The Wind of His Spirit

        In a previous testimony titled “Permitting Demons”, I tell the story of the winter day when I took my snow machine out to a cabin in the woods. That cabin was owned by a man named Michael.  Michael had traveled the world as a member on the staff of singer Jimmy Buffet, and in those world travels to a place in the far east when this possession occurred. While sitting across from him in his small living room, the Lord provided the wisdom to cast out that demon, freeing Michael from the crippling influence it was having on his life.   

Although what Michael and I experienced that day in his cabin is an extraordinary testimony of the delivering and redeeming power that exists in the name of Jesus Christ, it was only the beginning of the Lord’s work in Michael’s life. The weeks and months that followed were equally filled with the Lord demonstrating His incomparable power. I share here the testimony of one of those occasions when the Lord chose to again, as He did the day Michael was delivered from his demons, display how the spiritual depths of the kingdom of God often flows out upon the sandy beaches of this natural world.

  In the months following Michael’s deliverance, Betsy and I began to spend more and more time with him. His cabin was only a couple miles from ours, so we would often have Michael out to our campfire for meals and fellowship. During this time, I began discipling Michael, teaching him from the Word of God and sharing with him many of the spiritual realities that he could expect to experience now that he was “born again”.

It was midway through the month of June when we were able to set aside our snow machines and travel by four-wheeler. One spring day I had four wheeled to Michael’s cabin for one of our usual bible studies. It was a sunny and beautifully calm day and we were anxious after a long winter to be outside, so we took our study out to a couple log benches that were along the side of Michael’s cabin. We were in the gospel of John and were discussing the spiritual workings of the Holy Spirit, a topic that proves itself difficult for the natural mind to grasp.   We turned to John chapter three and read where Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, comparing the workings of the Spirit to the blowing of the wind.  Michael was still full of question regarding the moving of the Holy Spirit. Realizing it would take the Spirit of God Himself to convey this truth to Michael’s mind, I suggested we should pray and ask the Lord for answers.  

As I said, it was a beautiful sunny, calm, spring day.  Not a cloud was in sight, and seemingly not a breath of wind in the air when we bowed our heads to pray.  We were only several minutes into our time of prayer when that day’s calm conditions suddenly changed. A wind began to blow seeming to come out of nowhere. Within moments it was as if a gale had come up and we both held tightly to the half log benches we were sitting on. Then, only ten or twenty seconds later, just as suddenly as it had begun, the wind stopped.  It was as if a cosmic switch had been thrown.     

Michael and I were both speechless. The look on his face agreed with what I also recognized, we had just had a divine answer to our question regarding how the Spirit of God moved in our lives. As Jesus had told Nicodemus, there are things about the Spirit of God we can know by feeling and seeing Him work, and then there are things about moving of the Spirit of God, like our understanding of where the wind comes from and where it goes, that we can only believe.  

That day Michael and I were certain the Spirit of God was responding to our sincere inquiries. We knew the wind that blew with such force for only those few moments that day was the Spirit of the Lord teaching us more regarding the mystery of His Spirit.  Our lives are often impacted by the workings of God’s Spirit, whether through signs and wonders, healings and revelations, comfort and encouragement or a divinely imparted assurance of His love. We have only to “hear what the Spirit is saying”. The Lord is poised and ready to answer our sincere inquiries. As the Bible says, He wants to “show Himself strong in the lives of those whose hearts are turned towards Him”.