Fresh Wind Ministries

by Fernando Nietzen
2 Corinthians 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.(NKJ)

Geometry class taught us that two non-parallel (straight) lines will have one and only one point of intersection. These lines will continue on into infinity or they may have a pre-established and finite length. While this is not a Geometry lesson, the point I want to make is that the four tips or ends of these lines continue to separate evermore as we move the lines away from the intersection point.

The verse above instructs us to be separate from unbelievers. We are coming under increasing pressure from society, our peers and from those trying to have one foot on one line ,the Kingdom of God, and the other foot on the other line, the Kingdom of Satan.

There comes a time when we have to leave one line or path and stand firmly on only one, lest we fall. We ought to know that we cannot please the world and God at the same time. We cannot be lukewarm, cold and hot all at the same time, we need to be fully convinced and decide this day whom we will serve. Revelation 3:16 “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.(NKJ)

The intersection point mentioned in the first paragraph we could say is the word “god”. For us, it is the one and only true God, Creator of heaven and earth that we choose to stand on.

2 Corinthians 6:14 asks us “what communion does light have with darkness?” We must avoid all associations with idolatry and any compromising with unbelievers. The word says that sin is contagious.

When we see the unbelievers exalting unification, stand firm and do not lose sight that this too must occur before He returns.

I encourage you to choose to stand on the line called Jesus, you will not be disappointed.

1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.(NKJ)

What happens when we  read the paper, turn on the television set or the radio these days?   Bad news.  We   here and read the about the recession,  job loss, countries going bankrupt.   It seems that we just can´t get away from it, or can we?

What´s  going on in the world is true, but there comes a time where we need to focus more on the Word and its promises for us. 

I had to ask myself this question.  How do I see myself?  Do I find myself in the desert of despair, depression, hopelessness, or do I see myself drawing closer to God and receiving His blessings for my life?

There is good news in what is going on around us.   Because of Jesus, we have the victory in all circumstances.

It is imperative  these days to draw closer to the Lord and to hear His voice clearly in our lives. We need direction and peace from Him, but we can´t do that if all we hear is negative imput from the media.

Have you ever been in a room full of people, and there are several conversations going on?  If you try to listen to all of them, you won´t get the full story.  You will only pick up bits and pieces.

That is what we need to do with  the bad news we hear.  We need to settle down in our spirits and hear what the Lord is saying , and turn off the media.

I am not saying to be ignorant of what is going on, but to simply take a break.  Because of what we hear, fear can come in quickly, and fear paralyzises  us and therefore we are unable to function correctly.

So how do we see what the Lord has for us in the midst of the turmoil? We quiet our spirits,  turn off the bad news that is  around us and focus on God and His word.  My favorite verse is   Jeremiah 33:3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’(NKJ)

Ask God to show you His plan for you through His word, and He will do it. 

Once you receive that, hang on to it and don´t let go, despite the events  around us.  When we stand strong in His word and the victory that we have, there is no stopping us.  Enforce the rules of the game, the works of the devil are destroyed.  Apply victory in our lives, and watch the enemy tremble as we fulfill the vision the Lord has for us.

Psalms 32: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.(NKJ)

Many of us desire to be in the perfect will of God, which is  wonderful.  But there are those who don´t understand how to be in His will.

For this to happen, we need to believe that God has a plan for us and that we have the ability to communicate with God to achieve that plan.

One of God´s desire is to  communicate with man, as it is proven throughout scripture.  We read how the prophets spoke, God spoke through  a donkey, and then through his son,  Jesus.  But it doesn´t stop there.  God continues to speak to us today.

Gods will for each individual includes His sovereign plan of redemption.  Beyond Gods plan of redemption, we have an individual plan for each of us.

The Bible teaches that God´s will is always good, although His way may not be the one we would select, God knows what is best. 

Here is an explanation of the different types of the will of God. 

Being in the perfect will of God is accomplished when a believer is in harmony with the moral, sovereign and individual will of God for our life.  We are morally obedient, we are in harmony with the sovereign plan of salvation, and we are guided by God in our individual path.

Being in the good will of God, the believer is not in the perfect plan for his life but he is within God´s sovereign will and moral way.  He is not disobedient to God´s revealed will,  and he or she is still seeking to find that perfect plan of God for his life.

Being in the acceptable will of God is when the believer is missing the perfect will of God for his life but is still in the acceptable or also referred to as the permissive will of God.  He may not be concerned about God´s perfect will for his life.  God is permitting him to live in this area, although it is not God´s perfect will for him. 

When a person is outside the will of God, the believer in this realm is in direct disobedience to God´s revealed will.

We are not to loose hope if we fail.  We all end up on a detour at one time or another,  King David did. 

When David became king, he walked in God´s will.  But then David sinned with another´s man wife.   This was in disobedience to God´s written word, he disobeyed morally.   David came before the Lord in repentance, was forgiven and came back in line with God´s will.

We continue to strive to be in God´s will despite our own failures.  If you find yourself off the path, just get back on and continue your journey with Him.

Psalms 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.(NKJ)
 
Blessings in Him.

1 Kings 17:7 -9 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.  Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying,  “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”(NKJ)

In the book of Kings,  the prophet Elijah   prophesies to King Ahab  that their would be no rain in the land for three years.  The Lord then leads Elijah to the Brook Cherith.  Here, Elijah was fed by ravens, and had water to sustain him.

Because of the drought, the brook dries up  and Elijah finds himself  being directed by God to move again.

Have you ever been in  a place where it is comfortable that  you don´t want to move?  Here Elijah had water, shade and food was brought to him.  Yet, it was time to get up and move onto something different.

In my life, I have had several drying brooks, but we often don´t like change, do we.  We enjoy our comfort zone and have a difficult time moving.

Sometimes our brook needs to dry up for us to move on.  The brook could be looked at as a place where everything is nice and calm,  and a routine has set it.   

Perhaps God is nudging you to move on and do something different.  When the brook dries up, it can only lead to something greater.  When we move beyond the brook, we receive new revelation from the Lord.  When Elijah left, it is then his ministry increased.  He was able to call fire down from heaven to consume the false prophets.

Today, we don´t  really  need to call fire down from heaven.  We have the anointing and power from the holy Spirit that will lead us to to great and mighty things in His name.

So what say you, has your brook dried up?  Is it time for you to move from the dry place into something spectacular? 

Get up and get moving on your next phase of ministry.

By Fernando Nietzen

Matthew 13:30 ‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”(NKJ)

One of the most common obstacles to be overcome by potential believers is the recurring question: “If God is so loving, why is there such suffering in the world?”

I was reading the book of Matthew as I have done so many times when suddenly the Lord revealed His answer to the above question.

In Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus uses the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares to help us understand what the kingdom of heaven is like. Those of us who are already part of His kingdom are presently rubbing elbows with those planted alongside us by God’s enemy.

On our path to bearing fruit in His kingdom, we were born, begun to mature and even been born again. But at the same time and in the same space we have to continue to experience the effects and the consequences of sin all around us.

Since we are not yet perfect or mature, some of that sin is our own, but much of it is the result of those whom have hardened their hearts against Him.

These tares are the sons of the wicked one.

It is not yet harvest time, thus we cannot be totally renewed and purified for the heavenly kingdom. In verse 29 we see that Jesus is saying that because of the Fathers’ mercy He does not put an end to the abuse and the sin by those considered tares because the wheat is not yet ready.

We cannot be separated. If the reaping was done before our time, much wheat would be lost and this is of eternal consequence, in contrast the current state of suffering is only temporary.

It is His desire that even some who are now acting as tares will be able to change and become wheat before the harvest.

This is His mercy since God is not willing to have anyone perish, but to have everlasting life.

Let us do our part in bringing in the lost to the kingdom of Heaven, and have more wheat than tares.

1 Timothy 1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. (NKJ)

We were given an English Bulldog a few weeks ago. I believe that the Lord had answered my prayer, as I have always wanted this type of dog, and his name was perfect.   Samson!

It did not take long for Samson to adjust.  Apparently he had been tied up in a concrete back yard, about the size of my kitchen. He loves our yard, and gets along very will with our other two dogs.

I often buy bones at the grocery store, and this particular day was no exception. When I buy the bones, I spread the dogs out as they tend to see what the other dogs have, and to  avoid problems.

This particular day, I purchased the bones, called the dogs and spread them out around our 2000 meter yard.

It did not take us long to realize that Samson is bone aggressive.  He had to have his bone, plus the others dog bones.  He was roaming the yard, stealing and fighting with the other dogs over the bones.  We quickly tied him up.

This made me think of how we can be with the gifts and ministry the Lord deposits into us. 

The Lord may have called us into the ministry, but what do we do? We look at the other ministries that are out there. We want to preach like them, minister like them, pray like them. We want their size of congregation, and perhaps attain to the same status that they have.

We look at everyone else’s gifting and calling, and we are distracted from what God wants us to do.

Samson was not satisfied with his bone, he wanted more.  We can be that way as well.  The Lord has given us a task, and we are not satisfied.  Our eyes are wandering around looking at everyone website, how many books they have written, what their speaking engagement are like, and we loose sight of what God has planned for us.
 

We need to understand that when God has enables us to do anything, it´s because of Him  and not because of us.  If we are not right, what was given to us will not flourish and grow.   We need to develop what the Lord has given us, and be faithful with the small before He can bless us with the big.

Many successful ministries out there started small. Some in garages and in living rooms. 

Be faithful, and don´t let your eyes wander to the other ¨bones¨ (ministries) lying around .  That is a distraction from the enemy. 

Focus on the vision God has placed within your spirit.  Nurture it and  watch it grow into a successful ministry.

Blessings in Him.

Not long ago I listened to a prophetic word given by Dan Dickerson from Covenant Ministries of America.

I found this word to be timely, but this word does not apply to every fivefold ministry.

Here is a quote from the website:

This prophecy is not meant to cause finger pointing or condemnation. It is meant to be a source of renewal, repentance and prayer for individuals and the church as a whole. If you know of anyone who fits this word then I urge you to pray with compassion and understanding realizing this, ” There but for the grace of God go I”. After listening to it, I too was made to examine my own motives for ministry and examine my own attitudes and experienced the fear of the Lord and a renewed sense of the awesome responsibility and position that others and I have been placed in as mouthpieces for the Lord.

After listening to the word myself, I went to prayer for a self evaluation.  If we are to be ground breakers and set apart for the work that the Lord has for us,  we need to stop and evaluate our own motives. 

Let God´s grace and Holy Spirit flood our spirits with a renewed strength, and may all of us fly with wings as eagles.

Listen to the word  here, and be encouraged at what God wants to do through you.

Blessings in Him.