Walking, Walmart, Worship - Utah Devotional (March 22)

Good Morning! This is our first early morning devotional together. It’s our first full day of ministry in Cedar City. Some of you experienced this last year, and others have probably heard about it already. Today is the day we go to Walmart. Yes, Walmart. Today is the day we walk around the store, talk with people, and look for opportunities to share the gospel. 

But before we talk about the logistics of how that will work today, I want to pause and make something very clear: Walmart is going to look a little different. In the past, it may have felt like the goal was to talk to as many people as possible. Maybe it even felt like a competition, like we were trying to evangelize to x number of people just to hit a quota. If that’s the culture I’ve unintentionally created before, I want to apologize. Because today is not about numbers. Today is about worship.

We’re not going to Walmart trying to accomplish something impressive for God. We’re going because we want to walk with Him. We want to rely on the Holy Spirit and worship Him through obedience. And honestly, I think today might be one of the coolest days of the entire trip—not because of what we accomplish, but because of what God might show us about His Spirit. 

Now let’s be clear about something. The Holy Spirit is not some toy we pull out when we want a spiritual moment. He isn’t something we put on a shelf and pick up when we feel like using Him. He is the third person of the Trinity. He is holy. He is eternal. He is the Comforter. He transforms hearts and changes lives. He is the God of the Bible. And if you have trusted in Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. 

Think about that for a moment. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now lives in you. Your salvation itself is evidence of His work. None of us saved ourselves. The Father sent the Son, the Son gave His life on the cross, and the Spirit applied that work to our hearts and made us new. So if the Spirit of God lives in us, the natural response of our lives should be worship. But worship is often misunderstood.

When most people hear the word worship, they think about reading the Bible, praying, or singing songs. Those things are absolutely worship, and they’re incredibly important. That’s why our trip is filled with moments like that. But biblically speaking, worship is more than that. Worship is experiencing God and extending Him to others. First, we experience Him. Then, we extend Him.

Experiencing God is where Bible reading, prayer, and singing come in. It’s where we slow down and take in who He is. It’s why this morning you spent time in Scripture before breakfast. We want to experience Him first before we spend a day extending Him to others. Because the truth is this: You cannot extend what you haven’t experienced. But here’s the beautiful part. These two things actually work together. The more we experience God, the more naturally we extend Him. And when we extend Him, it pushes us back to experiencing Him again. It becomes a cycle of worship: Experience. Extend. Experience. Extend. 

But in our culture, those two things often get separated. Some people focus only on experiencing God. They read, pray, worship, and learn, but it never flows outward. As Pastor Lane humorously says, they become “spiritually constipated.” They take in a lot, but nothing ever comes out (disgusting, right?). On the other hand, some people focus only on extending God. They serve constantly, work hard, and try to do ministry, but they rarely slow down to experience Him. Eventually they become exhausted and burnt out. Both of those paths lead to spiritual malnourishment.

Healthy worship includes both. And the key to both of them is understanding the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is called our Helper, but that doesn’t mean He does everything while we sit back spiritually relaxed. He isn’t a housemaid vacuuming our hearts while we lounge in a spiritual La-Z-Boy. He is God living in us, empowering us to walk with Him. 

So what does this look like today as we walk around Walmart? It means we rely on Him. Instead of forcing conversations, we walk naturally. Instead of trying to manufacture moments, we pray constantly. We ask the Spirit to guide us, prompt us, and give us words. If you clearly share the gospel with someone, amazing. If you encourage someone who is struggling, amazing. If you pray for someone, amazing. The goal is not the outcome. The goal is obedience to the Spirit.

But that raises an important question: How do we actually rely on the Spirit? Scripture shows us that what happens before we speak, while we speak, and after we speak matters deeply.

Before We Speak - Before we ever open our mouths, we are called to walk with and be filled with the Spirit. In Ephesians 5, Paul tells believers to be filled with the Spirit. The language there describes a continual filling. The Spirit fills us, but we choose whether we yield to His work. Every moment we are under the influence of something. We are either influenced by the world, by our own desires, or by the Spirit. When we walk with the Spirit, our lives begin to produce what Galatians calls the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To “walk” with the Spirit means to orient our entire lives around Christ. It means being preoccupied with Him—thinking about Him, depending on Him, and looking at every situation through His lens. And how do we learn to walk like that? Through the simple rhythms God has given us: The Word, Prayer, Worship, Fellowship. Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell richly in you.” Not around you. Not near you. In you. The more His Word fills us, the more clearly we recognize His voice.

While We Speak - When we actually step into a conversation, something incredible happens: we are not alone. When Jesus sent His disciples out in Matthew 10, He told them not to worry about what they would say. Why? Because the Spirit of the Father would speak through them. That truth should do two things for us. It should encourage us because the pressure is not on us to say everything perfectly. And it should embolden us because the Spirit of God is working through us. We are simply vessels. So when you walk around Walmart today, ask the Spirit for words. Ask Him for wisdom. Ask Him to show you who to talk to. And trust that He is with you. He doesn’t push you ahead alone. He walks with you.

After We Speak - After a conversation ends, there is another temptation that creeps into our hearts. If things went well, we may want to take credit. We might think, “That was a great conversation. I did pretty well.” But if we truly relied on the Spirit, we know the truth: He was the one speaking. So instead of boasting in ourselves, we boast in Jesus. In Galatians 6, Paul says he never wants to boast in anything except the cross of Christ. Every conversation becomes another opportunity to turn our hearts back toward worship. And suddenly we find ourselves back where we started. Experiencing Him. Extending Him. Experiencing Him again.

Today we step into a culture that is different from home. Cedar City, and Utah as a whole, has unique spiritual dynamics. For many people here, their beliefs are deeply connected to family and tradition. If they choose to follow Jesus, it can come with a real cost. That reality reminds us of something important: We cannot do this on our own. And maybe that’s exactly the point.

So here is my prayer for you today, and it might sound a little unusual: I pray you feel unprepared. I pray you feel dependent. I pray you realize you don’t have the perfect words. Because when that happens, you will rely on the Holy Spirit in a way you never have before. And when that happens, you will discover something incredible: God doesn’t just want to use you on this trip; He wants you to experience Him.

So today, remember three simple words: Walking, Walmart, Worship. Walk with the Spirit. Trust Him in every moment (even in Walmart). And let everything point back to worship. Because the God who lives inside of you is already at work in the people around you. We simply get the privilege of joining Him.

Suggested Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we recognize that we cannot do this mission in our own strength. Fill us, guide us, and give us the words to speak as we step out in faith today. Help us walk wisely, boldly, and humbly as we represent Jesus. May our lives point others to You. Amen.

Scripture:

• Matthew 10:1-20

• Ephesians 5:15-21

• Galatians 6:11-18

Questions To Ponder:

• Individual

  • Where do you feel most inadequate or nervous when it comes to this mission?

  • What would it look like for you to rely on the Holy Spirit instead of yourself today?

• Group Questions

  • In Matthew 10, Jesus sends His disciples without having everything figured out—how does that challenge or encourage you?

  • Ephesians 5 talks about being “filled with the Spirit”—what do you think that actually looks like in real life?