Acts: A 14-Day Devotional For MenSample

The Lord is Mighty to Save
Acts 8:26–40

Many of the stories in Acts illustrate the importance of being willing to be led by the Spirit. This is especially important when it comes to evangelism. 

You would probably agree that evangelism can be frustrating. We are frustrated with our lack of courage or the lack of response from our hearers. We can be frustrated when opportunities seem to be lacking or when we simply don’t know what to say when someone throws us a theological curveball. We can also be frustrated because we don’t know how to get started without making it awkward or embarrassing. 

These feelings are to be expected: evangelism is hard! But we can find comfort in Acts 8:26–40 because it shows us the “bigger picture” of evangelism. First, it shows that evangelism isn’t something that we necessarily have to plan out and execute successfully; it depends on the leading of the Spirit. We see that Philip received an explicit command from God to go to a certain location because there was someone whom God had chosen to hear the good news about Jesus. We might not hear an audible voice from God, but we can expect the Spirit to lead us. Perhaps our prayer could be something like this: “God, would you bring people into my life today who need to hear your good news and are open and willing to respond?” You might be surprised at how often God is pleased to answer this prayer. 

Second, it is important to remember that God is working even before we ask. We know that he “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), and we see that God is clearly in control of saving those whom he has called. If anything is obvious from this text, it is that this was no chance encounter. God had a plan to save this Ethiopian official, and Philip was the agent whom he used to bring that plan to pass. 

Being open to God’s leading isn’t a guarantee that evangelism will be easy or automatic; elsewhere in Acts, although the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, their audience turned against them and drove them out of the city (Acts 13:50–52). But it does mean that we don’t need to feel pressured to perform a certain way or get certain results. God will settle the who and the how. 

This should bring us great comfort. God is saving people in our day. He is mighty to save, and when he saves, all glory goes to him alone, and we receive the joy of knowing that we’ve been used by God.—Justin S. Holcomb