Yes, Lord

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

YES LORD

Acts 8:26-31

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road — the desert road — that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. 31 "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip  to come up and sit with him.

NIV

When Philip heard from this angel, whoever this angel was, that told him to go south to the desert road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza, Philip went. We are not told that Philip asked any questions as to why you wanted to me go that way, he just started out. We are not told that Philip questioned whether that was really an angel that told him, he just started out. We are not told that Philip responded that he would, if he could, but he had something to do first, he just started out. When Philip heard from the Lord, he did exactly what he was told. This should give us clarity as to how we must respond when we hear from the Lord. That is always the question, how do we know we have heard from the Lord, and it isn’t our own voice prompting us to do what we want. One thing is for sure, the Lord would never prompt us toward sin, or anything that would disagree with his word. We also know that if we take his word as though it speaks directly to us, then we have already been told what to do in many areas of our lives. The question is how have we responded? Are we anything like Philip? Do we just do it, no questions asked? The truth is that we would have to copy much of the gospels along with many of the Epistles to list all the attitudes and behaviors that we are first to rid ourselves of, and second, to take on and make them our way of life. We know that Lord has already told all that, to go in that direction, that course of life, and have we just gone, or are we stalling, wanting him to tell us something else, or something different that we can agree with, or wanting to hear his voice, or have a visit from an angel before we act? We can identify with Paul regarding the war that wages within. There are things we should not do, and we do them and there are things we should be doing, and we are not. We wrestle with the self within who wants what it wants when we know in our hearts that the Lord wants something else in our lives. No, we need to see how Philip responded and follow suit, and if we do, as Philip did, we will see the mighty hand of God moving in our lives in ways we could never imagine. We must respond when the Lord says go, or when he says stay. All we need to say is, yes Lord.