Spirit Wind

Several years ago we were members of Hope United Methodist Church in San Diego, CA. Several members of the church had formed a praise band called the Hope Praise Band. For several months they provided leadership for the congregational singing of praise songs, as well as performing solo numbers. Subsequently, they produced a CD. My favorite song on that CD is “Spirit Blow Through Me.”

The musical melody of the song is heart warming and the words powerful. The song speaks of “spirit blow through me like the wind on the sea; spirit renew me and set my heart free; lift me up like a leaf that’s fallen down off a tree; let me feel your love renew me; as I praise your holy name.”

Think about the wind. It might be a light summer breeze; or it might be a strong, cold winter wind; or the mighty wind of a storm. Think how it feels on your skin. You can hear the wind, but not see it. You can feel the wind, but you know not from where it came or where it is going. In this design I have shown motion, as if the wind is blowing from the left of the page to the right. Look at the design and feel the spirit within you. As it is written in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s spirit lives in you?” With that knowledge, shouldn’t you, as a leader, take care of your body, exercise, and take care of your choice of food?

In Galatians 5:22 it is written, “but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Now think for a minute. If that is the fruit of the spirit, and the spirit is in you, would you not want to conduct your business in keeping with these words? Imagine the marketplace if everyone would behave consistently with these words. And, as written in 1 John 4:13, “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” If he lives in us, then we must walk as he walked, talk as he talked, and believe as he believed. There is no option.