Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Mark 16:17b In my name they will drive out demons;  Proverbs 16:22a  Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it,

About six weeks after meeting the Lord (my thunderous encounter with Him), I went up to Minneapolis for what I thought was going to be a youth retreat for high school and college age over Thanksgiving weekend.   I had just turned 21 and hitched a ride up there with 3 other Western Michigan college students in a VW Bug.  I was in the back seat with a large suitcase and another large person.  That was a ride to remember!

When they dropped me off, I discovered the retreat had been cancelled.  The folks at the ministry center there were then wondering what to do with me – probably not the first time in my life that’s happened.  They had a Christian community / retreat center in northern Minnesota and one of the families was going up there for the weekend so they decided to take me along.  It turned out to be one of the most critically important times of my entire life.  I didn’t know it but I had a date with destiny.

The people at the community where we went were wonderful and very gracious to me.  The worship and ministry times were wonderful.  In my joy as a new Christian I was struggling with a serious issue that was warring within me.  It was only after meeting the Lord that I discovered it was a sinful issue.  During one of the services, the leader called me up to the front.  The Lord had divinely given him discernment of my sinful struggle and its demonic component.  He had me renounce it and confess it as sin and then he took authority over the demonic spirit in Jesus’ name and commanded it to leave me.  I was set free!! My war with this issue was over!! 

What followed next was profoundly important.  He said to me, “Don.  You cannot afford dating either spiritually or financially.  Seek Christian fellowship.”  Then he said, “I want you to pray for your wife – but don’t pray, ‘God, send me a wife’.  I want you to pray for her like this.  Lord Jesus, I thank you that you have the girl I am going to marry.  I pray that she will come to know you – that you will protect her and bless her.  Thank you that you are preparing us for one another.  I acknowledge that in your time and in your way, you will bring us together.  I commit her and our relationship to you.”

So I regularly began praying in this way for the unknown girl who would be my wife.  This enabled me to really release this whole area to the Lord.  Later the next spring I read an article by Billy Graham where he wrote about his children playing on a hillside.  He realized that on some other hillside were the children who would one day be the spouses of his kids.  So he prayed for their future spouses in the very same way.  We should do so as well.

Proverbs 20:11  Every child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right.

One of my favorite memories is the time a few years ago when I drove to Akron where our son Jamie and his family then lived.  He and his wife Tiffany have a daughter Sophia (now 14) and a son Sam (now 12).  My wife was already there and I had not seen them in 16 months.  I didn’t realize how much Sophia and Sam wanted to see and be with me.

I was the recipient of repeated hugs and lovin’s.  They snuggled next to me and curled up in my lap, just wanting to be near me.  They expressed their love verbally and physically.  Sometimes it felt like they were applying a tourniquet to my arm or leg they squeezed me so tightly.

The marvelous thing is that they weren’t asking for anything.  It was clear that they were not “doing to get” but they were “doing to give”.  They were expressing what is within them.  They simply wanted to be with me and they freely expressed their love and affection in wonderful ways.

It’s amazing the impact that their expressions of love had on me.  I wanted to be with them even more.  I wanted to bless them and I found myself looking for new and creative ways to express my love for them.  This struck me as a significant aspect of what God wants in us as His sons and daughters.

He desires us to express our love for Jesus, not out of duty or obligation, nor as an attempt to get something from Him.  He desires that our lives express the genuine reality that we are thrilled to have Jesus; that we don’t take Him for granted.  Our actions and attitudes determine the genuineness of our love.  The more we walk in His ways and allow the Holy Spirit to transform us, the more we express our love for Him.  And He responds to that love in ways that allow us to experience even more apsects of His love for us.

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Whenever I go outside I love to hear the soft song of a Mourning Dove.  It is something that has always been dear to me.  I am thrilled that these special birds have been common wherever we’ve lived.  During our last year in Colorado Springs we had the blessing of a pair of these doves nesting on the top of our trellis below our deck.  Daily we were able to see them and watch the whole process from building their nest to raising their young.

When I see or hear Mourning Doves a wonderful process kicks in. I stop, enjoy their beauty, think of my Lord Jesus, and am filled with gratitude for Him and the blessings He has given me. My enjoyment of these birds triggers this process that leads me to a quiet, rich reservoir of gratitude for my God.  Gratitude is priceless and is one of the most important attributes we can have.

I also love bouquets of fresh flowers.  One of my favorites is blue hydrangeas.  The blue color is rich and deep and they are so beautiful.  At Williamson Christian College where I worked there is a large bush of them.  I tried to keep a vase of these flowers on the front desk where everyone could be blessed by their beauty during the day.  The wonderful thing is that these flowers trigger the same process within me that the Mourning Doves do.  I go from seeing and enjoying their beauty to savoring the richness of my love relationship with God.

I’m particularly thankful that this marvelous blessing of gratitude is richly evident in my relationship with my darling Donna.  Each day when I see her or think of her is a reminder of the goodness of God and His love in blessing me with such a woman to be my wife.  This gratitude and thankfulness lead to loving Him more and more – and being continually amazed at the wonder that we belong to Him.

I believe this is a process that we all can and should experience repeatedly each day.  We are surrounded by beauty, whether in flowers, birds, nature or the people around us.  We need to ask the Lord to open our eyes to see and enjoy it – to recognize the moment.  It is then simply a matter of His Holy Spirit creating the links within us that go from seeing beauty to enjoying the peaceful place of gratitude for Him.  The neat thing is that pretty soon we start seeing beauty everywhere and it all leads us to Jesus.

Psalm 139:23, 24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Eureka!  I don’t know how much this word is used today.  Possibly most people think of a brand of vacuum cleaner when they hear it.  Historically this was an exclamation attributed to Archimedes that he made to express his triumph of discovering an important process involving gold.  It was a shout made by gold miners when they discovered gold.  It became a general term used to describe the discovery moment when something being looked for was found, or a difficult problem was solved.

Teachers talked about students having ‘Eureka moments’ in their studies – those wonderful times when the ‘light goes on’ and something that has been elusive is finally understood.  Think of the times when reading the Bible, the Lord opens our eyes and we see something we haven’t seen before.  A verse or a truth just comes alive and it’s like discovering gold.

Sometimes these ‘Eureka moments’ occur when the Lord opens our eyes to see behaviors and attitudes in our lives that are negative and hurtful, both to us and to others, and we just haven’t ‘seen’ them.  It’s like our grasp of the obvious has been turned off.  We’re clueless to the red warning light flashing on the dashboard before us.

On the one hand, my life has too many of these embarrassing moments where Jesus has opened my eyes to see and understand such things in my life.  But on the other hand, they are unspeakable treasures because they are answers to the prayer of this verse.   They are ‘Eureka moments’ because they are priceless ‘doorways’ to repentance.  They are intended to lead us to times of forgiveness and transformation – not condemnation! They enable us to become more like Jesus.

Romans 1:20 and Ephesians 2:10

We are in a time of amazing special effects in the entertainment industry.  Things we see in movies appear real but aren’t.  Think about all the sales appeals made to us.  Claims are presented as real & marvelous but often experience with ‘said’ products reveal they aren’t what they are represented to be.  How often are we alerted about scams?  Being able to discern between what’s real and what isn’t is an essential skill.

Along this same line of thinking are two verses that have an extraordinary relationship with each other.  At face value they both refer to something God has made – His workmanship.  In the Greek, the word is ποιημα (poiema) and in the New Testament it only appears in these two verses.  But the critical fact is that in one of these, we Christians play an absolutely critical role in what the world perceives as real.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The first verse in Romans speaks about how God is (and always has been) revealed to mankind through nature – His creation.  He declares that it alone is sufficient to reveal His existence.  Psalm 19:1-4a speaks so eloquently of this truth:

 1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

The second verse in Ephesians (2:10) speaks about how we Christians – His people – are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.  We have written how God wants His people to love Him – to walk in His ways – to reflect His glory.  His intent and equipping of us is so that the world will see Jesus when they see us.

Jesus came to enable us to do just that.  Further, Ephesians 3:10 states that “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,”

Putting these two verses (Rom 1:20 & Eph 2:10) together reveals a stunningly important reality:  God has made us both to be critically important revelations. Creation is a general revelation that God exists.  We Christians are to be a specific revelation that Jesus Christ is Lord!  

What do communities see when they look at the Christians in their midst?  Do they see Jesus or do they see something not at all reflective of Him.  How we, who claim to be Christians, choose to live determines whether the picture we reveal is one of Jesus – or one that undermines the power of Gospel because our lives don’t reveal Him

Joshua 23:11  So be very careful to love the LORD your God.

I once was able to attend a meeting in which the author Stephen Covey spoke (7 Habits of Highly Effective People).  There was a large crowd and the hall that he spoke in was in the round.  He was in the center and the crowd surrounded him.  He asked everyone to raise their arm and point in the direction that they thought was north.  There were people pointing in all manner of directions.

He proceeded to place a compass on an overhead and was able to identify which way was north.  He made a comment that has always stuck with me.  He noted that, “Which direction is north is not subject to public opinion!”  It is what it is and we cannot change it.  Life is filled with principles that are true.

Some time ago a newspaper, The Tennessean, had an article on cheating with cell phones in high schools and colleges.  The writer (Jennifer Brooks) noted “In one recent study, more than a third of teens with cell phones admit to using them to cheat, at least once.  Half of them admit to cheating with the help of the Internet.  Worse, the survey released by Common Sense Media two years earlier found that many of the students saw nothing wrong with their actions.”

Think about that last sentence – students cheating and seeing nothing wrong with their actions.  Even more distressing is the whole-hearted embrace of sexual impurity and immorality by society.  Compounding the problem are decisions from courts and legislatures that call evil good and good evil.  From God’s perspective, sin is sin.  Our opinion doesn’t change the fact.  We are surrounded by a culture that okays all manner of behavior that is incompatible with loving God.

I am reminded of a wonderful article by Rick Reilly of two 11-year-old twins who were hockey players and their family.  He wrote about an event that happened to them and the article is titled Doing The Right Thing.  Honesty was more important to them than keeping the $50,000 prize that was won.  Think about the title of his article.  This is the very point we are dealing with.   Who or what in our lives determines what “the right thing” is?

That is the beauty of becoming passionate about loving Him.  We recognize our utter dependence upon His Spirit and Scripture to instruct us how to do it.  We want our lives filled with righteous thoughts, attitudes and actions.  We want our eyes open to see things in our lives that shouldn’t be there – some of which we might think are okay, but in God’s sight they’re not.  He gives us the grace to repent and change.  Loving Him is to be our passion and goal.

Note:  Here is the link to Rick’s article:  http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/id/7599623/11-year-old-hockey-fan-nate-smith-doing-right-thing

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.