Dear ones, those born of water and the Spirit,
An additional point from Message Eight which touches me deeply is related to our Lord’s word to Nicodemus in John 3:8.
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"The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)"
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What a rich verse! “The wind blows where it wills . . .” Amen. Just as we can not control the wind, the hidden work of the Spirit of God in human beings is not under our control. John already made this point back in John 1:13.
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"Who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13)"
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But there’s more. “. . . and you hear the sound of it . . .” Even though we can not control the wind, we can still sense the blowing of the wind by the sound it makes. While the working of the Spirit is hidden, there is an outwardly discernable manifestation of the Spirit's deep inner work. How glorious! The Spirit brings in a new nature which produces a new, heavenly, living. The Spirit produces Christlikeness!
TAS brings out an additional point from this verse which I had never considered before. That the wind “blows where it will” indicates the Sovereignty of the Spirit of God. It is up to Him to blow where He will. That this verse culminates with “everyone who is born of the Spirit” implies a submissiveness, a yieldedness, and a sensitivity in the born again ones which is
first and foremost to the Sovereign Spirit of God, and not first and foremost to any man or any group of men.
As TAS states,
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“So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. The wind bloweth where it likes. You cannot say, 'Today wind you blow this way, and tomorrow wind you blow the other way.' The wind takes things into its own hands and blows where it likes. And you can talk to the wind as much as you like, but it will take no notice of you. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. What has Nicodemus got to learn? What have you and I got to learn? That the Spirit of God is the Sovereign Spirit of God. And the only thing to do is to let go to the Holy Spirit. You will never see the Kingdom, or enter into the Kingdom, until you have surrendered to the Sovereignty of the Holy Spirit.” (Message Eight, p. 72)
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