Hello ... God Calling!

Has God ever interrupted you while you spending time with him? You know you are in the moment. You are there in God’s presence and you are in awe of His wonder, splendor and majesty and something or someone breaks your concentration?

Perhaps you are in a worship service (public or private), reading your Bible, singing, or praying and God shows up unexpectedly!

Even worse suppose you are doing something inappropriate (you can fill in the blank here) and God breaks in on your moment…

How do you react? How do you respond?

Are you embarrassed? Annoyed? Surprised? Thrilled? Awed? Scared?

How do you act or respond? What do you do?

I’m not saying we will hear a clear audible voice (although perhaps we will) but somehow you recognize that God is present in that moment and He has something to impart to you. (And no, I’m not saying that God has visited you or me with a book to be added to His cannon of Scripture. Just that he is impressing something on our mind or convicting you of something or just wanting to spend time with one of His children)

Or even worse…What if God has never spoken to you?!?

Perhaps you are too busy to notice He is visiting you or maybe you have never invited Him to be a part of your life. If that’s the case drop me a line and I’ll help you get in contact with Him.

Well back to my story – I was out walking a couple of weeks ago and I was enjoying listening to the Bible on my iPhone. See I’m preparing a new series on 1, 2, and 3 John for a men’s Bible study and I like to saturate myself with the passages we will be studying before spending time digging deeper.

I had listened through all of the Epistles of John and had kept the program running as I walked. I had blown through Jude and was in that amazing and confusing book of the Revelation. I was in chapter 5 where all of Heaven was singing the praises of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Jesus Christ) when the recording stopped and my iPhone rang.

My first response was “Who was bothering me?” my next was some telemarketer had gotten a hold of my cell phone and was soliciting me to buy something. I was pretty convinced of that when I looked at the caller ID and saw that the number was from out of state and not one that I knew.

I wish that I could say that I answered politely, but I’m really not sure that I did. The first words that I heard was “Dr Prest this is so-and-so calling from the search committee of XYZ church. Can we talk with you?”  I have to believe that my voice tambour changed and I was trying to control my breath while the walking.

I don’t know what will come of my contact with this church and I don’t know what God’s will is concerning this place and any other church, yet. But I will tell you that at the end of the phone call my step was a little lighter and tears were streaming down my face as I thought of how God had stopped by to give me lift and encourage me in my journey.

I don’t know why I’m surprised when God shows up or shows Himself mighty to save. You would think that all followers of Christ would be looking for Him and expecting Him to make His presence known in power and might.

But so often I get busy (sometimes even in worship) that I forget just how close He is. How interested in us He is and how intimately involved in our lives He wants to be.

Times of refreshing (Acts 3:19) often come unexpectedly but always just when we need them.  Perhaps we just need to be more aware of Him and more expectant of hearing His voice.

Got to run, I think I hear my phone…

Pastor Val

"Big Brother" Is Listening

Last night our local NBC affiliate reported on how “Big Brother” might be listening in to our conversations via our cell phones. Apparently there is technology out there that can turn your cell phone into a microphone even if your cell phone is shut off. The cell phone might not even be yours but another person’s in the room.

Supposedly this technology is only legal (think Patriot Act) for the government to use with a court order. But WDIV interviewed private investigators who regularly use these programs in their investigations. Some boardrooms have become Cell Phone Free zones due to fear of industrial eavesdropping.

The FBI recently admitted in open court that there have been times when they have misused this technology to listen in on conversations that were not terrorist related. The ACLU and other groups are concerned about the potential abuse of this new technology.

Apparently the only sure way to ensure that your conversations cannot be overheard is to remove the battery from the cell phone.

While this is disturbing for Americans, being overheard by someone is nothing new for followers of God. After all we have know for centuries that we cannot escape from God’s presence (See Psalm 139:7-12). Theologians call this the omnipresence of God and when you couple that with another of His divine attributes his omniscience (God knows everything) we know that nothing can be hidden from Him. Since He sees all and knows all, we can be assured that He also knows what is best for us.

If you are concerned about what others might hear you say, how much more should we guard our tongues because our Father is listening after all we all know that “POS” is true for every believer.

Pax

Pastor Val