Devotionals

Live Life to the Fullest

Loring Schultz

“Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” Psalm 34:11-14 NIV

Photo by Brett Jordan on Pexels.com

            I haven’t come across many people who do not desire the good things in life. The good things of life may differ between individuals and between cultures, what is good for you may not be good for me and vice versa. But each of us desires to live life to the fullest in our cultural surroundings wherever they may be. Struggling to get the most out of life; good health, financial success, close friends, family, satisfying employment, plenty of leisure time, and other deeming qualities of a good life come up short many times. But does coming up short disqualify us from the good things in life?  Is there anything we can do to prevent missing out on these good things?

            King David gives us a couple of suggestions in helping us live the good life. His advice is based on having the right character qualities. One whose character is free from slander, speaking falsely, participating in shady things, or causing trouble goes a long way in having a good life. David writes, “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (Ps. 34:12-14 NIV)

            We think we are not that bad saying, ‘I don’t tell any white lies or make up stories to hurt someone, and I certainly don’t gossip!’ We also say, ‘I am not an evil person’ and that may be true in comparison with others, but God looks at all sin as evil. And when we say we should all live in peace and love one another, are we truly pursing it as we pursue trying to live our lives to the fullest?

            None of us is able to live life to the fullest on our own. God has given us His Word to show us how to live a fulfilled life by obeying it. And more importantly, God sent His Son to save us and reconcile us to God. Therefore it is impossible to live a totally fulfilled life without Christ. Jesus says, “….. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (Jn. 10:10b NIV)

Devotionals

Something to be thankful for

Loring Schultz

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 KJV

During the Thanksgiving season local and national news outlets will asked people what they are thankful for. You will hear a variety of responses of family, good health, employment and meaningful accomplishments throughout the year. There will also be those who respond with a destitute spirit, not having much to be thankful for and not seeing any bright hope for the future.

But there is one thing every person can be thankful for; God sending His Son Jesus into the world to take away our sins by dying on the cross. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) This is not universalism as taught by some teachers today (don’t worry about it, it’s all good, everyone gets into heaven.) You must personally come to God, acknowledge and confess your sin, ask for forgiveness and accept Jesus’s sacrifice as the full payment for your sin.

If you simply put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ for Salvation you will be saved and not perish having everlasting life. Now that’s something to be thankful for.

Devotionals

Your Resting Place

Loring Schultz

“Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’” Mark 4:38 NIV

            Have you ever been so exhausted that you can sleep through anything? A violent thunderstorm just outside your window doesn’t even make you flinch, if you do hear it, it is music to your ears. Spending the night in unfamiliar surroundings with strange noises have no effect on you, it is as if you are in the comfort of your own bed at home. You are beat down tired, weary, exhausted, and you are looking only for a place to rest. You are not concerned with the accommodations for you have found, what you are looking for is a resting place.

            Our Lord Jesus found such a place. The occasion is recorded for us in the gospel of Mark. One evening after a long day of teaching, Jesus and His disciples left for the day. They got into a boat and proceeded to cross over the Sea of Galilee. It was customary to keep a pillow under the coxswain’s seat. One can imagine Jesus in his weariness spotting that pillow and grabbing it for the trip across the sea.  It is hard for us at times to remember that Jesus Himself got weary. After all He is God the Son, but He was also a man. Fully God and fully man, the God-man. Jesus experience physical weariness and exhaustion as we all do.

            This should serve as a comfort to us in our exhausting moments. Jesus knows firsthand how it feels to be worn-out and tired, He’s been there. But not only does He feel your pain, He is able to do something about it. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

            Are you tired, weary, and in need comfort and rest? Reach out to Jesus who will hand you the pillow from His coxswain’s seat, for He is navigating the boat, ‘Your Resting Place.’.

Read the rest of the story:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+4%3A35-41&version=NIV
Bible Studies

“Restoration” Conquering New Territory: The Book of Joshua (….through faith, courage, obedience, and devotion to the Word of God)

Loring Schultz

“Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Point the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to you.’ Joshua did as he was commanded……… Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.” Joshua 8:18, 30 NLT

            There may be times in your life you wish you could turn around and go back either to a previous job, a former place of residency, a school you transferred from, or to anything other than being in the military. You have come to the conclusion that you have made a mistake. I have been there several times in my life, but one sure thing I found out is if God has lead me all the way, I didn’t make a mistake. Understand you haven’t either if you truly know the Lord. Last week in our reading of Joshua 7, Israel had thought it was a mistake to enter the Promised Land, their new territory. They were defeated in battle by a much smaller fighting force from the city of Ai. Joshua, in particular cried out, “Oh, Sovereign LORD, why did you bring us across the Jordan River if you are going to let the Amorites kill us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side!” (Jos. 7:7 NLT) What Joshua didn’t know at the time their defeat was due to their sin and not due to a mistake in entering the land. If we look hard enough, myself included, I’m sure we can find some losing battles in our new territory that were cause by sin and not as a result of a mistake.

            The Lord knows what we are made of; “For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.” (Ps. 103:14 NLT) He also knows of our sin nature; “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.” (Is. 53:6a NLT) Yet the Lord forgives us of our sin as we confess to Him and continues to lead us in the path He has set for us. The apostle John writes the most memorable verse for confession of sins in 1 John 1:9, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (NLT) It is the Lord’s desire that we follow Him and are successful in our new territory. We can say with the Psalmist King David, “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” (Ps. 16:11 NLT)

            Yes, God will discipline us as we go our own way. He only wants the best for us as any parent does for their children, especially when they are embarking upon something new. God wanted the best for Israel in the land He led them to and He wants the best for us where He is leading us.  The best for Israel and for us today is total obedience to God Almighty who has done such great things for us. As we acknowledge His greatness recognizing it is only through Him we have blessings we never thought we would have, we begin to understand it is only by His leading we are in the place we are today.

            God restored his blessing to Israel upon them getting rid of the sin before them. We read in the beginning of chapter 8 after the disaster of chapter 7, “Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land.’” (Jos. 8:1 NLT) The Lord not only guaranteed victory, but permitted them to take the plunder and the livestock for themselves. An important insight here is the Lord does not hold back any good thing from His people. If Achan had only waited on the Lord and not coveted, stealing the material goods he would have received in God’s timing, Israel would have not been defeated and Achan would be around to enjoy the spoils of victory.

            If you have overstepped and gone ahead of God by going about things your own way and it didn’t turn out so good. God is in the restoration business. He knows we are sheep and go our way. Confess it to God, restore your fellowship with Him, and be obedient in the future with faith and courage in His leading.

Read Joshua 8, The Israelites Defeat Ai; https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%208&version=NLT

A Christian Perspective

Warning Signs

Loring Schultz

“And He was giving orders to them, saying, ‘Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.’” Mark 8:15 NASB

            Warning signs are put into place to protect one from falling into danger. They appear on roads and bridges, on pedestrian walking and biking trails. They are posted in restricted areas, and even your neighbor may have a “beware of the dog” sign on their front door. There are also verbal warnings by way of instruction to warn us of potential dangers we encounter as part of our daily lives. Jesus gave His disciples such a warning recorded for us in the gospel of Mark.

            Jesus’s warning was given as instruction, or giving orders when He said, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” The warning was of a spiritual nature, but the disciples missed it entirely as we also so often do today. The disciples were exclusively living in the moment of their physical and tangible needs. They couldn’t see past the immediate future as to Jesus’s words having a deeper meaning. They had just witnessed Jesus’s second miracle of feeding thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. When Jesus said to “Beware of the leaven (or yeast)” they wrongly reasoned that He was referring to the fact that they forget to take along bread for their journey. How wrong they were.

            How wrong we are today in our assumptions that all warning signs from our heavenly Father refer only to our physical or material needs at the moment. God’s instructions through His Word to us who believe in Him is to beware of the false teachers who claim to know the truth and who claim to preach Christianity but conveniently ignored certain passages of His Word. He also warns us to watch out for those who hide their hypocrisy, preaching the truth of God’s Word and then engaging in the opposite. This is the leaven of the Pharisees.

            The leaven of Herod refers to the world system of increasing secularism. Sadly, we have seen the moral decline of our world throughout the centuries, but never more so rapidly as in the last few decades. Jesus tells us today, as He told His disciples, “Watch out! Beware.” It is far too easy in our day to get caught up with false teaching and in the effects of the world system.

            The truth is in God’s Word, the Bible. As we read it, study it, and meditate on it, ‘all of it’, we will know the truth and the truth will set us free from false teaching and the secularism of the world through God’s ‘warning signs’!  

Devotionals

In Everything Give Thanks

Loring Schultz

“in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NASB

            As Thanksgiving Day is rapidly approaching, have you thought about what are you thankful for? Perhaps you need a moment or two to collect your thoughts? Perhaps you have already prepared a long list for all the things you are thankful for. It could be you have a short list with one or two very special items of thanksgiving. What constitutes an item making your thanksgiving list? I’m sure all the blessings and good fortune that you have accumulated throughout the year would make the list such as recovery from serious illness, along with those special blessings and incidents that have protected you from harm. But have you ever thought of making it simple by being thankful for everything? In everything give thanks and that means everything!

            The Old Testament prophet Daniel demonstrates what it looks like to give thanks for everything. Daniel lived most of his life in captivity after being captured as a teenager by the Babylonians. He was schooled and trained in the culture of his new surroundings in order to serve in the government by order of the king. During his lifetime, Daniel never wavered from his commitment to his God, the Lord God of Israel. The Lord blessed Daniel over the years due to his faithfulness and preserving his identity as a Jew as he worked in an ungodly government. In his old age Daniel was serving Darius the Mede as one of three commissioners over the kingdom. His two colleagues wanted to get rid of him as he was about to be promoted. They devised a plan that would see his end not only in the administration, but his life. A law was put into effect that anyone who prayed to any god, divine or human, besides King Darius would be thrown into the lion’s den. Daniels co-workers knew he would be found guilty. They knew they would find him praying, and they did.

            There is so much more to this story, but the point here is Daniels’s attitude in prayer and being thankful for all things in all circumstances. It is written in the book of Daniel, “Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.” Daniel 6:10 NASB Daniel faced certain death by being obedient to God and yet gave thanks to Him. Are we able to do the same, In Everything Give Thanks?

Read the story of Daniel in the lion’s den: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+6&version=NASB1995 

Devotionals

The Seal of Ownership, Security, and Protection

Loring Schultz

“But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.’” 2 Timothy 2:19 ESV

Photo by Aa Dil on Pexels.com

            The word ‘seal’ in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is defined in both verb and noun form. One noun definition is: “a) something that confirms, ratifies, or makes secure; guarantee, assurance. b) a device with a cut or raised emblem, symbol, or word used especially to certify a signature or authenticate a document.” The most recognized seal in the United States is the Presidential Seal which authenticates any correspondence from the President. The Presidential seal is properly displayed on every podium from which the President speaks. The President has the right to use the seal as the authorized owner of the office for a four year term by the electoral process. The Presidential seal of ownership carries with it security and protection for those under their authority.

            The apostle Paul speaks of an ownership in 2 Timothy. In Paul’s final letter to Timothy and the church before his martyrdom, he addresses the seal put upon the church and everyone who names the name of the Lord believing in Him. Paul writes in chapter 2 verse 19, “But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal.” God has placed His seal on His firm foundation, which is the church, and every believer in Christ. Paul then encourages the believers by stating, “The Lord knows those who are his.” God knows each one of us intimately providing security and protection as we bear His seal. We are then to depart from sin and pursue holiness.

            The tragic events of our broken world have an effect on each one us, even the most spiritual Christians. Whatever situation we may find ourselves in today or the days ahead, we can rest assured the Lord has placed a seal upon His church. Jesus told Peter, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mt. 16:18 ESV) The Lord has set upon us His seal of ownership, security, and protection.

Devotionals

We are a holy nation

Loring Schultz

“But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9 NLT

            Today as I write this devotional my television monitor is displaying the March for Israel Rally in Washington, D. C… Anti-Semitism has been on the rise not only in the United States but across the world. Recent escalation has been due to the terrorist attack by Hamas on the nation of Israel on October 7, 2023. But it is clear that hatred toward the Jewish people has been on-going since the early Bible days, and will continue until the Lord Jesus returns to reign in Jerusalem during the millennial kingdom.

            The Bible is crystal clear as to the Jewish people. They are God’s chosen people separated as holy unto Him. Deuteronomy 14:2 says, “You have been set apart as holy to the LORD your God, and he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be his own special treasure.” (NLT) God has not forgotten or deserted His people today. And most of all there is a great future for the nation of Israel as prophesized in Scripture.

            The apostle Peter makes the connection of Christians also being a chosen people, or the elect of God. Those who have accepted Christ as Savior are royal priests and part of a holy nation. ‘Holy’ meaning set apart for God. We are a nation set apart to tell the world about Jesus Christ. The world has been a dark place since the sin of Adam and Eve and growing darker. The nations of the world are at war with each other. Many see this as a sign of the end times. Jesus told His disciples, “And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately.” (Mk. 13:7 NLT)

            How close we are to the Lord’s return we don’t know. But as the only holy nation on earth, Christians are the only true source of light in the world today. We are to live in such a way to not cover our shine drawing others towards it. We have seen the signs. The Lord’s return is sure whether in our time or in generations to come. A holy nation will act accordingly. We are a holy nation!

Devotionals

A God Moment

Loring Schultz

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand.” Psalm 95:6-7 NKJV

            Have you ever had a God moment? How would you describe it? Each one of us is different in our own way and I’m sure our God moments would differ, of course seeing that you had one. GotQuestions.org describes it his way, “Many Christians define a God moment as an intimate, unique, or uncommon experience that helps them see that something or someone bigger than themselves (i.e., God) is at work in their lives. It might be an answered prayer, a sudden revelation, or a chance encounter.” (1) The simplest things could be a God moment for me. What some would consider a coincidence, I see as God presenting Himself making His presence known, a God moment.

            The other day during my quiet study time with the Lord, I was reading a devotional from a well-known Pastor and author, and was struggling to concentrate particularly on the key verse. Perhaps due to the early hour of the morning or my allowing my mind to wander, the verse wasn’t sinking in. Asking the Lord to sharpen my focus, He did just that. As I was reading the verse, the song on the radio was singing the exact words in exact time with my reading them. It got my attention. It was a God moment. The song produced and performed by ‘Maranatha Music.’ was “Oh come, let us worship and bow down.” In perfect timing they sang as I read, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down;  Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand.” (Ps. 95:6-7 NKJV)

            The verse itself is a call to worship the Lord and recognize Him as our creator and God. He watches over us as His sheep and is with us at all times. There are many God moments in our lives that come and go without us even realizing them, not to mention the ones we take for granted. It is nice to be reminded with a God moment we are not expecting that He is continually pasturing His sheep. Have you been reminded lately with a God moment? Chances are, you were.

Devotionals

The Road to Nowhere

Loring Schultz

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” John 14:6 NASB

            Where I currently reside (Berks County, Pennsylvania) there is a stretch of highway fondly named “The Road to Nowhere” due to the slow construction process which resulted in its incompletion. Today it is complete. You may have heard some say that “All roads lead to God, to Heaven and to eternal life.” But if that is the case, we need to carefully consider why Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

            If there are other roads to God and eternal life, how could Jesus make such a statement? He could make such a statement my friend because it is true. He was not mistaken, He was not lying to attract followers, nor was He out of His mind. He is God the Son who completed the road to Salvation by travelling the road to Calvary’s Cross, Dying and Rising again on the third day.

Jesus’s words on the cross were, “It is finished.” Any other road is “A Road to nowhere.”