Following, Listening, Doing

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

FOLLOWING LISTENING DOING

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

There is more to this story about Philip with a powerful display of God's work. However, we are already seeing God at work by sending an angel to give Philip specific directions. There is nothing vague about what God wanted Philip to do. He was instructed to go South, on a specific road, from Jerusalem to Gaza. That seems strange, but God had a plan for the Ethiopian eunuch's life, and Philip was to be the Lord's instrument in that plan. This gives us a clue that we should always be available to be used by the Lord and to follow his directions and his leading. We may not know the purpose of our instructions, as Philip did not know why he was supposed to travel that road, but he was following God's plan. As Philip was traveling the road he was told to met this Ethiopian, and the Spirit told Philip to go near the chariot. How often do we find ourselves someplace just because we feel we should be there? Is it truly because we feel we should be there, or are we being prompted by the Spirit to be in a specific place at a certain time? Is there someone we are supposed to encounter? Have we ever felt led to ask them a question, such as, "Do you know anything about?" then just know what about we should ask? If the Lord gave Philip that kind of specific direction, then we believe he could give us some kind of specific instruction as to where, when, and what to do. Did an angel actually appear to Philip, or was it more like a vision, or maybe just a voice, but the point is God was at work, and Philip was his instrument. We wonder how many times we act on our own account, being our own planner, our own instrument, even in religious matters, or what we believe are spiritual matters. How often do we make our own plans? It is not that Philip wasn't living life or doing things; he was an apostle and had been following Jesus. That was the purpose of his life: to continue to follow Jesus. He was open to the Spirit, listening, hearing the voice of an angel, doing what he was instructed to do. This should be our story. First, to follow Jesus, second, to listen to the voice of the Spirit, his leading, his lighting our way, and thirdly, to do that which we have been instructed to do. It comes down to following, listening, and doing.