THE EMPTY SEAT DILEMMA!

      Hello again, I'm Arlen Yoder from the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember—the angels in heaven rejoice when a loved one or friend gives their heart to Jesus.

      The title of my post today is “THE EMPTY SEAT DILEMMA!” It’s about what happened last Sunday in church and what I later talked to my wife about.

      Last Sunday, Pastor Jake preached a dynamic sermon about the end times in Revelation, focusing on ‘The Seven Seals’. Anyone with half a heart and a conscience would have been startled awake from their stupor. They would have thought, “I better get right with God, so I don’t have to go through that!” But then I looked around in my church, puzzled and saddened by all the empty seats. I suddenly realized that many people aren’t even hearing the important message Pastor Jake preached.
      Later that afternoon I talked about what I call the empty seat dilemma with Dee, my wife. We talked about who’s to blame for the empty seats in that church and churches all over America. Are the pastors to blame? Are the members to blame? And God forgive me if this isn't the right question to ask: Is God to blame, as many people do, for the bad things that happen, or don’t happen, when we fall short?
     Then I thought about our own lives as Christians. Each of us, if we’ll admit it, has many ‘empty seats’ all around us that we desperately want filled. But we are in a quandary about how to help our family members fill the seats around us—our friends to fill them—our acquaintances to fill them—many others to fill them.
      I love watching what I call ‘my’ Baltimore Orioles and ‘my’ hummingbirds come back each spring and take ‘a seat,’ if you will—in my backyard. My job is to feed them the food they like and can thrive on. Then one comes—then another—then another. Dee got me a bird feeder camera for Father’s Day a couple of years ago. Watching ‘my’ birds gives me great joy as I see their beauty and watch their actions and antics.
      As Dee and I discussed the empty seat dilemma, we couldn't find an easy solution to fill the empty seats around us—the empty seats in our churches—and the empty seats in our lives. We concluded that God, through His Holy Spirit, is the only One who can solve this dilemma. All we can do is pray and plant the seed, feed and water them as the Bible says, and God will give the growth.
      I look forward to the great joy of seeing the beauty—and the actions and antics—of my loved ones, friends, acquaintances, and many others as they fill the empty seats around me—as God helps us solve—‘the empty seat dilemma.’
      See you next time.

CARRY GOD’S PRESENCE WITH US EACH DAY!

 

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Isaiah 26:3.

      I memorized this Old Testament verse early in my Christian walk. I learned it in King James, so I think it now means the most to me in King James.
      Hello again, I'm Arlen Yoder from the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember—the angels in heaven rejoice when a loved one or friend gives their heart to Jesus.
      The title of my post today is “CARRY GOD’S PRESENCE WITH US EACH DAY!” It’s about recognizing and acknowledging God’s presence in you and me each day through the power of His Holy Spirit.
      A couple of weeks ago, the devotional I was reading emphasized what my post is about: “Carry God’s Presence With Us Each Day.” As usual, I opened a Bible app and found the phrase "God’s presence" over 300 times. My favorite verse I found about it was in Psalm 16:11, where David wrote:

“You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.”

      Then I remembered that while serving in a Mennonite Voluntary Service Discipleship Unit in Richmond, Virginia, in the early 1980s, the unit had on a bookshelf Brother Lawrence’s book, “The Practice of the Presence of God.” Brother Lawrence was a Carmelite Monk in France in the 1600s. I wanted to become a more devoted disciple of Jesus Christ and carry His presence with me more and more each day, so I read Brother Lawrence’s book with great eagerness.
      For the forty-some years that Brother Lawrence served in the monastery, he handled mundane, seemingly thankless tasks like cooking, cleaning, and even repairing sandals. What others might deem tedious work, Brother Lawrence thrived in being able to do these tasks for his Lord and ‘practicing the presence of God’ each day while doing them.
      "The Practice of the Presence of God” was not written and compiled directly by Brother Lawrence. Others who greatly treasured Brother Lawrence's wisdom and devotion compiled it from four “Conversations” with him, sixteen “Letters” he wrote, and six “Spiritual Maxims” gleaned after his death from his personal writings and conversations with others.
      The bottom line for Brother Lawrence is that he practiced the presence of God each day, and encouraged those around him to do likewise, way back in the 1600s. He learned way back then what Isaiah said: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Brother Lawrence . . . and Isaiah encouraged themselves, others, and us . . . to ‘carry God’s presence with us each day’.
      See you next time.