Following the Spirit | crustybread

When we see something of great value we want it as quickly as we can get it. Usually however, we don’t consider something to be of value until we’ve had some positive experience with it. What would make the disciples drop everything immediately and follow Jesus without having had some experience with him? What would make a person with an unclean spirit speak against Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue? Three words come to mind; change, difference and circumstance. First, nobody really likes change. We like the comfort of familiarity until of course it becomes uncomfortable. Yet anything connected to God is constantly changing. Second, God created difference. Our gifts are many and varied, designed to be used for the good of the community of believers. Third, our circumstances have a lot to do with how we respond to change and difference. If we remember that God’s love is greater than our circumstances, we can learn to value the change and accept the difference in every moment of our lives, as we drop those unhealthy spirits and follow the Spirit in the promise of God’s Word.

May God give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power (Ephesians 1:15-23).

Acts 16:6-7 …having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them…

Don’t be discouraged when the direction in which you are trying to go is either interrupted or changed. Everyone is not going to be ready for what you have to offer. The spirit of Christ will reveal the direction in which you need to follow. The challenge is having the patience to listen so that we can hear what the spirit is saying. The Apostle Paul tried several times to preach in the province of Asia but the Holy Spirit wouldn’t let him. While he rested it was revealed to Paul that the people of Macedonia were crying out for him and his disciples to come to them. Paul changed his course and it was this journey that led him to a group of women at the river eager to listen and become disciples of the risen Lord. In the same way that God opened the mind of Paul and the heart of Lydia and the other women at the river, he will open our heart and mind to hear him so that we will always know the way to go. We may not always know God’s vision but God always knows ours.