You may say, “What test? I’m not in school anymore.” Oh, but you are, just not in a physical school setting. God sends tests your way to see what your heart is like and how obedient you are in responding to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Was today the day God sent an opportunity your way for you to bless someone and you missed it? You failed to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit to act or say something to someone and the divine opportunity, which God wrote about in your book for you to be involved in, went unfinished (Psalm 139:16).
Don’t worry if you didn’t know you were being tested and whether you passed or failed. The Holy Spirit will let you know. If you failed the opportunity, God will let you know you missed an opportunity, which God scheduled, for you to be blessed by blessing someone, and that the devil talked you out of participating in it.
Divine opportunities do come our way
In Galatians 6:10 Paul wrote these words of encouragement to the church at Galatia, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
Patsy Clairmont, a noted Christian comedian, has a section on her website called “Kin”, where she gives a story about one of her favorite kinfolk, aunt Pearl. In this story, aunt Pearl relays to Patsy how she got a “whuppin from the Lord” because she did not respond to the Holy Spirit in an opportunity to minister to someone.
It seems that aunt Pearl was standing in the hallway of a hospital when a woman, whom she did not know, came by on a gurney, headed to the operating room. As the woman passed by their eyes met, and the Lord impressed upon aunt Pearl to take the woman’s hand. At this very point a spiritual battle commenced.
Deep down inside of her aunt Pearl knew that she should take the woman’s hand, but the devil did such instant mind warfare on her that the thoughts she entertained from him convinced her not to do it.
Soon word came from the operating room that the woman had died on the operating table. When she heard this immediately the Holy Spirit convicted her of her disobedience to the Lord’s call to take the woman’s hand. The conviction was so strong that she felt that she had received “a whuppin from the Lord.”
Not responding to the leading of the Holy Spirit is sin
James 4:17 states, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
To not respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit to act or say something as God directs is outright sin. God sees it as disobedience. And God will correct you for this, to which we should be appreciative. Proverbs 3:11&12 states, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.”
God wants us to learn to be sensitive to the leading of His Holy Spirit
One of the ways that legally allows God to intervene in our lives to bless us, as well as others, is through the Holy Spirit prompting us to speak and act according to God’s word or to act according to His direction.
We are agents of God, ambassadors of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. So we have to do our part which allows God to bring the Kingdom of God to Earth, so that humanity can be blessed.
What if the prophet Elijah had not obeyed the word from the Lord and not gone to Zarephath to interact with the widow (I Kings 17:8-16)? Or, what if the widow had not obeyed the prophet and not given him some water to drink nor prepared some bread for him to eat? There would have been no miracle of provision activated. A widow and her son would have died from starvation and God would not have been glorified.
What if our Lord Jesus, at the direction of the Holy Spirit, had not gone down to the Jordan River to be baptized, and what if John had not baptized Him? John was hesitant to do this since God had revealed to him who Jesus was (Matthew 3:13-17).
Jesus had to remind him that this act was to fulfill scripture. In other words, what God had written in both their books was preordained by God as a divine opportunity for them both to participate in.
Immediately after Jesus was baptized, the Father spoke from Heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Father was well pleased in Jesus’ obedience to fulfill what was written in His book (Psalm 40:7&8).
What if Phillip had not been obedient to the Holy Spirit and not taken the journey to meet the Ethiopian on the road going from Jerusalem to Gaza (Acts 8:26-40)? An Ethiopian would have not heard the gospel and not been given the opportunity for salvation. No doubt, because the Ethiopian was a part of his queens royal court, he had an influence on spreading the gospel there.
Think about this! God preplanned this event, where they would both meet on a road, at a particular time and place, both coming from different starting places. And at the exact time that the Ethiopian was reading a certain scripture verse in the book of Isaiah that would give Phillip an opening to share the gospel. Who said that God is not in control?
The missed “triple blessing
In all of these in stances the “triple blessing” would have been lost as well. The triple blessing meaning: that the person called by the Holy Spirit to act would not have received a blessing for their actions; the person who was to be blessed would have missed out on the God had intended for them to receive: and God would not have been given an opportunity to bless someone, and for Himself be blessed by being able to fulfill His heart’s desire to bless someone, as well as being glorified by His divine intervention.
The devil’s constant opposition to blessings
Be aware that the devil will be working overtime to keep you from being obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit concerning opportunities God places before you to be a blessing to someone. As our Lord Jesus stated in John 10:10 that the devil does not come except to “steal, kill, and destroy.”
Other than always being in opposition to God and His plans, this is the only reason the devil gets involved in your life. The devil does not want God glorified, nor man blessed.
When the devil succeeds in getting you to disobey the Holy Spirit, then there is a double whammy involved. No one involved is blessed, and the devil will be able to legally harass you with guilt, shame, and regrets because of your disobedience.
I didn't fail, I passed!
Great! You have correctly responded to the Holy Spirit and you should expect a blessing from the Father. Just praise Him for allowing you to be a part of a divine appointment and expect the blessing to follow.
But I missed it, now what?
Sometimes it takes a lot of training for us to learn and be able to be sensitive to those times of divine opportunity. Don’t give up! The Father’s heart is to bless his creation.
If you have come to the conclusion that you missed an opportunity and failed the test,
then repent, and look for more opportunities to come. The test you failed does not mean the end of your life. God is always looking for opportunities to shower the blessings of the Kingdom of God on His children.
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