“And His that gentle voice we hear, soft as the breath of even…” I guess control freaks would wish it so, would wish The Spirit always came as a dove, after all that was the Jesus way. The Spirit descended and remained on Him as a dove.

Well, when Jesus poured out the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit upon His church, the Jesus way was this: “Suddenly there was the sound of a mighty rushing wind!” A violent hurricane. It reminds me of what is written of Samson: “the Spirit of God rushed upon him.”

As you know I had to throw out all my books, because of the danger they could be to my lungs, so I cannot check details, but I remember the bare bones of a story which Dr. Helen Roseveare told. One glimpse of her face on one occasion, remains one of the most significant influences upon my life and service today, 46 years on. I have never seen the glory of God on a human face in such measure before or since. As a teenager the sheer beauty of God shining upon and from her face made me weep and search the grounds of Kilcreggan House, during a Crusader Camp, for a space to be alone and offer my life in fresh surrender to the will of God. Anyway, she tells in one of her wonderful books, the story of a day during her time as a missionary in what was the Belgian Congo. There was the sound of a strong storm outside the building where God’s people were gathered. Some went to close the shutters but outside not a blade of grass was moving. Suddenly the violent wind of God’s Spirit rushed in and around the building. God had come.

With Lewis in mind, I am remembering a story that happened in Bernera the coast of Lewis. Things were tough. A fifteen year old boy (Donald, whom I met in the 1990’s in Thurso the day after I dreamed of meeting him) stood to pray. He was looking into heaven and prayed after sobbing, “O God, there is power there. Let it loose!” At that moment, the Spirit of God came down. It looked like a battlefield. On one side of the church people were prostrate before the Lord, compelled into that posture by the presence of the Lord. On the other side of the building, some had their arms flung back above their heads, holding them up in the air, rigid.” God had come.

I met the Principal of a well known prestigious Evangelical Bible College in England who was in a meeting in the late 70’s when the same thing happened as happened in Bernera. People on one side flung forward, people on the other flung back the way as the Spirit of God swept into the building. The glory of God upon him in the briefest of conversations I had with him in almost the immediate aftermath of his experience was another of those spurs to seek after Acts 2 for myself.

Well, I for one believe we need the rushing mighty wind to hit the Church in Scotland. It may be God will move you to pray for that too. It may be you even want to pray for that for yourself.

I can testify it is possible for the Spirit of God to come in such power that you can no more stand than you could remain standing in the force of a hurricane. I was told as a newly converted teenager by people of undoubted Christlikeness that Acts 2 is not for today. I never believed them fully though I respected them . It was to their credit I did not believe them! You see, they had taught me to respect the bible as my supreme authority for faith and life, and my bible led me to believe God is unchanging. It led me to pray for a personal Pentecost, to pray and seek that for approximately 7 years. In a way I never expected, it happened! Why the 7 year wait? I have no idea! But I know there came a day when all I could say in the midst of what was happening as the Spirit of God filled my study in our family home in Torrance, was, “Oh, it is real! It is all real!”

I still seek “more” whatever more may mean. Perhaps your heart is telling you to seek the hurricane and the fire. I hope your hunger exceeds your caution or your fear. God the Father who loves you, gives only good things to His children when they ask Him for the Holy Spirit. You are not deceived to ask. He will guard you against being deceived in the receiving. It is an age old problem: some believers have more faith in the devil to deceive those who are seeking God with all their hearts, than in Our Heavenly Father’s willingness to give His Holy Spirit to those who ask and go on asking, seek and go on seeking, knock and go on knocking. Ask! Seek! Knock! “Come wind of God! Breathe upon these slain that they may live!”

God bless

Kenny