She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn. There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said to them, 'Don't...

Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid or scared of them, for Yahweh your God himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6 WEB.Sometimes, we can become so withdrawn that we begin to feel that it is us against the world. That no one cares or even notices what we are going through and struggling with. Even in the middle of a crowd, we can feel alone, and all...

RHM 2020 Newsletter Photos from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Luke 2:7–11 NKJV  And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood...

Only Believe from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. All Christians face the danger of becoming desensitized to the beautiful truths in Scripture. When you have been around the church a while, His word can become too familiar to us. It begins to lose the magic, wonder, and hope that it once brought when we hear it. We refer to passages by pet phrases like the "Roman Road" without even bothering...

He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered him, "Master, we worked all night and caught nothing; but at your word I will let down the net." When they had done this,...

Acts of Kindness from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. When you do what the Lord asks you with the right attitude, it brings a reward. God is really good with numbers, and He always pays His debts. Now we don't earn our salvation, for we are saved by grace alone, and it is a free gift if we choose to accept it (Ephesians 2:8). Not everyone does. What I mean is, there is a pattern in scripture...

Yahweh said to Joshua, 'Get up! Why have you fallen on your face like that? Joshua 7:10 WEB.The first town the Israelites came to when they entered the promised land was Jericho. They marched around it seven times, shouted, and the walls of the city crumbled. God was working with them, and He gave them an incredible victory. They were instructed to put all the loot from the first city into the Lord's...

Bearing Your Burdens from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. There is too much sickness in the body of Christ today. This should not be. Obviously, we are failing to do something right. I want to take a closer look at what we should do when sick by examining the prayer of faith and divine healing. (James 5:13–16 NASB)  Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful?...

Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, 'This is Yahweh's word to Zerubbabel, saying, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says Yahweh of Armies. Zechariah 4:6 WEB.David wrote in Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Once I was laid off from a great paying job as a foreman with an international construction company. Then I spent a...

The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore see whether the light that is in you isn't darkness. If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.' Luke 11:34-36 WEB.After...

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness Luke 4:1 WEB.I would not be here if I had not first been there. So many times in our life, we can look back and say those words. Where we were when we met our spouse, and how narrow a time frame that it was. When we had to take a job we did not like. Only to find that it was a stepping stone for...

The Voice of a Stranger from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. (John 10:1–5 NKJV)  “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name...

Gathering the Manna from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. (Exodus 16:4–5 NKJV)  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be...

He called the multitude to himself with his disciples and said to them, 'Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for my sake and the sake of the Good News will save it. Mark 8:34 WEB.If you follow Jesus one day at a time, no power on Earth can stop you from fulfilling...

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,' says Yahweh, 'thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' says Yahweh Jeremiah 29:11'14 WEB.When things begin to go smoothly in our lives and everything...

On Baptism from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Luke 3:16 WEB John answered them all, “I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire” Baptism typically means to "dip" or "immerse." There are many types of baptisms mentioned in the Scriptures. Ephesians 4:5...

Riding with the King from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. (Isaiah 40:21–25 NASB)  Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them...

Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. He said to them, 'Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.' His brothers asked him, 'Will you indeed reign over us? Will you indeed have dominion...

'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,' says Yahweh. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8 WEB.Trying to understand God is a crossroads that everyone comes to at some point. It causes many people to stumble. We do not and cannot understand everything God is, what He is doing,...

The Good and the Bad from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. (Jeremiah 29:11–14 NKJV)  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found...

Or who is there among you who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7:9'11 WEB.Many people I talk with have a problem trusting or drawing near to our Heavenly Father....

Here I Am from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.  Here I Am. In a time when so many have begun to focus only on the negative, when so many people wonder, "Where is the Lord?", He answers, "Here I Am." When Moses met with the Lord at the burning bush in the wilderness, He asked Moses to return to Egypt and speak to Pharaoh. Moses asked the Lord, "Who do I tell them has sent me?" He told...

I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. Ezekiel 22:30 WEB.The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah grew more and more wicked. Their scales finally tipped, and their judgment day came. Abraham stood in the gap for them (Genesis 18:24). He pleaded with God and asked Him if He would destroy them if...

Hooked on a Feeling from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. I feel this, I feel that I feel, I feel, I feel. Feelings rule our society today, and unknowingly shape our attitude and actions. When we begin to speak our feelings, our tongue begins to steer our life. James said it like this: (James 3:3–6 NASB)  Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey...

Please Stay Here from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. There is a story in 2nd Kings where the prophet Elijah tells his servant Elisha to stay behind three times, but Elisha refuses. Later he receives a double portion of Elijah's anointing. (2 Kings 2:1–2 NASB) And it came about when the LORD was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal....

After many days, Yahweh's word came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, 'Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.' 1 Kings 18:1 WEB.Some friends once pulled me onto a really high roller coaster with them. We waited for everyone to get on board and get locked in, then the ride operator started it up. The coaster slowly rattled and climbed up the rails. After a pretty long wait,...

Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. Matthew 27:50'51 WEB.Under the old covenant, the high priest entered a room in the temple called the "Holy of Holies," once a year on Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement. The ark of the covenant was kept there. The manifest...

The Hourglass from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Jeremiah 31:3 NASB The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. A "forever" love. That is what everlasting means. It is love that lasts for eternity. God loves each of us, and He knows us by name. He knows how many hairs are on your head (Matthew...

Ripples from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. (Isaiah 55:10–11 NKJV) "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And...

The Fall of a Dynasty from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. It took Solomon seven years to complete the first temple. When the work was done, all of Israel was invited to Jerusalem, and they had a long feast that lasted for twenty-two days. Solomon prayed a beautiful prayer of dedication. When he was done, the fire of the Lord came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices on the altar. His...