Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

When I first started soul winning I was a little timid and scared of what people might think of me, but that attitude has changed over the last few months. God has given me a holy boldness to share the gospel and I continue to defeat fears each time I go out. The soul winning script is a great tool and makes it very easy to speak to someone, but it really has not been too hard. All I have had to do is open my mouth and the Holy Spirit speaks through me.

Almost everyone I speak to is hungry for the truth. To my surprise, there are still so many who don’t know about Jesus. They may have heard his name, but they don’t know what He did for us. They don’t know that he was resurrected and is alive. They don’t know that the Holy Spirit can live inside them. They don’t know about the power they can receive from Him. As I started realizing this, it made me want to be even bolder in telling people about Jesus. So far I have seen and heard of people getting saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, delivered, healed, and having breakthroughs in their finances, marriages, and other areas of their lives all because someone took a minute to ask them, “Has anyone ever told you God loves you?”

Each testimony I hear helps me to realize why soul winning is a passion, not a program. As a soul winner I am recruiting souls for heaven! I am helping people find peace in this life through Jesus. The greatest joy is to see someone’s face light up after you have prayed for them, when you see the weight lifted off their shoulders, when they get filled with the joy, when you greet them at church on Sunday! People’s entire families are getting saved and their lives are completely changing. It is a privilege and an honor to be a vessel for God. I’ll never stop soul winning as long as I live!

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

The River Bus Ministry and Outreach Program are two powerful ministries working together to reach the unsaved – I have seen lives so touched, impacted and changed in the few months since I have been at the River. I see hope given to people who otherwise would choose to release their grip on life. The effort both in terms of financial support and manpower leaves me speechless – It can only be the hand of God at work through the River church.

While making phone calls this month to the Skipper Road community in Tampa, I greeted a lady and asked her how she was doing. She said “not too well, I am recovering from breast cancer surgery, and the chemotherapy is hard on me, and I feel like giving up, and the test results are not good”.

I told her that giving up was not an option but that she should believe God for her healing. I recited Mark 11:23-24 to her and asked her if she could believe in her heart without doubting that God will move this mountain from her. She said yes, I explained that if she asked God to heal her and believed in her heart without doubting that he has heard her, she would be healed right now. I told her Jesus healed all who were sick Acts 10:38 and that sickness was not of God. I asked her again if she could believe in her heart without doubting, she said yes. I prayed for her, I could hear her praying on the other end of the line. After we finished she said “God must have really made you call my number, because I feel so much better already”. I invited her to church; she said she did not think she was strong enough to make it.

On Sunday morning to my amazement, I recognized her immediately as the Bus pulled up at the Skipper road community stop; her head was completely bald from the chemotherapy. I was at the back of the bus, so when I got a chance to move to the front of the bus I greeted her and asked her how she was doing today. I asked her if someone from the River had called her house and prayed for her this week, she smiled and said yes. She said she was feeling much better today. The peace of God was so evident on her, it was not necessary to prolong the conversation. God is a good God!!

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

The heart is the part of us that optimizes who we are. Learning to conquer the many things that plaque our heart is truly an art form; and by this truth total submission and complete yieldedness to the will of God is our masterpiece. In Proverbs 17:3 we get a perfect illustration of how our heart is purified in God’s hands. Trial by fire is the Lord’s perfect plan to rid us of even our smallest impurities. In these trials we find what really resides inside of us, we are melted down to the simplest form giving God the opportunity to mold us. What instruction remains for us when our world is a flame? Micah 6:9 casts the vision for the soul in tribulation. And even as we heed I Peter 5:6; we are assured of the promise of the Lord. “though weeping may last for the night; joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). So much can come against us when we have committed our way to him; but through it all we must not become bitter. Because bitterness will destroy our hope. In the difficulties of trials we must never lose our joy for serving God. The joy that comes with service to Him is confirmation that we are dwelling in His will. Our hearts must stay right before the Lord or our way will otherwise perish. When we sense our hearts going astray we must flood ourselves with the word of God as it will guide our way (Psalm 119:105) making it prosperous and giving us good success (Joshua 1:8). In order to successfully walk a life that positively and constantly effects eternity we must keep our heart flooded with the love of God. It is true love of God that will drive us to endure whatever we must according to the call placed on our lives. The smallest matters of the heart direct us to the greatest results of our future.

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

I received a lot from the Matters of the heart teaching last week with Pastor Adonica. I received so much from that class. It really helped me put my heart in check. I have been dealing with so much emotionally and Pastor Adonica’s teaching helped me realize that although I have been keeping God’s word in my heart and applying it to my life in most areas. I had neglected to mature in some areas of my heart that don’t come up as often but it will come out when I am faced with a certain situations. For example, I don’t get offended quickly by most people but if it’s someone close to me, I do. I have to realize that the offense is not the other person’s problem but it’s mine. It is a pride in me that must be dealt with. I have to get rid of pride and anything else that would allow me to get offended. I do have a tendency to put unrealistic expectation on people and I have to stop putting those expectations on people. I try to treat and deal with people the way I desire to be treated and that is with kindness. I have to always remind myself that people are people and they are not perfect and just as God deals with me with patience, mercy and grace. I have to learn to give the same grace to others. I have to get to the root of my heart issue and get totally purged by God’s word. I don’t know how this has rooted in my heart but now I am on a mission to mature in the word of God in this area. I have to give grace to others just as I have been given grace. So for now, my hearts cry is that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart would be acceptable in His sight. I will no longer live with expectation of others. The only expectation that I have now is from God and I know that He is God and that He will never forsake me.

Worship Soundtracks from RMIRiverSong on Vimeo.

Camp Meeting was powerful. The most significant thing I received was a fresh and deeper understanding of the magnitude of what we are doing through the network, and how close we are to Great Awakening coming to Tampa, to this region, to America and to the globe. This was driven home to me again this Sunday when the agenda for Evangelist Ted Shuttlesworth’s 2010 Gospel Harvest was explained. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, I am still riveting from the news.

During Camp Meeting as the network was presented the scripture from Joel 2:7-11 came to mind over and over. It describes the wires that “run up the walls” of houses for TV connections and the satellite dish “on the roof.” By way of the network and the web we are “coming in through the windows” of people’s homes globally, right into their living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, porches, etc. We are bringing a pure stream of the gospel carried on the power of the presence of God. Never in the history of mankind has this ever been done. It is a God thing, it is unstoppable, and it will ignite the fires of revival across the globe, shaking nations!

The River at Tampa Bay Church is ground zero for what God is doing in this final hour before the return of Jesus. He means business and so must we. As Pastor Rodney says, “this is not a game.” And, as Pastor Adonica says, we must “lift up our eyes and see the greatness and vastness of God.” We will fail if we stay focused on ourselves and our little situations. We will miss it if we are cavalier and casual about the things of God. Now is the time. Today is the day of salvation! We must win the lost at any cost. We must bring in this end-time harvest.