Sunday October 5, 2014

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Psalm 27:1  Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?  (World English Bible)

David spent years living with the reality that men were pursuing him to kill him.  King Saul wanted him dead.  Even though an army besieged him, he wrote, “…my heart will not  fear.”  Although bravery played a role in this, there is far more to it than that.  At the
center of his life was Yahweh, and He made all the difference.  David was “a man after His own heart”.

This verse describes such a marvelous and practical aspect of our life in Christ.  The peace and confidence that are there for us; to sustain, encourage and protect us in the midst of fear.  We can get them by embracing Him.  Sadly, that old saying that you can lead a
horse to water but you can’t make it drink can be all too true of us.  Just because God has provision for us, doesn’t mean we’ll take advantage of it.

It’s probably safe to say that none of us have men and armies pursuing us to kill us.  But take a look around us and we see all manner of frightening things: economic uncertainty, job losses, threats of terrorism, immorality running rampant, marriages and families falling apart, Christians being persecuted here in the United States – the list just goes on.

Those with younger children, have the concern of raising them to be true Christ-followers.  We read of young Christian men and women losing their faith when they go off to college.  We can succumb to the fear of thinking that ‘greater is the one in the world, than the one within them – or us’.  Rather than recognizing that as a lie of the enemy of our souls.

Is our focus going to be upon things that frighten and intimidate?  Or is our focus and ‘life-embrace’ going to be upon our Lord Jesus?  We cannot be casual in this or approach it
half-heartedly.  The enemy of our souls is using these things to pursue us, just as Saul’s men pursued David.  Our response must be to have our lives turn whole-heartedly to our Lord.  He is our light and salvation.  He is our strength.

We must learn to love Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.  We must learn what exactly that means, and do it – embracing a lifestyle that truly reflects us being men and women after God’s own heart.

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Saturday October 4, 2014

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Lamentations 3:25  The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

This morning as I was considering what I would write, my mind was filled with lots of  stuff.  We have a lot going on and my mind was just cluttered with details and concerns – unusually so, for early in the morning.  As I was trying to focus upon the Lord, the
following song began playing in my mind.  Mentally, I stopped and just listened – allowing the words and music to minister to me.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases  – His mercies never come to an end –          They are new every morning – New every morning – Great is thy faithfulness O Lord – Great is thy faithfulness

It’s a lovely song and its impact upon me was significant.  I experienced a settling calm that was like the Lord saying, “Peace – be still.” to the storm in my thoughts.  I thought of how the first rays of dawn dispel the darkness – and the beauty of a sunrise.  The  turbulence in my mind just faded away.  But it was more than just having a sense of
peace in my mind so I could better do the task at hand.

It was Him.  It was experiencing Him and His goodness to me.  The peace was and is a blessing – but far greater is the blessing of being captivated by who He is.  Think of the ten lepers who all were healed.  One – a Samaritan – came back to Jesus praising God and he threw himself at Jesus’ feet.  The healing was wonderful but foremost, he had to express his praise to God and his thankfulness to Jesus.

May we all more deeply recognize that our hope is in the Lord.  Today, may we more deliberately look to Him and seek Him in the midst of our daily life.  If we do, we will experience a heightened awareness of His goodness and His presence with us.  The fact that the Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him is not just a theological truth – it is an experiential reality for us to enjoy each day.

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Friday October 3, 2014

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Acts 13:22  After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him  o do.’

Think of God being able to describe someone as “a man after my own heart, he will do everything I want him to do.”  This was the opposite of Saul.  The people had wanted a king like the other nations, so God gave them Saul, who looked like a king – outwardly.  Scripture describes Saul as being impressive and a head taller than the others.  He
would have really stood out in a crowd.  Unfortunately his heart was not where it needed to be and because of the choices he made, God rejected him.

When the Lord had Samuel go to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king, even Samuel was impressed with outward appearances.  When he saw Eliab, Jesse’s oldest son, he thought that surely this was the Lord’s anointed.  But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does
not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Each one of the seven sons of Jesse with him in Bethlehem passed in front of Samuel but the Lord chose none of them.  Finally Samuel asks, “Are these all the sons you have?”  No, there was one more, the youngest, but he was out tending the sheep.  So they sent for him and didn’t sit down until he arrived.  He was the one the Lord chose.

I find this event to be both motivating and encouraging.  It’s motivating, in that I want to more and more have a heart after the Lord like David had – that I would do whatever the Lord wants me to do.  It’s encouraging because even though David wasn’t there, things weren’t going forward until they got him.

Think of the times in our lives when opportunity called – literally.  We receive a phone call or letter regarding a job, a ministry or some kind of opportunity because the Lord brought us to mind.  He knows who we are and where we are.  Let us sharpen our focus on becoming men and women after His own heart.

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Thursday October 2, 2014

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Proverbs 22:6  Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Yesterday I used the illustration of training our children when they were little in the principle of obedience and disobedience.  The focus of any discipline was upon disobedience not upon the specific action they did or didn’t do.

This brought to mind a very significant experience that we had in Grad School that underscored the effectiveness of this approach.  I was taking a class on Moral
Development.  The (secular) textbooks we were using described that children had to be 7 or 8 years old before they were developed enough to understand certain things.  They contained the following illustration:

Billy is asked to help set the table for dinner.  While carrying a tray of 5 glasses to the
table, he trips and breaks all 5 glasses.

Nancy is told that she cannot have a cookie before dinner.  But when her mother is in another room, she gets a chair to stand on to reach the cookie jar.  While reaching for the cookies she bumps 1 glass, knocking it to the floor, breaking it.

Who is naughtier – Billy or Nancy?

The authors indicated that children younger than 7 or 8 would say Billy was naughtier because he broke 5 glasses while Nancy only broke 1.  Their focus would be upon the number of glasses broken.  The one who broke more was naughtier.

We had 2 sons at the time and they were 3 and 4 years old.  The next day I read the illustration to Johnnie, the oldest, and asked him, “Who is naughtier – Billy or Nancy?”  His answer was wonderful.  Johnnie, the 4 year old, replied, “Only Nancy was naughty.  She disobeyed.  Billy wasn’t naughty because it was an accident.”

Needless to say I shared this experience with the class the next week.

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Wednesday October 1, 2014

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Romans 13:10  Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Over the years I have been greatly helped by focusing on the importance of biblical love.  Love always takes priority.  While we are free in Christ, our freedom is always constrained by love.  It is to be a guiding principle in our lives.

While scripture gives us many ‘dos and don’ts’, love should not be primarily viewed that way.  A helpful illustration comes from raising children.   Donna and I had the good
fortune to receive wonderful teaching on raising children right after our marriage.  One of the most essential things we learned was to focus on the principle of obedience and disobedience.

Our sons were taught to obey what we told them to do – that disobedience brought discipline.  For instance, if one boy hit the other, he was not disciplined for ‘hitting’ his brother.  He was disciplined for disobedience.  We would take him aside, and say to him, “You have been told not to hit your brother.  Did you obey us?”  He would say no and acknowledge he had disobeyed.   The discipline was never focused on the specific action the child had done.  It was always focused upon the principle of disobedience.

If they broke a window by throwing a ball in the house, they weren’t disciplined for breaking a window.  They were disciplined for disobedience because they knew they had been told not to throw balls in the house.  Lying is disobedience.  Cheating is disobedience.  This idea is huge.  Children learn the principle rather than a big list of dos and don’ts.

Likewise, we must learn the principle of love as defined by scripture (not by our culture).  The more we understand what constitutes love, the greater is our ability to apply it in every circumstance we find ourselves in.  God’s word is so essential to this process.  The more we grow in love, behaving in an ‘unloving’ manner becomes as recognizable and inappropriate for us as disobedience is for children.

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Tuesday September 30, 2014

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Proverbs 27:5-6a  Better is open rebuke than hidden love.  6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted,

One of my classes at Wheaton Grad School dealt with resolving conflicts.  We each had to take a test that measured our view of confrontation.  Among the students in the class were pastors, missionaries, teachers and workers in Christian organizations.  We were all a bit surprised when we discovered that we all wanted to avoid confrontation like the plague!

‘Confrontation’ is one of those words like ‘commands’, ‘obey’, ‘obedience’, ‘submission’ that we seem to have an allergic reaction to instead of seeing it as vital to healthy Christian
living.  We tend to think of explosive, angry, unpleasant interactions that make the problems worse.

Rather, it’s important to recognize that facing up to problems, issues or people is essential – and to do so in love is a requirement of scripture.  It is a multifaceted redemptive skill that we must learn.  Key to confronting situations is learning how to do it, when to do it and if in fact it needs to be done.

Years ago my dad belonged to a men’s Bible study.  One day he commented that he was going to quit attending it – that most of the men had already quit coming.  I asked him why.  He said, “Wally just won’t quit talking and dominates everything.”  I suggested that
he talk to Wally and tell him about this problem he has – that his non-stop talking is driving the men away.  Dad said, “I couldn’t do that.  None of us want to hurt Wally’s feelings.”  The men thought it better for the Bible study to die than to confront a brother with a blind spot who probably didn’t realize what he was doing.

If we are doing something wrong or something that is causing a problem, wouldn’t we want to know about it?  Wouldn’t we want a co-worker, a friend, or a loved one to take us aside and in kindness inform us of it?  If we were Wally, wouldn’t we want to know before we were sitting all by ourselves?

The Golden Rule is such a simple yet profound learning tool – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  When it comes to speaking to someone about a problem (think family, kids, spouse, parents, friends), we do it in a way that we would like it done if the roles were reversed.

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Monday September 29, 2014

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Psalm 9:1  I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonder.

Have you ever thought of praying scripture?  Years ago I heard a teaching on this idea and it has been a wonderful blessing.  Simply put, you personalize scripture so that the verses express what you want to say.  But more than that, many are the times that I’m not sure how to pray and they give me the words and the guidance – the path to pray.

Among my favorites are the ones I’ve identified as “The Blue Sections”.  (My Bible is kind of highlighted to the hilt!)  I have used a blue highlighter to mark over 30 different sections of scripture that focus upon God and His greatness and wonder.  They are not about us – they do not include requests for help or assistance.  They are declarative about Him.

I frequently found myself at a loss when it came to expressing to God what was in my heart.  I wanted to tell Him how wonderful and glorious He was.  It occurred to me that
scripture describes Him more accurately and effectively that I can.  So I searched for those scriptures that did exactly that and marked them in blue.  They run the gamut from entire Psalms to a single verse.  But when I pray them, personalizing them, my heart rejoices because it is accomplishing what it desires.

For instance Psalm 19:1-4 begins ”The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”  When I pray this, I personalize it so it becomes “O Lord, the heavens declare your glory, the skies proclaim the work of your hands!”  By using
scripture, my affirmations are rooted in eternal truth.  I know I am expressing reality and my heart is filled with a sense of accomplishing something so important.

It takes me about 25 – 30 minutes to pray through my Blue Section verses out loud.  Frequently, the experience provokes tears of joy and gratitude because it leads to such an intimate experience with God.  They help me to praise the Lord with all my heart and tell Him of His wonders!

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Sunday September 28, 2014

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Don Schmidt

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

Many years ago I heard the story of an old cowboy Christian.  He described God’s dealings with him as gold being purified.  Apparently the impurities bubble up to the top and can be skimmed off.  That is how he was experiencing God’s dealings.  He became aware of a
behavior or problem in his life as God caused it to ‘bubble up’.  He would repent and God would ‘skim it off’.  He would no sooner get rid of one than another would bubble up and it too would be ‘skimmed off’, Well, God was dealing with so many things in his life that he was concerned that he would be nothing but ‘skimmins’.

Seeing all the ‘skimmins’ in our lives is not particularly pleasant. The good news is that when we see them (or have them pointed out to us –ouch!), we can – and must – choose to deal with them.  Typically a great environment for this to happen is when we are overloaded with stress or situations that push us out of our comfort zone.  Issues involving work, friends, faith, family, finances, etc… can all work together to create an environment of ‘heat’.

Think about the crucible and furnace.  It’s the heat that melts the ore and causes the impurities to rise to the top.  Likewise in our lives – God uses our circumstances to reveal things to us about ourselves as well as giving us opportunities to glorify him by how we
respond.  Frequently it’s all going on at the same time.  We can be doing wonderful
things but in the midst of it, ‘skimmins’ appear.

Fortunately the Lord is in the midst of it all.  He is for us!  He wants our lives to become all they can be and He is committed to that process.  As we are all aware, this process usually takes place in public rather than private.  Others experience our ‘skimmins’ and we experience theirs.  He expects us to be faithful in how we respond.  Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”  Other translations use “to help in time of need” or “in difficult times’ instead of “adversity”.

Fortunately, forgiveness, repentance and understanding are the currency of the kingdom of God.  Times of ‘skimmins’ are opportunities to respond righteously rather than react as the world would (such responses are ‘skimmins’ in themselves).  That’s why His grace and mercy are so abundant.  They enable us to show forth His love in the practical situations of day to day living.

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Saturday September 27, 2014

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Psalm 27:14  Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Have you noticed how God just loves to use the experience of ‘waiting’ in our lives?  We have such a tendency to expect things to happen a whole lot sooner than they do.  When we encounter delays, we typically discover that patience isn’t one of our stronger suits.  We want the Lord to give us patience now!

Some years ago when we were living in NE Ohio, we believe the Lord called us to move to Colorado Springs.  We put our house on the market.  Twenty-eight months later (January of 2005) the house still hadn’t sold.  To say we didn’t understand the delay is a bit of an understatement!  At that time we had a 10 year old blond cocker spaniel name Rascal and we knew he wouldn’t be making the move with us.  I wish I had $10 for every time we
read something or were told that we were never going to find a home for him.  People just didn’t want old dogs – particularly 10 year old dogs.

That month we took a trip to Brazil to visit our son and his family. The kennel we had used for nearly 20 years wasn’t available so we found another on the opposite side of the Akron area.  When I dropped Rascal off, I told them of our need for a home for him.  Upon our return we discovered that the groomer there had told her pastor about Rascal.  The pastor had a 10 year old female blond cocker named Josephine and they had been to visit Rascal several times while we were in Brazil.  Rascal had a new home!

Two weeks later, I was really struggling over the delay in selling our house and just not understanding what was going on.  My hope had taken some severe hits by the wait.  In the midst of crying out to the Lord, He answered so clearly with a thought out of the blue:
“It is more difficult to find a home for a 10 year old rascal of a dog than it is to sell a reasonably priced house with a great real estate firm!”

It’s amazing how God used that thought to calm the storm within me.  Everything was in His hands.  Providing the home for Rascal was more than a kindness to us.  He used it to help us trust Him and recognize that in His time everything would fall into place.  The delay had to do with His timing and provided us with an opportunity to grow in faith and trust in God.

PS – The house sold 1 month later.

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Friday September 26, 2014 – Our 44th!!!

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Proverbs 31:10-12       A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies.  11 Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.  12 She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

I am the richest man in the world!  I have the Lord and He gave me Donna.  My August 25 and 26 devotionals describe the extraordinary way that the Lord brought us together.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would be loved the way she loves me.  I never imagined how wonderful marriage could be.  It’s so incredible to be able to spend your life with the one person you would rather be with than anyone else.

When Donna smiles at me and I see the twinkle in her eyes, the thrill that goes through me is beyond words.  Even more amazing is the fact that our love not only hasn’t grown old – it’s gotten better with time.  We ‘get to’ spend every day of our lives loving one another, and we both understand that is a choice the Lord expects (and requires) us to make!  Right choices lead to blessing and wonder.  Wrong choices lead to pain, separation and becoming a statistic.

We both recognize that what the Lord has given us is priceless and our commitment to Him requires us both to guard and protect our marriage.  We do not have the option of indulging sinful behavior that undealt with, could damage what we have.  We know that one day we will give an account of how we have loved our spouse.

The grace of God, the enabling power of His Spirit and our commitment to His Word and to each other have enabled us to navigate the difficult times.  These were (and are) times when our actions and attitudes haven’t been what they should be.  The Lord has enabled us to recognize our sin and repent and ask forgiveness of one another.  We cannot overemphasize the importance of ‘I’m sorry’, ‘Please forgive me’, ‘I was wrong’, ‘I forgive
you’.

We are so grateful for the fact that we recognize that forgiveness is not optional.  It is an absolute requirement of our faith and so vital to our existence.  Best of all is the fact that we are committed to loving our God most of all.  Loving each other is part and parcel of
loving Him.  In fact, loving our spouse is a primary way we show our love for God.  The more we love Him, the more we love each other – the more our lives express love for each other.  He is the center of it all.

I thank God that 44 years ago today, Donna and I were married.  Our love and appreciation for each other is the best it’s ever been – with the best still to come!

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