When I moved into my home in 2009 two separate technicians—from two different companies—who installed my Internet and cable said “You know, you live in what we in the business like to call the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of signals…”
I nervously laughed along, initially not sure whether they were serious or not. I reminded both of these technicians that I worked from home and it was crucial that I had consistent and reliable service. They both laughed at me. This time I didn’t laugh along.
It’s been several years, and I’ve had very few problems with my service, but the biggest issue I’ve had has been with my cell phone. I don’t have a home phone, and my cell phone is it! I need them to be reliable, but guess what? That’s right, my carrier told me the same thing about the reliability of my signals. I’ve found a way to get around it, though. I’ve literally mapped the best “hot spots” in my home and around my property, so I know exactly what it takes to align myself in order to get a clear, consistently strong cell signal.
“Can You Hear Me Now?!”
Several years ago there was a famous cell phone commercial that basically consisted of someone purposefully being in multiple locations—many of them out of the way—and then confidently asking the unseen receiver “Can you hear me now?!” This was supposed to prove that the owner of said phone service could be heard anywhere and everywhere.
Our relationship with God is the very same way. Many times we purposely disobey God’s commands and principles for live our lives with unconfessed sin or carry around unforgiving attitudes against others, and then we wonder why we’re not getting God’s signals.
The simple answer is that we’re living in a self-imposed “Holy Spirit Bermuda Triangle”!
God’s Satellite Phone
With satellite phones, you don’t have the signal dead spots because, and the beauty of a satellite phone is, it’s not dependent upon where the user is standing or not standing. Satellite phones have 100% coverage, 100% of the time simply because the satellite is above all that is happening on the surface of the earth. Because the satellite is up in space, it’s challenged by the normal, terrestrial cellular operations.
Jesus, prior to His death, ensured that His relationship with His disciples would never be broken; He was able to do this through His Holy Spirit:
“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them” (John 14:15-21, NLT).
100% Connection, 100% of the Time!
Now that Jesus has given His disciples the ability to stay connected to Him, through the introduction of His Holy Spirit, He really encourages and relieves His disciples’ anxiety about missing Him by giving them the secret of accessing His Holy Spirit power. It’s been my experience in my Christian life that God is very logical and the vast majority of what He shares with us is simple, really, but it may not be easy. For instance, Jesus solves this problem by telling His disciples that the solution to have power in life is to get connected to Him—and then to stay connected to Him:
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! (John 15: 1-11, NLT).
Fish, or Cut Bait!
In the South, we have saying related to decision making and being indecisive: “fish or cut bait!”
God, is wanting people to make a decision about Him. He’s not trying to be deceptive or manipulative. With God there will never be asterisks or fine print. To that end, God, speaking through Moses to the Israelites on the cusp of their entry into Canaan, the Promised Land, reminded them of this simple fact:
“Today I am giving you a choice. You can choose life and success or death and disaster. I am commanding you to be loyal to the Lord, to live the way he has told you, and to obey his laws and teachings. You are about to cross the Jordan River and take the land that he is giving you. If you obey him, you will live and become successful and powerful. On the other hand, you might choose to disobey the Lord and reject him. So I’m warning you that if you bow down and worship other gods, you won’t have long to live” (Deuteronomy 30:15–18, CEV).
So on the cusp of beginning another school year, as you make your new school year resolutions: choose to keep and stay connected to a relationship with Jesus, through His Holy Spirit. Everyone is always searching for the cheapest cost for cell service, but in terms of receiving God’s spiritual cell signal, the cost ids 100% free! Because Jesus paid the price for the connection: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NLT). If you do this, you’ll never lose your signal. And trust me: it’ll be the best decision you’ll ever make.
Additional Resources
How to Grow in Christ
Who is the Holy Spirt, according to the Bible?
