The Illusion Of Strength

“The king is not saved by his great army;

a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

The war horse is a false hope for salvation,

and by its great might it cannot rescue.”

Psalm 33:16, 17

There is a tendency at times to try to go through life on our own. We try to show God we

got everything under control. We think He is impressed with our show of power, intelligence

and wit so we “power through” life when we should be looking to Him for strength.

You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders and think it’s cool but it’s not.

In the world, showing how strong, independent, powerful you are is celebrated. We see this

in terms like “self made man or woman” But it’s not so in God’s kingdom.

He wants you to trust Him. He wants you to give up control and let Him take the steering wheel.

Surrender to Him in faith. Let Him do the heavy lifting.

I was working on a project recently and was getting frustrated and overwhelmed. As I stopped

to see what was going on I realized I was going at it in my strength. I never asked God for help.

I repented and asked Him to help me. I stopped trying to figure things out on my own and started

praying more and seeking His guidance.

He wants us to rely on His strength, not our strength.

Turn to Him for help always.

“He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might. No, the Lord’s delight is in those

who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

Psalm 147:10, 11

Bless you friends

Rolain

Let Go Of Negative Labels

Throughout our lives we have been picking up labels from family, friends, teachers, coaches, you name it.

But this is the thing, the majority of the labels we picked up are not accurate and

at times downright destructive. We need to be careful what labels we have adopted

and from where.

Take Moses for example.

God called him to lead His people out of Egypt. So as He called him,

He gave assurances that He would be with him but there was one thing

that was giving Moses second doubts about his ability to carry out what

God had called him to do. And that thing was the label or labels he was holding

on to.

“But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past

or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”

Exodus 3:10

Instead of saying “yes Lord”.

He almost let the labels he had stop him from walking into what God had for him.

And also note, God knew the potential Moses had. He knew the great things He would

do through him but Moses didn’t see any of that because of the labels he held on to.

And that’s the danger of holding on to the wrong labels. They limit what we think

God can do and blind us to the opportunities available to us.

We need to measure up every label we have, to what God says about us. We measure

them up to His word. If words spoken to us are not in line with what God says in His Word

then it needs to go.

And we also need to be careful about what we say to ourselves. That’s what happened to

Moses. He may have told himself and believed he was slow of speech and not eloquent

and in his mind those labels disqualified him from doing what God told him to do.

You probably know yourself better than anyone on this planet but at the end of the day

you need to remember that you did not create you, God created you!

And because He created you He knows every little thing about you. There is nothing He

doesn’t know about you but you on the other hand you don’t have the full picture. You don’t have all

the information. There is stuff missing.

So stop with the “this is the way I am” statements.

Stop with the “I am clumsy, I am forgetful,

I can’t do this, I can’t do that” statements.

You don’t have all the pieces to the puzzle so why label yourself and make “absolute” statements

about yourself?

God is the only one who can do that so go to Him to tell who you are, what you can do and the

amazing opportunities waiting for you.

Ask Him for help as you do this. There is no way you are going to get rid of the negative labels

in your life by yourself. Ask Him to show you what negative words you are holding on to.

And ask Him to replace those words/labels with His truth, with His Word.

And as I close I want to end with a quote I read that I love. It says,

“Let no label stick unless it was put there by God.”

Have a great weekend friends!

Rolain

Silence In The Enemy’s Camp

“By this I know that you delight in me;

my enemy will not shout in triumph over me

Psalm 41:11

David had a lot of enemies in his life.

Strong enemies that wanted him out of the picture.

People that wanted him to fail, get sick, die you name it.

Even close friends became his enemy (Psalm 41:9)

But in Psalm 41:11 he made an amazing statement. He knew God favored him

and delighted in him because He never allowed his enemies to shout in triumph

over him!

In other words, because God delighted in him, He never allowed his enemies

to have victory over him.

I love that.

Because it’s the same for you. God delights in you and will not let the enemy shout

in triumph over you. They will not have victory in your life no matter how hard they try.

Even in the case of Bathsheba, it did seem like the enemy had victory over David. It seemed

like God’s purpose for his life came to an end because of what he had done but God in His

grace gave David another chance. He gave him the opportunity to repent and when he

did he received redemption and a second chance. There were no shouts of triumph in

the enemy’s camp in that regard.

As I close I want to encourage you with that.

The enemy WILL NOT have victory over you because the Lord favors you and delights in you.

When you fall He will pick you up.

The Lord will fight for you against the enemies that come against you and win.

Bless you friends!

Rolain

What Truth Are You Living By?

Some years back I took a course on Cognitive Psychology. It was a God-send for me because

prior to taking the course my mind was a mess. My thoughts were destructive, I had no self-esteem,

I didn’t think I could amount to anything and so many other destructive mental issues.

The core principle of the course is,

“We behave and act, not in accordance with the truth as the truth might be.

We behave and act in accordance with the truth as we believe it or perceive it to be.”

There were a lot of “truths” I had to unlearn that I had picked up growing up. And the course

helped me change those “truths”. Being a Christian doing the course was a huge benefit to

me because I had met the TRUTH so I was replacing the old “truths” with His Truth.

I share this because there are so many “truths” out there and not all truth is truth.

Where did you get the “truths” you are currently holding on to?

Are they based on the Word of God or are they based on something you read on the news,

on social media or something you watched on TV and the many other sources out there?

We need to be careful where we get our “truths”

Looking at the Word I think of Gideon.

His truth was,

“So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel?

Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my Father’s house.”

Judges 6:15

He grew up being told his clan was the weakest and was probably reminded that he was

the least. That’s the “truth” he adopted but it wasn’t true. God had another truth for

Gideon. And not just any truth but THE truth.

God’s truth for Gideon was that he was a mighty man of valor.

Man’s truth for Gideon was not God’s truth for him and that’s important to note.

God has a TRUTH for you that’s totally different to the truths out there. You don’t have to

live by the “truths” you have been given by people that tear you down, that tell you can’t

make it, that you will amount to nothing, that you have no future to look forward to and so

many other negative things. God has a better and greater truth for you.

It was a similar story for the woman with the issue of blood. (Luke 8: 43-48)

For twelve years she tried to find a cure to her ailment. But the answer was the same for

every doctor she went to. There was no cure for her no matter how much money she spent.

That was the “truth” she was given.

But one day she heard about Jesus and in faith decided to lay aside the “truth” she was

told for twelve years and got a hold of the real TRUTH. And once she did that she received

her healing.

The “truth” she had been told for twelve years was no match for Jesus. I don’t know how many

seconds it took to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment but that was enough to nullify the “truth”

she previously held. And that’s why it’s important to go the right source for truth.

The truth we find in Jesus is more powerful than every other “truth” out there.

His truth liberates and frees.

The wrong “truth” binds, instills fear, and limits God’s power in our lives.

So as I close I want to encourage you to take a look at the truths you are holding onto.

If it’s not helping you then it needs to go.

Look to Jesus who is TRUTH.

In Him we find real truth for every area of our lives.

Bless you

Rolain