Recent Blog Entries

  • 4 hours ago
    Posted by Dion Todd
    Anchor of the Soul from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. When people lose hope, they lie down and die. They lose the will to live and fight any longer. Hopelessness is utter despair, the belief that nothing good will happen. When you begin to think like this, it will bring a desire to die. A ...
  • 10 hours ago
    Posted by Dion Todd
    The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why don't your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?" He answered them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, But their heart is far f...
  • Sat at 3:01 AM
    Posted by Dion Todd
    Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me; declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure; Isaiah 46:9'10 WEB.During a sci-fi n...
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  • March 25, 2022 - led by Lynn Brown
    This 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!
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Answered Prayers

  • Answered Prayers from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

    Today I want to talk about Answered Prayers and how they come about. We hear a lot about “unanswered prayers” and I think those are great, but for me, I love the answered ones. I want to take a complex, multi-layered subject and try to make it as simple as possible.

    Picture in your mind the army of God, with Jesus being the General, and the Holy Spirit as your commanding officer. You are disciplined. You have trained for this all your life. You take orders and you do what you are told, and things run like a well oiled machine in His army. You don’t understand every detail about the masterplan, but you are given what you need to know at this point in time. Troops on the other side of the world are working on their own campaign. When there is a shortage somewhere in supplies or troops, the requests are made and the General may move things around the battlefield. He may send out troops to bring fresh supplies.

    We are God’s hands and feet on Earth for we are the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12) and He works primarily through His people. Most of the time when a blessing comes to you, it will come through His people. You send up your requests by praying, the General orders it to happen, and then one of His troops brings it to you. Let’s take a moment to look at the chain of command by examining a moment in the life of the deacon Philip. He had left Samaria and was traveling down the road when the Holy Spirit told him to catch up with a chariot that was ahead of him. Acts 8:29:

    Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Acts 8:29–31 NASB

    The Holy Spirit placed Philip on that road, at that moment, and told him to go to the chariot. Philip had no idea that the man was a very important court official in Ethiopia, who answered directly to the Queen and was over the treasury department. The eunuch had questions about scripture and that led Philip to have a conversation with him about Jesus. They came to some water and Philip baptized him. Because of Philip obeying the Holy Spirit, that Ethiopian eunuch took Christianity to the continent of Africa. 

    Everything was timed perfectly. The man in the chariot was traveling along the road. The Holy Spirit had Philip in place. The man was reading a scripture that he did not understand, and the Holy Spirit gave Philip the right answers. The Holy Spirit was completely invisible, but completely in charge, and all Philip had to do was what he was told.

    I want to share a testimony from our life. In December 2014, the Holy Spirit began speaking to us about starting an Internet Church. We saw hundreds of people who were connected with us through our devotional, but didn’t have a church or Christian friends. Many were disabled and homebound and we would often get a hundred prayer requests a day through email. The Lord began to show us that He had already put the abilities in our life to connect these people together with other Christians without having to leave their homes. An interactive online church with a prayer network, and live meetings. A safe environment where Christians could make friends. That vision began to grow within us.

    That January, my wife Sylvia and I sat down and calculated what it would take to get started. We made a spreadsheet of the expenses and things that we would need to buy. The list of things that we came up with totaled $2500. At the time, we were the only tithers at Refreshing Hope Ministries and that was more money than we had. We prayed about it and felt that it was what the Lord wanted us to do, so I pulled an old computer server out of the closet that we had left from our business, and I began to format it on the kitchen table and get it ready.

    Within thirty minutes, someone came to our website and donated exactly $2500. We had not told a single soul but had only prayed about it a few minutes before. We were both blown away. At the time, the average donation at RHM was around $5. We prayed, and God sent one of His troops to help us. In the same way, there have been many times when He has used us to be a blessing to others. Do you see how interconnected we are? We depend on each other listening to the Holy Spirit. I need you to obey the Holy Spirit, and you need me to. When everyone does their part, the Body of Christ is made strong.

    We each have our own gifts, and those are given to build up the body of Christ. It’s not what God can do for you. What can you do for God? Ask not what your church can do for you, but what can you do for your church? Listen for those gentle promptings, like when He tells you to give someone something. Your flesh does not want to give anything away, so you know it’s Him. Obey Him and you become the answer to their prayer. When you feel the urge to pray for someone, do it. Your prayer may be the one that brings the breakthrough in their life. When you feel like you should encourage someone, take a moment and do that. Return that phone call, send that email, make that post, follow the General’s orders. There will be more answered prayers when God’s people start listening to Him.

    You can pray this with me if you like:

    Prayer: Heavenly Father, please speak to me in a way that I understand. I want to be a part of what You are doing on the Earth. I want You to work through me. Show me who I can be a blessing to and give me words to encourage those around me today, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.


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17 comments
  • 1
Richard Mondello
Richard Mondello

This is such the truth pastor Dion! Thank you Holy Spirit! Amen!

June 30, 2019
  • 1
Marisa Jackson
Marisa Jackson

Amen!!

June 30, 2019
  • 1
Liesel  aka  Lisa Wardle
Liesel aka Lisa Wardle

Amen, Pastor Dion, thank you for this message! Oh Lord, my God, please by the power of Thy mighty Spirit fill me and use me according to your will and purpose, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

June 30, 2019
  • 1
Celeste Strenn
Celeste Strenn

Amen 

July 1, 2019
  • 1
Kay Collinsworth
Kay Collinsworth

Amen, Father guide me with your Holy Spirit

July 1, 2019
  • 1
Kevin J. Eck
Kevin J. Eck

Amen, enjoyed your testimony Pastor Dion.

July 1, 2019
  • 1
Wanda Pennington
Wanda Pennington

Thank you Holy Spirit.  Lead me to do your will, your command in Jesus Name. Amen

July 1, 2019
  • 1
David  Earlywine
David Earlywine

Thank you Pastor Dion,Amen 

July 1, 2019
  • 1
Linda Clark
Linda Clark

I need this praise God on jesus name amen 

July 1, 2019
  • 1
Lynn Brown
Lynn Brown

Heavenly Father, please speak to me in a way that I understand. I want to be a part of what You are doing on the Earth. I want You to work through me. Show me who I can be a blessing to and give me words to encourage those around me today, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen. Thank you Pastor Dion for another good message!

July 1, 2019
  • 1
Jackilyn Loyola
Jackilyn Loyola

This is my first time reading,I was so blessed with the topic Answered prayer.God Bless Pastor Dion

July 1, 2019
  • 1
Jose Simo
Jose Simo

Oh Heavenly Father, I thank You for all You have done for me and my family. That Your Holy Spirit touch and encourage us to reach out to those in need of You. Lead us to serve You in every step of the way, in Jesus name I pray Amen. 

Thank you Pastor for your testimony, God bless you. 

 

July 1, 2019
  • 1
Mari Kaufmann
Mari Kaufmann

God you have helped me so much through these past few years of sadness. Thank you. Amen. 

July 1, 2019
  • 1
Wesley Paulus
Wesley Paulus

Amen!

July 1, 2019
  • 1
Suzy Romaine
Suzy Romaine

Thank you Holy Spirit for your guidance. Thank you for Pastor Dion and Sylvia 

July 2, 2019
  • 1
Ed Frye
Ed Frye

Amen!

July 2, 2019
  • 1
Pranoti  Kumar
Pranoti Kumar

Amen and Amen!

Thank you pastor....very encouraging and God Bless!

July 4, 2019