Yesterday, while walking my dog, I had some inspiration,that I thought I would share, and reflect on this morning. I do find that the Lord likes speaking to me when I am out in nature. I do try to hear him at other times too, but when I am in nature his voice seems louder, if that makes sense.
Anyway, yesterday it had taken a turn towards cooler weather, and there was a decent cold breeze out of the NW. When we walk, we almost always take the same route, and have been doing so for the last six years. The park where we walk around has a lovely walking path, but winds out of the NW are particularly painful, as about ⅓ of the path is very exposed to the NW, so any cold wind from that direction blasts you. Typically we walk in a counterclockwise direction, like everyone else.
Yesterday, when I got to the park, I thought, why don’t I walk the other direction, so the NW wind would be at my back instead of my face! Duh! Only took me 6 years to have such a thought! It was wonderful, instead of getting blasted in the face, The NW wind pushed me along as I walked clockwise!
As I started in this new direction, I felt the Lord whisper to me, “this is what following the flow of the Holy Spirit is like”. I immediately had further understanding and a few verses drop into my mind.
The understanding I had is that many of us, myself included, don’t like change, and when change comes we can sometimes resist the change. We prefer things the way they were, and there is comfort in sameness. If we hear ourselves saying “the way we have always done it.” we might be resisting change! I find this is particularly true, at times, in the Body of Christ. We do struggle to welcome change, we like the songs we know, like to sit in the same places, even like to talk to the same people.
There is nothing inherently wrong with finding comfort in the way we do things, however, I think the Lord is wanting us to move in some new directions, and we need to learn to move with the Spirit. I was reminded of two verses in particular - as follows:
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.”
Acts 2:2 NIV: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.”
The tie between the Holy Spirit and the wind is helpful. We can’t really see the exact moving of the wind, and in the same way, we can’t exactly know what the Spirit is doing, moving and touching. If we observe closely we can see the effects. With the wind, we can observe the impact and even at times hear it moving things like branches, or blowing through things that make noise.
In the same way, if we are looking at the larger church, or Body of Christ, we can begin to observe the effects of the moving of the Holy Spirit. We can hear from people what they are feeling and sensing and hearing, and often they are all related. For example, one of the things that many people I know are hearing from the Lord is the need to press into “Fear of the Lord”.
I would love to hear the sounds of heavenly winds, like they did in Acts 2, but my hope is that I can pick up the quieter breezes and see what the Lord is doing. I was reminded of another set of semi-related verses found near the end of John’s Gospel.
John 20:21-22 NIV
“Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” [22] And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
The Greek word translated “breathed” can also be translated ‘blow upon’, or even ‘puffed’, and it is more than just breathing, and actual gentle blowing. I believe this verse is directly tied to the Acts 2:2 experience where they heard the sounds of a mighty rushing wind. It is important to note that the preceding verse (John 20:21) Jesus indicated He was sending them! As in giving them a new direction!
Wrapping this back to the image of walking my dog, when we move with the “Spirit” rather than battle against Him, we find our lives are aligned with His direction. There is always purpose to His moving, and we don’t want to miss that purpose, because we don't want change! Jesus said, “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” In other words, this is normal for anyone who is filled with the Holy Spirit.
I think maybe we need to rethink our approach to and “ownership” over our churches and church experiences. Somehow we have embraced the idea that we are meeting on Sunday to have our needs met, rather than to worship God, and hear what He is telling us!
He is actually the head over the Church, not us! He calls us and invites us to do His will, to further His ministry! “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you!”
Oh Lord, help us!
Amen and Amen!