01/25/2025
Today let’s examine our lives as we determine if we are presuming to know when and how God will enter into our affairs. I am personally trying to decide if I am attempting to control my circumstances, or if I am truly trusting in God. I am asking myself if I have been limiting His access to my life by not fully realizing that He will interact with me at His good pleasure. Will you join with me in this intimate exploration of our faiths? What I have found in my own quest may serve to enlighten you.
God doesn't need our permission to enter into our lives; He is creator, father, friend, and His involvement with us is at His good pleasure.
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:13 KJV
I have mentioned before that I experienced a near death experience as a teenager but what I didn't tell you was how I was saved. I had been swimming all day with my Boy Scout troop in a lake near my home. Late in the afternoon I was tired and wanted to go back to our campsite. I jumped off the float we were on and began to swim towards shore... but I was too exhausted to make it. I started sinking to the bottom of the lake when suddenly I was filled with the most incredible rush of peace and joy. I felt as though I were surrounded by God... in a spiritual bubble... and the exhilaration was indescribable. At that moment, when I was yielding up my life, I heard a voice say "stand up!" and I slowly came to my feet... I was within a couple of yards of the shoreline. I had been instantly transported, and my lungs were free of water; God had chosen to act without my knowledge, without my asking... at His pleasure.
This is an extreme example from my life, but it is true, and illustrates that God engages as He wishes; when He wishes. I went years without understanding why He saved me that day. I was a Christian, but far from devout; there was nothing special about me that anyone could see, and yet He chose to save me. It couldn't have been random, so why? He saved me because it pleased Him to do so. He saved me to work out His will in some future fashion. He saved me to reach out to others.
“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,”
Galatians 1:15 KJV
We never know when God will make Himself known in dramatic fashion. He may do it in response to prayer, or then again, He may act alone to fulfill His will; a will that may or may not be known to us. Have you been in situations where death was imminent and yet you survived? Maybe a car accident or some other situation? Did you think it was just good luck? Pastor Oswald Chambers wrote about being prepared for God's entrance...
"Keep your life so constant in its contact with God that His surprising power may break out on the right hand and on the left. Always be in a state of expectancy, and see that you leave room for God to come in as He likes." - Oswald Chambers
As Christians we should never be surprised when the Lord shows up in a bold way. Sometimes however we are so wrapped up in the world, or our own self-control of things, that we miss Him when He reveals Himself. We find ourselves asking "was that just happenstance, or was it a God moment?" We should stay attuned to The Father so completely that there is no question.
In my experience on the lake, He removed all doubt that He had visited me by doing so in grand fashion. He took away my fear of death and instilled in me a thirst for Him. I found myself longing to feel His presence forever, yet I missed the explanation of His reason for saving me. Not all interactions with God are on this scale; many are so subtle that we must be paying close attention, or we will miss them altogether. They are like tiny tremors as opposed to the full-blown earthquake that I experienced in the lake. Are we listening, feeling, watching, and smelling? Are our spiritual sensors deployed and functioning at all times? Or are we so engaged in looking for the huge movements of God in our lives that we totally miss His small intimate touches the caresses which occur all throughout the day… are we missing Love’s tremors of life?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for being with me always, and doing so intimately… not from a distance. Father, help me to stay attuned to your constant presence in my life. Let me realize the small tremors of your love as well as the major movements you boldly make. Lord, you move in and out of my affairs at your good pleasure and I pray that my actions don't prevent me from feeling you, and knowing you are there. Let me please you always Father, and let my life remain open to your pleasure and will. Father God, you hear my prayers and answer my call, but you also move in my life unannounced, and with all knowing, to work your good will... never let me miss your coming and the loving work you do for me when I don't know or ask, and when I can't see the road you have prepared before me. I thank you for finding your good pleasure in me and my life. Help me Lord to wait expectantly and watch with circumcised eyes and spirit for your touch and the slightest tremor of your love. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who comes boldly to me as you did in the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Holy are you who also kisses my forehead as I sleep, and brushes gently by me as you find the need to touch me throughout the day. Merciful and full of grace are you whose breath surrounds me while bringing me abundant life and your Holy Spirit. Bold are your brush strokes that paint the intense spiritual scenes of my life, and subtle the nuances in this loving mural which might go unnoticed if I remained focused on the bigger picture of my life, faith and living. Hear me today as I pray my thanks for every interaction you have with me, large and small; Bold and gentle. Hear me as I tell you now that your good pleasure in me is the ultimate desire of my life, and the foundation of my love, belief, and faith in you and Jesus Christ. Call me son, and I will call you father, both before the world and in my intimate whispers to you alone. Praised be your name Abba, and forever and always the quakes and tremors I feel in your presence, and the touch of your hand… in the warmth of your breath.
“then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
Genesis 2:7 ESV
“Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
John 20:21-22
“And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:16-17
Amen! Amen! Amen!
Rich Forbes