Is Your Life Balanced?

There needs to be a balance in our lives. A lot of Christians like to get stuck in one truth and that’s all they ever see. Some of us get stuck in prosperity or giving, or faith forgetting the other important things that make up Christianity. We need to strike a balance in our walk. It is not one or the other thing but it is all those things that make us successful.

 At bible school the lecturer made a very interesting observation. He said a lot of Christians pray and pray but don’t praise. He then told a true story about a traveling pastor who was sick. Every where this pastor went he asked people to pray for him but nothing changed. His sickness remained. One day the pastor went before God and asked Him why he was still sick despite the countless prayers being offered for him. God showed him a vision of measuring scales. On one scale was praise and the other was prayer. The scale which was prayer was filled and it far outweighed praise. God then told him that the reason nothing was happening was because there was no praise in his life. The man began praising God everyday and within no time he was healed of his sickness completely!!! That is the power of prayer and praise. The two go hand in hand.

Let me show you this principle in action in scripture. In Acts 16:23-36 we read about Paul and Silas.

In verse 25 up to 26 it reads, “but about the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were making prayers and songs to God in the hearing of the prisoners;
And suddenly there was an earth-shock, so that the base of the prison was moved; and all the doors came open, and everyone’s chains came off.
Notice, they prayed first but only as they praised God did the deliverance come through. A lot of the time we have prayed and prayed but with no answer while God was waiting for us to praise Him! There is power in prayer, no doubt but there is also power in thanksgiving and praise.

For another example we are going to look at 2 Chronicles 20. In verse 2 we read how Jehoshaphat got some disturbing news about a great army coming towards him. In his fear, he prayed to God for help. But notice that he didn’t get his deliverance then. The Lord answered his prayer but he didn’t get his manifestation then.  The manifestation only came when he praised God! The enemy still advanced after he prayed but it is only when he praised that the deliverance came.

It is the same with us. We should pray, we NEED to pray but it should be coupled with praise! Is your life balanced? Is your scale balanced? This is for all of us. I know that my scale is not balanced. My praise and thanksgiving is very low but I want it to increase!

Praise is acting like we have the answer – David Divelbiss

I have been so challenged by this word, I hope you have too. Let us practice praying and praising. Our praise is an act of faith towards God. It is our praise to God that releases our faith! Prayer is powerful, praise is powerful but together you become unstoppable!

God bless

Rolain

 

Fighting the “good fight”!

What is our fight as sons and daughters of God? Is our fight with the devil? A lot of people think it is. But Jesus came and defeated him so how can we still be in a war with him? We are called to fight the fight of faith!

Be fighting the good fight of the faith;

1 Tim 6:12

 

There are many other fights we will need to fight but this is the main one. What does fight the fight of faith mean?

It means you fight to stay in peace. When your world is collapsing around you it is a fight to stay in peace.

It is a fight to hold on to the word God has given you especially when things are going contrary to what has been spoken.

It is a fight to smile when you feel like dying on the inside.

It is a fight to speak positive when bad things are happening in your life.

It is a fight to praise God during the storm.

This is what I think fighting the fight of faith means.

My bible school lecturer tells us that the enemy is constantly trying to get us to fight in the arena of emotions and feelings and senses. If he gets us in that arena we lose but if we stay in the arena of faith we will always win. Which arena do you find yourself in?

 It is a fight to stay in faith. The enemy does not want us to operate by faith and he will try all he can to stop us from walking in faith.

The enemy is trying to get you to doubt God. If he can get you to doubt he has won. You either trust God or you don’t!

My lecturer said something so profound yesterday. He said, it is a fight to keep the light on!

Picture a light switch. When we put it on it is like our faith in use but the enemy is always trying to get us to put the light off. When we doubt it is like the light switch being switched off. A lot of Christians live their lives switching the light on and off…… that is crazy right!

Which fight are you fighting then? Fight the fight of faith!!!

Rolain

Why He Didn’t Get On The Boat with Jesus!

We all know the story of the man who had a legion of demons who Jesus healed. If you don’t know the story then read his story in Mark 5:1-20. I would like to focus on one part of the story and that is the part when he got healed. Jesus casts legion out into the pigs and the people nearby freak out and tell the town what has happened. They all go and see what has taken place and see the demon possessed man in his right mind and clothed.
At first the people are in awe then they get upset and ask Jesus to leave! Crazy right!!

Anyway Jesus is about to leave and the man who has been healed by Jesus begs to go with Him but Jesus refuses!!
This is what I want to focus on. Why did Jesus refuse? Didn’t He love this man. This man could off being a great addition to the disciples. His testimony was great but Jesus said no?! This is the what the scripture says,

“but Jesus refused to permit him, but said to him, Go home to your own [family and relatives and friends] and bring back word to them how much the Lord has done for you, and [how He has] had sympathy for you and mercy on you.
And he departed and began to publicly proclaim in Decapolis [the region of the ten cities] how much Jesus had done for him, and all the people were astonished and marveled. Mark 5:19,20  (Amplified)

Jesus loved the man and Jesus loves us but He wants us to be lights in the world. That is very important to Him. You are were you are to be a light. It may be hard and difficult but Christ wants us to be His hands and feet. As we can see, the demon possessed man did great things for Christ! We are also called to do great things for Christ. His heart is for the people whom He created! Do we have that same heart?
Are you passionate about people? Let us be the light that shines brightly for everyone to see!

God Bless

Rolain

Putting Worry Behind Us.

I know I have spoken about worry in previous posts but it just keeps on surfacing in my life, and it is one thing that a lot of Christians struggle with.
In one of my posts I mentioned that worry was negative goal setting because when you worry you are focusing on the bad thing and not thinking of the solution. You are in effect goal setting negatively!
But I want to go deeper than that today. Worry is a sin!!!

Let that sink in for a bit. We sin when we worry. You might have a legitimate reason for worrying but to God it is sin!
-Being worried if you will get married, that is sin,
-worried that something bad will happen to your kids, that is sin,
-worried that God won’t come through for you, that is sin,
-worried that you will get evicted because the rent has not being paid, that is sin,
-worried that God will abandon you, that is sin,

The list goes on and on. What are we worrying about? God wants us to take all these worries to Him.
God is a gracious God and that is why He is patient with us but He desires us to grow. He wants us to learn that we can trust Him.

When we worry we become double minded. We don’t focus on but on the problem. God wants us to be steady. James 1:6-8 puts it perfectly.

⁵ If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of ^[b]the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.

⁶ Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.

⁷ For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,

⁸ [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].

When you doubt it opens the door to worry. They are very closely related. If we are to put worry behind us we need to make a decision. Would you like to join me in a little exercise? What we will need to do is think of EVERYTHING we worry about and after we have done that we will put them on paper. I would advise you to write them on two pieces of paper.

Once you have done that you will put a date on them and then burn the one paper. Bring all the worries you wrote down to God and surrender them to Him. The burning of the paper is symbolic of surrendering all your worries to God. Whenever a worry comes up from today, you will refer to the other paper you have kept to remind you that the worry doesn’t have any power over you.

God wants us to trust Him and not to worry. He is able to provide for us fully. Will you trust Him? Will you put worry behind you?  Worry is a sin. Doubt is a sin. Decide today to live a life of faith…..

Rolain

Are You Really Healthy?

My week has been good but there has been something that has been nagging at the back of my mind. The issue I have been dealing with is health! If you don’t know, I am passionate about living a healthy lifestyle. I believe that as God has given us divine healing we have a play a part in that. How can you ask God to heal you of diabetes when you are eating junk every single day?? How can you ask God to make you stronger and fitter when you don’t exercise at all?? It really doesn’t work like that. You have a part to play in your healing. God has a plan for you to live a long time but how will you reach that age by sitting on the couch all day and not exercising and eating junk all of your life??? I am not advocating self reliance instead I am just trying to bring common sense to you. The wonderful thing about this is, you can start at where you are at. God has a plan for you no matter what size you are! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. God loves you just the way you are.

Anyway, let me get on with my story. I had a nagging thought about health. Before the year ended I decided to step it up. I started training harder which has been hard. I have been running more and in general exercising more. I am excited because I am seeing results. I am running faster and training harder. My general fitness has increased but this week I realized I didn’t have balance. I realized that as much as cut down on eating junk I was not being strict. My exercise will all be for nothing if I don’t eat healthy! My eating correctly and exercising will all be for nothing if I don’t have a healthy mindset!! Everything else needs to fall in place, exercise, eating right, healthy thinking and so on. That is the full picture. Health is not just eating right and it not just about exercise and it is not just about thinking right!! I need to be doing all those things to be a fully healthy person.

My goal in this post was to let you in on one of my passions but to also challenge you concerning your health. I heard something last year that challenged me and still does. The statement is, “How can you expect God to give you the responsibility of looking after His “body” which is the church when you can’t even look after your own body?”                                                                                                                                                                           I pray you have been challenged to take responsibility of your health. God desires you to be more serious about your health. We as the “light of the world” have the responsibility of being the example! We should be teaching the world how to live a healthy lifestyle because we have the Spirit of God living in us.

Will you be that light and example the world needs? Will you take responsibility for your health?

Rolain

Standing Up Against Human-Trafficking!!!!

Speak up for the people who have no voice, for the rights of all the down-and–outers. Speak out for justice! Stand up for the poor and destitute.  Proverbs 31;8,9

This was a command given to a king. We are sons and daughters of a Great and Mighty King so this command is for us today. One area we need to speak out against is human trafficking!! The people who have been involved or are still involved are afraid to speak up because of threats made to them. If they cannot speak up I will!!! God has called us to be the voice for the oppressed and for those who have no voice. It is estimated that there are about 27 million men, women and children who are currently trapped in modern day slavery. (for more Stats click here) There are more people who are being trafficked and trapped in slavery today, than any other time in history!!! That is crazy right. We have been silent as this beast has been growing and growing. Now is the time to stand and let our voices be heard.

And don’t make the mistake by thinking this doesn’t affect you because it does. A lot of products that we buy were made by traffickers. They exploit people in fields, factories, sweat shops, restaurants etc. we cannot just sit back and relax. We need to take a stand. The first step I guess is bringing awareness to people about the evil that is going on.

What part will you play in this whole thing? This is my starting point. I am making sure I am making people aware of human trafficking. There is more to be done but the important thing is to start where you are at, no matter how small it is. As we step out in faith and do something we can be sure that God will help us and turn our little into much. Will you be a voice for those with no voice? Will you stand up for the oppressed? What part will you play in this fight?

God bless

Rolain

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my female friends…..

I am so privileged to be your friend.

I would like you to know that you are all unique and God has a special plan for you.

Valentines is recognized as a day of love but I pray you will experience love everyday of your lives!

You are so worth it.

Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.

God bless you on this special day!!!!!

Rolain.

Who’s Story is This?

Who is this story really about? Is this life about what I am doing or is it about what God is doing through me? Is it about what you are doing and what you want or is it about the amazing things God is doing through you?? My life, our life should be about God. It should be God’s story! This story should not be about what I can do in my own strength but about what God is doing because I trust in Him completely!!!!

Rom 4:1-3 – says,” Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.” (MSG)

Abraham trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own. God is not impressed with our masculinity and our show of strength! He hates it!!! He wants me to rely on HIS strength…..
There are times that I thought God was so impressed with my macho-ness but He was not.

The word says “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him and that was his turning point”.
Am I focused on what I am doing to make things right in my life or am I focused on what God is doing in my life because that is so much more important?!
This life is not about me but it is up to me. This life is about me trusting God in every single area of my life.
It is only by “trusting Him to do it” that gets me set right with God, and not on any other grounds!!

Another thing to note is in Rom 4:18 which says: When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. (MSG)

Are we living our lives on the basis of things we see we can’t do instead of looking at the things God said He would do and is doing? Are we avoiding things in our lives because they seem to be out of our reach, too extravagant and impossible to attain instead of bringing those things to God and trusting Him to make a way??? Are we going around saying what we can have and what we can’t have because we are the ones judging what is attainable or not attainable instead of running after what God said we can have no matter how outrageous it is???!!!

The conclusion is this, “Abraham was declared fit before God because He trusted God to set him right!
He knew his life was God’s story and not about him!
There needs to be a mindset change. God is the One who is making me right. I don’t have the power to do that. God is first and I am second!!! God is in charge, not me. We are second and God is first!!! This is His story and not our story!!!!

God bless.

Rolain

Don’t let That Word Escape!!!

I had a bad day the other day. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first but then the light came on. There is this girl I like but I have been told not to pursue her.                                                       I would like to think of myself as a fairly confident guy, but when all these words were being spoken I was discouraged. Negative thoughts began to overwhelm me until I made a decision to stop being interested in this girl! Crazy right!!!

It is very hard to just stop being interested in a girl especially if you like her. Now here is the point of my post. God began speaking to me about the words I have been speaking over myself in this peculiar situation. They were negative and they were making things worse. As I was contemplating all this I heard a podcast from Pastor Joel Osteen. He was speaking about the power of our confession. Here are a few things he mentioned:

–          You cannot talk defeat and expect victory.

–          Negative words can keep you from God’s best.

–          The promises of God are delayed at times because of our words.

–          We are prophesying negatively over our future when we speak negative.

 

You cannot talk defeat and expect victory. That is so true but I was doing that and so many other people do that. To expect victory we need to speak victory. So after that I stopped speaking negatively over my situation. What are you speaking over your life? The other thing I realised was how easy it was to speak negatively when I was down. I thought I was doing the right thing by talking myself down but that is not what God wants. He wants me to have the best and only the best. It is not an admirable trait to have, if you talk down on yourself.

 

Watch your confession. Watch what comes out of your mouth because you are creating your world with your words!

 

God bless.

Thoughts, Beliefs and Words….

I have been going to Bible School and I have been learning a lot but I am the kind of person who doesn’t like gathering information for the sake of it. I understand I am accountable for what I hear and I will be judged for what I do with what I have heard! There needs to be action that follows the revelation I get, and I have been getting a lot of it! So what I have planned to do is share some of the lessons I have learned at Bible School so I don’t forget. I also hope God will speak to you through these lessons. The first point that I got sounds so simple and it is but it is also so profound!

– We talk wrong because we think wrong! If you are thinking right you will have peace and joy and peace. Right thinking comes first.
This is how important right thinking is, If you think right you will believe right and speak right and if you think wrong you will believe wrong and speak wrong! It is that simple!!!!

So with that in mind, what are you thinking about? It has been estimated that we have about  50 000 thoughts a day! If we have so many thoughts a day are they positive or negative?
We need to train ourselves to think right because as we do we will believe right and then speak right!

Action point – This here is the time where I put action to the word. Feel free to take the challenge. Wisdom is not about what you know but about what you do with what you know.
We have been called to renew our mind with the Word of God. The guaranteed way of thinking right is to renew our mind in the word of God.

Will you join me in taking this action step? Let us get deeper into the word. Think about what you think about. Let us allow the word to renew our minds. In the next few days ask God to show you where you have been missing it in the way you think. Let us work on the way we think then when we are done we will move on to another principle.

God bless