Blown away by the power of God

I still feel awed at the natural world around us – even simple things like the wind blowing and the branches of huge trees moving.  Even though I can’t see it, I know that there was an unseen force in the world. 

When I wake up in the morning there is always the radio to tell me what the weather is doing. There are some mornings that I don't even have to hear the weather person to know that the wind is blowing because I can hear it! I can hear it whistling through the trees, down the chimney, and around the windows and doors. We can't see the wind, but we can see it blowing trees and fences, and feel it against our faces.

On 30th May our church celebrates Pentecost Sunday. It was on the day of Pentecost that God sent his Holy Spirit to the church. The Bible tells us that the apostles were all gathered together when suddenly there was a sound like a mighty, rushing wind. Then, it says, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit is like the wind, we can't see him, but we can know that he is there, just like we can know that the wind is there.

We can know that the Holy Spirit is there because we can hear him speaking into our hearts and making us alive to God.  We can see him moving people to do God's will -- we can't see God, but we can see people doing things that God's Holy Spirit has moved them to do.

We know that without fresh air everything becomes flat, stale and lifeless – and the same applies to human beings and the church without God’s Holy Spirit. 

May God throw open the windows of our hearts and our church and blow in some of his freshness, power and life at Pentecost, and guide us and lead us forward to be more effective disciples of Jesus this year.