GODWINKS
By: C. Mason Davis
A senior citizen drove his brand-new Corvette convertible out of the dealership. Taking off down the road, he floored it to 80 mph, enjoying the wind blowing through what little gray hair he had left. Amazing, he thought as he flew down I-94, pushing the pedal even more. Looking in his rear-view mirror, he saw a state trooper behind him, lights flashing and siren blaring. He floored it to 100 mph, then 110, then 120. Suddenly he thought, what am I doing? I'm too old for this and pulled over to await the trooper's arrival. Pulling in behind him, the trooper walked up to the Corvette, looked at his watch, and said, "Sir, my shift ends in 30 minutes. Today is Friday. If you can give me a reason for speeding that I've never heard before, I'll let you go." The old gentleman paused. Then he said, "Years ago, my wife ran off with a state trooper. I thought you were bringing her back." "Have a good day, sir," replied the trooper.
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
James 1:17, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
When things happen in your Christian walk of faith and you say to yourself what a coincidence you should know that it’s not, it is the right hand of God working in your life. You desperately needed money for groceries and while cleaning you found 50 dollars. Your car wouldn’t start so you go back in your house, and you get a call that some drunk driver just got into a car accident by the front entrance of your neighborhood. The exact place you were going to be at the exact time you were going to be there.
You find five dollars and a homeless guy asks you for money. You’re going through trials in life and 6 months later you find someone who is going through the same trials you had so you help them. When you go through suffering remember it’s never meaningless. You randomly evangelize to someone, and they say before you told me about Jesus, I was going to kill myself. Your car breaks down and you come across a good mechanic.
You need hip surgery and your neighbor, who is a doctor does it for free. It is God’s hand that is in your life. When we overcome trials because God helped us and as time passes on and we go through another trial Satan tries to discourage us by making us think it was just a coincidence.
Tell Satan, “You’re a liar! It was the mighty hand of God and He will never forsake me.” Give God thanks because often times He helps us without us even realizing it. It is no coincidence that He answers prayers at the right time. How great is our God and how awesome is His love! God’s plans will stand. Even when we mess up, God can turn bad situations into good ones.
Godwink: what is a Godwink? It is a new word for those little coincidences that aren’t coincidence but come from divine origin. Godwinks are always a sign of hope.
Perhaps the moral of the joke is that it is actually a Godwink. Maybe this senior citizen is a faithful man of God who just got carried away driving his new Corvette. Maybe God intervened between the man and the trooper so he wouldn’t end up with a speeding ticket. Let’s call God’s wink at this situation the man’s “get out of jail free card.” Perhaps God winked at this man and gave him hope that his comical response might just get him off the hook.
When life gets confusing, stressful, or even tragic, you may wonder if God sees or cares about you. Then a coincidence or answered prayer enters your life and changes it for the better. These personal touches don’t happen just by chance. They’re messages sent directly from God to you – winks from a loving Father who wants you to know He’s watching over you. He is constantly with you no matter what you’re doing or where you are. He knows all! But how do you know if a coincidence that occurred is a Godwink from Him? How do you recognize them?
There are innumerable ways you can recognize when God is winking at you.
For example, try a test. Even if you’re not sure that God exists, decide to act as if He does, telling Him that you’d like Him to reveal Himself to you. Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Try placing your trust in His existence, then look for communication from Him. Know that He will be faithful to respond if you’re sincere in your desire to know Him.
Listen to messengers and be one yourself. Expect that God will use other people as unwitting messengers of His encouragement to you in many situations – and that He will use you as a messenger for others, as well. Whenever people are kind to you, consider how God might be reaching out to you through those acts of kindness. As often as you can, treat others with kindness to encourage them.
Look for the extraordinary in the ordinary. Pay close attention to how God may choose to validate His presence through any situation in your life. Understand that God reveals Himself not just in momentous, watershed events, but also in small, mundane moments. Remember, He always sees you and is always with you. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Dig into your memories. Take some time to recall moments in the past when you experienced coincidences or answered prayers. Consider how those events were timed just right to assure you that you’re not alone in this world and thank God for communicating with you when you needed to hear from Him. So, embrace hope. No matter what your current circumstances or feelings, choose to hope in God and His promises to you. Know that your hope will help you see God’s winks more clearly, and inspire others to decide to hope, as well. After God gives you renewed hope, spread the hope around. Use kind words, spoken in conversation or written in notes, to reinforce other people’s hope.
Consider the big picture and remember that God’s perspective is much bigger than yours. During times of loss, let your grief spur you on to look for winks that show you that you’ll be okay. Know that in the big picture, everything does make sense. Trust that God will take even the worst situation in your life and bring something good out of it if you invite Him to do so. Embrace his comfort. During times of uncertainty and transition, be alert and open to God’s winks of comfort. Let them remind you that He is constantly with you on your journey through life. Job 42:2 says, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”
Confirm that prayer works. Recognize that God’s winks are evidence that prayer has real and strong power to change your life. Let the winks you experience motivate you to continue to pray, especially when you realize that He answers your prayers. Your prayers may not be answered right away because it’s in His time, not yours. See the blessing hidden inside unanswered prayers. Recall the times when you’ve prayed for something, yet didn’t receive it, despite your strong desire for it. Consider from your current vantage point how God’s decision not to answer those prayers was actually the wisest choice. For example, if a job you wanted fell through, committing to that job may have prevented you from getting a better one. Or, if a romance didn’t work out, you may be able to tell, in time, that the person you’d thought was right for you is actually wrong for you. Recognize that unanswered prayers are often God’s way of moving you from one direction to another so you can walk on the best path.
Consider the timing. Understand that God will often wink at you just in the nick of time to either to deliver you from misfortune or disaster, or to give you good news when you need it most. Remember that God is never late. Look for winks in your relationships with family, friends, a spouse, kids, and even animals. Know that God is pleased when your kind to everybody in your life, even your family members. Expect Him to respond with winks that encourage you as you strive to love your family well. Take steps toward your dreams. Let God’s winks inspire you to continue moving toward fulfilling your dreams. Understand that your destiny won’t just come to you as you wait passively; instead, God will use winks to guide you as you take active steps of faith along the way to making your dreams come true. So put yourself in motion with the knowledge and wisdom you currently have and stay alert for God’s winks to act as a divine navigational system. Trust God to correct your course wherever necessary and lead you down new roads toward fresh opportunities. Let the winks He gives you fill you with peace and joy on your way.
Whenever a friend of mine experiences a coincidence or serendipitous happening, he calls it a "Godwink". Sometimes God speaks to us through these Godwinks; using them as a way to affirm, validate, or draw our attention to the stirrings of our inner voice. In Matthew 10:20, “For it won't be you doing the talking - it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” The experience will instantly resonate with a Christian's inner spirit, speaking its message directly into their heart.
Think about your relationship and unconditional love you have for a pet, especially a dog. God created dogs as a way to bring us closer to Him. In the way that He created dogs, he purposefully made them in a way for us to learn from them without having given them the ability to speak our languages, but instead, to read their emotions, actions, and feelings. For example, dogs teach us about unconditional love. God created dogs so that they don’t have the ability to tell us through speech exactly what they want, need, how they feel, how they think, or what they’re thinking. If you really think about that, it's no coincidence that man's best friend cannot talk. We learn so much through our pets that it’s not just some kind of coincidence when we come to the realization of something learned through them, but it’s a Godwink from a divine origin. God is using His people to spread His message of love, both corporately and personally. God's corporate message is repeated throughout each coincidence and urges us all to appreciate those we share that Godwink with and walk in love. A Godwink speaks through a loving and personal message directly to the hearts of those involved, so keep listening, God is using you. Christians truly are God's Ambassadors here on earth. Our actions and words do matter.
Acts 17:30-31, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”
We are part of His ongoing story to humanity. Keep watching and listening and may God wink at you too.
There are the various ways God speaks to us. Through an audible voice, angelic visitations, visions and dreams, signs and miracles, coincidences, through the living word, people, media, creation and nature, our conscience, but His written word is the main way God speaks to us. God’s wisdom will be proven through results.
Coincidence is when God works a miracle and chooses to remain anonymous.
In a dictionary, a coincidence is defined by ''chance or luck. Some don’t believe in coincidences because, but instead don't believe that these positive and life-altering moments happen through chance or luck. It's a lot bigger than that. Some experts believe that coincidences are actually a message from a higher spirit or being, trying to offer guidance and help to you.
The definition of a coincidence is an example of two things relating to each other or having some connection that was unexpected. Or of events it gives the appearance of a meaningful connection when there is none. But if God Is the cause, then there are no coincidences, it’s more of a Godwink and a blessing. Are coincidences good? For many people coincidences are “all good.” If you look long enough, you can probably find a positive outcome. When you find a coincidence comes into your life, take it and try to use it as it seems to better your life, but if something negative develops, then stop, backtrack, and try to find another direction for to see and use that Godwink to find a positive conclusion. Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
All coincidences have to do with probability. Pretty much any event or object in our lives has the power to generate coincidences. It's just that we don't notice the vast majority because they're boring, or we read them wrong. Both fate and coincidence are two things that cannot be controlled by humans. The key difference between fate and coincidence is that fate is considered to be predetermined or planned by a divine power, whereas coincidence, as seen by us, seems accidental and unplanned.
What is the spiritual meaning of synchronicity? Synchronicities are incidents of spiritual significance that ask us to momentarily dampen our self-obsession and consider the possibility of the divine. Synchronistic experiences leave us with a curious sense that we should pay attention.
Godwinks, coincidences, and synchronistic experiences can all lead you to have a spiritual awakening. It’s then that you begin to clear certain things out of your life like habits, bad relationships, old belief systems, and invite new, more enriching things in. You may feel like something is missing, but you haven't quite figured it out yet. During this phase, it's common to feel lost, confused, and low.
How do you find God's purpose for your life? Whether you have tried to figure this out or not, sometimes the answers just don’t come to us in a way that we’ll recognize or know, and that can sometimes frustrate us to stop trying to figure this out. Instead of becoming closer to God, we distance ourselves as to not want to be confused or frustrated any more. Perhaps you can find His purpose for you if you’ll be patient, turn to the Bible, pray for direction, follow His will, accept His promises, try harder to live a purpose driven life, and whenever possible apply His word in your life. Live the life you’re meant to live through Him. God will not send just one wink into your life, but He’ll keep trying repeatedly until you recognize that these repeated signs are from Him. He won’t just send you one wink and forget you till you figure things out. He’ll keep trying to get, then keep your attention and love. 1 Corinthians 3:10: “But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit, and his Spirit searches out everything and shows us even God's deepest secrets.”
We all want to avoid mistakes because no one wants to be haunted by failures and from disappointments others. However, humans as we are, it is impossible never to commit a mistake. Even the most intelligent people on earth have their shares of mistakes too. For this reason, devoted Christians draw closer to God. They earnestly ask Him for wisdom in their situations. They desire to make the right decisions according to His will. However, even the godliest individuals still commit mistakes. Again, we are just all humans.
It is not true that God does not care nor guide His people. Some believers blame God for their circumstances, saying He should have stopped them from making the wrong decisions. The question is, did they ask God for wisdom? One of the reasons why Christians make mistakes is the failure to listen to what God tells them. Sometimes, people are bombarded by problems or clouded by emotions that they cannot hear God anymore. If we are busy or our heart is hardened towards God-He may not speak. But we must always keep the lines of communication open because He wants to talk to us all the time! A great way to stay in touch is by reading His Word every day and talking with Him through prayer. If we do this, then God will be right beside us throughout every step of the day! Therefore, we should always be listening for His guidance; it can change our lives forever. God loves you! It’s exciting to see how much He cares for us and to know that He wants the best for His children. Remember that God will speak to you in different ways at different times. You have to be listening! Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me.” God has a plan for us all. He knows our strengths and weaknesses, so He chooses to speak to us in different ways. For some people, God speaks through the Bible even if they do not read it. Others hear Him as they quietly pray or meditate on His Word. He can communicate with you in so many ways, and everyone has a different way God speaks to them. With a Godwink, He can create coincidental events to help you notice, more easily, what He is saying to you. It’s exciting because when we hear from Him in any way, we know He loves us and is thinking about us! John 10:27 says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
God will never tell you to do something that goes against His Word, the Bible. Although the Lord often tells people to do things that cause fear, or doubt-He would never ask us to commit sin. We must always follow what we know deep inside is right and consistent with His standards of behavior. God works in mysterious ways. We do not always know what He is doing or why, but we can trust that He has a plan, and it will be for our good. We must always compare the prompting to what is written in the Bible. That is because God will not lie or contradict Himself. The Lord always tells us the truth because He loves us too much to deceive us. If our actions go against His Word, then we are not hearing from God.
The Holy Spirit is an active guide in our daily lives. Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” The Lord speaks to us through many means: the Bible, prayer, and nature (the things we see and feel). However, we must be sensitive enough to hear His voice. We should always ask ourselves if what we know deep inside is correct or incorrect before acting on a prompting. God will not strike us down with a lightning bolt or whisper an answer in our ear. Instead, when the Lord speaks, He will prompt us to do something that feels right. How can we tell if someone is really hearing from God and not just imagining it? You may not hear Him with your ears, but God can indeed speak to you. In fact, He talks to you every day. Whenever you have to decide between right and wrong, He speaks. Whenever you need guidance and wisdom, He also speaks. God also speaks whenever you need strength and comfort. To hear God, you must keep your heart pure. Repent and ask forgiveness for your sins. Do your best to live a life according to His Word. Moreover, you must draw close to Him daily intentionally. The moment you are reading the Scripture, God is already speaking to you. The Bible is not just a self-help book. It is a compilation of the Lord’s love letters for you. So, whenever you study God’s Word, you are listening to His instructions on how you should live your life in a way that you will experience His blessings.
Have you ever experienced being reminded of the same verse again and again? If a certain Bible verse keeps appearing in front of you wherever you go, consider it as a sign. The Lord may be using that verse as a reminder or warning about your current situation. If you keep getting the same verse, pray and ask God to open your eyes to what He wants to show you. Meditate on the verse and find out how it applies to your circumstance. You can also ask a spiritual leader to explain the verse to you. Are you tired of experiencing the same problem over and over again? Have you ever felt like God is teaching you something through a recurrent situation? Well, it could be true indeed. Sometimes, God allows you to go through the same situation several times to help you learn a lesson. It is possible that you have been committing the same mistakes, and you are not changing your response to a similar situation. When this happens again, be more sensitive to God’s leading. Ask Him wisdom on how you can improve your approach to such recurring concerns.
Most spiritually mature individuals have the gift of discernment. It is the ability to judge a situation wisely, even beyond what can be perceived by the senses. For instance, you can discern if a person is sincere in expressing their feelings for you or not. Or you can discern if a friend is struggling with a problem, even if they try to appear happy before you. God can convey His message to you through discernment. Through it, He can give you the wisdom you need to decide on a matter correctly. Therefore, whenever you discern something, you have to ask God to help you understand His will completely.
Have you ever attended a church service, and the preaching made you uncomfortable? If you ever feel like the preacher is talking directly to you, it is actually God speaking through that person. If the sermon or a highlighted passage makes you guilty of your sin and gives you that desire to change, it means that the Holy Spirit is at work in you. That is why, whenever you are in church, it is important to listen attentively to the sermon. Then, own the message you hear and figure out how you can apply it in your life.
God can also speak through your circumstances. Remember that God is in control. He can orchestrate things around you to meet His purposes. So, if you are waiting for God’s “yes” or “no”, you should open your eyes to how He lets things happen. If the situation does not go according to your plan, it could be a “no.” So, how should you respond to God’s “no”? Would you rebel against Him? Nay. If you truly trust God and revere His sovereignty, you will not doubt His will. You know that the Lord knows what He is doing, and He knows better than you.
John Thomas Oaks is musician in NYC. On a chilly November, in Manhattan, he was playing at the Starbucks Café on 51st & Broadway. He noticed a lady in chair swaying & singing along with “If You Don’t Know Me by Now.” Afterwards, she apologized for singing. John asked if she would like to sing the next selection. She asked if he knew any hymns. John picked His Eye Is on the Sparrow. Everyone in Starbucks listened attentively as they sang: "I sing because I’m happy, sing because I’m free. For His eye is on the sparrow & I know He watches me." The people in Starbucks gave her thunderous applause. She turned to John and said, “It’s funny you picked that hymn. It was my daughter’s favorite. She was 16. She died last week of a brain tumor. I’m gonna be OK. I keep trusting the Lord & singing His songs.” Was all this just a coincidence of time, place, people, and a hymn? Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Hardly, if you believe in how God intervenes in our lives at just the right moment. God has been arranging encounters in human history since the beginning of time. No coincidence He found just right place for us to land. Even for a grieving mom in Starbucks, a struggling musician, and coffee drinkers. Life seems to be full of coincidences. I really believe that life is full of Godwinks. That is where God reveals Himself to us through His mighty works, marvelous wisdom, and matchless ways.
Do you believe in coincidences? What do you think about things that just seem to “line up” just right? Consider a few of the more incredible coincidences from American history. Many people know that both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day, and that it was a July 4th. That’s pretty neat all on its own. But did you know that James Monroe also died on a July 4th? James Madison died five years later, in late June. His doctors offered to give him extra stimulants to keep him alive until July 4th. He declined.
Things get weirder. John Wilkes Booth’s brother Edwin Booth once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln’s oldest son Robert. For his part, Robert Lincoln went on to be present at two later presidential assassinations, those of James Garfield and of William McKinley. Robert Lincoln joked, “there is a certain fatality about the presidential function when I am present.”
Another set of circumstances that are about two men from different centuries, but cross over to each other’s century in such a way that to call it all circumstance would be rediculously inaccurate. Let’s call this a comparison between two former Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy.
Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost a child while living in the White House.
Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.
Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.
Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.
Lincoln was shot at the theater named "Ford."
Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by "Ford."
Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.
A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was seen with Marilyn Monroe.
Lincoln was shot in a theater and the assassin ran to a warehouse...
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and the assassin ran to a theater.
It’s pretty amazing how these two have so many coincidental facts in common, a hundred years apart. All this math is like keeping up with stats. The thing about statistics is, if you gather enough, you'll find a coincidence, or many of them. But are they really coincidence, or Godwinks? Matthew 19:26 “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which He created them, cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do, directs them to fulfill His purposes. Call it, “God’s deliberately engineered twists of heavenly serendipity.”
The Bible always affirms that “random” events are always attributed to the Lord. “Acts of God” are really acts of God. There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God’s sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought to more earnestly contend to than the doctrine of their Master over all creation—the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands—the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that throne...for it is God upon the Throne whom we trust. God is sovereign over circumstances, over evil, over nature, over animals, over nations, over feelings, over success and failure, over wind and rain, over heartache, over life and death, over every detail of our lives. He is over the heart of your boss, your spouse, your mortgage company CEO, your car, your house, your finances, your promotions; over everything. There is no such thing as luck, chance, or coincidence with God. Nothing is ever beyond his control, out of his reach, above his power. But His sovereignty is compatible with our “freedom.” You and I can have supreme confidence that God is bringing about every detail of our lives to accomplish His purposes of glory to Himself, and good to us. Romans 8:28 states, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” We must trust in Him! But heed this warning: this doesn’t mean that everything that comes easy in life is an open door from God. For example, “Men worry about time, but God only concerns Himself with timing.”
Things like this cause most people to wonder if there’s not some higher power orchestrating it all. Now, with ordinary world events, we aren’t given special guidance to understand them. But with the Bible, we are given special guidance. The Bible comments upon itself, and many verses explain the deeper meaning. Even when they don’t explicitly tell us, they often paint the picture clear enough that we can understand the deeper points, especially as we compare them with the theme of the story. Thus, we do not believe there are any coincidences in the Bible, but that everything happens exactly as it should, and everything happens to show us about God.
The next time something happens to you, just look up to the heavens to see if you can see God winking at you. Try to find the meaning behind the coincidence you just shared with another. Start looking for the meaning and message of what just occurred so you can use the moment to better yourself, to better your life, to better someone else’s life, and you can become closer to God, and that’s no winking matter. Matthew 19:26 states, “But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” It is my prayer for all is that God is winking at you now, and often. Amen!
