John 3:5-8
Jesus said, “You’re not listening.
Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original
creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible
moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter
God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can
look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by
something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living
spirit.
“So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have
to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well
enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling
through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where
it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’
by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
I love Jesus’ analogy of the
wind, because this physical phenomenon is something we all accept and
“understand”…yet none of us can explain the origin of its force. And if
you think about wind…sometimes it is like a gentle whisper…and
sometimes it blows with a rage and impact so profound that the results
are devastating…almost beyond belief!
This is how we experience
the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Some moments, the voice of
God is just a whisper…a gentle breeze that brushes over us. Other
times, He nearly knocks us off our feet with an experience or event that
says, “HEY! Wake up! I’m talking to you!” Just as we readily accept
and acknowledge physical “wind”…some of us need to learn to transfer
this understanding to the Holy Spirit and how He operates in our hearts
and minds.
Timothy sings a song from the movie “Pocahontas” about
the “Colors of the Wind”. One of the lines asks, “Can you paint with
all the colors of the wind?” Jesus “paints with all the colors of the
‘wind’” of His Holy Spirit. Do you see them in your life? Have you
embraced Him and experienced this “born-from-above” breath from God? Do
you recognize His presence and the many “colors of the wind” in your
daily living? Don’t you want to?
Stop what you are doing and
spend some time calling on the Holy Spirit to fill you. Say three
simple words…”Come, Holy Spirit!” Listen for the “wind” of God…and
learn to recognize it as readily as you do the earthy breezes. Let His
love and care blow across your heart like a gentle whisper of wind
across your face. Get ready to see God’s kingdom come into focus…maybe
for the first time ever. Get ready to fully embrace your “new life in
Christ”…and to see all of the “colors of the Wind” in every minute of
your day!
©2015 Debbie Robus
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