Dan Schmoyer’s Blog

This past week at our staff retreat God really opened my eyes. I was challenged to ask God to reveal the “dark closets” in my life. As I sat and thought through the “rooms” in my life I began to evaluate whether or not God had complete control over every area of my life. I sat and thought yet nothing came to my mind. That scared my because I knew there had to be SOMETHING in my life that was not completely turned over to God, yet I could not think of anything. Right before we began to pray and end our evening session I suddenly had a thought pop into my mind. I quickly got a pen and wrote it down on my hand. I was not sure what the words I wrote down really totally meant. They did not seem like things that counted as “dark closet” stuff. It was not even something I had been consciously aware of, yet as soon as I began to think through it all and began to dig deep the more “junk came out of the room” and the more I realized the burden I had been carrying. God had shown me an area of my life that had held me in bondage for years!

I talked with my small group that night about what God had shown me and it seemed like this heavy weight was lifted from me as I cried, talked, and let them pray over me. TreeHouse operates under a Grace-based theology so it was very encouraging and comforting to know that I could share things about my life that might turn some people off without the fear of that actually happening.

God sometimes reveals Himself to me in emotional ways (music, prayer, worship, a sunset, nature) but this past week God choose to show Himself to me by setting me free. God is a God of freedom and I am free from a weight that unconsciously held me back from experiencing true freedom.

What “junk” holding you back from experiencing true freedom? As a Christian, freedom is something we should experience because we have the Holy Spirit in our lives. II Corinthians 3:17-18 say “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (NLT) I am so thankful for the freedom we have in Christ.

I want to encourage and challenge you to look into your life and ask God to show you the places in your life where you still have “dark closets” in your life. Ask Him to release you to be free from the bondage you live in. God is faithful and full of grace so it is comforting to know that He will always love us. He loves us where we ARE but is not content with us staying where we’re AT. Pursue Him. Run after Him. Open up to Him and you’ll experience the same freedom I have. Let God mold you like a potter molds the clay. We are His workmanship.

Today at TH we had a meeting to discuss what our next Going Deeper topic was going to be as we approach the end of the school year. Since we are about to complete a series on Grief and Loss we decided to take one night and devote it toward laughter. The ability to laugh and enjoy life is very important in relation to grief. People who can learn to laugh again and enjoy life typically have a better chance of dealing with their grief and loss in a healthy way.

We have decided to watch some clean funny movie clips, commercials, and pranks as the “lesson” that night. I have laughed so hard today while “researching” clips online. I even cried after viewing one of the funniest commercials never seen on TV!

“Dumb and Dumber”, “Tommy Boy”, selected clips from “Jack(butt)”, and Brian Regan are just some of the ridiculously funny clips we have found and are going to use. If you have any ideas or know of anything we could find online for free let me know.

Sorry, no Ken Davis (he’s too old) or Mark Lowry (he’s too old as well ). It doesn’t have to have a Spiritual emphasis or meaning because we’re just gonna put one after another on the screen and let kids laugh and relax. Shorter is better than longer too. Nothing over 3-4 minutes (unless it can be edited and clipped into smaller pieces). Thanks for your help!
Well, I hope you all have a great day! I look forward to hearing back from you all soon! Send your ideas as a comment to the post that way you can see what other people have posted and not repeat the same one 1o times.

Dan

Hey! I just wanted to let you all know that I have posted the “Car Wash Conversation?” email on the “Pages” link if you have not read it. I’ll try to put some other things on there too as I think of them. Thanks!

Dan

I am in the process of writing a Bible study for TH on Angels and Demons. I began studying with the idea that I knew a good deal about angels and demons. I have taken classes on them in college, I have picked up a few things here and there during church and other Bible studies, and I have even made my own Cherubem when I made my Tabernacle!! (lets just say my Cherubem must have made the REAL Cherubem laugh and be insulted!! )

Well, the more I study the more I realize the awesome spiritual battle going on all around me. Daniel 10:1-14 describes the battle going on between the angels and demons. As I read it I kind of got the feeling that so many Christians today are so totally unaware of the battles going on all around us each day. Daniel had to be told what was happening and he was  a man who was so totally in tune to the heart of God. Sometimes we focus so much on the the love, grace, and mercy of God (and rightly so) that we forget the reality of the spiritual battle raging around us. Even as I have been preparing for this Bible study I have felt the need to ask God for an extra portion of protection for me, the kids who’ll be coming, and for the other staff I work with. Lucifer will do whatever he can to prevent the truth from being spoken. He has such a huge hold on so many of these kids. The less they know about who he really is the stronger his grip becomes on them. We are hoping and praying this Bible study will help them each understand the reality if the spiritual battle being fought. Angel’s aren’t like Casper, and demons aren’t like little red guys with pitch forks. The media’s portrayal of these awesome beings often desensitizes us to their true form and activities which may account for many Christians not taking them seriously. Other cultures seem to be more in touch with the spiritual part of life, and therefore, take things like demons and angels much more seriously. Maybe we should be taking a few lessons from them!

A really cool part about preparing this Bible study has been seeing the overwhelming Biblical evidence supporting God as the ultimate winner of the war. I think so many times Christians get caught in the trap of “The devil made me do it! ” or “I couldn’t help it.” without realizing we have the active power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to combat those temptations and thoughts. Unless we claim that power and actively use it when we are tempted we will NEVER be able to be “overcomers”. We will always fail. Apart from the power of the Holy Spirit we have as much control as someone who is unsaved and without the Holy Spirit living in them. We don’t expect them to resist temptation or the pull of the sin nature, yet we think because we are Christians we should automatically be able to resist temptation without any effort or conscious thought. Wishful thinking! We have the Holy Spirit for a reason, don’t neglect Him.

OK, well, I should get back to my lesson planning. I hope you are all able to say a quick prayer for me, the kids here, and the other staff working here as we continually enter into the ground Lucifer has claimed as his, namely, the lives of the kids we see each day. The battle is real but it is comforting to know the outcome already! When you know the outcome of  the battle it can take the urgency of prayer away, but DO NOT LET THAT HAPPEN!

Dan