The Nudge Is Holy

What if God is closer than your hesitation.

Here’s a challenge - have you ever felt that brief nudge from the Spirit and then watched it fade as you hesitated? It’s easy to put the ear plugs in as Paul calls to the church in these difficult days; “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14.1)

He’s not offering a friendly suggestion that will be attended to by the one extravert in Church. He is giving the church a command that carries weight, because he knows what happens when the people of God stop expecting God to speak through them. The room goes quiet, the saints settle for less, and the church becomes a place of polite faith instead of living encounter.

Here’s the thing. When Paul says earnestly desire, he is calling for a posture of pursuit that refuses to coast. He’s saying literally, keep pursuing and keep zealously desiring. Don’t stop! Desire is not passive. It reaches. It asks again. It knocks until something opens. And prophecy in particular carries this strange quality.

It strengthens and brings great courage comforting the weary and those who are longing for God’s intervention. It also powerfully reminds us that Jesus isn’t some distant character in world history but He’s our Lord, present, speaking, guiding, breathing life into places we’d written off as dead.

What this really means is that ignoring that inner prompting has consequences. Not in a harsh or punitive way, but in the sober sense that one day our lives will be laid bare before the One who entrusted us with His Spirit. Paul says each of us will give an account for what we have done in the body. It is not hard to imagine that part of that moment will involve what we did with the gifts He handed us or told us to seek. Not just how we resisted sin, but how we responded to lavish, unfettered, extravagant grace. Whether we stepped forward when the Spirit whispered speak. Whether we carried His encouragement to someone whose faith was hanging by a thread.

I’m not talking about legalistic pressure. I’m talking about responsibility. There’s a difference. Pressure comes from fear. Responsibility flows from love.

It’s worth pausing for a closer look here. When the Holy Spirit is prompting you there’s a quiet certainty. Perhaps there is a name that won’t leave your mind. A sense that a sentence or picture is sitting right on the edge of your heart. In that moment you are not trying to manufacture something supernatural. You are simply choosing whether to trust the One who knows exactly what another believer needs. When you speak, you do not carry the weight of being right. You carry the weight of being obedient. The Spirit handles the rest.

I wonder if it is possible that one day the Lord will ask us why we stayed silent when we knew the word would strengthen someone. It’s not passive legalism - we have to acknowledge that this is grace-filled invitation. He is too kind to shame us, and too committed to His people to let us drift into safe neutrality. He calls us forward because He knows the joy on the other side of obedience. That obedience means someone is encouraged. Someone is steadied. Someone realises that God has not forgotten them. And you personally get to see grace move through your own voice.

Paul’s imperative still stands. Earnestly desire. Don’t wait for the perfect moment that is like the smoke of a candle in the wind. Don’t wait to feel spiritual enough - the anointing surging through you and your face shining like Moses’ did. No, with simple, faithful, tender-hearted obedience step toward the gift with open hands.

Ask the Spirit to stir what He has already placed within you. Prophesy (share) in humility. Prophesy in love. Prophesy because Christ is alive, risen, reigning, and building His church - and when that prompting comes again, take the step you didn’t take last time. Just do it. Nike! Not to prove anything, but because love compels you and because the grace that saved you is the same grace that speaks through you.