Obeying the Holy Spirit

"We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him."  (Acts 5:32 NLT)

A few weeks ago before heading home from a long day I stopped by the store to pick up my favorite bread, Captain Johns Derst's. Omg that bread is the BEST! Everything about me that night said that I was in a rush to get home. I went into the self checkout lane because I didn't feel like waiting in a line and I was ready to get out of there. While I was checking out I noticed the security guard looking at me and I said to myself, "Lord I hope this man doesn't try to talk to me while I'm trying to leave; I just wanna go home Jesus". Guess what he did? Yep, he stopped me. He had the most awkward opening line to his conversation and because of that, I knew I couldn't just ignore him. So I stayed and listened.

After about a good 20 minutes of him telling me the issues he was having, he mentioned that he goes to church and is trying to get his relationship with God in order, so I asked him if he ever prayed about the situation. He told me that he never thought about praying about it and that he'd do it when he got home. I began to tell him that he could pray in his heart while he was standing there, or he could pray on his long drive back to Santee but he didn't have to wait until he got home. Then he said that he didn't know why he stopped me out of all the other people that walked in and out of the store that night, but he was glad he did. He was so grateful to me but I was grateful to God for the Holy Spirit, because in my flesh, I would have missed that opportunity to give him those simple words that could manifest a turn around in his life.

Listen, I knew I'd have to talk to that security guard when I saw him looking but everything,  I mean everything in me did not want to. God has a way of setting things up for us to be used in small moments. Moments where we can just brush people off and go about our way, not knowing what kind of opportunities we are missing to share some Jesus with someone who has tried everything but Him.

I encourage you, as I continue to encourage myself to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is telling you to do. He will never tell you to do anything harmful. We may not know the reason behind why we have to do the things He tells us but there is one that may or may not be revealed to us. We just have to walk in obedience, that's why God gave Him to us.

"If people would only be obedient to the urging of the Spirit, they would never lose these urgings." -Catherine Booth