A COMPASS

A COMPASS

I was driving in uncharted territory, heading back home after measuring for a cabinet job. Trying to find a closer route home, I found myself on an unfamiliar road. A glance at the compass attached to my truck windshield, however, assured me that I was headed in the right direction that led me safely to my destination. In our spiritual journeys, the Bible always points us in the right direction, like a compass.

“And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium:

and after one day the south wind blew, and we

came the next day to Puteoli:”

Acts 28:13 KJV

An old sailor repeatedly got lost at sea, so his friends gave him a compass. He took the compass with him on his next boat ride, but again he became hopelessly confused and unable to find land. His friends rescued him again, but disgusted and impatient with him, they asked, "Why didn't you use that compass we gave you? You could have saved us a lot of trouble!"The sailor responded, "I didn't dare to! I wanted to go north, but as hard as I tried to make the needle aim in that direction, it just kept on pointing southeast."That old sailor was so certain he knew which direction was north that he stubbornly tried to force his own personal beliefs on his compass.

Many people act like the old sailor in their spiritual lives. They stubbornly think they know a better way than the Bible, so they try to twist the Bible to fit their feelings. We will always reach our final destination safely, if we faithfully use God’s Word as a compass.

Alvin J Yoder

3/23/2019

IN THE MORNING

IN THE MORNING

What we do the first thing in the morning, usually has an extensive effect on how well we can respond to the rest of the day. In the 1880s a young Christian man got a job in a pawnshop. Although he disliked the work, he did it faithfully as unto the Lord until a better opportunity came his way. To prepare himself to live a faith-filled life, he wrote these resolutions on a scrap of paper: “I do promise God, that I will rise early every morning to have a few minutes—not less than five—in private prayer”. King David also made a similar commitment, that he would lay his needs before the LORD in the morning.

"In the morning, O LORD, hear my voice. In the morning I lay my needs in front of you, and I wait."

Psalm 5:3 GW

I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day!

I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t take time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier became each task.

I prayed, “God, why don’t you help me?” He answered, “You didn’t ask!”

I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak.

I asked God why he didn’t show me. He answered me, “But you didn’t seek”.

I tried to come into God’s presence; I used all my keys at the lock.

God gently and lovingly chided, “Why, child, you didn’t knock!”

Things always seem to go better the entire day for me, whenever I choose to lay my needs before God the first thing in the morning.

Alvin J Yoder

4/23/2019