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

NO LOVE FOR GOD

What is more important to God than the things we do for him? Sometimes we find ourselves so busy flying from one activity to the next in our attempt to obey God, that we don’t even have any time left to pray & listen to his voice. At those times we even become impatient with those who are close by and in need of our time or attention. The Pharisees were like that, and Jesus said that in their hearts,( in spite of all that they were doing in church work) they had no love for God.

“But I know what kind of people you are, and I know that you have no love for God in your hearts.”

John 5:42 GNB

In Luke 7, a Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to his house for dinner. He did not offer to wash Jesus feet like was the custom of the day for a host in the Middle East. Just then a woman close by, dropped to her knees in front of Jesus sobbing. As her tears fell on Jesus dirty feet, she wiped them with her hair and kissed his feet. As the woman poured some expensive perfume on Jesus feet, Simon thought in his mind that Jesus was surely a false prophet for not realizing the bad reputation that this woman had in the community. Jesus read his mind and said, “Simon, a banker had two men that owed him money. One owed him the equivalent of $50,000 and the other owed the banker $5000. When they could not pay, the banker canceled both of their debts. Which man do you think loved the banker the most?” Simon said, “Probably the one that was forgiven the most!” Jesus said, “Simon, you are right. Outside of inviting me for supper, you showed me no sign that you loved me, because you think of yourself as not needing much forgiveness. This woman realizes how much she needs forgiveness and has not stopped showing me how much she loves me ever since I came into your house.” Looking penetratingly into Simon’s eyes, Jesus said, “He who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Self righteous people that think they don’t need forgiveness,

in their hearts have no love for God.

Alvin J. Yoder

6/10/2017

GATHERED TOGETHER

Have you ever felt like you hit the ditch spiritually?   We might call it a spiritual funk… a kind of lazy,  edgy or irritable,  down in the dumps feeling.  Then we get with a two or three Christian friends and suddenly everything changes for us. We begin feeling joy again.  Life seems more manageable.  We may not even be able to lay our finger on what made the big difference. Could it be that Christ came into our midst in an extraordinary way? Could it be that the Holy Spirit had gathered us together?  Jesus usually sent His disciples out two by two, because they did better together.

A tourist drove his car into a ditch in a desolated area. A local farmer came to help with his big strong horse named Buddy. He hitched Buddy up to the car and yelled, "Pull, Nellie, pull!" Buddy didn't move. Then the farmer hollered, "Pull, Buster, pull!" Buddy didn't respond. Once more the farmer commanded, "Pull, Coco, pull!" Nothing. Then the farmer nonchalantly said, "Pull, Buddy, pull!" And the horse easily dragged the car out of the ditch. The stranger was most appreciative, but asked the farmer , “why did you call your horse by the wrong name three times? The farmer replied, “Well….Buddy is blind and if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn't even try!" 

Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name,

there am I in the midst of them.”

(Matthew 18:20)

 Jesus explains that we are not wired to be lone ranger Christians.  Perhaps an independent spirit is our greatest sin.  He promises to be in our midst when we are gathered in His name, even if there are as few as two or three. We are not the Body alone, as individuals. We are the church only when we are together. This accents beautifully the washing of the disciples’ feet and His telling us to do the same to one another, as well as the teaching that He is present in the least of our brothers. He is telling us to be Christ to one another, and treat one another as we would treat Him. The presence of Christ is best seen in us when we work together in unity as Christians.  When we gather together in this way, the world will notice.  We don’t have to sell Jesus to anyone…it will be obvious that Christ is in our midst.  Together, we can easily pull each other out of the spiritual ditches we drive ourselves into.  There is tremendous power when in Jesus name at least two or three are gathered together. 

Al Yoder

 TRUST IN THE LORD

Trust is very difficult for many adults. Maybe it is because of some negative experiences with people they trusted in their childhood. Charles Wesley often told his brother John, “If the Lord gave me wings, I’d fly”. His brother John Wesley replied, “If God bids me fly, I will trust Him for the wings.” It is stupid to trust in someone that is not trustworthy. Trust is at the root of all good relationships. It is not even safe to rely on what we think we know, because even we can let ourselves down. There is one person who will never betray our trust. It is always safe with all our heart to trust in the Lord.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know.”

Proverbs 3:5 GNB

E. Schuyler English wrote about a man who lived on Long Island. One day he fulfilled a lifelong ambition by ordering a very expensive barometer. When the instrument arrived at his house, he was extremely disappointed to find that the indicating needle appeared to be stuck, pointing to the section on the barometer marked "HURRICANE." After shaking the barometer vigorously several times, he sat down and wrote an angry letter to the store that he had purchased the instrument from. The following morning on the way to his office in New York City, he mailed the letter. That evening he returned to Long Island to find not only the barometer missing, but his house as well. The barometer's needle had been right; there was a hurricane!

This man did not trust the barometer to tell him the truth, like many people do not trust God’s Word. Wise people realize that while it is not always safe to trust in instruments or people, it always pays to trust in the LORD.

Alvin J. Yoder

TOO STUBBORN

Some people are as stubborn as a mule. That is a quote that describes what most of us are like in our old natures. Some other words that describe stubbornness are: obstinate and bullheaded. One definition for stubborn is: “hard to get along with”. We don’t like for other people to tell us what to do. It is difficult for us to believe what we have not seen ourselves. It was the same way with Jesus disciples. Somehow it never soaked into their hearts what Jesus was teaching them about how his body would die and three days later be raised back to life again. The women who went to the graveside, came back to tell the disciples that Christ had risen, but they just couldn’t get themselves to believe it. We are not that different from those disciples today. Jesus makes many promises to us today, but many times we are too stubborn to believe them.

“Still later Jesus appeared to the eleven apostles while they were eating.

He put them to shame for their unbelief and because they were

too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.”

Mar 16:14 GW

Unbelief is a much greater sin than what we often think it is. Unbelief kept the Children of Israel from being allowed to go into The Promised Land. Unbelief is what is going to keep the majority of people from going to heaven. It is a very serious offence to God when people choose to not believe God’s Word. God likes for us to be stubborn when it comes to doing what is right, but he hates it when it comes to our stubbornly refusing to trust him. In I Samuel 15:23 the Bible says that stubbornly taking our own way is as serious a problem as worshiping idols or participating in immorality.

In 1974, almost thirty years after World War II was over, in the jungles of the Philippines Lt. Hiroo Onoda at age 52 finally surrendered his sword to President Ferdinand Marcos on the island of Lubang where he had fought World War II, not knowing that the war had ended and peace had been made for three decades. Loudspeakers, leaflets and an offer of $400,000 had not persuaded him to surrender. When he finally surrendered reporters asked what had happened during those 30 years on the island. His reply, "Nothing, nothing pleasant happened to me in all those years."

Lt. Hiroo Onoda is a perfect illustration of the foolishness of being too stubborn. When we choose to hang on to our stubborn ways, we always lose out on the best years of our life. This is especially true when it comes to obeying the word of God. Yielding to God’s way brings us the very highest quality of life. Precious life is wasted and can never be regained when we are too stubborn.

Alvin Yoder

The Beginning

Several months ago I watched an ugly worm crawling across the ground! That was the beginning of a thing. Now look at that insect with gorgeous wings, playing in the sunshine, sipping from the flowers, full of life; that is the end. That caterpillar is us, until we are wrapped up in the chrysalis of death; because when Christ shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Be content to be like the caterpillar who like Jesus, will be totally fulfilled when we wake up in his likeness. The end will be much better than the beginning.

“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”

Ecclesiastes_7:8  KJV

Look at Jesus; see his beginning. He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The end is He now sits at his Father’s right hand, until his enemies are made his footstool. If we never bear the cross, we will never wear the crown; we must walk on the dirt road, or we will never walk the golden streets. We can take courage because “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”

A rough-looking diamond is placed on the wheel of the jeweler. He cuts it on all sides. It loses a lot of what felt very costly to itself. But when the king is crowned; the diadem is put on his head with all its’ shining glory. Light will flash from the very diamond which at this moment is very unhappy with the filing and polishing of the Jeweler’s tools. We can compare ourselves to a diamond like that, because we are one of God’s people; and right now we are in the cutting process. Exercise faith and patience, because on the day when the crown is placed on the head of the King of kings… there will be flashes of glory streaming from us. God said, “They shall be mine, in the day when I make up my jewels.”

Let’s be excited about the beginning of a New Year. It is a reminder that we are still in time. The day is coming when time will be no more. The end will always be better for a follower of Christ. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning.

Alvin Yoder

12/30/2012