Missionary's Message
This page is designed to enourage you to read your Bible on a regular basis. I believe every Christian should determine to read their Bible from Genesis through Revelation yearly. I know many who will do this twice a year and some even more frequent. But, even if it takes longer, every Christian should read their Bible on a regular basis.
In 2012, when we established this site, I began posting devotions from a booklet I wrote titled, 'Day-by-Day in Proverbs'. Then in 2013, I posted 'My Thoughts' concerning verses I was reading in the Bible daily. I later titled this 'Talk With GOD' and I selected key verses and posted a Devotion for each day based on my interpretation of that verse.
At the start of the New Year in 2014, expanding this effort, I began a new Devotion Series on our Facebook Page, 'Don Pat Smith', 'Talk With GOD' reading your Bible through in 2014! When we Pray to GOD, we talk with HIM, but it is not until we read HIS Word that HE talks with us!
In January 2015, I began the year focused on a Series of devotions from the Book of Psalms. In late March, GOD led me back to sharing my thoughts 'Talking With GOD' on select verses from my daily reading. Join us in reading your Bible through each year.
I pray that you will enjoy these publications and most important, that it will encouage you to read your Bible on a daily basis. Scroll down to find the latest devotion published.
GOD Bless!
Dr. Don Smith
BEAMS Missionary
'Reading Your Bible Day-by-Day!'
Talk With GOD
‘HE Shall Give Thee the Desires of Thine Heart!’
5th-11th Day
June 2015
Psalm 37: 4-5, ‘4Delight thyself also in the LORD; and HE shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in HIM; and HE shall bring it to pass.’
Since my last posting on the 4th, I have read from Psalm 33 to Psalm 58 in my daily ‘Talk With GOD’, yet these verses in Psalm 37 caught my attention back on the 5th Day. Even being unable to post until today, the 11th Day, GOD continued to remind me of these verses. From time to time in my life, I am reminded of how quickly Satan can attack within our lives and diminish if not destroy the Joy GOD has given us. Satan does this when he finds a weak spot in our Armor, when he finds a hole in our fence of Prayer protection or when he finds we have let our guard down. While some might not see these verses in this light, i.e. when Satan attacks; they remind me that ‘My GOD’ wants to give me the desires of my heart, especially when Satan attacks. He tells us we are to do three things to receive the ‘desires of thine heart.’
‘1st…Delight Thyself also in the LORD!’ It is very easy to get our eyes off the LORD with our busy lives, with the constant temptations that besiege us on every side and with the never ending pursuit of our ‘…adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:’ Yet, GOD tells us to find enjoyment, happiness, gladness in HIM. To do this, we must keep our eyes on JESUS, we must ‘delight thyself’ in HIM!
‘2nd…Commit Thy Way Unto the LORD!’ By committing our self to CHRIST we will live our lives walking with CHRIST in all that we do, all that we say and all that we think. I recently had a Pastor tell me that, ‘sometimes I wonder if half the people in our congregation ever think about GOD between services from week to week.’ Commitment means to promise, to pledge, to give your word to GOD on a daily basis to Serve HIM, to Honor HIM, to Love HIM!
‘3rd…Trust Also in HIM!’ The word ‘trust’ is an interesting word in the Bible. Most often it is synonymous with ‘faith’ or ‘belief’. Sometimes it is ‘conviction’, but always when Trusting in GOD, it is living with the ‘expectation’ that GOD will do what HE says HE will do. HE convicted me of this many decades ago, when I claimed HIS Words as my ‘life verse’ in Romans 8:31, ‘What shall we then say to these things? If GOD be for us, who can be against us?’ As the Psalmist closes these verses, he tells us, when we do these things, whatever is going on in our life at present, ‘…HE shall bring it to pass.’
Talk With GOD
‘My Heart Trusted in HIM!’
2nd Day
June 2015
Psalm 28:7, ‘The LORD is My Strength and My Shield; My Heart Trusted in HIM, and I Am Helped: therefore My Heart Greatly Rejoiceth; and with My Song will I Praise HIM.’
What a tremendous verse in Scripture! This morning I could not help but read this verse over and over again. When difficult, tragic, heart breaking times come into our lives; this is a verse in which we can find comfort. Why? ‘My Heart Trusted in HIM’! I may not know why the LORD brings certain circumstances into my and my family’s life or allows them to happen, but I do know HE is ‘My Strength and My Shield’.
David Prays this Prayer during a time of great stress and heart break, yet he Prays with the confidence that GOD will answer his Prayer. He does so because he depends entirely on GOD. The Bible tells us…
‘HE is MY Strength to Carry Me!’ There are days when you want to ‘hide from the world’! You want to turn back the clock; it is these times, GOD tells us HE will be our Strength, HE will carry us! I can’t help but remember the poem ‘Footprints’, possibly taken from this Psalm. Throughout our Christian lives, we can look down and see two sets of footprints, one belonging to our self and the other belonging to CHRIST. Yet, there will be times when we look down and only see one set; it is not that CHRIST has left us, but that at those difficult, heart breaking moments HE is carrying us.
‘HE is My Shield to Protect Me!’ Many of the heart breaking circumstances that come into our lives do so through the ‘attack of Satan’. The LORD’s Strength, the LORD’s Shield will support us and protect us. Like Job, Satan can only go as far as GOD allows. I have the Promise that GOD will see me through to end of my trouble.
‘HE is My Help!’ More than Praying with confidence that GOD will answer his Prayer, David actually Prays as if GOD already had done so. Yet, when we place this Psalm against the timeline of the historical events, we know that GOD though HE would answer David had not done so during the writing of this Psalm. How could David write as if GOD had already answered his Prayer? Because, he says, ‘My Heart Trusted HIM!’ We’ve often heard it’s easy to trust GOD when on the Mountain top; but what about the valleys in our life. I am helped today because my trust is in CHRIST; my life verse is and will continue to be, ‘31What shall we then say to these things? If GOD be for us, who can be against us?’ Romans 8:31.
Talk With GOD
‘Where Shall Wisdom be Found?’
20th Day
May 2015
Job 28:7 &12, ‘7There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen…12But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?’
I have not posted ‘my thoughts’ in my daily reading of ‘Talking With GOD’ for several months (When we Pray, we Talk With GOD, When we Read HIS Word, HE Talks With Us). It was not intentional, but life and ministry demanded more time and something had to be put on hold, several things actually, in our daily lives to ‘keep up’. While I continue to Read my Bible daily and since the beginning of the year have read through the 28th Chapter of Job; my posting of my thoughts as I read my Bible each day was one those things that fell behind. But, I am resuming my postings due to comments from those who follow. To you, and you know who you are, these thoughts are for you.
Job in his conversation with his ‘so called’ friends responds to their comments in previous chapters with an analogy of mining. They have relentlessly lectured him believing that he knows there is a reason why GOD allowed his family to be taken and his health to be destroyed, but refuses to acknowledge his wrong doing. Job is saying, repeatedly actually, he does not know why? He says, while we learn many things from digging in the earth, discovering minerals and even wealth, as human beings, we still cannot completely understand the Mind of GOD!
He refers to the birds who have an unequaled ability compared to mankind to sense danger and even though they may travel far from their nest can always return, never mistaking another’s for their own…‘7There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen.’ Yet, while birds have this ability, in a storm they too can become disoriented and lose their way. Then Job says, ‘…where shall wisdom be found?’ He is telling his friends and us that he does not have the answers to what has happened to him and his family, but GOD knows and that’s enough for him. It is enough for me, is it enough for you? Job answers his question posed in verse 12, in verse 28… ‘28And unto man HE said, Behold, the Fear of the LORD, that is Wisdom; and to depart from evil is Understanding.’ Like Job, sometimes, we must wait on the LORD for answers!
Talk With GOD!
‘Blessed Is The Man That Walketh Not’
1st – 3rd Day
January 2015
Psalm 1:1, ‘Blessed Is The Man That Walketh Not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor Standeth in the way of sinners, nor Sitteth in the seat of the scornful.’
This New Year 2015, we will read and study the ‘Book of Psalms’ selecting specific verses teaching us how to ‘Live the Christian Life’! While we do so, I encourage you to continue reading your Bible every day at a time that works for you. My habit is to read 3 Chapters every day, except Sunday when I read 5 Chapters. This enables me to read through the Bible completely in a year’s time! As of today, I have read through Genesis Chapter 9! As we begin the New Year, some have described the opportunity as to be able to ‘Write a New Chapter of Your Life’ and then they state, ‘What You Write is Up to You’. Well, not entirely, ‘Up to You’, if we are follow GOD’s Word. In Psalm Chapter One, we read where GOD instructs us to steer away from those who do not follow HIM! By that I mean, ‘don’t do what they do’ if it contradicts the teaching of the Bible. Psalm, Chapter One is an instruction concerning the Good GOD sets out for HIS Own versus the Bad of the world led by Satan. If we are to find the Joy GOD wants for us in this world, HE tells us to follow HIS Path and not the path of the world. Specifically, the Inspired Writer tells us that the Believer is…
‘To Not Walk with the Ungodly!’ This means as we follow the path GOD lays out for us, we are to avoid following those who chose to walk down the path of the Ungodly. Many years ago, I attended a conference in the Philippines. On one evening after our conference, six of us agreed to have dinner together at a specific restaurant in Manila. At the end of our dinner, we were walking outside to share a ‘ride’ to our hotel. Several of the men suggested that they take a walk first toward an unsavory part of the city. The other men remained silent, but I spoke up and stated I was going on to the hotel. Most of the men knew I was a Christian and did not question me. But, one man said, ‘I going with Don’. We separated and the one man and I went to our hotel. Several years after this circumstance I met the man that chose to go with me that night at a different meeting and he thanked me for giving him the courage, as he put it, to turn from the deliberate sin the other men sought. He shared me with me that he was Christian and was hesitant about what to do that night. He did not want to go, but did not want to be the only one parting from the crowd. This is what GOD is telling us to do, when those we are walking with, choose to follow the Ungodly path, we must turn away even it means we are the only one to do. Only then will we find that, ‘Blessed Is The Man That Walketh Not in the counsel of the ungodly…’
‘To Not Stand with the Sinners!’ I interpret this to mean, we are to not ‘side with’ or ‘agree with’ those who are deliberately living in sin. To go back to my personal illustration, the man who left with me that evening was not the only Christian among the remaining five men. Three of the five I learned later were Christians and a few years later all of their marriages ended in Divorce. By choosing to stand with the sinners who deliberately elected to walk toward sin, they themselves became victims to sin. The Inspired Writer tells us nor are we to, ‘…Standeth in the way of sinners…’
‘To Not Sit with the Scornful!’ As the adjective ‘scornful’ is used, I think of one who is disrespectful and mocking toward GOD and HIS Own. If you know JESUS CHRIST as your Savior you are ‘HIS Own’! We are to not even ‘…sit with the scornful’! GOD leaves nothing to our imaginations, when HE tells us don’t walk, stand or sit with those who would lead you away from the path I have laid out for you to follow. For this coming year 2015, I Pray that those Christians reading this Devotion will receive the Blessing GOD offers for NOT walking, standing or sitting with the Ungodly, the way of the sinner and the Scornful!
Talk With GOD!
‘A Door Was Opened In Heaven’
24th – 31st Day
December 2014
Revelation 4:1, ‘After this I looked, and, behold, A Door Was Opened In Heaven: and the First VOICE which I heard was as it were of a Trumpet Talking with me; which said, Come Up Hither, and I Will Show Thee Things Which Must Be Hereafter.’
Today, we finished reading the Book of Revelation! If you have read along with us, beginning New Year’s Day 2014, reading three Chapters a day and five Chapters either Saturday or Sunday, you will have read all 66 Books of the Bible. I would encourage you to begin again or start anew reading your Bible New Year’s Day 2015 with the Goal to read the Bible again or for the first time in one year ‘Talking With GOD’ as you do so. In January for those who read GOD’s Word along with me, we will begin a yearlong study series of Devotions in the Psalms. But, for this last Devotion in our ‘Talk With GOD’ for 2014, I picked Revelation 4:1, specifically GOD telling the Apostle John ‘A Door Was Opened In Heaven’!
I try to pay attention to the ‘grammar’ used in Bible to ensure that I understand what GOD is telling me. In this particular verse, I notice that the Inspired Writer tells us ‘A Door Was Opened In Heaven’. The way I read this is, ‘A Door’ among probably many doors was opened; not just any door, but the door that contained the ‘Things Which Must Be Hereafter’. Many read this and automatically assume it means ‘The Door to Heaven’. Yet, it does not say ‘The Door’, but ‘A Door’. Why is that important? Because GOD wanted the Apostle and you and me to know specifically about the ‘Things which Must Be Hereafter’.
Again, paying attention to the grammar in the first three Chapters, the Apostle is ‘looking up’ at the visions GOD was sharing with him, while from Chapter four to the end of the Book he is ‘looking down’ on to the events of earth. Many theologians believe, as do I, that this is a picture of the Rapture…1st Thessalonians 4:13-18…and that at this point all Christians are taken up to Heaven while GOD deals with Satan and his followers on earth. I also believe GOD gives us this specific Scripture for two reasons.
‘1st…To Warn the Lost Soul!’ At the point of the Rapture only those who have called upon the Name of the LORD will be taken up into Heaven to be with the LORD…John 3:3 and 3:5. Since the ‘fall of man’ in the Garden of Eden recorded for us in the early Chapters of Genesis, GOD has been warning mankind that we will either follow GOD or Satan. There is no in between and while the atheist and even the agnostic may argue that there is no GOD or bad things would not happen on this earth, the Bible warns differently. If you believe the Bible is the Word of GOD and I do, you will read this warning to receive CHRIST as your Savior over and over again. Do you know HIM?
‘2nd…To Warn the Christian!’ To warn the Christian to be watching for the 2nd Coming of CHRIST! You see, by not following CHRIST, the atheist and the agnostic is actually following Satan. Satan does not care what you believe, who you follow, whether you are Republican, Democrat or Independent, so long as you don’t follow CHRIST. What GOD provides mankind is Salvation! If I am wrong, at death, I will be no worse than the atheist or agnostic, I will lose nothing; but, if I am right, and I am according to GOD’s Word, the atheist and agnostic will lose Eternity with GOD in Heaven!
Talk With GOD!
‘I Am Crucified With CHRIST’
27th – 1st Day
November/December 2014
Galatians 2:20, ‘I am Crucified with CHRIST: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but CHRIST Liveth in me: and the Life which I now Live in the flesh I Live by the Faith of the SON of GOD, who Loved Me, and Gave HIMSelf for Me.’
My last post was on the 26th Day of November; we took some time off for Thanksgiving, but we continued to ‘Talk With GOD’ daily by reading through Galatians, Chapter four. Today’s verse I selected from Chapter two. GOD Created HIS Nature to die each Winter and to come back to vibrant life again each Spring. GOD sent HIS SON to die for our sins on the Cross to Come back to Life Again in HIS Resurrection! Let’s consider what GOD tells us through the Inspired Words of the Apostle in this verse.
‘I Am Crucified With CHRIST!’ When you receive CHRIST as your Savior you are ‘Crucified With CHRIST’. The Christian becomes a ‘Child of GOD’ and has Eternal Life in Heaven. GOD tells us, ‘For Whosoever shall call upon the Name Of The LORD Shall Be Saved.’ Romans 10:13. Without CHRIST those who reject HIM are destined for eternal separation from GOD in Hell.
‘CHRIST Liveth In Me!’ Through the HOLY SPIRIT, HE lives within each person who receives HIM as Savior. HE will lead us, HE will guide us through our lives. ‘The Steps of a Good Man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.’ Psalm 37:23
‘I Live By The Faith Of The SON Of GOD!’ The evidence that this transformation takes place when a person is saved is through a ‘heart change’ that occurs. This does not mean we may not stumble and sin, but rather the Christian knows HE is saved through believing…faith… what GOD also tells us. ‘For by Grace are Ye Saved through Faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the Gift of GOD:’ Ephesians 2:8.
‘Who Loved Me, And Gave Himself For Me!’ We know this as GOD continues to tell us, ‘For the Wages of Sin is death; but the Gift Of GOD is Eternal Life through JESUS CHRIST Our LORD.’ Romans 6:23.