Winds of Change

Do you ever have those moments when something changes inside you - that "AHA" moment when you realize something for the first time? You know - those moments in time that, for the first time, something comes alive in you or something is made so evidently clear you will remember it forever?

I had one of those times sitting in church listening to a pastor speak on Acts 2. I still remember that moment to this day. He began teaching on the 2nd chapter of Acts and he used the phrase, "the winds of change." When he did I thought, "WOW!! That's exactly what happened." It was like for the first time in my life I realized the change Pentecost had on the followers of Christ. The sound like a rushing wind brought change that would forever change the course of history.

Later I was doing a study on the presence of God in the Old and New Testaments. I found in the Old Testament God's presences was usually represented by fire and/or smoke. And very rarely did He speak personally to the people of God. Usually there was a leader, a prophet, or a king through whom He spoke. At Pentacost, I beleive, God stopped being a corporate God and became a personal God. Don't crucify me here if you disagree. What I mean by that is that now people, individuals, for the first time in history could have a personal relationship with God. They could go directly to God rather than through someone else as in the Old Testament. ALL believers, children of God, would be filled by God's presence, the Holy Spirit. This doesn't mean He's not a corporate God. He is, but in the sense that believers come together to make up the corporate Body of Christ.

(Does this make sense? I hope I'm explaining myself here, if not let me know and I will try to do a better job)

ANYWAY. . .what does this have to do with being in the midst of the valley? It has a lot to do with it. What this means is that everyone one of us in the valley who have become children of God through salvation have access to the same Spirit. Not only do we have access, but we are filled with the same power.

This week I was meeting with a man who, in his own right, is going through a personal valley. And when I shared with him that he has access to the same power and the same Spirit I do, it was like a light went on inside of him. It blew him away!! He had never looked at it like that.

Maybe you haven't either. Reading this could be the first time you have ever thought that you have access to the same Spirit and the same Power that I do and any other Christian does. Claim that power. . .ask God to fill you with that Spirit. Ask God to blow the winds of change through your heart. It WILL make a change in your perspective of your valley. Don't let another moment go by without living in the Spirit and power of God. 2 Timothy 1:7 says. . .

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Do don't wonder through the valley afraid adn timid. You have the Spirit of power and love and self-discipline in you. CLAIM IT AND LIVE IT!

Blow winds blow!
Mike