Coming back to Bible school has been a great blessing to me.  It’s almost difficult to list the changes that have taken place.

I do remember feeling awkward the first two days of school.  Many doubts and many fears, I had longed to come back, but now that I was back, I wasn’t sure I wanted it!  The revelation of change that needed to take place within my heart (again) was overwhelming initially.

Now, however, I welcome it. The feeling of a bigger purpose is back in my life. And this school is exactly what my life needs: discipline and the anointing.  It’s also a good feeling to know I’m going to complete what I started.  When I was unable to continue in the internship 1 1/2 years ago, the attack that came against my thought life was intense. “Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick…” (Proverbs 13:12).

The greatest message ever preached contained three words: “Never give up!”  I know at times I go the long way around life, but God proves Himself to be faithful when I don’t give up.  “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” (Isaiah 40:31a). “Now faith is…” (Hebrews 11:!).  Faith is now.  Faith is today.  It is hope activated.  Being back in Bible school has

caused hope to rise up in me again with a determination to run the race the Lord has set before me. The entangling of sin in one’s life truly is clever and deceitful.  It simply takes what’s right in your life and subtly adds a little extra weight here, and a little weight there.  You don’t recognize the added “burden” in your life until symptoms appear. I thank God for this opportunity to be here.  In these short few weeks, clarity of mind is back, weights are gone, and the crooked path has been made straight….Margaret W.

Recently, I have moved into a managerial position in my internship. I have learned a lot already just in these few short weeks that I have been a manager over Studio C. Not only did I take on managing the studio, but I also took over all of the scheduling. Now, when it comes to scheduling, I never really was good at scheduling mass amounts of people into different positions. I am okay with scheduling my own life but it was really hard for me when I first started scheduling everyone else. One thing that I learned through was the power of my words. I was always saying “I’m not a scheduler, I’m not a scheduler. I cannot put schedules together. I’m just not good at it.” People began to tell me that I wouldn’t get better at scheduling if I kept saying those things. So, I changed my confession. I started saying, “I am a scheduler. I can do this. I can schedule people and fill the schedule.” Once I started changing my confession and asking the Holy Spirit to guide me, scheduling got a whole lot easier! Another circumstance that I learned from is how to deal with students and volunteers from a manager’s prospective. I had to shift my stand point from friend to manager and realize that sometimes I will have to correct people and I will always have to be encouraging my volunteers and letting them know that we appreciate all of their help. Being a manager, there has been so much more drawn out of me because people look to you for a lot. I have definitely learned that everyone may have to be approached differently when bringing correction because some people might get defensive or depressed or they may even think that you are in a sense “out to get them”. My view as a manager is to improve my department as much as possible and I want my volunteers to be trained and taught in every area to the best of their ability; that is my job as a manager.

— Nicole

Sometimes, a leap of “Faith” is absolutely necessary, and sometime you have to be willing to take risks.

I am learning to take risks, “God’s Way”.  Most people would not do this. They do not like to take risks, they think with their mind what could go wrong! When I say “risk”,

I don’t mean I was being irresponsible. Risk is normally necessary for change. I needed to get out of my comfort zone.  I believe what God’s Word said. Proverbs 3:5, 6 “Trust in the Lord”’ with all thy heart, and in all ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.

God has great things for me, so I stepped out in Faith. More of Him, and less of me.

After 34 years of being on thyroid medication, I was able to come off. Matthew 19:26 – “With God all things are possible”! God told me to step out in Faith. It was not just for “risk’s sake”, but so I could experience more of the great things God has for me.”Simply put, “sometimes you have to walk through a door before you know what’s on the other-side.. AMEN…

I began to walk this out, getting off the medication. Then the obstacles began… The number one tool the devil uses to keep you where you are is “fear”. The devil started to attack my body. He wanted me to be afraid, and afraid I was making a mistake by coming off medication. I became tempted to take my medication. Every time I reached to take a pill, the Lord would say; “don’t you trust me?”

–Leslie

2 Corinthians 3:18.  (KJV) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The illumination of God’s word into my heart has been a slow and yet profound work.  Originating from a background of religion with a staple of hierarchy and denominationalism, I was content.  I knew what to expect and when.  I knew where the boundaries were.  I was comfortable.  And even with constant reading and memorization of God’s word, it became nothing more than mental assent.  Who can quote the most scriptures or counter with another.  Or, if you study the Greek, it really means thus and so.  The key was there was no real fruit, no reliance on His Word.  The Word of God, without faith and the Holy Spirit, has no more power in our life than the reading of the Wall Street Journal.

But, with the preaching and demonstration of the Word, you begin to see the purity, holiness, awesome power, and purpose.  It is to make us like Him.  As we see and read the Word, and allow the Holy Spirit to do a work in us, we have a choice …. stay the same … or change.  We can either launch out into the deep with God, or we can stand on the shore, where life is comfortable … simple … staid … dry, and crusty.  Anyone can have a head full of knowledge and never experience the life transforming power that the Word can have in action in their life.

This is what the Word has been for me.  3 years of RBI.  2 additional years at the River.  All in one word: Change.  It is not about fitting God’s Word into my life, but about fitting me into His Word.

–Michael

Then I managed to go to bed but even still I was laughing, my son immediately woke up and came to me and asks mum do you have joy? I said yes. He asked do you know you have been praying for this joy for so long. I said yes. He got up took anointing oil pour it on my head and said Lord I pray this joy they you have given my mum will never leave her again in Jesus name.

I finally went to sleep laughing and the next day I felt like hocking everybody and telling them how much I love them and how good the Lord is. It is only when I got to bible school that I understood what happen. The anointing is transferable. Remember i never touched my landlady she just looked at me and caught the joy. My whole life has never been the same since that day and it is what gave me the strength to go through my first year of RBI.

Rodney Howard Browne – The RBI Revival for this year was also touching to me because the lord dealt with me internally. He took out so many things in my life and expanded me in my inside which I cannot explain all. I am so Thankful to Pastor Rodney and Adonica Howard Browne to have seen beyond the natural eyes of man and granted me a scholarship that has not only added a meaning to my life but has change my whole destiny for eternity…..Valentina A.