• ESPAÑOL: Cómo escuchar la voz del Espíritu Santo y poner dinero dentro de un libro devocional evitaron un robo

In these tumultuous times, it is becoming increasingly important that we hear and discern when the Holy Spirit is speaking to us.

I believe God speaks to us more often than we realize, but many of us are failing to recognize it. We need to become accustomed to the tone of the Holy Spirit’s voice, listen, and obey.

In an article on her blog, I Chase Sunsets, Beverly Green shared the time the Holy Spirit spoke to her. By listening to His very specific guidance, she avoided a serious loss due to a robbery.

Beverly, who has written several Bible devotionals, is also a school teacher in St Clairsville, Ohio.

Several years back, she was helping chaperone a group of senior Christian high school students on a trip to Orlando. They had a few excursions planned that included a visit to Universal Studios, Discovery Cove, and as well participating in a project at the facilities of the Wycliffe Bible Translators.

They had arranged for the students to stay in two homes, one for the girls and the other for the boys. Beverly, of course, was chaperoning the girls.

Most of the students had paid for the trip in advance, so she was given a check from the school to cover the costs of their stay and various activities. She intended to convert the $2,200 into traveler’s checks, which was a popular and safe way of transporting money at that time.

However, those plans were disrupted by the birth of a grandchild the day before, so she ended up just taking it out in cash, and she hid most of the money, $2,000, in a secret compartment in her suitcase.

That night, as she was falling to sleep on the couch, the Holy Spirit spoke to her, “Bev, move the money.”

At first, she shrugged the thought off, but as she drifted off to sleep, she heard it again, “Bev, move the money.” She continued to ignore this still small voice, and then it happened a third time, the same message telling her to move the money.

Finally, unable to ignore it anymore. She said, “OK, OK, I’ll move the money!”

She took the money out of the secret compartment in her suitcase, put it inside the flap of her devotional book, and stuck her Bible on top of that.

She would find a better place for the money the next day.

When the next day arrived, the students were excited about their planned trip. Half the group was going to Cape Canaveral and the other half to Discovery Cove.

Since she had enough money to cover the expenses of the day, she completely forgot about the money stashed inside her devotional, sitting underneath her Bible.

As they were driving back from their visit to Cape Canaveral, they received a phone call from the other group who had gone to Discovery Cove and arrived at the house first.

Thieves had broken into their house. They took everything of value, including electronics, jewelry, and even designer sneakers.

Immediately, Beverly asked if her devotional books were still there.

The thieves had not stolen them.

When her van arrived at the house, she immediately looked for her devotional book with the Bible sitting on top.

It was untouched. The money was still there.

But her suitcase was gone, and the police suspected the thieves had used it to haul away the stolen goods.

Had she not listened and responded to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, the $2,000 would have been lost.

It was a powerful testimony to the students of how the Holy Spirit will help if we listen to Him speaking to us.

The Book of Job is arguably one of the Bible’s oldest books. Many believe that this account comes from that period, just before the flood.

In it, we read of the terrible things that happened to Job as a direct result of a satanic attack. Job’s wealth was wiped out and his children were killed.

As he was going through these terrible trials, some friends popped by to give Job some advice.

One, Eihu, offers this explanation for why Job was going through this, by stating, “Indeed God speaks once, or twice, yet no one notices it” (Job 33:14).

Other versions read that when God speaks to us, some don’t perceive it.

Eihu was implying that Job was in this predicament because he had not listened to God. Though God speaks to us, Job had failed to perceive this as a voice of God and if he had, Job could have avoided all this suffering.

We know in this instance, that this is not what happened to Job.

However, Eihu’s advice revealed that these ancient patriarchs were accustomed to having God speak to them, and like today, some were having problems perceiving God’s voice.