JesusWalk Bible Study Forum: Q3. Carried Along by the Wind of the Spirit - JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Q3. (2 Peter 1:20-21) How can a person be speaking and God be speaking, too? How does the image of a ship being moved by the wind help you understand this? (Greek pneuma means "spirit" and "wind.")

God's thoughts and ways can be in our mind and heart as we speak

A person can be speaking along with God speaking because of the Holy Spirit.

In John 3:8 Jesus says: The wind blowth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whether it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Pastor Ralph, on Jul 9 2004, 07:08 AM, said:

In my opinion, if this person is speaking in agreement with the words recorded in the Bible, then he has become a spokesman for God. The Holy Spirit , pneuma, wind, and also "Chi" is a force applied by God to the human psychi of a yielded soul.

Q3. (2 Peter 1:20-21) How can a person be speaking and God be speaking, too? How does the image of a ship being moved by the wind help you understand this? (Greek pneuma means "spirit" and "wind.")


God spoke to the prophets to convey His words to His children. In effect, what the prophets spoke was God's own words. The words were not the prophets own made up words. They were explicitly given by God. Thus the example of a ship being moved by the wind takes shape.

It is good to question and filter messages. But questionning God's word is fallacy. Its showing off. God will not tolerate such brash behaviour. We should be humble to accept the Word of God and not question the authority of the Scriptures.

How can a person be speaking and God be speaking too?

Matthew Henry says "the prophets of the Lord did not speak nor do anything of their own mind. The prophets of the Scriptures spoke and wrote what was the mind of God". That's how we can both be speaking.

How does the image of a ship being moved by the wind help you understand this?

On a ship, sails are hoisted to be moved by the wind. This speaks of trust and hope that there will be wind and recognizing that the wind is the power that moves the ship. If you believe in God you set your sails, so to speak, to hear His Word through scripture and prayer. Why do I read the Bible and pray? Because I expect Him to speak to me and I recognize that He is the moving force in my life. Without Him I would drift aimlessly on the sea of life and miss the entrance to the harbor.

There was more than one prophet. All their voices were important and so are all of ours. My son is lost. Maybe it will be one of your voices that God uses to find him and lead him home.

Lets pray for each other with all fervencyand love in the Spirit.

God Bless!
Jen

A person speaking God's thoughts is speaking for God. So it can be said that God is speaking through the person - the person speaks, and God speaks too.

As the wind carries the ship, so the Holy Spirit carries the one who speaks God's words to the world.

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3.) Peter tells us: "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves or because they wanted to prophesy. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God." 2 Peter 1:20-21 NLT.

The ship and the sail is quite a good annalogy. The spirit of the Lord moves yet cannot be seen just as the wind blows and cannot be seen from where it comes or to where it goes. The awsomeness of our creator God in His wisdom has chosen to use the mouths of men to brings His truths to the ears of humankind. His words are powerful and when His servants are used to proclaim His words they do so in the power of God's Spirit. Thus the words of His servants are in fact thiose of the Lord God and thus should be listened too. In the same way that servant needs to be haering and listening to His Lord so that he is only saying and bringing to the hearers what God is actually saying and not using the opportunity to say what he wants to say , to get onto his or her hbby horse. The servant bringing the words of the Lord thus have a challenge to obey what God is saying.

Pastor Ralph, on Jul 9 2004, 07:08 AM, said:

2 Pe 2:20-21 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God provides the energy to speak and the words to speak. A human breath is the grounding of action or speech. Our brains cannot survive without our breath--in the same way, God's "breath" is the grounding of life and is the origin of the Scripture and all the prophecy therein.

Christina Ingraham

Here on the Texas coast we occasionally get some winds that will move a person to and fro or anything else that might be in it's path. I have experianced a bit of that and have been in a bobtail going around a curve when a wind suddenly moved me one lane over. Praise God no one else was next to me. Another time I was coming over the causeway and watched a large Cadillac go up in the air, turn upside down and come down on it's top. Police and emergency crews were following it. Both of these were not even in storm conditions. We do have those storms too and you have all seen the news folks out standing in the wind. One of those came through and I watched a giant oak rise roots and all above the level of our house and turn to fall in the yard. I say all of this only to give a touch of a feeling as God has promised us to supply us with the words to say when we need them but also has told us to study while urging us not to worry. That feeling of having the answer and yet knowing that my studying did not prepare me for it because my mind is one that does not often have things in so neat a structure has though on occasion lifted me roots and all to give the word God has to pass through me and left me feeling like those three large things blown by the wind but without any ill effects except to say thank you and to study harder as even though God has given me the words I always am reminded by the experiance that I have not studied as I should.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of GOD . . ." (II Timothy 3:16. GOD actually spoke through those men who wrote the Scriptures. He breathed the words through them.

The image of a ship being moved by the wind helps us see that those men who were set apart for the writing of the Scriptures were moved along by the Spirit of GOD.

A person is speaking and God is speaking too happens because the spirit of
God is within that person and God will speak through any person who has a
heart for God and a desire to put God first in his life. I believe the apostle,
Paul in writing to the churches, often said that the Lord was speaking through him , not the wisdom of man , but of God.

The image of a ship being moved by the wind is a good analogy, because in
Him, WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING. As the scripture says, "Without me , you can do nothing."

I'm think about Pentecost, they spoke, but God spoke

A person can be speaking and God can be speaking when the Holy Spirit speaks to the person's heart and then they express what the Spirit told them through their mouth. The image of a ship being moved by the wind helps me understand this in that just because you cannot see the wind, it does not mean that it is not pushing the ship along in its path.

Pastor Ralph, on Jul 9 2004, 07:08 AM, said:

Q3. (2 Peter 1:20-21) How can a person be speaking and God be speaking, too?
God can still speak today through the spiritual gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14).
Prophecy came from holy men filled with God’s Spirit . . . those of us who believe and have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior have been given gifts through the Holy Spirit which lives in us. . .to some He gave the gift of prophecy. . . .Romans 12:6; Eph. 4:11; 1 Cor. 12:10

How does the image of a ship being moved by the wind help you understand this? (Greek pneuma means "spirit" and "wind.")Y
You can not see the wind yet it moves the ship as it blows on its sail . . . moving it in the direction it wishes. This is the same as the HOly Spirit. . . we can not see Him but we can feel Him and know when it is His power that is moving us and at times it is not in the direction we expect, but it is always in the direction in which is best.

Q3. (2 Peter 1:20-21) How can a person be speaking and God be speaking, too? How does the image of a ship being moved by the wind help you understand this? (Greek pneuma means "spirit" and "wind.")

Human beings speak on God behalf , but it is God who takes the initiative. Hence, anything prophet that God gives to men can be considered authentic even in this present age. This means that God through the His divine inspiration still speaks through the avenue of prophesy given to men by Himself. Even though not all prophesy cannot be consider authoritive it still is useful and profitable to spiritual growth.

We are the ship and God is the wind who moves us into the direction he wants us to go. It is our responsiblity to be obedient by raising our sails and allowing the mighty rushing wind of the Holy Spirit to move us in the right direction.

Q3. (2 Peter 1:20-21) How can a person be speaking and God be speaking, too? How does the image of a ship being moved by the wind help you understand this? (Greek pneuma means "spirit" and "wind.")

Just like any gift we are given, prophecy and proper discernment is a gift from God. And we can all be inspired from time to time by the Holy Spirit once we learn how to listen. So, the Holy Spirit can work in our minds to give us the "words" to speak or write. But we have to prepare our minds properly through Scripture study, prayer and meditation so that proper discernment can be utilized.

The analogy of a ship being moved by the wind is excellent because just like a sailing ship has the mechanical ability to move through the water, we have the mechanical ability to speak and write. But just like the ship needs wind to actually move, we need the inspiration and words from God to write or speak for Him.

Q3. (2 Peter 1:20-21) How can a person be speaking and God be speaking, too? How does the image of a ship being moved by the wind help you understand this? (Greek pneuma means "spirit" and "wind.")

Sometimes God uses other human beings to speak through. We need to be careful to check out what another human is saying. It must be in accordance to the Scriptures, and when we consider what is said, we must feel the peace and acceptance of God within us! It must be moving us to act in ways that please God--not man!
The wind blows, but we cannot see it. However, we can see the sail billowing and the movement of the ship caused by it. Sometimes, as one child says, we need someone with "skin" on to understand what God is saying to us. He knows this and sometimes provides it for us--if we have the discernment to understand. This doesn't mean we swallow whole hog anything some speaker says. No. We must keep close to the Lord and watch for His "stops" and "go's"!

As I make myself available to God, He will be able to impress upon me what His thoughts are, what He wants to say. If my attitude is that I will do what He wants me to do, then I will say what He wants me to say.