Going to a foreign land must have been daunting for people that lived before 5th or 6th century. I say this because it is estimated that maps were created sometime between the 5th and the 6th centuries. So you can’t help but wonder, how people travelled before then. They would have probably needed a local by their side 24/7. It is such an ambitious feat to go any where without a trusted guide.

Now, this may look like a devotional on tourism and you may be wondering to yourself what does hearing from God have to do with travel? But I want you to realize that the reason why we are better off than the men that travelled without maps is not just because we now have GPS devices and satellite navigation.

We have a guide that knows the entire layout of the universe. He knows every possible outcome of every possible situation and more than that he is more than willing to share this with us!

Knowing that you can hear from God changes everything about our interaction with this world. Now when we pray, we can leave the place of prayer with information that we can bank our lives on knowing that whatever he says will indeed come to pass.

‭‭Acts‬ ‭11‬:‭27‬-‭30‬

New King James Version

27 And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch.

28 Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.

29 Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.

30 This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Agabus knew by the Spirit that there was going to be a famine in the land, because of this prior knowledge they sent relief to the brethren in Judea  to prepare them for the famine. They could trust what they heard from the Lord so much that they could make decisions like this believing that indeed there was going to be a famine.

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭6‬:‭13‬-‭14‬

New King James V‬‬ersion

13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

14 Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.

If you grew up in church, you’ve probably heard this story a hundred times. Be that as it may, there are a lot of things to learn from Noah. God told him that a flood was going to come and destroy the entire earth(V.17). Mind you, Noah had never seen rain before. Noah had never experienced a flood let alone one that would destroy the whole world.

With the dimensions of the ark God gave Noah, historians believe that it would have taken at most 75 years for him to build. Noah had to have believed in God’s words so much that he was willing to embark on such a project having never seen rain or a flood before. People must have thought he was insane to do what he did, but in the end God’s words proved true and the flood indeed came. Noah and his family were saved because they loved God enough to act on his words.

There are plethora of examples in scripture of people who took God’s words seriously enough to act on them. The lesson to us today is that hearing from the Gospel puts us at a significant advantage, one that you can only benefit from if you trust him. Trust that when God tells you something He means it. He wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭18‬:‭30‬

New King James V‬‬ersion

30 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

We can trust God’s word; scripture and individual words and instructions. In fact, a great yardstick for verifying what you hear from God is if it is not in contradiction with the scriptures. So you can always be sure when a word is from God.

It would be a great disservice to you and your world if you don’t take advantage of the access we have to God. Just like men before the fifth century, it’ll be like traveling without a map. Why get lost when you can know where to go and how to get there? Do you know how great it is that we serve a God that knows the end from the beginning? Meaning that when he tells you something best believe that He knows what He is saying.

No matter how long the Israelites travelled they knew that they would get to the promised land. No matter how long they waited they knew that the messiah was coming. All these happened simply because God said so. Now that you know you can hear from the Lord, trust in His words spoken to you.

Prayer Point:

Lord teach my heart to trust you. I am sure that I hear from you and so anything you say, I believe. I act on your leadings and instructions.