Morning Moments

When I was a boy, my grandfather was the pastor of a country church in Southwest Georgia. There was no air conditioning and the only heat was from a pot-belly stove. It was not unusual for the church to be full on Sundays. On warm days the wooden windows would be opened for the air to circulate. On cold days the old heater would put off enough heat to make bearable.

All community activities revolved around the church. Occasionally the church would have what was called “All day singing and dinner on the grounds”. Revivals were protracted meetings which might last for several weeks. We always knew when they would start, but never knew how long they would run. Sinners were CONVERTED whether they were drunks, immoral, or whatever…and the conversion was more often than not true new birth.

Everybody in town knew when a sinner was converted because there was a CHANGE in heart and home. Very often a wife or mother would have been praying for years for the conversion.

In front of that old church was a pump that always had a mason jar of water beside it. It was not for drinking, but for priming the pump, and I often think about that pump and that jar of water to this day.

Folks back then knew where the well was and how to prime the pump for drinking water. It reminds me of what Jesus said at the well where He met the Samaritan woman whose life was permanently changed, and who, because of her experience with Jesus, caused her whole community to come see Jesus.

Sometimes we look back and call those the “good old days” and wonder why God doesn’t “do it again.” Times were tough then and nobody had anything much.

Agriculture was the main source of income and the entire family worked together on the farm. The work was HARD! There were no cultivators, no air conditioned tractors, no harvesters. It was all done with a plough and a team of mules.

The roads were dirt and the air was clean. The family worked and worshipped together, ate together, talked and prayed together, and took care of each other.

Saturday was the big day for many to take the horse and wagon to town and buy or barter goods needed for the coming week or month. Stores closed half a day a Wednesdays and all day Sundays.

I could go on for hours, but here is my point: We often wonder why God doesn’t invade us with mighty meetings as He did in the past, but we don’t have need for anything. We have everything and we have done it ourselves. We are not desperate for God! We get a little uncomfortable if the pastor preaches too long. We are not willing to pray all night, go into the “bars and crack town” for sinners. We expect sinners to come to our magnificent churches that MAY BE used a half dozen hours a week out of 168 hours in the week, which is about .035 percent of the time.

MAYBE, just maybe, God will bring us back again to desperation. MAYBE, just maybe, God will help us to see that our aspirations and admiration are for HIM ALONE, and not some beautiful building, university for our kids, new game to entertain them, big screen TV, recliners, and a ton of other STUFF that we work 40 and 60 hours a week to pay for.

I don’t know! I know we Christians are praying and I do believe there are many who seek to please HIM above all else. I know that there is nothing wrong with having a nice place for multitudes to attend, and many are reaching others for Christ.

BUT what I DON’T know is how really desperate we are for HIM and for HIM ALONE. Regardless of where we live or what we drive or where we attend services – WE WILL ONLY SEE IN THE FUTURE WHAT WE HAVE SEEN GOD DO IN THE PAST WHEN WE GET DESPERATE TO THE POINT OF AGONY. As long as we are rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and think we are pleasing God by our “plate spinning”, He will NOT “show up”. Most of what we do today can be honest done without Him, but when we see and understand that God is not in temples made with hands, but is looking for our HEARTS, He will visit us once more.

So when we pray, "Oh Lord, did it again," let's remember the circumstances in which He DID IT before! Look around the world where God is moving and it is not in places of prosperity, but in places of poverty where people are desperate for HIM.

BLESSINGS!