Response Time!

Some days ago, I put a call through to a friend and it rang and rang untill it went off and he didn't pick up the call. But my attention was drawn to a statement on my phone as the call went off and it read....

"No response, timed out!"

It's a statement that is indicative of the fact that a call wasn't completed. By definition, a completed call is "an interactive conversation between two or more parties who for whatever reason cannot converse directly with each other at that moment". So we can deduce the fact that a call cannot be said to be completed if there was no conversation between intended parties. And when this happens, usually the call is timed out by the network in charge (ie.operator). Hence we can say that the time between which a call is initiated by an operator and the time within which the party responds is called "the response time". But in this case the call timed out, meaning there was no response.

Just as it pertains in the natural, it can be even more related to the Spirit realm. Most natural occurrences are pictorial resemblance of the spiritual (though not completely accruate). Whenever heaven desires to make contact with a man either by voice or by message, it initiates a call. The first call of such nature we saw in scriptures is found in the book of Genesis 3:8-10 (KJV)....

[8] And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. [9] And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
[10] And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Adam said they heard the "voice" (vs8) and verse 9 said God "called". Heaven in it's bid to converse with a man initiates a call. In this case Adam heard it, but refused to pick the call. Rather he hid! So we can assume that this call can be referred to as an ignored or rejected call. But someone will argue that he answered God,  I believe the answer was more reactive to God's question "where art thou"? And not a direct answer to the "voice walking in the garden". Meaning God must have called severally and man's first response was to hide and only answer when his location was discovered querried on why the call didn't get the required response (but this is a discussion for another day).

Some calls can be
✓Rejected
✓Busied
✓Delayed
✓Ignored
✓Diverted

God's call in scriptures!

We shall take a look at 2 men God called in the Bible and how they responded and more especially we take an indepth focus on one of them. We shall seek not to be deviated from the essence of this message, "Response time".

Timely Response!

"And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I". Exodus 3:4 KJV

Moses did not have an experience of God until now and God never revealed himself to him untill he decided to see something mysterious...a bush that burned without the leaves being consumed!

Let's briefly understand the background of Moses the person before God encountered him. He grew up in Egypt as a prince. This means that he was educated as Egypt was one of the worlds first civilisations. They were also masters in dark arts, magic and wizardry. Moses must have been familiar with all these as a teenage growing up in the palace. So God in his infinite wisdom knew that the only way to reach him was to attract him with something that interested him, something very close to his background formation. A mysterious burning bush!. In that scenario, his Voice and call came. To some, God might use what you're familiar with to get your attention to his voice. God is meticulous with it's approach in getting the commensurate results intended.

The main aspect of this story was that Moses was called and he responded immediately. His response time was Swift and effective. So we can comfortably say that this call was completed. Heaven conversed with humanity and a process was initiated which came to fruition for him and God's people.

Delayed Response!

"Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. [10] And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth". (1Samuel 3:9-10 KJV)

The above story is a typical case of delayed response. Samuel was brought to the temple by his parents as a child. And similar to Moses did not know the Lord. The only God he could see in the temple were priests who were wayward and disobedient. Never had he heard another voice other than visitors bringing sacrifices to the house of God. But still God called him. This is because God has intended to end with the Eli lineage and wanted a new breed to take his counsel forward.

God called him but he repeatedly responded to the wrong person...Eli. It's typical of us today (and Moses as well), just like young Samuel we run to what we are familiar with. We run to our local pastors to verify Divine calls. We run to previous knowledge to cross check revelations. Not relegating the place of fathers and mentors, I must say that Samuel's response to Eli in this case helped him. Thank God for Eli's. But imagine the converse of this story....

What if Eli was obsessed with his position as a priest and didn't want a Samuel succession?

What if Eli wanted his lineage to continue as priests and not this upstart of a boy?

Could he have arranged to derail the process of the conversation so that God won't complete the ultimate Call??

Fathers are great, but in the prophetic dispensation of the Spirit to we are moving into, we must grow up to discern his voice and attend to heaven responsibly.

Secondly, we should note that God repeated this call 4times. 3 times samuel went to Eli, the 4th time he answered correctly. We should understand that most times, repeated calls are engaged depending on the urgency of the information and the need to get response. It's not every time that Heaven repeats it's calls. Most times the frequency of it's repetition might span weeks, months or even years. And this time might not be a luxury we can afford. May God cause us to have a speedy response to heavens attention in our lives in Jesus name, Amen.

Let us pause a bit on vs 10.

[10] And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth".

First emphasis!
And the LORD came, and stood, and called".....

This is the first and only time we heard the Bible mention a posture in this call process. Heaven changed its communication posture. Could it be that God was saying Incase Eli failed to decode who actually was calling (because it took Eli 3 times of repeated appearance of Samuel to know it could be God calling the boy. Age was playing a role on his acuteness in the spiritual). This made God to change an approach to reach the boy. Maybe God has changed his posture trying to reach you and strike a communication pattern with you and still you haven't decoded it was him. Are we not grateful that the great monarch of Zion can shift grounds to reach us?

Second Emphasis!
"and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel".....

Mark the repitition in God calling the name of Samuel. He called as at other times but repeated the boy's name twice. Anytime heaven repeats a statement in a particular verse or chapter in same reference please do well to take note of it and underline. He doesn't only change posture to reach us, he goes as far as repeating a statement for emphasis sake. Pls note that he only repeated his name and not the message.

Even though he delayed the calls and had 3 missed calls, he responded to the 4th one and the call was completed.

Unfortunately for us, God does not divert messages to voicemails, he doesn't transfer calls to other lines, he may not convert audible messages to SMS, and we cannot by own volition put his calls to automatic redial.

Why are calls not completed?

There are several possible factors which can prevent a call from connecting successfully:

Called party does not answer

Called party is busy in another call

Called party is off-line or unavailable

Called party actively disconnects the call before answering

Which of the above defines our response to Divine calls? May we not be offline or busy when he calls.

In the part two of this message, we shall look indepth at the benefits of receiving Divine messages to our lives and our generation.

Shalom!

The Divine Interruption!

The Divine Interruption!

"And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him."
(Matthew 17:1-3)

It has been proven over and over again throughout history that man is a product of Spiritual afterthought and design. God is a sprit and created man partly, a spirit (in His image). Hence, Man has always sought after it's source and is excited about any postulation or triggers to this. It doesn't see itself fulfilled unless this aspect is addressed regardless of whether he believes it or not.

The above passages draws our attention to a replica of this and how Jesus in his infinite wisdom set a pattern to this.

A strange sight!

There are few cases in the scripture (apart from miracles) where Jesus allowed a divine display of His power, position and authority to be revealed to his disciples  One of the few was the walking on top of water, causing the fig tree, but most especially the event at the mount of transfiguration. It's actually called this on the account of the event that took place there..."transfiguration". Let's get one thing clear.....Jesus can never do anything just for a show-off or for entertainment. His stories, actions and inactions, parables, movements all are embodiments of his eternal purpose. Miss it and you miss out! This was one of such events where ordinarily he took his disciples to a mountain top and changed his physical appearance before them.

The word transfiguration means ...a complete change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state. A metamorphosis that negates the theory of science. How can a human in bodily flesh suddenly tranform into a different spirtual form without the effect time, processes and external factors. This was indeed strange. But moreso why would he chose to do this?? The disciples of course knew he was the son of God, believed in Him, knew a bit of the law, read about them about such experience in stories from the past, But NEVER seen this manifested physically before them. The saw him in his glorified body, his true state, the position he occupies even at the present regardless of how human he appeared. Wow!!! What a sight. To add some extra course to the meal, Moses and Elijah also appeared in this expression of glory. I used to ask myself if I was in Peter's position what would I have done or said?? Moses and Elijah??....what other way to announce glory. These two were old testament pillars of God's glorious manifestation. They represented what God expressed through the supernatural in times past. They were the perfect players.

Silence!

Notice that in all these display of glory, no word was uttered by Jesus nor from the old testament Giants to the disciples present. The divinity only talked to themselves. Just a display and a theatre for these trio to gaze upon and relish. Indeed they have been allowed to see the supernatural. So now they can see Jesus in his glorious form. They have read about Moses and Elijah so much and now here they are. We can only summarise this experience by saying they just encountered the supernatural.

But it's still surprising that this state was devoid of the teaching ministry of Jesus. He never opened his mouth to utter a parable or an instruction. He just unfolded a radiating glory of his presence and form to them and it was all hush....

The Divine interuption!

Then Peter spoke...it was from what he said that heaven brought the lesson of this event. Peter made two statements...

1. Master it's good for us to be here. Where on the mountain top

2. That Tabernacles be made, one for Jesus, for Moses and Elijah.

Peter was sincere in his statements.

Statement 1: Let us stay here. What else can a man desire than to stay and abode at the place of glory. You can't experience such and chose to go elsewhere. To Peter that's the best place to be.

Statement 2: Let us build Tabernacles for the three of you each. Three of you can stay. Let's have church here. The Tabernacles of Jesus, Elijah and Moses. I guess the picture is getting clearer to us now. He didn't request for tents he asked for Tabernacles. Pls note that on each of these account in the gospels, no place was tent mentioned, the term Tabernacles were used all through. And we must understand that in construction, Tabernacles are a more complex structure to make than tents. So Peter was saying we are here for the long run.

The interruption!

While Peter was still highly ecstatic, brewing with zeal and the euphoria of his experience, A cloud overshadowed them and God spoke from the cloud and said....

"While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him". (Matthew 17:5)

The interruption was on time, vital and the message of the entire drama. This is the message.

The supernatural was wow. The form was glittering wow, coupled with some past stalwarts as Moses and Elijah wow, but the message .... THIS IS MY SON!!!!

No matter the experience, the occurrence, the manifestations we see. The men that God uses to actualise them, God is saying the only message is....SEE THE SON.

The Message!

May the Church of Jesus understand one thing clear here. Peter's answer were sincere but religious. Why? They didn't fulfil heaven's plan. The primary plan of heaven was for the bodily form of Jesus to be given for the church, to be crucified and killed, to be buried and later be ressurected. And this we can't achieve if we dwell on the mountain. The Glory is good, but the purpose is better. Has your life experienced some form of glory or your assembly or church some form of the supernatural? Don't stay there!!!! Seek for God's divine purpose for it
Elijah and Moses are great men used by God and accomplished great and outstanding feats known to man, but "No Tabernacles" for them. Dear pastor, no matter how much the supernatural has been displayed from your life and ministry and it's even making you stand or appear as a colleague of Jesus, am sorry to announce to you that there's no Tabernacles for you. Your members may be singing your praises now but when they encounter the father's voice it's only Jesus they would see

"And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.  And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.(Matthew 17:6-8)

You have denied them the voice of the father until now and have allow them to define and create their own expression to what the see. And all they have been seeing is YOU! They have built Tabernacles and mansions for you but cannot differentiate Jesus exclusively and see him as your source, Lord and master. You know that if they can hear the father's voice you will vanish from the scene and Jesus will appear and be known to them. But this you have denied them.

The lesson!

Do we choose to remain on the mountain alone, isolated, separated and unfulfilled. Or should we allow the father to fully introduce Jesus so that many sons will be brought to glory and heaven's plan fulfilled?

"But WE SEE JESUS, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing MANY SONS UNTO GLORY, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings"
(Hebrews 2:9-10, emphasis mine)

Prayers:

Father speak to me today.

Introduce Jesus in a new way.

Let me see only Jesus

Bring more sons to glory.

Glorify your name.

Nuggets101: Sonship

Any experience you have in God that doesn't deal with your will and obedience to the Holyspirit was just a mere infactuation. No matter how exciting the experience was, heaven bears no record in destiny it ever took place. God can wait no matter the time frame to achieve this. We are the ones in a hurry. Always forward and eager to go and do but never listening or yielding. God will wait until his work is achieved in a life and entire framework and structure of that man yeilds and synchronises to His will. As a child of God, you can never skip the obedience class in the scheme of life. It's the core course that accesses other tests of life.

Obedience is the channel that draws grace.

It is the true measure of spiritual maturity.

Sons step into their inheritance by obedience

Obedience builds trust and a capacity for more.

Have you passed your obedience test today?!

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.
Hebrews 5:8-9 KJV