5:45 a.m., and already the air was thick with heat and humidity. Mornings like this were exactly the reason I was ready to give up dog-walking until the fall. The dogs pulled me down the sidewalk, excited to be free from the confines of their house and yard. Just about the time I was considering cutting the walk short, a breeze from out of nowhere began to blow through the treetops and over my sweaty skin. I welcomed the cool reprieve of the gentle wind, and the dogs and I managed to complete our route.

Texas summers have always been brutal – even before the sun comes up. I’ve lived here almost my entire life so I’m not sure why I would expect anything other than this on summer mornings. Newcomers, when you show up in the spring and it’s already 90+ degrees outside, the jokes about Texas only preheating aren’t jokes. It’s for real. Thankfully, there is the occasional breeze so you’ll usually find me – and those two crazy dogs of mine – walking the streets in the predawn sauna.

When I was only a few years old in my faith walk with Jesus, I heard a sermon given by Billy Graham in which he referenced the Holy Spirit as being like the wind. He said he’d never seen God, but he knew that God existed because he’d seen the effects of God’s movement in the world – just as he’d never seen the wind but had seen the effects of the wind.

John 3:8 says that just as the wind blows wherever it pleases, the Spirit of God goes wherever He pleases, bringing new life to those who are dead in their sin. Ezekiel described the vision given to him by God in Ezekial 37:1-10. (In describing this vision, the word translated “breath” can also mean “wind” or “spirit.”) In verse 5, the Lord said to a valley of dry bones: “I will make breath (or wind or spirit) enter you, and you will come to life.” And they did. In the same way, the Holy Spirit today brings our dead hearts to life.

The wind is powerful and unexplainable – as is God’s Spirit. He empowers ordinary men and women to accomplish God-sized tasks as He indwells their hearts and lives. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came with “a sound like the blowing of a violent wind” and appeared as “tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each” of the apostles. They supernaturally began to speak in other languages, spreading the message of salvation to people in the crowds in their own languages. Through the Spirit’s mighty work, the Church was born and has been sustained by Him to this day.

As dwelling places of the Holy Spirit, we believers are enabled to live faithfully and obediently for Jesus. Evidence of His indwelling is found by the fruit of our lives – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23a). He intercedes for us in our weakness “with words that groans cannot express” and “in accordance with God’s will” (Romans 8:26-27). He helps us to understand Scripture and brings it to mind at just the right time and in the right circumstances (John 14:26).

He is our Advocate, Counselor, Comforter, Helper, Guide, and so much more! He provides wisdom and understanding (Isaiah 11:2) and leads us into all truth (John 16:13). By the mercy and grace of God, He uses His sword – the Word of God – to help us to recognize and repent from our sin when we stray (Ephesians 6:17). Along with all of these amazing things the Spirit of God does for us, we also have this assurance – the moment we place our faith in Christ, the Spirit seals us for eternity, guaranteeing our place in the Father’s heavenly house (Ephesians 1:13).

So the next time you notice a little ol’ breeze carousing through the treetops or find yourself wiping off sand and grit from your lips in a crazy West Texas wind storm, remember the Spirit. He blows where He chooses, bringing life, truth, and wisdom to hearts waiting to receive Him.