Editor's Note: please enjoy two devotionals today, written by the wonderful Heidi and Bella!

********************

Don’t Miss the Opportunity!

Heidi Lee

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out ... The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot… (Acts 8:26,27,29). 

When I was in college, I clearly remember hearing the Holy Spirit tell me to go and share the gospel with a girl on campus, who was a total stranger.  However, my shy, introverted, resistant spirit kept finding excuses not to go. I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t really God speaking to me and that I didn’t need to obey. The truth is, I was afraid. I felt uncomfortable going up to a total stranger and talking about Jesus. Because of my disobedience, the opportunity passed and the girl walked away. I returned to my dorm feeling guilty, and disappointed in myself for disobeying God. 

Unlike me, Philip obeyed immediately when God spoke to him. God first sent an angel and told him to go south down a desert road. He didn’t explain why, but Philip obeyed. Later, God spoke to Philip through the Holy Spirit and told him to go up and stay close to the chariot where an Ethiopian eunuch was reading. Philip didn’t stop to consider if he should obey God, even though it probably seemed a bit uncomfortable to initiate a conversation with an important stranger. He just obeyed. Because of his obedience, the eunuch was saved and baptized.

Years later, God gave me another chance. An old family friend came for our Christmas celebration. She had always been openly against Christianity and led a pretty wild lifestyle. However, I knew she was going through a hard time and felt the Holy Spirit telling me to talk to her about Jesus. This time I obeyed. We talked for over an hour. She said that I was one of the only Christians that she knew and that is why she felt led to talk to me that night. God had been working on her heart for over ten years, but when she showed up at my holiday party, she was finally open to hearing the Gospel.

Remember that the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say and the courage to say them. He will guide us and show us who to talk to and what to say and do. He will prepare the other person’s heart. Like Philip, we just need to obey!

Have you ever felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to talk to someone about Jesus? Have you ever resisted because you were uncomfortable? I want to encourage you to obey if you are in this situation so that God can use you to bless someone else- and yourself!

********************

A Rabbit Trail to Salvation

Bella Segnere

The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him (Acts 8:34-38).

We all have that one person in our lives who loves to go down rabbit trails as they speak. You may remember a teacher who would stop in the middle of a lecture to tell you about his dog named Sadie. Or you may remember a parent or grandparent who would spend hours telling a seemingly pointless story in perfect detail. 

Whoever it is, you likely are not always excited to talk to that person, because your time might be “wasted.” After reading this week’s passage, though, it is clear that we should value these encounters more than we often do. In fact, they could lead to something even greater… like salvation!

The eunuch that Philip meets is baffled by a few verses from the Old Testament. He reads them out to Philip (vs. 32-33) and to us it may sound like an abstract piece of information - like the author was just going down a rabbit trail. Philip uses his discernment to realize that this is not a rabbit trail, and puts meaning into it. And he even manages to share the Gospel with the eunuch at the same time because of his discernment! 

If that isn’t amazing enough, this “rabbit trail” leads the eunuch to think about baptism as soon as he sees water next to the road. He takes a detour and asks Philip to baptize him in the name of Christ. 

As it turns out, stories that seem like rabbit trails can have so much more importance, especially when it comes to living supernaturally! Sure, some of them have little to no value, and while it is important to show love and attention to the speaker, we can try to use discernment to see which ones are valuable. More importantly, our discernment can be used to decipher what “rabbit trails” are “salvation trails” (a.k.a. more ways for us to share the Gospel!).

How can you be more attentive to those who go down many rabbit trails? Or even better, maybe you could discern how a particular rabbit trail could lead to telling a stranger about the Gospel!