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From The Desk Of: Mickey G. Quinn

"My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth." Job 19:20. These were the words of Job describing the way he was feeling about the terrible condition he was in when the Lord had allowed the devil to try him. Now these were indeed the words of a man who truly loved the Lord, but I am afraid that the last part of this verse will be used to describe many of Gods children when they leave this old world. Indeed, there are many of Gods children who show very little evidence of a true relationship with Him. I hope and pray that this is not the case with you, but I do believe that the Lord put this little article upon my heart for a reason and I believe with all my heart that the reason was to be of a help and a blessing to those who may be in danger of fitting this description. In that light, I believe the Lord would have some who could benefit from it to read it. If you are one of these, please be assured that the purpose of this little article as with all the articles the Lord gives me is to first of all glorify the Lord and then to bless those who read it.

First, let me make it unmistakably clear that I in no way see myself as perfect as I truly am far from it. And with that thought in mind continually, if you are a child of God, I ask that you pray as earnestly as you know how for me. Not that I will become perfect, for if you know Gods Word, you will know that none of us will ever be perfect while here on this earth. No, pray that the Lord will help me to continually grow in my walk with Him.

I believe it was C.S. Lewis who said that he believed that the most used word in heaven would be "Aha". Well, I don't know Mr. Lewis or even very much about him, but I do agree with him in this matter to the point that I believe this word will be used quite a lot. I believe that when many of the things we have never understood are revealed to us, we truly will say, "Aha, so that's what this meant or what that meant".

Now, it is a known fact found in God's Word that there are many people in the church today who are lost but it is not up to me to try and separate those who are lost and those who truly know Him. No, that job is left for the reapers who will be the angels who will gather the tares to be burned in the fire. This is not my opinion as you can find this in the book of Matthew, chapter 13 and verses 24-30 and verses 36-43. It is not to these that this article is meant. No, this article is meant for those who have truly trusted in Christ and are indeed children of God.

In the book of John, chapter 21 and verses 15-17, we find the Lord questioning Simon Peter concerning his love for Him. They had just dined together on bread and fish and the Lord asked him three times if he loved Him more than these, referring to the bread and the fish. Each time, Simon Peter would answer Yea Lord and Jesus would say, "Feed my sheep". Now, the Lord knew that fish had always been Simon Peters life and He knew how Simon Peter loved fish and fishing. What He was doing was asking him to show that he loved Christ more than anything. I use these verses of scripture because there are many, many church members who say they love the Lord and are His, but when it comes church time, which is supposed to be a time set aside to worship the Lord publicly, they seem to love fishing more than Him. How many church members hook up their boats on the Lord's day and go to the lake to spend the day fishing rather than attending the house of God? Are these people really saved? As I said before, it is not for me to say, but I can say with all confidence that they aren't showing the Lord nor this world that they love Him. I believe with all my heart that if there are any signs to be found in heaven, one such sign will be, "NO FISHING". Now please understand that I am not against fishing and I don't believe the Lord is either. I only use this illustration to show one way that church people put other things before Him on the Lord's day.

All you fishermen, please forgive me for using fishing as an example of people's failure to worship the Lord. I truly have absolutely nothing against fishing. There are indeed many things that people put before God and fishing is but one of them. You can name just about anything and people who claim the name of Christ have put it before Him.

Why is it that we as God's children should go to church? First and foremost and above anything else, our purpose for going to church should be to worship Him. If that is not the main purpose for going, we would do just as well staying home and watching some ungodly television program. Have you ever heard someone after attending church say something like, "I really didn't get anything out of that". I sincerely hope that you have never said anything like that for the people who say things like that have completely missed the purpose of attending church. It is indeed a special blessing when we can have our needs met at church, but the only need that should be expected by attending church is that of salvation. Once we have received that blessing, it is then our turn to be a blessing. If we can go to church and truly worship and praise the Lord as He deserves to be worshipped, I don't believe that we can come away without being truly blessed ourselves.

Now going to church, as important as it is, is only a part of how we are expected to worship the Lord. How many of Gods children have an altar in their home? Now when I say an altar, I am not necessarily speaking of some big piece of furniture, though it very well could be. What I am talking about is just a place set aside in our home where we can go on a regular basis and be alone with the Lord. It is true that we can go to Him in prayer anywhere and anytime, but nothing shows our love for Him as much as having a special place set aside to be with Him. Oh how many Christians only go to Him when they detect a need. Whether we realize it or not, we need Him continually. Wouldn't it be good to go to Him every now and then when we weren't really realizing some need and say "Lord, you've been so good to me and you have truly met all my needs and I am so grateful and Lord I just want to take this little time just to love you and praise you."? What if your husband or wife or someone you loved very much came to you one day and said, "Honey, we don't spend near enough time together, but I just want to be near you and show my love for you."? Don't you imagine that would make your day. It would probably at least make you feel pretty good.

Another important way to worship and show our love for Him is to study and meditate upon His Word. Now I'm not just talking about memorizing Bible verses, though that is good. I'm talking about really getting into Gods Word and getting to know Him. How many of Gods children will go through this life and go on to heaven when it is over and won't even know Him? Oh, they may know about Him from what they hear in church when they go, but they won't know Him. How much time have we spent with Him this week in His Word?

And another important way to worship and show our love for Him is to tell others about Him and proclaim praise and honor and glory to those who don't know Him. Are we showing our love for Him if we don't let the whole world know that He is real. When is the last time we told someone what He's done for us and what He will do for them. Now, we can do this with our mouth if He truly has done something for our lives and that would be good, but friend, by doing these other things as well, people will see first hand that He not only did something for us, but also that He is doing something for us. As I said at the beginning of this article, I am indeed not perfect and unless you have gone on to be with Him, neither are you, but we must as His children show Him our love, because He first loved us. I know some will say that they have to live their life and they don't believe they should give that up to show their love for Him. Guess what, that's exactly what He did to show His love for you. I believe that as my dear friend J. Harold Smith says, "We should live every day for the rest of our lives", but can we really afford to live it without Him? If we do, I believe Dr. J. Vernon McGee was so very right when he said, "The rapture isn't going to be nearly as pleasant as some expect it to be. It will be so wonderful to be in heaven where there is no more suffering and no more pain and no more tears and no more fears, but friends, when we have to empty out our sacks of life and it is all tried by fire, how much of it will be all burned up.

I do hope and pray that this little article has not been an offence to you as it was never intended to be. I would truly hate to be the cause of someone getting all upset and maybe even getting an ulcer, but I would much rather you got an ulcer and suffered a little now than for you to get to heaven and be disappointed throughout eternity. I do love you and I know that the Lord loves you too. At the beginning of this article, I asked that you pray for me. I still mean that and I want you to be assured that if you need me to pray for you, I will do that as earnestly as I know how. Though we don't always realize it, we all need each other's prayers. May God richly bless you now and throughout eternity.