I have been blessed by an amazing group of ladies I study the Word with. We are now on our summer break and we are doing a book club for 8 weeks. We are reading The Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson. AMAZING read! It will make you think, will challenge you, it will make you hungry for more of the Holy Spirit adventure in your life.
In fact, the book is all about the Holy Spirit! I have learned that Celtic Christians had a different name for the Holy Spirit, it's Ah Geadh-Glas, which literally translates as a Wild Goose. It's unpredictable, it's daring, it's FREE.
With my group of ladies we have been reading and discussing about the Holy Spirit and how modern day Christians are missing out on so much, because, perhaps, we have clipped the wings of the Holy Spirit!
How can we clip the wings of the Wild Goose in our life, you ask? Here are some amazing answers my group came up with: we clip the wings of the Holy Spirit, when we settle for the second best in life and never allow Him to lead us to the ultimate destination purposed for us. We clip the wings of the Holy Spirit, when we decide that we are in charge and only allow God "go so far" as long as we are comfortable with it. We clip the Holy Spirit's wings when our worship and prayer is not 100%. ....I am sure there are many more ways, we are just on chapter 2! We are about the start learning about the six cages we, as Christians, can spend entire life without realizing. Because we all know that saved/redeemed people are not necessary spiritually free people.
So, I have been in the "chase mode" ever since we started! Every Scripture I read, I ask Him, " How can I be free and chase You better? What area of my life have I been in charge of and have been clipping Your wings?"..... I seek the answers everywhere!
This weekend we had short family staycation and spent entire day at the Omaha Zoo. We had a blast! We got to the "Sensory Garden" and I am pretty tired by that point and want it to be quick.
We see all kinds of fun things, boys have to touch EVERYTHING! They try to replicate the " Double Trouble" statue :) , they do it daily without realizing!
Then they try to copy the loud birds they see in the shade.
I am so hot and thirsty at this point, I just go and sit in the shade next to the Zoo keeper lady.
I look at the birds again and I don't see any strings attached to them....I look at the Zoo Keeper lady and wonder , " is she, like, going to run and catch them if they fly away?"....Apparently, Zach is thinking the same and asks me , " I wonder how they trained them to stay in the same spot? Why don't they fly away?"....Zoo Keeper lady looks at us, smiles and says , " They won't fly anywhere, we have clipped their wings".....WHAT? YOU DID WHAT? You have actually clipped the wings of the bird? I search for a camera, look at the Zoo keeper lady and say, " you just gave me some great material for a Bible study! you see, this blue bird is modern day Christians..."....She looks confused...
I run to the bird, try to take it's picture...see for yourself! He showed me his wings! Holy Spirit was all over my heart right there in the middle of hot day at the sensory garden!
I stand there and wonder to my self, " Well, since he can't do what he is meant to do and be free, what CAN he do now, besides siting and looking pretty???".....So Holy Spirit heard my thoughts and I shifted my eyes to this:
And the very next second the bird made this loud piercing noise, which startled the boys...
By this moment I was no longer hot from the outside heat, my spirit within me was burning as I heard God speaking in my heart, " Believers are in great danger of spiritual disability. They only allow Me ' thus far" in their life, they make decisions, they make choices, they make plans and then they want Me to fit into their small cage. You can't contain Me in the cage. The truth is, my children were never meant to be the cage materials either. Without the spiritual adventure, all they have left is looking pretty ( pretty bibles, pretty church, pretty Christian lingo), being loud and biting. I have far better plans for my Church today. Would you follow ME on the great adventure? Forget your plans, agenda, ideas....just believe ME. I will take you to the higher heights, you think you saw a lot of Me....baby, you haven't seen nothing yet"....
JOHN 3:8 makes so much more sense now!
"The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
"The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
When did Christianity become safe, predictable and tame????????? How did we get here?
LEAD US, HOLY SPIRIT!
We choose You, not the accessorized predictable life, thrill us, blow our minds away. You LOVE us, You wouldn't lead it to a wrong place.
