RHM June 2016 Newsletter
by Dion Todd June 23rd, 2016
Then the LORD answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. (Habakkuk 2:2 NKJV)
June Newsletter - 2016
Hello there,
Thank you for reading our devotional and being a part of Refreshing Hope Ministries. This is our monthly update on what has been happening here during the last month and I thank you for taking time to read it.
The...
My Redeemer Lives
by Dion Todd June 23rd, 2016
But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh, whom I, even I, will see on my side. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger. Job 19:25 WEBJob is the oldest book in the Bible, except for the first ten chapters of Genesis. Wealth in this book was still measured in livestock. Yet even then, Job already...
The Sound of Music
by Dion Todd June 22nd, 2016
and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the herald cried aloud, 'To you it is commanded, peoples, nations, and languages, that whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. Whoever doesn't fall down and worship shall be cast into the middle...
Mercy
by Jeffrey Smith June 21st, 2016
Genesis 50:19-21: But Joseph said to them, Don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
Joseph was betrayed. He was ridiculed, sold into slavery and left naked on an auction block. He was falsely accused and sent to prison. He was forgotten after he blessed another. This all happened as a result of his jealous brothers. They didn't understand...
My Door is Open And All Are Welcome
by Dion Todd June 19th, 2016
My door is open, and all are welcome.
My Door is Open from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.
This is the message for Father's Day, 2016.06.19. My door is open, and all are welcome.
Here is the message outline:
God created mankind for fellowship. In the beginning, God would come down and walk with Adam in the garden of Eden during the cool of the day. Then one day God came down and...
In The Same Boat
by Dion Todd June 19th, 2016
For there is no distinction, for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:22 WEBIt is easy to become used to positions, titles, and levels in the workplace during life and carry that over into the church. After a while, we can become like the pharisee that stood on the corner and thanked God that...
Why Me Lord
by Dion Todd June 18th, 2016
Yahweh, how my adversaries have increased! Many are those who rise up against me. Many there are who say of my soul, 'There is no help for him in God.' Selah. But you, Yahweh, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head. Psalms 3:1 WEBDavid wrote these words while fleeing from his own son, Absalom, who plotted to kill David and become king in his place. Almost everyone that David...
Pour it out
by Jeffrey Smith June 17th, 2016
Ecclesiastes 7:1: A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.
Matthew 26:12-13: When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.
Many people say that the woman who poured out the perfume...
Wedding Season
by Jeffrey Smith June 16th, 2016
1 Corinthians 13:4-7: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
We are about to go into wedding season, and...
Sift for Gold
by Jeffrey Smith June 14th, 2016
Isaiah 55:8:"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
We can get bogged down in our thinking sometimes. We are inundated with impressions daily. Don't know what I mean? Look online and you will see thousands of subliminal messages about products, services, and prescription drugs. Turn on a TV and you get the same thing, more brand reinforcement. Not...
Defy
by Jeffrey Smith June 13th, 2016
1 Samuel 17:42-44: He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. Come here, he said, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!
The whole battle doesn't happen at all unless Goliath stands up and said:...
The Spirit of Heaviness
by Dion Todd June 12th, 2016
to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified. Isaiah 61:3 WEBHave you ever felt so down, so lethargic, that you begin to ask yourself, 'What is the point of it all?' There are many things in this...
This journey of Faith
by David and Dianna Wyles June 9th, 2016
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path. Proverbs 3:6
I’ve been on this incredible learning Journey…
Changing my negatives to positives, counting my burdens as blessings, seeking God’s goodness and love…
Would you like to know what I have found?
When you Ask; it is Given > When you Seek; it is Found >When you Search; it is Discovered.
I...
My hands are clean
by Jeffrey Smith June 9th, 2016
Psalm 130:3: If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?
Hebrews 8:12: For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
Psalm 129:3: Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long. But the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.
None of us in this world can boast about how good we are. Nobody can walk around...
No sacrifice required
by Jeffrey Smith June 8th, 2016
Psalm 40:6- Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced *(additional notation), burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, Here I am, I have come--it is written about me in the scroll.
Luke 24:44-He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the...
Drink in the Spirit forget the spirits
by Jeffrey Smith June 7th, 2016
Proverbs 31: 4-7: It is not for kings, O Lemuel--not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.
This is not a devotional about the evils of drinking...
Straddling the Fence
by Linda Darlene Gibson June 5th, 2016
“Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.” 1 Kings 18:20
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have to truly Trust him in all the decisions in our lives because he doesn’t just want part of...
Call Me Brother
by Jeffrey Smith June 3rd, 2016
Genesis 20:11- Abraham replied, "I said to myself, there is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, this is how you can show your love to me. Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is...
Perspective
by Jeffrey Smith June 2nd, 2016
Philippians 2:1-4
2 Corinthians 3:12-14
Humility or boldness which is better? Running on the road is a balance of beating down the flesh which says, you can’t do this, you should just give up, and concentrating on the power of Christ in us. I run on the road and I face oncoming traffic. As I am running, I feel this other conflict deep inside and one that says, "be humble and get out of...
Who does it?
by Jeffrey Smith June 1st, 2016
Mark 11:23-24-Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him.
So we read this scripture and wonder, why don't we look at things and tell them to do what we want them to do more often? You would think that we would be telling cancer to leave bodies, and...
For we are tempted...
by Linda Darlene Gibson June 1st, 2016
“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10: 13
There have been many times in my life I have been tempted in a variety of ways. Some I will admit I resisted...
RHM May 2016 Newsletter
by Dion Todd May 31st, 2016
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat. You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you don’t feed the sheep. You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t...
Cuts Like A Knife
by Dion Todd May 29th, 2016
Now he who betrayed him had given them a sign, saying, 'Whomever I will kiss, that is he. Seize him, and lead him away safely.' When he had come, immediately he came to him, and said, 'Rabbi! Rabbi!' and kissed him. They laid their hands on him, and seized him. Mark 14:44 WEBIt was now dark. Jesus and the disciples had finished their last supper, sang a hymn together, and then went to pray in the Garden...
Reversing The New Low
by Dion Todd May 28th, 2016
And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Job 42:10 KJVJob went through a terrible time in his life where he lost everything. As he sat in a pile of ashes with sores covering his body, his friends told him that it was the sinful life that he had lived that had caused all of this to happen. Actually, Job had lived...
Shake off temptation
by Jeffrey Smith May 27th, 2016
Acts 28:6- The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
Mark 16:18- they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well."
Do you know what venom...
Lending
by Jeffrey Smith May 24th, 2016
Proverbs 19:17: He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.
Whenever we give to others there is an intersection of abundance and lack. None of us are rich in all things, but we are poor in some way in the face of someone like us who has more of that which we lack. When we give freely to others, this proverb says that we are lending to the...
Step up to the plate
by Jeffrey Smith May 23rd, 2016
Proverbs 16:3: Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
When I was a kid, my Mom signed me up for little league. I was short, chubby, slow, and didn’t understand why if the baseball went past me while I was batting, that it may or may not be called a strike. I thought that I had to swing and miss in order for it to be a strike. I learned quickly.
I...
The Twelve String
by Dion Todd May 23rd, 2016
Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre. Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings. Psalm 33:2 WEBWhen I ran my fingers across the strings, I knew instantly that this was the most beautiful sounding thing that I had ever picked up and that I had to have one. It was a twelve string acoustic guitar, a deep red sun-burst, and it was in perfect tune. I am not much of a guitar player, but even strumming...
Receive it!
by Jeffrey Smith May 20th, 2016
Romans 11:5,6: So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Ephesians 2:4-9: But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with...
Guard it
by Jeffrey Smith May 19th, 2016
Job 3:25-26: What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.
Philippians 4:6-7: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
There...