A Sound from Heaven

Acts 2: 2, 4
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting . . . and they were all filled (diffused throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit.

When I think of the Holy Spirit, I think most often of comfort. Yet these verses tell me that the Spirit comes to us like a violent tempest blast, a force to be reckoned with. Sometimes when it's storming I think, this is what the Holy Spirit sounded like when it first came. Not some meek gentle breeze, but a roaring wind. I like to imagine that wind blowing through me and just emptying me out of all the useless stuff that I hang on to, cleaning me out, and setting me back on my feet to do the work God's given me (and you) to do, sharing His good news with the world.

I'm so meek about it. I don't want to offend, or be rejected, so I give a meek little testimony and water down the Spirit, taking away it's power. I think of that old children's song: This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine . . . put it under a bushel - NO!! But, I do put it under a bushel, I limit the power of the Holy Spirit in me by not fulling yielding control of my life to Him.

I think the Holy Spirit is wild and powerful, and life changing. There is a wonderful poem by John Donne (Holy Sonnets: Batter My Heart three person'd God). The following lines capture what I think the Holy Spirit means to do in us:

That I may rise and stand, oer'throw me and bend your force to
break, blow, burn and make me new.

Jeremiah 20:9 also captures the essence of the Holy Spirit that is active in us:

If I say, I will not make mention of [the Lord] or speak any more in His name, in my mind and heart it is as if there were a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I am weary of enduring and holding it in; I cannot [contain it any longer].

Can you imagine the excitement every day would bring if I truly felt like Jeremiah, like holding God's name in was like a burning fire shut up in my bones. Can you imagine the excitement each day would bring if every day I let the powerful Holy Spirit have it's wild and wonderful way with me? Would I be shunned for my fire? Would I care?