This morning in my communion time with the Holy Spirit He reinforced the concept of positioning our hearts to listen carefully to what the Spirit is saying so we follow correctly and obey only what He has spoken. In Mark.4:24725 we read these words of caution from Jesus Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25 For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

The strong emphasis of Jesus after having explained the parable of the sower to His disciples and how the heart operates in working out the process of the Kingdom. Jesus proceeds to again give this warning about listening carefully and understanding what has been said. This is to ensure that your obedience will be based on real clarity of what was said rather than presumption.

We all assume that because the Lord has spoken something to us we know exactly what to do. However the reality is that we need to process the facts through our minds, wills, emotions and intellects before we can take action and that is the place we stumble and follow what we want rather than what God says because that is easier to swallow. Inside our minds are preconceived thoughts and imaginations and vain high things which seek to exalt themselves above the knowledge of God.

We see this worked out in the Apostles to such a degree that in Acts.1:4-8 they are in complete delusion as to the task they will need to follow and Jesus has to correct their thought pattern completely. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Let us just look at the difference of opinions and thoughts they have from Jesus. When did Jesus ever tell them that He was appointing them to take over the rule of the twelve tribes of Israel and over Caesar’s rule by physical strength and natural force. Where and how did they hear these things!

Obviously from their imaginations and the high prideful thoughts they had been listening to, (which Jesus always cautioned them on not wanting to be the greatest), when Jesus spoke words of the Kingdom to them. In that confusion of mind they conceived that Jesus was now going to restore the Kingdom to Israel and would still be waiting for that to happen because it is yet to come to pass.

This would have meant they missed out on reaching the world for Jesus and all the miracles, signs and wonders God had prepared for them to do, waiting presumptuously for something that would never happen in their lifetime.

Watch closely how Jesus dispels the lying thoughts they have been incubating and repositions them back to reality so they can be fruitful in the now of life. Forget about times and seasons God has set for things to happen in their appointed time and get yourselves ready to receive power from the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of Jesus to a dying world.

Get into a secluded time of prayer and oneness with the Holy Spirit by waiting on the Lord to get direction and the necessary power of the Holy Spirit that will affect the lives of people in various nations. We need to be ready to wait on the Lord so our strength can be renewed and we can go forth on the wind of the Holy Spirit rather than our natural ability that accomplishes nothing.

Jesus in order to become effective took a time of fasting and prayer in the wilderness forty days and returned from that secluded time in the power of the Holy Spirit and His fame went abroad. It is in the wilderness that we prepare the way of the Lord and make straight paths for Him to come on in our lives.

You cannot listen if you are always doing. This is why it is so important for us to be still so we can get to know who God is. We need to still our racing and presumptuous thoughts and imaginations and line up with what the Holy Spirit is saying.

You find that in the revelation Jesus gives to John in the book of revelation to each Church no matter how well they were doing the requirement for each church was he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying and change and line up with that truth if you are to progress further in the things of the Kingdom.

Jesus is in effect saying listen carefully to what I am saying and change direction and follow Me not what you have been doing and you now think is God and He cannot possibly be saying anything different because that is what you believe is God and no more.

That is deception and you are already backslidden because in the Kingdom of Jesus we never become the leader but remain followers so we do not determine the path forward but need to listen to the Master so we know how and where to follow Him to go accomplish His will.

Let me conclude this time with you by sharing about the life of Philip the deacon in Acts and how the Holy Spirit works with him to accomplish the will of Jesus in various places as Philip surrenders to His leading.

In Acts.8:4-8 we see the inception of the ministry of Philip Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city. Under the leading of the Holy Spirit Philip takes Samaria for Jesus single handedly and just look at the results. Startling!!!

Going on in Acts.8:14&15 we see the Apostles who Jesus had spoken to about the harvest being ready there in samaria in John.4 so why were they not there much earlier to have taken the harvest. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

Just look at the Holy Spirit progression in the life of Philip as we move further in Acts.8:26-30 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

Philip is willing to leave such a mighty harvest in Samaria to go to the desert to reach one man. This ends up bringing the gospel into Africa. What a wonder what single obedience to the Holy Spirit will give you. Philip is so focused on listening to the Holy Spirit more than what he had gained in Samaria and readies himself to move fast to reach this Ethiopian on the way from Jerusalem to answer his question and have him baptized in the Holy Spirit and start a new walk as he went back to Africa having received the truth of the Kingdom from Philip.

After this event we see the Holy Spirit move Philip in Acts.8:38-40 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

This movement that happened with Philip after the baptism of the Eunuch of being caught in the Spirit or translated into a different place supernaturally only happened because Philip chose to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit to leave Samaria and go to a desert place.

What if Philip had said there is no way I am leaving a mass crusade success campaign to go to a desert to reach what. I rebuke you satan. Philip however knew the voice of the Holy Spirit and was listening to the direction the Holy Spirit wanted him to follow and because he made himself available to listen and obey we have these miraculous signs happen which we can learn from and imbibe in our walk with the Lord. This is so we can experience the miraculous in our lives also.

My prayer for you this morning is that as you hear these words you will be convicted by the Holy Spirit to repent and turn from not prioritizing listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit but, listening to and following your thoughts which have ended you in pits.

You will receive the grace supplied you in these words as you receive them to make the change and begin again to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and experience all the miraculous happenings of the Holy Spirit guided life which is full of signs, wonders and miracles to clearly make known the Kingdom of Jesus for men to witness and marvel which brings glory to the name of Jesus. Amen.

Have a fruitful and productive day in Jesus name. Amen.