Holy Spirit

THE WIND BENEATH MY WINGS

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EAGLE
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run,
and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

As I was having my devotional this morning, for some reason the song entitled “Wind Beneath My Wings” came to mind and I started singing it. When I got to the line, “I can fly higher than an eagle…for you are the wind beneath my wings”, I started thinking about my relationship with the Lord and how it relates to that particular line.

I pictured myself first as a baby eagle learning to fly. Sometimes my tiny wings would tire as I struggled against the elements that surrounded me. I would start to panic as I felt my strength failing and my altitude decreasing. But right in the nick of time, despite my state of chaos and lack of confidence, I felt a strong presence underneath me, supporting me in my weakness, carrying me completely as I shifted the weight of my burdened breast onto the back of the mother eagle.

What an awesome picture of our Father God! He covers us with His feathers. (Psalm 91:4) He upholds us with His Righteous Right Hand! (Isaiah 43:10) Though we fall seven times, He will lift us up again! (Proverbs 24:16) Just like that mother eagle, He watches over us even when we are not cognizant of His presence.

Then we grow and mature and strive to become eagles in our own right…strong in the face of adversity, soaring above the storms of life, resting in the strength of His love. We don’t always soar, however. Sometimes we let the storms overtake us. Sometimes we allow the highwayman of our faith to rob us of our rest and waylay our hope. That is when we need the the blessed Holy Spirit to be the “wind beneath our wings.” Jesus knew we wouldn’t always be strong. He knew that we couldn’t make it alone. That’s why He said that The Father would send us a helper in the form of the Holy Spirit. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.” (John 14:16,26 AMP)

Whether you are soaring today or whether you are still in the stages of learning to fly, the Holy Spirit is there to empower you. He will be the “wind beneath your wings.” You don’t have to struggle in your own strength, for sometimes it’s just not enough. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring a strong current of the Lord’s grace and lift you above the circumstances that are trying to make you earthbound. Relinquish the care to Him and you’ll find yourself unburdened and mounting up with wings like the eagle, strong and soaring!

I LOVE BURNED BISCUITS

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BURNED BISCUIT ON PLATE
Above all, love each other deeply,
because love covers over a multitude of sins.
I Peter 4:8

Someone recently sent me this story via e-mail. I don’t know who wrote it, but it brings across a powerful point. It is as follows…When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.

On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don’t remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!

 When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I’ll never forget what he said: “Honey, I love burned biscuits.”

 Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, “Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she’s real tired. And besides, a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!”

What an awesome picture of unconditional love! How many of us would have been thoroughly aggravated at such an action, even though it wasn’t deliberate. We often tend to make mountains out of the mistakes of others and minimize ours to the size of a mole hill. I have noticed that at times I get so angry with people for doing certain things and then the Lord reminds me that I do the same things and they don’t seem nearly so bad. Do you think maybe we have a double standard going here?

What about our actions in relationship to the Lord? How many times do we serve Him burned biscuits? We are so tired from work and extracurricular activities that we don’t give Him our best. But He just takes that biscuit, smears the oil of His Holy Spirit on it, adds the sweetness of His love and eats it anyway. His mercy covers our mistakes and failures and gives us an opportunity to make a new batch of biscuits every day. How awesome is that!

Father, forgive me for the times
I’ve served you burned biscuits,
And for the times I’ve been intolerant of others
who have done the same to me.
Help me to sweeten my life and the lives of others
by loving deeply and forgiving freely.

ARE YOU LISTENING?

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JOSEPH AND MARY 

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home
as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”

 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel” —which means, “God with us.”

 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
Matthew 1:18-24

Think about this scenario: You are a man who is engaged to be married. You are happily awaiting the wedding night when your mutual love will be consummated. You will no longer be two separate entities, but as the Bible says, you will become “one flesh” united with God’s blessing. But all of a sudden, the joyful anticipation is shattered by news unfathomable…the one in whom you have put your trust has seemingly been unfaithful. You know it’s not your child, for you have not yet known her intimately. What are you going to do? You still love her and don’t want to cause her public shame. “Okay, think this over calmly”, you say to yourself. “You can just break off the engagement privately without anyone’s name being dragged through the mud.” You go to bed that night still pondering the situation. Your fretful sleep is further interrupted by…“What is this?…an angel!” He is telling you not to be afraid to take your sweetheart as your wife because the child she is carrying is non-other than the long awaited Messiah and she has conceived by the Holy Spirit, not a mortal man. Your bride-to-be is to be the mother of our Lord! Do you dare believe it? You know what the angel said and you know the message was from God. Then excitement begins to arise as you realize that you also have been chosen…chosen to care for the mother of the very Son of God!

This is the story of Joseph and his part in the birth of Jesus. The Bible says he did exactly as the angel commanded him. He took Mary as his wife, but did not have a marital relationship with her until after Jesus was born. What dedication this man had to the things of God! Think about it. Would you have obeyed the voice of the angel in blind faith? Or would you have attributed the whole dream to a bad case of indigestion? We can still hear the voice of the Lord today if we are listening. He probably won’t send an angel, but He still speaks in that still, small voice deep inside. Will you be like Joseph and believe and obey without question? It’s something to think about.