Fresh Wind Ministries

I Kings 19:4  But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

I think all of us can relate to loosing our spark at some point in time.  Some can call it a desert experience or  a dry spell.  Something  you enjoyed so much went into hibernation,   but you know it’s  a gift from the Lord and somehow was needed to fan the flame once again.    

Consider Elijah:  after conquering the false prophets of Baal, he was off into the desert wanting to die.   The Lord did not kill him as he asked.  Instead, he was taken  care of until it was his time to get up and move.  During this time, he did not look like the prophet who just had a huge victory, instead he was going through a dry spell, depression, or desert experience. 

In all of this, he moved on and continued his work in the Lord.

I have found out that saying no to the Lord is not an option.  When there is a call, there is a call, period.  I believe that Elijah wanted to call it quits, but the Lord would not let him. 

Desert experiences or dry spells are necessary for testing the heart  and growth, as difficult as they may be.  We may not always understand what happens during this time, but that’s not important. What is important is the time spent in faithfulness to the Lord, and not letting the enemy take advantage of it. .  The result of the dry spell:  less of me, more of you Lord.

While we may feel He is not with us in the desert, He really is, and what He is really waiting  for is for you to finish crossing over into the plans and purposes that He has for your life.

Are you ready to have your spark ignited once again?  Come to the Lord in prayer, ask Him to remove the heaviness that is upon you and receive His refreshing touch in your life.

2 Chronicles 7:14  if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The last few years we have seen a rapid change in the world’s economy and spiritual decline.  To say that both of these are in fast forward  is an understatement. 

We have become very grateful for our Lord in directing our move to Central America.  For now, we seem to enjoy a low poverty and unemployment rate, and overall life is good.  While we don’t live a life of luxury, we have  peace here  and don’t see the decline as rapidly as the States and other nations.    Because of this I had developed an indifferent attitude, but the Lord  corrected me!   As  believers we should not think like this, and we should care for His church and people in other nations. 

I have seen the verse quoted above quite frequently on the internet.  The Lord is waking up his church and calling for prayer, repentance and fasting.

When the children of Israel disobeyed the Lord, they would come before Him in repentance, turn from their sin and direct  their hearts to the Lord.  It  is then that the Lord would come in and provide miracles for them. Who is to say that the same thing cannot happen today? 

I have always  believed that as we come closer to the coming of our Lord, that His anointing and Spirit will increase  and we will flow in His power unlike before.

I have read several prophecies regarding revival in the States, and I believe them to be true.  But for revival to come, one must be prepared in their hearts and it starts with repentance. 

I had to repent of my I don’t care attitude.  The Lord is saddened at the turn of events.  I also know that certain things must take place to prepare for the second coming of Christ.  As Christians, we  have a responsibility to pray as we are led to pray by the Spirit.  

It’s time to believe for the God of miracles to come with his mighty right hand and perform  signs among His people. I am ready for this, are you?

Blessings!

Deuteronomy 8:2  And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

The scripture quoted above caused me to pause and meditate. The Lord is telling Moses that He led the Israelites in the desert all those years to humble them and to test their faith.

Have you ever thought that the experiences we go through in life is a test of faith, and possibly to humble us in a certain area of our lives?  It is during these times that I find myself in a desert!   

We  often hear  believers going through the desert, others call it the wilderness experience.  Whatever it is that you call it, ask yourself these questions;  What is God trying to show me, what is He trying to accomplish and what needs maturing in my life?

It is during these time that two things  can happen.  We can grow bitter and become angry because of the circumstance we find ourselves in and turn our back on the Lord,  or we can become stronger and grow in our faith and maturity.

I have witnessed both of these circumstances.  I have seen believers go through a rough time, but yet never waver in their faith.  They see it as an opportunity to come out victorious.   When they have crossed over into their promised land, it’s as if they have acquired additional spiritual gifts and they flow in His power unlike ever before.

Others that grow bitter, become frustrated individuals full of excuses, blaming God for every wrong thing that happens in their life.

Do we ever  stop going through the desert?  I think not! The Lord wants us to grow and mature in Him continually, and with each experience we should embrace it.  Understand that once we pass our test, we will bear greater fruit, become stronger and mature believers, ready to take on the next battle that comes our way.

May you be abundantly blessed.

Psalm 34:1  I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

There have been times in my life that I don’t feel  like worshiping the Lord. Things go wrong, problems arise and  singing songs of praise seems to be the last thing on my mind.

I am good at making excuses on why I don’t feel like worshiping. But in studying this subject,  I have discovered that it’s not about feeling, but in obedience to our Lord

We have all read the verse in Heb 13:15 where we are to offer the sacrifice of praise to God, giving thanks to His name. 

But most of us are not really about sacrifice.  When  the money is not coming in, when things go wrong and  the bills are past due , worship is not on our mind.

Why do we worship?   Because the scripture commands us to.  

Psalm 45:11 So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him

Isa 43:21 This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise

Great men of God worshiped  in the midst of their affliction. 

• Job loosing everything, continued to worship the Lord
• Abraham worshiped the Lord even though he believed that it would cost him his son
• David worshiped the Lord after the death of his son with Bathsheeba.
• Jesus prayed and worshiped the Lord while hanging on a tree.
• Paul worshipped the Lord while bound in chains in a prison cell

There is no excuse to not worship the Lord. He is our Abba Father, He gave us His  only Son so that you and I  can have life eternal and live abundantly.

He is our deliverer, the Mighty One, our Strength,  the God of the Covenant, Mighty Rock, Mighty Counselor, Lord of Host!

After bringing in a sacrifice of praise, something wonderful  happens.  We are edified, we feel full of His power and Spirit, and suddenly the cloud is removed from our eyes,  we see clearly, the chains are removed and we praise Him even more.

The enemy wants to hinder us from offering praise to Him.  Let’s not  focus on our problems, but  set our sight on our mighty and awesome God, and offer that praise that is due Him.

May you be abundantly blessed this day.

Acts 8:23  For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.

In Acts chapter 8, we read that persecution arose against the church and many of the disciples were scattered along the regions of Judea and Samaria.

Phillip was one of those disciples that went to Samaria, preaching the word of the Lord.  Simon was a sorcerer in this city,  and upon  seeing the miracles wrought by the hand of Phillip,  Simon became a believer. 

Simon believed Phillip and his preaching concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The word said Simon was  baptized and continued with Phillip.

Later,  Peter and John arrived in the city, laid hands on the people and they received the Holy Ghost.  It was here that  Simon offered the Apostles money because he wanted to flow in the same power as they did.   

Peter, filled with the spirit was able to discern what was in Simons heart; that it was not right before God,  and he was filled with iniquity and bound by bitterness.

When there is  bitterness in our heart, it can lead to blockages in our spiritual and personal life.  Our judgment becomes clouded over, and we find ourselves in bondage.

Recently I found myself struggling to forgive, and I really did not want to.  It was then the Lord said, “How many times have I forgiven you?”   I knew that I could no longer delay and began the forgiveness process.

Forgiveness is a gift from the Lord.  It cannot be purchased.  When we have unforgiveness, many things can happen to us.

• Gifts become blocked
• Prayers become blocked
• Our health can suffer
• Our relationship with the Lord becomes clouded over
• Our heart is not right in the eyes of God

Simon wanted to purchase the gifts the Apostles flowed in with money.  As we know, the gifts of the spirit is only purchased with one type of currency, faith. 

If we have a broken heart, the word says in Psalm 27:17 Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD.

Are you struggling with a broken heart or unforgiveness?  By faith, give it over to the Lord and let Him strengthen you.  By faith let Him remove the pain, and in doing so the blockages will be removed and you will soar as on wings of eagles.

May you be abundantly blessed.

1 Samuel  17:51  Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

The Old Testament  is filled with  stories about how  brave men would go into battle and slain hundreds and thousands of their enemies with the sword. 

We also have the opposite, how others would use the sword for their own personal gain, going against the Lord and his commandments. 

Today is no different from Old Testament times.  While we may not have a physical sword, we have another type of sword that can cause us to increase our territory and help others, or cause damage to those around us.

The sword that we have today is the word of God.   This type of sword can be used to encourage, edify, praise and uplift those around you.  It can also cause death if not used correctly.

The sword that I am speaking of  is our tongue. 

Ephesians 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

Just like any weapon in our hands, we can  use it  for good or for evil.

Our sword or our words, should be used to edify , uplift and encourage.  If we see someone struggling, an encouraging word goes a long way.

The sword that we have today is the same used in the Old Testament. In can be used for good, or cause damage.

We can slain our enemy in praise and prayer, or we can damage those around us by speaking words that condemn and hurt.

Let’s be sure that we use our sword to kill our enemy, and not those closest to us.

Proverbs 23:23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

Living outside of the United States has its disadvantages at times when it comes to certain product that I need in the kitchen. 

There is one particular product that I buy when I  see it on the shelves even if  I don’t need it,  because when I do need it, I know I won’t find it. 

During the holiday season I realized that I did not have my can of crushed pineapple and went looking for it at all the stores, but had no luck in finding it.  I had to make other arrangements since this was a vital ingredient in one of my dishes.

The verse above says to buy the truth, in other words attain the truth, own the truth.  And when you have it, don’t sell it or surrender it.  

We know  the truth will set us free in all areas of our lives.   We are not to part with the truth for appeasing to others, or to seek temporal pleasures. 

Having the truth will give us wisdom, instruction and understanding.  It is more than ever that we need these key ingredients in our lives today.  When we don’t have the truth, or try to make excuses, our ingredients fail and we can find ourselves stumbling over our words.

Since I did not have my can of crushed pineapple for a certain dish, I had to prepare  another dish.

When the truth is not present in our life,  we find ourselves making a dish that we are not too happy with, and then we try to correct it with some fancy topping, hiding what is really underneath. 

Let’s stick to the truth, because  the truth  and only the truth will set us free.

Luke  22:55 Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them

In the verse quoted above, Jesus was taken prisoner and Peter was following at a distance.  It is here where Peter was confronted three times as being with Jesus, and each time he denied it. 

If you compare the other gospels, you will read that Peter swore and raised his voice.

Sitting by the wrong type of fire can cause many of us to do things that we should not do.

The fire that Peter sat by to keep him warm was just that, the wrong fire. Many of us find ourselves in that position. I know I have several times.

Fire has many meanings in scripture, such as a symbol of God presence in the burning bush, purifying, His everlasting fire, inspiration and spiritual power. It can also mean judgment of God, and it also was one of the plagues of Egypt. 

Peter sat by the wrong type of fire in the company of others. We later read that God’s grace and mercy was upon him as Jesus himself restored Peter three times, each time for denying him.

After the restoration, Peter was found in the fire once again. He was baptized in the upper room with tongues of fire!

Friends, the world can offer us many warm fires out there, but there is only one true fire that will comfort us, guide us and keep us on the right path.

The fire that we should seek should be the same fire that Peter received in the upper room. This type of fire fills you with the Holy Spirit, and other around you will be astonished as you flow in His anointing and power.

Seek that treasure, the fire of God!

May you be abundantly blessed this day.