Hi everyone! My name Is Renee Evans and I am the Senior Leader of Bethel Church in Austin, Texas. I want to welcome you to God Today. Today I want to talk about the Wild Goose Chase. In Psalm 16:11 it says, “You will make known to me the path of life and in your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand, there are pleasures forever.” The Lord will make known the path of life to us, but He does not say He will make known to us every step, every turn, every bump. That is why the journey of every believer requires faith.
But, He does tell us along the way that in His presence there is fullness of joy and pleasures forever. See, living a life of adventure with the Holy Spirit is such an incredible, never dull, always fulfilling pursuit. The Wild Goose was a term that the ancient Celts had for the Holy Spirit. We often view the Holy Spirit only as meek. As a gentle dove or the flicker of a flame. While He is all of those things, He is also like a rush of wind and a raging fire. It can cause anxieties at times because our first thought is to control the fire. And a raging fire and a wild goose are hard to control.
We as humans have innate wiring for adventure. Too often we are wrapped up with the idea of God as Yahweh, personal and close, that we forget and lose sight of Him as God, Creator, and Almighty. I remember hearing the term that following the Holy Spirit was like being on a wild goose chase. My heart leaped within my chest. Following the leading of Holy Spirit is a wild, adventurous, passionate pursuit of the heart of God. The Holy Spirit is beckoning us to enter into the greatest pursuit of all: to know and be known by the living God. If there is one thing I have learned on my pursuit of Holy Spirit it is that He is not confined to the box I have created for Him. When we say YES to God we are given an invitation not just to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but to begin this beautiful adventure with the King of Kings, led by the helper Himself, Holy Spirit. It means we need to surrender control of knowing what comes next. We learn to rest knowing that He holds us in the palm of His hand. We know He works all things together for the good of those who love Him. It is such an honor for us that we get to trust Him and be confident in who He is in our lives.
See, the Wild Goose Chase may be crazy, and scary, and full of unknowns at times. Perhaps even make us a little uncomfortable. But, our reward is Holy Spirit and creating an intimate relationship with our Creator. The thing about the chase is that we were never meant to not catch Him. He runs so that we can catch Him. He is never aloof, He is never distant, but He is always within our grasp. It is a beautiful relationship of adventure and trust. This week, I want you to ask Holy Spirit where He would like to breathe life and adventure into your life. Ask Him what areas you need to surrender control, and give them over to Him. He is far more capable than us to hold close the things and the people that we treasure.
Let’s pray. Lord, we ask that this week that you would take us on an adventure. You would show up in the mundane moments of our lives and breathe a fresh sense of adventure into our spirits. Lord, we ask that if there are any areas of our lives that we need to surrender control or comfort, worry or anxiety, that you would give us the grace to hand those over to you. You would invite us into this beautiful dance, this adventure that you intended for our lives to be. We ask in your name. Amen.