Thoughts for 2018 - The Wind of the Spirit is Blowing!
“Listen the wind of the Spirit is blowing”
This line of the song “Go Forth”, by Graham Kendrick, popped randomly into my head the other day and I found bits of the song running through my head all day. When I asked God what it was about, what He wanted me to know about it, immediately I had the thought of the Spirit blowing to shift and move God’s people.
A friend once had a bbq where each of the hot rocks had its own little groove to sit in. I saw that God’s people could be like those little rocks – content to sit in their own little spot, maybe getting hot, but not moving anywhere or really interacting with the other rocks. They may input toward the ‘cooking’, but there is potential for so much more.
For some Christians, it won’t take much blowing for them to get moving, but for others, the ‘wind speed’ and strength has to get higher to get them moving. Some resist completely, and soon, I believe, they will get left where they are, to their own detriment.
For those who are prepared to come out of their comfort zone and let go of what they are holding onto (which could be anything from beliefs about who God is, what He is like, to who they are called to be, what God created them to do, beliefs about how the world works and so on), as they start to move, the moving will become easier, and they will start to go “where the Spirit moves them”…It is about the laying down of our own will and submitting to God’s will.
I was reminded of Ezekiel (1:20), where the ‘living creatures’ went wherever the Spirit went. There was a sense that as we are freed by the Spirit, there will be a freedom of movement – instead of following and pleasing other people, or even being inhibited by them, there is freedom to do what the Spirit calls us to, and there is no friction, no resistance, no barriers, so it is very quick, to the point of being instantaneous. We are right there where the Spirit wants us at the right time and ready to do what we are called to.
Even as I was thinking about this, I realised that as the ‘rocks’ were being moved by the Spirit, they were ‘rattling’, which made me think of Ezekiel 37:7, where there was a rattling sound as the dry bones came together, and eventually life came back into them. I feel that this is what God is desiring – that His people would be open to His “rattling” and “moving” us from our places of comfort, from our “nests” to be freed up to move as the Spirit moves, to go in whatever direction He calls us to, to be so filled with the new life He has for us.
“I believe that this is something God is calling us to now and that there is a coming increase of His life in His people way beyond what we have seen before. It is up to us whether we allow Him to shift us or not.”
Are you aware of the Holy Spirit nudging you? And are you prepared to allow yourself to be moved anywhere and lay down your own agendas and those things stealing your time and focus from God in order to have space to be filled afresh? Are you ready for the acceleration?
“We are His children, the fruit of his suffering
Saved and redeemed by his blood
Called to be holy, a light to the nations
Clothed with his power
Filled with his love
Go forth in his name, proclaiming "Jesus reigns!"
Now is the time for the church to arise
And proclaim him "Jesus, Saviour, Redeemer and Lord"
Countless the souls that are stumbling in darkness
Why do we sleep in the light?
Jesus commands us to go make disciples
This is our cause
This is the fight
Go forth in his name, proclaiming "Jesus reigns!"
Now is the time for the church to arise
And proclaim him "Jesus, Saviour, Redeemer and Lord"
Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord
Listen the wind of the Spirit is blowing
The end of the age is so near
Pow'rs in the earth and the heavens are shaking
Jesus our Lord
Soon shall appear!”
(“Go Forth”, Graham Kendrick, Copyright © 1990 Make Way Music)