God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink. Genesis 21:19 WEBHours went by while I struggled with a bug in the annoying computer program, until I finally gave up and walked out to get away from it for a bit. Why did this have to be so difficult, I thought. This should have been a ten minute job, but I have spent all day on it. All...

RHM October Newsletter - 2016 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. Two Octobers ago, we began Refreshing Hope Ministries from our kitchen table with the secondhand equipment from eBay in the picture below. The Lord has been...

What Time is it? Part 1 Intro What Time Is It? Part One from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.   This week we will be starting a new series titled “What Time Is It?” As many of you know, when I was young and starting out with the Lord, I was completely consumed with eschatology, the study of end time events. I had my walls covered with charts, timelines, and scriptures....

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, Reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; For it is time to seek Yahweh, Until He comes and rains righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12 WEBI grew up on a farm and over the long cold winter, the ground of the fields would become so hard that water would just run off of it like it was rock. The rain would no longer penetrate the crust but just ran through...

      “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11      This year has been such an emotional year for me, late last year I began to experience some severe pain in my lower back and abdominal area. After going through many...

Faith Hope and Love: Love Faith, Hope, & Love: Part 3 from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.   This week we will be covering part three of our series on Faith, Hope, and Love. Love ləv/ noun 1. an intense feeling of deep affection. Synonyms: deep affection, fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy, attachment, endearment; devotion, adoration, compassion, caring, charity,...

When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. When they had finished the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy each other. 2 Chronicles 20:22 WEB'God sure seems...

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:27 WEBJesus said that His sheep would hear His voice and that they would follow Him 'and a stranger, they would not follow" (John 10:5). God speaks to His people individually and collectively. Some are so concerned on being deceived that...

Faith Hope and Love: Hope  This week we continue our series on Faith, Hope, and Love. I want to make it very clear what hope actually is and remove the vagueness that we tend to toss around these words. First a definition:  Hope /hōp/ noun1. a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.And the opposite:Hopeless - noun:a :  having no expectation of good or success...

Special Update: The Day the Lights Went Out in Conway   Hello everyone,    Thank you for being a part of Refreshing Hope Ministries. As you may have noticed, over the last few days the devotional stopped coming, and the website was down. This was because Hurricane Matthew passed directly over our town. The storm caused massive flooding, downed power lines, broken utility poles and...

Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw that they were sad. He asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, saying, 'Why do you look so sad today?' They said to him, 'We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.' Joseph said to them, 'Don't interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me.' The chief cupbearer told his dream...

September 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. September went by pretty quickly for us and I happened to notice that it is now over and this newsletter is now late. We fasted the month of August...

Faith Hope and Love Part 1: Faith Faith, Hope and Love, Part 1: Faith from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. This week we will be starting a new series on Faith, Hope, and Love. I hope to make this as simple as possible. To do that, I am going to cover what a life of faith, a life of hope, and a life of love looks like. The definition of Faith: Complete trust or confidence in someone or...

Acts 3:2-5: Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.  When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.  Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something...

The Birthday of The Church The Birthday of the Church from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.   We just finished our series on the Holy Spirit. This week I want to talk about the first birthday of the Church. Jesus ascended to heaven and the Holy Spirit descended on His followers in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost. This was when “The Church” was born and about 3,000...

For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. James 3:16 WEBJust as a sponge filled with liquid is our heart within us. It absorbs all the hurts and pains in our life. Usually when we come to the Lord, it...

Then his lord called him in, and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me. Shouldn't you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?' His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him. So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don't each forgive your brother from your...

When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It's a ghost!' and they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Cheer up! It is I! Don't be afraid.' Peter answered him and said, 'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.' He said, 'Come!' Peter stepped down from the boat, and walked on the waters to come to Jesus. Matthew 14:26...

Matthew 18:33-34:Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. Ephesians 4:31-32:Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and tender-hearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ...

Isaiah 45:9- "Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'The potter has no hands'?   Some days it would seem the world is against us. For those of us who pray every day and look to the Lord for all things, these days can feel long, tough, and...

The Holy Spirit 4: The Gifts of the Spirit The Holy Spirit 4: The Gifts of the Spirit from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. This is part four of our series on the Holy Spirit. In our previous messages, we covered “Who is the Holy Spirit, Ignorance about the Holy Spirit, and The Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” This message covers “The Gifts of the Spirit.” Now the...

After a little while again those who stood by said to Peter, 'You truly are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.' But he began to curse, and to swear, 'I don't know this man of whom you speak!' The rooster crowed the second time. Peter remembered the word, how that Jesus said to him, 'Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.' When he thought about that,...

They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you, says Yahweh, to rescue you. Jeremiah 1:19 WEBThings were finally going well in our computer business. We had one particularly large client with multiple locations that took up all the time that we could give them. For the first time in forever, we could work all that we wanted and they loved us. We even had our own...

The Holy Spirit 3: The Baptism of the Holy Spirit   The Holy Spirit 3: The Baptism of The Holy Spirit from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.   Note: There is an echo that starts about half way through the video. Sorry about that! Can't fix it. Today I will share what I understand to be the truth about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and how you can receive it. In the first two parts...

The Holy Spirit 2: Ignorance in the Church The Holy Spirit 2: Ignorance in The Church from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.   This is part 2 of our series on the Holy Spirit  The Lord told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:7–10: “the LORD said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall...

Numbers 13:33- We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.     Moses sends out 13 members of a group of leaders from the tribes of Israel as an exploration committee. They were charged with identifying whether the land was good, the people who lived there...

August 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. Sylvia and I spent the month of August fasting and praying for fresh direction in RHM. We prefer to fast in the hotter months because it is yucky to...

David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the souls of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God. 1 Samuel 30:6 WEBDavid was distressed. He and his men had wept until they no longer had the strength to weep. When they returned to their town, they had found it burned to the ground and all...

Who is the Holy Spirit? Who Is the Holy Spirit? from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. This is message one in a four part series on the Holy Spirit  So exactly who is the Holy Spirit? He Was There In the Beginning: (Genesis 1:1–2 NKJV) “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And...

In His time Isaiah 40:31 “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”    I love to go birding! Have you ever watched an Eagle soar? It seems to be such a graceful effortless flight as they glide higher & higher in the heavens with little or no effort...