"The Leading of the Spirit is a Mysterious Thing!"...

... That is what our pastor said on Sunday night!!

That's hit a cord with me, so I listened intently as he preached. He was really hitting the nail on the head. It seemed that everyone was saying the same thing that day.

On the one hand (I think I need octopus hands for this one!), I was having our discussion with a friend about knowing the Lord's leading. Then a bit later, I get challenged by my husband (just before I went to church), about the amount of time I spent on the Internet ... (but hey! Wasn't I doing the Lord's work online?)

Then I get to church, and George, our pastor, preaches the same thing. Then, after I get home, my friend was still on about it. And THEN, the next morning, my son tells me they had a good sermon last night at his church, and it was about God's timing!!

Five different sources.... the same thing... being sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading!! What could one do???

So, Pastor George had my attention! His text the other night was from Acts 16.

Verse 6 is what struck me. Paul had just split up with Barnabas after a sharp contention over John Mark. So Barnabas went a different direction with Mark and Paul teamed up with Silas. Then young Timothy came along.

Anyhow, it says:
"They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia."
And v7 - "They tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them."

I found that so interesting about the Spirits leading... sometimes He blocks, hinders or forbids.

I can understand Paul's desire. He had the commission to take the gospel to the Gentile world. So his good intended plan was to take it into Asia (which is not the continent of Asia as we know, but modern-day Turkey). "But the Spirit did not permit them." I wonder how He did that?

So they knocked on Bithynia's door, but it didn't' open for them either. (Bithynia is just below the Dead Sea.)

I could imagine that Paul was rather confused about this. He wasn't able to minister where he'd wanted. So, he went to bed that night, wondering.

And then, the vision came...

"And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.'
"Now after he had seen the vision, IMMEDIATELY we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them." (v9-10)

Did Paul jump out of bed, take off his PJ's, and start packing his bags?

Anyhow, they concluded that the Lord had called them to preach in Macedonia. So the NEXT day, they set off on their journey and eventually arrived in Philippi, which was the main city in Macedonia.

There they met Lydia, a business woman, who traded in expensive purple cloth. And guess where most of her trade came from?

ASIA!! Where Paul had been forbidden to go. So God did get the gospel there, but not in a way that Paul had thought.


And Paul talks of another instance where the Holy Spirit hindered, in Romans 15:22-25... (when he had planned to go to Rome)...

"For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you. But now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you, whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while. But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints."

The same thing had happened to David Livingston. He planned to go to China (or somewhere), but ended up in Africa.

Phillip was having a wonderful revival in Samaria, but the Lord told him to leave and led him along a desert road, and he met the Ethiopian eunuch, and was able to explain the Scriptures to him. (See Acts 8:26-40)

King David so desired to build a temple for the Lord, but the Lord stopped him. God had other plans!

So that is what I learned the past few days....

... But I'm not finished yet!! Still more thoughts to come on that one .....