During my childhood, March was a choice month for flying kites. The March wind had a way of wafting kites without much effort from us on the ground. Without the wind, launching a kite became a matter of running fast enough to get the kite aloft. With the advent of this windy month, we’ll turn our attention to the wind of the Spirit.
After Jesus ascended back to heaven, His followers were gathered in an upper room when suddenly “there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind” that filled the house in which they had assembled. Accompanying that sound, “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:1–3). Given this association of the Holy Spirit with wind, we can extract several truths that apply to Him.
Speaking truth
We not only can confess that the Spirit is mighty like the sound of the wind, but we can also conclude that He is sovereign. Jesus expressed it this way: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes” (John 3:8). We do not command the wind. It blows where it wishes.
Like the wind, the Holy Spirit is invisible to human eyes. We can only observe some of the results of the Spirit’s presence. His presence in a person’s life works to form Christlikeness in that person. The Holy Spirit enables fruitfulness in Christian service. We can see the fruitfulness but not the Spirit who produces it.
When Jesus spoke about the Spirit, He was the Person of truth speaking words of truth about the Spirit of truth as our guide into understanding and living the truth.
The New Testament contains several terms by which we can refer to the Spirit. Among these are Advocate, Helper, Intercessor and Comforter. These designations reflect an attempt to express in English the force of the Greek term that in English is spelled “Paraclete.”
The term ‘Paraclete’
During the rest of this windy month, we will seek to be refreshed in our understanding of the Holy Spirit by giving attention to several places in the Gospel of John where Jesus used the special term “Paraclete” to speak of the Spirit. There are four such passages, and they will be our focus for the remainder of this month.
We will think of these sections of Scripture as Paraclete passages. Each one will give us a different emphasis on the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
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