Spirit Wind

One of the other songs on Come to the Well by Casting Crowns that I hadn't heard before is track 6, Spirit Wind.

Ezekiel stared down into the valley
Filled with dry bones baking in the sun
Remains that used to be a mighty army
To him, it looked like their fighting days were done

But driven by a calling on his life
He spoke God's words, the bones began to shake
He stared wide-eyed as the flesh began to form
And as he prophesied to the wind
The soldiers began to wake

And the Lord sent His wind into the valley
And breathed the breath of life into their souls
And raised them again a mighty army
For soon these arisen warriors will battle again
For they have been filled with the spirit wind

A pastor stands before his congregation
Once a mighty army for the Lord
But now he stares into the lifeless eyes
Believers leading carnal lives
He wonders what they're fighting for

But driven by a calling on his life
He spoke God's word like
He'd done a hundred times before
But this time he comes broken and weeping
With tears of a broken heart
And he cries out to the Lord

Oh Lord, send Your wind into this valley
And breathe the breath of life into their souls
And raise them again a mighty army
For soon these arisen warriors will battle again
For they have been filled with the spirit wind

Holy Spirit, breathe on me
Breathe Your life in me

Holy Spirit, breathe on me
Breathe Your life in me

Holy Spirit, breathe on me
Breathe Your life in me

Holy Spirit, breathe on me
Breathe Your life in me

Oh Lord, send Your wind into this valley
And breathe the breath of life into our souls
And raise us again a mighty army
For soon these arisen warriors will battle again
For we have been filled with the spirit wind

Holy Spirit, breathe on me
Breathe Your life in me

Oh Lord, we need You now, breathe Your life into us
Lord, we need You now our churches and our families
Oh Lord, we need You now breathe life into this
Dry and weary land, raise us up again

Over the past few years I've spent some time thinking about what I'm looking for in both a church and a staff. The first, and most important, thing on the list is "A Church that is so dependent upon God that if He were to remove the Holy Spirit everything would fall apart." How many churches are Spirit filled? How many are conducting business as usual? The Church is far from what God intended for it to be, and in order for it to get back to its original design, God must breathe His Spirit Wind back into it.

I'm not interested in attending, much less serving at, a church that wants nothing to do with the Holy Spirit, because honestly, that isn't a church, it’s just a building where people meet once a week.

I've been in churches that don't rely on the Spirit, that don't have the Spirit Wind filling them. I've been around people that don't care that there is a problem, and have no interest in doing anything to fix it. It drives me crazy. How can the Church want nothing to do with the Holy Spirit? How can the Church expect to grow without the Holy Spirit? How can it help people become like Christ if it isn't full of the Spirit of God?

I want to be part of a church that is God's Church. I want to help people see what being part of the Church means. I want to help the Church fall more in love with Jesus and be the Church God intended for it to be. When I graduated from college I thought I could change the world. A few ministry assignments later and I have been pretty beaten up. For a while the fire that was my hope and passion had been smothered, all that was left was a pile of coals that were cooling off.

But over the last few months the fire has been rekindled and is growing in intensity. I don't know what I can do, but I do know that I have a calling on my life. I will speak the Word of God, and work to help the Church receive the Spirit Wind of God. I will not stop working to change the world until my life is done. I know that it isn't going to be an easy task, no one likes change, especially when it requires something of them, but the way things are is not ok. We cannot sit by and let the world continue to fall farther from God. The Church must be filled with the Spirit Wind and become a mighty army of the Lord.

Oh Lord, send Your wind into this valley
And breathe the breath of life into our souls
And raise us again a mighty army
For soon these arisen warriors will battle again
For we have been filled with the spirit wind

Holy Spirit, breathe on me
Breathe Your life in me

Oh Lord, we need You now, breathe Your life into us
Lord, we need You now our churches and our families
Oh Lord, we need You now breathe life into this
Dry and weary land, raise us up again

"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you