Suddenly

Suddenly

In our waiting,

we sometimes forget that when life changes

it generally happens suddenly.

There might have been a lot of preparation.

But when it comes together,

it happens quickly.

God likes to act suddenly in your lives.

God loves to surprise us

when He gives His blessings!

 

365 days a year and most of them are routine.

Get up, go to work, come home and go back to bed.

Same job, same house, same schedule!

Whether we are comfortable

or uncomfortable

with the routine,

when change comes

it comes suddenly.

If you were to look up the word suddenly in a Bible concordance

you would find this word used some 45 times in the NIV.

Malachi writes in a 400 year period of silence

between the Old and New Testaments

declaring that the Lord we seek,

will come suddenly.

It was used when the Shepherds were watching their sheep

unlike any other night and suddenly

angels appeared announcing the birth of Christ.

At a prayer meeting of 120 people,

suddenly the Spirit comes in like a mighty wind.

Saul whose name changed to Paul

 is on a trip to Damascus

and suddenly he is confronted

with the blinding light of God.

While Peter is sleeping in jail,

suddenly an angel of the Lord appears

and just as suddenly the angel disappears

leaving Peter temporarily unsure of what happened.

The stories go on and on…..

Change comes quickly!

Is today your day for a suddenly?

The thing you have prayed routinely for

about to suddenly change?

Daniel prayed for 21 days

and suddenly his answer came.

Don’t let the past days discourage you,

be expectant of the suddenly.

God loves to surprise us with His blessings!

Maybe today is the day,

that you almost gave up on…

And suddenly the Lord appears

and changes your life.

Never give up!

Your time of waiting can be changed in a moment.

Like Daniel,

his answer was on the way

the first day he prayed.

Scripture Reading

Daniel 10:12-14 NIV

12 Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel.

Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding

and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard,
and I have come in response to them.

13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.

Then Michael, one of the chief princes,

came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future,

for the vision concerns a time yet to come."

Malachi 3:1 NIV

3:1 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.

Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple;

the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,"

says the LORD Almighty.

Luke 2:13-14 NIV

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,

praising God and saying,

14 "Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Acts 2:1-3 NIV

2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven

and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Acts 9:1-4 NIV

9:1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats

against the Lord's disciples.

He went to the high priest

2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus,

so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way,

whether men or women,

he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

3 As he neared Damascus on his journey,

suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him,

"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 

Acts 12:6-11 NIV

6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial,

Peter was sleeping between two soldiers,

bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.

7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.

He struck Peter on the side and woke him up.

"Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.

8 Then the angel said to him,

"Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so.

"Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him.

9 Peter followed him out of the prison,

but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening;

he thought he was seeing a vision.

10 They passed the first and second guards

and came to the iron gate leading to the city.

It opened for them by itself, and they went through it.

When they had walked the length of one street,

suddenly the angel left him.

11 Then Peter came to himself and said,

"Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel

and rescued me from Herod's clutches

and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."