Make Room
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about what it means to make room. We’ve looked at different people in the book of Acts, different moments, different places, and different circumstances. But as we’ve walked through these stories together, one thing has kept standing out to me: making room isn’t just something we do for a few weeks during a message series. It’s the way followers of Jesus are called to live.
Jesus has called us to go and make disciples. So making room isn’t simply about being more welcoming or becoming better at noticing people. It means living with enough availability that God can use our lives to help someone else find and follow Jesus.
God has made room for us, and because He has, we have the opportunity to make room for someone else. That sounds simple, but living it out can be a little more challenging. Making room often requires something from us. It may require us to change our plans, notice someone we’ve overlooked, listen when we would rather move ahead, or walk across a room when staying where we are would be much more comfortable. Sometimes, it simply requires us to be available.
It Starts in Us
One story we looked at during this series was Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian man in Acts 8. Philip was in Samaria, where God was doing incredible things. People were responding to the Gospel and lives were being changed. Then, in the middle of it all, God told Philip to leave.
He was leaving a revival for a road. He was leaving crowds for one person. And Philip went.
He didn’t know everything God was doing. He didn’t know who he would meet. He made himself available to God. That challenges me because I like to know the plan. Most of us do. We want to understand where we’re going and why. But God’s assignments rarely make complete sense in the moment, and they often come at inconvenient times.
Philip’s obedience put him in the right place to meet a man searching for God. This was a man from a different country, culture, and background, someone Philip probably never would have met on his own. Yet God knew where Philip was, and God knew where this man was. What looked like a random encounter was anything but random.
Sometimes making room for someone else begins by allowing God to make room in us. Room to change our plans, challenge our assumptions, interrupt our schedules, and move us toward people we might otherwise pass by.
One statement I shared during that message has stayed with me: You cannot reach people you refuse to move toward.
Think about the people God has already placed around you. Is there someone you’ve kept at a distance? Maybe not intentionally. Maybe moving toward them would be uncomfortable or inconvenient. What might happen if you made room? Sometimes someone’s encounter with Jesus may begin with our willingness to walk across the room.
Watch or Listen to “Make Room for Them.”
Learn to Listen
Of course, that raises another question: How do I know when God is asking me to move?
That can be difficult, especially if you’re still learning what it means to follow the Holy Spirit. Acts 16 gives us a fascinating picture of this. Paul was traveling and preaching the Gospel, but the Holy Spirit stopped him twice from going where he intended. Paul had a plan, but God had a different one. Eventually, Paul received a vision of a man from Macedonia pleading, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!” And Paul went.
There’s a lesson in that story I think many of us need to remember: Closed doors aren’t always opposition. Sometimes they’re direction.
I know how easy it is to become frustrated when something doesn’t work the way we thought it would. We pray for something. We make plans. We believe we know where things are headed. Then the door closes. What if, instead of immediately asking, “Why isn’t this working?” we learned to ask, “God, are You directing me somewhere else?”
Following the Holy Spirit requires us to listen, and recognizing His voice takes time. It grows as we know His Word, spend time in prayer, and become increasingly sensitive to the Spirit’s direction in our everyday lives. And I’m not talking only about the major life decisions. I’m talking about the everyday stops and goes: speak up or stay quiet, go or wait, call them, pray for them, walk over there, have the conversation.
We can get so busy moving through life that we miss the Holy Spirit’s quiet direction in the middle of ordinary moments. Paul didn’t have the entire map. He just needed to recognize God’s direction and trust Him enough to take the next step. The same is true for us.
So let me ask you a harder question: Is there something God has already been prompting you to do that you’ve been waiting to understand before you’re willing to obey fully?
Sometimes we want the whole map. God may simply be asking us to take the next step.
Listen for His voice. Move at His direction. Make room for someone else.
Watch or listen to “Make Room by Being on the Move.”
Look at the Room You’re Already In
Here’s where this becomes very practical. Sometimes we think being used by God requires Him to send us somewhere completely different. Maybe He will. But maybe He has already put you exactly where He wants to use you.
Think about the rooms you walk into every week: a breakroom, classroom, family room, waiting room, conference room, hospital room, ball field, or coffee shop. Maybe even a room you never wanted to be in.
As we wrapped up this series, we looked at Paul’s story. Throughout Acts, Paul found himself in all kinds of rooms. Some were rooms of crisis. Some were filled with conflict. Sometimes he was forced to wait. Eventually, he found himself standing in rooms with people of tremendous influence. The rooms changed, but his calling didn’t. Everywhere Paul went, he carried the same thing with him: the story of what Jesus had done in his life.
That’s why I believe rooms are not accidents. Sometimes they are assignments.
What if we started looking at our lives that way? What if instead of waiting for some big opportunity to be used by God, we started paying attention to the people He has already placed around us? Your workplace can be a mission field. Your neighborhood can be a mission field. Your school can be a mission field. Your home can be a mission field.
So think about your own life for a moment. What room has God already placed you in that you’ve never considered part of your mission?
You don’t have to stand on a stage. You don’t need a theology degree, and you don’t have to have all the answers. You have a story.
Tell Your Story
When Paul stood before an angry crowd in Acts 22, he didn’t give them a complicated presentation. He told them what Jesus had done in his life. He told them who he was, how Jesus got his attention, the moment everything changed, and what happened afterward.
That was his God Story, and you have one too.
Maybe your story doesn’t involve a dramatic Damascus Road moment. That’s okay. How did Jesus get your attention? When did you realize you needed Him? What has He changed in you? What is He still changing? Where have you seen His faithfulness?
The Gospel is the good news of what Jesus has done. Your testimony is the story of what happened when that good news became personal to you. You don’t have to make your story impressive, and you don’t have to make it sound like someone else’s testimony. You have to be willing to tell the truth about what Jesus has done.
I’ll be the first to admit that telling someone about Jesus can feel intimidating. We can convince ourselves that we need the perfect words or that we need to be ready to answer every question. We don’t.
Sometimes fear keeps us quiet because we start asking ourselves, “What if I say the wrong thing? What if they don’t respond? What if they think differently about me? What if nothing happens?” But the results aren’t ours to control. Our responsibility is to be faithful with the opportunity God gives us and trust Him with what happens next.
Your story could be the doorway God uses to make room for someone else.
Watch or listen to “Make Room to Tell Your Story.”
Who Are You Making Room For?
The series may be over, but I hope the question stays with us: Who are you making room for?
Maybe a name is already coming to mind. It could be a coworker, neighbor, friend, family member, someone sitting across the classroom, or someone you see every week but have never really taken the time to know.
Maybe your next step is an invitation or a conversation. Or it’s sharing your story. Maybe it’s listening more closely to the Holy Spirit and being willing to change direction when He leads. Maybe it’s simply waking up tomorrow and praying, “God, make me available.”
I don’t know who God might put in your path this week, but He does. He knows where you are, and He knows where they are. He knows the person, the time, and the place. Our job is to stay close enough to hear His voice and willing enough to move when He calls.
Philip started out serving tables. Later, Scripture calls him Philip the evangelist. And by Acts 21, we get a glimpse of something else: Philip was raising a family God was using, too. His obedience didn’t just affect one moment. It became part of a legacy.
The room you make today may shape generations you haven’t even met yet.
Before you move on with your day, take a moment and ask God one simple question: “Who are You asking me to make room for?”
Don’t force an answer. Just listen. If a name comes to mind, write it down. Pray for that person this week. Ask God to allow you to move toward them, and be willing to move when it comes.
You don’t need the whole map. You need to be available for the next step.
God made room for us. Now it’s our turn to make room for others.
Go Deeper with Make Room
If this has challenged you to think differently about the people and places God has put in your life, I’d encourage you to spend some more time with the Make Room series. You can watch the message, listen to the podcast, and find resources to help you continue putting what we’ve learned into practice.
