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Wind and Fire

Father God, what I know of You will only ever be a fraction of who You are. Jesus, open my mind to see You and understand the Scriptures. Spirit, move my heart from familiar to fascinated until it is ablaze with Your unfailing love.

Read: Psalm 67:3-4

As the God story continues to unfold, I’m reflecting on the gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised to His followers after His resurrection. The greatest movement in history began with an absurd command, ‘Wait’. They had no idea how long for or what it would look like, only that Jesus had asked them to wait…

Read: Acts 2:1-6

The person of the Holy Spirit experienced as a mighty rushing wind, will now play a leading role in the rest of the God story.

The disciples, like sailboats, will be blown beyond their boundaries into uncharted waters, confronting their comforts and control, crossing cultures, and exposing their prejudice and pride. Propelled by the Holy Spirit, the pulsating life of God’s longing love for all people, they will carry the gospel from the streets of Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

Have I surrendered to the sovereign wind of the Spirit like Jesus and the early disciples?

Jesus, help me to live as a zero-resistance home for the Spirit, like you. I give up control again today. Holy Spirit, move me beyond where I’m comfortable to where you’re calling me.

Pause and pray

Father, I pray for the three and a half billion people* living in unreached people groups with little or no access to the gospel. Move Your people by the wind of the Holy Spirit until all have seen and heard.

Pause and pray

The Spirit not only set their tongues on fire but their hearts ablaze. Jesus had said, ‘You will be baptised with Holy Spirit and fire’. Fire symbolises God’s passion, refining our inner being and forging a new, multi-ethnic family of self-giving love.

I must admit I am often tempted to resist the refining work of the Spirit and the gift of the family being forged. Am I willing to invite the Spirit’s fire to consume every place in me that is opposed to love?

Holy Spirit, I trust that the fire of Your love consumes only what is not best for me. Forgive me for resisting the refining. May I increasingly become love as You are love.

Amen.

* https://joshuaproject.net/