Jentezen Franklin - The Wind of the Holy Spirit
If you have your Bible, I would like for you to open them with me to the book of John 3. I'll begin reading with verse 6. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again". I get happy every time I say that verse because I've been born again. I'm not the same man that I used to be. I am born again. And then notice this verse. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the spirit".
The wind blows where it wishes. I want to talk to you about the wind of the Holy Spirit because in the scriptures, the Holy Spirit is always likened unto the wind. When He came in Act 2 on the day of Pentecost, He came like a mighty rushing wind. And the wind is a type throughout the Old and New Testament of the presence, the power, the anointing of the precious Holy Spirit. Wind can be so powerful, it can tear down trees. It can be so powerful that you can see the news people stand sometimes in hurricanes and they're bent over, and they're trying to walk, and they walk like an old man because the wind is blowing so hard. It has the power to move, to create, to destroy, to create upheaval, and to destroy. About 30 feet above the ground, the wind is basically always blowing.
The windiest part of the year lasts for seven months, and the windiest day of the year, because wind has patterns, they know this, is December the 31st. The calmest day, if you're planning something outside, September 8th. The wind always is calm that time and is kicked up the other time. The wind most often comes from the west. And pilots know this, it's something called a tailwind that if you fly from the west coast to the east coast, you'll pick up a lot of miles per hour just because of the wind that comes from the west most of the year. But there are several other weeks and months that the wind comes from the East from July to August. And then the wind comes down from the north October through February 16th. It's very, very clear patterns of the wind. "The wind blows where it wants to," as the text says. And then, He likens it, "And you can hear the sound of it, but you can't tell where it came from. So is everyone who is born of the spirit".
The Bible talks about the four winds, amazing confirmation of even scientific facts. The Bible was written thousands of years ago, and it gives revelations about the winds. There are four winds, north wind, south wind, east wind, west wind. And God is in control of all of them. If you do a study on the winds in the Bible, each one of them have certain characteristics every time they show up. And there are all four keep showing up over and over and over and over. When it says, "A north wind came," that is the direction in which the wind originates. It starts in the north, or it starts, if it's a west wind from the west, and it goes out across the other direction.
The Bible talks about first of all, the east wind. It's the wind of judgment in the scriptures. When Joseph had the dream of the seven skinny cows, the Bible says this in Genesis 41, it was a prediction about a famine that was coming for seven years. And the scripture said that there came a blast from the east wind that sprang up in his dream, and he saw the cows go from fat to skinny because a famine came. But notice what brought that famine, the east wind. The Bible says in Exodus that when the plagues were released onto the Egyptians, that it was the east wind, in Exodus 10:13, the east wind that brought the locust, the plague, the judgment of God upon that nation. The Middle East, when a sandstorm comes, it comes from the east. It's judgment.
Hosea 13:15, "And the east wind shall come," after prosperity and so on, "And the east wind shall come and the fountains will dry up and spool the treasures". The winds that blow that we don't enjoy, the destructive winds, I want to declare to you today, they hit all of our lives, the destructive winds, the bad stormy winds that tear our life to pieces. And when they come, even then, God is the master of the wind. He is in control of the storms, and it feels like they're destroy and destructive winds that are destroying our lives and tearing them all to pieces. Even then, God is still master of that wind.
So, the east wind has to do with destruction and pain and upheaval and a tearing up of lives. It brings in bad judgment or bad correction into our life. And we think we're forsaken by God, when in reality God's the master of that wind. He's doing something and He's gonna use that wind for His glory. And then, there's the west wind, it blows in from the sea. And when that west wind blows in, it can change, and suddenly the season of your life changes.
And then, there's the south wind, it's described as a warm wind. Job 37:17, "How are your garments warm when the comfort of the south wind comes". Jesus in Luke 12 said, "When you see the south wind blow, you say there will be heat". Because they recognize that the south wind brings heat and brings warmth.
And then, there's the north wind, lastly, and it's a cold wind. And these seasons hit our lives, destructive winds that tear our lives to pieces. And we wake up one day and say, "What happened? It feels like my life is...I got a bad report. This happened. I lost my job, my life and I don't know what I'm going to do". And then there's other times, a wonderful, sweet southern wind, a south wind will come into our life and flow into our life and warm us back up. Good things happen. And then, a north wind will come sometimes.
And then, sometimes a balmy wind from the sea, the west, all of these seasons. My point is God is in control of them all. He's working all things together for our good. God uses all those winds to purify you and to sanctify you and to draw you nearer to Him. They're all working together. How many of you believe it's all working together? It's all working together. Maybe you're going through a storm, maybe you're tired and weary, but I just want to encourage you today, God's using all of it. And not to destroy you, but to bless you and get you ready. Get you full of His spirit, get you full of faith, get you full of total dependency upon Jesus. He makes them all do His work.
The Bible said in Psalms 148:7, "Praise you the Lord from the earth, you dragons and fire, and hail, and vapor, and stormy winds that fulfill His word". The stormy winds fulfill the prophecies and the promises and the word of God. You can't have the fulfillment of the word of God in your family, in your life without stormy winds. It's not just sea breeze and pleasant breezes, but it's stormy winds that fulfill and bring to pass. It's usually right after a stormy wind that a fulfillment of a promise will come through. Just when you were thinking about giving up, just when you thought, "I might as well throw in the towel," that's when you throw your hands up and you say in the middle of the storm, "God, I don't know where you are, but I know you're the peace speaker".
And He knows how, according to Mark 7, to step out of the boat and raise His voice and speak to the wind and say, "Peace, be still". And when He does, He's going to reward you on the other side of that storm and He's gonna fulfill His word through the stormy winds. God is sovereign. He rules from the heavens. He knows what He is doing. Do you know the Bible said in Exodus 13 that the east wind brought the locust? But this is interesting. And then He sent a west wind to take them away. It says in verse 19 that He sent a different wind, a west wind.
So, if God allows things to hit you and devour, cause that's what locust do, devour the fruit, devour the harvest, God says, "I'm just going to try and see if they're with me for the stuff, or do they really love me with all of their heart, mind, and soul". And if you hold on, God sent one wind and it and it brought the locust, but He sent a west wind, and it took 'em away. I'm so thankful He's got a wind that can blow your problem away today, and you can walk out of here knowing that my God controls the wind in His fist. God can reverse the wind. Shout, "Amen," somebody. God can reverse it this morning. I don't care what the doctor has said, God can reverse it.
I know, and we appreciate 'em, but I'm gonna tell you, they don't rule the heavens and they don't rule the earth. And the Holy Spirit is more powerful. This wind can blow cancer out of your body. This wind can blow disease and demons out of your home. This wind can say to Satan, "This time you lose because the wind can take it out and take it away, and reverse the curse". Hallelujah. Let the wind blow. Let the wind move. Let it move in your life this morning. Do more than hear a sermon, believe and ask for the wind. I'm hungry for it this morning. You know, God is revealed in the wind. If you're having a storm, I want you to picture and visualize what I'm saying because the Bible is clear that when God shows up, He uses wind as His vehicle.
Bible said that, in 2 Samuel 22:11, "He rides upon a chariot and did fly. He was seen upon the wings of the wind". If the wind is blowing, you may not see and feel God like when you're on top of the mountain and it's a sunshiny day. And then, there's those days when the winds and the storm is raging, category five. But I promise you, according to that text, that's what He rides in on. He's mighty and He's strong, and He has the wings of the wind. Psalms 104, "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, you are great. You stretched out the heavens. You make the cloud your chariots and you walk upon the wings of the wind". Don't resent the wind. That's how God comes to you. It's how He gets things done.
Nahum 1:3, "The Lord has His way," listen to this, "in the whirlwind". When it feels like your life is going crazy, when it feels like you're losing and being just torn to pieces... the Bible said that Job, the Lord answered Job. Anybody feel like you've been in a storm like Job? The Lord answered Job, not outta sunshine, out of a whirlwind. Out of a whirlwind. When God's gonna let His voice be released, if He ever speaks to His people, it's when they're in that kinda tornado activity that's going on and you feel like it's outta control, that's when His voice will begin to boom, "But I'm with you. And I promise you, I won't leave you and I won't forsake you".
Isaiah 59:19, He said, "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit," and the word spirit in Hebrew is breath. "The wind of God will raise up a standard against him". Don't resist the east wind. Don't resist the south and west and the north winds. Tell God, "Just let it flow". Because if He releases one of them, He will release the other ones and ultimately, He'll get glory out of whatever is going on in our lives. God has always been in the wind. In Genesis 2:7, in the beginning of creation, He formed man and breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. He's always been in the wind. If you ever drive from California LA area to Palm Springs or going to Vegas, the road trip, we've done that before with our family. And there's one area where they have hundreds of these big wind propellers that are in valleys and sometimes in mountains and sometimes just on the desert. But they've learned where the current of the wind goes.
And I mean, you'll see thousands of them. Thousands. It's a, it's unbelievable. And the strangest thing is you may see a thousand of them, just a spinning, but always there's one in there... And I just wanna say 10,000 windmills can't be wrong. If the spirit's always moving over here, and over there, and over here, and over there, and you're sitting there like... I don't know about you, but I'm saying, "Lord, let it blow in this house this morning. God, I'm so tired of dead religion. My sails up. I'm ready, I'm ready. Holy Spirit, however you want to do it, if it comes from the northeast corner of the top balcony or", all you gotta do, you know, get one on every row. If you can get one on every row, and how long are you gonna sit there like this when the Spirit's moving? At some point you've gotta say, "Here I am, Lord, and you blow right here. I'll respond. I wanna be a windmill".
Come on, give Him a praise. Go on with the wind. "I'm waiting on God to speak again," and everybody around you, "Wow, praise God. Hallelujah". Ten thousand windmills can't be wrong. It's blowing, you're just not receiving. I like this sermon. "Good preaching, Brother Franklin". Amen. I agree. I'm almost done. But what is interesting about wind is this. Do you know that you can cause the wind to blow? Where does it come from? Takes two things. Number one, you have to have a high pressure area up in the heavens and then you have to have a low-pressure area down here. And what happens is, out of that low pressure there comes heat, and the heat is what goes up, and that's what gets the to moving down through that cycle. In other words, what I want you to understand is when you're in the low-pressure areas of life, it's time to heat up. It's time to heat up your prayers, heat up your praise.
What do you do when you're low and under pressure? You heat up. Because if you want the wind to come, it's going to take some heat and low pressure. Turn up the heat where you are. This is what Elijah did. The Bible said that he prayed and the servant came and said, "I don't see nothing". And then, he turned up the heat and prayed again and prayed again and sent him back seven times. And on the seventh time, the servant said, "There is a great wind that is coming and in the wind is a hand, and in the hand is a rain. And something is headed our way". Because when you get in that low pressure area, you have to heat up. And a great wind, and a great cloud, and great rain came. Now, I want to close with this, Acts 2:1, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord, in one place". I wanna get in one service like this before I die and go to heaven. I want to get in one service where every windmill is spinning. No resistance, everybody.
"They were in one place in one accord and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a mighty rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting". I want to be so sensitive to that wind. "There appeared under them tongues of fire. They began to speak in the Holy Ghosts. It sat upon each of them. And they begin to be filled with the spirit and speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them the utterance". You know, He's still doing that today. You know, He's still baptizing people in the Holy Ghost and fire. You know, He still wants to feel you so full of the breath and the wind of God. I want to be so sensitive to that spirit that if it starts moving, we just go with the wind.