AT ONCE: Goodbook 03-14-12

Goodbook messages arrive every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a Scripture reading and ideas for how to apply the reading in our lives. We are reading through the book of Acts. For additional Scripture reading, you can follow the Advanced Track.

Reading: Acts 16:9-12

(Advanced Track: Psalm 81, 88, 92, 93; 1 Chronicles 7-10)

⁹ During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.  ¹¹ From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. ¹² From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

Application:

Notice how Paul responds to a prompting by God.  Paul had a vision that God was calling him to preach the Gospel in Macedonia.  He responds with immediate obedience.  They got ready "at once" to leave for Macedonia.

I love Paul's enthusiastic obedience.  You can almost sense his excitement to follow God.  If God was working in a certain place, Paul wanted to be there.  If God had a mission for him, Paul knew it was going to be good.  His eagerness to follow was no doubt based on the incredible ways God had been at work in and through his life.

How do we respond when we sense God's prompting?  Do we respond with hesitation or resistance?  Do we respond with reluctance or avoidance?  Or, like Paul, do we respond with immediate obedience.

If I am honest, my first response is not always immediate obedience.  Sometimes I let my fear or my doubt hold me back from what I know God is calling me to do.  I can be hesitant to give how I sense God is calling me to give or resist serving in a way I sense God is calling me to serve.  I can be reluctant to approach a person I sense God is calling me to talk with or avoid talking about God with people outside church when I sense God wants me to say something.  The moments I do obey, however, I am always so glad I did.  When I obey, I get to experience God working in and through me in ways that only God can.

Do you have a sense that God is calling you to go somewhere or do something?  Don't hesitate, resist, or avoid it.  Go to it at once.  Let's make a pack together.  For the next week, when we sense God calling us to go somewhere or do something, we will... 

1) Obey immediately.

Comment with your thoughts, questions, ideas and stories…