Monday July 7, 2014

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Hebrews 13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers.

I grew up in a little town right on Lake Michigan across from Chicago.  Going to the beach was a favorite pastime in the summer.  There was a particular beach that we loved to go to.  It had sand dunes to climb on and big sandbars in the water that were wonderful to play on.  Typically, when we entered the water it would get a little deep but as you kept going out the water became shallow.  The water there was less than knee deep.  When there were waves, the sandbar was a great place to body surf.  Out beyond the sandbar it got much deeper going way over our heads.

Today, the word shallow often refers to something that is superficial or not really desirable.  It is not a word typically used in a positive way.  I would like to change our reference point with the word shallow because it is a very helpful and descriptive word that can really shed some light in our lives.  Think of the word shallow as it applies to the water level on a sandbar or in a swimming pool.  It simply means the water isn’t very deep.  Amplifying a bit further, the water is real, just not very deep.

Now think about the friendships and relationships we have.  Doesn’t the word shallow constructively describe many of them?  They are real – just not very deep.  Many of these people would be there for us in a time of need, but there just isn’t much time spent together.  Our lives are just so busy and we are often spread too thin for it to happen.

Depth in relationship takes effort – it takes learning to love one another.  It involves intentionality because such relationships typically don’t happen by accident.  Seeing needs and helping out; caring for one another; being in small groups together; spending time together are all ways that we can develop depth in our relationships.  Another way is sharing meals together and simply making time for each other.

We can’t do this with everyone, but there are those in our lives that God wants the relationships to deepen.  It involves reordering our priorities and pursuing activities that make it happen – and God will guide us.  Developing true community in our churches means that we must pursue the opportunities we have to develop deep, strong relationships.  They are a missing reality in so many lives today and God wants that to change.

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Wednesday June 18, 2014

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Daniel 3:16-18  16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

These three young men provide a sterling example of faith and trust in the face of death.  Note that these young men did not say, “Our God is able to keep us from being thrown into the blazing furnace.”  They did not say that He would keep them from the trial.  They believed he would rescue them if they were thrown into the furnace – and He did.  BUT, what they went on to say is priceless because their faith was not predicated on God rescuing them.

They declared, “But even if He does not (rescue us),…we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold…”  They chose to be faithful to their God – even if it cost their lives.

Many of us have faced or are currently facing trials or situations that range from serious to seemingly insurmountable.  What has been – or is our response?  How is it actually expressing our faith in God?  Might someone conclude from observing our response that we feel abandoned or betrayed by our God?  Or might they conclude that our response simply doesn’t reflect any faith in Him.

In the face of death, they proclaimed they would be faithful to their God.  Think about this in the “fiery” trials that we face.  We can communicate this same truth.  In the midst of difficult situations we can declare, “Our God is able to heal, provide, deliver, rescue, answer, communicate, set free …..BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN’T, we are not going to murmur or grumble or complain.” No matter what happens, we are going to stand with Him.

It is so important to remember that in every test we find ourselves, we have the opportunity – and responsibility – to respond in a way that glorifies Jesus.

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Tuesday June 17, 2014

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Exodus 5:22, 23 Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me?  Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

Moses experienced the miraculous wonder of the burning bush and the encounter with God.  He and Aaron came to Egypt and met with the Elders of the Israelites and performed the wonders he was to show them.  The people were blessed knowing that God was concerned about them.

But then came the meeting with Pharaoh and Pharaoh was not convinced in the slightest.  Pharaoh’s response was to make everything worse.  So much so, the Israelite foremen met with Pharaoh to appeal for relief.  Their concern grew when it was rejected by him.  They encountered Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them and declared how they (Moses and Aaron) had made them a stench to Pharaoh.

This is not what Moses expected to happen.  Things didn’t get better – they went from bad to worse.  Yet this was God’s plan.  He just didn’t tell Moses that it was going to unfold quite like this.  Moses knew that God was going to harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he wouldn’t let the people go.  But Moses didn’t expect Pharaoh to make the situation worse.  Nor did he expect the Israelites to blame him.  God’s response to Moses’ concern was, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh…”

The principle at work here happens over and over throughout Scripture and in our lives.  God calls us to a mission or task and gives us an idea what ultimately will happen.  But as we obey, God allows all manner of unexpected difficulties to rise up.  He expects us to respond with faith and look to Him.  It’s through this process that we are changed and God’s plan is accomplished.  It just doesn’t happen the way we thought it would.

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Monday June 16, 2014

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Acts 7:30  “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.”

Moses was 40 years old when he fled Egypt to Midian after killing the Egyptian.  He was sitting by the well when Jethro’s 7 daughters came with their sheep.  They had problems with some other shepherds but Moses came to their rescue.  Moses later married one of Jethro’s daughters and spent another 40 years tending Jethro’s flock.  And now as he was leading his flock out in the far side of the desert near Horeb, the mountain of God, he encountered the bush that was on fire but did not burn up.

Moses was 80 years old when this happened.  Over the years I wonder if Moses ever thought about what might have been.  What if he hadn’t impulsively killed the Egyptian who had been beating an Israelite? What might he have accomplished with his life?  He probably thought that now he would just have a family, tend Jethro’s sheep and die in the desert.  But God had other plans for this ‘young’ man.

Moses sees the bush on fire and is intrigued that it isn’t burning up.  So he decides to go over and see this strange sight.  One of the most fascinating and stimulating verses to me in the Bible is involved in this event.  It is Exodus 3:4, “When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush…”

Think about it – what might have happened – or not happened – if Moses hadn’t turned aside to look.  God did something powerful to capture Moses’ attention.   He inserted this powerful event into the normal daily course of Moses’ life – but then Moses had to respond to it – he had to turn aside.

One way of thinking of this event in terms of how it impacts us today, is the expression, “Opportunity knocks.”  Do we have ears to hear its sound?  Do we have eyes to see the ‘faith’ opportunities that God provides that typically aren’t directly in front of us, but they’re ‘off to the side’.  When we see them with the eyes of faith, we are intrigued and we turn aside to see.

Such opportunities might be easily missed and we might have to interrupt our plans to respond.  But when we ‘turn aside’ we encounter God given opportunities to be used by Him to accomplish things He has planned for us.  Afterward, it is not unusual to be thrilled with what happened and to have this thought running through our minds, ‘We could have missed this if we hadn’t turned aside!’

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Sunday June 15, 2014

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Ruth 1:20 “Don’t call me Naomi, “she told them.” Call me Mara, (bitter) because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

Can you think of times when your hopeful expectations were met with disappointment and perceived failure?  Where everything seems to turn negative and then go from bad to worse?  How do we respond in such times?  Where is the Lord in the midst of our difficulties?  Even if we think everything is ‘bitter’ as Naomi did, faith leads us to a different conclusion.

The Book of Ruth is also the story of Naomi.  Naomi and her family moved from Bethlehem to Moab due to famine.  While there her husband died and her 2 sons married Moabite women.  Then her two sons died and Naomi returned to Bethlehem with only her daughter-in-law Ruth, who refused to be separated from her.  Although she had Ruth, her focus was on what she lost.

We go though difficulties and misfortunes as well.  Losses, hurts, disappointments are part of life.  They are not separate from our faith, but God is always in the midst of them.  We can respond in faith and trust Him – or be focused on our circumstances and view God negatively.  Even when we don’t understand, He is faithful and He is with us as we go through the trials.

Sometimes we are able to see the good that comes out of our struggles – sometimes not.  But the Lord is always with us and always for us.  He is actively at work in us to bring forth His character and to bring about His plan.   Remember the marvelous joy we experience when we are tested and come through it faithfully.

Little did Naomi realize that God was using her in a marvelous way – to accomplish His plan of bringing Ruth to Boaz.  How different her response at that time might have been if she was aware that her losses and difficulties were essential for God’s plan to unfold. Not only was Naomi to be provided for abundantly, but she cared for the child born to Ruth and Boaz who was named Obed.  He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

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Saturday June 14, 2014

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Psalm 95:1-3  Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.  2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.  3 For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.

What reality do these verses have in our lives right now?  Do they describe a vibrant inner excitement regarding the relationship we have with our God?  Or, are they words that we acknowledge as true, but they are just that – words?  Is there a ‘flatness’ in our experience of reading them that is more like a soda that has been opened and the fizz is gone?

Think of eating a meal where no seasonings have been used in its preparation.  The food is bland to the taste, and while still nourishing, the enjoyment of it isn’t there.  With each bite we are thinking that it’s not what it could be – or should be.  Our lives can become like that.

Are our days ‘flat’ as well?  Are we so caught up in busy-ness that we don’t savor or even see the wonder of the blessings we have in our lives.  Now that we are back in Akron, I get to see three of our four sons each week, and their wives and children – WOW, what a blessing that is!  Thank God for phones and texting enabling me to communicate with our son and his wife in Colorado each week.

Every day I get to see my Donna.  I get to hear her voice; see her smile; and feel her touch.  Just to be near her is beyond words.  The blessing I receive when these devotionals touch those reading them.  The thrill never diminishes.  Yet all of these things pale in comparison to the daily wonder available to us in the relationship we have with our God.  He has given us the Scriptures to reveal Him and to lead us to Him – to daily guide our steps.  Finding Jesus is just the start of the adventure!

We get to serve Him with all our heart.  He will enable us to weep for joy and gratitude because of His love for us.  He draws us to learn to seek His face.  He teaches us to love Him with all our heart.  We can get so caught up in other things that we lose sight of the fact that loving and worshiping Him is the pinnacle!  Out of that will flow everything else.  Our hearts will be tender, our spirits will be responsive to Him and our lives will be an obedient walk with Him.  Our lives will be filled with the vibrant excitement that comes from knowing Him.

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Friday June 13, 2014

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Proverbs 9:10b  and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding

Why is this happening?  Why did that happen?  How could that happen?  I don’t understand!

How often are these expressions in our minds, on our lips and evidence of a storm raging within us?  They reflect a cry for understanding – and given our culture, we have developed an inordinate requirement to have understanding.  Something has happened or is happening that we don’t understand.  Frequently, it involves significant difficulties or tragedies that occur.

Currently we have a world filled with a growing amount of strife, wars and disasters.  The earthquake and tsunamis that have hit Japan and Southeast Asia; the killing and rebellion that is going on throughout the Middle East and North Africa; Christians and their churches being targeted for extermination; terrorism striking throughout the world – to name a few.

These are on top of the day to day difficulties of losing jobs, unexpected tragedies and dealing with things that the enemy of our souls is so quick to strike us with the question, “How could a god of love allow that?”  We find ourselves buffeted by the storms raging around us and the inner difficulties that stem from our inability to understand it, let alone explain it.

This is where knowledge of our God is so critical.  The more we know of Him, the more readily we experience the shelter and source of strength that He is to us.  The more we know Him, the more embedded within us is the response to turn to Him like a compass pointing ‘North’.

The way we increase our knowledge of Him is by walking in His ways.  The more we do, the greater is our desire and opportunity to learn of Him and know Him.  Because of His Spirit working within us, our knowledge and understanding of Him go through a marvelous transformation as our eyes see more and more of the Glory of who He is and what we have in Him.  He gives us peace in the midst of the storms.  Jesus referred to this as having our house built upon the Rock!

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Thursday June 12, 2014

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Don Schmidt

Matthew 6:1 “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

President Reagan had this wonderful plaque on his desk: “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”  The receiving of credit is a very important part of our culture.  It’s like earning grades in school.  We grow up expecting our efforts to be recognized.  Early in my sales career I experienced the disappointment of not being recognized.  The top salesperson was publically recognized each month, except they forgot to do it the first month I finished on top.

One aspect of this is the negative response most of us have when credit is given to someone where it isn’t deserved, i.e., someone has been cheating and then getting recognized for excelling.  Or in the workplace, to see someone recognized when someone else was primarily responsible.  What do we do if we are the ones who receive credit for that which is done by someone else?  Do we speak up and re-direct the credit where it belongs?

More importantly, are the good things we do linked to a desire to receive recognition?  Are we at peace with knowing that the Lord knows what we do?  Jesus warns us here of the problem of doing the right things we are supposed to do, but with an eye to receiving credit for them – to be seen by men.  The issue to me isn’t the idea that we lose the reward from our Heavenly Father, but the fact that our motivation is tainted by this desire to have our efforts seen.  It is bad for us and displeasing to Him.

The Lord wants our motivations to be centered in the joy of pleasing Him.  Living our lives in accord with Scripture and the leading of the Holy Spirit brings the joy of knowing that every action is an expression of our love for God.  Instead of the need to ‘be seen by men’, we live our lives to bring glory and praise to our God.   Matthew 5:16 speaks powerfully to this, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  That is the motivation that we want to fill our hearts!

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Wednesday June 11, 2014

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Don Schmidt

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?  Where would we be without it?  It’s a good thing that it is such a blessing 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 our strengths and weaknesses; it shows how far we’ve come and how far we have to go.  It is 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 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.

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Tuesday June 10, 2014

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Don Schmidt

James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

In the Lord’s prayer there is the passage, “and lead us not into temptation”.  I heard a Bible teacher many years ago paraphrase this in a very helpful way, “Lord, let there not be anything in my heart that would cause you to put me to the test.”  God does not tempt anyone with evil but He does provide testing situations that will bring things into the light that need to be exposed and dealt with.

In the story of the prodigal son the return of the younger brother afforded the older brother just such an ‘opportunity’.  The older brother reacted to his father’s positive response to the return of his younger brother.  His negative reaction revealed much that was going on in his heart that both he and his father might not have been aware of.  Even though he was apparently doing things ‘right’ on the outside, his heart contained much that was not ‘right’.

We might not realize it but this is a primary way that God deals with us.  He allows circumstances to come into our lives that reveal what is going on within us.  Frequently these circumstances involve unpleasant or difficult things.  We might respond rightly – or in the event we don’t He makes us aware of what is within us and gives us the gift of an opportunity to repent!

Sometimes this happens where only He and we are aware of what needs to be repented of.  Other times it happens with more people involved.  In either situation, we have a choice to make.  Are we going to recognize our need for repentance or are we going to ignore what the Holy Spirit is showing us about ourselves?  This process plays such an important role in His transforming us into the image of Jesus.

Hopefully, when such things happen in our lives and we respond wrongly, we will recognize our sin and repent.  Further it is important to cultivate a heart of gratitude for such workings of the Holy Spirit.  If He didn’t allow us to see our sin, we would never change.  Think of it this way.  He allows us to see where the ‘termites’ are in our dwelling.  And who wouldn’t want to get rid of the termites?

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