When courage is lost.

“[Those aboard] mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the deeps; 

their courage melts away because of their plight. 

They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end [all their 

wisdom has come to nothing]. 

Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses.”

Psalm 107:23-30

 

“Their courage melts away because of their plight” 

 

I can understand that. Life throws things that have the potential to melt away your

courage. It can throw things that render you hopeless and weak.

Situations that leave you clueless and powerless.

But what I want to look at and discus is how you deal with those situations. There will always

be giants stronger than us. We will always be faced with hard things that we don’t have answers to.

But knowing how to deal with those situations will make all the difference.

 

Psalm 107:23 paints a vivid picture for us. There were sailors out at sea and a storm

arose. The sailors knew a lot about the sea and you would expect that knowledge would help them,

but it didn’t. Their wisdom came to nothing. With all their experience and knowledge there was

nothing they could do. They didn’t have answers.

All hope they had of being saved was crushed. Their courage was lost.

But things turned around because of one thing and one thing alone, God. Their situation turned around

not because they were skilled, not because they were sailors and had tons of experience, and not because

of their strength.

When they cried out to God in their trouble He heard and saved them. The bible says it this way,

 

“Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses.”

 

When you are at your wits end, when your courage is lost because of the enormity of the

storm cry out to God. He doesn’t expect you to deal with the storm by yourself. He expects you to call Him.

He expects you to trust Him in the fiercest of storms.

 

When the sailors cried out to God, He delivered them from their distress.

What are you going through today? What trouble are you facing?

Has your courage gone because of your plight? Is your hope lost?

Don’t lose heart in the storm.

God is with you and He will carry you through.

 

Bless you friends

 

Rolain

Little, Yet Fierce: The Glory of Our Dreams — I came for the soup…

“Though she be but little, she is fierce.” -William Shakespeare Although I am not a reader of Shakespeare, and could not tell you from which play this quote comes, or of who or what he was referring, I still find such magic and an evocation of power in the words. “…if you have faith as […]

via Little, Yet Fierce: The Glory of Our Dreams — I came for the soup…

A faith that cannot be destroyed…..

“So we will never fear even if every structure of support were to crumble away. 

We will not fear even when the earth quakes and shakes, 

moving mountains and casting them into the sea. 

For the raging roar of stormy winds and crashing waves cannot erode our faith 

in You.”    Pause in His presence.

Psalm 46:2, 3

This scripture spoke to me today.

I was thinking about the difficult things we face in this life

and wondered if the storms we face are eroding our faith in God or strengthening it?

Is the constant onslaught of the enemy slowly eating away at your faith?

We must be careful when this begins to happen.

The more intense the fire gets the more we rely, and lean on Him. We need to beware

our faith is not diminishing as the onslaught continues because that’s the enemies goal.

He wants to decimate our faith, decimate us. he wants us hopeless, he wants us in fear, he wants us

paralyzed.

Let’s take a look at the definition of the word erode.

Erode definition

1: to diminish or destroy by degrees:

a: to eat into or away by slow destruction of substance (as by acid, infection, or cancer)

b: to wear away by the action of water, wind, or glacial ice flooding eroded the hillside

c: to cause to deteriorate or disappear as if by eating or wearing away inflation eroding buying power

 

The eating away of your faith doesn’t happen suddenly. It happens in degrees. It’s barely visible and

before you know it your faith is wrecked.

We need God’s help against this attack. The Lord is by our side always and no matter how many attacks

the enemy launches he will not succeed. Don’t lose heart in the fire. Don’t give up in the fiery storm.

He will save you every time! Keep hope alive.

And this is the thing, your faith may be as small as a mustard seed but that’s enough for the Lord

to work with.

Things WILL get better, the storm will pass. Hold on to your faith.

No matter how intense the storm gets ask Him to give you strength to keep holding on.

Bless you friends….

 

Rolain

 

Having a good attitude when things are bad…….

What is your attitude like in difficult times, when things, are going wrong for you, when nothing

seems to be working in your life? I have been thinking about this today and I think it’s

so critical what your attitude is like.

I am being tested in this at the moment. Things are really bad in my country at the

moment and it’s so hard to have a good attitude in the midst of what’s going on.

Just because it’s easy to have a bad attitude doesn’t make it right to have one. A bad attitude

doesn’t cultivate faith, hope, and peace. It cultivates the exact opposite.

 

Having a good attitude in the midst of hardships is critical.

Look at Paul for example. He went through a lot of difficult things. He had every reason to have

a bad attitude towards life but he didn’t. There is a difference between being discouraged and having

a bad attitude and I think Paul did have days when he was discouraged but I don’t think he had a bad

attitude in the trials he was facing. His focus was on God who was His strength and help.

 

“Are they serving Christ? I am serving Him more. (I am crazy to talk like this.) I have worked much 

harder than they. I have been in prison more often. I have been hurt more in beatings. I have been 

near death many times. Five times the Jews have given me their punishment of 39 lashes with a whip.

Three different times I was beaten with rods. One time they tried to kill me with stones. Three times

I was in ships that were wrecked, and one of those times i spent the night and the next day in the sea. 

I have gone on many travels. And I have been in danger from rivers, from thieves, from my own people, 

the Jews, and from those who are not Jews. I have been in danger in cities, in places no one lives, and on 

the sea. And I have been in danger with false brothers. I have done hard and tiring work, and many times

I did not sleep. I have been hungry and thirsty. Many times I have been without food. I have been cold and 

without clothes. Besides all this, there is on me every day the load of my concern for all the churches.” 

2 Corinthians 11:23-29

 

He also said,

 

“We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not

give up. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed.” 

2 Corinthians 4:8, 9

 

“Always be happy. Never stop praying. Give thanks whatever happens. This is what God wants for you

in Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16

 

Bad attitudes have a way of twisting how we see life. It blinds us from seeing God’s hand in our

life and gets us focusing on the negative. Instead of being joyful and being a light, a bad attitude sucks

the life out of us and makes us sharp and painful towards others. Instead of speaking words of

healing we cut down and kill with our words.

Ask for the Lord’s help when you have a bad attitude because it has to go. (I am speaking to myself

too)

A person with a good attitude sees the total opposite. Even when the storm is raging the person with

a good attitude sees God always! He or she will always be optimistic when everyone else is being pessimistic.

It’s hard to move in faith when you have a bad attitude.

Remember the solider in the story of the four lepers in the old testament? (2 Kings 7:3)

He failed to believe the word from Elisha in a time of famine. That is an apt picture of how destructive a

bad attitude is.

 

And with all that I will conclude. Have a good attitude in life. You won’t get far in life with a bad attitude.

This is my challenge to you.

Blessing to you all.

 

Rolain

 

 

 

What’s the answer to the pressures we face??

“Martha had a sister named Mary. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to Him teach. 

Martha became angry because she had so much work to do. She went in and said, “Lord, don’t 

You care that my sister has left me alone to do all the work? Tell her to help me!”

Luke 10:39, 40

 

This story spoke to me today. I know I have made Martha’s mistake so many times. Instead

of sitting at Yeshua’s feet I have been hard at work doing, and doing and doing.

I would like to believe Mary was as hard working as Martha but when Yeshua came to their house

she knew what was more important.

 

“Martha became angry because she had so much work to do.”

 

I was challenged to spend more time at His feet when I read this. I tend to be really busy and not spend time

at His feet.

The fact of the matter is, we need to spend time at His feet as much as we can. We cannot go far if we

are busy all the time. I know this scripture is used a lot in the context of serving in the church but

it goes deeper than that. Sitting at His feet should be natural for us. Let’s look at how Yeshua responded

to Martha,

 

“But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are getting worried and upset about too many things. 

Only one thing is important. Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will never be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:41

 

Wow! What a statement!! There is peace, comfort, wisdom, love, joy, clarity and so much more at His feet.

I neglect all that when I am always busy, when I don’t make sitting at His feet a top priority like Mary did.

To deal with the pressures of life we need to stop and spend time with Him. Sitting at His feet is the

answer and it’s exactly what we need right now. You could be facing situations that are getting you

stressed and frazzled but the answer is taking the time to sit at His feet. Don’t ignore Him.

Make time for Him. He has all the answers you need!

Blessings to you friends…..

 

Rolain