A Lesson from the Hurricanes

          “For all who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14

     The southeastern part of our Country has suffered tremendous damage this year from Hurricanes Florence and Matthew. Many people have lost everything.  We need to be sure to keep them in our prayers, as well as praying for the relief workers. We have been very fortunate around our little corner of the world this hurricane season.  I was out visiting church members when Hurricane Matthew started coming through our area. When I was trying to make my way home, I was met by a downed tree near the Vance and Granville County line. Over the next few hours quite a few trees were blown over blocking traffic and taking down power lines. Fortunately or family was without power only for about 20 hours. We were without power for 10 days with Hurricane Fran!  The wind took down tall pines as well as mighty oaks. The trees fell because they were not yielding to the wind. Now I know the trees didn’t have a choice in the matter, but hear me out. The wind was blowing in one direction, but rather than going in the direction of the wind, they fell over, making a mess and creating problems.

     The Holy Spirit is like a wind for us. He is a still small voice. He is the part of the Trinity of God that guides and directs us. It is our job as Christians to yield our lives to Him.  He knows what needs to be accomplished and we don’t. When we don’t yield to Him, we can quickly make a mess of things. In Acts we see the Ethiopian eunuch was traveling down the road reading in the book of Isaiah.  Scripture was describing Jesus as being the Lamb of God. The Holy Spirit knew that the eunuch didn’t understand what he was reading. In Chapter 8 verse 29 we see this, “And the Spirit said to Phillip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Phillip yielded to the Spirit’s plan and the eunuch was saved and baptized. He no doubt went back to his country and led people to Christ as well.  But what if Phillip had not yielded to the direction that the Holy Spirit was taking him? The man in the chariot may have never been saved.  Phillip would have made a mess of God’s plan to use him to lead to the man to the Lord.

​     God doesn’t have to have us to accomplish His will, but He desires to use us. He wants to involve us in what He is doing. The Holy Spirit will let you know how you can serve each day. Sadly, I believe a lot of Christians have turned a deaf ear to the Holy Spirit. We know we need to witness to a loved one, but do we? We know that God would have us to reach out to those that are down and out, but do we listen? We know that we should be serving in our church or in local missions, but are we yielding our lives to God’s plan? Each day we need to stop and listen to the Holy Spirit directing us.  Don’t make a mess of things. Listen to the Holy Spirit and yield your life to Him.