Fresh Wind Ministries

Job 1:20  Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped.

In the book of Job, the first chapter, we read how satan presents himself to God after roaming the earth.   God  mentions Job to satan and  tells him how there is no other like him,  upright and how he shuns evil.  Satan knows that there is a hedge protecting him, and challenges God to remove it, and how afterwards Job will curse God.    God responds “ all that he has is in your power. ”

Of course Satan quickly obeys this command, and in a moment all Job’s wealth was removed. 

One by one Job’s servants came to tell him the bad news.  

First the Sabeans raided the oxen, took them away and killed the servants.  Next we have fire that came down from heaven, burned up the sheep and servants.  Then  the Chaldeans came, raided the camels and took them and killed the servants as well.

If that was not enough, the final blow came to Job. A great wind came where his sons and daughters were eating,   the house collapsed  and they all died.

Jobs’ reaction to all of this?  He arose, fell to the ground and worshipped the Lord.

Think about it in today’s terms.  You just lost a loved one, a child perhaps, your business is not going well and are at risk of loosing everything.  Maybe there is  sickness in your life or the life of a loved one, a lost job, financial strain and perhaps a strain on your marriage.  Are you capable of bowing to the ground to worship the Lord?

We have been through some economic difficulties  in our 27 years of marriage, and to be honest I did not always worship the Lord.  In fact, I found ways to blame something or someone for why this was happening to us.  

So what can we learn from Job,  how was it possible for him to even worship the Lord?  The answer is found in the scripture. Job feared God, which means he had respect and honor for God. 

Whatever circumstances  we find ourselves in, the best thing we can do is to worship the Lord, even when we don’t feel like it.  Worship is an act of obedience, not feeling.  Worship is an act of honor and reverence. 

1 Thessalonians  says 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  

In giving all praise to our Lord Jesus Christ, we give no room to the enemy and our circumstances will turn around for good.  The Lord will make a crooked path straight.

Sometimes we just need to worship ourselves out of a  terrible situation.  Give  glory to God and see how the tables are turned on the enemy.  Once we begin to worship Him, our focus and energy is on the maker of heaven and earth and off your present situation,  and He will lift the burden from your shoulders and give you peace where the is no peace.

Worship Him today, for He is worthy of your praise.

Blessings in His name

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.

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.

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.

Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus

Acts 1:26 And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
(NKJ)

Jesus appeared to his apostles for  forty days after his resurrection. During this time, Jesus spoke many things to them pertaining to the Kingdom of God.  He also left  instructions;  do not leave Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit.

The apostles had witnessed many things with Jesus,  including Him  being taken up into a cloud.

One of the things the apostles wanted to do was to fill the position Judas left, the apostle that betrayed Jesus and later hung himself.  Now there were eleven apostles, and not the twelve that Jesus originally appointed.

The men got together and Acts 1:23 says that  they proposed two men for the job: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

They did what was customary in that time,  they cast lots.  The lot fell unto Matthias, and he was appointed as apostle.

Something I would like to point out is that the Bible says  ¨they proposed¨ a new Apostle.

When Jesus appointed the twelve apostles, the Bible says that he spent the entire evening in prayer asking the Father whom to appoint.

Luke 6:12-13 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.  And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:(NKJ)

So who became the newest apostle?  I would like to say that it was Saul of Tarsus, not Matthias.   Man cannot choose who should be the next apostle,  that is up to the Lord.   We never hear from Matthias again.

When someone is called into apostleship, they will receive a direct call from Jesus.  We have the example of the original twelve, and the example of Saul of Tarsus

Acts 9:4-5  Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”(NKJ)

Have you ever tried to help God out with something, then find out later you just messed it up or made it worse?

Perhaps there is a void in your life, or maybe  something was removed  and you feel you need to fill it.  If that´s  the case, let God fill it.  Pray to the Father  as Jesus did.   Receive His instruction, and try not to cast any lots into your life.

May you be richly blessed.

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2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.(NKJ)

Last week Samson had his much needed bath.  Like most dogs, he tries to leave when he sees me with the hose, flea shampoo, leash and other bath items. 

At first he resisted, but as we progressed he  became relaxed.  He understood that he would not be able to  squirm his way out of this one. 

When  finished, I let him loose from his leash  and this is where the fun began. He started to run, jump, roll in the grass and it was entertaining to see himself enjoy himself.  He felt clean, the fleas  died  and  he felt good.     He knew that since  he was clean, he was allowed in the house, and he walked inside boldly.

What happened to Samson happens to us in the spirit.  We have built up a residue of sin, the world influence, perhaps some fleas, and many other things and there comes a time where we need the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.

When we allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse us, we become liberated from all the filth that we have built up.  We feel like running, we feel good, we have a new boldness about us,  and we even feel worthy of coming into His presence once again.

Do you need some of that liberty that only the Holy Spirit can give you?  All you need to do is ask.  Spend time in prayer, seek His face, ask for the Holy Spirit to cleanse you  and enjoy your time in the Lord. 

It´s time to walk in the freedom of the Holy Spirit!

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