I am going to share two episodes in my life. I believe that these episodes are instances when the Holy Spirit spoke to me……..intervened in my life. I believe that these events are evidence of the existence of the Trinity and by association…….that they testify to the truth of the Bible. You can dismiss them as mere coincidence………if you find the Bible inconvenient. I find them to be compelling.
The first episode begins when Cindy and I bought a parcel of land adjacent to our home……8 acres. Several years later, I was sitting in my office…….bored…….I picked up a local newspaper and began reading the legal notices. You need to understand that, in my life, millions of legal notices have been published in the local papers. I had never read any of them. I haven’t read any since. But, that day, I picked up the local paper and randomly read about five legal notices. One of the five announced the sale of a property for non-payment of taxes. The property was near my home and I looked into it, hoping to get a cheap piece of land nearby. You probably guessed. The land that was being sold by the county was my 8 acres……my backyard. Due to a clerical error, the county had never sent me a tax bill. My backyard was saved because, for no obvious reason, I felt moved to read 5 random legal notices out of millions that had been published over the years. Statistically, the probability that my reading that particular legal notice was a random coincidence…….is inconceivable.
The second episode occurred in the same office……in the same chair 10 or 20 years later. I often wake up early. One morning I woke up around 5am. I was sitting in my office browsing through Facebook……..probably out of boredom. I saw a post from a friend. It said that her husband was in the local ICU. I felt moved. I got dressed and drove the 20 miles into town planning to sit with my friend for an hour or so and keep her company. As I walked up to the door of the hospital, she walked out crying. Her husband had just died. I had never before……and have never since…..made a 5am trip to sit in the waiting room of a hospital. I believe that the Holy Spirit saw a need and sent me to answer it for my friend. Coincidence…….I don’t believe so.
In both instances, an extraordinary event unfolded. I cannot attribute either to random chance or coincidence. Something moved me to do something that was extremely unusual and the result was a gift…….one for me……another for a friend. I believe that the thing that touched me…….moved me…….was a word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit. I did not hear a voice. I did not have a vision. What I received was an idea. Fortunately, I acted on those ideas.
And that brings me to the point of this post.
I wonder how many times a day the Holy Spirit sends me an idea. The idea pops into my head and instead of acting on it, I tell myself that the idea is ridiculous……..or too costly……..or too inconvenient.
I wonder how many times a day the Holy Spirit talks to me……sends me an idea……..and I dismiss it with little thought.
How many times a day do I “blow off” the Holy Spirit?
How many times a day do you “blow off” the Holy Spirit?
We tend to think of some people as being “unusually spiritual”. We think that the Holy Spirit talks to them……but not to us. I am beginning to think that this may not be the case. I am beginning to believe that the Holy Spirit talks to us………talks to me……..every day. And…….I fear………that often I ignore it. Often, I hear it but I don’t act on it.
It is entirely possible that the “spiritual” people among us are not spiritual because the Holy Spirit speaks to them more than to us. Perhaps they do a better job of listening and acting.
Hear the idea……..consider the possibility that it is from the Holy Spirit………..act.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Jesus explaining how the Holy Spirit “talks” to us, John 16:13, ESV