When God Interrupts

During our Tuesday morning prayer, I encourage us to seek the moving of the Holy Spirit to impart to the Body a Word — something we need to hear.

We have had many good Words to guide us, encourage us and challenge us.

This past Tuesday morning Hector and Madeline Rivera were with us in prayer just before they left for Atlanta to catch a flight to Puerto Rico.

Sister Madeline felt impressed to speak a Word.

A Word made more powerful because she seldom speaks.

The Word that she gave us was:

Text: Proverbs 16:9

Proverbs 16:9 LSB

9 The heart of man plans his way, But Yahweh directs his steps.

Here is another proverb in the same vein:

Proverbs 19:21 (NLT) You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.

Early this morning I came across another yet another verse that helps us understand the role God plays in the events of our lives:

In Isaiah 60 God is talking about His plans to restore Israel and Jerusalem.

He ends His prophecies in:

Isaiah 60:22b … At the right time, I, the LORD, will make it happen.”

And that’s the way God does it:

At the right time He makes whatever He has planned for our life happen.

Often, that “right time” for God is not our “right time.”

In fact, God bringing His plans to pass seems like an interruption to our lives.

We are going along with our lives.

We think we have everything planned out or, at least, we think we know where our lives are headed and then, BOOM! God interrupts.

I began to think about Divine Interruption in the Bible.

Have you ever thought about that?

I encourage you to do so.

Think about the Tower of Babel

Abraham being told to sacrifice Isaac.

Moses and the burning bush.

Gideon threshing wheat.

Manoah’s wife having a normal day (mother of Samson)

Elisha plowing a field

The disciples fishing, Matthew collecting taxes

The widow of Nain conducting her son’s funeral

A boat trip on the Sea of Gallilee

Saul on the road to Damascus

Peter in prison

Paul and Silas in prison

Us, on the day God revealed Himself as our Savior and Lord

The Bible is a record book that tells about God stepping into the lives of people at unexpected times and in unexpected ways.

From Genesis to Revelation we read of God stepping from the unseen into the seen.

You would think, that as people of the Book, we would not be surprised when God does it in OUR lives.

And yet we are.

The Reasons God Interrupts

Paul Tripp puts it like this:

You and I don’t live in a series of big, dramatic moments. We don’t careen from big decision to big decision. We all live in an endless series of little moments. The character of a life isn’t set in ten big moments. The character of a life is set in ten thousand little moments of everyday life. It’s the themes of struggles that emerge from those little moments that reveal what’s really going on in our hearts.

So God steps into the myriad, small, seemingly insignificant moments of our lives.

He does so:

To remind us of Who’s in charge.

It is something I cannot control or even predict.

God does it when He wants to—where He wants to—how He wants to.

God interrupts the mundane to bring about the magnificent.

Sometimes God interrupts our lives in a supernatural way to STOP us from sin.

The people of Babel were in direct opposition to God’s command to spread over the face of all the earth.

They wanted to stay all together in one place.

They wanted to leverage human unity and ingenuity to build a tower that reached to the heavens.

They wanted to establish a NAME for themselves — look at US. See how great we are!

God supernaturally interrupted their plans in Genesis 11 by giving the people multiple languages.

Obviously God stopped Saul from persecuting His church.

Jesus told Saul, when you persecute My Church, you persecute ME!

Over and over again, we see God stopping people from their wicked plans by stepping into their live supernaturally.

He doesn’t ALWAYS stop sin that way — but sometimes He does.

Finally, God Divinely Interrupts events to reveal His glory.

The funeral in Nain was a sad affair.

What would happen to this mother?

God fixed the situation and established His glory by raising the son to life.

He did the same thing with Lazarus.

Jairus interrupted Jesus and thew woman interrupted Jairus.

But God used all

How do we respond to Divine Interruptions?

1. Take time to listen to God

Less than 2 months ago we celebrated the birth of Jesus.

You realize that Jesus’ birth was due to a TREMENDOUS interruption in the lives of two people: Mary and Joseph.

They had their plans:

They were going to get married

Settle down

Have kids

But then God interrupted their lives.

In ways they NEVER would have thought or even imagined.

How did they respond to their Divine Interruption?

They listened to what they were told.

They obeyed.

That’s what Saul did when his road trip was interrupted.

That’s what Peter did when he saw the vision at Simon’s house.

We don’t have to do it that way, but listening and obeying during a Divine Interruption is going to be the easier path.

May God help us listen and submit to the divine interruption by listening to what God is trying to say.

Listen as God speaks through His Word.

Listen as God speaks to us in seasons of prayer.

2. Surrender my will to God’s will

In Acts 9:4–6 (NKJV) we read: Then [Saul] fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

3. Become what God has called me to be

For Moses, becoming what God called him to be meant leading a nation from slavery to worship.

For Joseph and Mary it meant becoming the earthly parents of the Son of God — if THAT isn’t intimidating something is wrong with you!

For Peter and the other disciples it meant stop fishing and become fishers of men.

For Saul, it meant being an apostle to the Gentiles.

Sometimes God supernaturally interrupts our lives to commission us to a new work — a different work.

Will we yield to God?

Surrender to His will?

And then sometimes God interrupts His church with a fresh move of the Holy Spirit.

When God interrupts with Revival

This past week God interrupted a university campus in Kentucky.

On Wednesday, after mandatory chapel service, God interrupted the lives of students by visiting them with a sense of God’s Presence not felt since they had a revival in 1970 that broke out for 8 days and 8 nights.

Alexandra Presta, a senior at the university who is also the executive editor for the campus newspaper The Collegian, has witnessed and been a part of the current revival.

She reports that on Friday morning that after the chapel service concluded on Wednesday, “roughly 30 students kept going.” They've been joined by others since then.

“I had left for a few minutes but then felt called to return. Since then, it hasn't stopped. It's been a mix of worship, testimony, prayer, confession, silence,” she explained, calling it “a full experience of the Holy Spirit.”

Presta estimated that as many as 1,000 people have come to the revival gathering since it started, noting that while “some have come and gone,” there are others who “have slept on the floor and continued to praise God nonstop.”

“This is a pure act of the Holy Spirit pouring out love, peace and healing — hearts are being transformed …

As of this morning, this latest outbreak of the Holy Spirit continues on.

Presta posted an article early this morning speaking of the spiritual warfare that is taking place.

[Satan’s] goal is to eradicate our connection to God the Father completely. And when one of us falls to our knees and accepts God’s grace, he becomes livid.

Now, think of this revival— the Holy Spirit rained down over 80 hours ago to wipe out the lies and heal broken hearts. Hell keeps losing ground as worship, confession and prayer continue.

This morning God may be stepping, or about to step into our life in a supernatural way.

Are we ready to listen?

To surrender our will?

To become what He wants us to be?