As I sat on my couch praying Thursday morning I opened my eyes, as my ears heard the wind. It had been blowing all night and wasn’t forecasted to let up until later in the day. What my eyes saw were the pine trees in my back yard blowing back and forth as the wind pushed them then let up, then pushed them again. I sat there mesmerized.
As I marveled at this sight, a thought hit me about God’s Spirit and a conversation that Jesus had with a Pharisee, though a good one, named Nicodemus. The most known words Jesus spoke from this conversation are about how God so loved the world that He sent His Son. But eight verses before this Jesus talks about the wind. “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.” (John 3:8) I understand wind. What it is. What causes it to blow stronger at times and barely at all others. But where is it coming from and where is it going? The simple answer is that it came from this direction and is heading that way. I could even send you a link to a great wind map, but I need to stay on task here. The task is being amazed by this thing we call wind.

Jesus goes on in this passage to compare the wind with the Spirit. It is a great comparison. As I sat there I saw this wind, well not actually the wind, but the effects of the wind on things in this world, specifically here the trees. Isn’t that the same with God’s Spirit? We don’t actually see the Spirit, but we see the effects it has on us as we live in this world. I’m still amazed--though you think I would get over it by now-- at how God uses things in this world to show us spiritual truths; in this case the Spirit.
As I continued to watch, mesmerized, another thought hit me and led me to something Paul wrote to the church in Colosse. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. (Colossians 1:29) I think of His Spirit when Paul talks about the energy working within us. As I watched the power of the wind, I could not help but think of the power in God’s Spirit working in me. When I don’t have the energy to do as God calls me, He strengthens me. When I don’t have the energy to go on, He renews me. When I am physically exhausted and emotionally weary, the power is there from God through His Spirit. Unfortunately, it seems awful calm at times, but I know it is there when He needs me to carry on just as the wind so powerfully moved those trees back and forth.
As you read this it is a few days later, but just the same, take notice of the wind. Is it blowing? It is calm? Either way, it is there. Then think of God’s Spirit living in you. Sometimes it’s a storm and sometimes it’s a whisper. But that Spirit so powerfully is at work in us. Let’s use that Spirit to do things that will mesmerize the people around us, showing them the effect of God’s Spirit, and more importantly the effect of His love.
Blowing with the wind,
Randy
Comments