The Lifting Power of His Spirit
Wade  E  Taylor

Adam was created from dust.  Dust, by itself, is incapable of holding its form.  Had he been formed of clay, the image into which he was made could maintain itself.  Thus, man was created to be dependent upon his Creator.

God breathed into Adam “the breath of life” (plural).  In the Lord’s original intention, man was formed to live on two different levels, “earthly” and “heavenly.”  The “breath” that God breathed into Adam was the sustaining power to maintain him on each of these levels.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.”  Genesis 2:17

Through disobedience, man lost his higher form of life.  Though Adam and Eve continued to live physically, an immediate death took place.  Death is not annihilation, rather, it is a separation.  They died spiritually and fell into a lower plane of life.  As an earthly being, we have faculties that enable us to function in our environment.  Through the use of these, we either prosper or suffer in varying degrees.

By means of a “new birth,” we are reborn into the spiritual dimension of life and potential which God had originally intended.  As a part of our new birth, we also have been provided with faculties which enable to function in our newly re-created spiritual life.

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.”  I Peter 2:2

We are born into this new creation as a spiritual baby.  Just as natural babies must develop their senses until they function properly, our spiritual senses (which are comparable to our natural senses) must also be developed.  If the totality of our desires and focus upon life is in the temporal area, then only our natural senses will develop. 

However, if the inner desire and intent of our heart is toward spiritual things, our spiritual senses will develop and function.  This will result in our being able to distinguish, and understand spiritual things.  Whenever we respond to the spiritual, we will be infinitely better off than we would have been if we had expended our time and efforts in only the temporal realm of life.

“There was a man named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night.”  John 3:1

Nicodemus came to Jesus after it became dark as he did not want to be recognized.  But there is far more within this verse.  This “night” speaks of the spiritual dullness of the religious system from which he came.  The possibility of God being manifestly present with His people had degenerated into a dead religious form.  All spiritual reality had long departed.  Nicodemus came because he saw that Jesus had something he desired and asked how to receive it.

Jesus said this was not possible “except a man be born from above.”  He also told him that he could not enter the Kingdom apart from this new birth.  The Kingdom transcends and goes beyond redemption and speaks of the full expression of spiritual life that extends beyond the initial experience of salvation.  This requires a total submission to Jesus as Lord.

Nicodemus attempted to relate this “new birth” to the temporal, as he was incapable of understanding the spiritual.  He asked if this birthing into the Kingdom was a natural restructuring.  Jesus answered, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).  The natural man can only relate to the flesh, or the temporal realm.  But the spiritual man, through regeneration and the quickening, lifting power of the Holy Spirit, can relate to both the natural and spiritual realms.

Nicodemus asked if this process of a new birth was like growth within a womb.  Because words are incapable of describing this realm of spiritual life, Jesus told him it was like “the wind,” or, that which will lift us into the dimension of Spirit.

“The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it comes, and wither it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”  John 3:8

Our spiritual senses are the key to our fully entering into this “New Birth” experience.  Only those who are saved and have developed these spiritual senses can hear and enter.  We may hear, but not understand.  This comprehension of spirituals is learned as we move in this realm.  “The wind blows where it pleases.”  We cannot control spirituals, rather, we are to respond in faith.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”  Isaiah 40:31

Notice that they are to mount up with wings.  These “wings” speak of our (new birth) ability to both respond to the Holy Spirit and move with Him.  When we sense the “wind” of the spirit, we are to spread our wings and begin to ascend into the realm of spiritual life.

An airplane, as it goes down the runway, becomes air-borne.  The laws that control this plane while it is on the ground no longer apply.  An entirely new set of laws come into operation, those of “aerodynamics.”  It is not necessary to understand this, all we need do is to “spread our wings” in response to the “wind” of the Holy Spirit.

The Wright brothers flew only a few hundred feet on their first try.  They did not quit, but tried again and again until today we can easily fly around the world.  If we begin to move in this realm of the spirit and crash, we should wipe off the dust, get back on the “runway,” and try again.

The lifting power of this divine “wind” will bring us up into a view and perspective of the last-day moving of the Spirit that we have not before seen.  Too many are trying to understand this process, rather than entering and partaking.

May the “wind of the spirit” lift us into the realm and dimension in which Jesus moved and walked - and still moves and walks within those who trust Him, and desire to live and move in this higher realm of spiritual life and experience.