Acts 20:22-24
Here are 3 signs God is telling you to move.
And to clarify, these points can be applied to physically moving, like when it comes to housing, but they can also be applied to a spiritual move where you make changes in your spiritual community and relationships.
1. If You Are Surrounded By Ungodliness, God Could Be Telling You to Move
There is warning (1 Corinthians 15:33) after warning (James 4:4) after warning (1 John 2:15) in the Bible about not getting attached to godless people. Yes, Christians are called to be a light to the world, but we are never supposed to be of the world.
If you are stuck in a group of friends who love indulging in drunkenness and sexual sin, God is calling you out from this. If you are in a church that is like a whitewashed tomb, beautiful on the outside but actually dead inside, God is calling you to move from there. And if you are in a city that has too many old temptations for you, God could be telling you it’s time to physically move your place of living as well. Notice in 2 Peter 2:6-9 how we are reminded of God moving Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah:
. . . if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials . . .”
Don’t be like Lot’s wife. She looked back, longing for the evil God was moving her away from; this destroyed her. Go forward with Jesus. He’s moving you into something much better (Luke 17:32-33).
2. If You Sense a Pressing Ministry Need Calling You Away from Your Current Place
Paul was a man always on the move. But he wasn’t running from something; rather, he was always running towards something. Paul wasn’t concerned about the dangers facing him. He was concerned with the ministries God was calling him to. As he said in Acts 20:22-24, which states:
And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
If you are stagnant and not being used in ministry where you are at, God may be using this fruitlessness as a sign that it’s time to move. If you want to know where God is calling you to go, ask, “Where am I needed the most?” Sometimes you are needed right where you are. And sometimes you will be needed somewhere new.
No matter what, always obey God’s ministry calling on your life, whether that means you need to stay or go.
3. If Your Current Place of Living Is Asking You to Leave
You may want to stay in a relationship. You may want this person to be the one God has for you. You may be willing to fight through all the issues. But if this person doesn’t feel the same way, if they don’t see you as the one for them, and if they are not willing to fight through anymore issues with you, God is calling you to move on.
Your church may reject you in every way possible. They may gossip about you. They may stick you in a corner and never get to know what ministry gifts you have. And they may grow annoyed by your passion for Jesus. They are asking you to leave.
Sometimes it doesn’t matter how good you are at evangelism. It doesn’t matter how influential your preaching is. It doesn’t matter how much love and sacrifice you are willing to give a place. Some ground is just not good soil.
God has not called you to waste your life on people who are asking you to leave them alone. As Jesus said to the disciples in Matthew 10:14, “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.”
If you current location is asking you to leave, this is a sign God is telling you to move. God wants you in a place where you are wanted.
