The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes…
John 3:8 (RSV)
Some days ago I stood in the waiting room of the dentist and looked at the publications on the walls. I read about the dangers of all kinds of refreshing drinks, which young people like to drink so much in spite of the dangers for their dental enamel. Then - to my surprise - I read the following Old Dutch saying. "We cannot change the direction of the wind, but we can set the sails to it." Immediately I thought about the Scripture that I wrote above this short article. The saying appealed to me as I was born and spent my first years close to the lighthouse at the North Sea coast in Scheveningen (The Hague) I read the saying four times while I was waiting for the call of the dentist who was going to check the condition of my teeth.
The Lord stated an important natural truth as a comparison for the Spirit of God and His activities in relation to man: The Spirit of God gives new life and new power, but He cannot be directed and manipulated by man. His wonderful, supernatural work cannot be generated by logical, theological systems of thinking and interpretation. However, we can describe His workings as is done in the Bible books on Church History, but we cannot control Him neither in His work in the heart of man, nor in the generated manifestations. A hundred years of Pentecostal History in our country, The Netherlands, confirms the proposition above.
Nevertheless, it
is very important to ask ourselves
from time to time what we should do to stimulate the Spirit to action.
The Bible points us the way: Faith in Christ and surrender to Him as
Saviour
and Lord. Then also: Praying for His Spirit and willingness to receive
Him without putting down conditions; this is called 'unconditional
surrender.'
While I write this I remember that young brother
in The Hague who had asked year after year for the baptism with the
Spirit,
without anything happening. One day the Lord spoke to him: "Do not lay
down conditions before Me, be prepared to be filled as my Spirit wants
to do that." "Yes, Lord," he replied, "Have your way with me as You
want
it." A certain day after that happened he was riding again in one of
those
crowded trams in The Hague. Suddenly He felt a wind blowing over him.
He knew that he was filled with the Holy Spirit and from his innermost
being sounds flowed out of him; he spoke in unknown languages as the
Spirit
gave him utterance. Pentecost in a tram in The Hague! May I ask you:
"Do you long for the manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit in
your
daily walk and testimony?" Why then not pray with all your heart as
that
young believer in The Hague: "Yes, Lord, have your way as You want it."
Perhaps, quite suddenly as on that first Pentecost of the Church at
Jerusalem,
shall the wind blow upon you and you will be filled with the Holy
Spirit.
Pastor T. J. de
Ruiter, 21 juli 2007
(Pastor and Teacher in the
The Netherlands)
Contact? E-mail.... Pastor T. J. de Ruiter