Love Your Neighborنموونە

Following God’s Lead

Over the course of this Bible Plan, we’ve talked about some of the best ways we can love our neighbors—by finding community, meeting needs, facing obstacles, and more. To wrap up our time, we’ll cover one thing that we never want to lose sight of when it comes to caring for the people around us: We always want to follow God’s lead.

Following God’s lead can feel simple, at times. There are seasons of life when the next steps He has lined up for us feel pretty intuitive. This might look like caring for someone within your immediate orbit, or using a strength you’ve always known you had, or following a passion that’s been consistently heavy on your heart.

But sometimes, God leads us to take steps that seem pretty out-there. Sometimes, He calls us to love our neighbors across town—or on the other side of the world. Sometimes He asks us to trust that He can work through our weaknesses, and not just our strengths. And sometimes He might ask us to meet a need that doesn’t at all align with our areas of passion.

In these situations, following Him doesn’t always seem so easy.

Philip, one of the 12 disciples, would have been able to relate.

Acts 8 tells us that Philip traveled to Samaria, a region in Israel, to share the good news about Jesus. The people loved the message he shared so much that crowds started following him. He performed miracles and healed people of illnesses and evil spirits, prompting joy everywhere he went.

And in the middle of this great ministry, what did God ask Philip to do? Stand by a road in the middle of the desert.

Philip could have protested—he could have tried convincing God that he was much better suited to continue reaching multitudes of people in Samaria. Or that this journey could wait a month or two. But instead, Philip followed God’s lead.

On his way, Philip met an Ethiopian man in service to the queen of Ethiopia. Philip led this man to faith in Jesus, before the Spirit of the Lord whisked Philip away to another place! And church tradition states that the Ethiopian man went on to share the good news with many other people in the regions of his native land.

Philip would never know the impact his obedience had on the people of Ethiopia. But because he followed God’s lead, those people heard about God’s love for them for the first time.

Sometimes, following God’s lead won’t make sense in the moment. But when it comes to loving our neighbors (and everything else we do in this life), trusting God and following His lead is the best thing we can do.

Pray: Father, thank You for how much You love us. I want to follow Your lead and show Your love to the people around me. Would You guide me and help me see how I can share Your love? Help me to step into the opportunities You give me. In Jesus’ name, amen.