Devotions by Ralph Chambers

DEVOTIONS BY RALPH CHAMBERS

September 25, 1970

• "The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved." Jeremiah 8:20

As we have worked our gardens and farms and have gathered our yield, we realize what it means for the harvest to be in. We feel confident we shall have food for the coming months. We feel glad and thankful for the harvest. This is all good; but woe unto us when the great harvest takes place and we are not saved.

Have we taken the interest in our spiritual welfare that we have had for our physical needs? The Lord has told us that the harvest is ready, but workers are needed. Have we been faithful to witness to someone, to help with their being ready for the great harvest? If we really love the Lord and believe what He has said, don't you think we will try to do something in the way of getting ready and helping others?

I remember my mother telling of a farmer who was bringing in the last of his hay harvest which was loaded high on a wagon drawn by horses. The wagon began to tip over and the farmer was heard to say as he went into eternity, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not save." Let us trust Him now that we may be saved. Let us not face the coming of a barren season in our hearts. Look at John 3:16 and place your all in Him.

God bless each of you this day

ABOUT FACE

Mitsuo Fuchida was born in 1920 in a small Japanese village. While growing up he had dreams of a military career. By the time he was 21, he had graduated from the Military Academy and joined the Naval Air Force. By 1941, he had already logged 10,000 hours of flying time and was Japan's ace pilot. When Japan looked around for a pilot to plan and lead a sneak attack against Pearl Harbor they decided on Mitsuo Fuchida.

During a visit to San Francisco in 1927 Mitsuo learned of the Japanese Exclusion Act, an act designed to bar Japanese from the U.S. The hatred of the U.S. festered until by the time of Pearl Harbor he was longing for revenge. Following his spectacular success at Pearl Harbor he returned to Japan and continued to help the war effort. By the end of the war he was amazed to find that of the 70 officers who participated in the Pearl Harbor raid, he was the only one not killed in action. This caused some serious thinking. He first heard of the power of the gospel through a friend who had just returned from a American Prison camp.

While in the prison camp his friend had met a 18 year old girl whose missionary parents were executed by the Japanese in the Philippines. After overcoming much bitterness the girl decided to express her Christian love by witnessing and counseling Japanese P.O.W.'s. Next Mitsuo read a tract handed him by a person on a street. The tract was about Jacob DeShazer, a American captive of the Japanese who developed so much love for the Japanese that he returned after the war as a missionary. Mitsuo then purchased a Bible. When he come to the crucifixion story and read, "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," Luke. 23:24, he was over-whelmed.

This must be their prayer, he thought. After counseling with the man who had given him the tract he became a Christian. He has had a chance to witness for Christ to large crowds in Japan because he is a national hero. When calls to speak in America came he feared a cold reception or assassination from friends or relatives of those killed at Pearl Harbor. To his surprise he found that American Christians treated him with love and warmth. Mitsuo Fuchida's greatest concern is for the Christianization of the world. The Bible, not bombs, is the need of the hour. When the Lord called him and said, "About face!" he did just that. Don't let a personal grudge stand between you and God. ABOUT FACE

September 12, 1975

MEDITATION OF A PASTOR

Behold, a certain church prepared a service of worship, and invited all the members to come, saying, "Come, all has been make ready!" And lo, the majority of those invited began to make excuses. The first said, "All week I labored hard and unceasingly; yes, until late Saturday night. On Sunday I must need rest in bed until noon. For, if I would arise earlier my wife would find work for me around the house. Also, there are the Sunday papers to read. So, I pray thee, have me excused." And another said, "I have children, and behold by the time they are dressed and fed and sent to Bible School, I have reached the end of my Sunday strength, I pray thee, have me excused."

And another said, "I have a car, and my family doth make a great clamor to be taken hither and yon on Sunday. Also, to clean and polish and prepare it to run doth leave me no time to attend church. I pray thee, have me excused." And with many other excuses of equal impressiveness did the others beg to be pardoned for their absence. Yet did these same people raise a bitter complaint and with loud lamentation did bewail the Far East wars, graft, crime, corruption, and Government actions that did flourish greatly in their midst. And with one accord they did mourn and complain saying, "Why doesn't the CHURCH do something about it?"

Verily, verily I say unto you, these have never fully realized the fact that THEY ARE THE CHURCH! I say unto YOU, WE do need to get busy and DO something!! We need to make this a better world, a safer world, a Christian world. And Brother YOU can help make it so by being in Sunday School and Worship Service next Sunday and each Sunday thereafter Will we see YOU there? .......

August 1971

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