Daily Devotional: The Holy Spirit, He Speaks
This is an opinion column.
BREATH OF HEAVEN
“The Spirit told Philip, Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Acts 8:29
REFLECTION
Have you ever had a moment where you felt a clear, quiet nudge to do something that did not make obvious logical sense? To call someone out of nowhere. To turn around and go back. To say something you had not planned to say, to a person you had not planned to say it to. And maybe you followed it and something significant happened, or maybe you talked yourself out of it and wondered afterward. Those moments are more common than we usually discuss in church, and they matter more than we often give them credit for.
Philip was already in the middle of a successful ministry in Samaria when the Spirit directed him to leave and head down a desert road. No explanation. No preview of what he would find there. Just go. And when he got there, an Ethiopian official was sitting in a chariot reading Isaiah and had no idea what he was reading. The Spirit said to Philip: go to that chariot. And because Philip went, a man came to faith and an entire nation’s spiritual history was altered.
The Holy Spirit speaks. Not always in dramatic ways. Usually in quiet ones. A persistent thought. A feeling of being drawn toward something or someone. A sense of unease that turns out to be a warning. A scripture that surfaces at an unexpected moment with unexpected relevance. Learning to recognize His voice is one of the most practical and important skills in the life of faith, and it is a skill that develops over time through paying attention and responding.
Most of us have ignored His prompting at least as often as we have followed it. We have rationalized the nudge away, told ourselves it was just our own thoughts, or simply been too busy to notice. But He is speaking. He was speaking before you opened this devotional this morning. The question is not whether He has something to say to you today. It is whether you are quiet enough, attentive enough, and willing enough to hear it.
Can you recall a moment when you sensed the Holy Spirit prompting you toward something, whether you followed it or not? What did that experience teach you about how He speaks and how you respond?
PRAYER
Holy Spirit, we want to hear You more clearly. We confess that the noise of our lives, the pace we keep, the screens we fill our quiet moments with, has made it harder to notice when You are speaking. Today we ask You to speak and to help us hear. Give us ears that are tuned to Your voice. And when You prompt us, give us the courage to follow through rather than rationalize our way out of
