Those Unidentified Inner Promptings, Part 3

Chuck Swindoll: If there's anything that troubles me about our culture and our times, it is the noise of it all, and the pace of it all. Because I think it works against the voice of God, quietly speaking to reach us.
Guest (Male): Last time on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll took us inside one of the Bible's most dramatic moments. The prophet Elijah, exhausted and broken, had encountered God, not in wind or earthquake or fire, but in something far quieter and more personal. Today on Insight for Living, we pick up right there as that gentle encounter begins to change everything for Elijah. And from this turning point, Chuck will show us what it looks like to move toward God rather than away from him. Teaching from 1 Kings 19, Chuck titled his message, Those Unidentified Inner Promptings.
Chuck Swindoll: It was in a soft, gentle rustling that God revealed himself to Elijah. The result is that Elijah wraps his mantle around him and walks toward God rather than from him. Comes to the mouth of the cave and is led ultimately to meet up with Elisha, and they together as partners make their way right on until Elijah is taken off the earth. With his mantle wrapped around him, he began to pursue further and further God's plan for his life. It broke what had paralyzed him. But the point I want to make is the turning point was this unidentified inner prompting, gentle, quiet. If there's anything that troubles me about our culture and our times, it is the noise of it all, and the pace of it all. Because I think it works against the voice of God, quietly speaking to reach us. Take time. Take time to listen. God's voice may be in the earthquake or the fire. There are messages there. You'll hear his voice in those quiet moments when it comes like a gentle rustling, a reassuring word that life is worth living, worth going on. His inner promptings will come in the deep well of our spirit, where he simply says, "Yes, go there," or "Wait," or "No, stay away from that." I'll not take your time, but I could to tell you of moments in my life when I thought it just isn't worth it, in light of all the stuff I feel stacking on top. And then in a quiet moment, it's remarkable how that all gets turned around and figured out. And I realize now it was the work of the Spirit bringing reassurance. Turn from 1 Kings 19 to Acts chapter 20. Here's another setting, another person, and his life has been changed. His name is Paul. He's meeting with a group of elders from from Ephesus and he's saying his final goodbye. And he's on his way to Jerusalem, but what he tells them troubles them. It's come from an inner prompting from the Spirit of God. Acts 20, verse 22. Paul says, "And now behold, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there." Look closely at the next verse, "except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me." I find that intriguing. What was that? It was a UIP, an unidentified inner prompting. I've been with the Lord and I've met with him and I've sought his guidance, and he's told me you're to go to Jerusalem, Paul. But there's also been that inner sense, that spoken voice of the Spirit saying, "Beware, there's trouble ahead." And sure enough there was. It was there he was arrested more than once. It was from there he was sent to Rome where ultimately he was imprisoned, had an audience before Nero and finally beheaded. But all the troubles started in Jerusalem. The Spirit told him that would happen. Saying, testifying to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. But look at his response, "But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself." Remember his words, Philippians 1:21, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." "So that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God." I think this kind of inner prompting explains the courage of the first century persecuted Christians and the 21st century persecuted Christians. The Spirit of God gave them not only an awareness of danger, but also the confidence that they could bear up under it. It had come from this inner prompting of the Spirit saying, "It is going to be dreadful for you, but I will give you the strength to endure." What I'm saying to you today is that sometimes these inner promptings are not relieving in the sense that they are taking away the pressure. They are just announcing to you ahead of time, "By doing this, you know that trouble is ahead, but I will give you the courage and the conviction to stand fast." I don't know what the future holds for some of you, but you may have such a prompting in your experience and in your life. And if you do, my challenge to you today is to obey the guidance of the Spirit. Don't run from the trouble. Don't hold back, because if it is his will, he will give you the strength to endure. Speaking of that, look at Acts 27. Here's another example. The Spirit of God is at work even when danger is upon us. If you love sailing, you owe yourself the reading of Acts 27. This is the perfect storm that sweeps into the Mediterranean. The unfortunate part of it is that Paul is on a ship with 276 people, and he has the sense from the Holy Spirit that there is going to be not only tragedy, but there's going to be damage to the ship. However, there will not be one loss of life. Look at verse 10 of chapter 27. Paul speaks to his fellow companions, the other sailors. He said to them, "Men, I perceive that..." Oh, wait, stop. UIP in progress. "I perceive." There's another one of our words. "I sense." How did he sense it? The Spirit of God communicated it to him. Because he is built in the image of God, in the likeness of God, and the Spirit of God connects with him saying, "Paul, you need to know something. This is what's ahead." Look at what he perceives. "I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with danger and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives." Look at the next verse, "But the Centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul." Verse 25 of Acts 27. "Keep up your courage. I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. We must run aground on a certain island." And that's indeed what they do. But every person on the ship is saved. In times of potential and even present danger, Paul is saying, "Let's press on." Ultimately, they did listen to Paul. Ultimately, there was a shipwreck. Ultimately, they all got off on the island and they were all safe and rescued. They were all wet, but they were all safe when they got there. The good news in times of potential or present danger, the Spirit of God can bring peace. In fact, Paul has such peace, he sits down and has a meal with others on the very deck of that ship. And finally they make their way through. Verse 34, end of the chapter, or toward the end. "Therefore, I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your preservation, for not a hair from the head of any of you, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish." Verse 37. "All of us in the ship were 276 persons." Look at the end of the verse, the last verse. "We read it happened that they all were brought safely to land." Exactly what Paul had said would happen in verse 22. Keep your courage. There will be no loss of life among us. How did he know it? Inner promptings. One more is worth our time and that's it. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Paul has been given incredible revelations from God in the third heaven. As a result, he could have been exalted in his own pride and puffed up. And the Lord said, "No, I'm not going to let that happen." So he sent a thorn in the flesh, for whatever it was, and there are all kinds of surmising. It was a very physical, painful thing and it certainly kept him humble. Look at the look at what follows, verse 7, 2 Corinthians 12. "Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, that was permitted by the way by the Lord, to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself." "Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me." Don't go any further. You've been there, haven't you? Haven't you had a situation happen that you pray about and nothing happens? And you pray again and nothing happens? And you pray again and nothing happens? I think every hand would go up. We've all been there. In this case, the answer came, "No. No. No, I'm not going to take away the thorn. You're going to live with that." Somewhere between the reality of that and Paul's getting the message in verse 9, there is an unidentified inner prompting. And the message came in this form, verse 9, verse 10. "He has said to me..." Oh, there's a UIP at work. "He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.'" And it changed Paul's whole perspective. And his response? Wow. What a great attitude. "Most gladly therefore, most gladly therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weakness, insults, distresses, persecution, difficulties, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong." We love the verse of scripture, but the living out of that verse is quite a challenge. If you are finding yourself in a weakened state, it is easy to be demoralized by it. And here the Apostle says, "Don't don't go there," in so many words. Most of us have learned in our years of walking with the Lord that he blesses times of our great weakness with great favor. If you have ever carried out his will and his work in a weak manner, you have seen him come through and bless it. The Lord has used messages I've preached in a situation in which I was struggling with something that was years ago, and I could hardly get my words out. And later found out that message ministered to people like many of the others I preached had never touched them. But there was something about the message delivered in weakness. Richard Halverson left his long-term pastorate from a church, a fourth Presbyterian church, to become the chaplain of the Senate. He felt inadequate. In his words, "I felt like a non-person among the Congress." "I felt like a mascot to one of the most powerful political bodies in the world. I wondered what I was doing there." That evening he read the words of Jesus, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, and surely I am with you always." He adds, "As I meditated on those words, I realized I am a garment which Jesus Christ wears every day to do what he wants to do in the United States Senate." "I don't need power. My weakness is an asset." "If Christ is in me, what more do I need?" And I say that to you who feel like you don't have great gifts or you haven't been used in a great way. Here is hope for all of us. Have you known weakness? If the scripture is true and it always is, there is a contentment with weakness, knowing that he ends the verse, "When I am weak, then I am strong." How can I be assured of that? The inner prompting of the Spirit. The inner prompting, that unidentified inner prompting that says, "It's okay that you're weak. It's okay if you're losing your voice, if you're the soloists for the day. It's okay if you don't feel like you're as well prepared as you should be. It's okay. In your weakness, God will make up the slack." A couple of very practical issues and we close with this. Number one, when we're not sure it's from the Spirit, what do we do? Two words, "Back off." That wasn't hard, was it? You sense this is contradicting the written word of God, get away from it. You sense this may not be coming from the Spirit, don't mess with it. You sense that there might even be demonic influence, get away from it. That is a prompting you don't need and you don't want to mess with. What do I do when I am sure? My answer then again is two words, "Stand strong." "Trust God." But I would add, "Be ready for a surprise." When God leads through times like this, always has unexpected events added to it. And I close with a true story that illustrates this beautifully. It's about a 72-year-old Baptist preacher named Charles McCoy. McCoy was pastoring a Baptist church in Oyster Bay, New York, when at age 72, he was mandated by his denomination to retire. A lifelong bachelor, he had cared for his mother for as long as she lived. In his spare time, he had earned seven university degrees, including two PhDs, one from Dartmouth, the other from Columbia. But now at age 72, he was being forced to retire from the ministry and he was depressed. "I just lay on my bed thinking that my life is over. I haven't really done anything yet. I've been a pastor of this church for so many years and nobody really wants me that much. What have I done for Christ? I've spent an awful lot of time working for degrees, but what does that count for? I haven't won very many to the Lord." A week later he met a Christian pastor from India. And on impulse, UIP, I've written in my notes. On impulse, I ask him to preach in my church. After the service, the Indian brother asked him matter-of-factly to return the favor. Another UIP, I might add. Since he had preached for McCoy, would McCoy come to India and preach for him? McCoy told him he was going to have to retire and move to a home for the elderly down in Florida. But the pastor insisted, informing McCoy that where he came from, people respected a man with white hair. Would he come? McCoy thought and prayed about it, and then, UIP, decided he would. The members of his church were aghast. Dire predictions were made. The young chairman of the board of deacons summed up the attitude of the congregation when he asked, "What if you die in India?" I love McCoy's answer. He told him he reckoned it's as close to heaven from there as it is from here. Sold most of his belongings and put what was left in a big trunk, booked a one-way passage to India, his first trip ever out of the United States. When he arrived in Bombay, he discovered to his horror that his trunk had been lost, never to be found. All he had were the clothes on his back, his wallet, his passport, and the address of missionaries in Bombay he had clipped from a missionary magazine when he left. He asked for directions, got on a street car, headed for their house. When he got there, he discovered while on the street car, his wallet and passport had been stolen. He went to the missionaries who welcomed him in, but they told him the man who had invited him to come to India was still in the United States and would probably remain there indefinitely. What in the world was he going to do now? Unperturbed by now, McCoy told them he had come to preach and that he felt, he felt, UIP, he felt that he would try to make an appointment with the mayor of Bombay. They warned him the mayor is very busy and important. In all the years they had been missionaries there, they'd never succeeded in getting an audience with the mayor. Nevertheless, McCoy set out for the mayor's office. The next day, he was invited in. When the mayor saw McCoy's business card listing all the degrees, he reasoned McCoy must be not only a Christian pastor, but someone much more important than that. Not only did he get an appointment, the mayor held a tea in his honor, attended by all of the big officials in Bombay. Old Dr. McCoy was able to preach to those leaders for half an hour. Among them was the director of India's West Point, the National Defense Academy at Puna. He was so impressed at what he heard from McCoy, he invited him to the academy to preach there to the students. Thus was launched at age 72, a brand new 16-year ministry for Dr. Charles McCoy. Until he died at age 88, this dauntless man circled the globe preaching the gospel. There's a church in Calcutta today because of his preaching, and a thriving band of Christians in Hong Kong because of his faithful ministry. What's interesting is he never had enough money than to get him to the next place he was to go. He died one afternoon in a hotel in Calcutta, resting for a meeting he was to preach at that evening. He had indeed found himself as close to heaven there as he would have been at his church in Oyster Bay or some retirement home in Florida. I love that story, because God has a way of working and moving if we'll only listen to his voice, which sometime comes in that still gentle rustling. And sometime on the deck of a ship at sea, and sometimes when other people around you are saying, "There's no way you ought to go there." And sometime when in your weakness, he plans to use you in an incredible way. The story of our lives, isn't it? Let's bow together. I never know how a message is going to strike anyone when you hear things like this. But I do know that God still speaks because you are fearfully and wonderfully made. I urge you to be sensitive to his voice. Check it with the scriptures, but don't be afraid to move out, ready for surprises. Are you aware today that that inner prompting in your life is the work of God? For many of you, it's a simple fact that you've never met Jesus as your Savior. And that inner prompting is called the conviction of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter that you can't explain that. The fact is you're experiencing it. That means you're lost. You've never met the Savior who not only died for you, he died and paid the complete penalty for your sins, past, present and future. And he holds out the gift of eternal life saying, "That's why I brought you to this place today." "This is the place you can receive the gift and know my leading like you've never known before." For others of you, it's God's way of saying, "Pay attention. I'm speaking to you." Quit hiding behind the fact that you're weak, or that you feel like you're in danger, or it's not a fire or an earthquake or a windstorm. It's a gentle rustling. Be still and learn again that he is God. Be still. Slow us down, Lord. Guard us from always increasing our speed, thinking there's something good and godly about the pace we're keeping up. Quiet our hearts so that we hear what you're saying. Deliver us from closing doors that you are opening or trying to push open doors that you have closed. Give us a reminder again and again that your inner promptings are reliable and they represent your Spirit's working. Thank you for them. Thank you for this time of learning, growing and worshiping together. In the name of our Savior, our Master and Lord Jesus, we pray. Everyone said, "Amen."
Guest (Male): These simple challenges from today's message are worth sitting with long after this broadcast ends. Slow down. Listen, because the Spirit's promptings are reliable. They're his voice, and he's speaking to us. This is Insight for Living, featuring the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll. Chuck titled today's message, Those Unidentified Inner Promptings. If you're ready to learn more or if you're looking for a way to guide your small group Bible study in meaningful discussion, we invite you to request the Searching the Scriptures Bible Study workbook for this series. It's called How Great Is Our God. You can order it online at insight.org/offer. Then let me close with a personal question. Do you ever find yourself sensing a longing for something more than this world can offer? Well, that's not restlessness, that's homesickness. According to Chuck, God put it there on purpose. We who have trusted in Jesus are in the Apostle Peter's words, aliens and strangers on this earth, foreigners longing for our homeland. The problem is most of us give surprisingly little thought to where we're actually headed. Our popular Understanding Heaven Passport changes that. In this rich, easy to understand guide, you'll understand where heaven is, who will be there, what you'll do for eternity, and why thinking seriously about your eternal home gives you hope and perseverance for the journey ahead. We invite you to get a PDF copy of our Understanding Heaven Passport. There's no cost or obligation. You can download it today by going to insight.org/heaven. Insight for Living is made possible by grateful listeners just like you who give voluntary support. And in the summer months, we often experience a lag in response from our listening family, when folks are enjoying family vacations and other summer activities. So your gift right now would help close the gap. Here's the number to call, 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/donate.
Guest (Male): I'm Bill Myers. Join us when Chuck Swindoll presents the final message of his 12-part series titled How Great Is Our God. Tomorrow on Insight for Living.
Guest (Male): The preceding message, Those Unidentified Inner Promptings, was copyrighted in 2008, 2009, 2016, 2019, and 2026, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.