When we feel troubled in our spirits, we tend to crumble up in a ball and get hopeless. We forget about our precious Lord, our sweet Jesus, our sacrificial Jesus. For He is the one who died for us on Calvary. He know's us best, but we think we know ourselves best. The hopeless feeling we get comes from our weakening faith. We know that through Christ anything is possible, as he fed thousands with little, so we need to just call on His name. He will restore our faith, because we can't do it by ourselves. Human nature brings humility of being needy, but Jesus wants us to trust in Him and not ourselves in our rough times, for he delivered us from sin. No matter what the situation is He will bring us out at the right time. Life isn't meant to be lived perfectly, but lived through Jesus' love and through prayer. We aren't divine so we are going to doubt and lose hope. Once you've put your worries on the altar He will bring you through. But first you have to trust in Him! Pray and blessings will fall.

-Zharea

In His time

Ecclesiastes 9:11
I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, neither is bread to the wise nor riches to men of intelligence and understanding nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.

As you all know, this is the title to our debut CD.  We couldn’t be more grateful and humbled.  Truly it is about God’s time as well as perseverance (time & chance).  First, we have been together for nine years going on ten.  That is longer than most marriages!!!   When you think about it, there can be no doubt that with God, nothing is impossible.  We are all so different and yet in Christ we strive to uphold the same standard.  That is what has kept us together and moving forward – slow and steady.

Slow & Steady - God tells us that the race is not given to the swift.  You know, it is difficult to desire something happen sooner than it is meant to.  At times, others believe you should be further along than you are and they wonder what is the hold up?  You pray and wonder why things are going so slow?  It takes such a strong trust in the goodness and wisdom of God.  You have got to know that delay does not mean deny and we must keep going until God decides it is time.  When God determines to bless, then we know it will be His very best for us.  It’s easy to think that we should have had the CD out earlier or we should have been doing more of this and more of that but honestly, God has us exactly where He wants us to be and we are taking advantage of every opportunity that comes our way as He leads us.  We are always continuing to build on our foundation.  It is crucial that we have a strong foundation to support the work we do and keep us strong.  That takes time and it is something that God does over many months and in our case, many years.

The Lord has seen fit to consider us capable to have our own internet radio talk show.  It is called, “The “Refining Faith” Hour.  It has been great.  Not only do we get to minister in song but now we can actually share our convictions in an open forum.  Our last CD was called, “Our Convictions”.  Now we are able to talk about just that.  That is progress!  We are able to share our heartfelt convictions with you and also learn from you.  It is exciting and we are so grateful to God for His trust.  He has entrusted us to use this venue to spread the gospel and stay true to His truth found in the Word.  That is an incredible honor and it is our prayer that we serve God faithfully in this.  So far we have discussed some touchy subjects as well as had special guest come and join us. We want to not only lift up and bring glory to God by what we are doing but we also want to use what we have to support our brothers and sisters in their ministries. We have begun to do that and will continue.  We talk about issues that are close to our hearts and matters that concern you.  We want our time on the radio to not only be inspiring but more importantly, we want for ourselves and you to leave having learned a little more about God and praising Him a little more for who He is.  

As a group, we have gone through many changes over these years.  We have grown so much in our understanding of God and His people.  God desires to use us and we make ourselves available.  We are always blessed as we serve others.  It’s not financial or about any recognition but rather it’s that laying down at night knowing that God called on us to serve Him by encouraging others and we answered and did our best.  We want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful with a few things.  I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your Master’s happiness.”

To God be all the Glory

In His Time


Rachel Green

For Power Is Perfected In Weakness

And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  – 2 Corinthians 12:9

Weakness – want of strength; want to do things great and glorious

Ah, weakness.  The mention of the word makes us feel insecure.  I mean really, who wants to be weak?  We all want to be strong, confident, and powerful forces to be reckoned with.  That is the desire of our hearts.
 

But what happens when our weaknesses come out?  How do we feel?  What happens inside of us when things don’t go the way we planned?  How do we handle that, in the moment?

We sincerely thank you all for coming out and supporting us.  We love to minister in song and our concerts are really that for us.  They are opportunities to minister and be ministered to.  We wanted each one of you to be encouraged in your faith.  If you needed to get closer to God, we hope we inspired you.  If you wanted to get to know God better, we hope our personal testimonies have given you a glimpse of what Our Wonderful God is like.  If you were feeling somewhat dull or stagnant, we desired that your fire for the Lord was rekindled.  We believe this was accomplished because it is the desire of God but…it was all done in our state of weakness.
 

Remember how I shared that it’s very hard getting ready for these events?  Well, I think we all learned that it can be just as hard going through.  That night was the most challenging we’ve ever had.  We had the whole night planned out.  We did our best to pull together an event where we could enjoy the presence of God in praise and worship and where we would take you into our own prayer closets.  We prayed and planned, thought and rehearsed.  Hours and hours of hard work along with the band.  We wanted everything to be perfect, but sometimes no matter how hard you try and how much you plan, it just doesn’t go that way.  Can anyone relate?

At one point during the concert, Nedra let you know that we were struggling up there and believe me it was so true.  Our prayer for that night was that we would, along with you, experience God in a new way, a deeper way.  We wanted to experience God in a way we never have before.  God will forever be a genius and a comedian.  He absolutely answered our prayers but in a way that we never expected.  God worked through our weaknesses.  Veronica shared the Scripture that night and it’s not until right now, as I write this, that I realize the depth of that Word.
 

God tells us that His power is made perfect in our weaknesses.  His power is performed and executed in those times when we are in want of strength – when we are weak but want to do a great and glorious thing.  It is so important to realize and take to heart that we cannot do mighty spiritual exploits in our strength.  No amount of talent, skill, effort or planning was going to bring about what we prayed for.
 

As much as we hate it, there is a undeniable and God glorifying strength in our weakness.  The problem is that we have a love/hate relationship with weakness.  We know God says we are strong when we are weak but we hate to be weak.  I believe we all struggle with this.  The joy in all this is that we have an amazing God who wants to teach us to rest in Him and let Him perform through us.  Let Him do the hard work which is all spiritual as we present our bodies as living vessels for Him to use.

We really had a wonderful time with you.  I know I speak for all of us when I say we really had a great time praising and worshipping God but what we want you to know is that there is no doubt in our minds that if you’ve experienced any encouragement; If you left uplifted, challenged, seeing God differently, strengthened to go through a trial in your life, I mean, anything you received, just know that it was entirely the power of God which accomplished it.  The gifts you received had absolutely nothing to do with us what so ever and so it should be.

So, with even more conviction, we say along with Paul that we rejoice and will boast in our weaknesses because His power was made perfect and we want God’s power to continually rest on us!

God Bless.
Rachel
Refining Faith

Subject:  Christianity and Wealth

Ed Hampton wrote:


This is Ed. Veronica's brother-in-law who lives in Charlotte. I really like the newsletter and the subject matter as well. Here's what I know and understand:"...remember the LORD your God,for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth" (Deut.8:18)  If God gives one the ability to become wealthy, why question God's plan for that person? As it is written," Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"(Romans 11:34) As for shopping, one would do well to "have the wisdom to show restraint" (Prov. 23:4). Overall, one should remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6:33.  

Below are responses from some of our readers:

Subject:  Christianity and Wealth

Diane Turner wrote:

Subject:  Christianity and Wealth

Reynaldo Craig wrote:

“I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

John 10:10

 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus

(Phil. 4:19).

 "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."

Genesis 17:1-2

 There are many people and pastors giving misconceptions about God’s true intention regarding wealth.  Having wealth is not sinful, as there were many people in the Bible who were very wealthy, such as David, Solomon, Abraham and Job.  The problem why many believers are having trouble getting wealth is because they chasing wealth instead of God.  They should instead seek The Kingdom, and then riches will follow.  Jeremiah 29:11 says “I know the plans I have for you says The Lord, plans not to harm but to prosper you, plans that will give you a hope and a future”. There is a saying going around that is believed to be a bible verse.  It says that money is the root of all evil.  This is an error.  The actual verse is “The love of money is the root of all evil.”  1 Timothy 6:10.   I can go on about this, but when it comes to the bottom-line, it is ok with God to have money, but just as long that money does not have you…

In His service

Reynaldo A. Craig

ChristLikeTV, Inc.

Subject:  Christianity and Wealth

Cheryl Ashley-Henderson wrote:

I love the newsletter!!! 
My take on wealthy Christians is a simple one.  When you come into alignment with God's will and purpose in your life blessings are bound to follow.  Let me add this-- not only will they follow they will also be ahead of you!!!  Look at Abraham, Noah, David, Solomon and all the other great, heroic leaders of the faith.  They were destined and promised for so much prosperity --they wouldn't be able to hold and to count all that was in store for them.  Blessings and gifts would overspill for generations to come!!

How do you feel about wealthy Christians?  What is your take on those who own businesses, own real estate, write books, create profitable clothing designs, design websites and get paid thousands for it or whose music recordings cause their bank accounts to swell up?  They make about $50K a month.  Add on another $30K for ministry events and they are making way more than in six months than you make working for two years at your job!  How about that? 

Nowadays, we hear a lot about money.  We have those who are wholly for wealth.  They believe poverty or just financial lack is a curse.  They teach their congregants how to obtain wealth and not be ashamed of it.  Then we have those who are appalled at the great wealth of some of these teachers.  They think it’s a sin of some kind, to be financially very well off.  It’s just not like Jesus.  What side of the fence do you find yourself on?

I heard an interesting statement the other day that made me look at a Bible verse differently.  The preacher said, “The wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous” (Proverbs 13:22).  Our money doesn’t come from the church.”  I have to admit I was taken aback by that.  I never heard it put that way.  In reading commentary remarks, the example given was when the Israelites plundered the Egyptians as they left for the Promised Land.  All the wealth of the Egyptians was laid up for His people and they took it when they left.  If we remember the account, all they did was ask! (Exodus 12:35-36)  So, we do not rely on the people of God because they don’t have the money.  This preacher was making it clear that the wealth they obtained was not the result of “pimpin” the people of God.  Don’t you just love these new buzzwords?  Pimpin?  When did we start using that term to describe the actions of Pastors and Preachers?  What a time we’re living in (sigh).

I have mulled it over a little.  I am no possessor of great wealth at this time, so I need not think too hard about it but I had to give it some thought.  How would I feel if God gave me an incredible idea for an invention and a company was willing to back me financially turning this idea into a goldmine which now brings me millions in revenue?  Would I feel that I didn’t deserve it and that to take some of it and buy a beautiful big home (not the little brick house on the corner) is wrong?  If I could now spend $229 on one pair of shoes without worrying about paying my rent, would I be in sin for not going to Payless any longer?  If I only shop at Whole Foods and vowed never to darken the door of C-Town every again, am I setting the wrong example?

How would you feel looking at me?  Would you hate on me because I don’t have to go to Fabco any longer?  Would you look at me and think, ‘she is not being like Jesus at all.  He wouldn’t spend the money on himself.’  What comes to mind is Judas.  Remember when Mary came in with that bottle of very expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus’ feet?  Now, I have to admit, I probably would have responded like Judas, not because I was dippin into the money bags, but because I’m a touch frugal.  Okay, okay.  I’m just plain ol’ cheap.  Why in the world would she take the perfume that could be sold for a high price and waste it by pouring it on Jesus’ dirty feet?!  What happened to water?!  I echo with Judas, “Why this waste?”  My question to you is, do you see yourself in this?  As I come out of Versace with my new shoes, would you think to yourself, “Why is she taking $299 dollars and using it to by shoes instead of taking that money down to the shelter and giving it to the poor?  Why this waste?”

I ask this because there are some of us out there who may not be wealthy right now but because of having an entrepreneurial spirit and because of the talents God has given us, we will come into great wealth in the future.  That is not the case for everyone but for some.  They will no longer be the ones going to Conway to get the latest knock off for $7.99 (that only last through 4 washings), hallelujah!!  They will no longer be meeting you for your weekly shopping extravaganza at the communities beloved 99¢ Store anymore!!!  How will you respond when this happens?  In our hearts and minds will you be able to say with Paul…

1 Corinthians 12:26

When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

So how do you really feel about wealthy Christians?  Holla


Refining Faith
Rachel Green