Many years ago when I was studying to get my pilot’s license, there was many things I had to learn about the nature of flying an airplane. The first thing I had to understand was how to get it off the ground. The next thing was to be able to control the plane speed and level flight + or – fifty feet while in the air. This was not as easy a chore as you would imagine; I had to learn about such things as yaw and pitch. Pitch is the up and down position of the nose of the plane to a straight and level imaginary line. The position of the noise left or right of an imaginary straight line is yaw. There are three factors that you must to be aware of at all times, yaw, pitch and speed. Once you leave the ground in an airplane you become a part of the elements and unless corrected for the plane moves left or right depending on the direction of the wind. If you don’t make corrections for the wind you could be miles off course and not even be able to see your destination. You could fly right by it and not know that you missed it. Another factor in keeping the plane on the proper heading is magnetic north and true north. Each longitude has a correction for the magnetic north you read on the compass and that has to be figured correctly to be able to stay on course You might say why are you talking about flying a plane I have no interest in flying an airplane. Well, the truth is our spiritual life is much like the airplane there are many outside forces that are trying to move you off the course you desire to follow. And in this book I have treated each one of these forces as a wind trying to blow your airplane off course. Of course, your airplane is your life and the direction you want it to go. There are many forces out there trying to blow your aircraft off course and you don’t stand a chance of reaching the desired goal without making allowances and corrections for each one of these forces.There are many occasions in life when it seems almost impossible to keep focused on the course that we have chosen, the things that we deem to be important. There are so many things bidding for our attention; attempting to distract us from the goal set for ourselves. The goal I am talking about is putting down our carnal desires and living in obedience to Almighty Yahveh. If we are ever to be constant and remain focused on our goals we need to learn the rule of yes and no. The rule says that you can never say yes without saying no. You can never say yes to someone else without saying no to yourself. You can never say yes to distractions without saying no to your goals.
The very nature of the world is constant change. We are consequently pressured to change with it. The problem with change is that it causes you to be distracted from the goal, this results in a detour. Detours cost time and energy, not to mention money. To try and stop the world from changing would be like trying to stop the wind from blowing. Therefore, that is not an option. There has to be a different solution to the dilemma of trying to remain focused when everything around you is changing.
Acts 27: 1 very clearly states the goal of the authorities who held Paul captive: “And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band.” The goal was to go to Italy. They proposed to go one way but the circumstances of this world changed that plan. There were forces that came against them that they could not, or did not, foresee. The second verse states: “And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.” Their goal was not only to go to Italy, but to go to Italy by way of Asia. This is what they had planned to accomplish.
The fourth verse tells us that because of the elements, pressure was placed on them that altered their course of action; “And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.” They had not taken the winds into consideration and it caused them to miss their secondary goal. It caused them to take a detour en route to their primary goal of going to Italy by way of Asia. Many times we are forced to sacrifice our secondary goals and make corrections that we might accomplish our primary goal. As you know, this element of pressure that the world brought forth caused much delay and discomfort for Paul and the people involved on board that ship.
Paul was not denied his goal but he was delayed and put through some extreme hardships; he was shipwrecked, not to mention all the stress of being on a small ship during a storm. However, there was great determination to get to Rome. Sometimes we do not know why we are so compelled or motivated to a certain goal. I am quite sure that Paul had no idea of the full ramifications of his actions when he requested to appear before Caesar. He had no idea he was going to be shipwrecked. He probably had a pretty good indication that life was not going to be a “great big bowl of cherries”— but then it wasn’t before. Paul was a man aquatinted with sorrows, pain and hardships; these things were not new to him. He had already conditioned himself to take on the hardships that were involved with accomplishing the goals set before him.
We ought to equip ourselves with the same mind, prepare to be resisted by the world and face every hindrance the world can offer. It was for this cause that Yah gave us the ability to have power over anything that the world can throw at us. Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” We don’t have to be stopped or denied by any circumstance in this world.
There are strong winds blowing now, trying to take you off the course that Almighty Yahveh has set for you to deny you those goals. If you are off course, or even shipwrecked, you don’t have to be denied. You have the victory in the all powerful, wonderful name of Yahshua. There are various kinds of winds in the world that blow against the warriors of Yahshua’s army. Each one of these winds or forces has their own unique characteristics designed to prevent the warrior from accomplishing the mission that Yahveh has assigned to him. Do not be deceived; all these forces, no matter how subtle, are designed and empowered by the powers of darkness. The world hated Him and it will hate you. However please do not get the world confused with people. Yahshua said the world not the people would hate you. The world meaning the circumstances or forces that Satan has designed to hinder you sometimes it can be people but they are only victims used by Satan. Dear precious saint, please hear me, if you expect people to hate you because of Yahshua what are you releasing your faith into? As your faith is so be it unto you. You have believed people to be hateful to you, so you have received exactly what you believed. The real problem with this way of thinking is that, more often than not, it creates a hateful, arrogant attitude in us.
This attitude within itself is one of the more subtle winds that the world sends against you to keep you from reaching your goals. It’s the world’s tactic for getting you to develop an attitude like that of the world. This attitude causes you to conform to the world and its way of thinking. It brings you down from the mighty warrior status back into the carnal realm with all the physical limitations. It is the world that hates you–not the people; love the people and hate the world.
There are major differences between the mighty warrior’s attitude and the world’s attitude. The mighty warrior has full confidence in the outcome of any battle that he is involved in. He knows that he is not limited by his physical or mental abilities. The world’s attitude is that they are limited to their own faculties and the outcome is always up for grabs. The weapons we possess as the sons of the living Yah are completely different from the arsenal of weapons than the world uses. The weapons we possess have been proven over the centuries to be most effective. 2 Corinthians 10:4 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through Yahveh to the pulling down of strongholds.” These weapons, when used properly, have been known to completely destroy the fortresses that Satan has set up in the world.
The world will constantly resist revival. I often hear people say, “There will never be another revival. The world has gone too far away from Yahveh.” There is, as usual, some truth to Satan’s lies. The world will not see revival until we have a new heaven and a new earth. Until that time Satan is going to resist revival as much as you and I permit him. The body of Yahshua Messiah, the true church, is going to be continually revived and renewed by the power of Yah. When the world fails to accomplish its goals, the tendency is to try to place blame on someone for their failure. The mighty warrior does not have to accept failure; he is a stranger to defeat. 2 Corinthians 2:14 “Now thanks be to Yahveh who always leads us in triumph in Meshiach, and through us diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place.”(NKJV) Yahveh causes us to triumph always in Yahshua HaMeshiach. Therefore, if there is a delay in seeing the victory we don’t have to doubt the outcome. The weapons that have been given to us have long since been proven to be indefensible.
The world wants to make you think you are subject to the forces that it exerts against you. Some of the forces it uses against you are fear of other peoples’ opinions, fear of failure or fear of rejection. Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but who so putteth his trust in the Yahveh shall be safe.”
We are in the midst of a generation of people who are very insecure about their image. There seems to be that insatiable appetite for the social group to agree, or approve of their position on any given subject. This addiction to acceptance cripples our society in many different ways. One of the ways we are hindered is the uncomfortable feeling we get when someone comments about our differences. We seem to take the difference in opinions, or the difference in appearance, as a negative rather than a positive attribute to our personality. We are made to feel so uncomfortable and so isolated by the difference that the inclination is to apologize for the position we have just taken. (These inclinations are present with us because we feel so isolated, so all alone in our views). We are tempted to apologize for no reason other than the hope we might be restored to that sense of belonging. The sense of belonging is what the world’s experts indicate as most important to our well-being and an absolute necessity to our mental health.
There is a very strong need in our mental and emotional make-up to belong. Yahveh placed a very strong desire for fellowship inside us and we don’t do well without it. For this reason, the feeling of isolation has a drastic effect on our emotional and mental attitudes. Father Yahveh never intended for us to be so adversely affected by being isolated from other humans. Only when we isolate ourselves from Him should we be affected in this manner. The desire for fellowship that was placed in us was designed to draw to and hold us in fellowship with Yahveh. The terrible emptiness that we feel when isolated was intended to keep us coming to Father Yahveh for fellowship that He might have a relationship with us and we with Him.
After the fall in the Garden of Eden, man could no longer sit down and fellowship with Father Yahveh. There came a terrible emptiness in man caused by isolation from the Most High Sovereign. Mankind could no longer be accepted of Yahveh and this rejection caused him such great pain and emptiness that he, man, started trying to fill the void by communing with other men rather than his Creator. This has proved to be an exercise in futility. You can’t fill a void left by the absence of the Sovereign with the presence of a man. Consequently, man was left to satisfy an insatiable appetite for Yahveh’s fellowship and having only the possibility of fellowship with mortal man available.
Yahveh through His infinite mercy and grace saw this void in man and knew man could never fill this vast emotional cavern, this emptiness inside himself. A classic example of this deficiency and man’s futile effort to fulfill this void without Yahveh is displayed by the thief on the cross. The man hated the feelings of loneliness, isolation and desperation that were so overwhelmingly surfacing in his emotions. These feelings were so unsettling that he was driven by an absence of that sense of belonging, agreement or approval of the crowd. It was recorded in Matthew 27:44 that he was so desperate that he took up the same cry that the crowd. “If you be the son of Yahveh come down off that stake; save yourself and us; others He saved, Himself He cannot save”. Although the crowd was killing him, the thief needed to feel a kinship with the crowd, a sense of belonging, that he started agreeing with their cry and even shouted the same taunts at Yahshua. Like many before him and many after him he made the wrong choice. What he failed to realize is that he was trying to fill a Yahveh void with carnal reactions. He never understood that the answer to the Father Yahveh void was on the stake next to him. He was too busy trying to fulfill spiritual needs with emotional reactions, looking for carnal satisfactions in the midst of a spiritual catastrophe. What he failed to recognize was that the man next to him was the Lamb of Yahveh given for the ransom of all men. Therefore, he started mocking the very answer to his dilemma. The reason Yahshua was on the stake to begin with was to make it possible for him and all of mankind, to fill the Father Yahveh void in his life. For this cause Yahveh sent His only begotten Son, the Master Yahshua HaMeshiach to redeem us from isolation. Yahshua was born that He might, through the shedding of His blood on Calvary, brings reconciliation between Yahveh and man. Man, through the power of the Ruach HaKadesh, made possible by the resurrection of Yahshua HaMasheiach, can fulfill his need for fellowship. Then the appetite that was previously insatiable may now be satisfied. This has made and will make available to him, in this case the thief on the stake, but whosoever will, the means of being free from all of his insecurities and let him stand confident in the fellowship of Yahshua HaMasheiach. This translates into confidence in the power of Yahveh operating through us to overcome every possible obstacle that could be set before us. Once again he can commune with the Most High and not feel isolated.
There is a form of isolation that we seem to be caught up in and we completely overlook the impact it has on our spiritual lives. The devastation and the effects of this breeze are felt throughout the whole world. One of Satan’s favorite tricks is to get a believer isolated from the rest of the body of Messiah. Yahshua said “a house divided against itself cannot stand”.
We are told in 1 Peter 5:8 of the nature of the devil and his tactics. We are instructed “to be sober and to be vigilant because our adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour”. There are some who say we give the devil too much credit. It is not my intention to give the devil any credit, Romans 16:20 states that “Yahveh of peace shall bruise the head of Satan under our feet shortly” but in Romans 16:19 we are instructed to “be wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil.” Paul is telling us not to be ignorant of the devices of the devil. It is not a complicated thing. On the contrary it is relatively simple. If we obey the Word and do that which is good and honorable in the sight of the Most High then He Himself will bruise Satan’s head under our feet.
It was not Yahveh’s intention that you fear Satan; however He did want you to know the method of Satan’s operation described in 1 Peter 5:8. Paul tells us that Satan is on the prowl much like the lion. Lions rarely if ever attack the herd. Their method is to catch their victim isolated from the rest of the herd, and then they surround and devour the prey. Satan’s tactics are exactly the same. The devil cannot pull you down as long as you have the unity and consolidated effort of the body coming against him. He must bring separation into the body in order to have any success at all.
Satan is still the most subtle of all creatures. He is so crafty at dividing and spreading dissension in the body that he rarely gets caught. The magnitude of his operation ranges from the little old lady who sits in the pew looking for flaws, to the accusing finger of the denominational church. In finding fault with every other denomination they isolate themselves and alienate others. For example, if the effort is not sponsored or controlled by their church or denomination then they don’t want to have anything to do with it.
The results is Satan not having to deal with a unified body of Mesheiach (Christ) but one that is divided by denominational barriers that separate and cause division. Remember the lion never attacks the herd or unified group because the whole herd could turn on him and trample him under foot. The devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour; therefore he must separate the different assemblies so he can deal with each of them separately or he would not be able to hinder or operate against them. The truth is that he must keep the denominational bigotry going or he would be totally trampled under the feet of the church. Isolation is an awfully strong wind that comes against us, to take us off the course that the Sovereign has set for us, and the impact is deadly. When we isolate ourselves from other parts of the body, we also isolate ourselves from Yahveh; we cannot live in isolation from one another or the Sovereign.
There seem to be three categories of church members today. All the divisions are a by-product of the church systems, good, bad or indifferent. The church must take the responsibility for the end result. First, there is the church member who has been burnt out with business as usual; these people are not interested in how the church has done it in the past. They have attended the church for years and haven’t witnessed one supernatural act of Yahveh that could not be explained away by the doubters. The problem is, in many cases, the church teaches them that they don’t need supernatural acts; Yahveh can, but doesn’t do those kinds of things any more. Then they really start looking for something that has some hope of life in it; something that they can define as the kingdom of Yahveh; something that has a semblance of the power that is in the Bible. So the first group of people is looking for more evidence of Yahveh’s power in their life which indicates they need a deeper walk with Him. It is so hard to get into the deep water when everybody is standing ankle deep, screaming “Don’t go any deeper you will be sorry!” So they normally have to leave their familiar church surroundings to search for a deeper walk with Yahveh.
The second category is the person who has been out to the independent church and been burned because of the lack of structure and regulatory process. The first thing I should explain is that this group of people is divided into two parts. One part of this group has retreated and gone back to the structured because it is safe there never mind the absence of life. There you don’t stand as much of a chance of being led downs the rosy path because of the structure. Never mind they do not use the correct names, many times operate in seduction and heresy. The sad thing is they realize the odds are against them seeing the awesome wondrous power of the Sovereign but they have considered and decided that being safe is more important than the powerful movement of Yahveh. Now before anybody gets all bent out of shape, I am in no way saying that the these people do not have a relationship with Yahshua and neither am I denying the fact that they have been saved. But I am saying that their relationship has to fall within the guidelines of the structure they are in. They have chosen that and I love them with everything that Yahveh has put in me. The second part of this group are those who have moved out of the structure and have been hurt but they refuse to settle for anything but an unhamp- ered relationship with the Sovereign that they seek. They have experienced the dangers of going to a fellowship that is not governed by three committees that are governed by three more committees and would not tolerate a wild preacher coming in and challenging their regulations such as Paul of Tarsus. They have also understood that they have the sole responsibility of working out their own salvation. They do not want to depend on somebody else to tell them when they are right with Yahveh. They have chosen to study to show themselves approved; a workman needing not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word. They have taken the responsibility of being instructed by Yahveh. They accept the challenge that they have to let the Ruach HaKadesh minister to them whether the teaching is of the Sovereign or not, rather than going back into a thumbs-on environment.
One of the strongest winds the world sends our way is the wind of frustration. This force can be as devastating in our lives as a Kansas thunder storm. Much like the thunder storm spits out wind, rain, hail and destruction, frustration spits out desperation, depression and confusion. These accompany frustration as wind, rain and hail accompany a Kansas thunder storm. Like the storm that spreads destruction in its path, frustration also can cause death if the proper precautions are not taken.
Job 8:2–asks a very pertinent question. “How long wilt thou speak these things? And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?” Job tells us that the words of our mouth are like strong winds and like wind, rain and hail are generated by the thunder storm, so are words generated by either desperation or hope. They bring either life or they bring death, they either build up or they tear down. Words are one of the strongest forces that exist in the physical realm of our world and for this cause they ought to be handled with care, just like a gun or a stick of dynamite.
Winds are not always destructive; neither are they always a nuisance. To the sail boat where there is no wind it is relief and the very life that moves the sail boat causing it to reach its appointed destination. The same wind that powers the it could also, as in a tornado destroy the little sail boat.
Just as the tornado is the result of the perversion of a constructive force by Satan; so is frustration a perversion of excitement. Frustration brings about desperation and desperation is a perversion of hope. If hope is perverted and no longer identifiable to our spirit; then we have nothing to attach our faith to. We have become defeated because we have no faith, and we have no faith because faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. In this case, we have no hope for our faith to give substance to, therefore our faith is dormant.
The result of all this is the mighty warrior has been reduced to a sniveling, whining, cry baby. How could this happen? A creation that was predestined to be the exact image of Yahshua to be reduced to such a state as this! Very simply, the devil came in and perverted our conversation so that we began speaking our circumstances rather than what the Word of Yahveh says about our circumstances. By talking our circumstances, we have done a spectacular thing. We have taken a mighty weapon that the Sovereign gave us to blow away the strongholds of Satan and aimed it at ourselves. Then we opened fire with the very weapon that was supposed to render our enemy helpless—our conversation. By causing us to talk our circumstances frustration has changed the course of our life and caused us to miss the course that Yahveh of Hosts had charted for us.
Frustration is the weapon of choice for the enemy. It accomplishes so much for him. First of all it prevents you from coming against him with the words of your mouth because your mouth is occupied with frustration. Secondly, he has you in a trap because what you say with your mouth, believing in your heart must, come to pass. Now the problem is very simple; as long as you talk your circumstances, you are trapped inside your circumstances. So the wind of frustration may well be the most devastating of all.
The answer for frustration is the word of YHVH. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of the Sovereign. It is impossible to be frustrated when you know for a fact that YHVH is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and supplies all of your needs according to His riches in glory. This means if you need wisdom then the Sovereign supplies wisdom to you through the Word. All you have to do is speak Scripture about your situation and know that it is coming to pass.
Your words are a strong wind and they can work for you or against you; in the tongue is the power of life and death. Which direction is the wind blowing in your life?