WHEN GOD'S "SUDDENLIES" COME

"When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:1-4 ESV


The past few weeks I have seen God suddenly give me opportunitiesto minister after almost seven months of nothing. It reminded me today again that our God is the God of suddenlies. What is a suddenly? A suddenly is something supernatural! It is something birthed out of God's sovereignty and manifested in His divine providence. There is always something supernatural with God's suddenlies - either for good or for disaster - but always supernatural.

In the book of Acts we read a powerful narrative about one of God's suddenlies. Jesus had told His disciples right before He ascended to heaven in Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." But there was the absolute sovereign promise and God's timing of the providential fulfillment of the promise. So after Jesus Christ ascended to heaven we see the disciples living their lives, waiting on the promise, and faithfully praying together.

The text says "when the day of Pentecost arrived." We live out our days and God has His day. We don't know when that is, thus we must live by faith, trust, and obedience to what we know we are to do. This is not always easy when times get tough or God seems slow. Sometimes He seems to me as slow as molasses! The days go by and nothing happens or things get worse. But never forget that God has a day in the midst of the days that we wait. god had His specific day planned for the fulfilment of His promise: the day of Pentecost.

There are two different Greek words for time in the Bible - chronos and kairos. Chronos is defined as "time indefinitely or a certain time, period, season or space of time." Kairos is defined as "the right season, the right time for action, and the critical moment." Chronos is linear time; the normal day-to-day, week-to-week, year-to-year passage of time. In chronos times, our walk with the Lord is characterized by our daily faithfulness and obedience to follow His voice. Change is measured as we look back over our lives and see how the Lord’s hand has guided us faithfully one step at a time.

However, at specific times in history, God suddenly and sovereignly steps from eternity into the earthly timeline with a suddenly to effect His perfect plan and purposes. Normal rules that govern time and change are suspended. His supernatural becomes our natural. The intersection of eternity and earthly time produces sudden acceleration that propels us forward into His purposes.

That is what we see here in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. On that day something happens, God's "suddenly"! "And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:2-4) I focus on this word “suddenly” to drive home the point that the Holy Spirit is free and sovereign and not bound to any one's timing or technique for will to the timing of His power and purposes. We are to bank on his daily, indwelling presence and grace, walk in the obedience of this faith, and yet pray day and night for the outpouring of power from on high. But we cannot make the Spirit come. When he comes, he comes suddenly. He will never become any one's bellhop. God keeps his own hours. He knows what is best for us. His suddenly birthed the church 2000 years ago and it is still going strong.

God’s ‘suddenlies’ are always dramatic. “Suddenly means that in an unexpected manner, something will happen without us being notified. Suddenlies are hard to understand because of the surprise element. The surprise element creates an emotional response in us. Many times is our waiting for God to move we get weary of looking for a suddenly.” In that context, the word ‘suddenly’ is just so exciting – think about it: one moment, a routine, a trial, a hopeless situation but the next moment that situation can be completely overtaken by events. In fact, God had taken over and is now controlling those events in the most dramatic fashion.

In my own life I have experienced so many wonderful suddenlies of God. I had been a Christian for only a few months when I experienced in the most supernatural way a calling to the ministry. I was lying on a hammock on a hot Mexican day at a beautiful point called Punta de Mita when suddenly God came to me and called me at the age of twenty-two to the ministry. I heard this voice in my head that told me to turn in my Bible to Jeremiah chapter one. I had never read Jeremiah, by the way. So I read the account of God’s call to Jeremiah and when I was finished reading, a voice said to me in my mind, “Bill, you will be my Jeremiah, and I will make you a Pastor.” At that point all I could do is argue with God about how this wasn’t possible and laugh inside at the absurdity of it all. I had barely graduated from high school, I had never held a job for more than a few months, had done drugs for seven years, and my only goal in life had been to travel and surf all over the world. Not to mention the fact that since I had become a Christian I had not even been to a church! Suddenly the whole course of my life changed! Here I write thirty three years later having been a Pastor now for thirty one years. Praise be to God!

Another time I was working as a catamaran repairer for Hobie Cat. one day I was sanding a hull when suddenly I received a vision form the Lord of me praying over a Mexican man in a church surrounded by other Mexicans. I was moved and wondered what it meant. Thirty days later I experienced another suddenly received the exact same vision a second time. As a result my wife
and I went on the mission field to Mexico in 1976. Several months into the trip I was invited to speak in a Methodist church in Puerto Vallarte. So I went to preach and after the sermon I asked people to come up for prayer. One of those who came forward was the man I had seen in my vision and the exact vision was fulfilled with me praying over him and surrounded by other Mexicans.

Oh how often the scripture speaks of God's suddenlies:

In Job - "While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" (Job 1:18-19).
In the Psalms - "Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!" (Psalm 73:18-19)

In Proverbs - "A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed-without remedy." (Proverbs 29:1)

In Isaiah - "I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass." (Isaiah 48:3)

In Daniel, Habakkuk, Malachi, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Thessalonians and the list goes on and on. These "suddenlies" are God's way of showing His awesome power. Just when we think that things will continue on as they have before, just when we think today will be no different than yesterday, just when we think things are hopeless, God shows up and sends us showers of blessings, suddenly. It is one of His favorite things to do.


In the summer of 1871 two women of Dwight L. Moody's congregation felt an unusual burden to pray for Moody "that the Lord would give him the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire." Moody would see them praying in the front row of his church and he was irritated. But soon he gave in and in September began to pray with them every Friday afternoon. He felt like his ministry was becoming a sounding brass with little power. On November 24th, 1871 Moody's church building was destroyed in the great Chicago fire. He went to New York to seek financial help. Day and night he would walk the streets desperate for the touch of God's power in his life. Then suddenly, Moody wrote, “One day, in the city of New York -- oh, what a day! -- I cannot describe it, I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name . . . I can only say that God revealed himself to me, and I had such an experience of his love that I had to ask him to stay his hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons were not different; I did not present any new truths, and yet hundreds were converted. I would not now be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you should give me the entire world -- it would be small dust in the balance”. He prayed and he obeyed and he waited. But he did not make the Spirit come. He came suddenly. When the Spirit comes in power he comes suddenly -- on his own terms and in his own time.

During the first Great Awakening and the great outpouring of the Spirit in North Hampton, Massachusetts, under the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, Gilbert Tennant, and George Whitefield (1734-1743), over 25 to 50 thousand people were added to the churches in New England. This was over 7 to 14 percent of the population. One woman who had been infamous for her immorality was suddenly converted in December 1734. Her life was so radically changed that the whole town was amazed at the power of God’s grace. During the next 6 months 300 people out of a town of 1,100 were converted!

Oh dear reader, remember the God of suddenly. God is not in a hurry, but He is the God of “suddenlies!” Our God is a god of "Suddenlies!" God can suddenly break an addiction. He can suddenly heal your body. He can suddenly give you that promotion. The enemy's goal is to steal your hope. He wants to get you down and discouraged so you will give up and settle for less than God's best. Don't be deceived! No matter how many disappointments you've encountered, God can turn things around for you in a split second of time! One touch of His favor can suddenly restore relationships! One touch of His goodness can solve that problem you're facing today! Just one touch from Almighty God can instantly change your life! When you tell someone about your future and about the plans God is working out for you and they tell you it won’t happen overnight just smile and say, “My God is the God of suddenlies and even while I wait patiently on Him He’s working out those suddenlies for the appropriate time in my life.” I've seen it this week :)

Feeling that God is going to do one of His suddenlies for you as in the Book of Acts Ch. 2,
Pastor Bill