Recent Blog Entries
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Intentional Growth 2 (Prayer) from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. The Sermon on the Mount that Jesus gave is a goldmine of information. It is like the beating heart of my Bible. It spans 3 chapters, Matthew 5 through 7. I created a playlist of it and put it on repeat to listen to it all day... -
A man's steps are established by Yahweh. He delights in his way. Though he stumble, he shall not fall, for Yahweh holds him up with his hand. I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread. All day long he deals graciously, and lends...
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The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God's will remains forever. 1 John 2:17 WEB.It was my first day of school at Kingston Elementary. Early that morning, my stepmother pulled up to the school, pushed me out of her car, and drove off. Standing there alone in the parking lot, I f...
A Great Work
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Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I can't come down: why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you? Nehemiah 6:2 WEB
Nehemiah was organizing the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem after it had been destroyed and the people carried away into exile. When he began, his enemies laughed at him, but then as the gaps in the wall started to close, they became much more serious. They plotted to kill him in order to stop the wall from being completed.
Nehemiah's enemies planned to invite him to a banquet and assassinate him so that all the people following him would stop the work that he had started. When they tried to lure Nehemiah into their trap, he simply replied "I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down." Then he continued on and they completed the wall while working with a trowel in one hand, and a sword in the other (Nehemiah 4:17).
Our enemy may start out using laughs, jeers, and gossip to attack us, but if we keep on with God's work, he will devise much sneakier traps and distractions for us that scale to our level. He has done this a long time, and he knows what works. Like someone inspecting a wall, he keeps searching for the small cracks to get in through, and once in, it is hard to get him back out.
The enemy's plan is to get you distracted, trip you, make you fall, to make your testimony worthless. To make the salt lose its flavor. To stop the work. To stop God from fulfilling His plan in your life. To steal, to kill, and destroy (John 10:10). When you are tempted, remember that you are doing a great work, and that you cannot come down.
Prayer: Heavenly Father please give me a clear vision and reveal the traps that the enemy has set for me. Help me to focus on the work at hand and not be distracted. Fulfill Your will in my life, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.
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Selah
Amen. Awesome message and am so thankful the Lord guides us through the enemies attacks,,,when we ask him.
Amen
Amen Amen Amen.
Yes, I would agree that when we know in our heart our motives are true to God's, we should keep at it. However, Jesus, the Son of God, was always about God's Work...And Passover is an especially high Holy Day for the Jewish people. And Jesus went to Jerusalem, even though it was rumored throughout the land that they were going to kill Him. He went anyway. This is quite counter to what Jews knew from this story of Nehemiah. Which is why, I suppose, that the Aposotles pestered Jesus about not going. I don't remember Jesus' response, but I would imagine he replied as he did often: I am doing my Father's Work... Thank you, Pastor Dion. This shows me that Jesus uses a phrase that Nehemiah says in a similar fashion as him, and as was typicial of how He refers to the Jewish Holy Scriptures without naming them...
Anyway,, Jesus seems to do the opposite of what Nehemiah does...resuslting in His death on the Cross. So, what is Jesus saying? For one comparing Nehemiah and Jesus' reactions, one just might say don't listen Jesus...keep doing the great work...But no. Jesus teaches us that even if all are against us,, "Go into their midst...For there is where the greatest work is done for God's greater work is done in Jerusalem!" For " "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." God is good at changing things up, it seems...
That is true, Beverly, I believe that it's important to hear the Holy Spirit for the "now" word! We can certainly tell many things about God's nature, so for instance, we can safely ignore a "word" to bully a child. However, when it comes to direction on, as another example, purchasing a particular car, hearing today's word is invaluable!
Amen! Listening to the enemy who is always looking for someone to devour is never a good idea. God has a plan to bless you when you listen to Him.
Awesome! Amen
Amen Father keep me strong
Amen!!
Amen!!
Give me strength and guidance to fulfill Your will in my life, Amen.
Amen!
Heavenly Father protect me from my enemies, help me be as You want not as they say. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Thank you Pastor, God bless.
.... Speaking of walls Pastor Dion what do you think about what’s going on with Mr. Trump and the wall ?and taking away everyone’s food stamps in from the low income people in the Social Security checks really mind-boggling the chaos it could cause mass hysteria… I certainly don’t want to buy into all the fear … Yeah it is of great concern to me...I am a recipient of Social Security disability check
Amen Lord
Amen!
Amen! Good devotional. Thank you Pastor Dion.
Amen!
Amen
Amen! So much truth on this subject, we see it all the time, the enemy is always looking ffor a way to destroy our works our dreams our lives, It often wears me out, and we just pray, and sometimes just hurt and feel like giving up. But we dont, its not easy either but we seem to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and keep going, Its not easy but its worth it in the end.
We know the feeling, brother, and so proud of y'all for not giving up <3! Love y'all!
AMEN
Amen and Amen!!