When I was growing up, I didn’t understand what the Spirit-filled life was about. To me, the Holy Spirit was a divine force, a kind of mysterious divine blob that would pulsate over the congregation, usually during the invitation. If you were in sin, He would fall on you, and suddenly your heart would begin to beat and palpitate, and you would understand, “Oh, I’m in sin. The Holy Spirit is convicting me.” Then when the service was over, the Ghost would rise and go out. That was it. The whole idea that you could partner with the Holy Spirit was completely beyond my realm of comprehension. I did not understand that the Holy Spirit wanted to be my partner until 1974 when I was gloriously filled with Him and introduced to the Spirit-filled life, which I have been living ever since.

Friend, that’s the life that God wants you to have, and I want to help get you excited for the work He will do in you, but I also want to prepare you for the overwhelming things that happen when His power enters the room and moves in everyone around you. One of the best places to look is the day of Pentecost, so I want to show you Acts 2:2, which says, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.”

The word “suddenly” in Greek is aphnō (ἄφνω), which describes something that took them completely off guard and by surprise. They had been waiting for 10 days, 120 of them gathered and praying together in the upper room, waiting for the wind of the Spirit. Then it suddenly entered the room, and it was so sudden and powerful that it completely caught them off guard. Sometimes that’s how the Holy Spirit moves, and it can take you by surprise. In fact, the verse goes on to say, “…suddenly there came….” — the words “there came” are a form of the Greek word ginomai (γίνομαι), which again describes something that comes unexpectedly, so twice in this verse, we find this was a sudden, surprise event.

More specifically, the verse describes it as a sudden “sound.” The Greek word for “a sound” is ēchos (ἦχος), where we get the English word “echo.” This word specifically describes a loud blast, a roaring, or a loud sound — so loud that Jesus used this very word in Luke 21:25 to describe the sound of the sea and waves at the time of His second coming! This is a sound so loud that if the person standing next to you tried to talk to you, you wouldn’t even be able to hear them. You would have to yell at each other just to hear each other, and that is the word that is used to describe what happened when the Holy Spirit moved in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. This was not a quiet, peaceful affair. It was a loud, boisterous event — a “rushing mighty wind”

The word “rushing” is a form of the Greek phereo (φέρω), meaning to bear, to carry, or to drive along. Here we find that the Holy Spirit was really moving; His power was shifting around, and His wind was being born right into the room where those early believers were standing. It came rushing, and it was loud. In fact, it was mighty. The word “mighty” describes something powerful and overwhelming, so when you put everything we’ve talked about together, you find that when the Spirit of God moved on the day of Pentecost, He moved suddenly and unexpectedly, and it was so loud that it was like the roaring of the sea during a storm. It sounded violent because of just how much energy was being released.

That finally brings us to the word “wind,” which is interpreted from the Greek pneuma (πνεῦμα), describing a wind so loud one may be tempted to cover his ears because the sound of it is so overwhelming. This picture always reminds me of my childhood. Growing up, we were accustomed to an abundance of wind because we lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is in the very middle of an area with so much wind that it is called “Tornado Alley.” I remember that sometimes my mother would have to take me and my siblings into the bathroom and shut the door, and we would hunker down to wait until tornados passed over us. When we came out, it sometimes looked like a whole different world, with entire trees uprooted and electrical lines laying across the street, sparking as they hit each other.

There’s so much power in the wind, friend, and it usually makes people think of destruction like I just described, but that is not the full story. If there was no wind on the earth, the whole planet would be stagnant and stinking because of pollution and decay. However the wind causes things to move around and keeps the air fresh and clean.

Wind is also very useful. Mankind has always sought to harness its power. Before the days of steam- or nuclear-powered engines, vessels had to depend on the wind to blow in their sails. If there had never been wind, there would have been no exploration, windmills for energy, or development of civilization as we know it today. Wind is essential for progress.

Of course, Wind can’t be seen, but it can certainly be felt, just like the Holy Spirit. The believers in the upper room must have been terrified that they were dealing with a destructive, violent, tornado-type wind when they heard that roaring sound, but the Spirit wasn’t coming in to harm them. He was moving in that upper room so that things could be moved around and cleaned out and so that those believers could move forward and progress in their walk of faith.

I understand that there are people who like things to be calm and peaceful, and their idea of a movement of the Holy Spirit is when something sweet, quiet, and peaceful takes place, but I have to warn you, when the wind of the Spirit begins to move, it is rarely quiet. However, I also want to encourage you that you don’t have to be afraid of it. Romans 8:14 tells us, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Paul says we are “led” by the Spirit. He shows us where to go, what to do, and what to say. Jesus has very similar words on this subject in John 16:13:

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

The Spirit guides us! He is the Spirit of truth, and we can trust Him to only lead us on the path and with the instructions that God has specifically set out for us.

I want to share with you a time when I experienced the leading of the Holy Spirit in a powerful way. Many years ago, Denise and I and our family had uprooted our whole lives and moved across the world to the former Soviet Union, and as I began our TV ministry, I had it on my heart to broadcast the Bible in a certain Muslim republic. At that time, that republic was in a time of war, so it was incredibly dangerous to go there, and many people were telling me not to go. But I knew the Holy Spirit was leading me to do it, so as soon as the fighting died down enough, I got on a plane and flew to that republic to negotiate for TV time.

On top of all the danger that we were facing, the TV director who we were going to negotiate with was a muslim man, which could have been a serious barrier to us being able to share our teachings, but I’m telling you, friend, I was being obedient to the Holy Spirit, so He just opened the heart of that TV director. When I came into his office, one of the first things he asked me was, “Can you just show me one of your programs? Let me see what you brought.”

The series I had brought was a series of teachings on marriage, so I showed him one program, and when it was finished, he asked me, “Do you have another one you can show me?” When that one was finished, he asked again, “Do you have another one?” I did not know this at the time, but that TV director was having troubles in his marriage, and by the time I had showed him three episodes of this series on marriage, God had wrapped His hand around the heart of that Muslim TV director, and he looked across the table at me and said, “How often would you like to broadcast, and what do you want to pay?”

Rather than give me the requirements to proclaim the Gospel in that nation where there was so much turmoil, he asked me to set the terms! It wasn’t because I was so smart or convincing — it was because I was led by the Holy Spirit. That is what He can do in your life if you will accept His help!

Friend, I want to encourage you today that He wants to lead you too. He wants to release power into your life on a daily basis. If you will listen to Him and follow Him, He will lead you to exactly where you need to be. He wants to move in your life like wind and remove all stagnation, breathe energy into you, and cause you to move in His will. He wants to supernaturally lead you, but you’ve got to trust Him, so don’t be afraid of the holy wind — just breathe it in.