April 5, 2010

Don't Miss It!

I’m not talking about a sale at Macy’s. I’m talking about a visit from the King Himself.
The other day we were just beginning our weekly Life Group when there was a knock at the door. When we answered it was one of the neighbors. She was inviting us to a gathering that same night at her house. She lived across the street from our Life Group meeting.

None of us had ever met this woman even though we had been living in the neighborhood for almost eight years. She said she had a Bishop from Ghana coming to her home and he wanted to pray for people. She was going door to door just like I would assume people did in bible times or even in Africa to invite people from the neighborhood to a house meeting.

Remember we were starting our small group lesson and we already had a plan for our group for the evening. We went ahead with the session we had planned for the night. When we were almost finished there was another ring of the bell. The lady was back. This time she wanted to let us know the bishop had arrived. The time was now 8:30pm, one hour and 20 minutes after she first came to the door. The second arrival was at the approximate time that we would have been concluding our session. One of the ladies in the group said, “He rang the bell twice”, speaking of the Lord.

Just to give you a little background, over the previous month or so our group had been teaching, learning and meditating on trusting God. Was this a God ordained interruption? Was there something that the Lord had to say to us through this man of God from Ghana, who just happened to end up in Laveen, AZ on the very night we were having our small group?

As the group leader the home we were in was mine. From the day it was purchased it was deemed to be a house that would be set apart for God’s glory. But this particular night was even more significant because we were not supposed to be meeting. My company was having the annual President’s dinner that night and normally, I would have been in attendance and not at home to receive the invitation. This year my name was left off the guest list. Many people thought that was odd including me. Some thought I should say something, but I felt a peace about the entire situation. That was my life group night anyway.

We finished our session, prayed and walked across the street. By then it was 8:45pm. Late by most people’s standards, especially to be going some place to start a bible study on a weeknight, but on time for the invitation. Interestingly, God had seen fit to allow us to finish the planned session, but the truth is that an interruption from God is not always that nice. Sometimes He will interrupt in the middle of what you are doing.

He might decide to interrupt your life with a new assignment, an unexpected baby, a financial situation, etc. Because your life belongs to Him, He has the right to interrupt it anyway He wants to, whenever He wants to. Remember we had been studying and praying about trusting God so this was all a trust situation for us.

When we arrived at the neighbor’s house the bishop’s wife and his two assistants met us. The woman that invited us was not there. A few minutes later her brother and sister in law arrived. Then the bishop came down and introduced himself to each person that was present personally. The Bishop began to teach a lesson from Genesis 11:31-12:2. He focused on delays, taking the wrong people with you on your journey and carrying to much baggage and the fact that the only thing that can stop you from reaching and walking in your God ordained destiny is you. He also told us to press through the frustration. The bishop declared, the greater the frustration the greater the blessing.

Abraham was called, yet he checked to see who else wanted to go. Was it fear that caused him to check or did he just want to make sure somebody else was able to get some of his promised blessing? Who are we carrying along that God did not tell us to take, because we are scared to go alone? Fear means we are not trusting God completely. Taking that other person will not help, it will just send a message to God that we really don’t want to send.

What issues are we still carrying from the past that we should have let go of along time ago in order to reach the place God has for us? Those issues will only hinder us in our new position and situation. Jealousy, anger, bad attitudes, old hurts being rehearsed over and over again in your head, reminders from the enemy of the stuff that the person did to you before, old pain and stuff that is so dead it is stinking, that’s the stuff we can’t take into our Canaan, not if we want to be successful in the place God has for us.

The group stopped in Haran even though God had told them to go to Canaan. Where are we, have we stopped short of our God ordained destination? Have we placed our own situation on delay because we chose not to follow all of the instructions? I heard the Lord clearly on some things and I did not do them because I was afraid and because I did not want to experience any more rejection.

In your attempts to reach the place where God is calling or has purposed you there will be some disappointments and frustrations along the way. Press through them. Don’t give up. Listen for God’s direction as it relates to what you are supposed to do next and then do it.

The truth is that we are all a lot like Abraham if we are willing to admit it. We have all at some point or another started out on a journey and for whatever reason missed the mark, come up short. Well okay, let me not speak for everyone else, let me speak for myself. I have. I have given up along the way. I have said over and over again, this is to hard, I don’t want to do it. That’s me being real with you. This ministry thing is difficult. It is difficult knowing the who, the what, the when and the where. Sometimes God is silent and you don’t know what to do. Go back to the last instruction, make sure you followed it and then sit still and wait for further instructions and stop complaining.

Trust me, complaining does not help. Sometimes your destiny seems right there and other times it seems like you are on a rollercoaster, but keep going. It won’t just happen you are going to have to put forth some effort and the enemy is not going to let you have your destiny easily.

That night I thought about all of the things we could have allowed to cause us to miss our appointment with destiny and when I say it was an appointment with destiny, that is what I mean. The Bishop had a word from the Lord for each one of those that was in attendance, it was a real, right on time, relevant word. I can only share what God spoke to me through the Bishop. He said you have been trusting God for something for a very long time. That was true. He prayed against hindrances and he prayed that whatever God had for me was big. I have heard all of that before, but the bishop did not know any of that, we had just met.

He did not know I was a minister or that I was called to ministry. In the natural he did not know anything about New Beginnings, but in the spirit he did, because God told him. As we were leaving the house I told our hostess about the ministry and she said I have a business, guess what the name of it is? I said I have no idea. Here business is named New Beginnings Home Medical Supplies. I do not believe that there are any accidents in the kingdom. God knew exactly what He was doing. Could we have missed this God ordained appointment? Yes, we could have.

We could have been too tired, it was after 8:30pm on a week night.
I could have forced an invitation to the president’s dinner, because I felt I was justified instead of doing what the bible says and trusting God and allowing my gifts to make room for me.

We could have said we had already had our life group and prayer time and saw no need for another session.

We could have gotten caught up in the fact that we did not know these people and the woman that came to the door did not look like us. The truth is many people are still missing out on the blessings of God because of cultural background and race. I am so glad we are past all of that in our circle.

We could have had a religious focus instead of a kingdom focus and missed everything.
Been tied to our schedules.

The truth is that we do not know what you and I have already missed in our lives because it just wasn’t convenient. Bishop Ebenezer Sefah was in town for one night. In Hebrews 13:2, the bible says, 2 Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!

The bishop was an angel sent by God to test our trust and to bring a word from Him. If we had failed to walk across the street we would have missed being in the presence of the most high God. We would have missed the word that He had for each one of us. We would have had to answer to God for our lack of faith and being able to recognize His voice. I am grateful that we did not miss God on that Thursday night, but we practiced what He had been teaching us for the last several months which was to trust Him. I am grateful that we took the time for Bishop Sefah, because I believe we really were in the presence of God’s angel.

Be careful not to miss God because of your schedule or what you think is important. Seek Him and allow Him to direct you. It will not always make sense, but that does not mean it is not God. Listen for His voice and do what He tells you to do. Let Him interrupt your life, because it belongs to Him anyway.

God, thank you for teaching us about trust and thank you for trusting us with your angel, you chosen one. Thanks for the interruption.

Scripture:
Hebrews 13:2:
2 Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it