Suddenly

I just received an unexpected phone call from an old friend.  Does this ever happen to you?  You get a call from a friend you haven’t seen for ten years. He’s in town and, naturally, wants to get together. But your day is already full.  You argue to yourself “I have plans; I have a schedule to keep.” But you know that that the Holy Spirit has opened this door, and you must go through. 

When you do something at a moment’s notice, it is with very little advance notice or warning, suddenly. Most of us don’t like having to do things at a moment’s notice. We prefer the Boy Scouts’ motto Be Prepared. Jesus had a way of suddenly showing up and changing things. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them (Luke 24:15); And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them” (Luke 24:36); “They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking” (John 619). “As Paul was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him” (Acts 9:3).

If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you know well that at a moment’s notice, or quite suddenly, the Holy Spirit will show up and change the direction of your day. And for that, we should always be prepared, prepared for those sudden moments when you have to change directions at the drop of a hat. “If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping [unprepared]” (Mark 13:36).

When God Shows Up

Have you ever heard someone use the phrase “show up” as in, “Let’s go to church and see if God shows up”? I’ve never liked the expression “show up” in reference to God because it sounds too casual—like the kind of thing you do when you don’t have anything better to do.

There is nothing so capricious about our God—He is deliberate in everything He does. He never “shows up” like that. But on the other hand, if by “show up” you mean that you can sense God’s presence in a worship service or a Bible study, then I could agree to the phrase. But what we are really saying is that God is “manifested.” The word “manifest” in simplicity means “to make known” or “to reveal.” When truth that was not understood or known before becomes real to us, we can say God, Who is Truth, was manifested.

That’s what happened in East Oakland at the Urban Church on Saturday. I know that many received a revelation of their identity as “sons of God.” When God showed up in East Oakland, there was a revelation “not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit.” Thank you for your prayers. Next week I will return to teach the power of the Cross in overcoming sin. I am quite confident that God will indeed be showing up!