Have You Ever Had A God Moment?
Good Morning Friends,
There was a time I worked as a manager of two runaway shelters for teens. Suffice to say that I used my alarm to wake me up when I needed to monitor the night shift. And on occasion I set the wrong time for the alarm and it awoke me early from a deep sleep early and got my attention like a double shot of espresso. One learns. Frankly I would rather be awaken by the gentle words of a child. But sometimes God wakes us up like an alarm to tell us something that we need to know that is more important than the comfort of sleep. Have You Ever Had A God Moment?
Scripture: But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!
Luke 15:17 (NRSV)
For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Ephesians 5:12-14(NRSV)
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’
Matthew 7:21-23 (NRSV)
Message: A God moment changes everything. It is like an alarm going off that wakes you up and gets your attention. And the effectiveness of the alarm is important because sometimes one just does not want to wake up. Perhaps you have had a God encounter where the divine invades your life with presence and power. Sometimes these moments come to us quietly and slowly and at other times they come to us in in a great rush, shocking us, and up-setting our comfort zone. There are also some “God Moments” that occur in our lives that we overlook, and do not realize that it was God coming to us until months, or even years later. Sometimes God will save us and change our nature through a redemptive act. Sometimes God will begin to make us into who we are to become by giving us constructive directions for how we can glorify God. But at other times God can punish us for doing wrong and disobeying but these are usually only punitive to avoid God’s destructive wrath poured out because we have forsaken all of love’s intentions. Scripture is filled with examples of God moments, Jacob got a wakeup call and blessing from an angel to save him from his brother Esau. God had changed Jacob’s trickster nature and his mission in life. Jacob had become a new man, with a new name, re-made, and re-fashioned by God for Divine service. The Prodigal Son got a wakeup call when he suddenly realized what his life had become. And Paul got a wakeup call on the road to Damascus. Here one of Christianity’s worst enemies, had now become one of her greatest advocates. But God moments can be negative as well as positive in our experience. Think for a moment about Adam and his wakeup call. Think about what it will be like for those who do not know Jesus when the King returns. So wake up friends and realize the truth that has always been true, but for some reason, you just did not see it before. Like the Prodigal Son, when the time has fully come we are to be brought to our senses. So, this morning let Jesus’ Spirit awaken trust in us all. Awake. It is time to pray,
Pray that when we need it most we have a sudden awakening. Pray we understand the brutal honesty as truth. Pray it prompts us to take immediate action. We learn that God is willing to help us from the moment we awake.
Pray we awaken in rebirth to the promise and miracle of the abundant and bounteous life God has planned for us to experience. Pray we realize how important attitude is for relationships from the very first moment we awake. Pray the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, and we see something that we had somehow missed before. Pray we not only have a realization but a transformation. Pray we stop trying to live out the Christian life from our own power and strength rather than the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray we wrestle with those things that God wants us to do realizing that we alone can never be good enough. Pray that the quiet hours of the day awaken our memory of what God can do.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 