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When God Happens

by Shannon Heiden  
9/13/2009 / Devotionals

"I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen- you will believe that I am He.
John 13:19

Beautiful One, Do you know when God happens?

I often think about how wonderful it must have been for the early disciples to have witnessed with their very eyes the Son of God in their lives. To have walked and talked with Christ.

To have been able to touch and feel him. To be considered one of his elite, the chosen twelve.

How it must have felt to have been considered his friend-a close companion. To have watched him in the streets interacting with the people, to have been able too see firsthand his compassion and strength. It must have been a sight.

Maybe somewhere in our lives we have pondered ourselves- that if we too were afforded the same opportunities as the disciples, maybe, just maybe we wouldn't struggle our way through life so much.

Maybe if we got to see firsthand Jesus the Christ in action, we would be able to overcome and walk about in this life a little taller. But let's take a closer look at the other side of what life presented to the disciples and see if they were afforded a richer opportunity, or if we are really any different at all.

When Jesus called the twelve, He just happened in their everyday lives. These men were just like you and I, they had families, jobs, bills, hungry stomachs, they had minds that thought and mouths that spoke and it was in their everyday, mundane tasks of life that God just happened.

The disciples had to be thrilled to meet their Messiah, after all they had high expectations for their King, He was to overthrow Rome and reign and rule in a new Kingdom and they recognized that when Jesus did this, they surely would share in this great reward.

Reigning with Christ was the order of the day, the long prophesied Messiah, the Word that was dispatched out of Heaven and made manifest in the flesh was now walking amongst them, can you just imagine the excitement and anticipation of what they must have felt and hoped for?

But Jesus was so much more than they ever could have imagined and He did things a little differently than they thought He would.

Here He was- the Christ, the Son of the living God and instead of overthrowing the Roman empire He stopped by to heal the sick, raise the dead and give blind men their sight. He was a friend to sinners and his strongest rebukes were not to drunks, drug addicts or prostitutes, but to the religious-the church crowd.

The long awaited King spoke of loving your enemies and repaying evil with good, not to mention that about halfway through His ministry, He started saying things like; "destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again," He told them things like- "the Son of man did not come to be served but to serve, and the greatest is the servant of all,"

Jesus warned them that "He would be betrayed into hands of men-but was careful to include; "that no man would take His life, No, He himself would lay it down."

The disciples witnessed firsthand Jesus going into the temple and to the streets, preaching and teaching a message no one had ever heard or seen before. After a while reigning with Christ didn't look at all like what they thought, reigning included many tests and trials, people loving and embracing them one minute and in the next, with stones in their hands -hating them. Reigning with Christ sounded good but when they got caught up in a storm on a lake that caught them off guard, the disciples inner fear, doubt and unbelief became apparent as they woke Jesus up and dared to ask Him if he even cared at all.

Here they were walking, talking and learning from God Himself, living life with God in it, but the lessons they were to learn usually went over their head and missed their ears completely.....

Yes they experienced the Mount of Transfiguration, yes they saw the miracles with the fish and the five thousand, yes they witnessed Jesus spitting in a blind mans eyes and regaining his sight, yes they heard him speak to the lame, deaf and mute, yes they saw Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, but although they saw with their eyes and heard with their ears, they still thought Jesus was going to do things a certain way. Their way!

When Christ was preparing them for what was to come- they were arguing about positions. Arguing about who got to sit on His right and at His left, they were competing for the most prestigious place. While Christ was instructing them about what it cost to be a disciple-how one must lay down their will and life and abide, and do good to others, when push came to shove, these men were all to quick to draw their swords the night Christ was betrayed.

When Christ instructed them to stand, watch and pray for the hour was coming, these soldiers of God were sleepy ones at best, and when the hour did find it's way on the clock of the appointed time, every single one of them came up wanting...

Beautiful One, were they so different than us?

Shortly before and after Christ died on the cross, all had forsaken Him, where were the five thousand that He fed on the shore? Where were all the ones who sang Hosanna, where were the friends that loved him?- His chosen twelve? They all had deserted Him- to save themselves- to follow the majority vote, for each one came face to face with their humanity and they all realized that when God happens, He happens in unexpected places and in unexpected ways and when no one is looking.....


How many times in your own life have you been walking with the Lord, witnessing Him move on your behalf when you have been confronted with a person or situation and you quickly find out that the evil attack you thought you were under was just a classroom test for you to take -ordered by the Lord? How many times have circumstances presented themselves, they were different, yet the same- the players may be new ones but somewhere in the game you notice that you had been there before?

How many times have you been faced with certain difficulty and hardships and you find your Savior resting at ease all the while your boat is rocking and water is seeping in and you think you're going to go under? And in the midst of the storm, you catch your silent questioning as you ask Him; "don't you even care about me?"

How many times has God happened and because you were so distracted by your plans, ideas, agenda's and mindsets, that you missed what was really happening?

Beautiful One, if we look closely at the lives of others who have gone before us, when God happened, even those closest to Him missed it at times because; "as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are His ways higher than ours."

We need to remember that God happens -everyday, all day and He never leaves us- even if we go astray, if we have a bad day-He is in it with us, God happens when we read our bible or when we don't, He happens to never leave us or forsake us, so if you feel alone, it is not because He has left you, for He is not a man that He should lie, let God be true and every man a liar!

God happens when our marriages struggle, when friendships fade and when our kids are acting up. God happens when our bills are past due, when we lose our jobs and when the Doctors office calls with a report, God happens when we are angry, hurt and afraid, bewildered, confused and questioning. God happens when others overlook us, God happens to always have His eye on the righteous and His ear attentive to their cry.

Beautiful one, when God happens, sometimes He will take you the long way around- the lessons you skipped over and tried to bury; He will carefully go back and dig up those dry bones and speak life over them. Sometimes the miracles you will witness when God happens are the ones where you realize as Christ was crucified on the outside of a cross, you will be crucified on the inside- in your own heart.

After Jesus smashed into tiny little pieces all the plans the disciples had, after Thomas had been disappointed by the Lord and made a solemn vow that following Jesus had cost to much and he wouldn't be tricked into believing He had risen UNLESS he saw for himself and touched his nail pierced hands-

....God just happened in a room one night and settled his wearied faith-and was careful to speak something to you and I - to settle ours as well...

.....and He said to him "you believe because you have seen, BUT blessed are those who BELIEVE and have not seen."

Maybe what you see in your heart, isn't lining up in your life right now, maybe all hell has broke loose, maybe you're just tired, maybe you've had so many losses that you just need to win for once, maybe, just maybe, you are discouraged and disappointed with the Lord because He has not done what you thought He would do.

Well my friend you're in good company and you are in a place that when God happens-He will do exceedingly, abundantly more than you can think, ask or imagine.....

Beautiful One, Just Believe, Because God Happens.......

Shannon Heiden
[email protected]
changingonelifereachingmany.typepad.com

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