Day 19 - God doesn't live in Skegness

Day 19: Matthew 17

GOD DOESN’T LIVE IN SKEGNESS

Read Matthew 17 here first

My final year of university was the laziest year I will ever have. It involved living in a dirty student house (I once fell asleep on my couch and was woken by slugs crawling through a disused pizza box), eating takeaway and playing Playstation. However, in the midst of a lazy man's dream life, I became a bit fed up and a bit bored. I was attending church, but did very little else. I had no small group to meet with, no ministry to get passionate about. I just attended church, did some quiet times and not a lot else. Towards the end of the year I felt dry. Really dry.

That Easter, I went away to Skegness to Spring Harvest, a Christian conference, for 5 days. As I attended meetings, I began to confront some frustrations I had with life. I rang a friend and moaned for an hour, telling her I was fed up with worrying about what people at church thought of me, what friends thought of me, what to do in church, what to do with the future, on and on. I finished the call and went to the meeting.

I remember nothing about the sermon or what the meeting was on. I remember they asked anyone doing exams to come up for prayer so I went up, stood silently and waited. A random guy came, prayed for my exams and finished. As I turned to go, he asked to pray more. I shrugged and said ok, and then he said that he just felt that I was a man fed up of worrying, about what his friends thought, people at church thought, my future, etc. Pretty much word for word what I'd said on the phone. It blew me away, and changed my life. I couldn't figure out how it'd happened, how this stranger knew this.

Deep down, I did know. It was through God. I can't explain it any other way. If we believe in God, we don't just believe in a book with some wise words, but we believe in a God who is living and real, and who breaks into our lives in extraordinary ways. As an accountant, I naturally tend to go towards more logical things that I'm comfortable with, but the simple fact is that God is greater than my understanding and can move so much more powerfully and unexpectedly than I know.

As we read the story of the transfiguration, we can skim it and think it's a bit odd. I know it's there to fulfil Old Testament prophecies and establish that Jesus is the Christ. Beyond that, most of us just shrug and move on. I can too often do that in churches with some ministry as people are touched by the Holy Spirit. I can say it looks a bit weird and be a bit uncomfortable with people falling over, and shut away from that.

However, I believe that as we do this, we miss out. We need to be open to the Holy Spirit moving, cutting through all the stuff that seems a bit 'weird' (and is often people's own reactions to things, I've never fallen over or started screaming). As we open ourselves up to God in this way, I believe that the Holy Spirit will do things in our lives that will have a huge impact, and that we will look back on as testimonies that last for years.

We need these days in our lives. We must be open to the Holy Spirit, in expectation that God will break into our ordinary circumstances and touch our lives. These times are often pivotal, and should be treasured experiences, to inspire and reassure us in times of doubt. These times are small glimpses of eternity, where we will be in the presence of God forever. We must have them, as we were created to know God and live in intimacy with Him.

By the same token, we cannot just chase experiences, just to be where 'God is moving'. Peter isn't sure what to do, and wonders if they should set up camp and stay there. Whilst it's important to take time out of our schedules to spend a prolonged time with God, we have to be careful we don't simply chase what's going on in other locations, rather than getting involved with what God has called to in our own communities. We all love those meetings where the presence of God is overwhelming and could stay there forever, and one day we will have that permanently.

For us, we need to strike a balance. We must be open to the Holy Spirit, in expectation that He will move in our lives. We must also involve ourselves with people, where it is messy and often tough. From what we see from the apostles in Acts, when people are filled with the Spirit and active within their community, then God moves in mighty ways which can change a world.