As Paul was on his third missionary journey, the Bible says he had a desire to Asia, but the Holy Spirit had “forbidden” him to go. Again, he attempted to go to another region (Bithinya), but “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” Later on, Paul proceeds to somewhere he was allowed to go (Troas), and in the night, he receives a vision from God of a Macedonian man appearing to him saying, “Help me.” That’s a pretty supernatural account, right? Sometimes, it’s so easy to get caught up in the “this seriously happened?” rather than focusing on the amazing way this can apply to our lives.
Paul hit a red-light–straight from the Holy Spirit. And if Paul hit a red-light, we’ll probably hit one or two in our lives as well. You have plans? Great. James 4:13-15 says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’–yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” Red light. I can plan, but God’s plans are always where the Grace is.
God has a specific place for us. A specific church, a specific job, a specific state, county, city, or township. It’s a place where our relationships will flourish, our hearts will be fulfilled, and where God can most effectively channel His Grace through you to someone or something. The adventure is that God gives us the latitude to obey. But to obey, we must first listen.
Notice…:
- …God didn’t send Paul to the place he didn’t want to go (I’ve heard some say something absurd like, “Don’t say you don’t want to go to China… THAT’S EXACTLY where God will send you…” That my friend, isn’t found in the Bible.)
- …God didn’t close the door to those regions through a circumstances
- …God didn’t bring warning to Paul of treacherous upheavals in those places from an escapee.
But God did speak to Paul’s heart through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit spoke directly to Paul saying, “I have a place for you, and this isn’t it. Keep moving on.” I think in the same way, some of us may be in an area of our lives where the Holy Spirit is saying the same thing to us. For others, the time will come, and we’ll get the same red light–perhaps not in regard to ministry in Asia, but that red-light may be God saying…
- …Don’t get in this relationship.
- …Don’t take that job.
- …Don’t buy that car.
- …Don’t leave.
In Paul’s case, obedience to God’s leading eventually caused him to be in the middle of God’s place for him. In our case, obedience to God’s leading will eventually cause us to be in the middle of God’s place for us.
