Uncategorized – Covenant Ministries https://covenantministries.info The Hammonds in Honduras Fri, 02 Feb 2024 17:23:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 God is always faithful! https://covenantministries.info/2024/02/02/god-is-always-faithful/ Fri, 02 Feb 2024 17:23:02 +0000 https://covenantministries.info/?p=343 As a missionary trying to raise support in preparation of going to the mission field, I find conversations about money to be… challenging. Not only do we not like to share how much money we make, we often feel like we’re judged for how we prioritize our expenses.

Late last year we received word that our homeowner’s insurance premium had risen about 200%. When I called and spoke to the company, the rep that I spoke with said “Wow! That’s really high!” Through some manipulation with coverage, I was able to get the premium lowered to where the increase was more like 100% instead of 200%. While that is still very high, I thought it was manageable. Through what was almost a comedy of errors on their part, however, I found out a few days ago that they had actually cancelled our policy!

I stood my ground, however, and got the company to reinstate our policy. Yay! Until yesterday.

Yesterday I went to pay our mortgage and found that our mortgage had increased by almost 40% (I’ll let you do the math, but, for example, if your mortgage is $2,000, your new mortgage is $2,800). Loring looked at me and said “High-five! We know that we’re doing something right, because the enemy is after us full force!”

So, we prayed. And we also tried to move money around, doing everything in the natural and praying that God takes care of the supernatural.

God is always faithful!

A friend contacted us last night and told us “The Holy Spirit really put you on my heart and I was wondering… do you have Zelle?”

We have to remind ourselves of this over and over again. When we called to the mission field, the first thing we heard, after the calling was confirmed was “Don’t worry… God know what you need for every step of the way!”

Joshua 1:9 says: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

]]>
Thanksgiving https://covenantministries.info/2024/01/16/thanksgiving/ Tue, 16 Jan 2024 18:20:50 +0000 https://covenantministries.info/?p=320
We have supported children in Africa for many years through this wonderful ministry.

The founder added a little note: “Thank you for your faithful support – you have sown good seed and you have much ‘fruit to your account.’ May you reap as wonderful supporters for your new ministry as you have been to us.”

It got me thinking about the ministries that we have supported over the years and the fruit that we’ve seen.

We believe that when we join financially with a ministry that we love, that we get to join in the reward – the satisfaction of seeing lives changed and in the law of Sowing and Reaping:

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

I believe that God does store it to our account.

I never considered that sharing with friends and family how they can join with us is like making a draw on those deposits we’ve made for so many years. We just loved what these ministries were doing and we believed in the people doing them, and so we asked God to make us able to give. He’s always been faithful.

Now when we share our vision with someone we can truly say that we know the blessing of being a part of what God is doing in the Earth. Being a part of God raising up ministers in His church and caring for orphans and widows, among other things.

When you partner with us you can know that churches and communities will be blessed by their Worship Leaders and Pastors having a better understanding of the role of worship. Understanding how it can change lives and teach theology and bring us joy – which is our strength in hard times. We know that the people of Honduras have so many burdens and such a hard life sometimes. Worship can be their “times of refreshing in the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:20

And God will be glorified. The purpose of all of our lives, right?

Please reach out to us if the Lord is nudging you to partner with us for the people of Honduras and the glory of God. ]]>
Consider the birds https://covenantministries.info/2023/11/10/consider-the-birds/ Fri, 10 Nov 2023 15:07:46 +0000 https://covenantministries.info/?p=286 As we draw ever closer to leaving Florida for Honduras, our conversations invariably turn to “how are we going to pay for that?” We know that “God’s got this!”. This has been something that we’ve said back and forth to each other almost daily. This morning was no exception.

One of the things that we love to do in the morning is to sit on our front porch, drink coffee, pray, and do a daily devotion. We also love to watch the birds that show up for breakfast. We have cardinals, blue jays, red-headed woodpeckers, doves and assorted finches. Every morning. This morning, I heard God say “look at them”. I knew that what He was really doing was quoting Matthew 6:26:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26 (NIV)

So, I got my camera, shot a couple of pictures, and considered the birds. They aren’t worried about their next meal. That doesn’t mean that they sit around and wait for the provision to come to them. They work very hard to identify and gather what has already been supplied for them.

God, teach me to identify and gather what you have for me. Forgive me for not trusting you and for looking for your provision in all of the wrong places.

]]>
What Matters https://covenantministries.info/2023/11/06/what-matters/ Mon, 06 Nov 2023 14:37:56 +0000 https://covenantministries.info/?p=276 As we sat on our porch this morning we pondered some deep questions, and I think we recognized some deep truths.

Acts 13:2 says ‘While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set [them] apart for… the work to which I have called them.”‘

We know that we are called to ministry in Honduras. But more than that we have a call to God Himself.

I asked Paul this morning, if God had shown us the path and given us all the steps and provisions already would we be sitting here? Would we every morning be seeking His face, and ‘inquiring of the Lord’ every Sunday night by the fire? We started that out of our desperation for answers.

Whatever you need, the answer is Jesus. We know that, we say that – but what does it really mean? As I sit here I realize that whatever we do – the steps we take toward moving, even what we do in Honduras – really is not the point. God doesn’t need us. He has a plan for Honduras (with or without us) because he loves the Honduran people. His plan for US is more of Him, above anything we could ever do or accomplish. If we pursue anything else besides Jesus we’ve missed it. Everything will grow from losing ourselves in Jesus.

We hear preachers who have mind-blowing wisdom and see people minister with signs and wonders – we ourselves have seen the miraculous around the world. We want to ask these people, “How do you do it?” Or, “How do you get God to do it?” You don’t. You seek Him. You follow Him. You obey Him. You LOVE Him. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing the miraculous or the favor of God or answers and guidance and provision, but the really important thing, the place where all of your confidence will come from is being lost in Him. Everything else will flow from that.

I’ve often told single women that if they’re looking for a godly man – stop looking. Unless you fall in love with Jesus, and allow the Holy Spirit to change you and heal you, unless you pursue being a strong woman of God, confident in every situation with or without a partner, then when that godly man encounters you, he will walk right by you and not see you because you are not prepared for him. You are not ready to support him and walk alongside him.

I think of ministry that way now too. This is the meaning of “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”. It’s not seeking the things of the Kingdom it’s seeking the One who IS the kingdom – the embodiment of Heaven and kingship. Our Lord should be our only focus, and then, in a way, it doesn’t even matter what the answers are to our questions. We won’t be confused, we won’t be afraid, we won’t be disappointed, because we will have the only thing that matters. HIM.

]]>
A simple offering https://covenantministries.info/2023/11/03/a-simple-offering/ Fri, 03 Nov 2023 15:29:08 +0000 https://covenantministries.info/?p=262 I found a little coin purse the other day. I never use a coin purse, as a matter of fact, this is the only one I’ve ever used. This one contained some very precious coins, though.

I typically travel on short-term mission trips as part of a team. There is typically a pastor leading the team, along with some other team members. A couple of times, however, I’ve been on my own.

It was during one of these trips that I was preaching at a small church in one of my favorite Russian villages, Illyinski, Russia.  The pastor there calls me “Dyadya Pasha”, or Uncle Paul.

After preaching the congregation took up an offering. I was blown away. This was a first. I had never received a love offering before. What made this even more special was that the people of this village are very poor. I immediately put the offering into a little change purse. To this day I have no idea why I was carrying a change purse. I never do.

Thirteen years later, I found the purse again. I counted the money (I must have counted it when I received the offering, but I don’t remember how much it was). When I counted it today and did the conversion to the US dollar, the coins are worth about 20 cents.

My question was never “what can I do with this money”, and, with it only being worth 20 cents today, I can’t ask this question now, either. However, my prayer is that God did something amazing with the seeds that the people of Illyinski planted all those years ago. Giving out of their poverty, it really reminds me of Luke 21, verses 3 & 4:

“Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

]]>
I threw a pen away today https://covenantministries.info/2023/10/23/i-threw-a-pen-away-today/ Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:14:21 +0000 https://covenantministries.info/?p=80 Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I lose a lot of pens. I used to be a nerd. I was attending nuclear power school while I was in the Navy. Back then, I kept all of the pens that I needed in a pocket protector in my shirt pocket. On my belt I carried a calculator in a holster. I was a super-nerd.

Since then (which was over 40 years ago, I still haven’t found a good way to carry a pen. I usually carry them in my right pants pocket, but they go flying every time I have to reach for my keys.

Knowing this about myself, I tend to collect a lot of pens. If someone is giving away a pen to promote their business, I always take one… two if they say “Here! Take two!”. However, it never fails that, when Loring asks me for a pen, I have to go searching for one.

This is why throwing away a perfectly good pen is difficult for me. Well, at least it was a perfectly good pen eighteen years ago when we moved into our house. It had a value, and, it probably still does.

The challenge that we have right now is that God is calling on us to leave behind many things that hold value. The pen is just a symbol of it. This time in our lives is full of letting go of valuable things and only keeping the things that we really need to define our home.

As I was contemplating this today it made me think of Gideon. God was calling Gideon to lead an army against the Midianites to save Israel. To give you the story in a nutshell, Gideon had an army of 32,000 men. God told him “You have too many men”. So, all the people who were afraid were allowed to go home, that was 22,000. Now Gideon has an army of 10,000. It’s still too many and God pares it down again to only 300.

I hope that you realize that my pens are just a symbol of what God is asking us to leave behind. We have so many close relationships, so many things that we, as people who live in the USA, take for granted. However, we know what God is calling us to do, and we know that it means setting aside many things that we have collected over the years that still have value. From the simple, like a few pens, to the extremely difficult, like people and relationships.

Please pray for us as we begin our journey!

We love you and covet your prayers!

]]>