Most of us don’t pay as much attention as we should to the subtle, divine promptings of the Holy Spirit because we’re expecting something more spectacular. We are waiting for God to hit us with a lightning bolt. We’re waiting for the clouds to part and the heavens to open. We’re waiting for God to speak to us and give us some great and mighty plan before we respond.
But that’s not usually how the Holy Spirit works. For the most part, spectacular is not His style.
He prefers instead to gently draw our hearts in the direction He wants us to go. He likes to give us an inward nudge, and if we respond to it, He’ll lead us on.
Recently, I heard a story about an American man—a born again, Spirit-filled, Harvard graduate—who began to sense that kind of subtle prompting. For no reason he could explain other than the inward influence of the Holy Spirit, he found his heart drawn toward Tibet. He had no idea what to do about it, but as he was talking to a friend about it one day, his friend said, “Why don’t you just go there?”
“Okay,” said the man. “I believe I will.” (Sometimes that’s the only response God needs from us to get things rolling. He just needs us to say “okay.”)
As the man began to make plans for his trip, his friend who happened to be a doctor offered to give him some medical supplies for the people there. As it turned out, the supplies he brought were desperately needed and the governor of Tibet was extremely grateful for them.
He was so grateful, in fact, that he offered the man the largest auditorium available, filled it up with people, and allowed him to preach the Gospel for three nights. As a result, many souls were saved.
I’d call that a big move of God. Yet, it took place because someone paid attention to a seemingly small leading of the Holy Spirit. It happened because one man dared to respond to God.
Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 19:9 – 13