Fresh Wind Ministries

Luke 15:4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

A few weeks ago  Dancer  gave birth to seven puppies.  As they became  more active, I was able to reach in the dog house and take a few puppies to admire them.  Of course the mother was always close at hand.

A few days would go by, and once again I would reach in to pick up a puppy,   with Dancer always watching carefully.  I then took one of the pups  out and brought  it into the home. I was not sure if Dancer would follow, but she did.  She left her six other pups to follow the one that I had in the house  to make sure it would be ok.

The verse above came to me.

The word lost  in this scripture could have several meanings.  It could be that the person  is lost in his walk with the Lord because of the influence of the world, or perhaps  lost within himself not knowing his purpose in life.   Maybe  they are in rebellion and not only strayed from the Lord, but also family members and have taken up habits to fill the void within.  In any case, this person is lost which can lead to destruction.

Jesus is willing to leave the other 99 sheep  in the wilderness where they are at risk  to rescue that one lost sheep.    That  is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.  

Once Jesus finds him, He goes even further and lays that person on His shoulders.  He continues to carry their burden, shame and guilt until they are fully restored and healed.

If  you know someone who is lost,  claim this promise in Luke 19:10 

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” 

Notice the wording in the passage above,  it says “was lost.”   They may be lost now, but in calling those things that are not as though they are, will only result in victory and that person establishing himself once again on the  true foundation of  Jesus Christ.

May you be richly blessed this day.

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.

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.

 By Fernando Nietzen

Matthew 7:13 -14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it¨

I recently went to the coastal town of Golfito in Southern Costa Rica and had several hours to spare  for the return flight to the capital.

During this trip, I went for a walk to explore the trails and neighborhoods and came across a beautiful property. Since I love working in metal, I was impressed by the gates made entirely of iron.

One gate was huge for the driveway and then further up the road there was the walk-in gate;  the detail and handicraft was very well done and one could tell it took a lot of creativity and time.

Back home, I began reading a book we recently purchased called “The Greatest Words Ever Spoken”   These are Jesus’ own words broken down into over 150 categories. I was immediately drawn to one topic which I considered perhaps the most important: “Eternal Life”. I thought: what could possibly be more important than what Jesus Himself says about Salvation?

I was surprised to read the author affirming that these are the most important words any of us will ever read. These words come from the lips of the One who decides who enters heaven and who does not.

The verses quoted above  pretty much sum it up.  Because Jesus equates believing with doing what He tells us to do, we could say that believing is the first step to receiving the gift of eternal life.  If we believe, we enter that small gate, the narrow road leading to life is the doing part.  Salvation is both – an instant decision and a process, a gate and a road.

Notice that the believing and the doing refer back to Him, we cannot believe in other philosophies or in our own goodness.  Likewise, we cannot be doing things that we consider to be good and will hopefully get us into heaven. We ought not to be doing things with wrong motives either.

We need to be seeking His will and doing what He has told us to do for He alone is the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus.

Let us enter the gate which leads to salvation and then continue on the  the narrow path to life abundantly –  in Jesus.

Bible

Mat 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.’ 

In the beginning of this year, I had a goal to read through the entire Bible.  Now that we are near the end of this year,  I look through the books that I have not read I find that I have fallen very short of my goal. 

I began reading in Genesis, then a few months ago discovered it wise to read a chapter of Proverbs a day.  So I began reading one chapter of Proverbs a day as well.   My goal was to read chapters in both the Old and New Testament.  I finished neither. 

So what happened?  I discovered  that I was a slow eater.  I began to chew the word slower, sometimes letting it sit so that I can savor it.  I began to read a certain passage, then had to look up the meaning of words and meditate on them.  Instead of reading the Bible, I began to study it.

I knew a person that boasted on reading his Bible four times in one year. When I asked him what his favorite verse was, he could not answer me.   I then asked what his favorite book was.  Again, he could not answer.  

Anyone can read the Bible, but it takes time to really meditate and study it.  I have learned much from the word this year, and encourage you to do the same next year.  

Next time, eat your bread slow, and you will find that you will be enriched beyond measure.