Things We Can't Explain

John 3:8, "The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit."

We can't see the wind, but we can see the effects of the wind. We see the trees bend, the snow blow, and we feel the wind chill on our faces. Likewise, we can't see the Spirit, but we can see the effects of the Spirit. We see when knees bend in prayer. We hear the sounds of breath filled with truth and praise. We see and feel the warmth of loving fellowship as the church gathers.

The contrast between the wind of the Spirit and the shrill of the world is becoming more and more apparent.  But, the Spirit is working these days, and here is what to look for: 

1. When the Spirit is working, there is repentance and submission to authority.

2. When the Spirit is working, spiritual complacency is rejected. Worship, prayer, ministry, and mission become a priority. 

3. When the Spirit is working, there is personal liberty. There is freedom, not enslavement to sin, intimidation, and fear. Liberty for people means that people of all varieties (born and unborn) are respected and treated with dignity. Tyranny is rejected whether it be in the home, the church, the schoolyard, media, or government. 

4. When the Spirit is working, there is personal virtue not just virtue signaling. There is fruitfulness and multiplication of Christian disciples, not hollow social activism.

5. When the Spirit is working, unconditional and tough love is practiced. 

6. When the Spirit is working, there is order and courage to maintain law and order. The Spirit is not a Spirit of disorder.

7. When the Spirit is working, there is discernment to distinguish truth from lies, good from evil, the real and imagined. God's Spirit always gets to the heart of our troubles and the healing we need.  

Although we can't explain it, may the Spirit stir us to rebirth and revival.

Pastor Roger