My Dad was on his way to hospital to have a heart operation. He had got the call to come on in , your name has reached the top of the list. His dicky heart valve was to be fixed.
He had Mum, sitting next to him in the car, ring me on the mobile to tell me, while he drove in!
We had a relay chat. And Dad had this amazing sense of peace about it all. He was a little jovial and all. This was not my Dad. My Dad was terrified of hospitals – he nearly died in one when he had his tonsils out; nearly bleed to death as a young man; he was a bleeder.
He made a passing comment, “Well, even if I die, I’ll see you in heaven one day.” I relayed back, “What makes you think that! You have never accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior!”. He laughed it off as he had done so for the last 21 years.
An hour later I called he back and spoke with him directly on a landline while he was being prepped for surgery. I asked him again why he thought that he would see me in heaven. He was evasive but a bit more reflective. I pressed the issue. He used a couple of the old barriers…but we had those conversations before and he knew they were no defense.
“What is it that holds you back?”, I asked. “If God spoke to me, I would believe!”, he replied.
He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” John 8:47
But the Grace of God to my Dad at that moment gave me a word of wisdom. “Dad, God has been speaking to you loud and clear. You are like a radio that has not been tuned into a particular Station. It doesn’t mean the Station isn’t broadcasting, you just haven’t tuned it in! You haven’t accepted Jesus, His Son and you just don’t know how to tune Him in. God has been speaking to you, loud and clear. Let me tell you one thing he is telling you right now. As a young man you nearly died in a hospital. You have feared them ever since. Yet today you have a Peace that surpasses all understanding. This is God’s way of speaking to you right here, right now.”
Silence.
So Dad what is holding you back from stepping over the line?
Long silence.
“Pride. My pride.”
“Dad, we can deal with that right here, right now. If you will pray a prayer of Salvation with me, in front of all those in the room prepping you, this will deal with that pride.”
He did. And Salvation came to him that day. He was born again and got a new heart! And his physical heart got the valve repaired as well.
The Voice of God – that small voice that speaks ever so gently to our Soul.
Have you heard from God lately?