04/10/2019
When God sends a messenger to you in times of trouble are you comforted? When an Angel stands beside you and reassures you when you are frightened do you take heart? When you are in a bad spot, and God’s Word leaps from the pages of the Bible telling you not to fear, and that all will be well, do you have faith in that message? What about the whispered words of His will that come when all is well, and the night is still? Are you listening?
“Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.' So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.”
Acts 27:22-25 ESV
Paul believed the message that was delivered to him by the Angel, and it reassured him, but what does it take for us to believe? What does God need to do to deliver a message that we will trust as being from Him? We say we are men and women of Faith, and yet, when God sends a messenger to speak His word to us we tend to judge the validity of it by the appearance of the messenger that delivers it. If a glowing angelic being hovers over our deathbed and pronounces our healing we are inclined to believe, but if an unruly little child stands on his tiptoes at our bedside and whispers that it will be alright, or a bum on the street says “the Lord told me to tell you that He is going to heal you.” Are we equally inclined to believe? If our pastor comes and tells us he had a dream in which we were saved is that pronouncement more believable than a message from another source that says “Believe!” or “Fear Not!”; how about if it was on a random billboard as we drove through town?
I guess what I am asking you boils down to this... are you expecting to hear from God? How about today; right now? Maybe you are not sick, or you don’t think you need a word... are you still listening? Sure, God speaks to us in times of troubles, but did those who were leading faithful lives as they worshiped and sacrificed in the temple expect that Jesus the Messiah would come and speak to them at that moment? Did they expect that there would be a radical change in not only their faith, but the faith of all men, at a time when everything seemed to be going well for them?
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
I was in the midst of a period in my life when I needed a move from God, and He led two men to lay hands on me and pray for one of my children to be healed. At the very moment these men were praying he sent angels to likewise lay hands on my back, and following this miraculous event my child was healed. In the subsequent days my prayer life was off the charts. I was witnessing, and experiencing God’s move in a very powerful way. It was at this time when I was at a comfortable pinnacle of spirituality, and I felt I was right where the Lord wanted me to be, that God totally changed the direction of my life. He began to speak in ways that were strange to me , and I didn’t know what to make of it.
“And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."”
Acts 9:4-6 ESV
Jesus knocked Saul (Paul) to the ground and blinded him, but with me it was much more subtle... or was it? One afternoon he sent a group of salesmen into my office, but I realized that one of them was very different than the rest. This man had the Holy Spirit coursing through him, and within a short amount of time we became good friends. It was then that My health took a bad turn, and this man prayed with me through a bout I had with cancer. Then one day he gave me a tiny devotional book and said he saw it in a grocery store and just had to buy it for me... he answered a whisper from God. The book was titled ‘The Power of Prayer’ and that little book was the first step in a journey that you are witnessing now as you read this devotional. It was part of a calling that would start with my reading a single message from that book, and texting the thoughts I had to my friend. The texts we would exchange in the coming days led to my writing daily devotionals that now circumnavigate the globe each morning... it was a word delivered by a messenger of God at a time I never would have guessed, and it redirected my life, but I didn’t recognize it at first... God had to speak to me in several ways before I finally realized that I needed to listen. You see, It doesn’t take a storm in order for God to speak to us, but sometimes it takes a storm to get our attention... for us to listen.
“And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.”
Matthew 8:26 ESV
In this story we see that a storm allowed Jesus to speak concerning faith, and the crashing waves served to capture the attention of the disciples... but would they have listened as intently without having been prepared by the storm? So ask yourself this... does it take a storm for you to listen to God’s Word, or to a messenger He sends to you? Do you recognize God’s voice by the message, and not necessarily the messenger? Can a tiny little book from a grocery store shelf redirect your life in bold new directions? Can a chance encounter with someone in your daily life start you down a road of tremendous and unsuspected faithfulness? How would you recognize these as being God’s voice, and are you even listening??
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”
Matthew 4:18-20 ESV
So God speaks to us, but are we really listening for His voice, or just attuned to what we think He should sound like? When He whispers in an unusual way are we ready to hear? If we think we have all the answers are we prepared for a new question that will shake us, or even our church, to the core? And most of all... are we prepared to act on what God tells us?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for all the ways that you speak to us, and for the constant manner in which we communicate. Sometimes we cry out to you Holy Father, and at those times we listen intently for your answer, but at other times we feel that all is well in our lives, and are totally unprepared to hear your quiet voice. Teach us to be ready to hear you at all times, and keep our ears open as we wait for you to speak your Word into us. Help us to remain prepared for the changes in our lives that you might ask us to make, and give us the confidence to obey. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God whose voice is ever present in our ears. Praised be your name Merciful Father as you send the storms, the calm, your Holy Word, your Son, your Spirit, earthly messengers, angels, and various other signs and wonders to deliver your Word snd will to us. Let all glory be yours Gracious Father as we follow your voice, in the many ways that you deliver it to us.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."”
Joshua 1:9 ESV
Rich Forbes