He demonstrated that there is a way to hate sin and love the sinners.

Each phrase contains treasure to dig for – to pursue and discover the richness they hold.  They are guiding principles and qualities that we must have in our lives in order to be the men and women that God has chosen and destined us to be.

2 Kings 2:19  Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold now, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.”

This scripture has always fascinated me.  The men communicate to Elisha that their city is a pleasant situation – with a very significant ‘but’.  There are a few little problems: the water is bad, the land won’t bear crops and the animals can’t reproduce.  But it is a pleasant situation!  It looks good from a distance – and don’t ask too many questions.

Fortunately for that city, Elisha receives a miracle from the Lord for them.  He asks them to bring him a new bowl and to put salt in it.  He then goes to the spring and throws the salt in it saying, “This is what the LORD says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’”  No more death from the water.  The situation became a whole lot more pleasant.

Many of today’s Christians seem to have a lot in common with the men of that city.  They consider their Christianity to be ‘a pleasant situation’, but there are a whole lot of problems that don’t seem to go away.  Unfortunately they don’t recognize that the source of these problems is their very lives and the way they live them.

It’s like Christianity looks good from afar, just don’t get too close and ask too many personal questions.  Putting it in the context of today’s verse, it’s like they were hoping that becoming a Christian was the equivalent of having ‘salt’ thrown in their spring.  The natural results would be wholesomeness and productivity.

We are made new when we are born again and God so remarkably transforms our very lives.  But here is where the ‘roads diverge in the woods’.  One road leads to a lifestyle of adding Jesus to the stuff we’ve been doing.  Sort of, God threw ‘salt’ in our lives; we’re grateful; and we go about our business.  Our lives might produce ‘fruit’ but much of it is unrighteous fruit that has a lot of sourness and bitterness in it – similar to the culture around us.

The other road is where the Lord says to us, “I have a way and I want you to walk in it – along with Me.”  He has given us His word and His Spirit to enable us to learn His ways and walk in them with Him.  This road leads to passion for the Lord and the fruit is His righteousness in every area of our lives.  It doesn’t mean we won’t have problems, but faith and godliness will characterize us and how we deal with them.  It is a faith-process requiring our continual commitment and adherence to His word.  People will see Jesus when they see us.  It’s called loving God – and it is the only appropriate response to His loving us.

The scripture is at the end of the devotional.

I must confess that I sure enjoy the springtime.  Here in the midst of cold and snow I keep telling myself spring is only a few weeks away.  One of the sights of spring that we typically see is young people at the front of stores in their uniforms raising funds for their season.  There are different uniforms for baseball, track, football, soccer, cheerleading, basketball and the list goes on.  One thing they all have in common is that it’s pretty easy to recognize that they all involve sports – even though we might not recognize which one.

While the uniform indicates sports, it is how they play the game that counts.  Games have rules and require learned skills.  Typically they also have officials, umpires, referees or judges to assure that rules are observed.  Sports involve teamwork, practice and include features that measure how well something is being accomplished: getting the ball in the basket, scoring runs, completing passes, keeping the ball within the lines.

In our culture today it is easy to fall into the trap of treating Christianity somewhat like a sport.  Certain outward behaviors and acknowledgement of certain things indicate we are a Christian; they are our ‘uniform’. The differences between the things we believe, place us in different ‘teams’ of Christians.  Unfortunately, this ‘sport’ of Christianity has lots of players modifying or ignoring the ‘rules’.  In spite of sincerity, we can succumb to the temptation of creating our own definition of who is a player and how the sport is played.

But what constitutes being a Christian? Is it as simple as acknowledging that Jesus is Lord, confessing we are a sinner and adopting certain behaviors (like putting on a uniform)?  Mentally, most of us would say there’s a lot more to it than that.  But what is the actual testimony of our lives, thoughts, attitudes and actions.  What does God say about it?

Yesterday we concluded with the Lord’s admonition to the Church of Laodicea.  They thought they were rich but in reality they were “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”  They were lukewarm – neither cold nor hot.  The Lord also speaks to the Church of Ephesus.  They are commended for doing many things right, but then the Lord says this,

“ 4‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.  5‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place–unless you repent.”  (Revelation 2:4-5)

These admonitions are serious!  They raise questions that we must consider: What are lives really like that have Jesus as their genuine first love?  Do our lives reflect such love?  What is our basis for knowing?  And how do we respond if our lives don’t reflect such love?

To be continued…