Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, September 18th. God makes no promises to give us prior notification before interrupting our lives. Let’s continue the series on the ways of God to see how he often makes himself known through surprise visits.
Do you like surprise visits? Well, somebody says, well, it depends on who it is. I do understand that.
Well, some people don’t like surprise visits for the simple reason it makes them a little nervous and they feel a little bit insecure and they want time to clean up the house and clean up themselves. They want everything to be just right. Well, life is just not that away and sometimes people just drop in.
Now, it depends on who it is. If it’s your friends or your family, for example, that’s fine, a surprise visit. But if it’s a stranger or somebody you don’t know, then you don’t feel quite as comfortable.
Or some surprise visits could be frightening and harmful. The kind of surprise visit I want to talk about today, it’s not like any of that. And this is one of the messages in the series, The Ways of God.
We’ve been talking about how God thinks, why. He does what. He does, what.
His motivations are, all the things that are more than just. His actions. We sort of see what.
He does. But look behind that and beyond that to see what is God up to? Why does.
He do what. He does? And what’s.
His motive? What’s His purpose? What’s His goal?
God has a purpose for everything. He does in your life and mine. He has certain goals for us.
He has plans for us. He has a will for us. And sometimes those things hit us as surprises in our life.
So, when we talk about surprise visits, what I want to talk about in this message is God’s surprise visits, because one of the ways of God is this. He visits us as a surprise. That is, it’s a very surprise that suddenly we are aware of the presence of Almighty God.
I want to take you through the Scriptures to show you how God has given surprise visits to people beginning in the very first family of the Bible. Remember the third chapter of Genesis, the Scripture says that Adam and Eve had sinned against God, and God comes walking in the day, in the cool of the day. And He asks this question, Where art thou?
This first, listen, this first personal encounter with. Him that we read in the Scripture is a surprise. Adam and Eve sinned against God, and all of a sudden, here God shows up.
And He shows up for the purpose of confronting them with their sinfulness. It was a surprise visit, and they were hiding. I want you to turn, if you will, to the twenty-second chapter of Genesis for a moment.
And if you will notice, in this twenty-second chapter is when God pays a surprise visit to one of. His choice servants, and that’s Abraham. I’m sure it was a surprise when.
He called him and told him, He wanted to leave his family and his country and go to a place that he was showing. But this was a shocking surprise visit. When God said to him, Abraham, I want you to take Isaac, your son whom you love, take him to Mount Moriah, and I want you to sacrifice him to me.
This had to be a shocking visit. This had to be a visitation that. He would have avoided at all cost.
But God said to him, this is what I want you to do. And so Abraham did exactly what God asked him to do. And you recall the story, he was about to kill his son when God stopped him in the process.
But God had a purpose for all of that. And so in each one of these incidences, he has a purpose, he has a plan. God is showing up in a surprising way in different forms and fashions in order to accomplish.
His purpose. Then, of course, Exodus the third chapter, when he surprisingly comes to Moses. Remember that Moses has been on backside of the desert for forty long years.
He was a shepherd. One day, he’s just doing what shepherds do, that is, tending his sheep and going hither and yon, and watching over and protecting them. And all of a sudden, he sees this burning bush.
Now, the interesting thing about this burning bush was not that it was burning, because all of us have seen things that burned and were consumed. The difference is, this one burns and burns and burns, and it’s not consumed. And when he goes over to look at it, he hears the voice of God.
This is an awesomely surprising visit from God, because forty long years have passed since he was in Egypt. And remember, he had to flee for his life. And when he approaches the bush, he hears this voice that says, Moses, Moses, take off your sandals for your own holy ground.
Can you imagine the kind of response he had? He knew that he was in the presence of Almighty God. He’d never seen anything like that before.
He knew he was listening to the voice of God. An awesome surprise. Well, why was he calling Moses?
He said, I’m calling you to a lifetime ministry. I’m calling you, first of all, to be the deliverer of my people in bondage, the Hebrew children. I’m calling you to take them across the Red Sea into the Promised Land.
He didn’t tell him all that to begin with. He told him enough that would have scared any man. And that is you to walk in to the supreme authority over all of Egypt with a stick in your hand and tell him what I said when he doesn’t have any idea who I am.
And so God called him. One of the reasons that God made such an awesome spectacle of this in the eyes of Moses was he was calling him to do something that would test everything in Moses’ life. And I want you to remember this as we go through these.
God always has a purpose. And sometime the more dramatic this visitation from God, it’s because of the awesome task that. He’s calling him for.
Then if you will go to the fifth chapter of Joshua, here’s what you’ll find. Joshua is now looking over the city of Jericho, and he knows what his responsibility is. He knows there’s going to be a war.
And in the process of doing so, God is getting them ready. He told Joshua what to do for the nation. And then before, he gave him the strategy for destroying Jericho.
Here’s what happened. He’s up there looking over the situation and probably evaluating how he was going to go about it. And then because of what God was going to do and how he was going to do it, all of a sudden the Scripture says that as he’s standing there, he, in this thirteenth verse, the fifth chapter, he says, Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand.
And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or are you our adversary? He said, No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and bowed down, and he said to him, What has my Lord to say to his servant?
Look at that. Are you listening? Say amen.
That’s always the right answer. What do you have to say to me, Father? And listen to what happened.
The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you’re standing is holy, and Joshua did so. Do you think it took him more than a half a second to start taking those sandals off? For the simple reason Moses told him how he got his calling.
And in that visitation, that surprise visit from God, God called him to be the Redeemer of the nation of Israel. And now here’s Joshua experiencing the same thing, only this time it isn’t the burning bush. It’s somebody, it is the Angel of the Lord.
And now he’s saying to him, take off your sandals, this is holy ground. Can you imagine the response, the emotional response that either of these men had when they knew they stood in the presence of Holy God? The awesome, the awesome presence of Holy God.
Now why did he do it? He did it for a purpose. God was getting him ready.
One of the reasons God makes those surprise visits in our life is to prepare us not only for what. He’s going to have us do, but also oftentimes because of the way it’s going to happen. Now, when we say surprise visit, do we mean that God shows up?
Physical, touch, feel? No. Well, can you see.
Him? No. Touch Him?
No. Hear Him speak audibly? No.
Then, what’s a surprise visit? Well, let me just say this, and I want to be careful how I say this, because I don’t ever want anybody to get the idea that I’m saying that I’ve had all these holy experiences with God. No, I’m just a man like every other man.
But I’ll tell you this. When God makes a surprise visit in your life, there’s some things that are very clear and very definite. Number one, it is a surprise.
And there is that awesome awareness that you’re standing in the presence of Holy God. You can’t really grasp it. You can’t really describe it.
You don’t want to say anything. You don’t know what to say. You may break out crying and weep and weep and weep.
It may be that you just want to praise. Him and thank. Him.
You may stand, you may sit, you may fall on your knees, you may fall on your face. You just know that suddenly there’s the awareness of the presence of Holy God. Not because you prayed, not because you’re even thinking about God, not because of some plan that you had.
It’s just that God shows up in. His awesome way for. His own divine purpose in your life.
You can’t even grasp it. When you try to explain it to someone else, they don’t get it. And it’s not for someone else.
It’s because God has something in mind. Sometimes in those times, He will speak to you and tell you exactly what’s going on. At other times, God is silent.
So, what is. He up to? It just may be that in that instant what.
He’s up to is this, is making you aware of. His holiness, that. He loves you enough to do something very special in your life.
You didn’t plan it. You can’t manipulate it. It isn’t anything that you had in mind.
You just know when that period of time, which more than likely will be brief, God came to you for some specific reason to speak to you or to make you aware of. His presence. When you look through all these characters that we talked about, God had a word for them, something.
He wanted to say, something. He wanted to do. Does He always do that?
Not necessarily. Because you see, when God makes a surprise visit in your life, if the only thing that happens is that you recognize what it is and who it is, if. He says nothing, it’s worth every single moment of it.
Because you’re left slightly startled, sometimes maybe a little fearful, wondering what’s coming next. What is. He up to?
Why do I feel this? Why do I sense this? I didn’t expect it.
I didn’t anticipate it. God hasn’t given me any warning. What is this all about?
I would never tell anyone else how God may visit you in a special way, to speak to your heart. Because God speaks to each one of us individually. One thing you can tell for sure, that.
He will never say anything in that visit that contradicts. His blessed Word. Not a thing.
What it may be, it may be that. He’s calling you to something, as. He did to Joshua or to Moses.
It may be one of a number of things. For example, it may be that. He wants to inform you of something that you need to know.
It may be that. He wants to reveal something that is going to happen in your life or what. He’s going to do in your life.
It just may be that God wants to warn you about something that’s going to happen. It may be that. He wants to encourage you.
It could be that. He wants to comfort you about something. It may be that.
He wants to meet a specific need in your life. It could be that. He simply just wants to humble you and help you to recognize that He’s God.
And you and I are really nothing apart from. Him. But that.
He loves us enough to save us. It may be that. He wants to give us instruction about something, whatever it might be.
But He always has a purpose. And remember, it cannot be manipulated. You can’t go around saying, Okay, God, I want you to speak to me now.
I’m watching for you. I’m listening. I just need a personal visit.
He doesn’t operate that way. He meets needs, no doubt. And He’ll give us the comfort and assurance.
He may, it may be because. He wants to use you in a certain way, and. He’s getting you ready for that.
It could be that there’s going to be pain and suffering and heartache or persecution, disappointment in your life. And He’s getting you ready for it by reminding you that. He loves you, that.
He’s present with you, and that. He will walk with you whatever you’re going to face. More than likely, He’s not going to tell you what it is.
He just wants you to know what. He said. I’ll be with you every step of the way.
We don’t always know why God makes those visits, but. He makes them. And when I think about in my own life, and I won’t give you details, but just simply to say, I can remember on one occasion, not a lot of occasions, because God just doesn’t do this a lot of times.
One occasion when. He knew that I absolutely had to hear, desperately needed to hear from. Him, because everything in me said that isn’t logical, that isn’t the right thing to do.
This timing is ridiculous. Everything in me was heading in the other direction. And one night on my knees, I had this awesome visitation, so crystal clear, I could never be convinced by anybody under any circumstance that it wasn’t God saying to me, so crystal clear, in a visible form, not visible of.
Him, but something. He showed me. I can remember on one occasion, probably a lot of occasions that I’ve fussed with the Lord about something because I didn’t want to do it.
Most of the time, He just ignored it and went on anyway. But every once in a while, there’s this awesome sense of the presence of God. I can think upon one occasion when I was very much afraid because of my circumstance.
And I was in the prayer room one day. I didn’t know what I was afraid of. But God made it so crystal clear, it’s like.
He just, there. He was saying, here’s what’s going to happen, be very careful. Less than a week went by when I experienced exactly what.
He showed me. He didn’t name anybody. He didn’t tell me exactly what it was going to be like.
Be very, very careful. Be sensitive. Listen to me.
God is so willing. I can think of another occasion when I had a big need, a major need that I could do absolutely nothing about. No warning.
Hadn’t really been praying about it. Said, said, God, I don’t know what to do. And all of a sudden, here’s God with the answer.
All of a sudden, this man walked up to me, like an angel from heaven, to say, Here’s what I’m going to do for you. And he walked away. Don’t underestimate what God will do in your life.
And you see, the more, listen, the more desperate you and I are oftentimes, to know the truth and to know what. He’s up to, or to get us ready. He knows how weak and frail we are, and how easily we are to be thrown off course.
When God decides that. He wants to do something in your life, He knows that it is necessary for you to walk in that with absolute unquestionable, undeniable assurance, whereby your feelings have no longer anything to do with it. You know that you’ve heard from God.
You know that. He’s spoken to you very clearly. You know that it’s like a visitation from.
Him, directed toward a specific incident. He’ll do it. Now, here’s the principle.
The more difficult what lies in your future, the more important it is to God for what. He wants to do and to accomplish, the more likely. He’s going to visit you in a surprise.
See Him? No. Hear Him?
Not really, as far as the audible is concerned. Definite yes. Clear yes.
Unmistakably clear yes. There’s also, in a sense, not some religious feeling. And not something that you’ve been praying about, nor something, it’s not you walking around shouting and praising God.
I think in every single one of these instances, every single person was awed by the incident. Not running out to tell someone, awed by the simple presence of God. And here’s what I want you to see in this.
God is so interested in you and your relationship to. This personal relationship that most people don’t have, for the simple reason they don’t expect it, they don’t anticipate it, they don’t even know that you can have an intimate relationship with. Him.
God wants you to know. Him above everything else in life.
Thank you for listening to God’s Surprise Visits. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
