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Bev Rhoades Completely HIS

Less is More



Well folks, the countdown is on! I leave for the World Race in 25 days!  To update everyone, I have $4763 in my account as we speak.  Total raised with cash and pledges is around 6400.  That means I still need to raise around 7400.  If you feel led to support me financially, you can click on the "support Me" link to the left of my page.  You can choose to do a one time gift, donate monthly, however you want.  Here is a blog that squad leader Allison Johnston wrote.  I couldn't have picked any better words myself.  I encourage you to consider the concept less is more.  By sacrificing one thing you love, (like that Venti Chai Latte or that amazing Cinnamon Crunch Bagel from Panera) once a week during the 11 months that I am gone, and donating that money to The World Race, you are making a HUGE impact in God's Kingdom.  Venti Chai Latte from Starbucks=$4, Cinnamon Crunch Bagel from Panera=$2,  Sending us out to be the hands and feet of Jesus, so we can show and give God's love bringing new brothers and sisters into relationship with Christ=PRICELESS!!!!
 
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Each week a bunch of us drive through the handy-dandy Starbucks window and fork over at least $4 for a great cup of coffee.  Maybe you are even one of those super fancy people whose Starbucks order takes at least 2 minutes to write down (triple grande, decaf, 4 pumps, white chocolate, soy, no whip, super skinny, whatever....coffee).  What does that even mean anyways?  Most of the time I pull up to the window and am so nervous I can't remember my order and just mumble "coffee, with lots of milk"  The really nice lady always replies "what size?" and I smile and say "small" thinking I will at least get something right and then she just laughs at me.  I swear, this coffee ordering has become an art form. 
 
Anyways, I was at Starbucks last week with a friend and we were lamenting that it is so expensive and we are all going to get fat and be poor from all our coffee-drinking habits.  Probably true, but it made me think about a few things.
 
Can we consume one less Starbucks a week? 
 
I did some quick math and figured out that if 50 blog stalkers (i mean, readers) agreed to drink one less Starbucks a week (at approx $4 a coffee) and would donate that $4 per week to supporting the World Race it would make a SIGNIFICANT dent in the support I need to raise in the coming months and would make a long-term impact on the world for Jesus.  By supporting the World Race, you are not just supporting me personally, but the 52 teammates I am traveling with this year and all of the people we will come in contact with throughout the year.  It is an incredible opportunity to spread the love of Jesus--and all you have to do is drive PAST the Starbucks once a week.   
 
I am astounded at the number of hits the blogs receive and I know that there are 50 of us out there that are passionate enough about the world and the people in the world and we want to make an impact.  To think that I can impact a life simply by choosing NOT to drink a coffee once a week is astonishing.  This challenge is for me too and I commit to joining all of you in the campaign.
 
Simply click SUPPORT ME on the left-hand side of the screen to donate on-line, or email me and I will email you a form for automatic bank withdrawls--either way is tax-deductible and simple!  Click once a week, or once a month, or maybe all up-front, either way is joining us in the effort to spread the love of Jesus.
 
ps--I just checked the nutritional information and HOLY COW!  Why didn't I ever look at this before??  Did you know a peppermint mocha was 500 calories and 76 grams of SUGAR!  Geez, you guys are going to thank me for helping you lose weight too!  Wow, I certainly no longer need any further motivation to drive past and start clicking!
 
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Ministry Info- Manila, The Philippines



Wonderful supporters! It is with a glad heart that I am finally able to share with you what our ministry will be during our first month on the Race!  My team (Team Dunamis) along with teams Alethia and Karis will be working with contact Jeff Long at Kids International Ministries (K.I.M.) in Manila, The Philippines! 
 
Kids International Ministries, or KIM, exists to prepare children to honor God in their everyday lives. Founded in 2006, KIM was created to raise impoverished children in Christian environments across the globe. KIM desires to raise these children in one of KIM's children's homes or by connecting them to a Christian family for adoption, either in their culture or abroad.

The KIM children's home was founded in early 2005 in Manila, Philippines. In a city with tens of thousands of street children, they have taken over 30 children off the streets and into their home. KIM aims to meet the educational, physical, spiritual, and mental needs of each child.
 
Please watch this video clip from the KIM website to get a better taste of what The Lord has called us to while in The Philippines! 
 




Kim slideshow from KIM on Vimeo.
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Help a Sister Out!



Support Update:
So far I have raised a total of $6396.  (I need a total of $13,800)
 
Right now, I have around $4300 in cash in my account.
 
By next week I need 50% of my support raised. 
 
That means I need AT LEAST $6900 in my account.
 
Launch is in 30 days.  Please pray about supporting me!  Your role in this adventure is VITAL!  I can not go without your help!  By supporting me financially, you are not just helping me out, but you are an integral part in ADVANCING God's KINGDOM!
 
If you feel led to donate, you can click on the "Support Me" link on the left of my page.  Then you just follow the directions and you can donate online.  It's that easy!  Please help me out!
 
Thank you all so very much! Words can not express how much you mean to me!
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The Amazing Power of Prayer



Here the last few weeks my community group has been doing this study on Prayer with a video series from The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.  This study has really meant volumes to me in the last few weeks since coming back from training camp.  As most of you know, the Lord has blessed me with the gift of intercession, and I have asked the Lord that He would grow and use this gift in my life.  This study has shed some much needed light for me on this topic, and I wanted to take a few minutes and share what I am learning from this study. 
 
One way that we can learn about God's heart (which He has been giving me more of like crazy!) is through prayer.  My communion with The Lord helps to define who I am in Christ and is one of the most important things in my life right now.  If we can grow strong in prayer, everything else in our life will naturally flow from that, in fact, I am willing to say that anything God can do, prayer can do.
 
In the last several months, I have been praying for more of the Holy Spirit in my life.  I saw this prayer answered at training camp not just for me, but for every person on my squad.  It was such a beautiful thing to sit in our nightly worship service, and just see and feel the Spirit of the Lord fall upon His people.  Most revivals happen when people, as few as 5 or 6, or as many as 52, say, "Lord, Im TIRED of the status quo."  When we get desperate and cry out for the Holy Spirit to come and rest on us it happens in miraculous ways.  When God's people pray, the heavens are moved and the Holy Spirit is manifested in us.  As we pray, God begins to pour out MORE of His Spirit upon us, and things begin to happen...CRAZY things even!  In a previous blog I struggled with the fact that I was just an ordinary person, why would the Lord choose ME to bear such a gift as intercession?  I just couldn't understand it.  Now, I see more clearly that The Lord takes ordinary people like you and me and with the annointing of the Holy Spirit He allows crazy, amazing things to happen! 
 
Something that really just blows my mind right now, is the fact that prayer is something that the Holy Spirit births in our hearts, and yet, it is that SAME Holy Spirit that comes in response to our prayers!!  I am realizing more and more that our words have WEIGHT and ANNOINTING when the Holy Spirit is present.  Acts 8:26 says, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."
 
A quote from The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir study that I absolutely love says, "Somebody opened up and touched heaven, and heaven touched them."  That is what it feels like to have the annointing of the Holy Spirit come and rest on you!  I have realized that what we will be doing in not only this next year but throughout the rest of our lives...isn't possible without the Holy Spirit.  We can never accomplish what the Lord has sent us to do, (whatever that may be) without the Holy Spirit. And yet the Lord is a gentleman.  As much as the Lord pursues us, He EAGERLY waits for US to pursue Him and His Heart. 
 
 
 
 
"All consuming fire, You're my one desire,
and I love You dearly, dearly, dearly, Lord.
Holy Spirit fire,
You're my one Desire
and I love You dearly, dearly, Lord.
So take my heart and set us free,
I trust in You,
Completely Lord."
 
**Picture courtesy of Joel Chitwood :)**
 
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Gut Wrenching Truth (Part 2)



If you have not read "Gut Wrenching Truth (Part 1) please read it first by clicking HERE. 
 
So I have processed the fact that yes, the Lord has given me the gifts of prophecy and intercession.  Now what? 
 
All day I have been wrestling with the next phase in this incredible thing God is doing in my heart and my life.  The one question that comes to my mind more than anything else right now is, "Why me, Lord?"
And I went back to Exodus 3-4 where the Lord calls Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  The Lord says, "So now, go.  I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.  But Moses said to God, 'Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?' And God said, 'I will be with you.'" (3:10-12)  Later, in chapter 4 (10-13) Moses says to the Lord, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant.  I am slow of speech and tongue. The Lord said to him, 'Who gave man his mouth?  Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?  Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."
 
I feel like Moses.  I keep finding myself asking the Lord, "Why have you chosen me to carry this burden?  Why are you breaking MY heart in crazy ways?  Why did you decide to give ME the gift of prophecy and intercession?  More than all those questions, I have found myself telling the Lord, "Lord, I knew you were going to use me on the Race, but the ways in which you intend to use me are becoming a LOT bigger than I had ever imagined! (I mean..yeah I figured I would feed some orphans, and other such things, but really God....HEALING people?  PROPHECYING over people?  RAISING THE DEAD?  Telling THOUSANDS gathered in one place about Jesus and seeing ALL or MOST of them come and receive the LORD?  CASTING OUT DEMONS? Really God? You really intend to use ME to do all those things?" 
 
I guess Im just having trouble putting my mind around the magnitude of HOW God is REALLY gonna use me! 
 
Just the other night my Pastor was preaching on gifts.  And one thing he said really hit home, as I was struggling with these gifts.  He said, "Stop being someone your not and be who you are in Jesus!  Our gifts are grace gifts!  God didn't OWE it to you, you didn't EARN it! He GAVE it to you."  Then, he gave an example.  He said, "Have you ever given someone a gift that you spent a lot of time and energy on?  A gift that you REALLY thought they would love and accept, and you were SO excited to give it to them?  And then when they open it, they don't seem very excited...as if they maybe don't like it?  Has that ever happened to you?  How did that make you feel?  Can you imagine how God must feel when He gives us a gift and we want something else?"
 
Romans 12:4-6
"Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  We have different gifts, according to the GRACE GIVEN us.  If a man's gift is prophecying; let him us it in proportion to his faith."
 
My thoughts and feelings are best summed up by this well known movie quote:
 
 
Frodo: I cannot do this alone.
Galadriel: You are a Ring-bearer, Frodo. To bear a Ring of Power is to be alone.
[pulls out her hand]
Galadriel: This is Nenya, the Ring of Adament. And I am it's keeper. This task was appointed to you, and if you do not find a way, no one will.
Frodo: I know what I must do, it's just that... I'm afraid to do it.
Galadriel: Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.
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Gut Wrenching Truth (Part 1)



Since coming back from training camp, I have really been wrestling with the things God is doing in my heart and my life.  STUFF happened at training camp that has completely changed my life!  And for the last week and a half, I have been afraid to share about it, because I was afraid those around me would think I was "loco".  But through prayer, being in the Word, and spending time just thinking about it all...I have realized that I need to renounce the fear that is keeping me from sharing.  I need to humbly accept these GIFTS the Lord has GRACIOUSLY bestowed upon me and just receive them and allow the Lord to do with them whatever He pleases.
 
That being said:
 
During training camp, the Holy Spirit moved in my life in a way I have NEVER experienced before.  I experienced people worshipping, praying and just meeting with the Lord in new and somewhat overwhelming ways.  (People falling down being "faint with the Spirit", speaking in tongues, LOTS of people ALL praying at the same time, the list could go on and on.)  Before, I sometimes pictured these things as "fake", but I experienced first hand that week that that is NOT true at all.  When people earnestly call on the Name of the Lord, and desperately ask for more of His Holy Spirit....those things just happen and I promise you, there is NOTHING fake about it!!!!
 
At camp, SEVERAL different people prophecyed over my life.  Before our surrender hike, Kate prayed over me.  And she said to me, "Bev, I feel like the Lord wants me to tell you that He is proud of you.  He is proud of you for walking in obedience.  And I feel like you have something right here (she motions towards where my heart is) that God has given you...that is getting ready to blossom."  These things were insane for me to hear, because I then told her that I felt like God was maybe giving me the gift of intercession...that over the last several months I have been waking up in the middle of the night just completely overwhelmingly burdened for someone...for NO reason...as if something horrible had happened to them, and all I could do was PRAY...sometimes I didn't even know what to say, so I just told the Lord, "You have given me this gift, but I have NO CLUE how to use it...You are gonna have to help me Jesus!"
 
At another point during camp another lady came up to pray for me during one of our evening worship services...I don't even remember who it was.  All I remember is that she laid her hand on my stomach and started praying over me.  And she said to me, "Fire is going to come from your belly"  That is all she said to me, and at the time, I was like, "What on earth is that supposed to mean?"  NOW, almost 2 weeks later, I KNOW.  God has and continues to give me such a BURNING passion for his BELOVED SONS and DAUGHTERS that are bound by chains of lies, deceit, and hopelessness.  The more I hear about things people are dealing with or struggling with, I am just CONSUMED by a fire that burns deep within me...a fire that says, IM TIRED of GOD's BELOVED CHILDREN living in Chains! IM TIRED of being complacent and not FIGHTING for them!
 
And finally on our last day at camp, during our "Ask The Lord" ministry time....I found myself in a hospital room with 3 of my teammates praying for someone I didn't even know.  The whole event was orchestrated SO perfectly by the Lord himself...that I just can't find enough words to describe it.  Long story short, we went and we prayed over this man, and the Lord showed up and ended up prophecying over the 3 of us in crazy, incredible ways!!!  (I will blog about this event soon seperately...and I encourage the other 2 to do the same...)  That day, I was told that I was a prophet.  More than once.  For 7 days I was told to pray, "Lord, open my spiritual eyes, and my spiritual ears, so that I can see and hear everything You see and hear, Lord don't leave ANYTHING out."  I was told that when my teammate was preaching, I was going to have to hold him up because He would become "So drunk with the Holy Spirit while he preaches that I would physically have to support him".  I was challenged to stare into the intense gaze of the man prophecying over me and just receive the fire that was there...the FIRE that I realized I was SO incredibly thirsty for...I couldn't get enough.  Healing was prayed over my eyes...and I was told that one day, I would put on my glasses, and they would be blurry, and my sight would be fully restored.  And I believe all those things.  Even now they are coming to fruition.
 
Now I understand why sometimes I just get burdened to tell someone something....for NO reason.  (Kelly...do you remember that night you were on your mission trip with your youth group...and I called you and told you the Lord just told me to tell you that you needed to worship Him no matter the situation?...)  Now I understand why I have been having some crazy dreams that seem scary and that I don't really understand.  Now I understand why I can SEE spiritual warfare around me...I can sense it's presence.  Now I understand more of God's heart, because He is giving it to me.  My eyes and ears are being opened, and my heart BROKEN like HIS....now I notice the mother yelling at her child at the checkout counter at Walmart.  I NOTICE the man sitting in the parking lot with Sadness and HOPELESSNESS pouring from his eyes.  I NOTICE the homeless man that I used to ignore every day, and I see JOY in his eyes as I say hello to him. 
 
God has bestowed on me the gift of prophecy and intercession.  I receive them.  I receive them in Jesus Name.  "Lord, do anything You want to do in me, that you might do everything you want to do through me."
 
1 Corinthians 14:1-5
"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.  For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God.  Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.  But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.  He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.  I would like everyone of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophecy.  He who prophecies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified."
 
This is part 1.  More blogs to follow.
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Team Dunamis: A Photo Blog :)



Team Dunamis: A photo blog:
Dining together....
 
 
Carly and Sara, two amazing sisters....
 
Sara...likes to stick out her tongue!
 
The boys like to kiss each other...its all in the name of love!
 
That Ben...always making a face!
 
Yep, team Dunamis cramming 7 people into a car meant for 5...welcome to the World Race!
 
Dennis being intellectual.  I think....maybe he is thinking, "Man I squished!"
 
Neil and Ben...need I say more?
 
At the Outback, our first team photo! :)
 
Yes folks, Ben likes to make funny faces!
 
The Dunamis boys....aren't they sweet?
 
Finally a partner in crime! I no longer have to make funny faces alone!!! (Lisa...you have been challenged friend!)
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Team Dunamis!



This blog is copied from Carly Farver.  Credit goes to her...this was just easier, plus, she pretty much says it the way I would have...SO.....that being said:
 
 
  We sat around the table at Outback and threw out ideas. Team 7 needed a name. After 2 days of intense ups and downs in team building, much prayer, thought and meetings by the AIM staff, we had been pieced together into a wondrous tapestry (yes, cheesiness intended). Seriously, there are 7 of us, 3 men and 4 women, and they will be my family for the next year, and basically for life.  We will eat, sleep, do ministry, see the world, challenge, love and fight with one another. I couldn't have asked for better people to do this all with.

But a name. Thursday night we were focused on getting a team name. And despite various distractions (I mean the bathrooms had soap for crying out loud, you'd visit them twice too) we had some good ideas: a name which encapsulated the power and authority of God, the idea of sparking a flame, awaking our generation, being a light, chosen by God to go to the nations.

We didn't get one though. We left Outback and after deciding we didn't have enough time to stop at a graveyard to raise the dead (we were supposed to make a memory), we headed back to camp. At camp though, Brenda came forth with a Greek word that she had written in her journal weeks prior.

The word means:
Inherent power--power for performing miracles--excellence of soul--power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, host--"mighty works... actual actions and achievements of such magnitude that they inspire a sense of wonder in others"--"chosen vessel... to do the father's will...It is not static. Once this power is set in motion, it continues to move, work, and accomplish." (click for source)

The word encompassed everything we were thinking about and the word is found in Acts 1:8

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

So we accepted this Greek word and without further adieu (yes, please do a drumroll on a nearby table)... Introducing...
Team... DUNAMIS!!!!!! 
(if you didn't get the full effect, do it again and yell out DUNAMIS!!!! like a gladiator war cry, trust me)

We will be filled with the Dunamis (Power) of the Spirit and by God's will are going out to witness to the nations.

 
This is Team Dunamis.
 
And this is probably closer to the truth...
 
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Who am I?



At the beginning of training camp, I wrote this in my journal:
"Lord-who am I?  How have you wired me?  When I ask myself this it's hard for me to come up with an answer.  Do I really know the answer?  I don't think I do.  This is the question I want you to reveal to me this week, Jesus.  Who am I?  Please show me."
 
Now, after camp, I can finally tell you the answers to those questions.
 
1. I am loved by God.
2. I am beautiful.
3. I am a daughter of the King.
4. The Lord is proud of me for walking in obedience.
5. I have beautiful feet!
6. I am bold and courageous.
7. I am a prophetess.
8. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees."  Ezekiel 36: 24-27
9. I am pure.
10. I am lovely.
11. Known by God: "O Lord you have searched me and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise.  You perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down.  You are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely O Lord....My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in that secret place.  When I was woven together in the debths of the earth your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.  How precious to me are your thoughts O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  Were I to count them they would out number the grains of sand!" Psalm 139
12. I am free.  Free because Christ lives in me.
13. I am genuine.
14. I am joyful.
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The Discipline of Honesty



This past week at training camp, one of the topics was entitled "The Discipline of Honesty".  I just wanted to touch on a few points that really hit home with me through this lesson.  And they are: (in no particular order)
1. My prayer: "Lord, do anything you want to do in me so that you might do everything you want to do through me."
2. We must live in a "Alethia Community" (speak the truth in love)
3. Healing is rooted in truth.
4. truth confronts the sin of Hypocrisy.
5. Truth is necessary for true healing
6. True love requires truth.
7. "walk in the light" = embrace truth.
8. Be honest in prayer; reaffirm Christ's love even though you are "full of crap"
9. Be honest in journaling; it's safer to be open even when you get hurt than remaining hidden.
10. Be honest with close friends and spiritual directors; choose vulnerability-it gives other people permission to be vulnerable. 
11. It's OK to NOT be OK!
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