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Author
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Topic: Locking Gods House
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helpforhomeschoolers
Advanced Member
Member # 15
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posted
Oh, I love this thread! This is something that drives me crazy! How many times I have seen a church building and wanted to go inside and pray. Not that I do not know church is not in the building but in me, but I view the church building as a place of refuge in the world, a place that you should be able to go in to get out of the heat or the rain, a closet in which to pray away from the hustle and bustle a place to find someone of like spirit with which to pray.
I personally think that Jesus would be furious to walk into a city and find church buildings empty and quiet and locked 6 days of the week.
I also think that if our body were in right authority and operating in the Power of the Holy Ghost that we are suppoosed to be operating in, there would not one dare come into steal a paperclip for fear of being struck down or that the article taken would bring with it a curse of God.
I also think we need to get a right attitude about the things of the world and our relationship with them. USe the things of the world; love people - Not.....Love the things of the world; use people.
God bless and thanks for this post!
Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
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Bat Elohim
Advanced Member
Member # 3739
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posted
The church where i used to attend was open during the week for "office" hours.
As a child, I visited my grandparents every summer in England. I often walked downtown by myself and went into the churchs. I was never taken to church but I was facinated with the stained glass and beauty that was all around. The churchs in that little town were unlocked at 7 every morning and locked at 10 every night. The vicar lived on the grounds, so he would come unlock the door if there were a need.
This past year as I was living in England for a short time, I visited one of the churchs that I used to visit as a child. The doors were locked and the windows barred. When I found the vicar, he said that vandals had spraypainted the pews and altar and broken and stolen all that they could.
How heart-breaking is that?
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Numbers 6:24 May ADONAI bless you and keep you. 25 May ADONAI make his face shine on you and show you his favor. 26 May ADONAI lift up his face toward you and give you peace.
Posts: 704 | From: Louisiana | Registered: Aug 2004
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Caretaker
Advanced Member
Member # 36
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posted
I remember reading Dale Evan's book, "Angel Unawares", 25+ years ago, and she mentions how they had an alter in one room, which formed a sanctuary where they could stop in and pray in a quiet place during the day.
We as believers are to pray without ceasing, so I can pray wherever I am with my very next breath. It is nice to have a special prayer closet, sanctified for our special time of daily fellowship with our Lord.
Sweet Hour of Prayer
William Walford,
appeared in The New York Observer, September 13, 1845, accompanied by the following, written by Thomas Salmon:
During my residence at Coleshill, Warwickshire, England, I became acquainted with W. W. Walford, the blind preacher, a man of obscure birth and connections and no education, but of strong mind and most retentive memory. In the pulpit he never failed to select a lesson well adapted to his subject, giving chapter and verse with unerring precision and scarcely ever misplacing a word in his repetition of the Psalms, every part of the New Testament, the prophecies, and some of the histories, so as to have the reputation of “knowing the whole Bible by heart.” He actually sat in the chimney corner, employing his mind in composing a sermon or two for Sabbath delivery, and his hands in cutting, shaping and polishing bones for shoe horns and other little useful implements. At intervals he attempted poetry. On one occasion, paying him a visit, he repeated two or three pieces which he had composed, and having no friend at home to commit them to paper, he had laid them up in the storehouse within. “How will this do?” asked he, as he repeated the following lines, with a complacent smile touched with some light lines of fear lest he subject himself to criticism. I rapidly copied the lines with my pencil, as he uttered them, and sent them for insertion in the Observer, if you should think them worthy of preservation.
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
The joys I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home and take my flight:
This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise
To seize the everlasting prize;
And shout, while passing through the air,
“Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!”
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A Servant of Christ,
Drew
1 Tim. 3:
16: And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh..
Posts: 3978 | From: Council Grove, KS USA | Registered: Jun 2002
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Eduardo Grequi
Advanced Member
Member # 3984
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posted
I was told by the Pastor that the church has to have some form of security of its building. He said it was necesary for the property insurance. We are living in a day in which the general population's value system are so corrupt that they wouldn't think twice to break in. I remember when I was younger that the Pastor and His family lived on the grounds, during that time the church doors were open. The small prayer chapel was open always, but not today. Except for the very, very organized traditional catholic churches, the priest lives within the sactuary.
Remember the church is more than the building built by hands, It lives within us and all around us. You can pray in your closet as the bible puts it.
Posts: 771 | From: Belvidere, IL | Registered: Oct 2004
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TEXASGRANDMA
Advanced Member
Member # 847
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posted
Yes souls are more important but, having been in a Church that was broken so many times we had to put an alarm on the Church site, I can tell you that even locked doors are not always enough. I do think having a little chapel for prayer would be great.
betty
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Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
http://www.indieheaven.com/artists/mm (son-in-law)http://www.myspace.com/mireles
Posts: 4985 | From: Washington State | Registered: Jan 2003
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Rich H
Advanced Member
Member # 4313
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posted
TEXASGRANDMA,
I have never seen one of those little chapels... sounds pretty cool.
You're post made me think of another point.
You mentioned instruments... my current church has tons of them.. including a drum set on the stage.
Are those material possessions more important
than God? I would much rather have a church with no instruments that was open when you needed it to be.
Actually I do not care for the instruments anyway because I prefer gold old fashioned singing.
But then there is the matter of computer and video equipment and such, pretty much standard
equipment in any church these days... and needed
because they help to spread the word.
I guess I will probably never see my dream of an
open 24/7 church.
Peace
Rich
Posts: 30 | From: Metro Detroit | Registered: Jan 2005
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TEXASGRANDMA
Advanced Member
Member # 847
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posted
In this day and age Churches have no choice but to lock their doors because of thieves and vandals. That aside, the Church we attend now, because they have a school, you can get in the Church almost every day.
We went into a Church in Switzerland once that you could walk in 24/7 but they had only wooden benches and no musical instruments of any kind.
It would be nice if a Church could leave their doors unlocked all the time. One thing that Churches could consider would be to have a little chapel with a couple of benches a Bible and an alter for people to pray in. When we moved here on the long drive, we saw several little tiny chapels that were just on the side of the road that you could stop and pray in. My dream is to have some property one day and build a little chapel like that.
betty
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Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
http://www.indieheaven.com/artists/mm (son-in-law)http://www.myspace.com/mireles
Posts: 4985 | From: Washington State | Registered: Jan 2003
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Rich H
Advanced Member
Member # 4313
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posted
Hiya,
One thing that has been bothering me for the
last few years is the fact that the Church
has to lock its doors.
I switched churches a couple of years ago.. and before that I had ( still have ) a key to my old church. Not everyone had a key... I had one because I kept up the computers and did other chores at night. Actually it was my wife's key as she was the church secretary.. anyway.
It was very nice to have access to Gods house
at any time of the day or night. Sometimes in the middle of the night I would have an urge to
go pray at the Alter. I belive that prayer done
in Gods house has some sort of special intercession or something... as I am sure the place is filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit.
My current church does not allow me such a privilege, and I do not think they ever will
because of the very large congregation they cannot just give everyone a key.
I actually have brought this up to my pastor in a round about way. I made a suggestion that
the church be open through the week at set hours
for open fellowship and Bible study.
Good fellowship is something that I lack as well as many others. How can one have fellowship in the church when we are there for organized worship and do not even have a good chance at knowing one another?
A few months ago I was injured on the job with an electrical jolt. God was with me that day
as I had no major injury after being jolted
with 440 volts... anyway..
The industrial doctor who saw me told me what
I needed to do was go to church and thank God
that I was spared. When I told him my church
was closed he was shocked as he had never heard
of such a thing.
I am not sure of this doctors ethnic background.. but I think he was Asian Indian.
Apparently his church is always open.
Do any of you here have access to Gods house 24/7?
I don't know why this bothers me so much... but I just feel that locking Gods house is just plain wrong.
Peace
Rich
Posts: 30 | From: Metro Detroit | Registered: Jan 2005
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