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Teaching Resources

Favorable Wind

Favorable Wind - “He led them to the harbor they desired”
“Some traveled on the sea in ships, and carried cargo over the vast waters. They witnessed the acts of the Lord, his amazing feats on the deep water. He gave the order for a windstorm, and it stirred up the waves of the sea. They reached up to the sky, then dropped into the depths. The sailors’ strength left them because the danger was so great. They swayed and staggered like a drunk, and all their skill proved ineffective. They cried out to the Lord in their distress; he delivered them from their troubles. He calmed the storm, and the waves grew silent. The sailors rejoiced because the waves grew quiet, and he led them to the harbor they desired. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love, and for the amazing things he has done for people! Psalm 107:23-31  Dear Elijah Company Friends,
The winds were fierce! The place was Athens, Greece, and the year was November of 1976. The USS Preserver pulled out of the harbor with two barges in tow. Our expectation was to drop the barges off in Rota, Spain and be home in plenty time for Christmas. But on the first day at sea, we encountered gale force winds that persevered for many days (like the apostle Paul in Acts). The huge engines that I operated were running at “all ahead full” which means we were pushing ahead as hard as we possibly could, but at the same time, the wind was pushing us back one-third. For over thirty days we rode this enormous storm until a prayer was answered, and on December 24, 1976 we spotted Cape Hatteras and safely made our way home.
On December of 1982, the Doulos ship sat at the mouth of the Straits of Magellan off the coast of Chili. The usually turbulent strait was keeping us from entering the passage. A testament of the danger was later noted with the number of rusty hulls rolled over or stranded on rocky shoals. The local ship pilot came on board a few hours earlier and after studying the weather forecast, determined that if there wasn’t a shift in the wind we would not be able to enter the straits and navigate onto the Atlantic Ocean. We all prayed that night. In the midst of our prayer the captain announced that the sea had turned calm. In a matter of minutes, a hush came over the sea and the straits became like a mirror. The pilot, who brought hundreds of ships through the straits, said he had never seen it so calm. We were experiencing favorable wind that allowed us to navigate toward our destination.
In my devotional time the Lord showed me an important principle of the wind. He controls it. A t first glance, Romans 10:14-15 seems unlikely to talk about wind and the propulsion of workers to the harvest. Look with me:
“How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.’”
There is a place you should go. There is a place you want to go to. This place is your destiny. To be in that place at this time is what you were created to do. It is where heaven and earth will touch each other. You want to go there. Souls wait for the treasure you carry. You imagine the joy of being there and doing eternal work. How are you to preach unless you are sent?
It is written, “How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim good news.” You know that this verse is translated in various ways. You can do that with language. In any language there may be various words of another language that describes its original meaning. The Greek has four words for our one word “love.” They are each more descriptive than just our English word for love. This is the beauty of language. It reflects culture and ideas much broader than we can imagine. “How timely” can also be translated from the original Hebrew to say, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of them who bring good news.” A timely thing is a beautiful thing. The word “timely” in this context seems to mean “coming at the right or opportune time.” It may also mean “beautiful, attractive, welcome.” But there is something even deeper here which every aspiring missionary needs to know. This phrase can be looked at through a nautical lens illustrated by a ship.
The sister ship of the USS Preserver was named USS Opportune. It also was a salvage and rescue ship, one of the less glorious naval vessels. The origin of this word opportune comes from Latin opportunus, from ob 'in the direction of' plus portus 'harbor’ originally describing the wind driving toward the harbor.

Little faith can easily say that everything seems to be against us. The plans to get to God’s destination are all foiled. Scripture says just the contrary. Another Bible word we use is ekballo, you remember us mentioning it before. This HUGE word, ekballo, has among many meanings these: “To cause a thing to move straight on its intended goal, to lead one forth or away somewhere with a force which he cannot resist.”
When we pray, the Lord sends the favorable wind.
“Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send, ekballo, out workers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38). This is why prayer is so important in the sending process as well as every step thereafter. The phrase “Lord of the harvest” recognizes God’s sovereignty over the harvest process. As He is sovereign over the wind, He is also sovereign over sending. It is not only His command to us to “Go” but His desire is to send. All the resources of heaven and earth are marshaled together for those who wait at the port for the favorable winds to blow. It is a fun ride to catch these winds in your sails. There are several applications we’d like to suggest:
· Mission’s is not a boring obligation, but an adventure with God - It will at times hurt, but so does life. · The wind of God, the Holy Spirit, is always blowing - There is no force like it in heaven or earth. Faith has to rise up in our hearts to catch this wind. Unless we believe in the Holy Spirit, we will be abandoned to our own pitiful resources. · We must prepare our sails to catch the wind of God’s Spirit - As a sailor can pray for wind, and wind may come. But if the sails are not hoisted and ready, nothing will happen. There are things we need to do even now to ready ourselves to catch the wind. Personal self-discipline, maturity, purity of heart, knowledge of the scriptures, etc. are all ways to prepare our spiritual sails to catch the wind. · Prayer brings our lives into line with those winds - As we wait on the Lord in prayer, our hearts are turned like a huge ship and we are carried along. · We must know what the will of the Lord is over our life and never doubt it - We must believe in God’s destiny for our lives and seek after it. Since writing this, I learned a new application about the wind. Many of us have or are waiting on the Lord for His favorable wind. We were going to do something very special in the Carribean this spring that would have been very pleasing to us. But the door closed shortly before we were supposed to leave for those islands. We felt a sense of disappointment. So the question arose, “Lord, I wanted to go, why this adverse wind?” As we contemplated the sudden closed door, I was led to Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near the brokenhearted.” The word “brokenhearted” can be translated “ship wrecked.” A shipwreck is an awful thing. In a shipwreck you lose your security and are cast into something too huge for you to handle. But with God, it is a good place to be. He is close. We have seen again that a closed door or delayed destination is an opportunity for increased intimacy with the Lord and open door somewhere else. A good reason for delays in being sent is because of the need to be more intimate with the Lord. Now God has sent us to Spain, and we are here for seventy days. God opened a new door. We are experiencing His favorable wind here. He sent us to His desired haven for this time, and we are thankful for it.

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