Factory Reset...

            This morning tragedy was beset upon the Isley household. By all appearances my cell phone had locked itself and was not responding at all! Couldn’t unlock it, couldn’t even power it off. Had to pull the battery to shut it down, this also had no effect. I could get to the lock screen, but the touch screen was completely unresponsive. So as I drove in to my day job, the thought occurred to me that there is one last ditch maneuver I can perform to determine if my phone was indeed a brick… A factory reset.

            And the wheels began to turn. A few weeks ago, one of my volunteers approached me about sharing on a Wednesday night during our weekly youth service. Last night was his night. He gave a compelling message that revolved around his personal journey and the life that he chose to live for some years and the emptiness that came along with it. I’m sure many of us can relate to that. If you can’t, then good for you. Seriously. The good news about his story though, was that God’s grace was always there waiting, ever faithful. So when the time came, God grabbed him and performed a factory reset, and unlocked the potential in his life.

As I looked around the room two thoughts occurred to me. The first was this, as I looked around at all of the volunteers, most of whom I know a good deal of their stories, and I could see the times in their lives when God did a factory reset. He is ever faithful. The second is something that hit me out of the blue. I really, I mean REALLY missed preaching. The week prior we had a fun night of games and crazy competitions for Spring Break, so it had been two weeks since I’d delivered the word, and I was jonesing it, BAD! Which is something a few years ago I’m pretty sure I would have never thought I’d hear myself say. But it’s no surprise. I had a chance meeting about a year ago with a worship leader at one of the several “Mega-Churches” in the area and we talked a little bit about where God had led us and how when we just say “yes” to Him, He makes the craziest, wildest things happen in our lives to get us to where we’re supposed to be. And then he said something that I still ponder from time to time. He said, (something to the effect of) it’s amazing how God puts that desire within us. And this is where I come out on that statement… I’m reminded of Psalm 37:4 Delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. I’m pretty sure the Psalmist isn’t talking about our selfish, greedy, lustful desires. But when we delight in the Lord, when we seek Him and His ways, our desires transform from our fleshly desires to what the Lord has in store for us. You could say He gives you, the desires of your heart, not the actual object of your desire, but the desire itself…

Be encouraged today to look inward and see where you need to let God do a factory reset.

Blessings,

Jeremiah