Dwell Together

As you know I was blessed to grow up on a farm in Indiana.  My Aunt and Uncle had me at their house almost more than I was at my own home.  I have so many precious memories from the farm.  One thing I learned to love was horses.  My uncle would board them for other people and made a little piece of money at it.  My cousins on the other side of our family refer to horses as “hay burners”.  They are cattle people.  I vote for both.  Ha, Ha!

I was thinking about some of the horses that I was privileged to own and others I was privileged to ride to exercise them.  One thing I used to love to go see was the horse pulls.  That was brute strength.  The Amish are on to something here I tell you.

There was one thing.  The horses were always similar in size (when I saw them).  They pulled equally.  It was a “team” effort.  Yes, pun intended.  They would work together with enormous amounts of horse power to move the sled down the track.  Did you hear that?  They pulled together.

I makes me think of Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”  It makes me think of my dear brothers and sisters today.  As we go to Church we must be a unified body.  A team.  It is “good” and “pleasant” when we dwell together.  Not just speak pleasantries in passing; but, truly dwell together.

Take time today to worship the Saviour and then take time to dwell together in unity with the brothers and sisters.

So, how are you doing?

Togetherness

We live in a day that is capitalized by division.  Nations are crumbling.  Even planets are disappearing out of science text books.  If there is something we need is to be unified.  We can get more done working together than working separately.

A favorite chapter of mine is Psalm 133.  Look at the words found in Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

I looked up some of the words of this verse.  The word “good” means just that, good.  The word “pleasant” means delightful.  The word “together” means a unit.  The word “unity” means a unit (exactly the same thing).

In other words it is good and delightful for brothers to sit down together as a unit, as a unit.  We must remain together.  The devil is like a predator trying to separate the weakest of the flock and alienate them from the unit.  It is then that he makes his move.  The next thing you know you have been take out by the enemy of your soul.

Today, is The LORD”S Day and we need to honor Him by meeting  as a unit in unity at His house.  There are a multitude of reasons why we need to do this.

So, how are you doing?

The Shadow

An old radio program used to proclaim, “Only the Shadow knows.”  I have heard of it; but, never heard it.  Last night our Pastor preached on Psalm 91.  He had a great message!  He shared about a farmer who lost his chicken coop in a fire.  As he walked through the ash remains of the coop he kicked a pile of ash and five chicks ran out.  The mother chicken had buried them under her wings and they survived the fire and she did not.

This is a beautiful picture of how our Heavenly Father protects us.  Look at the words of Psalm 91:1, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”  To abide is not to just sit and take a break.  This speaks of spending some time there.  What joy this should bring to us all to know that we can dwell under the shadow of our Father’s “wings” of protection.

Here is a thought.  If there was no light there would be no shadow.  Jesus is the Light.  So, we can abide in the shadow of His “wings” and be surrounded by His Light in ultimate protection.

So, how are you doing?

 

The Glory Is Departed 2

I am given an opportunity by God to go around to other Churches and preach.  I truly enjoy this and count it a great privilege.  There is one thing for sure.  I could not do this without God helping me.  Each month I have the privilege of going to the mission and preaching to the men.  There is no way that I could do that on my own.

I realize that if it were not for God helping me that I could not accomplish anything worth while for the cause of Christ.  I do not want to just show up somewhere and talk for a given amount of time.  This is a waste of time if God is not in control and working through me.

Look at I Samuel 4:4, “So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.”  As I said yesterday they had substituted the symbol for the Saviour.  In other words; God’s people were satisfied with the ark.  This was a symbol of the presence of God.  If they had been obedient they could have been satisfied with nothing less than the actual presence of God.

There are too many people who say they are Christians that have stopped short by being satisfied with the symbol of God’s presence.  They do not press on to the real presence of God.  I don’t ever want to stop short because “The Glory Is Departed”.  I want to be so close to God that I know when He is there and when He is not.

So, how are you doing?