Acts 8:39-40
"Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea."
After Philip preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Ethiopian eunuch, baptizing him as a new convert to faith, the Spirit does something rather unique. Physically, the Spirit moves Philip to a new location. One instant, Philip is on the road to Gaza, and the next, he's in Azotus, moved from the south to the north to do God's bidding.
Wouldn't it be great for God to move us so directly through the Spirit, making it where are to serve? When soldiers move from our church back to the United States, they often struggle to find a place to worship. If the Spirit would move them as directly as he did Philip, theses struggles would end. Fitting in wouldn't be the goal when the Spirit is doing the moving.
While most believers won't experience a miracle of the Spirit's moving in such a direct way, God does use the Spirit to guide our lives. Just this morning, I read where David claimed God caused him to know the plans for the new temple by writing them on his heart. That's the way the Spirit tends to act. God writes his will on our hearts by the Spirit, and our role is to search out this writing and move accordingly.
The problem is, even if God were as direct with us as with Philip, we'd still rebel and go our own ways. Even the great lawgiver, Moses, argued against God when he was sent back to Egypt. Jonah literally turned and sailed the opposite direction of where God tried to move him. And, Peter rebuked Jesus when the Lord's way was to move them towards Jerusalem and the cross. You see, when it comes to being moved by God, our nature is to rebel. We want to go our own way.
Instead, we need to commit to seeking the Lord's ways, so when God moves us through a touch of the Spirit, we're willing to follow. We need to be ready to go after the Lord at any time, even he leads us in the way of sacrifice, or poverty, or danger, or to some way off location. We need to be ready to move anywhere, even it means leaving friends, family and security. We need to be ready to be obedient, and sometimes this means a complete change of direction.
The Spirit wants to move you. Are you listening? When the Spirit moves, we must follow.
LORD JESUS
Lord, I must admit I'd rather go my own way, but as a man of faith, I commit to following after your plans for my life. May I be open to them and rejoice wherever you send me. Amen.
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