The Wake-Up Call is a daily encouragement to shake off the slumber of our busy lives and turn our eyes toward Jesus.
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Acts 1:8 (NIV)
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
CONSIDER THIS
Today’s Holy Spirit Story comes to us from Nicey T. Eller. I was so inspired by her note to me I thought I would just share it here:
“I have never been part of New Room, but you and Seedbed are now a significant part of my personal and corporate church life. I thank God for your gift of writing and for your leadership. I used Still Day One: Living in the Day after the Day of Pentecost as a book study last year in our adult VBS. From there our church, Abbeville Methodist Church in Abbeville, Alabama, has shared the Wake-Up Call with the congregation as a daily devotion option and as a source of powerful content. This year I referenced the video explaining the profound outpouring of the London Awakening at a prayer meeting and it inspired me as I prepared for VBS. My theme was ‘Meet Me at the Altar.’ We had five churches represented in our adult class and I encouraged them all to add the Wake-Up Call to their devotions and to share with their churches. You bless and bless and bless.”
Now, without further ado, here’s Nicey’s story in her own words, and if you listen, you will hear it in her own voice.
The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say at the moment when you need them. (Luke 12:12)
When the Holy Spirit spoke to him, Philip did exactly what he was told to do: he left his chariot to preach Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:35). When the Spirit spoke to the church at Antioch as they fasted and prayed, they separated Paul and Barnabas for special missionary work (Acts 13:2). When he spoke to me, I was not fasting or praying. I was not in a worship service. I was not thinking spiritual thoughts. I was cutting grass.
Every weekend my husband and I worked on the property we planned to enjoy full time after we retired from our careers. Although I loved being an elementary school principal and he enjoyed the challenges of being a program manager, we looked forward to exchanging suits for boots to start a cattle ranch. We cleared paths through brambles and briars, monitored creeks running among hardwoods, and worked to finish the cabin we brought to life one log at a time.
That Sunday afternoon, I mounted my mower and once again became the Lawn Ranger. Navigating around trees we had planted, my thoughts about the upcoming week were silenced by a voice that didn’t belong to me: “If Timothy tells you he is joining the military, tell him you will be proud of him.”
Neither the roar of the old riding mower nor the target practice earmuffs squeezing my head muted the message. I heard it as clearly as if I were sitting at a table, face-to-face with the messenger.
My response filled my shocked mind. “WHAT?” Ever patient, the Holy Spirit spoke again. Same message. “If Timothy tells you he is joining the military, tell him you will be proud of him.”
The mower kept moving, but my thoughts cut to Timothy, my just-turned-eighteen-year-old middle son, a senior in high school. With less than two months to go before graduation, he had completed college applications, submitted transcripts, and received acceptance letters and scholarship notifications. I knew what I had heard, but I struggled to understand why. Timothy had not broached the subject of joining the military. My dad, husband, and six brothers had worn uniforms from every branch of the armed forces except the Coast Guard. If my son chose to serve Uncle Sam, our whole family would be proud. But if he enlisted, I expected him to be an officer and that would take a college degree. Timothy was not joining the military. That message from the Holy Spirit seemed unnecessary. I shrugged and cut grass.
When I finished, I stored the mower, packed up our weekend work clothes, and headed back home, ninety miles north. Just like I knew the way home, I knew the Holy Spirit had spoken to me. The message, however, faded like daylight at dusk. I heard the door close when Timothy came into the house after getting off work. I felt him as he stood in the doorway separating the office from the kitchen before I turned to see him. We talked about his day as a cart wrangler for a local grocery store and what I had done on the farm while we were there.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, I turned my back to him to finish stacking papers I had spread out. Without moving he said, “I’m going to join the National Guard.” I froze.
Informing me he planned to join the circus would not have stunned me more. Reasons for him to reconsider what he had just said immediately came to my mind, but they died on the tip of my tongue. In that frozen split second, I understood the message. Taking a deep breath, I cut my eyes to heaven, slowly turned around, and then said, “If you join the military, I will be proud of you.” The Spirit had prepared me for the unexpected, and he gave me exactly what I needed to say. Just like Jesus promised.
Six weeks after graduation, Timothy headed to boot camp. As a combat medic, he served in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a firefighter and EMT, he has witnessed death, saved lives, and given hope. I celebrated his college graduation eight years after he took the oath of enlistment. I believe the work of the Spirit preserved my relationship with my son.
I have learned whether we receive a message from the Holy Spirit in a horse-drawn chariot or on a Craftsman chariot, through fasting and prayer, or when we think we don’t have a prayer, his timing is perfect, and He keeps his word. Always.
THE PRAYER
Father, thank you for this story of the way you speak to us by your Spirit and sometimes with great specificity. Thank you for Nicey’s faith and for all the ways she is seeking your kingdom and following you, Jesus. I think what we want to say to you today is we are open to such messages from you. I am open. And I pledge my attention and obedience in advance. Make my heart pliable and my spirit attentive to your leading. Come, Holy Spirit! Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.
THE JOURNAL PROMPTS
Have you ever had this kind of experience told in today’s story? What happened?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing our Saturday song: “Sanctuary.” We will sing it through twice.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief seedbed.com
P.S. Holy Spirit Stories Welcome
I would love it if you would send a story of faith from your life we might use on a Saturday in the future. We will be glad to attach your name or a pseudonym or anonymity—it’s up to you. It can be a story of coming to faith, a story of transformation, a story of healing, deliverance, suffering and sufficient grace, family reconciliation, prodigal returns, answered prayer, and so forth. A word count of 500–800 words works well. We can’t guarantee publication, but we assure you of our prayerful discernment. You can reply to this email with your story and it will come to me.
