THE WIND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

A number of years ago, Los Angeles used to have a major pollution problem.  For those of you that weren't around during that time - it was really bad.  Visibility was like a hot fog that hung over the city and the issue of breathing was a major concern.  Denise's granpa used to joke around by saying - "I I don't like to breathe anything I can't see."  I thought that was funny.

In order to deal with the problem the City Of Los Angeles paid a huge amount of money for a 'study' to be made on how to clean the pollution problem.  After many month and thousands of dollars they came back with their findings.  In front of TV camera's, newspaper reporters - the person in charge simply said, "We don't know what to do.  They only thing to fix this is that a wind needs to come from elsewhere and blow all this pollution away."

I've thought about that a lot - "a wind from elsewhere" aka - The WIND Of The Holy Spirit.

It's interesting in the Bible - the word SPIRIT is mentioned more than 800 times.

In the OT, the Hebrew word is RUWACH, which literally means “a violent exhalation, a blast of breath, a strong wind.”

In The New Testament, the Greek word for this same kind of breath is PNEUMA, which translates “a breath or wind, a current of air, a strong breeze.”

If the Holy Spirit is like breath or wind – then let’s think through the characteristics of wind and perhaps we can gain a clearer, more concrete idea of who the Spirit is and His role in our lives.

INVISIBLE WIND

Wind is something we feel and experience but don’t see.  While we can observe its effects and see its impact on leaves and trees, kites and windmills, we never actually see the wind itself.

But the fact that we can’t see it doesn’t keep us from acknowledging it as a reality.

Similarly, we must realize that while the Spirit can’t be seen, He can be felt, experienced and observed in action.

Have you ever been in a service and can just feel that something is different in the service?

People get frustrated sometimes because we can’t quantify and objectify the Spirit; we can’t catch Him and take Him apart and study Him in a scientific way.

Instead, we must rely on faith. The Bible defines faith this way:

Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)  Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 

UNPREDICTABLE WIND

From the cool summer breeze that caresses us on a front porch swing to the furious tornado whipping at more than 100 miles per hour, we know that wind changes speed and direction frequently.

Despite the best efforts of our weather satellites and Doppler-radar reporters, we still experience the unpredictability of the wind.  It goes where it wants.

The Holy Spirit moves in different ways as well. In fact, there’s one instance in the scripture where English translators use the word wind instead of spirit.

Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus…

John 3:8 (NIV)  The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." 

Wind – PNEUMA – This wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from where it is going.

So… it is with everyone born of the Spirit (John 3:8).

Jesus made it explicitly clear that the Holy Spirit moves like the wind – a seemingly unknowable way. This unpredictability makes a lot of us uncomfortable.

Most people like everything orderly and it ins place.  Yet the Spirit wind can blow through and quickly change that order.

If this quality makes us so uncomfortable, they why does it seem to be a key part of the Spirit’s essence?

I suspect if He were predictable, then we’d put our trust in a system – the structure, the kind of cause-and-effect behavior that leads to legalism rather than relationship.

If we could consistently predict the Spirit’s movement, then we would figure out a way to accomplish things without Him.

God wants us to depend on Him and interact with Him on a daily, ongoing basis.

To receive all He has for you, you’ll have to get comfortable with the unexpected and unpredictable. You’ll have to rely on Him instead of just what your senses, scientific method or research experts tell you.  You’ll have to accept mystery as part of the relationship.

POWERFUL WIND

Wind can generate electricity, sail a ship or destroy an entire city.  Wind has power.

At the heart of it all, the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, is about power – supernatural power.

This kind of divine, unseen, unpredictable power has been part of our faith since Pentecost.

In 19th-century America, revivalist Charles Finney, whose ministry reportedly led more than 500,000 people to Christ, was a major leader in the Second Great Awakening. While training to be a lawyer, Finney became intellectually curious about Christ but resisted turning his life over to God for a long time.  However, he eventually felt so drawn to the Spirit that he could no longer resist. He later described his first encounter with God’s Spirit like this: “The Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression like a wave of electricity, going through and through me.  Indeed it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love; for I could not express it any other way.  It seemed like the very breath of God.”

All of us want that kind of power in our lives, even if we think it’s easier to serve God on a merely intellectual level.

If we can contain something in our thoughts, understand and analyze it, then we feel like we have at least some control over it.

If we truly want to experience a breath of fresh air in every area of our lives, we have to allow God’s breath to resuscitate us.

I’ve been serving the Lord all my life and I have found out that if there’s anything we need to do – it’s to not hold back with God. We need to go all in.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NIV)  For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

As you consider how to let go of your own fears and misperceptions of God’s Spirit, imagine that you’re wading away from the shore of self into the open water of God’s love.

Ezekiel 47:3-5 (NIV)  As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep.  He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist.  He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in--a river that no one could cross.

God calls us to let go of our attempts to control and find the place where He directs us.

In the shallow water, we tend to feel in control because we can touch bottom.  But in the middle, God invites us to swim, to immerse ourselves in all that He has for us.

Many of us prefer just to wade in the river, experiencing some of God’s mystery while staying in control by keeping our feet firmly on the river bottom.

Yet the Spirit of God invites us to go from an ankle-deep faith to one that’s knee-deep, then waist deep, and finally to one which we can no longer touchy the bottom at all.

It’s a faith where we dive into the middle and swim in the powerful current of God’s love and joy.

So many people are afraid to jump in because they want to stay in control. But the truth is - none of can ultimately control our lives, nor do we really want to try.

We long for the safety of our Father’s arms and the intimate friendship of His Spirit.  I dare you to go for what you long for most. I challenge you to put yourself on a spiritual adventure where you experience the breath of God’s spriit filling your sails.