Holy Spirit Lesson 9 Companion Devotional

I had a conversation with a friend the other day about whether we are always called to share the gospel. My first thought was, “Yes, of course we are.” Jesus left us with the Great Commission to go and make disciples of all the nations. I Peter 3:15 tells us to always be ready to give an account for the hope that is in us. Ephesians 6 explains that putting on the full armor of God includes having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. So it seems that we should always look for opportunities to speak to others about the Lord.

But then I had a second thought. We are always to “walk in the Spirit” according to Galatians. This means we are to lean into the Spirit, pray for His direction, listen, yield to what He says. Wait on Him. Follow Him.

Sharing the gospel and yielding to the Spirit… I think these two things should be always be hallmarks of our lives as we walk on the ancient paths with the Lord. We always need to be ready to share our faith and we always need to stay sensitive to the leading of the Spirit.

Let’s look at how these two dynamics worked together in Acts 16:6-7. If you look at a map of Paul’s second missionary journey you will see that after visiting the cities of their first journey, Paul and Silas were moving on to new territory, probably angling to set up camp at Ephesus. Ephesus was the strategic, most influential city in the center of the area called Asia, also known as Asia Minor. Paul would eventually get to Ephesus where he ministered for three years, but the Holy Spirit had other plans for him at this point. “And they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.” Acts 16:6.

Time out. Did you know that the Holy Spirit who has called us to be witnesses for the Lord Jesus, sometimes forbids us from speaking about Him? (BTW, this example does not give you an excuse to beg off from sharing the gospel if you are intimidated, fearful or ashamed of your faith!) This example shows how important it is to always seek the Lord’s direction, in every circumstance. Our priority is to lean into Him and stay sensitive to His leading. In Acts 16 the Holy Spirit had plans for spreading the gospel that needed to be executed in His order, His timing, His way. Paul’s job, and our job, is to rely upon the Spirit of God.

Look what happens next in Acts 16:7, “When they had come to Mysia they were trying to go into Bithynia (to their north) and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.” Later it will be the privilege of Peter to take the gospel to this region. But for now for Paul, “the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.” Acts 16:7.

Twice Paul and Silas were forbidden from sharing the Gospel. In his biography of Oswald Chambers, Abandoned to God, David McCasland tells a story from Chamber’s early life about a similar situation. Young Chambers was apprenticed to a Scottish landowner named John Cameron. One day as Chambers was going out to work in the fields with the ploughman Cameron said to him, “If you get a chance to witness to my ploughman, please do so.” Chambers knew that Cameron spoke often and openly about his faith to just about everyone who crossed his path. He had led countless people to the Lord, yet had not spoken to his ploughman about Him? Chambers was surprised so he asked why. Cameron replied, “If you don’t know about the permission of the Holy Ghost, you don’t know much about the ways of the Lord.”

Paul and Silas had been forbidden from sharing the Gospel in Asia and in Bithnyia but that didn’t discourage them. They were deterred but they didn’t turn and go back, they kept moving forward. Finally “and passing by Mysia they came down to Troas”. Acts 16:8. If you look at a map you will see they kept going until they could go no further because they reached the Aegean Sea at Troas. They waited there until the Spirit of God brought clarification and direction.

“A vision appeared to Paul in the night. A certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when he had seen the vision immediately we sought to go into Macedonia concluding that God had called us to preach the Gospel to them.” Acts 16:9

Finally they got the green light! They concluded from the vision that God’s call was to preach the gospel in Macedonia. Go west! They hopped aboard the next boat and headed out. When they came to the leading city of Macedonia, Philippi, they met a group of women who were worshipping God but didn’t yet know about Jesus. When Paul shared the gospel with them the Lord opened their hearts to respond by receiving the Lord as their Messiah. This was the founding of the first church in Europe. Turns out the man from Macedonia in the vision was actually a woman named Lydia and her friends!

I believe the prayers of those women who were seeking and worshiping God so moved the heart of their heavenly Father that through the Spirit He directed Paul to put Ephesus on hold. Bithynia could wait. “Go now, take the gospel to that little flock of women in Macedonia.” And that is how the gospel first came to Europe and thereby eventually to us in the west today.

What about the ploughman in the Oswald Chambers story? Turns out during the time Cameron sensed that the Spirit of God did not want him to share Christ with his ploughman, that ploughman was making fun of Cameron’s passion for the Lord behind his back. He even told his friends that if Cameron tried to witness to him he would “tell him off”. But as time went on and the ploughman watched as Cameron led many people to the Lord. Finally the ploughman said to Cameron, “For God’s sake talk to me about my soul or I am going to hell!” Cameron immediately led him to the Lord. When asked why he didn’t broach the subject earlier, Cameron replied “I did not speak because the Holy Spirit had not prepared your heart to listen.” Cameron knew when to be quiet.

Paul was ever prepared to take the gospel out but he was also ever sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. These few verses in Acts hold many applications for our lives today: stay sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. Don’t ever assume that you know the will of God, always seek His leading and timing. Listen. Press in. Stay flexible. Don’t get discouraged, don’t turn back. Obey. Yield. Wait. And when the green light comes on, Go. And from Lydia and company we learn, seek the Father, worship, pray, listen, receive, rejoice!

Dear Heavenly Father,
Help us to be prepared to take the gospel to our friends, our family and our world and to alway stay sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. You know the order, the timing and the plan. You have the big picture. You have all the time in the world. You’ve got the whole world in your hands!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen