Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

John 16:33  I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world.  (Amplified)

“God will make a way where there seems to be no way.  He works in ways I cannot see.  He will make a way for me.”  These are the words of a wonderful song that speak to the heart of the issue for us.  We are surrounded by tribulation, trials, distress and frustration – just like Jesus said.  But in the midst of it all, we have reason for good cheer.  Jesus has overcome the world.

The ‘world’ would have us believe that our only reality is to be dominated by anxiety and fear.  Since so much of the negative stuff going on is beyond our control, we are tempted to succumb to the world’s view that we are – or about to be – victims.  The question, “What if…?” becomes a dominant theme in our thinking.  The anxiety and fear provide a fertile ground for anger and resentment that will have a profound negative impact in our lives
and relationships.  We struggle with feeling trapped with no way out.  If life was a Monopoly game, we feel like we’re stuck in Jail.

Fortunately, Jesus has “Get out of Jail” cards for us!  We don’t have to remain mired in the world’s emotional/mental responses to tribulation, trials, distress and frustration.  Better still, the Lord let’s us know that it’s not just having those negative feeling go away, He
enables us to have good cheer in the midst of it all.

We, as Jesus followers, are equipped to walk through everything with courage and confidence!  We are not victims!  Think of the ‘refreshing breeze’ we can be to those around us.  Think of being asked, “How can you be so calm and cheerful with all this junk going on?”  No matter what happens to us – the courage, confidence and joy are to be constant.  We are not victims.  Jesus has overcome the world and we are in Him.

Here is a link to the wonderful song by Don Moen:

Romans 12:14  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

What does it mean to be persecuted?  Can we think of a time or times where we believe we have been persecuted?  Do those experiences, if we had them, seem more like they fall in the categories of insult or disrespect?  Or, do they fall into the category of physical threat or intimidation?  Were our lives at risk?   Do we view persecution to be more of a general category where Christians as a group are ‘persecuted’ by being discriminated against?  Might the Supreme Court decision in 1963 banning organized prayer in public schools be an example of such ‘persecution’?

When it comes to persecution, here in the West, it is a different world than that which many Christians deal with particularly in the Middle East, parts of Africa or the Far East.  Although currently in the West the radical escalation of institutional intolerance and rejection of Christianity is stunning.  I think it is accurate to say we would prefer to be prohibited from publicly reading or displaying our Bible than to be arrested for having one. Likewise, we would rather be ridiculed for our faith than to be imprisoned and tortured.

Think of being forced to choose between Jesus and a son or daughter or spouse.  If you choose Jesus, the likelihood is that you will never see your family member again in this life.  This is happening today and has been happening for decades in other parts of the world.  Think of the 300 girls (nearly all are Christian) kidnapped by a terrorist group in Nigeria.

Persecution runs the gamut from being picked on or discriminated against to martyrdom.    The amazing thing is that our response to those who do the persecuting is to be the same – we are to bless them.  Hating them or cursing them isn’t an option.  Not even cursing under our breath.  This means that annoyance, anger, disgust and other ‘fleshly’ responses are off limits too.

I cannot help but think of two different scriptures that speak to this topic.  Jesus’ statement in Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”  Then there is the wonderful attitude expressed by the Apostles in Acts 5:41 “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”

We must learn to bless those who persecute us.  We must learn to be the expressions of the Kingdom of God that He wants us to be in the face of opposition.  Our goal must be to do it His way – bless and not curse!

Proverbs 16:22a  Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it,

Mistakes – Errors – Goof-ups – Bad judgments – Blunders.  They sure are all part of life.  In sports they would be called fumbles, strikeouts, errors, interceptions, turnovers, holding, off-side, interference, wild pitches, yellow cards, red cards, etc…  A very important principle applies to both categories (life and sports): when these things happen, the ‘game’ goes on – it doesn’t stop.

Continuing the sports comparison, our error or wild pitch or yellow card might cost us the game but losses are part of sports as well.  In the major league sports I recall only once has a team gone undefeated throughout the entire season and won the championship (1972 Miami Dolphins).  Think about that: losing is normal – it’s a fact of life.

Losing is easier to take when we do our best and our efforts are error free.  Our opponent simply was better.  It’s harder when we believe we are the better team or the better player and we lose because of our mistakes.  The issue is learning do better – to improve – to make fewer mistakes – to learn from our mistakes.  Remember the adage “practice makes perfect”?  It has a much greater chance of being true if we recognize where we need to improve and practice doing it correctly.

A good memory I have is going to see our then 9 year old granddaughter Gabi’s soccer game.  The game ended in a 1-1 tie.  A few weeks earlier the opponent had beaten Gabi’s team 5-1.  On this day, Gabi’s team outplayed them except for the final score.  It was exciting to see how her team had improved. [Side point – I’m sitting here laughing because I just remembered the time when our oldest sons were little and playing soccer.  During one of their games we happened to look at our goal and there was no goal keeper!  Then we saw him behind the net picking dandelions!!!]

The Lord has given us His Spirit, Scripture, grace, mercy, forgiveness and a new life freed from the power of sin. They all are active ingredients in His provision for us to improve – become more Christ-like – live more error free lives.  He enables us to put our confidence in Him and participate wholeheartedly in life – to not get side-tracked by our failings.

Thankfully Jesus enables us to see our shortcomings and learn to from them.  We cannot stand around and mope about our mistakes, or when we fall short.  He enables us to get over it and stay focused on Him and stay involved.  Because of Him we are able to win even in life’s losses.

Matthew 13:16 But blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.

Years ago a friend of ours named Paul bought a home that had been through a fire.  He was good at construction and was able to do most of the work himself.  The plumbing had to be redone for most of the house so he had a plumber friend come and handle all of that.  When the plumber was about finished he came to check out his work.  Paul was amazed by what happened.

As they were walking down the stairs into the large basement, the plumber stopped.  He asked Paul, “Do you hear that?”  They were both quiet and Paul didn’t hear anything.  The plumber said it’s over there and pointed toward a corner of the basement.  Paul asked him what was over there.  His friend said, “A leak” – as he motioned with his finger the timing of the drips.

Sure enough, when they got to the corner, behind a bunch of stuff, there was the leak.  Drops of water were falling to the floor at a frequency just like the plumber had indicated.  Paul asked him why he (the plumber) could hear them while Paul couldn’t.  The plumber responded, “This is my business.  I have my ears trained to hear such sounds.”

Typically, today’s verse is thought of in terms of recognizing or understanding God’s truth.  But today, let’s consider our lives to be the plumbing system of the house and the leak(s) to be the sinful behaviors that we allow to encroach into them.  (We can develop ‘leaks’!)

In difficult, stressful times it seems our blindness and deafness can increase regarding negative behaviors and responses in our lives.  We can get so overwhelmed by our circumstances that we lose sight of the stuff growing in our lives that is incompatible with our faith.  We have ‘leaks’ and don’t know it – and those leaks cause real problems for us and those around us.

No matter how overwhelmed we might feel, let’s stop to seek the Lord and ask Him to open our eyes and ears and enable us to see and hear the ‘leaks’ in our lives; and enable us to repent and repair them.  In difficult times, we can be ‘deaf’ to things in our lives that in quieter, less stressful times would not likely occur.  Remember, the more difficult the situation we find ourselves in, the greater is our opportunity to glorify Jesus with how we respond.

When the difficult times end, we will look back.  Hopefully it will not be with eyes of regret.  We have such opportunity to live righteously in the midst of difficulty.  I often think of Esther and Mordecai…”for such a time as this.”

Galatians 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Question:  Are we focusing more intently upon our Lord as we see the rampant lawlessness, anger and venom that are being exhibited throughout our society?  We must not develop a “hold the fort” mentality in the midst of this – (“Lock the doors and hang on until Jesus comes!”)  As the darkness grows, the light of Christ Jesus within us must shine brighter.  We are His – and are here for such a time as this!

Given Jesus’ warnings about the condition of the world – particularly as we approach the end times, we shouldn’t be surprised to see such behaviors becoming more and more abundant.  And woe to us if these behaviors are found in our lives.  Here is the root of the problem as identified in Galatians 5:19-21a (The Message).  These are the actions of the sinful nature:

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

That is what we as followers of Jesus have been freed from.  We have a new nature and the power of the Holy Spirit to live lives that produce righteousness.  Here are the “fruit of the Spirit” that must characterize our lives as described in The Message version of today’s verses:

^5:22-23a But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

No matter what happens, we have the opportunity and privilege to have our life characterized by the fruit of His Spirit.  We also have the responsibility to live such lives.  Lord Jesus – help us to recognize that this isn’t optional for those following you!

Isaiah 12:5  Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.

We arrived at the Christian Camp on Sunday that was held in Georgia.  Donna was from North Carolina and I was from Michigan.  We met and were engaged on Monday (see Devotionals for past 2 days).  But the best was still to come.  The Lord had something scheduled for Donna on Tuesday afternoon that would change her forever.

Donna’s attendance at the camp was a last minute occurrence, just like it was for me.  She was invited by a college classmate to go with her to a “dumb old Christian camp” that her folks were making her go to.  The friend’s parents would pay her way to come.  Donna, on the other hand, was excited to come to the camp because God had been wooing her to Himself.

Donna had spent the previous two school years at St. Mary’s in Raleigh, NC- a private Episcopal Girl’s School.  She was there for her senior year of high school and her freshman year of college.  At St. Mary’s she found herself attracted by the Church’s Liturgy and enjoyed being an altar girl.  Both the morning service and Evening Prayers on Sunday were important to her.  She thought the sense of peace and the beauty of the services that she experienced there was as close as she could get to God.

Donna’s honest answer to my question regarding whether she was saved, revealed the fact that she was still in the process of being drawn to God.  In her short time at the camp she was already a bit confused by the way people talked about Jesus.  They spoke of Him as though He was actually there with them.  Donna believed in God but thought of Him as an ethereal being up there somewhere.  When she asked people why they spoke of Jesus in this way, they just smiled and said that she would find out, which did little to help.  Little did she know the miraculous vision that God would give her in order to reveal the Truth to her.

The following afternoon after we met and were engaged, Donna was in the little chapel for a meeting.  After the teaching, people were being prayed for to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to become more effective Christians.  When she was prayed for, nothing happened to her as it had for the others in the room.  She was sitting in the front row of this small chapel and was too embarrassed to get up and walk out so she just sat there.  There was an empty life-size wooden cross hanging on the wall in the front of the chapel and as she sat there looking at it, God gave her a vision.

She saw Jesus nailed to the cross—so clearly that she felt that if she could have stood, she could have touched him!  As she looked on, she noticed blood dripping from His hands and feet.  Suddenly it was personally real to her that Jesus had died for her!  She began to weep and couldn’t stop as she realized that Jesus had loved her enough to die for her, not just “the world” but her, personally.  Later she recalled experiencing the feeling of being in a waterfall, only the waterfall was inside her rather than outside her.  Afterwards she says she felt scrubbed clean on the inside.  Nothing was the same again.  She was a different person.  Though she couldn’t articulate it clearly, she knew it was true!

To God be the glory great things He hath done!  Continued from yesterday…

After my incredible encounter with Jesus the previous fall, I received some wonderful advice about praying for my wife.  The leader instructed me, “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 was the framework of my declaration of “THAT’S HER!”

When we finished dinner, David asked Donna to go with him to take some film to be developed.  Great was my relief when she said no.  After he left, I asked if we could go for a walk and she said yes.  Even though I was beside myself with what was going on within me, I wanted to tell her about Jesus and how I met Him.  She wanted to find out what was the glow that was around my head in the meeting.

I was telling her about Jesus while we walked but my mind was in a whirlwind.  There was a popular song at the time with the line, “Then I went and spoiled it all by saying something stupid like I love you.” And it was running through my mind.  We walked to a stone bench under the pines next to a stone chapel and sat down.  What was going on within me was so consuming I finally couldn’t continue talking.  So I said to her, “There is something I have to tell you.”  Donna said, “Go ahead.”  I replied, “I love you.”  She replied, “I love you too.”

At that point, I said, “Let’s pray.”  My prayer was simply this, “Lord Jesus – If this is not of you, stop it.  But if this is of you, please confirm it.”  And “heaven landed with a thud!”  That is how I have described it for 47 years.  We were immediately surrounded and embraced by a manifestation of God’s presence!  He imparted (downloaded) everything into both of us – the knowledge, the thrill, the excitement, the affection, the commitment, the utter joy and the complete settledness.  It was done!!  We knew, sitting on the bench praying, that God had chosen us for each other and we were to be married.  We belonged to each other.

From that moment, there has never been any doubt that God chose us for each other – not the slightest doubt – ever!  I always knew that I was capable of loving someone.  I never dreamed that anyone could or would love me the way Donna does.  This was and is something beyond my wildest dreams.  Later I discovered that Donna had been proposed to by a friend the weekend before but had to tell him no.  She was unable to say she loved him.

God impressed on us we were to be married – He didn’t say get married.  I still had my senior year of college to go and He knew that I needed to be loved not married.  Now I was able to focus on my studies.  We were married 13 months later just following my graduation from college.

Tomorrow – Donna’s amazing vision of Jesus on the cross the next day….

To God be the glory great things He hath done!  47 years ago today!

Thanks to what can only be described as the miraculous intervention of God, we were engaged 2 hours and 15 minutes after we met!  We’ve joked that the reason it took so long was the first hour was in a meeting and the second hour was at dinner.  God supernaturally communicated, independently to each of us that we were His choice for each other and were to be married.  It’s as though we had been betrothed to each other without ever knowing it.

God imparted (in computer terms, think “downloaded”) knowledge, understanding, wisdom and a passionate affection for each other – into each of us.  He not only imparted this to us, but He gave us the incredible experience of a manifestation of His presence as confirmation to us as we sat on a park bench together in prayer.  He gave us in a moment what many don’t experience in a lifetime.

“But what exactly happened?” is a response we have received when friends and acquaintances hear about this.  Neither one of us knew that we were coming to this Christian camp in Georgia until the last minute.  Donna, from North Carolina, was invited by a college classmate to go with her to a “dumb old Christian camp” that her folks were making her go to.  Donna, on the other hand, was excited to come because God had been wooing her to Himself.  I received an invitation to come and be one of the youth counselors just one week before the camp began.

On the second day of camp, as I approached the auditorium for the afternoon meeting, I saw David, a young man I had met there the day before.  As we were talking, up walks this lovely young lady named Donna.  She too didn’t know hardly anyone there, but like me, she had met David the day before as well.  So she joined us and we went in to the meeting.

After sitting down in the auditorium, I asked Donna if I could ask her a personal question.  She said yes, being curious what I would ask.  I asked her, “Are you saved?”  She replied, “If you tell me what you mean, I’ll tell you what I think.”  I then said, “If you were to die or if Jesus returned, would you go to heaven or to hell?”  She gave me the answer when she said, “I’d probably go to hell because I haven’t done anything good enough to go to heaven.”  I knew I wanted to tell her about Jesus.

During the course of the meeting, the speaker said something funny and everyone laughed.  While we were laughing Donna looked at me and there was a bright glow around my head.  She was startled by it and wondered what it was? I was totally unaware of this phenomenon.

The three of us went from the meeting to the cafeteria to have dinner.  David sat to her left but the thought struck me to sit across from Donna so I went around the end of the table, put my tray across from her and sat down.  As I looked up, our eyes met and my heart exploded with “THAT’S HER!”  I was beside myself, not knowing what to do – except play with my food for the rest of the meal because my appetite was sure gone.  A stunning, tumultuous event was going on inside of me.

The rest of the story tomorrow….

2 Timothy 3:12 Anyone who wants to live all out for Christ is in for a lot of trouble; there’s no getting around it.  (The Message)

Today’s verse is of the prosperity likely to come to those who want to live all out for Jesus – although it’s not the kind of thing we typically think of when the subject of prosperity comes up.  This talks about trouble, and lots of it.  Why on earth would godly, Christ-like people attract trouble?

We’re not talking about being obnoxious with our faith, or pushy or reflecting unrighteous behavior of any kind.  This is talking about doing it right!  To put it in terms we all can relate to, we are surrounded by people who will have an allergic reaction to our loving Jesus.  It’s not due to us doing anything wrong.

Jesus spoke to the disciples about this very point:

“If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it got its start hating me. If you lived on the world’s terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the world is going to hate you.” (John 15:9 The Message)

 Live on the world’s terms and it will love you.  Live on God’s terms and the world will hate you!

Think about how easy it can be to get upset with those who treat Christians as though they had the plague.  Of all the ills in this world, in their minds Christianity is a curse.  (It’s like Jesus is getting a little too close to them.)  Yet these attitudes and these people are to be expected – and the Lord has shown us what He expects of us, both in how we view these situations and how we are to respond:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12)

When we live our lives sold out to Jesus, He prepares us for whatever we encounter.  May our responses always glorify Him.

Proverbs 17:3 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.

Where are we?  Where are we going?  And, how do we get there?  Isn’t God good to use testing to show us!  Has the thought crossed your mind that testing is vital to our destiny and is a priceless blessing?  It’s a good thing that it is, because there’s a limitless supply of testing for each of us!

No matter what situations we find ourselves in, God is in the midst of them working in our lives; revealing who we are and where we are in our walk with Him.  Testing highlights are strengths and weaknesses; it shows how far we’ve come and how far we have to go.  It’s like a spiritual GPS – it lets us know where we are.  Fortunately, the Holy Spirit and God’s Word, are the components that give understanding to the ‘where we are’ piece, but more importantly they are also the components that let us know where we are supposed to be going and how to get there.

Think about that.  This process applies to every area and aspect of our lives: our thoughts, habits, idiosyncrasies, mannerisms, attitudes, interactions, etc…  God wants to transform every area of our lives to be like Jesus.  This applies to absolutely everything about us – without any exemptions.  And God uses all circumstances for testing, not just the difficult times.

How do we respond when things are going well?  How do we respond to praise and success?  Do we have a tendency to become less dependent upon the Lord in such times?  Do we walk in humility and grace; or do we become proud of what ‘we’ have accomplished?

When things become difficult, do we blame or question God?  Do we become anxious and stressed out?  Do our lives demonstrate that we are genuinely trusting God?  Are we kind and considerate no matter what happens?

Fortunately, God works with us in everything.  No matter where we find ourselves with regard to any aspect of our lives, He has a redemptive path for us.  Do we need to repent – or are we affirmed because we responded righteously to the situation?  If we responded well, could we have done better?  Do we then glorify Him by properly responding to what the ‘testing’ has shown us about ourselves?

It’s so important that we remember that we are not our own.  We belong to Him and He wants us to be demonstrations of His love and grace.  Just as the crucible and furnace are used to purify silver and gold, God uses the testing to purity us – so that we might glorify Him.