Friday September 5, 2014

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Psalm 34:8a  Taste and see that the LORD is good;

We lived in Colorado Springs from 2005 – 2009.  During that time it was our privilege to be a part of a marvelous Friday night gathering there called “theMill”.  Over 1,000 college age and 20-somethings gathered each Friday night for over two hours of worship and teaching.

The pastor of theMill at that time was Aaron Stern.  The Lord so gifted him in communicating to this age group.  One of the more memorable times was when Aaron spoke on this verse.  After some preliminary comments, he brought out a box of Krispy Kreme glazed donuts.

Aaron proceeded to talk about the company that made these donuts.  He went on for some time talking about how successful they were; how they were growing; how many stores they had;  just on and on.  He then opened the box of donuts and began describing what they looked like.  How many there were in the box; what the smell was like.  Then he lifted a donut out to examine it and for everyone to see it.

He finally looked at everyone, grinned and said how it wasn’t enough to know about Krispy Kreme and the donuts they made.  He had to sample one – so he did.  Aaron proceeded to slowly take one bite after another – oohing and ahhing as he savored each bite.  He just ate the donut and said it was so good he had to eat another.  So he ate another continuing the sound effects of just super-enjoying what he tasted.  As you can imagine, the crowd was going nuts while he was doing this.

This all led him to the point that it wasn’t enough to know about God – we have to experience Him.  We have to taste him and see just how good He is.  In 1 Peter 2:1-3 Peter is giving them instructions in light of the fact that, “…now that you have tasted that the
Lord is good.”   When we walk in His ways our daily lives will be filled with ‘tasting’ Him and being consumed with His goodness.

PS – At the end of Aaron’s message he announced that out in the foyer there were Krispy Kreme donuts for everyone to taste and enjoy.

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Thursday September 4, 2014

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Don Schmidt

1 Chronicles 5:20 They were helped in fighting them, and God handed the Hagrites and all
their allies over to them, because they cried out to him during the battle. He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him.

Today’s verse presents trusting in the Lord in a way that is probably more common to most Christians.  In the midst of a crisis, we call on the Lord.  The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh were in a battle and in the midst of it they cried out to the Lord.  God answered their prayers, because they trusted in Him.  The Amplified Bible describes this trust as ‘they relied on, clung to, and trusted in Him’.

This event is such a wonderful example of God’s ‘normality’ – His people are in situation; they pray and trust Him and He answers their prayers.  The goal is to make this ‘our
normality’ – but with the recognition that it applies to every area of our lives.  We must avoid at all cost life-habits that in reality say, ‘When all else fails, trust God.’  Or, a more positive way of saying this negative is, ‘God helps those who help themselves.’

Here is where our relationship with the Lord becomes so vital.  Walking in His ways is a primary way of learning to trust Him.  His ways bring blessing and when we walk in them we experience Him more and more.  We learn that God can’t be unfaithful or unloving or uncaring.  He is always there.  It becomes a given in our hearts and minds that God is intimately involved in our situations because that is the way He is.  No matter what happens, He is there with us and for us.

We can experientially learn the reality that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego expressed to the king when confronted with being thrown into a blazing furnace.  They declared to him that their God was able to rescue them and they believed He would …but even if He didn’t….  Their trust and confidence was in Him!

Our confidence and trust in Jesus is not predicated on the outcome – it becomes experientially a given in our lives.  No matter what – He is true and we stand securely in that knowledge and relationship.  It is not just a theological truth we affirm – it is the reality that we experience with Him.

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Wednesday September 3, 2014

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Ephesians 4:32a  Be kind and compassionate to one another,…

A special memory from several years ago:  “I am sitting in my leather recliner typing with Pappy, a small Poodle, squeezed in next to me on the seat. My left arm is resting on his back as I type. It’ funny, when I went to sit down, he was off to the side but when I sat down, he was already in the chair next to me. Pappy is Tom & Karen’s dog.  They are good friends of ours and Pappy is a good friend of Snuggles, our Pekingese.”

While living in Tennessee, Donna and I so appreciated the fact that when we went out of town, Tom & Karen watched Snuggles, and when they went out of town, we got to watch Pappy.  It was a twofold blessing.  The blessing to us wasn’t just when our pet was being watched by them.  There was an equal blessing to us when we watched their pet.  We know how we feel when we’re the ones traveling.  We didn’t worry about Snuggles because she was with them.  Likewise, they didn’t worry about Pappy, because Pappy was with us.  While it’s wonderful to save the cost of a kennel, the blessing is far more than monetary.  It was a very special kindness that both couples were able to experience – and one that any owner of a pet can appreciate.

Stop and think about the wonderful blessing of ‘kindnesses’.  Can you think of incidents in your life where similar types of kindnesses occur?  I’m talking about where we experience an awareness of being blessed; where we want to say thank you to the one(s) extending the kindnesses to us.  Kindnesses can be big or small.  Sometimes the smallest things done at the right time can bring extraordinary blessing.  They are like seasonings in our lives –
making things ‘taste’ better.

How about where we are the ones seeing the needs of others and helping them?  Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  We don’t ‘do’ to ‘get’ – but He was describing something that is to become a way of life for us.  It is the wonder of being other-oriented.  Today’s verse can be viewed as a command that we have to do (which it really is) or we can view it as one of God’s keys to great blessing: we get to be kind and compassionate!

An important thought to remember:  kindnesses are actions – not just feelings of good will.  They are things we do.  It is seeing opportunities around us and responding where we are able.  Remember how blessed we are when others see our need and are kind to us.  Let us do likewise.

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Tuesday September 2, 2014

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Hebrews 12:1-2a  In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,…

If someone were to ask you what the primary purpose of prophets in the Old Testament was, what would your answer be?  Looking at this verse, you might say they were raised up to speak what God wanted said.  That’s true but that’s not getting to the heart of it.

Think of who they were speaking to; what they were saying; and why it was being said.  The prophets were speaking to the Israelites – the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob.  They were typically telling them to repent, come back to God and obey His commands.  The reason these things were being said was two-fold: 1) They were God’s people and 2) They were not walking in His ways.

But there is so much more to it than that.  God loved them and wanted them to love Him
in return.  He wanted His people to be blessed not cursed.  The fact that they were the children of Abraham was important, but the crux of the issue was how they lived their lives.  Did they walk in His ways?

Now we have Jesus.  He offers to all mankind the opportunity, through faith in Him, to become God’s people – not just the children of Israel.  He provides the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Him so that they can walk in His ways and be His people.  We need to understand that this is so much more than what we do on Sunday mornings.  Our involvement with a local body of believers is merely the tip of the iceberg.  It is the other 90% of our lives where we communicate our love – or lack of love – to our God.

We must grasp the fact that God’s desire now is the same as it was then.  He wants His people to love Him – to walk in His ways – to reflect His glory.  He wants the world to see His reflection in His people.  In the Old Testament they were not born again.  They still had to contend with their sinful natures.  But we are new creatures in Christ Jesus.  We
have such an advantage over them. While we still struggle with temptations and sin, we don’t have our old nature as a deck stacked against us.  Let us re-commit ourselves to saying Yes to His Spirit and His word as they call us to live lives worthy of our God.

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Monday September 1, 2014

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Who are our companions?

Yesterday we talked about the idea of companions – not being people but instead referring to the attributes that characterize our lives.  We were looking at affliction and used the example of Frodo and the Company of the Ring.  The journey he volunteered to undertake to destroy the ring of power (affliction) was made so much better by the companions who
began the journey with him.  Instead of Gandalf, Aragorn, Sam, etc… we considered joy, hope, patience, faithfulness and prayer as the ‘companions’ of affliction and how powerfully they impact our lives (Romans 12:12).

This idea of referring to attributes as ‘companions’ has really captured me because I’ve never thought of it this way before.  If you’re a parent and your child is going out to be with friends, you’ve asked that child who are they going to be with – who are they hanging out with?  When the son or daughter provides the names of the friends, it’s not the names that are so important; it’s the attributes we associate with those names that characterize those
individuals.  Do they have good character?  What kind of reputation do they have?

Likewise, who are our ‘companions’?  Consider the ‘companions’ listed in these two
verses:

  Colossians 3:5a  Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 

Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

This reminds me of the red and white  stones I encountered on my trip to Afghanistan in 2007.  We visited villages far from metropolitan areas.  Along side some of the roads we traveled on were sections where every few yards there were small stones that had a brush-stroke of paint on them.  The stones were painted either red or white.  What did they mean?

Afghanistan had experienced years and years of war resulting in many minefields – areas where explosive devices had been planted.  The white stones indicated fields that the military had ‘swept’, meaning they had been cleared of the mines.  The red stones indicated fields that had not been swept free of mines.  To walk in those areas marked by the red stones would likely result in serious injury or death.  No matter where we were going we paid attention to red stones and avoided those areas.

The Scriptures warn us that the earthly nature ‘companions’ of the first verse result in serious harm and we are warned to avoid those ‘fields’.  They would be marked by red stones.  Those of the second verse reflect the life of Christ within us and bring glory and honor to God.  They are reflective of a life devoted to Jesus!  Who are our companions?

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Sunday August 31, 2014

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Don Schmidt

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

Isn’t it fascinating that of the six items identified in the above verse, only the one we generally perceive as negative is a given in our lives?  All of the others can be companions that radically change the nature of our journey.  The Lord of the Rings offers another helpful picture in this regard.  Remember the Council of Elrond in The Fellowship of the Ring, when they are discussing the ring and how to destroy it?  In the heaviness of that discussion, Frodo steps forward and says “I will take the ring though I do not know the way.”

For this difficult journey (think affliction), Frodo knows that at least he will have Sam with him.  But Elrond informs him that they will not be alone.  There is to be a ‘Company of the Ring’, and that company will include those most important to him.  Great is Frodo’s joy when he finds this out because he knows and trusts most of these companions.  They will make the journey so much better for they will help him find the way and he won’t be alone.

Affliction is our journey.  But instead of us having Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Sam, and the others accompanying us, we have the opportunity to have Joy, Hope, Patience, Faithfulness and Prayer as our companions.  We are not alone in the midst of the afflictions we face.  These are the ‘companions’ that the Lord wants us to cultivate and have because He knows how incredibly important they are to our journey.

In 1969 I went on a short-term mission trip to Columbia with a group of high school and college students.  I wound up losing about 20 pounds on the trip fighting off Montezuma’s revenge.  Included in our adventure was a very difficult trek of several miles back through the mountainous jungle to a village.  When it was time to return from the village, I was exhausted with no strength, facing miles of muddy mountain trails.  (Think of the muddy slides in Romancing the Stone – we did that.)  Thank God that on this return trip there were donkey’s to carry our backpacks.  I didn’t have to carry that weight – and I had a staff to lean on!  We still had to walk out of the jungle but my load was lighter.  The Lord enabled me to do it, one step at a time – for miles!!  That is an example of how these marvelous companions can impact our journey!

One more thought about the Company of the Ring.  I particularly like Frodo’s joyous reaction upon learning that Aragorn (Strider) will be with him!  Aragorn is the true king.  In addition to the above companions, we too have the true King with us as well.  Jesus promised to never leave us or forsake us.  These other companions all enable us to better experience the wonder and blessing of His presence.

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Saturday August 30, 2014

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Ephesians 3:17-18  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

The Lord of the Rings is a marvelous trilogy.  In the 1st book, The Fellowship of the Ring, there is a scene where the group is trying to get into Moria.  In order to continue their
journey they must enter and get through this vast dwelling place of the dwarves under the Misty Mountains.  But in order to get the stone doors to open, they have to figure out a subtle riddle that is inscribed on the doors,  “The doors of Durin, Lord of Moria, speak friend and enter.”

Gandalf spends quite a bit of time speaking every password that he can think of.  Finally, Frodo comes up with the answer:  Mellon, the elvish word for ‘friend’.  It was there right in
front of them.  Gandalf speaks “Mellon” and the stone doors open in the nick of time and they enter this underground world.  Their reality was that they couldn’t enter in until they came up with the key to open the door.

This morning I woke up thinking about Jesus.  I was aware of how everything that we do is about Him.  But more than that is the awareness of His love and sacrifice for me.  Three
days ago I wrote about Donna’s experience when God gave her a vision of Jesus on the cross:

“As she looked on, she noticed blood dripping from His hands.  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.”

Jesus is right in front of us.  He is the way we enter in, when we through faith allow Him to enter into us.  How often are we like Gandalf, trying to think of some way in when the answer is right before us?  When we embrace Jesus, we enter experience first hand His incredible love for us.

One of my favorite stories is told of Dr. Karl Barth.  He was considered by many scholars to be one of the most brilliant theologians of the 20th Century.  Once when he was lecturing at Princeton Theological Seminary, a student asked him what was the greatest truth he had ever learned. Dr. Barth thought for a moment and then said: “The greatest truth that I have ever learned was at my mother’s knee, ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.’”

It sounds so simple yet it unlocks the most incredible door to love vast as the ocean.  Such is the love of Christ!

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Friday August 29, 2014

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Proverbs 16:3 Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed. (Amplified)

Yesterday I wrote about this verse and how God will cause our thoughts to become agreeable to His will when we commit what we do to the Lord.  One of the wonderful things that God does with this is put us into ‘divine appointments’.  I was reading in my journal from several years ago about how God did exactly this with my wife Donna.

It was Sunday June 24 and we were living in Colorado Springs.  On this particular day Donna had a ‘bee in her bonnet’ about going to look at a new subdivision of 24 homes in Manitou Springs.  Upon arriving there she recognized the salesperson as Jill – someone she had worked with at a different subdivision when Donna had a job as a temp employee.  They talked and Donna wound up sharing the events in her life since they had worked together – particularly focusing on her termination the previous August of her job as a sales coordinator with a wonderful new home builder.

Donna shared how much she loved her job – and how she cried all the way home after being told they had to let her go (due to the downturn in the real estate market).  But she
recognized that she had two choices 1) blame God and react negatively, or 2) recognize that God was closing one door but others would be opened.  She shared with Jill how she chose to look to God, making the right faith response.

The very next day, Jill was let go by her employer.  She just could not get over the fact that
Donna had been there less than 24 hours earlier talking to her about that exact experience!  Jill had never had anything like that happen before.  They both were so blessed by this Divine Appointment.

It is important to recognize that it became a Divine Appointment because of what was shared.  If Donna hadn’t shared her experience, the opportunity would have been missed.  But by doing so, Jill was able to experience the Lord’s love and concern – plus through Donna, He showed her the way to go and an example to follow.

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Thursday August 28, 2014

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Proverbs 16:3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. (NIV) – (Amplified Bible):   Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.

There’s the story of the two guys in a boat way out in the ocean.  The one says, “Man – look at all the water!”  The other replies, ‘Yeah – and to think that’s just the top of it!”  Words have meaning – and those meanings usually involve a whole lot more than we might think.  It’s amazing how life changing words in scripture can be when we understand the depth of meaning that they have.

When I first read this verse in other versions of the Bible it seemed like a simple, straightforward recipe for success.  In order to succeed, all we have to do is commit what we’re doing to the Lord.  That seemed pretty simple to do.  But what exactly does it mean to commit something to the Lord?   What about all the times when our plans are unclear or we’re questioning what God wants us to do?  And doesn’t God’s idea of success sometimes differ from what we think?

When I first read this verse in the Amplified Bible it seemed to jump off the page.  I saw what was involved in committing my way to the Lord!  But more than that, the verse describes how God would respond and impact our thoughts, our plans and their development!  The understanding that “He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will” is priceless to the committed believer.

We want to do His will.  We want our plans to conform to His plans for us.  We want every decision we make – from the big ones to the little ones that fill our day – to be consistent with a Christ-centered life.  This verse contains the promise and blueprint of how it can happen.

By embracing this process, the Lord will grow our confidence in Him.  We will see the quality of our decisions and lives improve.  The more we commit our way to Him; the more we allow Him to transform our thoughts and plans – the more we will experience the ‘God-results’ that He has for us.  (‘God results’ = God’s idea of success)

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Wednesday August 27, 2014

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Isaiah 12:5  Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. – Donna’s vision from the Lord!

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 the preceding 2 devotionals). 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.  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 was 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.  People were being prayed for after the talk and although she had been prayed for, nothing had happened for 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 saw the blood dripping from His hands.  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!

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