Wednesday Wisdom | The Wisdom of Being Attuned to the Holy Spirit

Friend, God speaks to us through His Word, through His people, and through the Holy Spirit.

The wisdom is learning to listen. It takes daily intentional practice for us to stay attune to the Holy Spirit, who is always at work around us.

This past Sunday, I worshipped at Watermark Community Church, where Pastor Timothy Ateek brought a word from Acts 21:10–14. Something about that passage and the way he taught it really landed with me.

Then Monday came.

Amidst our celebrating my coworker Avery’s birthday, I found myself having several conversations at work throughout the day about the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of listening to Him. This all aligns perfectly with a few conversations I’ve had in recent days through comments people have left in response to my posts.

While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”

Acts‬ ‭21‬:‭10‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/59/act.21.10-14.ESV

Different conversations. Different people. Yet somehow, the same subject kept showing up. God speaks to us through His Word, the Bible. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us. He speaks to us through other people and through the Holy Spirit.

It became clear to me that now would be a good time to pay attention.

In Acts 21, the prophet Agabus warns Paul about what awaits him in Jerusalem. The people around Paul understandably don’t want him to go. They plead with him not to make the journey.

However, Paul is convinced that he must go. In fact, he is determined to go because it’s what God will’s for him to do. Even as the people cry out, Paul stands firm in his convictions.

That passage reminds me that being attuned to the Holy Spirit doesn’t necessarily mean life gets easier. Sometimes listening to God leads us into difficult places rather than away from them. As it did Paul.

That’s why discernment matters.

Being sensitive to the Holy Spirit isn’t about treating every thought, feeling, unexpected interaction, or sudden impulse as a divine message. We must be careful and test what we our experience against Scripture. We pray. We listen to wise and godly people. And we pay attention to what God may be doing in and around us.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit whispers, “Go.”

Sometimes He says, “Wait.”

Sometimes He says, “Pay attention.”

And sometimes He leads us somewhere we’d rather not go.

The challenge isn’t simply asking God to speak.

It’s becoming the kind of person who is quiet enough, humble enough, and attentive enough to hear.

I believe God may be speaking more often than we realize. The wisdom is learning to listen.

Until my next post…

Be salty, stay lit.

Rainer Bantau —The Devotional Guy™

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