The reason for this survey of divine guidance in Acts is to find similarities between the biblical accounts or examples of God’s guidance in the first century and the claims of God’s guidance, today. Just for the record, the fact that something is not mentioned doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist. It’s not provable, however. In that case, there must be some criteria by which we view the direction that God gives us, today. Let’s start this day off by comparing what we hear today in describing God’s leading and the leading in the book of Acts.
First, there is no mention of nudgings, promptings, signs, or an inner voice of God. The cases that might be used is attributed to the Holy Spirit in Acts 8:29 where Philip is told to go near and join himself to the chariot, Acts 10:19-20 where Peter is told by the Spirit to go with the three men at the door of the house because the Spirit has sent them, Acts 13:2, where the Spirit told saints at Antioch, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them,” and Acts 16:6-7 where the Spirit forbad Paul from traveling into Asia to preach. In all of these, no hint is given to a small voice, inner peace, or an occurrence to confirm a prompting of one’s own spirit. The first two were probably a clear audible voice. The text reads, “The Spirit said.” Maybe even Acts 13:2 was an audible voice as it is also described with the statement, “the Spirit said” through one of the prophets in Antioch (Acts 13:1). In the last example, it is unclear how the Spirit forbade Paul to go into Asia. It could have been in a vision, audible voice, or through prophecy. It is possible that Paul and his companions attributed any problem or resistance to the Spirit’s direction. We must certainly allow that possibility, as well. The justification for this possibility is the providential circumstances that Luke accredits to the purposes of God. An example of this is in Acts 16:9-10 where Paul receives a vision immediately after directing him to Macedonia. Verse ten reads, “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them” (KJV).
Also, there is no indication that those receiving guidance were seeking it at the time they received it. In other words, it was an intervention that was unexpected. Granted, Paul knew that his mission was directed by God, and receiving direction was not abnormal for the journey, seeing that the Spirit directed them to go (Acts 13:2). But, when they received guidance, they were not waiting for God to give them direction before starting their day each morning. They certainly do not describe at any time an attempt to discern His voice. Once given, the guidance was clear and unmistakable. No one ever said, “I feel led to…” or was ever concerned about false positives.  They did not wait for confirmation or pray that the Spirit give them clarity. There was never a hint of tuning into God’s frequency or removing all distractions to be able to perceive His will. These are commonplace among those who claim personal direction from the Spirit, today. Yet, such a pattern is missing in the Scriptures.
Finally, all the instances were supernatural events, not inner unctions or promptings.  They stand in contrast to the numerous decisions recorded that were not guided by God. Or, at least, there is never a mention of these being directed by God or that the disciples were seeking them. No one in the first century would think they had to seek God’s will on which Realtor to call, or which car dealership to visit to buy a car.  Greg Koukl cites seventy times in Acts made decisions without any mention of divine direction. The following link is a great article dealing with this matter (Greg Koukl). Oddly, the decisions that would require divine directives among people today were ordinary decisions that anyone would make based on our best judgment.