Shiloh Baptist Church

Oh, how refreshing is the word of God! As we dive into His word, we find The Holy Spirit beckoning us to delve deeper with Him. As I thought about the topic “Refreshing,” I asked the Lord to help me. I wasn’t sure where to turn. He lead me to a book written by Susan Rohrer called Splash! In it she shares refreshing Christian quotes and scriptures that take you right into Spiritual Refreshment. Here are just a few inspirational quotes that caught my heart as a believer and encourages me to stay in the Word.

Are you a busy believer? Barely have time to splash some water on your face before you start your day? You may find yourself thirsty for time with God. You long for a refreshing from the Holy Spirit, an inspired thought for the day ahead. You desire to drink of the living waters Jesus said would flow from the innermost parts of every believer. You want to refresh others with what refreshes you. Draw from the well of inspiration through these quotes, fruit of time spent in God’s sparkling river!

• The Holy Spirit is powerfully loving, commandingly joyful, actively peaceful, compellingly patient, emphatically kind, intensely good, infallibly faithful, potently gentle, and vigorously self-controlled. Who wouldn’t want to know a person like this?
• The Holy Spirit is a great gentleman. He doesn’t push us deeper when we’re not ready. He patiently waits to be desired.
• Is God calling you deeper into the river of His Holy Spirit?
• The world says to follow your heart. The Word bids us to follow the prompting of the Spirit. What path will you choose?
• How far we venture into God’s River is up to us. God continues to call, to envelop those who choose to go deeper.
• The wonder-working power of Jesus was poured out to supercharge the testimony of every believer- through every generation.
• We have trouble trusting people to truly manifest the Spirit. But that’s exactly what God does. Even with the least of us.
• The Spirit and the Bride really do say, “Come!” Drink freely of the kingdom’s crystal clear, life-giving River and be refreshed!
• The Bible is our compass. If we don’t keep confirming our course, we’ll drift off track, far from the current of the Spirit.
• The desert is an arid place where we must learn to rely fully on the refreshment of the Holy Spirit.
• The more we’re above water, the more control we keep. The deeper we go into His River, the more control we give Him.
• Our comfort zone is really our control zone. The more we yield control to Him, the more comfortable we get with our Comforter.
• Ever the Gentleman, our divine Teacher eases us out of our comfort zones, giving us opportunity to learn about His ways.
• Reach out when He prompts you. Yield when He subdues you. Acknowledge Him as your very present helper and guide.
• We all have control issues. We like to be in charge of the way things go. But that is the way of the flesh, not the Spirit.
• Once we truly get to know the Holy Spirit, we’ll eagerly accept what He gives us and we’ll go where we He leads.
• Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is one of the forms discernment takes, as God reveals the truth about our circumstances.
• Pray before you act. Listen before you speak. Your heavenly Counselor will guide you, if given the opportunity. All heaven can break loose.
• Spend time in quietness, with your ears open to the Holy Spirit. In those silent moments, you just may hear His whispers.
• No matter the place you find yourself, know that God sees you there. Like the loving Father that He is, He cares about your mountaintops and your valleys.
• Wherever you are, you are never, ever, out of His sight. He waits to water your dry bones and to restore you to a place of spiritual vitality in every single circumstance.
• When it comes to finding godly contentment’s, it’s not so much a question of where we are as it is who has led us to that place. If God led you into that valley, thank Him for it. He will strengthen you to not only survive it, but to thrive. Where ever you are, there is a Fountain. Truly.
• God really does have all the answers. The greatest enigmas are elegantly solved at the feet of such a Teacher.
• Unsure what to do? Ask your heavenly Father’s advice. Sit at His feet and listen. He loves that. He delights to answer and help His kids.
• No matter what happens, God can use it in His children’s lives, along His continuum of redemption and grace. It really is all good!

One of the things I love so much about the invitation God extends is that it’s to everyone. There’s no exclusivity of gender, race or age. All who live and breathe are invited into His sparkling river. If you’ve accepted His invitation, too, you know what I mean. But if you haven’t yet or if you’ve wandered away from His life-giving flow, know that your forgiving God stands waiting, loving you all the while.

Submitted by Sis. Raquel Colon

LEADERSHIP is defined as a person who guides by going in advance and directing people on a specific course or particular way. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ declares that He is the way (John 14:6). True Christian believers know the Lord’s way; “…men or women there belonging to the Way [believers, followers of Jesus the Messiah]” (Acts 9:2 AMP). Jesus told us that while he was going back to Paradise to be with the Father in Heaven, God the Father would leave a person here on earth to comfort us and guide us along the Lord’s way (John 14:6). Although God gave us examples of leadership when Moses’ father-in-law Jethro explained to him how to choose good men to be leaders over God’s people (Exodus 18:17-27) and the Apostles gave the Lord’s followers the criterion for choosing leaders in the church (Acts 6:3), a leader is still truly defined by his or her character. Many people hold titles of leadership but very few people are genuine leaders. There is only one perfect example of a good leader and that is God, Himself. The Lord tells us Himself that He is perfect (Matthew 5:48). God gave us an example of how to be a good leader through the life of Jesus Christ. God is the Creator, so the obvious question is being like Jesus, the perfect leader, attainable for us? God the Father is a person, God the Son is a person and God the Holy Spirit is a person. We were made in God’s image; “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27 KJV). The author of the book ‘The Holy Spirit’ by Charles C. Ryrie says that we define “human personality by what we know but all human personality is imperfect so it is impossible for us to know a perfect personality in and of ourselves. True personality must start with a study of God’s character because God alone has perfect personality.” Jesus Christ demonstrated God’s character when he walked on earth to give us an example of a perfect person. Like Father, like Son. Jesus and the Father are one (John 10:30). We must try to be like Jesus and as a result, we will be exhibiting godly character. Can we achieve it? The Holy Spirit is our guide, but the Lord left us a performance metric to evaluate ourselves to see how we are doing. It is our mouth; “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body” (James 3:2). It is not what goes in our mouth that causes problems, but it is what comes out of our mouth that hurts our effort to be more like Jesus. We make many mistakes and stumble in many ways but to be good leaders we need to demonstrate good leadership by controlling our tongues. As leaders and examples to God’s people, let us make sure that what comes out of our mouth brings life to the Body of Christ.

Submitted By Trustee Stan Ridley

We approach Your Presence, Almighty God, with great reverence because You are Lord, Creator, Owner, and Master of all.

We behold Your majesty because You have made it possible for us to come, and we have access, because You have made it so.

Ah God, how grateful we are!

There was no way, but You made away, through the propitiation of Your Son, Jesus, that we could come boldly to Your throne of grace and find the help that we need.

You made a way through the inhabitation of Your Holy Spirit, who abides with us, still, but O God, as we enter in, we are enveloped by Your glory, and just being there causes us to forget the myriad of things, the long lists, the cares of this world, that has us so bogged down.

And so, we lift our hands in praise, honor, and glory to You- even right now.

Thank You for fixing our eyes on You, and for causing us not to look upon those things that would distract us.

So, we cry out with the angels, Holy! Holy! Holy! Worthy! Worthy! Worthy!

And we bow for the privilege to look upon a Holy God, and live.

God, this is the confidence that we have: that if we ask anything according to Your will, we know that You hear us.

And we know that whatever we ask, we have it.

So, we bring to our sick among us to You.

We bring those who are absent from the body due to sickness, to You.

We pray for our brothers and our sisters, that You will hide them behind the Cross-where Sin has been defeated forever, and we ask for forgiveness for our offenses, and indiscretions against You for it is against You, and You only, that we have sinned.

Lord, hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people.

And allow us to hear from Heaven, Your dwelling place, and when You hear- O Lord, forgive.

We pray for everyone who is suffering; for everyone who is feeling hopelessness; for everyone who is experiencing loneliness, and we pray for songs of praise from their lips- as we watch You do what only You can help us, Lord God.

We pray for those in authority over us, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and holiness.

Continue to bless our Pastor, and his family, and every person praying this prayer right now.

Our heart’s desire is to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.

May this prayer be set before You like incense.

May the lifting of our hands be like the evening sacrifice as we bless Your Name,

and cry out to you, O God.

In the Name of Jesus, Amen!