Our God works in some
wonderful and unexplainable ways. A Savior nailed to a cross, then buried,
comes back to life in 3 days as Jesus had predicted. For the disciples then,
and believers now, nothing could be more wonderful or unexplainable. Indeed,
the Easter story didn’t end there. The risen Christ visited Saul of Tarsus and,
in one of the Bible’s most dramatic conversion stories, turned Paul from captain
of the opposition into captain of the home team. Today we visit a passage from
the Bible that confirms this encounter. We will discover that most of what we
consider blessings are visits by God. Some visits we receive and enjoy; others
trouble us. Further, some visits we cannot explain and simply say it must have
been the hand of the Lord. Such was the case some years ago when I was serving
in a city near the U.S.-Mexico border. My congregation had several lay teams in
mission work who would, on their own, gather clothing, supplies, Bibles,
materials, and the like, and go to Methodist churches south of the border.
Their ministry was rewarding to them and a frequent source of refreshment and
inspiration for me.
One particular
couple from my church loved to leave on the spur of the moment, led by God,
they said, to visit pastors or members of churches along the Mexican side of
the border. On one particular day they called me and invited me to come along
for the ride to deliver some goods to a pastor I had met some months earlier.
He served a tiny church and was a recent newlywed, full of energy for the work
of the Lord in this small village, eager to spread the gospel. As we approached
his home at the end of a long, dusty road, there seated on the porch was this
young minister, head bent over an open Bible. He glanced up, immediately
recognized the van, and began running toward us, waving and jumping with
excitement. He opened my door and hugged me as he explained, “I just finished a
prayer asking the Lord to send you to visit me!” I asked very innocently, “Me?”
And he said yes and explained the why of his request. I talked with him about
the situation he was facing in hopes that it might bring a blessing, and we
enjoyed a great visit, closed our time with prayer, and I returned home. Only
the Lord knows what purpose I served that day, since all I did was to say yes
to an invitation to travel to Mexico, expecting only to help unload things from
a van; not to help a fellow pastor with a load he was carrying.
What do you do when God visits? Paul
would instruct, “Say yes” to whatever God leads us to do. Paul was visited with
a vision, one night as he slept, of a man from Macedonia imploring Paul to
“come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9). Paul, convinced it was God
calling him, obediently began making plans to travel to that region and fulfill
this call. God visits us regularly and, whether through dreams, visions, or
recurring thoughts, plants seeds in our minds that, if followed, may result in
special blessing for the work of God even today.
What do you do when God calls? Have we considered that every
obedient step we take may guide us to the place where a wonderful seed is
planted for fruitful ministry? Dare not to limit God’s power to share exactly
what is needed to be faithful. Dare even to imagine that God may provide
exactly what we thought we didn’t need, as was the case with the disciples on
that first Pentecost Day. God visited them in a mighty way and continues
visiting today. Where is God leading you?