Pastor Deborah
Sailing is the craft of controlling a boat that uses the force of the wind as a source of movement.
Sailing boats were very important to move cargo and people.
When the wind fills the sail, the boat has power to move.
The Holy Spirit is that wind, propelling us forward into a life-changing, ever-growing relationship with Jesus.
Holy Spirit is the wind that will move us forward to know Jesus more and more.
ACTS 1:8 NKJV
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Power comes when the Holy Spirit comes upon us.
When we become a witness to Jesus, it attracts all the forces in this world.
ACTS 2:1-2 TPT
On the day Pentecost was being fulfilled, all the disciples were gathered in one place.
Suddenly they heard the sound of a VIOLENT BLAST of WIND rushing into the house from out of the heavenly realm.
The ROAR of the WIND was so OVERPOWERING it was all anyone could bear!
The book of Acts shows us that the HOLY SPIRIT is not just a gentle breeze, - but a RUSHING WIND POWERFUL enough to sweep people off their feet.
We need to be guided by God the Holy Spirit.
Imagine sailing in a boat on a serene blue sea…Pure bliss!
Letting the wind beneath the sails steer the direction…
In order to do this, the sails needs to be hoisted and the stuff in the boat that we are taking along with us needs to be light… not weighed down with loads and loads of baggage.
Then it’s all smooth sailing.
For a little while it will be ok to “relax” to let the wind take its course.
However after a short while we will get panicky:
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails” – William Arthur Ward.
Imagine DRIFTING along for a while with no land in sight…
Sitting still for long periods of time doesn’t come easy to us.
We need our plans mapped out.
Anxiety kicks in, “where are we heading?”.
What if a storm kicks in?
The first thing we would want to do is ROW ROW ROW your boat not gently but ever so forcefully to get out of there.
Would we dare waiting it out?
This boat scenario is not much different to our relationship with God.
What is “wind beneath our sails”?
JOHN 3:6-7 TPT
For the natural realm only gives birth to things that are natural, but the SPIRITUAL REALM gives birth to SUPERNATURAL LIFE!
“You shouldn’t be amazed by my statement, ‘You all must be born from above!’
JOHN 3:8 TPT
For the SPIRIT-WIND blows as IT CHOOSES.
You can hear its sound, but you don’t know where it came from or where it’s going.
So it is the same with those who are SPIRIT-BORN!”
The spirit wind will blow us out from the physical realm into the spiritual realm.
Jesus makes it very clear in the verse above that we must be born again of the Spirit.
It’s not an option.
He likens the leading of the Holy Spirit to that like the wind.
The leading of the Holy Spirit is like the wind.
We don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.. Likewise we don’t know where God will lead us and it takes surrender…
IT IS A JOURNEY OF FAITH.
Faith is what we cannot see with our physical eyes. Eg: Our future.
Abraham is one classic example and his faith was rewarded:
HEBREWS 11:8 TPT
Faith motivated Abraham to obey God’s call and LEAVE the FAMILIAR to discover the territory he was destined to inherit from God. - So he left with ONLY a PROMISE and without even knowing ahead of time where he was going, Abraham STEPPED OUT in FAITH.
Faith is leaving the familiar, i.e. physical realm.
Joshua and Caleb saw and believed based on what God said.
Believing what God said and taking action before the manifestation is faith.
In order to obey and respond to the wind that is beneath our sails, we need to be prepared.
“The wind of God is always blowing … but you must hoist your sail” – Francois Fenelon.
What is the state of your sail and ropes?
We need to indeed SET the SAIL and LET GOD BE GOD.
Many of us claim to be led by the Holy Spirit.
We even speak the ‘right jargon’.
However, we fail to set the sail to let God’s direction take over. -
We have loads of baggage in the boat.
“If we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and self-seeking and pleasure and the world-
there is no room for the Spirit of God,
and I believe many a man is praying to God to fill him when he is full already with something else” – Dwight Moody
What are you full of today and what are you praying to God for?
We need to be not pessimists, nor optimists, nor realists but men and women of faith…
It’s best for us to adjust our sails trusting the Holy Spirit to be the wind beneath our sails to lead us in God’s perfect plan.
To go the right direction in the promised land, we still need the Holy Spirit, which is the wind, to guide us.
The acts of our flesh prohibit us from being filled by God.
In addition to the like of what Moody lists above, negative emotions such as anger, bitterness, hurt also form a big block of baggage.
What can hinder the smooth sailing process is the baggage.
But to let God be God, we need to BE STILL… and RESPOND to His gentle nudging as and when HE LEADS.
God doesn't lead us when we are angry.
God wants us to be still then only we can hear Him.
We cannot sit still because we would rather be “doing” and feel important.
It takes a lot of faith to be still and know He is God..
it takes a lot of faith to not know where we are going but yet – like Abraham – to do so knowing that we are in the best of hands.
It takes a lot of faith to ALLOW the Holy Spirit step in and let God be God.
“The Holy Spirit cannot be located as a guest in a house. He invades everything” – Oswald Chambers.
Are you willing to not just invite the Holy Spirit with your lips but also to totally surrender to LET HIM invade EVERY thing?
Every areas has to be taken out from our lives.
What is it that you are holding back from Him or what is it that you are holding onto that doesn’t give Him the permission to step in as there is no room for Him?
“It is extraordinary how things fall off from a man like autumn leaves - once he comes to the place where there is no rule but that of the personal domination of the Holy Spirit” – Oswald Chambers.
How often do we Christians enforce religion with its rules and regulations over powering or prohibiting what really counts –
RELATIONSHIP for which the Holy Spirit domination is important as that convicts us of whatever is in the way of our intimacy with our Heavenly Father and leads us through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
We are not under law and religion but under grace and relationship.
“The life of obedience to Jesus Christ means living moment by moment in the Spirit of God, and it will be so different from your former life that you will often be considered strange.
In fact the life in the Spirit is such a different life that some of your former associates will probably discuss the question of whether or not you are mentally disturbed” – A.W. Tozer
Not only “former associates” but even those who belong to the religious institution boxed in with legalism may have that question too!
Our pride and/or longing for belonging often leads us to do it the way of the world, the way of the community, the way that perhaps the religion of Christianity does things…
Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God?
Or am I trying to please people?
If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ –
Christ has accepted us just as we are.
He will never reject us.
Unconditional acceptance of who we are.
Grace flows.
GALATIANS 1:10 TPT
I’m obviously not trying to flatter you or water down my message to be popular with men, but my supreme passion is to please God.
For if all I attempt to do is please people, I would fail to be a true servant of Christ.
Paul's goal is to please God.
What pleases God? Faith. (Hebrews 11:6)
Please God and not man.
Our sails are not identical..
Our purposes are not identical…
If we need to be able to let the Holy Spirit be the wind beneath our sails to lead us in the direction of our Heavenly Father’s perfect plan for us, we need to throw away everything – including the desire of approval of others – to be able to surrender.
In the boat analogy, the Holy Spirit is the wind in our sails.
So how do we catch the wind of the Holy Spirit?
How do we live such a life?
EXODUS 17:15 KJV
And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:
H3071
Original: יהוה נסּי
Transliteration: yehôvâh nissı̂y
Phonetic: yeh-ho-vaw' nis-see'
BDB Definition: Jehovah-nissi = " Jehovah is my banner"
In this verse, the purpose of the “nes,” or banner, was for the people to have a visible sign that God gave them victory over the Amalekites and would wipe their oppressors off the face of the Earth.
From then on, a “nes” would be a sign from God that He would watch over and protect His people.
Today, the sign and banner is Jesus.
H5251
Original: נס nês
Phonetic: nace
something lifted up, standard, signal, signal pole, ensign, banner, sign, SAIL
standard (as rallying point), signal
standard (pole)
ensign, signal
The sail is Christ.
Christ cannot be lifted up if we have baggages in our lives.
He is to lifted up with our lives.
When we believe and act upon the word, the sail is up.
Adjust your sails!
God said “a rosy gust is coming”.
It can mean HEALTHY, YOUTHFUL, PROMISING, or HOPEFUL.
A GUST of air or wind is a SUDDEN UPTAKE in WIND SPEEDS in a way that’s noticeably different.
There is a SHIFT coming that will be a noticeable INCREASE in HOPE and JOY, but to experience it will require us having our SAILS POSITIONED to “CATCH ” the WIND of the SPIRIT.
When the sail is up, miracle will happen in our lives.
Are you drifting?
Are you rowing?
Are you sailing?
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