Recent Blog Entries
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Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the way of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers; But his delight is in Yahweh's law; On his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, That brings forth its fruit in its se... -
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you. Don't quench the Spirit. Don't despise prophesies. Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:16'22 WEB.While travelin...
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When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean." Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, "I want to. Be made clean." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8...
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- led by Lynn BrownThis is a group for RHM sponsored events like corporate fasts. Everyone is welcome to join and participate in things currently going on in the ministry. We love you and thank you for being a part of Refreshing Hope!
The Circle of Trust
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But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won't he much more clothe you, you of little faith? Therefore don't be anxious, saying, 'What will we eat?', 'What will we drink?' or, 'With what will we be clothed?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first God's Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:30 WEB
Jesus said 'Seek first the kingdom of God and these things (material things) will then be added to you.' Elijah told the widow, 'First make me a little cake and afterward make something for yourself' (1 Kings 17:13). God said, 'Bring all the tithes into the storehouse and I will open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there will not be room enough for.' (Malachi 3:10). Jesus said, 'Give (first) and it will be given to you (later)' (Luke 6:38).
God's love is unconditional, He loves the entire world (John 3:16), but His blessings throughout the Bible depend on our obedience to His word. Most of the promises in Scripture contain a conditional like: 'If you will do this, then I will do that.' Even John 3:16 contains a choice with 'whoever believes in Him', meaning that some will choose not to.
For example, 2 Chronicles 7:14 'If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.' If we want to see the last part, we have to do the first part.
Obedience is the ultimate form of praise and the fruit of faith. It proves that you believe in Him enough to take action on it. We work so hard trying to just make ends meet, but unless we put Him first financially, we will always have holes in our pockets (Hagai 1:6). When we choose obedience, He will rain His blessings down on us (Deuteronomy 28:12). We can pray and beg for Him to bless us, or we can just do what He said and the blessings will fall like rain.
It is a circle of trust, God tells us to give to someone and when we do, He tells someone to give to us, then someone to give to them. If your life is not being blessed, then perhaps you skipped part 1: First be a blessing to someone else for Jesus said 'Give, and it will be given to you.'
So many times while joyfully serving God, I have suddenly received things beyond what I thought was possible. God really knows how to be extravagant, and it often brings tears to my eyes when I see His excellence and timing. When God blesses you, you are truly blessed and our giving does not go unnoticed. The angel told Cornelius: 'Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God' (Acts 10:4).
As a young Christian, I worked a job making $250 a week. One Sunday I went up front to put my $25 tithe in the offering basket. When I got home later and sat down to read my Bible, I found that while I was up front, someone had slipped an envelope with $250 cash into my Bible. That day I gave Him ten percent, and He gave me back tenfold.
Another time I gave $40 in an offering and the preacher prayed a blessing over the basket that it would all be returned one-hundred fold. Within a month someone gave me $4,000 dollars to help me buy a car. I gave $40, God multiplied it one-hundred times and gave it back in a month.
These are not normal occurrences, they are examples of the blessing of God that follows obedience to His word. I am telling you this because it is real and we live it in our own life, yet I see so many people struggling just to get by. My heart goes out to them, and we try and help as we can, but there is not enough money on earth to help you if God Himself blows it all away whenever it comes to your house (Hagai 1:9).
The word of God is true. God is not dead, nor is He blind, and He is pretty good at math. A 100% return on 0, will always be 0 and that will never come up before God as a memorial. Give first, and it will be given to you later, or learn to embrace poverty with a smile and a positive attitude. Paul learned to be content in whatever circumstance he found himself, so that is certainly an option (Philippians 4:11).
In all areas of our life, God wants to be first, and when you do He will bless you beyond what you think is possible. God is always looking for ways to bless us, but it often requires a step of faith on our part to get it started. Give the Lord first place in your life in all areas, follow His gentle prompting, for faith without works is dead (James 2:26). The greatest blessing awaits those who are willing to trust Him.
Prayer: Heavenly Father I adore You and pray that You make this word real to me. Please lead me into all that You have in store. Help me to break out of the normal cycle. Grow my faith Lord, help me walk closer to You, and speak to me in a way that I understand, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.
Note: Happy Monday! The RHM Live Bible Study chapter of the week is now available, covering Acts 17! Don't worry if you are not caught up because even studying one chapter may contain the lesson you need for today! You can also start anytime if you want to study them in order. Here is the link: RHM Bible Study> You can subscribe to our daily devotional here <
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Amen!!
Amen
Amen! I have seen so many needs in the church. When I tell someone to read Matthew 6:25-34 and put it into practice, I rarly see the results. I know that God will horner His word, so I am just left wondering why. Do you think they do not understand?
Amen
Amen!
Dion Todd,
I admire your passion in reciting the very things that I was taught by man, the bible says that when God teaches us, we will have more knowledge and understanding than our teachers and our elders. You mentioned "Part 1: First be a blessing to someone else for Jesus said 'Give, and it will be given to you." yet just before that you quoted Matthew 6:30 "But seek first God's Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well."
With all due respect blessing someone else first is not the same as seeking the kingdom of God first. Growing up I was taught by man that if I was struggling financially I should pay my tithes, and I did. Yes, I saw some blessings, but when my financial world came crashing down, the more I paid my tithes the further I went into debt. That's when I cried out to God, and what he taught me, terrified me because it went against everything I had ever been taught by man and it went against my religion. In a nutshell the Lord took me to Deuteronomy 26. God told the Hebrew children that after they entered the land that was left as an inheritance, and after they took possession, and after they had settled in it, then they were to bring their tithes and offerings.
Really? That's not what I was taught. You mean they were not bringing their tithes and offerings while they were in the desert or in Egypt? That’s when the Lord spoke to me that day and He said "Get out of bondage first." The apostle Paul says owe no man nothing, Proverbs teaches us that the borrower is a slave to the lender. When Joseph became governor of Egypt, the first law that he imposed on the entire nation of Egypt was to save 20% of everything they made for the next seven years because they were going to need it during the famine. When have we been taught to save 1% for one year, let alone 20% for seven years?
I share this because when I went to the Lord it was going to take me over 40 years to get out of debt, and now I can honestly tell you that I have been debt free for almost 10 years, and I that live on less than 50% of my income.
After all the angry responses and mockery from pastors and people that I knew, who were better versed in scripture that I ever could be, I was convinced that it was just my thoughts getting the best of me, so I went to the Lord, and told Him that I was not going to do this because I didn’t really think it was Him telling me this, then that same voice came back to me and said “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” Scared the bee gee bees out of me, but I assured Him that I would obey.
PS: When I was a kid growing up, I was taught “if you had a college degree, you could buy your own ticket.” As if that’s all you needed. If that were true, why waste our time in elementary, middle, and senior high schools? Because we need to have a starting point. Yes! The blessing for giving are true, but first things first, get out of bondage first.
Hi Rocky. Welcome to Refreshing Hope, and thank you for joining us. I think that we have a lot in common and completely agree that you can't give what you don't have, and things like charging "giving" on a credit card is utter foolishness. We were once pretty deep in debt and while we had no income, we did not tithe. In fact, the more we gave, the worse it seemed to get because God wanted a change in our life and not just our money. He squeezed us out of our computer business and into full time ministry. As soon as we started working again, the Holy Spirit convicted us to start tithing again, and today we are debt free and owe no man nothing.
The article that I wrote here is about the circle of trust, or circle of giving for Christians that have an income. It is my hope that they are already putting the kingdom of God first in their life, I guess I "assumed" that people bothering to read this were. The point of the article is that Jesus said that we first give, and then someone gives back to us. This is a true and tried principle of God and it has worked in our life for decades. Giving was not a part of the law, it was established by Abraham many generations before Moses, and it was not abolished at the cross anymore than murder was. Jesus confirms this many times in Scripture: Luke 6:38 KJV "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Notice the "same measure you give".
So all that said, I have a feeling that when you read this, the Holy Spirit pricked your heart and I have three questions:
1) Do you think what He showed you nullifies this scripture and that you are now exempt from giving? Placing personal revelation above the written word is a very dangerous area. For instance, satan quoted scripture to Jesus in Matthew 4:6 and said: "it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you.." but it was intended to get Jesus off course.
2) If I choose to go out and buy a $250,000 house, oops now I am in debt. Does that nullify the words of Jesus in Luke 6:38? Does it make me exempt from tithing?
3) Now that you are completely out of debt and live on 50% of your income, do you tithe?
In the end, to each his own. You live what you believe He showed you to the fullest and may God bless you. As for what I wrote, I am not merely reciting others, I am writing about what I lived. :)
Amen Pastor Dion!
Amen, Pastor Dion! Circumstances in my life have proved the truth of being obedient to this circle of trust so many times. Praise the Lord for His forgiveness and faithfulness for bringing the lessons around time after time. I’m so thankful He speaks into our hearts personally. Your questions for Rocky are valuable for me, too. While not debt free yet, tithing and giving bring me great joy!
Good words to live by, Pastor Dion! Sometimes it is hard to tithe when you know you have bills coming up, but we have never been without & we choose to do what's right. Give God your first fruits & watch Him go! It is an honor and a privilege to give back to God!
Dion,
Thank you for your kind response and thank you for having me be part of this medium. I too had a computer business, eons ago. I do agree with you, I think we are a lot alike, if a person does not have it to give, they can't give, sadly so many when collecting tithes and offerings don't mention this and as a result many are compelled to give out of guilt and coercion.
You ask some excellent questions, first of all I'm not here to argue or to say my way is better. I believe that iron sharpens iron, I want to share what God has taught me and done for me, as well as to grow and learn by what God has taught and done for others.
Question 1) What God has taught me, was to get out of bondage first, then bring the tithe and offering, never did He instruct me that giving was nullified or that I was exempt from giving. If that is what I conveyed earlier, then I sincerely apologize, that was not my intention. Scripture instructs us to seek wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and discipline and this will lead us into maturity, so to teach only the latter half of the message of giving only and not getting out of bondage, especially to people that are struggling financially, is laying a foundation that is on sinking sand. I totally agree in giving, I also believe that when giving the left hand should not see what the right hand is doing.
Question 2) I've heard many Christian financial experts say that there is good debt and bad debt, I don't see that in scripture though. Although, I believe that God wants us to live well within our means, he doesn't want us to be in bondage. My personal policy, if I can't afford to pay cash for it or pay it off within a year, then I don't need it. As far as a house of any value, the bible does say get your outside work done first, then build your house last. At that point not only will you be able to pay cash for it, you'll be able to enjoy it.
Question 3) Actually, I don't tithe, I do so much more than that, I'd like to boast and say that 100% of what I make is His, and it is, but the reality is that I still spend a big portion on myself, but because I live well within my means, I am so much more available to be used by Him in every area of my life, including my finances. However, I do know that 100% of what I give does go to the purpose for which it was meant for, often times people take their gifts to the Lord via a nonprofit organization, in which the organization keeps more than 90% of the gift as a favor of convenience to the giver. So I have taken the middle man out of the equation and make sure that 100% of what I take to the Lord goes to the need, and not to an organization that gloats for doing a something great. I don’t ever want someone else to do what God has asked me to do.
Thank you for replying Rocky. It sounds to me like you have already discovered the circle. God tells you to give, you do, then He tells someone to bless you, and then someone to bless them. Around and around it goes. Too many Christians never join the circle, meaning twenty years pass and they spend everything they have on themselves. God loves a cheerful giver, and I could share so many stories where He has multiplied and returned our gift. One Christmas, our computer business was slow and we had little money, but we felt led to put together three old computer systems from spare parts that we had lying around. We prayed and picked out three widows in the church that did not have one. We gave them the computers, monitors, keyboard and helped them get started. That was in December at Christmas. In January a business we knew closed and gave us over $10,000 worth of new computer equipment, some of which RHM is still using today. We find that you plant beans, then beans will grow. You give computers, computers will come back multiplied. You give money, then money will come back multiplied. If you give nothing, then nothing will come back. It is your giving that starts your circle moving. Be blessed and thank you for participating.
Amen Lord!
Amen
Thank you God. Amen.
Thank you Jesus for our blessings.We love and worship you. Amen
Our God is so awesome !
Thank You Father, Amen!
Dear Father in Heaven, thank You for all Your blessings. Help me to understand that Your will on me will be fulfilled on Your time,no mine. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Amen...Thank you Father for all your Blessings
Amen!
Amen! Thank you for a wonderful reminder of God's Glorious Generous Love
Amen Lord
This is a great word today. We must always put Jesus first in our life before ourselves and even our beloved families. He asks us to bring our tithe into the storehouse and He will give us a blessing that we will not be able to contain. I know this is true and I too have lived this. I got laid off from my job 7 months ago and only had enough money to get by financially for the next 3 months. Here I am 7 months later and I have still be able to pay my mortgage and bills and have food. I continued to tithe when I was on unemployment and only getting 50% of what I made at my job. I did not have enough money to tithe but He asks us to trust Him when we give and He will provide for us. God wanted me to learn that He was my provider, not myself and not my husband. God has taken care of me for the last 7 months and although we did need to cut back on spending and stay on a strict budget I gave in trust money that I could not afford to give. I spend hourf in pray and worship everyday because if I wanted Him to act on my behalf I needed to seek Him and His perfect will for my life. We were forced to put up our house for sale in April because we could not afford the mortgage anymore. It took 4 months to sell my home but thank God he sent a nice young Christian couple to us to buy our house. We are in escrow. We then needed to find a house quick and the odds were against us that we could find something and close escrow at the same time so we didnt have to move out and put all our belongings in storage and stay at a hotel or apartment until we found a house. We went out this weekend and the last house we looked at was the one, so we made an offer and it was accepted. We are in escrow and the agents are pretty confident that they can coordinate the timing on the escrows so we can move out of this house and into our new house. God is so good; He has blessed me so much. I continue to seek His will every day and wait on Him. God's will is truly perfect; He knows better than we do what we need and it is always on time, never early and never late! Your ministry has also been a tremendous blessing to me for the last few months so I thank you for all your dedication to this ministry. God bless you!!
Amen, thank you Pastor for another word of truth!
Amen!
Amen. Praise God! Thanks Pastor!
I have been blessed so much by Father Yahweh even being unemployed, without being able to tithe. I'm in total awe of His goodness and mercy! I give Him all the thanks, praise, honor and glory! I'm believe when I've tithed in the past, have given to others and assisted others in time of need that I've stored up treasure in heaven. He knows my heart and when I am able to give again that I will. All living beings, all things inanimate, all that exits belong to Father,Son and Holy Spirit and we just use what He blesses us with or are allowed to posses temporarily. But, we don't USE people! I count myself fortunate and blessed to live life with my late wife Donielle, our children, certain people and family in the past and present. My hope is that everyone,especially those who don't know Yahweh,Yeshua and Holy Spirit would realize that if God didn't want us here; He would not have created us, we would not exist,no matter what the circumstances, period. And so as Adoni Yeshua said,"I came for you to live life and live life abundantly." Which means not just monitarily but full spectrum. Loving, caring, helping, blessing our own families and all who are in need. Giving back to Yahweh the sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise just like King David proclaimed in the Psalms.