Acts 8:26-29

Sometimes my wife tells me what to do. I do not always do it. Sometimes she was right and I was wrong. Other times I was wrong and she was right (yes, I just said that). Married couples have their spouses, children have their parents, workers have their bosses, and everyone has the government telling them what to do. I am not just rambling; I am making the point that we all have others telling us to do things. Therefore, we should not have major difficulty accepting that the Holy Spirit is also going to tell us to do things.

Some people, like me, have difficulty with authority. We do not like others to boss us. That however, is not a problem with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit could order us, after all He is God, but He does not. Jesus did not give us the Holy Spirit as a drill sergeant. He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to be our counselor; he is with us to guide us. If we are following a guide in the wilderness, we do not have to obey him. However, we are obviously fools if we do not. The same is true with the Holy Spirit; only a foolish Christian does not seek and obey his guidance.

The difficulty is hearing the Holy Spirit’s voice. He is not loud, or intrusive. We have to train ourselves to listen. Phillip’s meeting the Ethiopian eunuch was important enough that God took no chances. He used an angel to get Phillip to the right place at the right time. Walking on the road without crowds of distraction, Phillip was able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. The spirit told him to stand near the chariot, and Phillip obeyed.

The Holy Spirit speaks to every Christian. Before we can obey Him, we must hear Him. The Holy Spirit does not yell; He speaks softly. He requires our attention. When we focus on him, not the distractions of the world, we will hear him.