In this message I would like to give a further word concerning the experience of the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum. My burden is to point out that the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum should be a Christian’s spiritual life story. Throughout our whole Christian life, our spiritual experiences should be a continual cycle involving these four matters.
What we spoke in the previous message regarding the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum is absolutely not a theory but something of spiritual experience. If a person has never experienced the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum, that person surely is not a normal Christian. A certain person may have a little doctrinal knowledge of the truth concerning salvation and then be baptized in a formal way without having any experience of the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum. A genuinely saved person is one who has had spiritual transactions with God, one who has experienced the blowing of the wind and the covering of the cloud.
Before you were saved, your life might have seemed peaceful and tranquil, but one day you heard the gospel and experienced the blowing of a mighty wind. As a result, you were awakened and began to wonder about the meaning of human life and, in particular, about the significance of your life. You began to question yourself, saying, “Where did I come from, and where am I going? What is the purpose of my life? What is its meaning? If I continue to live the way I have been living, where will I end up?” The wind kept blowing upon you and within you until you believed into the Lord and received His full salvation.
A spiritual wind not only blew upon us when we were saved but also blows every time we have a spiritual revival. A particular believer may be quite careless regarding his spiritual life and yet be quite content with his spiritual condition. If such a believer is in a good mood, he may read the Bible and pray, but if he is in a bad mood, he may neglect prayer and Bible reading. The situation is very different with a believer who experiences the blowing of a mighty spiritual wind. When the wind blows upon him, he cannot feel satisfied with his spiritual condition. On the contrary, he will become restless and quite concerned about his situation and begin to ask questions concerning the condition of his spiritual life. The principle with the church corporately is the same as it is with a believer personally. The blowing of the wind always makes us feel restless and concerned about our situation and condition. I deeply long that a rushing, mighty wind would blow upon all the saints in all the churches and make them restless and cause them to seek the Lord about their spiritual condition.
The blowing wind brings the covering cloud. We have learned from our spiritual experience that when the Holy Spirit blows upon us and touches us, we sense that God is overshadowing us and exercising His care for us. His presence is like a cloud covering us and surrounding us, and we can sense both His presence and His care. Following this we experience the burning of the consuming fire. This burning makes us realize that we are wrong in many ways and with many persons. Such a burning exposes our condition and causes us to confess our transgressions and deal with ourselves before God. The more the fire burns, the more we confess and the more we are sanctified and purified.
I would ask you to consider the matters of the blowing wind, the covering cloud, and the burning fire in light of your own spiritual experience. Have you not experienced the wind blowing upon you, the cloud covering you, and the fire burning and purifying you? Before you experienced the Spirit’s blowing and burning, you might have felt that others were always at fault and that you were always right. But then through the blowing of the wind, under the covering of the cloud, and by the burning of the fire, you began to see how sinful and corrupt you were. The fire burned you to such an extent that you realized that even your love was selfish and fleshly.
This fire consumes not only our pride but also our humility, not only our wickedness but also our kindness, not only our hatred but also our love. When we are under the blowing of the wind, the covering of the cloud, and the burning of the fire, we will not feel that we are all right. On the contrary, our “I” will fall apart and be dissolved. Eventually, this fire will burn away everything other than God. Only God can pass through this burning.