04/09/2024
In my devotional reading this morning Pastor E.M. Bounds wrote of the early churches that had no heat in their buildings to keep them warm in the winters during services. He said "that the flame in the pew and the fire in the pulpit must be sufficient to keep them warm." Of course, Bounds is talking about the spirit of The Lord, and our burning desire for Him. Then to further make his point he used verse 2 from Psalm 141, and added verse 8 as well.
“Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.”
Psalms 141:2, 8 KJV
Churches without modern comforts are rather rare in today’s world, but a few still exist. Have you ever been physically uncomfortable in your church and had to wear heavy coats to stay warm, or shorts and T-Shirts when it was too hot?
A couple of years ago my wife and I attended a reunion of her father's family. The reunion was held in a very rural part of Tennessee in White county. On a winding road between deep hollows full of tall trees and expansive fields that were in cultivation, was a small white church where one of her distant cousins preached. The building was basically one room with two small (almost closet-like) rooms on either side of the pulpit. The pews were divided leaving an aisle to the altar and would seat maybe 50 people, and if nature called there was an outhouse behind the building.
We decided to arrive early for the Sunday pot-luck reunion to attend church services. It was a beautiful summer day when we stopped the car on the side of the narrow road by the church. Parking consisted of a wide dirt berm. I felt like we were stepping back in time to a place where mules, horses, and wagons would have been at home, and as we approached the front door of the church a dog, who was laying on the top step, stood up and stretched before stepping down onto the dirt walk and looking at us in curiosity. The windows were open and we could hear singing wafting through them from within. We walked through the open door and every eye turned to greet us. The pastor stopped the service to introduce us "This is Ann Young Forbes and her husband, you all knew her grandfather McKinley." And all the heads nodded in affirmation.
This church had no heat, and the only cooling would have come from a window air conditioner built into one wall... if it had been working. So we took our seats on one of the pews and felt the morning breeze as it crossed between the windows. This was a meager church from a simpler time, but oh the spirit and the preaching! Children squirming on the pews where saints were singing and seeking God... No piano, just voices raised a cappella in praise, and the spirit was so intense that I knew that if I opened my eyes during a prayer I would find Jesus standing beside me.
Looking at our modern churches today I wonder if we haven’t made things too easy. That little church in the country, with the outhouse in back, had one attraction that drew people... the worship of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. There was a burning desire to worship Them there. Perhaps it was the closeness that farmers feel to creation, perhaps the absolute dependence on God for provision, but God's presence, and His Holy Spirit, was palpable.
Pastor E.M. Bounds says that there is no prayer without fire. The burning desire for God needs to be propelling our words as we pray. In White county I know the flame of faith burns bright; I heard the murmuring of supplemental prayers from the saints as the pastor prayed aloud. I heard the "Amens" and the "Uh Huhs" as truths of scripture were revealed, and I saw children learning what it meant to be a Christian as they sat by parents with heavily worn and marked bibles.
When we attend our churches this coming Sunday morning, most of us won't sweat or pull our coats up around us for warmth, but I hope we will worship God with the same spiritual intensity that serves to heat and cool the pilgrim churches. I pray that our arms will be lifted, our prayers will be on fire, and that children will be fidgeting in the presence of God. I challenge each of us to feel God’s Holy Spirit when we close our eyes to pray, believing that if we should be tempted to sneak a peek while the preacher is praying that we too will fully anticipate seeing Jesus standing in prayer beside us.
Perhaps, through our squinted eyes this Sunday as we pray in our own climate controlled churches, we will be drawn to glance to one side or the other, fully believing we will see our Savior there with His head bowed alongside ours.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the amenities that our modern day churches have today, but thank you also for those days when the heat and air units are not working and we must worship you with nothing more than your Holy Spirit to comfort us. Help us Lord to feel closer to you as we shiver or sweat in the pews, and call on you to comfort us as we pray. Watch as we open our eyes ever so slightly Father anticipating that we will see you beside us. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who makes every day bearable by your presence, and who hushes our complaining with the shush of your Holy Spirit when we find ourselves the least bit uncomfortable. Praised be your name as the breeze you have given us blows across our bodies, and we feel you just as Noah, Job, Abraham, and Moses felt you… perfected in the nature of your being, and expecting you to be there amongst us always.
Amen, Amen, Amen.
Rich Forbes