Trouble MakersSample

//Interruptions//

The idea of things going according to plan has become something of a punchline these days. Literally NOTHING is like we assumed it would be six months ago. Our world has been interrupted. Schools, churches, restaurants, malls… all closed down. Trips canceled. Parties postponed. 

But this is nothing new. God has been turning plans upside down FOREVER. 

Saul was on his way to murder a bunch of Jesus’ followers when God blinded him and turned him into a missionary who went on to write, like, a quarter of the Bible. Plans changed. 

David was a shepherd when a prophet of God came to his family and named him the new king of Israel. 

Esther was given in marriage to a foreign king she was afraid to even approach or talk to, but God used her to save an entire nation from genocide. 

Ruth was a refugee looking for some grain to feed herself and her mother-in-law, but God chose her to be the link between generations in the bloodline leading to Jesus. 

Plans shaken, futures changed, lives turned upside down, interrupted. 

Each of these people had a moment where God broke into their lives, and in an instant, showed what it means to say that His plans are not our plans, His ways are not our ways. 

God has been interrupting lives and changing plans for ever, and He’s still doing it. He wants to do it to you. He wants to take your biggest plans, the most ambitious thing you can think of, and He wants to do something bigger, better, more important. He doesn’t just want you to be a queen, He wants you to deliver a generation. He doesn’t just want you to be a religious zealot, He wants you to plant the church that will be remembered for centuries. 

The trick is, God doesn’t always come to us, like He did with Paul, in a blinding beam of light from the sky. Sometimes He uses a pandemic, a loss, a moment of anger or pain, to turn our plans into His plans. He wants to interrupt your life. Are you ready? 

1) REFLECT: What plans is God trying to interrupt in your life? Are you ready? 

2) REACH: How can you focus your efforts and skills on the Kingdom of God? Are you available? 

3) RESPOND: Pray that God will interrupt your plans for something greater. Pray that you’ll have the courage to seize the moment when He does.