Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Philippians 1:3  I thank my God every time I remember you.

Let’s take some time to remember the very special people that God has used to bless and help us over the years.  They may be life long friends or they may be individuals that God brought into our lives for one moment in time.  As I write this I think of a lady who was sitting next to us in a meeting about 50 years ago.

Donna and I were as poor as church mice, and living on faith.  An offering was being taken and we had only $5.  We prayed and knew the Lord wanted us to put it in the offering, so we did.  Then this lady next to Donna turned and gave her a $10 bill.  We don’t know her name, but we thank God for her.

Think of people who have helped us when we needed it.  When Donna and I were going through a difficult time in our marriage in 1992, the Lord provided Ric & Val.  What priceless friends they became.  He was (and is to this day) a marvelous counselor but they were so much more than that.  Their love and friendship provided a safe-harbor for us to address the issues confronting us.

At work back around 1990 the Lord provided Mindy, a systems specialist who helped me navigate implementing major accounts on a new claims system.  She became a priceless resource for me and helped me innumerable times through the years.  I remember being in one meeting where I was representing marketing and the technical discussion was over my head.  Then someone made a statement and Mindy spoke up.  She said, “Don you need to ask about what he just said because it will negatively affect marketing and your accounts.”  Thanks to her, something I would have missed was caught and changed.  She also was a Christian who has prayed for my family and me for years.

There are so many people that God has used in all our lives.  Ask Him to help you to remember them and the situations that someone blessed you in.  Sit with your spouse or a family member and help each other remember and focus on the positives.  It is such a blessing to have our hearts filled with gratitude when we remember those God has put in our lives.  Then take one more step and write, email or call and share today’s scripture with them and how they have made a difference in your life.

John 1:45-46  ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  ⁴⁶ “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

Have you noticed how powerfully we can be affected by our perception of things?  If we perceive something to be good or positive we respond differently than if we view it negatively – particularly if it involves us.   Our perception becomes our reality which is fine and good provided that it is accurate.  All too often we can find ourselves responding inappropriately because we are missing pieces of vital information that could radically change how we view something .

I am reminded of a story from the great tsunami in 2004.  In many places, people on beaches in that region were fascinated by what they were seeing.  The shoreline was receding accompanied by frothing bubbles.  If I had been there, I can see myself standing with others discussing this curiosity that was unfolding before us – unaware that it was the precursor of something incredibly deadly.

Tilly Smith is a British girl who, at age 10, was credited with saving nearly a hundred foreign tourists at Maikhao Beach (Thailand) by raising the alarm minutes before the arrival of the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

She learned about tsunamis in a geography lesson two weeks before the tsunami.  She recognized the receding shoreline and frothing bubbles on the surface of the sea and alerted her parents, who warned others on the beach and the staff at the hotel on Phuket where they were staying. The beach was evacuated before the tsunami reached shore, and was one of the few beaches on the island with no reported casualties.

Fortunately, Tilly was believed and lives were saved.  Credible information received changed something from a curiosity to a serious reality that required an immediate response.  It wasn’t dismissed because it came from a 10 year old girl. In today’s verses, we have the well known retort of Nathanael to Philip telling him about Jesus of Nazareth: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”  When Philip ignored the retort and replied, “Come and see,” Nathanael followed Philip to Jesus.

Fortunately, Nathanael was able to let go of his perception of ‘things from Nazareth’ and recognized the reality of who Jesus was (and is) and became one of the twelve disciples.  We too get to deal with our perceptions of who Jesus is or isn’t.  Either way our lives will be changed.  We must question the sources and validity of our perceptions because they might be keeping us from the truth.  They might keep us on the beach convinced tsunamis aren’t real.

Romans 14:8  If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Upon entering Wheaton Grad School I was aware that I had the potential to do really well.  Mediocrity was no longer acceptable but I was also aware that I had never been a great student – my study habits had to change.  It’s one thing to think about becoming a good student.  It’s another to actually become one.  The Lord didn’t leave me to my own devices – He gave me a life changing idea and the motivation to implement it.

I needed to hold myself accountable for how much time I actually studied outside of class.  This resulted in the creation of my ‘Accountability Book’.  I tracked down to five minute blocks of time how much I actually studied, and I was ruthless with myself.  I remember going to the library to study for the morning.  My thoughts were I would study for four hours from 8:00 until 12:00.  The reality was a bit different.  After taking time out for getting coffee in the union, talking with friends, checking my mail, going to chapel, etc… instead of four hours of study, it was 1 hour and 40 minutes!

The lesson of the Accountability Book was if I put in the time to genuinely study, I got ‘A’s.  This led to the realization that my focus wasn’t to be on getting ‘A’s but upon the ‘process’ of studying – mastery of what I needed to learn.  This led to the liberating realization that right process produces right results.

Inherent in this is recognizing that we have a lot to learn and the importance of always being teachable.  Whether it’s learning a job, learning to be a spouse or a parent – or learning to do these roles better – we have invaluable resources to help us achieve quality.  First and foremost is our Lord who is intimately involved in our lives.  He will show us where we need to improve.  In addition, we have Scriptures, books, mentor/coaches, pastoral teams, Christian friends, bosses, co-workers, etc… as valuable resources.

We must recognize that being a good parent, a good spouse, good worker, etc… is consistent with (and required by) our faith.  He enables us to recognize our shortcomings and become better at these things than we currently are.  Never be too proud to ask for help.  Our Lord wants quality in all of the roles we find ourselves in.  He doesn’t separate the sacred and the secular.

Our life in Christ transforms us so that we are able to glorify Him and must glorify Him with ever-improving quality in everything we do.  This is what living to the Lord is all about.  Beginning today, wherever we find ourselves, Jesus has a redemptive path that will enable us to do just that.

Philemon 22 – And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.

This verse reminds me of dear friends and a memorable answer to prayer.  Shortly after we were married, we were living in Lansing, Michigan.  We were going through the normal struggles that many new ministries go through.  God blessed us with an older couple, John and Sue, who were wonderful friends to us and were an inspiration to many.  They opened their home and lives to so many young men and women to help them grow in the Lord.

Fasting and prayer were vital to John and Sue and a part of their daily lives.  They viewed them as essential elements in seeking the Lord and being empowered to be the man and woman God wanted them to be.  We were often amazed at how God spoke to them and used them to bless others.  They were loving, kind and selfless.

The Lord spoke to them about establishing a foundation and pouring everything they owned into it where they could minister to people in need of help or encouragement.  They purchased a big old house and 50 acres and it became the center of their work and a place of prayer.  It was a home where they could have people stay with them for various periods of time to minister and help them.

There came a time when I was struggling with the work we were attempting to do.  While praying the Lord put on my heart to call John and Sue and ask if I could come and spend a few days there with them to seek the Lord.  When I did they encouraged me to come.  It was a blessing to be there – spending time in the word and prayer and gleaning wisdom from John and Sue.

While there I was reading Philemon and the Lord really quickened this verse to me – so much so that I mentioned it to John and Sue at breakfast.  They grinned and informed me that the Lord had spoken to them a couple of weeks earlier that I was to come and spend some time with them there.  They had the guest room prepared for me and were confident that through their prayers I would come.  I am still blessed by memories of this simple yet profound example of God answering prayer and His using Christians to express His love.

Galatians 5:16  So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Computers are a vital part of our lives. You likely wouldn’t be reading this devotional without one (unless you have my book: Do You Love Me? Discover How To Deepen Your Love For God).  Computers are really wonderful when they are fast and have the software we need.  One thing about computers though, is that they are also targets and require protective software: antivirus, anti-spyware, firewalls, encryption, identity protection… the list just goes on.  We have spam filters, content filters and all manner of security to protect us from hackers, unwanted emails or to prevent access to sites with certain content.

Over the years Donna and I have been blessed to have friends who worked with computers.  They would help and advise us in setting up our computer with the appropriate protective software.  When we needed help, we knew who to call.

The focus in computers is what they can do – not that they are susceptible to all manner of negative things.  There is an old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  That really applies here.  Properly set up and maintained computers free the users from undue concern over vulnerabilities and enable them to focus on the things to be done.

The same principle applies to our Christian lives.  As Christians, we have the Spirit of God within us.  When we live by the Spirit, He enables us to overcome sinful desires we encounter.  By living in Him and God’s word, ‘firewalls’ are erected to keep sinful desires at bay. They keep us from going to those places where dangerous temptations are located.

Recognize that ‘those places’ can be websites, TV programs, books, magazines, video games, etc… as well as actual physical locations like bars, clubs, stores or hangouts; being with individuals or groups that  lead us astray by us becoming more receptive to the sinful desires and behaviors they manifest.  When we ignore the Holy Spirit’s warnings, the unacceptable can – and will – gradually become acceptable to us.  Unfortunately, this problem is rampant among far too many Christians.

The Holy Spirit helps us understand and apply God’s word in unfamiliar situations where danger might be lurking.  He is ever vigilant.  Unlike computer software, there is absolutely nothing that can get by Him – we don’t have to worry about upgrades.  He simply requires that we live by Him.

Remember, in a computer, protective software simply enables it to do what it is designed to do.  The same principle applies to us as Christians.  Living by the Spirit, enables us to become the men and women of righteousness that God intends.  I love 1 Peter 2:9 because it presents such a glorious picture of who we get to be in Christ:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Psalm 42:1  As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.

We had the blessing of living for twenty years in a little village in the middle of a 32,000 acre national park in NE Ohio between Akron and Cleveland.  We were in a valley, surrounded by forests and fields with a river running through the middle of it.  It was home to a great many white-tailed deer.  We could hardly drive anywhere without seeing them particularly in the morning and evening.

After moving into our home there we soon learned that the deer considered the flowers we planted ‘lunch’!  Later we built a wrap-around porch on our house with hanging plants centered in the railing sections.  We had to install gates on the porch because the deer would come onto it to eat the plants.  Whenever we drove, we had to keep an eye out for the deer because deer accidents were so common.  We had four in those years with several near misses.

One of the important side benefits of being around the deer was the way they reminded me of this verse.  For years it presented a fascinating picture, but I just glossed over the part of the verse that talks of my soul panting for God.  Later when the Lord began dealing with me about passion for Him I came to realize that this verse describes how He wants me to become.  He wants my soul to pant and thirst after Him just like a thirsty deer pants for streams of water.

This began a great adventure for me in seeking the Lord as to how to make this happen.  It’s one thing to say it or claim it – it’s another for it to be descriptive of what is actually occurring.  One of the things that helped me in the process was the conviction that it was the Holy Spirit, at work in me, who was causing me to seek after this.  Since He was the source, my hope was grounded firmly in the fact that He would enable me both to pursue and grow into this goal He had for me.

Thus began a process of daily praying for this to become me. Overall it was part of a much bigger picture of becoming passionate for God.  The focus was upon seeking Him.   The amazing thing is not only that God loves to play ‘Hide & Seek’ with us – but that He loves to be found!  (When we’re playing this game with our little kids or grandkids, think of the joy we have in them looking for us and finding us.)

Whenever we see deer in nature, in calendars, in pictures – even reindeer hitched to a sleigh.  Let them all trigger thoughts of this verse and the wonderful gift that God has in it for those who seek after Him.

Luke 4:18-19  “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

What kind of people do you like to be around?  When you’re having difficulty or need help, who do you call on?  Or better still, are there people you know that will see your need and offer to help without being asked?  Isn’t it wonderful to have friends who encourage us and we don’t have to watch our backs around them.  They are kind, considerate and thoughtful.

The past couple of days a friend and I were talking about the incredible good news that the Gospel is.  Then this morning I was reading this in Luke about Jesus and was impressed with how this verse also provides a marvelous picture of the Gospel that our words, lives and relationships are to proclaim.

This proclamation of our words, lives and relationships is supposed to be – and must be – good news to the poor; freedom for those in bondage; enabling those who are blind to see again and the oppressed to be released.  We are to be living examples of God’s favor.  That doesn’t equate with financial or material prosperity, but with lives and relationships that glorify our Lord.

The words we speak aren’t primarily the 4 spiritual laws or just a ‘verbal presentation of the gospel’.  But our words speak of kindness, encouragement, integrity and honor.  We mean what we say and our words do not reflect anger.  We don’t gossip and say unkind things.  Think of having a reputation where if someone was told you had said or done something negative, it wouldn’t be believed.  The response would be, “He or she doesn’t do that.”

God’s intention is for us as Christians to live such lives.  He wants everything about us to be consistent with and reflective of the Gospel.  That is good news because Godliness is attractive.  People will be drawn to Him because they know us.  This includes both Christians and non-Christians.  Remember, our lives are to be all about Him.  What an incredible privilege we have!

Isaiah 26:3  You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

This morning I woke up thinking about this peace that God will provide and the last stanza of Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken.  Reading the entire poem it would seem that the name of the poem might have been more fitting to be The Road Less Traveled because as he writes, that has made all the difference.  Although the author might not have meant it this way, I have always related it to choosing to follow Christ:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.                        Robert Frost 

In Matthew 7:14 Jesus says, “But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  This is the Biblical “Road Less Traveled”.  While great is the blessing by simply not taking the other road (that leads to destruction), there is more to it than that.  It involves who we are and who we become as we take this road leading to life.

Colin Harbinson, a friend of ours, has a statement that focuses on this and my wife loves to quote him:  “We are human beings – not human doings.”  This really gets at the heart of today’s verse.  The Lord will keep in perfect peace him who is steadfast, because he trusts in the Lord.  Being steadfast and trusting in the Lord are the keys.  The Amplified Bible helps us by ‘amplifying’ the meaning of these words in Isaiah:

^“You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.”

These are the attributes of the Road Less Traveled that the Lord wants to develop within us.  These are things we learn and grow in.  It’s so much more than a list of ‘dos and don’ts’.  Remember that it’s not only the destination that is a prize, but it’s the journey that makes the difference.  It is as we walk along the road (with Him) that we experience the life-giving, life-transforming relationship with our Lord.

Life is filled with difficulties and uncertainties, but His peace is not subject to them. Likewise, neither are we.  His plan and provision are for us to walk in His peace no matter what turbulence is going on around us.  By focusing on Him, He transforms us so that today’s verse becomes the reality of our lives.

Proverbs 4:6a  Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;

In the summer of 2007 I got to spend a month in Afghanistan.  Among other things, the organization I was with had medical centers and community centers out in the rural areas – in places we would describe as the middle of nowhere.  We were visiting these locations and sometimes would ride for hours to get there on these incredibly bumpy paths that were loosely called roads.

A major goal was to bring medical care to areas that had never had any.  Afghanistan had the highest maternal and infant mortality rates of any county.  One medical center served 57 villages and many villagers would walk for hours to get there.  In the preceding 6 months, there had been 50 babies born there with all mothers and babies surviving!  As we were driving to get to this particular center, I noticed that in various places along side the road there were small stones every few yards that had a brush-stroke of paint on them.  There were sections of the road where the paint was red and other sections where the paint was white.

When we got to the medical center I asked Dan, the organization’s leader what was the meaning of the painted rocks that we encountered in different places along side the road.  His answer got my attention. Afghanistan had experienced years and years of war.  Many areas were minefields where these 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 it’s amazing how easy it was to notice any red stones and avoid those areas.

God’s word and His wisdom will do the very same thing for us in our daily life.  He tells us what to avoid and where it is safe to go.  The more we listen and walk with Him the easier it is for us to spot danger areas where he has ‘red stones’ in plain view warning us not to go there.  In fact His Spirit within us will even point them out to us if we are missing the obvious.  His wisdom will protect us and keep us safe but we must listen to it and not forsake it.

Galatians 6:10  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

This morning I was pondering this verse and while pouring myself a cup of coffee, I thought of a moving scene in the movie Ben-Hur.  Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince, is betrayed into slavery by a friend who is an ambitious Roman officer.  While being marched with other slaves to the sea they go through Nazareth.  All of the slaves are desperate for water.

The entire group is getting water from the people of Nazareth- except for Judah.  The people are forbidden by the guards from giving him any water. Judah collapses to the ground in utter anguish overcome with thirst.  But then, into the scene comes a young man, a carpenter, who had observed what was happening from his hut.  Ignoring the guards, he comes and kneels and lifts Judah’s head and gives him water to drink.  I am in tears writing this, overcome with the power, tenderness and kindness exhibited in the scene.

The guard angrily yells at him to stop but the carpenter doesn’t.  Instead, he stands and faces the guard who then backs down, unable to withstand the power of this carpenter as they face each other.  All during the encounter, you can see in Judah’s face the gratitude, the wonder and bewilderment of what just happened.  He knows that his life was just saved.  As he later learns, he just encountered Jesus of Nazareth.

While this is a dramatic scene, the point I want to make is the value of offering someone who is thirsty a drink of water; someone who is weary, a helping hand; someone who is discouraged a word of encouragement; someone who is heartbroken, a shoulder to lean on; someone who feels overwhelmed, a friend who says you’re not alone.  May we recognize and respond to the many opportunities that surround us to do the good that our Lord expects of us.  This is loving one another and is at the heart of following Jesus.