Warhorse

My friend, Susan and I enjoyed a night at the movie. It was my second time seeing Warhorse, a movie worthy of a second watch. Much like Secretariat, it was about a horse's strength and fortitude to focus on the goal and win the race through lots of obstacles. He eventually returned to his master and owner by the films end. So touching to see him nuzzle up next to the one who truly loved him with all his heart, even enough to let him go at one point.
I always like to look at it from a spiritual standpoint. How strong am I in my resolve to plow through the obstacles and trials of life with my focus on the Lord and Master of my soul? If I get sidetracked do I quickly return my focus on Him or on my circumstances? I must say the longer and closer I walk with Him the least likely I am to get off course.
There was a bond that could not be broken between the young man who raised the horse and the horse himself. It was obvious as the horse loved on him. The horse had learned to recognize his master's voice when he whistled and it actually saved the life of Joey, the horse, in the end. Have you learned to recognize the voice of your Master and respond to it in obedience. It could definitely be your lifesaver today!
If you have not invited the Father in to be your Master, please consider it today. The kingdom of God is at hand. Prepare ye the way! Make a straight path and walk in it.

A Season of Repentance

We meet each week for Support and Prayer time with our Prodigals. Some wander in and out of their walk with the Lord. God is patient with us all as we walk our individual journey. But now there is a sense of urgency in this year of 2012! The Word says, "The Kingdom of God is at hand". I believe it is.......so why are are playing this game. One day serving the Lord, one day serving the enemy!!!!
It is time to make our decision, either we will serve God or we will serve Satan. We can't continue to straddle the fence. How would our life change today if we knew we would stand before the Father tomorrow? We will give an account my friends. I want to stand before Him in a white, spotless gown one day. That means I need to live a pure, spotless life today and all the tomorrows I have.
I believe we are preparing the gown we will wear on that glorious day when we see our Bridegroom-lover. Let's make the choice to serve Him with all our heart's, soul's, and minds.
He has had me reviewing my life these last two weeks. I have almost a full page listed of things He has had me repenting of. It has not been pleasant to realize I had that much to repent of but guess what....I don't think He is done! I am so thankful He loves me enough to point out things I need to lay down now!

Happy New Year

I don’t know about you, but I am totally blown away that 2011 is gone and we are embarking on a New Year. I was reviewing the year to see what accomplishments were made for God’s kingdom and as usual realize that He has accomplished much. We have been so blessed to see the Father work in so many of your lives over the past year. We believe we are only a human extension of His love, grace and mercy as we reach out to hurting families in however He leads. What a privilege to be in a position to see Him work and join His outreach

Many of you have faced many obstacles and found yourselves in hard places this past year. Many days you felt you could not make it, but as you kept your eyes on Him you found He was walking right beside you in it all, just as He promised He would. There is a song, sung by Selah that speaks of His faithfulness. I love to sing it back to Him as a praise song because of His constant faithfulness to all of us over the years. I just imagine Him smiling down on me as I sing (yes, HE loves my singing!) those praises back to Him.

Think on all He has done in your lives as you sit and reflect on the events of the past year. Praise Him for His faithfulness to see you through those times you didn’t think you could or wanted to take your next breath. I remember many days and nights just having to keep His Word close at hand as He spoke to me giving me hope and assurance of His presence. He has always been faithful to see us through.

Now, I ask you, how will you allow Him to use that pain and suffering? Will you be available to His call to help someone else through a difficult time in their lives? Will you be open and bold enough to tell them of how God’s word brought you peace and comfort in the midst of your struggle? In Charles Spurgeon’s devotion he writes: ““We do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses.” Note that it is not said, “touched BY, but touched WITH.” Many a man can be touched by the sorrow of another, but he is not touched with that sorrow. He has feeling, but not fellow-feeling. He pities the sorrowing, but he does not sorrow with them. Our Lord is touched with a feeling of our weaknesses. It is one thing to see pain, but quite another to be touched with a feeling of it.” Allow Him to use that pain you experienced to be touched with the other person’s sorrow as you minister to them.

We look forward to a new year of ministry and we want your input. Let us know if there is a way we could minister to you more effectively. You can either email sandra@onwingslikeadove.com or write us at P O Box 557, Clemmons, NC, 27012 with your suggestions or if you would like to share a brief testimony of God’s faithfulness to you over this past year. You may even be ready to help us in ministry to families in this coming year, if so let us know. We would love to hear from you.

Sandra

What is Your Passion?

Hosea 7:6b, “Their passion smolders all night; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire” NIV.

Recently, in my travels, I noticed a large transfer truck with peppers of all kinds painted all over it – bell peppers, hot peppers, and red peppers, yellow and orange peppers. The words “Passion for Peppers” was also painted on both sides of the truck. You sure couldn’t miss the message it conveyed.

I began to wonder what it would be like to have our passions printed all over our vehicles or on our person as we traveled through life. What is your passion in life? Has it changed over the years? Probably so, I know mine has.

What does passion mean anyway? Funk and Wagnall’s Dictionary defines it as: “Intense or overpowering emotion; an eager outreaching of mind toward some special object; fervid devotion”. So what is on your mind most of the time or to what do you devote most of your time? Maybe that is what you are most passionate about.

Your passion can come out of your own sense of shame or pain. You might be fervently devoted to anti-abortion issues, or mental illness, or autism, or drug addiction, or a hundred other things by which you have had personal experience. You don’t often have a passion for something unless it has affected you in some way. I know I wouldn’t have a heart for the families of prodigal’s/prisoners unless I had walked through it myself. I wouldn’t have empathy for those afflicted by mental illness had I not experienced it in our family.

Our passion may come out in words or actions, but it usually does come out. If we give ourselves to our work people may see that as our passion. If we think and participate in sports all the time, that may become our passion. If we give of ourselves to a particular cause that likely comes from a passion. Something doesn’t usually become our passion unless we have experienced it or been touched by it.

Examine your heart and pinpoint your passion. How are you living it out on a daily basis? How are you using that passion for God’s plan and purpose to touch and influence others you come in contact with throughout your day?

Ask God to turn the smoldering flame of your passion into a flaming fire as you go out into the world with the intent of bringing God glory through your passion. Allow the passion that God has given you to minister to those you come in contact with. We are to comfort others as He has us!

I think of Paul before his Damascus Road experience. His passion was to kill Christians. He had studied under the best teacher in the world…Gamaliel. He had the head knowledge but it wasn’t until he encountered Jesus on the road that he truly became passionate about the things of the Lord. He became fervently devoted to preaching and teaching about His Lord because of his own personal experience.

I was satisfied for so long with my salvation experience and the knowledge I had obtained over the years about God, but it wasn’t until I experienced God that my longing to know Him in a deeper and more intimate way caused me to be passionate about that relationship with Him. Once I began to hear His voice from the scriptures and my time with Him, it became such a passion that I was no longer satisfied with the ten minute time I had been having, I found myself thirsty for more of Him. It became a joy to know Him more fully and learn to trust His love and acceptance of me no matter what I did or did not do. He loves me regardless and I can trust His love. If I fail in some way He doesn’t love me less. That has changed my whole perspective of what love is. He totally completes me!

My life verses became like Paul’s as taken from Philippians 3:10-14: Verse 10 states: “For my determined purpose is that I may know Him—that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, [perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person] more strongly and more clearly” Amplified. I encourage you to read the other verses and make it your passion to know Him more fully.

Prayer: Abba Father, I pray you will turn our passions into Yours. May we become more deeply and intimately acquainted with You. We worship today on our faces at Your feet. Give us boldness to share with others the difference You have made in our lives, just like a blazing fire. We love and adore You Lord, Amen.

Who is in the Wind?

This question brings to mind John 3:8:

The wind blows wherever it pleases.

You hear its sound, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.

So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

The word spirit in both Hebrew and Greek means “breath” or “wind.” Both a breath of air and a breeze are appropriate images for the Holy Spirit.

Consider several properties of the wind.

1. Wind is moving air, and this fresh air is needed continually for life itself. Even seeds often require wind for their dispersal and subsequent growth. Similarly, the Holy Spirit is the presence of God, the source for all life.
2. Maple trees depend on the wind to blow their seeds to new places where they can grow new trees. Hot air balloons go wherever the wind takes them.

Wind has no material shape or form. It is invisible; we cannot see the source or the destination of wind. It is a mysterious, unseen force. Nevertheless, its presence is known by its effects.

Likewise, the unseen Holy Spirit can be experienced in a refreshing way. His presence is displayed in the work he does in human lives by transforming, sanctifying, encouraging, and teaching.

3. Wind is a powerful force. It cannot be stopped or controlled by people. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is not subject to human control. The moving of the Holy Spirit is God at work.
4. There is great variety in the wind. It may be a soft whisper gently rustling the leaves on the trees, or it may be a hurricane uprooting trees.

Likewise, the Holy Spirit may gently bring a person to Christ, such as a little child raised in a Christian home, or he may work in some climactic, dramatic way to bring conviction and conversion to the hardened sinner.

In Acts 16, contrast Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened (verse 14), and the jailer, who needed an earthquake to jar him to his spiritual sense (verse 30). In both cases, the Holy Spirit did the regenerating work.

Do Not Fear

"Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand".
Isaiah 41:10

We must always remember that God is with us in our circumstances. He is our Commander in Chief; always fighting our battles for us. Find your rest in Him today. We do not live in our circumstances, we live in Christ. Set your eyes on Christ Who stands above our circumstances. You may just see things in a whole new light. It is an act of the will. We must choose to set our gaze on Him. He is the Victor already; Satan has already been defeated in our circumstances. Hold your heads up high my friends. We are in a battle but we are NOT alone. We take our instructions and directions from our Commander; not from our enemy who wants us to live defeated. Persevere in your faith. We are in the Father's bootcamp and we will be strengthened as we keep our eyes on Him.

Day at the Beach

Jimmy and I were privileged to get away for a few days to the beach. I say privileged because I always consider it just that. To be able to walk the beach taking in the majesty of God's creation as you watch and hear the sound of the waves coming in and out is a privilege. We don't get there near as often as we like but I try to take it all in when we do. We did a lot of walking this trip.
We would get our equipment and march down to sit on the beach for hours at a time. Course I had not only my chair but a bag full of books, my journal, camera, Bible, ipod for music cause you just never know what you might need when God speaks through your time with Him. I don't wanna miss a thing.
Mind you, there was an ominous forecast for the whole week which included lots of clouds and rain. My little friend Debbie must have been praying for our favor cause even though the clouds rolled in and out we never got caught in a down pour. We would walk for quite a distance and always make it back before the rain started.
The last day we were sitting on the beach and contemplating whether to go in when we heard a loud clap of thunder in the distance. I jumped up and started preparing our things for departure. God doesn't have to speak more than once with that message! We left many on the beach and I wondered how they faired when the rain, thundering and lightening began moments later. God gives us warning many times and we have a choice, move or get wet!
We had a great evening together as we watched a movie and cooked shrimp and clams while all snug in our little condo. It was a great time together. I felt so rested by the end of our time there, but interestingly enough ready to return home. No place like home!
I have been able to get a lot done but have lots more things on my to do list for this week. Next weekend I will spend time in the mountains and it will be a different time with the Lord. We have seven mother's coming and it will be my pleasure to make their time a time of rest! Many of them don't get away often so I want to be their willing servant. The Lord has much in store for us. Please pray for all to receive a special Word, just for them during this time. I thank God that He gave me a time of rest in preparation for this time together.
Keep praying for God's favor, Mrs. Hampton, it works!