God's Early Morning Intervention: Following God's Lead

By Leslie P. Norris Jr.

My book focuses on God, on who he is and on his presence and work in human life. God reveals and God conceals. Whether God manifests himself or hides himself is not mans prerogative. It is Almighty Gods prerogative.

God is creator and sustainer of all that was, is, and is to be. There are times when the Creator-Sustainer, God, decides to intervene in human life.

My book came to life in six years, as God awoke me many early mornings and wrote on the radar screen of my mind, Be still and know that I am God (Ps. 46:10, KJV). God further wrote, Get out of bed immediately. Go to the den, get the journal, and write. Gods initial intervention, and many subsequent early morning interventions in 20052011, resulted in God energizing my mind to think my best thoughts, which I wrote in the journal.

God is the omnipotent, preeminent, and ultimate leader of the world. Notwithstanding, God is not coercive. God periodically intervenes in our lives and circumstances, and he does so without forcing us to obey him or follow his lead. When we follow Gods lead, we are following the lead of the One who knows the way and is the way. When we follow Gods lead, we are following the lead of the ultimate universal leader who knows all and who knows best.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514484241

Leslie P. Norris Jr.

A native of Bogalusa, Louisiana, Dr. Norris is the son of Reverend LHP Norris Sr. and Mrs. Adele Washington Norris. Both parents are deceased. He is a graduate of Southern University Laboratory High School; Southern University (BA), Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Nicholls State University (MEd), Thibodaux, Louisiana; and Gammon Theological Seminary (MDiv), Atlanta, Georgia. He served as an exchange student at Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana. For service to the United Methodist Church and society, a doctor of divinity degree was conferred on him by Gammon Theological Seminary of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, Georgia.

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© 2016 by Leslie P. Norris, Jr.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016905949

ISBN:      Hardcover         978-1-5144-8426-5

                Softcover           978-1-5144-8425-8

                eBook               978-1-5144-8424-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.

Quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. Used by permission.

Rev. date: 07/01/2016

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Contents

The Book of Books

Idolatry

Can People Know God?

Come Alive, All Ye People

God Is Love

Following God’s Lead

Our More-Than-Able God

How to Begin Your Day

How to End Your Day

Jesus, the Superlative Teacher

Jesus and the Poor

Listen and Learn

Teach Me, Lord, How to Give and Receive

Overcoming Fear

Christian Humility

Gathering and Departing

The Desire for Short Worship Services

Attitudes

People Matter

Decision-making

Worry, Concern, and Prayer

We Need Help

Blessed to Bless

Christian Naïveté, Christian Resistance

Optical Illusions

A Job Well Done Pleases God

Micromanagement

Through the Years

The Family Is Pivotal

Family Cohesiveness

A Call to Be a Really Christian Family

Premarital Counsel

Rubbing One Another the Wrong Way

When Loud Noise Drowns Out Preaching

An Incredible Pastor

A Sleeping Giant

Asking the Wrong Question

Wanted

Some Major Steps in Problem-Solving

The Eleventh Commandment

The Humor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

An Unforgettable Commencement

Are Some Roaches Smarter Than Some People?

An Unanswered Question

Hell’s Heat Greatly Surpasses All

Use Your Mind

Planning for the Future

Happy Birthday

Unused Talents

Telemarketing

Hurricane Katrina

Success and Failure

Some False Old Sayings

A Twenty-First Century Education

Health Insurance

Prioritizing Patient Care

Sickness

Death

All Human Life Is Sacred

The Night I Almost Died

Retirement

Who Am I?

Appendix Some Resources for Christian Clergy and Other Christian Worship Leaders

Appendix I Altar Calls

Appendix II Invitation to Christian Discipleship

Appendix III Sendings Forth

Appendix IV Benedictions

Dedicated to

my parents, teachers, and mentors,

who acted on the

God-given potential

they saw in me.

Foreword

I am not, and have never been, fond of writing. I would rather talk than write. I would rather listen than talk.

This book is a reality, not because of my desire, but because of God’s desire, action and intervention. This book is God-inspired and God-initiated.

A few days before Christmas 2004, Robert and Jerry Williams, my patrilineal cousins of Chesterfield, Missouri, visited me at my New Orleans home. I did not know it then, but was assured later that Robert and Jerry were sent by God. During their visit to my home, Jerry gave me a new journal and said, Leslie, this is our Christmas present for you. You often say meaningful things. We want you to write in this journal whenever meaningful things come to mind. We will read them whenever we come to town. Since writing is not my cup of tea. I said, Thank you, and defiantly thought, If Jerry thinks I’m going to waste my time writing in this journal, she evidently thinks I’m crazy.

After Robert and Jerry departed, I placed the journal in my den bookcase and thought, This will be its permanent resting place. I’ll never touch or handle it again. One early morning in late January 2005, God awoke me from a deep, restful sleep and wrote on the radar screen of my mind, Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:1 0, KJV). He then wrote, Get out of bed immediately. Go to the den, get the journal and write. God’s initial intervention, and many subsequent early-morning interventions until 2011, resulted in God stimulating, motivating and activating my mind to think my best thoughts, which I wrote in the journal.

In the cool, stillness and serenity of early morning, God intervened. He intervened before the usual sounds of day — before the birds chirped, dogs barked, phones rang, dishes rattled, etc. After writing an array of ideas, I was determined to share them only with my current family and Norris generations yet unborn. God, however, had a bigger and better idea. God persuaded me to share with Christian clergy, Christian laity and the public via publication of this book.

My Call to the Ministry

I was a boy, fifteen years of age, at Gulfside Assembly, Waveland, Mississippi, when I covenanted with God to enter the ministry. I had just left the commitment service in the chapel on Thursday night and had seen several youth commit themselves to full-time Christian service. I had never been a crowd man. My best thinking and most meaningful periods of reflection and meditation had always happened while alone, far removed from the crowd.

The chapel’s commitment service had moved me to think seriously about life but had not moved me to a