- Living Gospel Letters
- Posts
- The Gospel on the Move
"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. So he arose and went."
Beloved friend,
There's something special about the way God orchestrates divine appointments. Philip was in the midst of a powerful revival in Samaria—crowds gathering, miracles flowing, hearts being transformed—when the Holy Spirit gave him what seemed like an impossible instruction: "Leave the crowds and go to the desert." No explanation. No promise of another revival. Just an angel's voice directing him toward emptiness. Yet Philip's immediate response reveals the heart of a man who understood that God's ways are higher than our ways: "So he arose and went."
 | The desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza was not a place you'd expect to find the next breakthrough for the gospel. It was a lonely, dusty path where travelers hurried through rather than lingered. But God had prepared a divine appointment that would change the course of history. |
An Ethiopian eunuch, a man of great authority under Queen Candace, sat reading from the prophet Isaiah, hungry for understanding but lacking someone to guide him. When Philip heard him reading aloud, he didn't hesitate to run alongside the chariot and ask, "Do you understand what you are reading?" The eunuch's response—"How can I, unless someone guides me?"—opened the door for one of Scripture's most beautiful evangelistic encounters.
What strikes me most about this passage is how Philip's obedience to leave the spectacular led to something even more significant—the gospel reaching into Africa through one transformed heart.
God is more eager to answer than we are to ask — the Lord had already prepared this Ethiopian's heart, already stirred his hunger for truth, already positioned him on that desert road with the scroll of Isaiah open to the very passage about the suffering Servant (Isaiah 53:7-8). Philip's role was simply to be available, to listen to the Spirit's voice, and to explain what Christ had already accomplished.
The same Spirit who directed Philip is moving today, orchestrating divine appointments in your workplace, your neighborhood, your everyday routines. The person at the grocery store, the colleague struggling with questions about faith, the family member who seems far from God—these aren't random encounters. They're opportunities for the gospel to move through your availability.
Like Philip, we're called to leave our comfort zones, to listen for the Spirit's voice, His direction, and to trust that God has already been preparing hearts we haven't even met yet. The gospel is always on the move, and it moves through ordinary believers who say yes to extraordinary obedience.
When fear whispers that you are not enough, resurrection power declares you are more than a conqueror. When circumstances suggest defeat, resurrection power announces victory. When your strength fails, His never-ending supply is already dwelling within you, waiting to be acknowledged and released by faith.
May you step into each moment of your day with the profound awareness that you carry within you the greatest power in the universe—not as a theological concept, but as the living, breathing presence of the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead.
Today, let this truth settle deep: God's mission cannot be contained by human limitations or expectations. What seems like an interruption to your plans may be His divine appointment for someone's breakthrough.
For reflection: Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the divine appointments He's placing in your path this week. Who might He be calling you to approach with the gospel? What "desert road" is He asking you to walk in faith?
With the Spirit and the Word,
– The Living Gospel Letters Team