When the Urge Hits

 

What does it mean, “When the urge hits?”  When I was a kid growing up in the bedroom community of Martinez, California, my Grandma Boyd taught me the significance and distinction between number 1 and number 2 when it came to going potty.  Funny, but this training has followed me into adulthood.

I had great bladder control in my youth so I would put it off and put it off until the urge really hit me and then I would run home lickety-split and barely make it to the bathroom in time.

Now, in my twilight years, when the urge hits me and Mother Nature is calling, I usually stop what I’m doing to “see a man about a horse,” as my Grandpa Boyd would say.

Every now and then my night sleep is interrupted when an urge hits me to pray for someone.  I believe there is no distance too great for prayers to span, in that God is omnipresent, which is being everywhere at the same time.  Afterall, He is God, and He can do anything.

As quickly as I awoke, I would easily fall back to sleep when my prayer had concluded.  There is power in prayer; it moves the hand of God when nothing else seems to work.  All we must do is ask and He will do the rest.

(Matthew 7:7, 8) “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”  Vs. 8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

I love to compose short writings and post them to my blog so that others may glean from my experiences and insight.  In the middle of the night, I have been awakened suddenly with an urge to write.  Inspiring thoughts were motivating me to rise from bed and jot down the ideas flooding my mind.

I have learned in the past that if I do not get up when the urge hits me, the thoughts are gone the next morning.  It is better to not put off something for another time lest a notion be lost because of sleepiness.

It is enjoyable to sit at my computer and reflect on the goodness of God and listen intently to what God is speaking in my mind.  At times it is difficult to keep up with words that are inundating my thought process, but it is rewarding none the less. 

The urge to write is so strong on occasion that it is joy unspeakable and full of glory when my senses are touched by God and the words are flowing like a fountain of living water.  It is amazing what an inquiring mind and open heart can hear and feel when a person turns off the TV, silences their phone, and ceases to search the internet for something that steals time.

To listen is gain, rather than doing all the talking or pounding the keyboard looking for websites to entertain and satisfy one’s curiosity.  Quiet time is the key to spiritual enlightenment.  It is wonderful when God is speaking, and I am tuned into His frequency. 

What better place to listen than the quietness of my home office to be caught up with enlightenment and awe as I quickly type on the keyboard, careful not to miss anything that the Holy Spirit is sharing with me.

As a side note, now and then I will go back and read thoughts contained in some of my writings, which bring tears to my eyes, because I know that God was speaking when I penned the words.  I figure if the content touches the author in this way, others can be touched as they read writings of hope.

When I was newly saved and allowing God to direct my life, while teaching me how to live an overcoming lifestyle, fresh ideas overflowed my mind and feelings came that I had never encountered before, like the time a sudden urge came over me to go into the carpenter’s hall.  It was a bit strange because rollcall was Monday mornings not Tuesdays…this was a Tuesday.

I had been out of work for a few weeks and was getting a little worried.  Building projects were slowing down, because of high interest rates.  I was faithful to check in for Monday rollcalls hoping there was a request for an apprentice carpenter on the bulletin board.  Contractors usually called the office on Mondays, the day when out of work carpenters were there.

The more I resisted the uncanny urge to go in, it became stronger and stronger until finally I had to yield to the puzzling impulse.  I whipped my truck around and headed toward the hall…only to realize later that the pressure I was feeling was the Holy Spirit directing me that day.  This experience was new to me.

I walked into the hall just as one of the union Reps. tacked up a request on the board for an apprentice.  No-one else was there but me.  It was the beginning of my understanding of how God speaks to His children—after all, I was now His child.  He was with me to meet my every need if I remained tuned into His voice and moved in faith.  God leads us into all truth.

I’ve had urges hit me to ask perfect strangers if I could pray for them.  These times were the most terrifying moments as a Christian, but never was I denied, by any person, to pray.  Not only had God laid it on my heart, but He also prepared them to receive an outsider's prayer as an answer to their need.

I did not know their need, but God did.  The Lord chose me to be His hand extended and then leave the rest to Him.  He is faithful and we must trust that His timing is perfect in all things.  

Feeling the urge to pray for someone is like the one I had when I drove to the union hall, which, I might add, landed me a job that lasted over a year—God’s blessings!  That experience of yielding to God and going into the hall was one of the most enlightening days I could have had.  It taught me to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, even when it comes to praying for people I don’t know.

Are you having an overwhelming urge to bow your head and talk to God?  Do it!  Ask for His touch in your life and believe that the urge you are feeling is God speaking.  He is ready to forgive your sins, heal your mind, and cleanse you from whatever is keeping you in bondage.  God can set you free when you call upon the name of Jesus.  Just try Him and see what happens.

(2 Corinthians 5:17, 18) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  Vs. 18 “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”

Written by,

Papa Boyd